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Second time lucky?

Peters POV

I don’t know how Felicia got Braon home, he is a very large dog, and he didn’t want to leave the park. I know I wasn’t any help, our mate was there and we missed her.

It has been days since then, and I am still second guessing Braon, trying to figure out if events might have turned out differently if I had been at the park, not him. Who am I fooling? My sense of smell isn’t as epic as Braon’s, I probably wouldn’t have even realised she was there.

Looking in the mirror, I assess my appearance... my eyes are sunken, from lack of sleep, I look gaunt, draw, and most frustratingly I don’t know what to do.

‘Peter, are you still in the bathroom?’ Felicia yells upstairs.

I splash cold water on my face and grab a plain t-shirt to pair with the black jeans I am wearing.

‘Yeah, give me a moment, just coming’ I reply.

Downstairs, I join Felicia in the large airy kitchen of our rented house, at a raised breakfast bar.

She looks at me as I enter, ‘Still not sleeping huh’

I run my hands through my black hair, and grab a slice of buttered toast from the counter, and pour myself a mug of coffee, there really is nothing to say to that statement.

‘It’s only been what 5 days, we will find her you know’

Five days of fruitless hunting, five days of returning to the same park, hunting for the same elusive scent, five nights of haunted sleep, dreams where I am chasing a faceless beauty who I can’t quite catch up with.

Of course I know Fel is right, but that doesn’t make it any easier, we have been hunting for my mate for twenty years. I have been running my pack remotely during that time, and I knew when we arrived here that this would have to be our last stop, we need to go home, and I need to be a proper leader for my people. But now I know she is in this city nothing, and I mean nothing, is going to stop me from finding her.

….

Some time later

I am circling the park yet again. No point in going over the ground Braon was lapping before he detected her, so I have circled the lake and have made it back to the bridle path where I had found her scent for the first time, when a couple of human joggers go past, and the wind, the Goddess and my heightened hearing finally give me a clue to finding her.

‘I got a good time on Saturday,’ the taller one said to his companion. ‘Just under 25 minutes, my best time this year’

‘Well done,'' his companion replied. ‘This Saturday I earn my 50 t-shirt. Fifty ParkRuns, 3 stone lost, and I still can’t break the 30 minute barrier. Maybe this weekend I will do it, although this course is tough in the rain, and the forecast isn’t looking great.’

‘Fifty is a good streak, I am working on my hundred, but still got nearly thirty to go’

The voices fade off into the distance discussing numbers and t-shirts. Total babble, then realisation hits me, there is an organised event here on Saturdays and my mate was taking part, which means there is every chance she will be back again this Saturday.

Braon howls in delight, we have two days to find out what ParkRun is and get ready to meet our mate.

….

I burst through the front door a bundle of pent up energy.

‘Fel where are you?’ I demand. ‘I have a lead’

Fel shakes her head at me and I relay the conversation I overheard in the park. Then we research ParkRun, a volunteer-led 5k run that happens in parks worldwide, which means it doesn’t just happen in that park, my mate might go to a different one, she might be a ‘tourist’... Fear fills my heart again, and I quickly damp it down, no point in creating problems before they happen.

I review the list of names of individuals who finished last week, wondering which name is hers, tasting each name marked F, over 100 women finished last week, over a hundred possibilities for me to ponder. I register myself for a barcode to run this Saturday and shutdown the website so I can focus on pack business.

Most of the e-mails are straightforward and quick to deal with, one is mildly concerning, a 13 year old girl child has gone missing, but she is known for running away regularly over the last year, since her wolf came. My team will continue to look for her, all I can do is pray to the Goddess that she comes home safely.

….

Saturday morning dawns cool and drizzly.

I am up before the sun, haunting the kitchen as I wait for the clock to slowly click round to 8:15am and time to leave. I am dressed in shorts, a t-shirt and trainers. I take a jacket to appear normal, personally I have no issue regulating my temperature in this weather, but I am aware that humans do, and I need to blend in with the herd.

Finally it is time to leave, and I head off to the park, excited and fearful simultaneously, my entire future hangs in the balance.

Needless to say, I manage to arrive quite early. A small group is gathered around a lady in a hi-vis vest with a clipboard. She is talking to the group and handing out more hi-vis vests. I wander over in their general direction.

‘Mornin’ she smiles at me, ‘are you here to volunteer?’

I shake my head in response. ‘This is my first run’

‘No worries, the other runners will be turning up any time now, and I will be briefing you all in about 10 minutes. Have fun and enjoy your first ParkRun.’

Around me humans are gathering, wearing each clad in lycra and trainers, the entire rainbow represented in their attire.

My head, and my nose are on a swivel, looking for her, desperate to detect the unique silver-pink-sparkly scent Braon found, wondering how it will smell to me.

More and more people have arrived, and the lady who spoke to me earlier is calling for everyone’s attention.

While I can’t find her I recognise another scent from last week the green-gold-pink, or dogrose-bacon-cardamon as I would describe it, of my mate’s companion. I am barely listening to the marshall as I make my way through the crowd and over to where an average size human female is slouched.

On inspection I judge the girl to be in her late teens, maybe early twenties, so technically a woman, but quite young. She is slender, with short fluorescent pink hair and a ‘piss off and leave me alone’ vibe that can be felt at some distance. In normal circumstances I would respect the vibe, as my patience with most humans is limited, but she is my only lead, and I don’t want to leave empty handed.

Options run through my mind rapidly as to how to approach her without being threatening. I move forward then bend down to tie my lace, as I rise I wobble and accidentally knock into her.

‘I am so sorry’ I exclaim.

She grunts at me, mildly pissed off.

‘My balance is really off today, I don’t know what is wrong with me’ I continue.

Her eyes soften a bit. ‘Are you sure you are okay to run’ she asks.

‘I should be okay’, then I look at her and do a double take. ‘I am sure I saw you here last week… with another woman?’

‘Yeah, that would be my mum, she couldn’t make it this week’

‘Oh dear, that is unfortunate’ I respond woodenly, feeling for the next words to move our conversation in the right direction. ‘I hope she is okay … I’m Peter, Peter Bilavoda by the way, my sister and I have just moved into the area’

WHEEEE …. the airhorn marking the start of the run sounds, and we start moving towards the start line.

‘Hi Peter I’m Jo’ she says politely, then ‘She’s fine, should be here next week, she just got stuck with babysitting duty for my sister’

‘And your father does he run too’ my heart is in my mouth, my mate clearly has at least two children with another man. Who is he? Will I need to fight and defeat him for what is mine? I have searched too long for her to just give up, and the mate link is there, so she is still mine.

‘Nah that lowlife hasn’t been around for years,’ she looks at me knowingly. ‘And mum isn’t dating anyone …. her name is Emma by the way’

We cross the startline proper, and as the run starts in earnest Jo disappears into the mass of runners and I am left smiling as I whisper Emma quietly to myself.

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