My Mate Next-Door

15: Attending His Funeral

Quinton got dressed in a black suit and started driving this morning with tears in his eyes. As someone who experienced loss myself, I could sympathize with his emotions. It was hard to lose someone, even someone you hadn't met yet. We pulled up to the funeral home, and he guided us inside. The casket was open, and Quinton had left me in the last row of pews so he could say his goodbyes. I sniffed Bruce's scent and vowed to let his family know that he had passed. It was the least I could do for the man who helped me. When Quinton returned, he looked completely devastated as if the world had simply died this day for him. I nuzzled my head into his hand and whined, trying to let him know that I felt his pain. Quinton looked down at me and smiled softly. "Only you could understand what I'm feeling right now, Cocoa. We're just two lonely pods of sadness on this big blue hunk of rock." Quinton sighed and kissed my forehead before following the hearse to the burial plot. We watched them lower the coffin into the ground, and Quinton threw the first lump of dirt as he cried softly. Following his suit, I grabbed a slightly hard dirt clump and tossed it into the hole. Quinton laughed softly and smiled, " I guess you're pretty smart, huh, Cocoa?" He asked rhetorically.

I licked his hand in an attempt to comfort him, but my attention shifted to the feeling of being stared at. I looked around and locked eyes with a small boy about 13 or 14 years old. I stared at him, wondering what the boy wanted when I saw him flash his fangs. I scrambled in a blind panic, and Quinton looked at me with great concern. I ran into the car and pawed the door shut. Fortunately and unfortunately, he wasn't here for me. I watched as the monster attacked Quinton at his neck and started to drain his blood. Luckily for Quinton, he was only a child and wouldn't kill him. I watched helplessly as he feasted.

Quinton, in a dizzy haze, clambered into the car and locked the doors. "What the fuck just happened?" He asked his memory starting to be fading and the bite wound already healed with no evidence left.

I wondered just how much it was a coincidence that a monster attacked Quinton, and I feared that he may be a target somehow.

Soon, Quinton came out of his daze, and he looked back at me. "Oh. Uhm. Alright, let's go to the last stop before we go back home." He said, strapping in and driving away.

"Bruce was a friend of mine from college. He always talked about how his family disowned him and left him for dead. I took him under my wing and introduced him to a scholarship that would help him achieve his dream of being a vet debt-free. He took it and put the pedal to the medal on his studies. He was a real animal lover, and he loved being a vet more than anything else. It's such a shame he never got to find that girlfriend if his. Samantha or something like that. He saw her at a bar one night and just fell in love at first sight they were such a cute pair, but she went out back for a smoke and disappeared. He always swore to me she wouldn't have just left and that someone took her, but the cops never found anything." Quinton sighed as we pulled up to a diner.

I thought of Bruce's mate being out there somewhere, sad beyond all belief, probably waiting for him to rescue her. I started to cry for her. The poor thing probably didn't even complete the mate bond and couldn't sense his death. Quinton looked at me and ruffled my fur. "I know, Cocoa. I'm sad, too. Let's go eat cheeseburgers!" He said and took me inside the diner. The waitress behind the counter took one look at me and said plainly, "I ain't cleaning up any shit. Are your freakish dog shits or barfs you clean it up, got it?" She said a cigarette in one hand. Quinton gave her a silly salute and we sat down. "Two cheeseburgers and four hamburger patties." He ordered and the waitress flipped him off before ringing in our order.

She came out quickly with our food and Quinton took a huge bite into his cheeseburger. I also took a huge bite, as in I ate all four patties at once. Quinton laughed at my antics and tried to hurry up with his burgers. He saved the last bite for me holding it out for me to take. I took it and savored the flavor of a nice juicy cheeseburger. I had taken food for granted before this whole endeavor and now that my diet was mostly wolf food, I really cherished the moments I could eat real human food.

It made me think of my mother. She often manned the grill when it came to burgers as my dad could only really cook large meats. I missed them terribly but I knew once this whole thing was over I'd see them somehow someway.

We ended up back in the car and I stared up at the passing street lights. Reminding me of the late night car rides my family used to do when I was little. Even letting me turn into my wolf form and stick my head out the window while my dad held me for saftey. The warm summer air would whip around in my fur and my mom would yell at him if he stuck me out too far. I often felt like I was flying in those moments and I never wanted it to end. I often threw a temper tantrum once we got home. My mom had to sell the car at some point to pay for the land our pack lived on before a large lumber company bought it. It took her and the whole pack 10 years to pay off that loan. I often wondered if they regretted not just moving but it wasn't in our nature to give up what was ours. Especially not my mother's nature.

We pulled into the hotel and Quinton booked us a room. I welcomed the sleep that over took me as I layed down on the bed. Tommorow we would go to his special place.