Hello everyone! Sorry this took so long but I had finals to deal with and things got crazy at home and then I went on vacation so I didn't have time to work on this. I just finished and decided that I didn't care about editing it because it has been so long since the last chapter that I think you guys deserve this one right away. This is the second to last chapter of this story and I'm working on the last right now. I'm actually half way done with it.
As usual please don't forget to comment and vote! Thank you all so much for the support!
~Vixen
The next two days I tried desperately not to think of the village and concentrate on Riz. She had been right of course. I hadn't been the best friend lately. I had practically ignored her and I felt really bad about it so I tried to make up for it.
We watched television and Riz talked on and on about California and gossip about our favorite celebrities. I tried to participate but I started to realize how trivial it all was.
The village at that moment was hunting and foraging for food, having to prep and cook it themselves, and here I was eating microwave popcorn just because we were watching a movie. I wasn't even all that hungry!
I was warm and didn't need a fire and several layers of clothing to keep myself that way. I didn't have to do anything to provide myself or my family with food and earlier we had gone to an unlimited source of information that we can access in a second and looked up pictures of nearly naked actors. I was beginning to wonder if human race had lost something when we started to create so much technology that we now depend upon so heavily.
"The CGI of this movie is terrible!" Riz commented, interrupting my train of thought.
"Yeah. Personally I liked it when they used puppets and costumes instead of all this green screen and such. I think the acting was more realistic with those kinds of things too." I admitted.
"Yeah. It gives you something to react to instead of just having to imagine it. Thankfully I won't have to deal with that issue though. You will! But I'm sure you'll be great anyways! And if you need help being scared I can always show up with horrifying pictures from when we were kids and hold them up when you need to scream!" Riz giggled and I smiled weakly before sighing. I looked at her and bit my lip for a moment, watching her giggle.
"Is something wrong?" Riz asked after a moment, noticing my hesitation.
"No." I told her before sighing. I hated lying to her and I decided that I would have to tell her eventually anyways.
"I just... I might not be going back to California." I finally admitted. Her head whipped around so fast I thought I heard it crack and she looked at me in confusion before her eyes narrowed.
"You mean to tell me that you are staying here with that pack of animals instead of going back to California with me? You expect to be able to survive out there? You've only been here for the summer Mina and you've been complaining about how cold it is! It gets even worse in the winter! They probably have people die all the time in that tribe because they don't know how to take care of themselves!" She was shouting and tried to stand up at the end before falling back onto the chair. I got up and helped her get situated again, looking at the ground.
"Look... I'm really sorry Riz... I want to go back to Cali with you and all but... I can't bear the thought of being away from Refre. It is a physical ache in me. I can't go back to Cali and leave him behind. I can't be away from him for that long. I need to be with him. He is my soul mate, Riz. My everything... I can't walk away from that."
"You're only 18 Mina. You could find love again." She replied coldly before looking away. I stared at her in shock for a moment before hearing the garage door open and close. I sat down as Sky came into the living room and sat down next to me.
"Everything okay?" She asked after a minute of tense silence.
"Yeah! Everything's fine! I'm just sitting here alone everyday while you three run around with a bunch of fucking animals and don't even think about your sister or best friend!" Riz snapped back. Tristan paused as he walked into the living room and heard this and we all stared at Riz in shock.
"Riz..." Tristan started to say before she interrupted.
"No! I can't stand it anymore! You are all insane! Wrapped up in the whole lie of 'soul mates' and shit! How do you even know if that's real? They could be lying to you just so they can increase their population or some shit like that! They live in fucking igloos in caves! And you all want to live down there with them? You're going to all die in the first winter! I can't believe how stupid you all are being!"
"No!" Sky suddenly interrupted. We all looked at her in confusion before noticing that her attention was on the television. The show we had been watching had been interrupted by the news. It looked like it was just local story about hunting. There was a man that was being interviewed and it looked like he had an injured and tied up polar bear at his feet. Then the camera zoomed in to the face.
"No!" Tristan and I repeated right as the phone rang.
'''''''''''''''
Nate was sitting down for a chat with Richards when there was a knock at the door.
"Come in." Richards called out.
"Sorry to interrupt." Jess apologized as she entered. "Charles just called. He's at the front gate."
"Alright. Let's go meet him then."
Nate nodded and they both headed outside, Jess quickly following them. They got into an SUV and headed for the gate across the bumpy dirt road. Richards parked in front of the gate, noting where some of his betas were on alert in the trees before getting out and approaching the gate.
"Charles!" Jess cried out as she ran to the gate ahead of them. Nate watched as the man on the other side stopped in his pacing at the sound of his name. He was a rather tall man and at the moment he looked rather malnourished and like he hadn't slept in a month. Nate could only image what his appetite and ability to sleep would be like though if he lost his mate.
Richards opened the gate and Jess went running into the man's arms, bursting into tears. Charles wrapped his arms around her and after a moment began to weep as well. Richards and Nate stood at the gate and let them have their moment. Jess seemed to whisper to the man for a bit before they separated slightly and she turned to the other two men.
"Richards, Nate. This is Charles Wesley." Jess introduced. Richards offered his hand and Charles took in hesitantly, seeming to pull himself together a bit more. Nate shook his hand as well, noting that his grip was firm and confident even though he could tell that Charles wasn't.
"Why don't we head into the compound and continue discussion in there?" Richards asked, clearly not comfortable with leaving the gate open. Charles nodded and got into his car, Jess following him.
