**BOOK FOUR**
Reuben is running. Running from a life he never wanted; one he never fit into.
Eli is chasing. Chasing a future he is desperate to call reality.
After Reuben's rejection, Eli thought he'd never see his mate again. However, when repo...
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Being able to adapt quickly was a skill I picked up fairly quickly while being in foster care. Every time I went from home to home, I was forced to confront the unknown time and time again. As a young child, I always feared the homes I'd be placed in. I'd ask myself questions like if the people were nice; would they liked me; and, more importantly, if I was safe. As I got older, I learned to stop asking so many questions. The more I pondered over it, the more worried I became, so by the time I reached the Hansons, I'd basically stopped asking altogether.
George and Lola Hanson already had three children before I arrived. They had two daughters, Melody and Jesse, and a son named Mathias. Melody and Jesse were sixteen and seventeen while Mathias was a few months older than I was. I expected the house to be just like any other one I stayed in—temporary until they decided to get rid of me—but I was wrong.
For the first four months, I spent my time waiting for the ball to drop. I waited for the stereotypical "It's not you, it's me" speech, but it never came. So, eventually, I got tired of waiting. I remember sitting on the couch with Mathias and asking him, "How long are your parents going to keep me?"
Mathias' brows furrowed and he looked at me as if I'd grown two heads and said, "What do you mean?"
So I explained to him. I explained how no matter what I did or didn't do, eventually everyone got tired and I wanted to know how long I had before it was time to move again. Mathias simply shrugged and responded with, "I don't know, but I hope it's a long time because I like you a lot."
What I didn't know at the time was that George and Lola were listening to our conversation. I didn't know that later that night they'd gotten Jesse, Mathias, and Melody together and asked them what they thought about adopting me. What I didn't know was that they planned to be my forever home.
It was a few weeks later when my thirteenth birthday arrived and we were planning on going out to celebrate that everything changed. Mathias was bouncing off the walls which was strange in itself. He kept on going on and on about how this would be my best birthday ever.
He was both right and wrong.
We spent the day at the zoo and then on the way home we stopped by the park. Mathias and I ran around playing games like tag and hide and seek before his parents called us over to open gifts. There were a few generic ones like video games and action figures, but what really stuck out was a piece of paper with four words written on it.
Can we adopt you?
I remember sitting there, staring at it for what felt like hours before letting out the smallest, "What?"
"If you'll let us, we want to make it official, Elias," I remember hearing George say. "We want to adopt you."
A large array of emotions swarmed me and Lola shot me one of her signature smiles. "So, what do you say, kiddo? If you need some time to think about it—"
