In the Shadows of the Past (MXM)

Always Callum

Chapter 11 - Past - Richard

"Here... You like their coffee, don't you, Ray?" As if it was no big deal, the young man mentioned placing the cup before his friend, who was too busy reading something from his part-time job that he didn't want to share with Callum.

But despite that, he allowed his eyes to meet the beautiful blue ones before he thanked the other guy.

"I didn't know you remembered that." And with a remnant of hope present in his voice, Richard eventually told him, after all, that was not a place they frequented much, and the young Alpha had only mentioned it once before...

 ... A quite long ago...

"Who do you think I am? Of course, I remember the things my best friend tells me." Yet like a big bucket of cold water, such words from Callum reminded the wolf about what his position in the Human's life was.

He was just that... Just his friend. His best friend and nothing more or less than that as he swallowed the bitter reality.

"Of course, I may not be as smartest as Juliana to get a full scholarship to college with my grades alone, but this doesn't change the fact that I'm not that dumb, and I know you very well." Without understanding the feelings of the person he claimed to know so well, Cal continued to tell his friend.

And even though he really wanted to disagree with that, Ray didn't... He just put another fake smile on his face, one that he was more than used to do since last year when he found out who Calum was to him... 

"Yeah, man. You're right, but I wouldn't be so confident yet if I were you, or not until you get the admission letter from some college."

"Damn, Ray! That hurt!" Throwing his pencil case at Richard, Cal pretended to be in pain before the two began to laugh, drawing stares from everyone in the Cafe as the two teenagers began to study, having a few more friends join them later.

One of them being Juliana herself, who made the painful feelings return to the young Alpha's eyes as he saw how his other half pulled her onto his lap before their attention went to the book before them.

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"Oh, Goddess... What the heck am I doing?" Along with a heavy sigh, I eventually asked myself after my eyes met with an old photo taken in my senior year of high school.

... I, Callum, and Juliana were present along with several other friends in it...

Those were not the most pleasant years I had ever lived in my young mind, but still, I didn't seem to be able to put away the item that caused different emotions in my chest... And which, as years went by, become just a bittersweet memory in my old self.

... Thus, my dilemma wasn't about the photo I had seen, but about two special people who were present in it...

Making me think that perhaps I would prefer to go back to those years when everything was much simpler if I could keep this pain only to myself.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"You may come in." Removing the hands from my face, I eventually replied as my mind returned to my harsh reality after speaking to my son.

"... Did you want to talk to me, Alpha?" Putting only his head through the door, Dr. Park asked me, almost as if he was afraid I would pull it out from his body if he were wrong.

"Yes, doc. I wanted to take some questions with you about my Mate's condition." Immediately informing him of why I had called him, this seemed to calm down the Korean man who wasn't originally a member of our Pack.

... The doctor Young-Soo Park had joined us about eight- No, nine years ago when I realized that it would be better to have someone who understood better about cases similar to Callum's rather than Coleman's doctors to treat him.

After all, of the three others we had, two were Human doctors who were transformed into Werewolves when our Pack was born, and one of them was just the other's assistant at the time. And the third...

Although newly graduated at the time of Cal's accident, she didn't have enough knowledge to deal with Supernatural beings then. And if it wasn't enough, the situation was even more complicated as no one else knew said what my Mate was anymore around six months after I saved him...

Basically, they did the best they could with their knowledge so far, but in the end, someone like Doctor Park was really needed in our land, even if the man who was a little younger than me was still afraid of me after all these years.

"In this case... How can I help you, Alpha?" Closing the door, it was more than evident that he was in his work mode now, waiting for my questions.

"Liam told me that Callum ended up shifting again... Into his Werewolf self this time, and I just wanted to understand, how is it even possible?" Being honest with him, I shared my doubts as I would do only with an old friend. "I mean... Shouldn't he be weak now? Based on everything I've read over the past few years, I would expect that it could take weeks for him to do simple things like eating or walk by himself again."

"You're right, Alpha. In an ordinary situation, this would not be a strange thing to happen, besides other things." Sitting comfortably in front of me now, he replied. "However, I mus ]t say to you sir that your Mate is not one of them. Turned patients who stay in a coma for more than a few days usually end up passing away within a few months after it. The longest case I've ever heard about lasted only two years, in which the help of Sorcerers was crucial for them to have hope that the patient would wake up despite so long has passed, but..."

"But that didn't work out no matter what they did in the end..." 

"Yes, sir. You're right; it didn't."

... And all that again proved once more to me about how unique Callum's situation was.