Kapitel 9: Match 9

They walked inside the forest for quite some time and Alex wondered if they were walking in circles too many times. Every tree, every bush seemed almost the same with their dark green colors. He thought of actually marking a tree or two just in case but he didn't need to eventually. Mikael eventually had decided to lead them through a more complicated path to ensure their safety making sure that the pack wouldn't be able to follow their scent from the many detours.

He led them finally outside to a road pretty far away from where they had started and he was curious for how long they had been walking so they would end up so far away. In front of them was waiting a little black car that seemed to be over fifteen years old. It was parked at the edge of the road and Mikael took his keys out from his pocket and signaled them to get inside.

Him and his friend sat in the front seats leaving Alex and Mark sit behind. The seat covers were a bit worn out and the top of the car had a few scratch marks.

"So how about we begin our little road trip?"

"This is your car?" Mark asked and looked around him displeased. Alex couldn't help but chuckle knowing that Mark had been raised in a wealthy household and this probably had been one of the smallest and oldest cars he had ever been compared to his dad Ferrari that brought him to college the first day.

"This is my escape car. If you don't like it, you can always get out." Mikael said and started the engine. It roared and the car hit the road easily. It worked much better than someone would expect seeing its appearance and Alex let himself rest and take a breath for a while. They were leaving, escaping and everyone was alive.

"We used this car every time we wanted to escape the pack." Luke explained "No one knows about it."

"How are your wounds?" Alex asked not being that interested about the car but Luke's state. He had been heavily injured by that guy back there but now he seemed a bit better. He would feel okay though only if he heard it from his mouth. The mouth that with those plump lips had given him his first kiss.

"I'm better. The fact that I got to be in my wolf form for a while helps me heal faster." He told him and Alex sensed a coldness in his voice. He was distant and didn't even look at him through the mirror when he answered him. Alex felt his heart clench a bit and he got worried that something had gone wrong with their kiss. He had done something awfully wrong that he wasn't aware about it.

"Don't worry Alex this dog right here won't die. At least not until he finds his mate." Mikael joked and Luke scoffed.

"Mate?" Mark asked with a confused look. "Like a soulmate?"

"Yeah. We get that. I mean eternity is very lonely without someone to spend it with. I don't know what I'd do without my mate with me"

"Wait, wait. Eternity? How old are you guys?" Mark asked looking at them back and forth. They didn't look over twenty-three but as it seemed that wasn't the case.

"I'm one hundred and one years old and this moody guy here is one hundred and ten?"

"Eleven. One hundred and eleven" Luke corrected him.

"So you have a mate?" Alex asked. He was curious about the mate bond. He wanted to know how it felt to be linked to someone like that. A love story without an end. Meant to be with someone, to be together forever. It was such a foreign thought to him. He honestly never imagined of finding true love in this day and age even if it was going to even for a few years.

"I did have a mate. But she is dead." Mikael said as he turned into the highways. A lot of cars now where surrounding them and the driver hit the gas a bit more.

"She was a rogue. I met her and asked for her to be accepted into the pack but the alpha denied it and they eventually caught her and killed her."

"I'm sorry." Alex said feeling a bit guilty for asking. Mikael always seemed very cheerful and like he doesn't have a care in this world but he was hiding such a painful past. He didn't know what he would've done if something like that had happened to him.

"It's okay. I'm waiting. One day I will meet her again. She will reincarnate and she will come to me."

"Does that really happen?" Mark asked surprised.

"Yeah. When your mate dies one day they might come back reincarnated. I've been waiting for sixty years now."

"Yeah he is playing monk not even looking at anyone else waiting for Scarlet to just appear out of nowhere." Luke said and Mikael gave him a bitter smile and looked back at the road.

"My advice to you my friend is when you find your mate accept them. Don't be like me and lose precious time. Yes, we get eternity but sometimes your eternity could be only a day or an hour. When you feel the true threat of losing your special someone you will know. For now, please shut up."

"Yeah, yeah" Luke said and that was pretty much the end of their conversation.

Every person in the room except for Mikael who was driving soon fell asleep. They didn't see the pretty scenery, with the willow trees or the small ponds shining a green blue color underneath the burning sun. They were many colorful birds that flew above them and the cars seemed to lessen more and more as they headed deeper into the vacation compound. It was a place especially made around a huge lake with about ten or less vacation homes that at this time of the year were usually empty. Alex's house had always been empty ever since he turned sixteen after an incident that made his parents hate this place.

Mikael had to wake him up because he wanted to know how to get to his house. The green eyed boy looked around while the car was moving and a sense of longing conquered his heart. So many memories of his childhood came rushing in and it was a heavier burden than he thought. The image of a longing family compared to his current feeling of loneliness. The smiled and hugs contradicting the yells and the beating he received as he turned older. He could almost feel his mother's hug and then his father's belt hitting his back destroying the sweet memory.

"It's this one" Alex pointed towards a little wooden house. It had two floors. And a very pretty veranda at the bag with one of those swinging couches and a small glass table that had been left alone and dirtied.

The car stopped in front of the house and all of them began to fully wake up. The moment they stepped out they started stretching their arms and legs being freed by the narrow space of the car. Alex found his keys and unlocked the door. He was standing in front of everyone and for a second he hesitated to enter.

"Are you alright?" Mark asked him and he nodded. He took a step inside and he shivered but he didn't make a big deal out of it. He just looked around.

There was a small kitchen and a living room. The couches and the armchair had been covered with white sheets as they stood in front of the ashy fireplace. There was a corridor that led to one of the bedrooms and its bathroom and staircase that led to the attic where there was another bedroom and a second smaller bathroom.

"Is it okay to rest a bit and clean up later? I feel sore everywhere." Mikael said.

"Yeah sure" Alex agreed and walked at the back, where the veranda was.

It was like someone had drained a part of his soul. This house was alive and was eating up all his energy while bringing him all those beautiful memories just to have them destroyed by the cruel reality. He sat at the swing, not caring about the dust and closed his eyes. Just a few meters away he would play soccer with his dad. He could still see his smile every time his dad would let him score and his mum would cheer. He really loved soccer. His dad had made him love every bit of it and they would always be in every single one of his games bringing him good luck. Since he started college though there would always be two seats empty at the front row. Alex always kept them, in every single game just in case they wanted to come but he knew it was impossible.

He felt the pillow of the swing dive a bit and he turned around to see that someone had sat next to him. He started swinging back and forth while looking at him.

Luke was incredibly handsome if that word was even enough to describe him. From his pretty icy eyes to his straight nose and plump lips it seemed like every detail on his face was made by a divine being. His tanned skinned and those cute freckles like little splatters of paint were adorable.

Alex smiled at him. He felt like that was the only thing he could do being so close to him, muted by his perfection. He didn't smile back though he just kept staring at him with a skeptic expression like he was thinking about something. He wanted to talk about something and he couldn't find the words.

"Tell me" Alex said finally after a while wanting to urge him to talk. No matter what it was he wanted to hear it. He needed to know because after all being in the dark, feeling anxious and curious was not something that he could easily handle at the moment.

"I want to talk about our kiss. I'm sorry but it was wrong." he said and Alex felt like someone had just ripped his heart off and smashed it to the ground. This house really would be the host of some of his most awful memories.