Life-Times Apart

*Ch.2 Another fucking party

  The sun does not shine here. Not today. Rain pounds on the roofs of the pack houses, floods the training area's outdoors, but they're still out there. Training. Tired and blinded by the rain.

"Fuck Zach! Come on man, we can't see out here, let alone spar!" His Beta yells at him through mouthfuls of rain.

"I can see just fine! Do you think the Vere's complain about fighting in the rain?! Do you think the changeling will fucking care whether or not you can see it? No!" The Alpha yells back. And everyone tenses. The Alpha runs them hard, but there are no better fighters. And the Alpha never needs to yell, but he is. And that is bad. Very bad. Everyone hides they're fear until there is something to be obviously fearful of. All are tense and expectant.

"You can stop for today, there is another matter that needs handling. But when I get back be prepared." He warns, turning away from them in the rain and trudging back to the compound.

Everyone is shocked beyond words or feeling. They gaze after him, uncertain. There's something different about their Alpha, but no one is man enough to ask.

The compound is like a giant military base, and everything is more sensible inside of it. Zach is in control, and he likes control.

The headaches start again and he slumps against the wall, clutching his temple. It's like a drum that's pounding over and over in his head, burning a rhythm that he taps out when he's bored or when it gets too quiet.

Bump-bump. Bump. Bump-bump. Bump. Like a heartbeat. A warming heart beat that causes him severe pain. His vision blurs, and his control over himself is slipping. It scares him, and no one knows about it but Kol.

Said person walks in to see him slumped against the wall, in the fetal position. Every time it bumps blackness covers his eyes, and it hurts his corneas. He can feel it pound in his ears, and everything around him gets cold. It's so painfully cold, but he never gets cold. Not even the rain or snow.

"Shit Zach, I thought you said they stopped!" The Beta says, rushing over to him and trying to pull him up. But it burns when he's touched.

"Let. Go." he bites out and starts shaking. He tries to control his heart beat, his breathing. The wolf inside claws at him, but he gets him under control as well. The pounding subsides and his breathing becomes easy. The world comes back into focus.

He stands and leans back against the wall as the rest of the pack comes in. He closes his eyes, and wills himself to still because he's trembling again. His pack cannot see him weak. A pack never sees their Alpha weak.

"We have a birthday party to go to boys." he says in as steady a voice as he can muster.

There is some whooping, some actual smiles of joy, and some smirks.

"A pretty girl is looking for her mate. An Alpha's daughter. The Fallen River Pack. A sissy tribe to boot, but we still must go." Kol says, hoping to find his mate. He's 19 and it's been a good time waiting. A full year.

"Everyone 18 and up get your bags packed we leave in 3 hours." Only 18's to 19's don't have mates. His window is closed. He won't find his. And so Zach leaves the men, going into his office by the stairs. He doesn't think it wise to venture those on legs as strong as cooked spaghetti. He doesn't even attempt it in his mind.

He starts to feel better as he sits in his office, the smell of lily's and roses around him. He feels fine now. Just a little weak. It's been that way since he was 18 and a half, and his mate was not found.

He doesn't fully understand why he's sick, why he's slowly deteriorating into a shell of the man he used to be. He has his suspicion, but it hasn't been proven, and there would be no way to prove it, because he's the only person on earth that this has ever happened to.

"Dude, you need to figure out what's wrong with you!" Kol warns as he slips into the room. Zach can let his guard down around his pseudo brother. They've been together since about birth and he knows the real Zach Waters.

"I know what's wrong with me, but there's nothing to do about it!" he snaps, and takes a deep breath. He needs to control himself. He's really not mad at Kol, but at himself, at his mate. He feels almost cheated.

"I'm sorry Kol, it just pisses me off to have to go to these fucking parties. Why can't they come to us?" he says with a sigh. As soon as he was 18 he jumped at every chance to find his mate. The woman that would be the Luna to his pack. But no such luck ever befell him. He's nearly 20 now, and his thoughts on mates has decreased significantly. Everyone knew that. But everyone was supposed to have a mate. He learned it was bullshit. And he learned it the hard way.

"There isn't one for everyone. If you're lucky, if your deserving, you get one. If you're not, you don't. Love is something gained, not given." He would say. Most people call him morbid or cold hearted. But they're wrong. So very wrong. In the simplest words, he's lonely. Lonely and unloved.

"Well your looking better, come on we have to get ready. I'll get your tux laid out, no tie." Kol tells him, jogging off.

"Thanks Kol." Zach mutters, stretching out a bit. The sun is up, and he's tired. He'd usually be up and ready to go and in perfect condition, taking his pack on a 5-mile jog before sunrise. But recently the sun has become his weakness. He feels tired and lethargic in the day, but as soon as that sun disappears, he feels better, stronger. It's the wolf in him. No other explanation.

So he trudges upstairs and walks to his bedroom. A quick shower, packing, dressing, and then to the garage for a 5-hour drive into the States. God there were going to be so many people. It's just... A long day. A very long day.

And another fucking party to attend.

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AN: Well, this is a story I've been working on for a while. I wasn't going to publish it or anything, it didn't even have a plot, but it evolved to have one, and I guess I want some feed back other than my mom who just says "yeah", and "I'm tired."