Chapter 9 - Theo

I bolt through the trees and around some boulders.  With each stride, I pound the ground a little harder.

The wind whips through my fur as my claws dig into the ground.  This is long overdue.  I should have found a way to get out to the timber sooner and run for a bit.  I wish that the timber around this university could be as expansive as the timber around SM University or even my pack.  However, I can’t complain.  I have to make by with what I’ve got. 

I still don’t know why I’m so upset and irritated.  What I do know is that it has been a couple of days that the mysterious food lady has stopped bringing me food.  To be exact, it has been 5 days.  That is almost a week!

Where is she? 

If she has decided to stop bringing me food, she should have given me a note the last time that she snuck food into my office.  But she hasn’t brought me anything.  No food.  No note.

Wait.  Why am I still talking about my mysterious food lady?

Ugh…

I pound the ground harder while I push myself to go even faster.  I need to work out my frustrations, but right now, nothing seems to be helping.  I’m hoping that if I let my wolf out and run for a bit that I would begin to feel better.  However, it doesn’t seem to be working. 

My wolf needs to run, but he is still on edge.  There seems to be something holding him back from fully relaxing.  But what is it?

Maybe if I run until I’ve completely exhausted myself, that might help.  Yeah, that may help. 

I, once again, push myself to go even faster as I pant, nearly out of breath. 

How long have I been out here running?  I can’t even remember. 

I bolt under the tree branches and around a bush.  I don’t slow down a bit as I catapult myself up and over a pile of rocks. 

I try, once again, to clear my mind, but I fail yet again.  My mind keeps coming back to that one mysterious lady and her delicious food.  Why can’t I figure out who she is?  Well, I’m not really trying hard to find her.  I’m just enjoying her delicious food that she leaves on my desk almost every day. 

My paws begin to pound the ground even harder as I begin to think about her.  The same question, that I always have, keeps swirling around my mind.  Why has she stopped bringing me food?  Why?

I turn a sharp corner and race up the hillside while I shake my head.  I have to stop thinking about her.

However, my wolf won’t let me stop thinking about her.  What does she look like?  Does she have light brown hair like May?  Wait.  Why am I comparing the mysterious food lady to my mate? 

I shake my head.  With my mind distracted, a branch nearly slaps me across the face, but I manage to see it before it is too late and duck out of the way at the last moment. 

I low growl slips from my mouth. 

I don’t even know why my wolf is growling right now.  Is he growling at me?  Or is he growling at the branch that nearly hit us? 

Surprisingly, my wolf stays relatively quiet, like the rest of the day.  Granted, he usually doesn’t talk much, but tonight he is almost completely silent. 

What is he thinking about?  Is my constant thinking about the mysterious food lady driving my wolf crazy? 

My ears suddenly perk up as the soft sound of running water fills my ears.  What?  Is there a creek around here?  Or better yet, is there a pond with a waterfall around here?

For the first time tonight, my wolf’s voice booms through my head.  “Follow the sound of the water.”

Technically, I’m in my wolf form so my wolf is more in control than I am.  It should be the one demanding him to head towards the sound of the water.  However, my wolf is finally talking, and I’m not going to do anything that would irritate him and make him go silent again. 

I simply nod my head. 

As the sound of running water gets louder, I burst through a group of brushes and land right at the edge of a small creek.  Yes. 

A faint smile dances across my face as a sparkle gleams in my eyes. 

***

Exhausted, I collapse onto my bed. 

I have been running circles through the small wooded area near the university, for hours trying to clear my mind.  In addition, once I found the creek, I couldn’t help myself and spent some time playing in the water.  Besides playing, I was also trying to catch some fish for a nice evening snack. 

However, no matter what I do, my thoughts keep coming back to one thing and I don’t understand why.  The mysterious food lady.

The more that I think about her, I have come to the conclusion that something has happened to her.  She would always leave notes before.  Granted, she never left me a note saying that she couldn’t bring me food.  No, instead, the notes were about whether I like a certain kind of food or not.  She is always trying to make sure that she fixes me things that I like.  Whenever, I tell her that I didn’t like something, I never see anything remotely close to that dish again. 

I stare up at the ceiling.  Wyatt’s conversation about Kane comes rushing back to me.  This couldn’t be something like that, right.  This mysterious food lady can’t be my second mate, right.

With the mere thought of the mysterious food lady, my wolf perks up. 

No. 

This can’t be.  I still love May.  I will never stop loving May.  She is my true mate, even after she is gone.

I turn my head towards the nightstand next to the bed, and my eyes go directly to the last family portrait that we took.  It was taken only a few months before the terrible accident that took them both from me. 

My heart aches as I look at the photo. 

I try to move my arm to reach for the picture, but I can’t seem to move.  Every muscle in my body has been pushed to the limit tonight and now, my body has decided it is time to rest. 

With my eyes still on the photo, I softly whisper, “May, the Moon Goddess wouldn’t do this to me, right.  She wouldn’t have sent someone else for me yet, especially not a human.”  A lone tear slides down my cheek, as I softly add, “I’m not ready yet.”