My Chosen Mate

Chapter 5: Welcome to Fayetteville

(Owen’s P.O.V.)

I look around me and all I can see is trees. I’m in a forest, but it’s not one that I recognize. The ground doesn’t feel familiar, and the air has a strange scent. I breathe deep and the scent is almost intoxicating. I start running towards the direction the smell is coming from, needing it to get stronger. Suddenly the trees are gone and there’s sand beneath my feet. I look around, desperate to find the source of the euphoria filling my nostrils. I realize that I’m on a beach as I can faintly hear the sound of waves smashing against the shore. I head towards the sound of the waves, hoping it will lead me to what I desire. I break into a run to reach the shore fast. I run fast and faster until I come to an abrupt stop. In front of my is the most beautiful wolf I’ve ever seen. That says a lot seeing as I was raised in a pack of them. This wolf was white with golden swirls. I quickly got in front of her and breathed in her smell. She smelled of lavender and vanilla.

“Mate”. My wolf said from inside me. I looked at the wolf who was destined to be mine forever. Before I could get a good look at her up close, I sensed a presence behind her. I looked around her and saw a black shadow slowly approaching us. My wolf let out a low growl before I jumped around my mate to stop the shadow from getting to her. I was just about to land on it when I heard, “hey kid!”

I pop my eyes open and look around. I’m not in the woods or on a beach. I’m on a bus and it’s stopped at its destination.

“This is the last stop. You need to get off.” The driver says while looking at me through his rearview mirror.

I rub my eyes while I grab my backpack and make my way to the front of the bus. I head down the stairs but stop and turn around to face the driver before getting off the last step.

“Where am I exactly?”

The driver sighs and points to a sign. It says, ‘Welcome to Fayetteville, North Carolina!’

*            *            *            *

After wandering around aimlessly for about an hour, I decided that I needed to get some food. After all, I am a growing wolf. I pull my phone out and google places to eat around me.

“McDonalds, Taco Bell, A&W… They all sound so good I don’t know which one I want more.” I mumble to myself while glaring at my phone. “I need a buffet or something so that I can have multiple choices.”

My stomach growled in protest of me taking so long deciding where I want to eat. I could feel my wolf whining in my mind.

Let me go hunting! I’ll catch us a deer or something! I need to stretch my legs.

Apollo, as lovely as that sounds, I don’t know where any woods are, and I’d rather eat something myself. I promise as soon as we’re done eating, I’ll find a hidden place and let you out.

I felt Apollo whimper and retreat back further in my mind. He was mad at me but I had to take precautions. I wasn’t in our pack’s territory anymore. This was the human world where most people didn’t know about the supernatural.

I went back to my phone, scrolling through my options. I was about to give up when I saw the words ‘food court’. I clicked on it and realized that it was a mall. I love mall food for the reason being I can get all different types of food without having to drive around to 10 different places.

Having made up my mind, I click the ‘get directions’ button and see that it’s only a 10 minute walk.

Well I’ve made it this far without food, another 10 minutes won’t hurt. Besides normally I’d be training right now so I’ll just think of this walk as my daily training.

I smirk to myself and get to walking. It’s been almost a week since I ran away from home, and so far, I’m loving every minute of my freedom. I’m sure my parents are worried about me and are trying to find me, but I know they won’t. Everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve paid cash and never gave my real name. I’m going by Oliver Duncan. I think I read somewhere that people choose aliases with the same initials so that the new alias is easier to remember.

I think about the dream I had on the bus ride into this city. I can’t believe that my mate is really out there. She was beautiful and I couldn’t wait to meet her. I knew she wasn’t anyone from my pack because I had never seen a white wolf before. Let alone a white wolf with golden swirls. So now the question is, if my mate wasn’t apart of my pack, then what pack is she apart of and where is she?