A Trip To Love - 2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Jonathan’s Point of View

I sat looking at the nearly empty gauge on my way back to my parent’s house. I knew I wouldn’t make it, but spotted an off ramp that showed a gas station close by. Right off the exit the station sat near the corner so it wasn’t hard to get to. I pulled up to a pump, climbed out, and began to fill the SUV. I caught my reflection in the glass of the pump and realized how much time had passed already searching for a mate.

I finished filling up and pulled to the side of the station to hit the restroom. After a moment I figured I should call home and give a heads up that I was coming. I always dreaded this call. The phone barely rang and it was answered.

“Hi Jon. Any luck?”

It was my father. Caller ID made calling home both easier and harder, mainly due to mom.

“No. Just no luck.”

“You coming home? I know being on the road isn’t easy.”

Ten years of searching for the man who would be my mate sure wasn’t easy. That was just part of the problem.

“Yeah. I’m heading home. Just don’t tell mom, yet. She is only going to start in and I really don’t want to have the same fight again.”

“I know son. But she wants the best for her cub.”

Yeah that is the problem with being a werebear, mom wants grandchildren in the worst way.

“I’ll be home in about an hour or so Dad. Love you.”

I hung up before he could say anything. I had some thinking still to do on the way home. Mom would fight to see me, but then she would fight to get me to marry some woman. As a gay bear that so wasn’t going to happen.

All too soon I was pulling into my parent’s driveway and I still was not ready to see my mom. I parked my suburban and just sat there for several minutes before getting out, grabbing my bags, and heading into the house.

I managed to get my bags upstairs without being seen but as I came down to get a drink from the fridge she saw me.

“Jon, you’re finally home,” exclaimed my mom.

“Yeah, mom I’m home but for how long will depend on you,” I replied.

“Jonny, I understand that you are looking for your mate, but I wish you would be home a little more. I am sure that you can find someone around here to mate with,” commented his mother.

“Ma, you know that I only want my destined mate. I will not settle for second best.”

“How do you know that your mate is a guy and not a woman if you have never been with anyone?” she stood there with her hands on her hips and tapping her foot waiting for my reply.

“I just know, Ma.” I sighed and shook my head slowly as I prepared to go through this with her yet again. “I have never had any desire to be with girls. I mean it, Ma. I only look at men, which is how I know that my mate is a guy. Look, I know not everyone waits for their true mate, but I am. I will not be untrue to him, just because you want me home and married. I’m sorry, but that is just how it is!”

It was getting harder and harder to come home and face this barrage every time I walked through the door. I keep hoping that maybe my mate was just younger than me and wasn’t able to recognize me as his mate.

“Look here, Jon,” my mother began placing one hand on her hip as she began to point at me, ”don’t you go being disrespectful to me. I was just trying to point out some alternatives to you. I mean, ten years of looking, wasting your time running around the country searching for someone who may not even be out there. You could be settled down with children by now.”

“Ma, I am not going to go through this again. Why don’t you want me to find my mate? Don’t you want me to be as happy as you and dad are?”

“Of course I do, but what if something happened to her and she has died?”

“If he has died then I will deal with it when that time comes. I am not going to take away someone else’s mate just because I haven’t found mine yet.”

I turned and left the house so that I could have some time to myself. I couldn’t believe how mom was talking. She started this crusade a couple of years ago. She never accepted that I was gay, she just felt I hadn’t met the right woman yet.

“Why can’t she just leave me alone?” I roared a little as I marched into the forest barely containing the anger of my bear.

I stayed in the woods for hours just waiting for my dad to come home from work. I didn’t think that I could take any more time alone with my mom. I was glad that I was only going to be home for a few more days.

When I got home mom was irate with me. Apparently she had a female werebear come by to meet me and I didn’t come home in time to meet her.

“Where have you been?” she growled.

“I went for a walk in the woods to clear my head.” I glanced over her shoulder to see a pretty woman calmly examining me. I sighed and turned my attention back to my mother. “If you don’t stop this I am going to go and not come home until I find my mate. I don’t care how long it takes me!”

“Son, you don’t mean that. Your mom is just trying to look out for you. She has missed you and is just trying to find a way for you to be happy,” came my dad’s voice from behind me.

“Dad, you know I won’t be happy until I have found my true mate, you should want that for me. She just doesn’t want to accept that I am gay and probably won’t have any cubs,” I said with frustration as I turned and faced him.

I went into the kitchen to find something to eat before heading up to my room. On the way to my room, I passed my youngest brother, Tyler, in the hallway.

“Hey bro, I’m glad you’re home. Don’t take mom seriously. She just wants all of her cubs to be home and happy,” said Tyler as he jumped on me and gave me a hug.

I clasped him and the shoulder and stated, “Thanks, little man. I know she wants me to be happy but she wants me happy with a girl and that just isn’t going to happen.”

I turned and headed into my room as Tyler went downstairs. I had come to the decision that I was leaving in a day and a half before my mom could find more women for me to meet.

That night while I slept I dreamed about finding my mate again. It was the same dream that I had been having for the last three years. I saw a man a few years younger than me from across a diner, but I knew the second I looked into his eyes, that he was my mate.

I never saw any clear details, just that he was a well-built man with the clearest blue eyes that I had ever seen. Then I would wake up reaching for someone who wasn’t there and feeling a pang in my heart as I longed for my other half.

I looked at the clock and saw that it was only three o’clock in the morning, but I knew that I would not be able to go back to sleep any time soon. I decided to go down to the basement where my dad and brothers had their own gym.

The gym sort of became a necessity at home because my family was pretty intimidating when they all were out together. Even my youngest brother was huge compared to most grown men. Instead of going to one of the chain gyms in town, dad decided to build a gym of his own so we could all work out in peace at home. Instead of going into town to one of the chain gyms, my dad had decided to build our own so that they could work out in peace. I was never happier about it then I was right then.

Timothy’s Point of View

“Turn right at the next corner.”

I barely listened to the GPS as I was now on familiar roads coming home to Charlottesville, Virginia. I loved the Blue Ridge Mountains and wished I could spend more time here with my dad, but I had been traveling all over the east coast.

“I’m going to find my mate if it kills me.”

I wiped the tears away as I spotted my childhood home. I was so grateful to know my father supported me and I couldn’t wait to see him again.

I pulled into the driveway of my childhood home with the mountains in the background and saw my dad waiting for me on the front porch. I was really looking forward to some home cooking and spending time with Dad. It was good to be home, but my search was weighing heavily on my mind. I have been looking for my mate for the last two years. I would have started at the age of sixteen when I was able to shift for the first time but dad insisted that I finish high school first.

All through high school, I had struggled with my sexual identity. I finally came to the face the fact that I was gay. I never looked at any of the she wolves but then I hadn’t been attracted to anyone.

I had decided to stop and see my dad before heading for the Midwest section of the United States. I was lucky that my dad was so understanding. Dad insisted that I get my college degree but he also understood the need to find my mate, so he agreed to pay for it if I worked on my degree while I travelled I was attending college online so that I could still get that degree.

Since I was working on my college degree, dad would make sure that I had all the traveling money that I needed. If I ran short I would sometimes take odd jobs in whatever pack I was visiting at the time.

“Hey Dad, how have you been?” I asked as I came in, dropped my bags just inside the door, and gave him a hug.

“Hey, Tim. God, it’s good to see you in person. You know I love talking to you, but Skype isn’t as great as having you home again. Damn, boy you are still growing. So how are you really?”

“Trying not to get too down about not finding him yet, Dad. The chances I have to talk to you help keep me going and let me keep a positive outlook. It isn’t easy and I can’t thank you enough.”

“I am glad that I can help in any way possible. I know that I took it a little hard when you told me that you are gay, but it was because I knew that you would have a hard road ahead of you.”

“I know Dad, and I also know that you were disappointed that it didn’t look like you would be able to have any grandkids to carry on the family name.”

“It’s ok son, as long as you are happy I will be fine. Are you tired from your drive? It’s kind of late, why don’t you go ahead and go to bed,” dad said as he grabbed one of my bags that I had dropped by the door and started towards my room.

“Alright, I will see you in the morning, Dad. Get some sleep.”

“I will sleep better now that you are here. Goodnight.”

I grabbed my bags and headed up to my room. Six years ago, my mother died giving birth to my sister. Unfortunately, she didn’t live long after my mother, passing within an hour. It was devastating for both of us, but Dad had never gotten over the loss. He now made sure that I was always as happy as he could possibly make me. It was something I was always something I knew about and tried not to take advantage of.

That night while I slept I had the same dream that I had been having for the past three years.

I saw this large man with these silvery grey eyes that seemed to look right through me. When he entered the diner where I was getting something to eat, I was hit with the strong aroma of pine and wild berries. I knew that this was my mate.

I could never see any clear details but I knew that I had to find this man and soon.

The next morning I got up and headed down for breakfast. Whenever I was home dad always made a huge breakfast, one that was big enough to feed an army. He fixed scrambled eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage (both patties and links), waffles, potato slices, and hash browns. He easily had enough for two people to eat both breakfast and lunch. There were about plates piled high with pancakes and waffles, what looked like pounds of bacon, a large bowl of eggs, heaping pan of potatoes, plates full of sausage patties and sausage links.

“Good morning, son. How did you sleep?”

“I slept pretty well until I had that dream again. I know that I have a lot of ground to cover but it gets a little depressing sometimes. Almost like I will never find him,” I tried to cover a yawn. I was embarrassed when my stomach chose that moment to growl in hunger.

“You will find him when the time is right,” Dad replied with a chuckle.

“I know, Dad. I am actually thinking about heading to the West Coast before going to the Midwest Territories. What do you think?”

“I know you are getting antsy, but shouldn’t you go from East to West?”

“Normally I would but something in my gut is telling me to go to the West Coast.”

“Well, if you are feeling so strong about it than I think you should do it.”

“Thanks Dad. I am going to do some laundry today so that everything before I head out tomorrow.”

There was a knock at the door. I turned to dad and asked, “Are you expecting anyone?”

“Not that I know of. Let me go see who that is. Maybe it’s one of your friends that wants to see you before you head ut.” Dad headed toward the front door to find out who our unexpected guest was.

“Hey Mr. Collins, is Tim home?” came a female voice.

I recognized that voice immediately. In fact, I would know Stephanie Lewis’s voice no matter where I heard it. She was a she wolf who couldn’t take “no” for an answer.

“Yes, Tim is home but he’s busy at the moment. I‘ll tell him that you stopped by,” My father moved to prevent Stephanie from trying to come in like she had last time.

“Oh, okay.” There was a pause and you could hear the dejection in her voice when she spoke to my father again. “That would be great Mr. Collins.”

“Son, that girl is not going to give up until she finds her mate. You would think that she would go out and look for him, instead of knocking on our door knowing that you aren’t her mate,” he said when he came back into the kitchen.

“I know, Dad. I have told her several times that I am not interested in her or any female for that matter. She just won’t accept the fact that I am gay and she does nothing for me.”