Rejection (A Mate Story)

Chapter 4 - Poor Carl

When Ro invited himself to help find Penny, Josh should have known it wasn't because he wanted to help, it was because he wanted to try and convince his friend that he was better off without her. Ro was nineteen, a year younger than Josh, but he still hadn't found his mate. She definitely wasn't one of the women in their pack; he had touched almost every single one of them in some sexual manner or another. Josh had only slept with two women so far, and he had thought even that was a little excessive considering you're not really supposed to sleep with anyone but your mate. Ro proved him wrong, though, at seventeen women and counting. In all reality, maybe Ro wasn't the man to take relationship advice from. What are you talking about, Josh scolded himself, you don't even have a relationship with her to take advice for.

Still, Josh knew bringing Ro was a bad idea. He knew this before they met in the clearing of the forest and he knew this as he listened to him go on and on about some bachelor life they were going to live together in the big city. Josh couldn't help but come to a complete stop and look at his friend, both eyebrows raised, "Really, dude? Really?" before he continued to look. Penny's scent was leading into town, onto the sidewalks that lead through the seedy part, where all the liquor stores and shady characters were. This was no place for a woman to be walking, sad and vulnerable. Josh felt something tugging at his heartstrings. You'd feel this way about anyone going through this part of town, he told himself. He and Ro walked down the sidewalk, both standing at about six-foot-four, with muscles and set jaws. The drug dealers that stood on the streets, looking for new customers, hardly even looked their way. Most places, werewolves were kept as secret as possible, but here nearly everyone knew, and everyone knew they were not someone you wanted to mess with.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he followed Penny's scent away from all of that and continued on. The search was going much faster than he thought; maybe they would find her before night fell. Josh fantasized about the moment he grabbed Penny by the scruff and dragged her back home. She might throw a fit, but he wouldn't listen to any of it. He would only dump her onto the floor in front of her parents, say 'was that so hard?', leave town and never think about her again. He would move on one day - his spirit would - and he could then fall in love with a woman, a better woman, and his life would be peachy king.

"-And then one day, when you're old and depressed, and broken down, all you'll have left is a just as old, and just as annoying Penny. You'll hate your life and you'll end up killing yourself." Ro hadn't realized Josh hadn't been listening to a thing his friend just said.

"Thanks for cluing me in," he said absentmindedly. They were now in the thicket of town; where the mall, airport, and car dealerships were. Why would she be here? Penny didn't even know how to drive. What, did she go on a shopping spree to wash her blues away? He could see her doing that, sadly. As Josh stormed to the mall, his feet pounding on the pavement as he went, he realized something odd. Her scent didn't lead the the mall. He spent about half an hour circling the whole thing, just to make sure. No, her scent definitely didn't lead to the mall. Back where he started, he and Ro stood slightly in the middle of it all, where Penny's scent was strong; she had obviously stopped there for a long time, trying to make up her mind. It scared him; what was it she had to think so deeply about? A lump formed in Josh's throat as he came to grips that he could smell her, smell where she went.

It lead to the airport.

"She left." was all he said.

"What do you mean she left?" Ro asked.

"I mean she left. Her scent leads to the airport." In a panic, he took off running towards the airport. In the back of his mind he wondered why he cared so much. So, she left, what was the big deal? Good riddance, right? Wrong. For some reason he cared where she went, what she did, who she was with. What was happening to him?