Chapter 2

Zeke went back to his bed and crawled under the sheet, yawning and stretching his arms above his head. Whatever. He still had a month to himself and then, let whatever happened happen. With that in his thought, Zeke drifted off to sleep.

* * * *

Zeke hefted his backpack and slung it over one shoulder. Columbus International Airport was full of hustle and bustle from the people here today, and soon he would be one of those moving from one spot to the next until he got to board the plane. Yeah, right. A month passed in a blink of an eye. Before he knew it, it was mere hours before he got to meet his beloved mother.

The airport in Akron, from where he continued his trip to Oil Hills, was much smaller and a lot less busy. Zeke wasn’t rushed. He took a stroll and got to enjoy his surroundings. Nothing much had changed from two years ago when he left. The coffee house counter was still in the same corner and a free-duty bookstore stood in the middle on the left. Zeke could almost see him and Nate checked out the latest Marvel editions and sat around the table enjoying their coffee at the coffee counter. There was someone else with them but Zeke chose not to include her in his memory.

Someone waved at him in a distance but it wasn’t Nate—he wouldn’t dream of it anyway, even if he’d told Nate about his coming home. He hardly heard anything about Nate, where he studied, but Zeke guessed he must go to the same major, same university with Paulina. Nate wouldn’t tell him when they said goodbye. He wondered why.

Zeke squinted. The woman waving at him didn’t age a day older than when Zeke last saw her. Savannah Mitchell, the movie star, always knew how to take care of herself. She was tall and still very slender. Her long dark hair flowed down past her shoulder. Zeke thought he took after her quite a lot, aside from the long hair.

Her smile got wider the closer they got, a beaming, happy smile, and Zeke couldn’t help but curve the corners of his lips in what he prayed not to be a pitiful grimace.

“Zeke, my gorgeous son. Look how handsome you are.” Savannah threw her arms around her son’s neck in a dramatic fashion and Zeke grimaced for real.

“How are you, Mother?”

Her laughter was crisp as she pulled back. “Why so formal?” She squeezed Zeke’s biceps. “You’re so big and strong now. How’s your college? Got any girlfriend yet?”

Sometimes Zeke thought if his mother ever felt guilty for the way she raised her child, or the lack of it. Apparently, she never did or never showed it if she did. That was his mother and all her uniqueness.

“No. No girlfriend. How about you. Any new beau I get to know?”

She laughed again. “Not that I know of. So, no girlfriend, huh? How about boyfriend?”

Zeke arched an eyebrow. Did she know him better than he thought? He shrugged and searched her eyes.

“Are you serious?”

“What?”

“About the boyfriend thing.”

She was the one who shrugged this time. “Why shouldn’t I be? Do you believe I’d mind that?”

Sure, why should it be? It wasn’t as if she cared about Zeke’s life. Why should this be any different? Zeke never told her about the werewolves and the out of this world threat. Not because he was afraid she’d be scared and worried about how Zeke could have died, but because he knew Savannah wouldn’t care about it. It stung, but that was the fact. Zeke sighed.

“Never mind. Shall we go now? I’m kinda tired.”

“Zeke?”

But Zeke refused to listen to her anymore. He walked past her out of the departure lounge and looked around. His mother’s limo, where was it? It should be easy to spot.

“I flew in from LA yesterday.” Her voice was suddenly right next to his ear. Zeke jumped back in surprise. “Left my limo there.”

Of course. What did he expect, his mother going road-tripping all the way here to Ohio in a limo? Then her offer at that time, was it as empty as her past promises?

Instead of a limo, Zeke caught the sight of a red GTO. His old car? Gaping, he turned to his mother. “You drove this?”

She beamed. “Yeah. The engine’s still so smooth. You must have taken care of her incredibly well before you left.”

Zeke went silent as an onslaught of sweet memory came rushing in. Nate was so fussy about it every time he rode in it to go home. Yeah, before the day they killed the alpha, before Zeke found out about Nate’s crush on Paulina, they often hung out together. Well, regrets always came later. Zeke still didn’t understand why he never told Nate his real feeling toward him.