Tyler knows that he shouldn’t have agreed to go out with Noah last night. Noah has kept giving him drink after drink and for some reason, Tyler isn’t arguing with him. However, this morning, Tyler’s head throbs as if the university’s whole marching band is inside his skull performing one for him. Not to mention, the dull ringing in his ears.
Tyler stumbles out of bed. If he couldn’t remember all the events from the previous night, he would swear that he has run a marathon instead of him clubbing.
Somehow, he manages to stagger his way to the bathroom and find some medicine. But his hands tremble as he drops a couple of pills in his hand that he almost drops them down the drain. He isn’t going to mention the fact that the room seems to be spinning or that everything is slightly fuzzy.
He has to go back to bed.
Noah is going to pay for this.
***
This morning has been a good morning. For once, some of the department heads have begun to send the proposals to me, like I have asked. Fai couldn’t believe it. She was so excited that she had to call me while I was headed over to the university.
However, my good morning quickly has turned bad, when I walk into my office and there isn’t a food box waiting for me. I have gotten so used to having these mysterious containers of food showing up that I have completely forgotten to buy myself anything for my meals over the last few weeks.
With a frown on my face, I turn back towards Fai’s desk and call out, “Fai, I forgot to get something for breakfast. Can you find me something to eat?”
Fai quickly pops her head into my office. “What? No food on your desk?”
I sigh and shake my head. “No.” As soon as the words escape my mouth, a tight pressure engulfs my heart. What is happening to me? It is just food containers every day and for every meal.
I turn back towards my desk. The bounce that I had when I came into my office is now gone. It practically takes all my effort for me to walk across my office to my desk. Instead of the smile that I had, it is now replaced with a frown.
How could one thing change my whole entire mood so fast?
***
BAM!
“I told you guys to send your proposals before hand, but that doesn’t mean a minute before our meeting! You are to give me the proposals at least a day before our weekly meeting!
Man! Do I have to spell it out for you all the time! I thought all the professors and staff here are smart!”
I don’t wait for anyone to say anything. Plus, I’m not in the mood anyway. If someone does try to say something, I’m sure that I’ll rip their head off. UGH!!!!
I stand up and grab my things off the conference room table. With steam coming out my ears and me grumbling under my breath, I march out of the conference room.
I don’t even wait, like I normally do, for Fai. I immediately march down the hallway back towards my office.
This whole day has gone down the drain. Not only did I not get breakfast, but my mysterious lady didn’t bring lunch either. I have had to break down and eat some food at the university cafeteria, which is no where close to the amazing food that my mystery lady sends me.
I don’t even want to think about supper. If she has missed breakfast and lunch, is she going to miss supper too?
Suddenly, a thought rushes into my mind. I hope that something didn’t happen to her. Is she sick? Or maybe she was in an accident and is the hospital?
No. I can’t think like that.
Fai runs and catches up to me. She catches my arm as I continue to march down the hall, and she slaps an apple into my hand. For the first time since I’ve met her, she hisses at me. “EAT THIS! You are starting to scare everyone!”
Well, I really don’t care about everyone. It is actually better if I scare them. They won’t try to flirt with me then.
I yank the apple to mouth and chomp hard into it. If only I could do something like this to make the staff and people understand that I’m not joking around and that I mean business. If my little outburst back in the conference room has any good side to it, I’m hoping that it will put a fire under everyone’s butt and that they will start following my new rules.
This isn’t the same university that it was under the previous Dean. I want to take this university to the next level, and I need everyone to follow the new rules to do that.
Silence falls over Fai and I while we head back to the administrative building. After several minutes, Fai tentatively asks, “Did you get any note for why your mysterious lunch lady stopped bringing you food?”
Just the thought of my mysterious lady stopping her daily meal boxes sends a wave of anger through my body. However, I don’t know why I should be this impacted by it.
I know that I love her food. It is her food that gives me a sense of home and of love, like someone cares for me like May used to do.
I growl and shake my head. “No. Nothing.”
She sighs. “I’ll make sure that you will have some kind of supper tonight.”
Once again, I shake my head. “Don’t bother. I’ll do what I used to do and get food from one of the restaurants close to my apartment when I leave. I used to do that every night before the food started appearing in front of me.”
Yeah, but the restaurant food isn’t as good as the mysterious lady’s food. However, I’ll just keep that little thought to myself.
Fai hums, “Okay. I won’t worry about your meal for tonight then. I’ll let you handle it, but make sure that you don’t skip it. I don’t want your health suffering because you aren’t getting your homecooked meals anymore.”
I slowly nod my head.
I guess I’m back to eating like I was when I first started this job. Ugh…
***
I don’t know why I picked this restaurant to order my food. It has been a little while since I have actually ordered any food from any of these restaurants. I had a system back then. I would order from the next place on the list each night.
However, this time, I have ordered from the same restaurant that actually screwed my order up, and I had to sit and wait for my order to be done. Ugh..
I walk into the restaurant and head towards the cashier. When the cashier looks up, I polite say, “I placed an order to go. Theo Hanson.”
The middle-aged woman smiles. “I’ll go back and check to see if it is done, sir.”
I nod and step back from the counter. I turn and slowly glance around the restaurant. Just like the last time that I was here, the two college students who I sat with are here again. However, I can’t remember their names.
I slowly make my way towards their table. I can tell by the way they are slouched over in their chairs that they aren’t feeling well.
I don’t know what comes over me as I walk up to the table and playfully tease, “Rough day? Or rough night?”
The one boy instantly sits up in his chair and chimes, “Hi, Dean Hanson. It was actually a rough night. Tyler and I are still hungover from last night. He was still laying in bed when I dragged him over here. I told him that he has to eat something.”
Oh, they went out partying. Now, I understand.
Tyler raises his finger at the other boy and softly hisses, “Noah, you were the one that kept making me drink more. I wanted to stop, but nooooo…. You wouldn’t let me. You know that I need to find a job. I have been in bed all day today and haven’t been able to do anything, include looking for a job.”
Noah lightly chuckles and waves his hand. “One day won’t kill you. You have been so busy working on your doctorate and then looking for a job. You needed to cut lose once in a while. Don’t even get me started in on you cooking all the time and not giving me any.”
Our conversation is interrupted by the lady cashier. “Sir, here is your order.”
I take it from her. “Thank you.”
I turn back to the table and say, “I’m sure that you will start to feel better soon. The food will help.”
Tyler doesn’t really move much, but he does nod his head. It doesn’t take a genius to know that he isn’t feeling well at all. I have a hunch that it isn’t all about the hangover. By now, he should start to be feeling better, but if he can’t hardly move, I think that he is actually sick. The hangover may just have helped to speed his illness along.
Noah smiles and waves. “Bye, Dean Hanson. Maybe, we will see you around.”
I wave and chime, “Bye.” I can’t help myself to glance back at Tyler one more time before I turn and walk out of the restaurant.
I hope tomorrow will be better and that my mysterious food deliveries are back. I know that I can get my own food, but I love the food lady’s food.
As I think about the delicious food, my wolf begins to slowly wag his tail. I think he likes her food too.
I need to figure out a way to be able to catch her in the act. I still haven’t figured out how she has been able to get into my office without me knowing.
It has been several days now and I’m not getting better. To be honest, I’m actually getting worse. My body aches, and I’m cold even with multiple blankets covering me. I can’t hardly get out of my bed on my own to go to the bathroom. There is no way that I can even think about going to a restaurant to buy myself a meal.However, even if I could drag my feet out of my apartment in the hunt for some food, I’m not hungry. Everything tastes bland. Nothing even sounds good.I shiver under the blankets as the soft click of a door shutting drifts into my room.My eyes drift across the room towards the window. However, instead of sunlight spilling through the glass, darkness is the only thing that I can see.What time is it?My eyes slowly drift back to my nightstand and my phone. I want to reach out and check the time, but I also don’t want the cold
I bolt through the trees and around some boulders. With each stride, I pound the ground a little harder.The wind whips through my fur as my claws dig into the ground. This is long overdue. I should have found a way to get out to the timber sooner and run for a bit. I wish that the timber around this university could be as expansive as the timber around SM University or even my pack. However, I can’t complain. I have to make by with what I’ve got.I still don’t know why I’m so upset and irritated. What I do know is that it has been a couple of days that the mysterious food lady has stopped bringing me food. To be exact, it has been 5 days. That is almost a week!Where is she?If she has decided to stop bringing me food, she should have given me a note the last time that she snuck food into my office. But she hasn’t brought me anything. No food. 
What has it been now? Almost two weeks.I’m starting to get really worried. I think something must have happened to my mystery food lady. My wolf now is constantly curled up in the corner of my mind whimpering, and I have finally come to the conclusion that this mystery lady is my second mate. No matter how much I don’t want to admit it, my wolf knows already that she is our mate. The thing that I can’t believe is that I still haven’t seen her, but I know that she is my mate.With me finally admitting that she is my mate, I have been able to get past my anger a little bit. I’m still not completely back to my normal cold self, but at least, I’m not biting people’s heads off now.Now, my overwhelming desire is to have my mate (yes, I’m calling her my mate) to come back to me. I don’t even know what she looks like, but I need her back. Now.
My hesitation immediately lets Wyatt know that I did find something. He quickly shouts, “OMG! You aren’t saying anything! That can only mean that you did find something!”At this moment, I wish that I’m actually talking to Wyatt on the phone instead of through the mind link. I could pull the phone away from my ear. However, I can’t do anything to block his loud voice as my head begins to throb.I huff, “Did you have to yell? UGH!! My head is throbbing now.”I walk back into my apartment with the empty beer bottles in my hand while I lightly shake my head trying to get rid of the dull throb.In a softer voice, Wyatt asks, “Well, did you find your second mate?”I walk into the kitchen and set the beer bottles on the container. I guess that even though I don’t want to tell Wyatt about this yet, I don’t have a choice. He a
I peak around the corner and watch the Dean as he stands frozen just inside his office door. Without seeing his face, I already know that he is happy. Shoot, I’m happy that I can finally move around. Granted, I’m not back to being 100% normal, but I still have managed to get up early this morning and fix the Dean breakfast.Besides Noah, Mint has been nursing me back to health. She knew something is off when I didn’t bring food in for the Dean several days in a row.It is a good thing that she had checked up on me back then. Noah was helping, but he didn’t help as much as Mint did to get me back up and healthy again. At the time, I was almost ready to call an ambulance and go to the hospital. However, with Mint’s help, I was able to stay at home and nurse myself back to health.What also has helped me to recover is the thought that the Dean isn’t getting any homecooke
She is back. She is really back.I’m so excited.I stare down at my lunchbox on my desk with the biggest smile that I’ve ever had on my face. I knew in the back of my mind that she didn’t leave me. But that can only mean one thing. She was gone or out of town for a while, or she has been ill this whole entire time. My gut is telling me that she was sick. I don’t know how I know, but I’m sure that she would have left me a note letting me know that she needs to go out of town for a few days, which I never got.If I had only known who she is, I would have gone to her place and helped her recover. Even now, that I’m excited to have her food again, I still can’t get rid of this underlying feeling that she is still not feeling the best. I don’t know why either, but I do. My wolf is wagging his tail and prancing around at the sight of the food, but
With everything happening these past few weeks, or you can say months, I can’t help but to feel guilty towards May. Part of me knows that she would want me to move on, and if the Moon Goddess has decided that I need another mate, May would be the first person to tell me to accept what the Moon Goddess has given me. However, there is another part of me which loves my late wife so much and doesn’t want to move on. I don’t know how Wyatt is handling this. I’m sure he has gone through some of these same feelings. How did he handle it? I glance down at the photo album in my hands. This is the only thing that I brought with me that has May and Matt in it. I wasn’t going to bring anything, but at the last minute, I just couldn’t come here without something for times like this when I really miss them. My hand trembles slightly as I open the cover. I haven’t looked through this photo album in a long time. Whe
I tentatively sit down in a chair in the conference room at the university’s administrative building. I’m still not feeling the greatest, but I’m feeling well enough to make this appointment. Plus, I don’t think that anything could stop me from coming to this interview. I slowly glance around the room as my fingers fidget while I try to rest my hands on my lap. A slight chill rushes through my body, but I’m not going to leave. As soon as Mint has told me about the job opening, I want it. No. I don’t just want it. I need to get this job. Not only will it allow me to have access to the Dean’s office, so I wouldn’t have to sneak the food to Mint anymore, but I can also see the Dean’s face every day. Mint keeps telling me that the Dean smiles every time he sees the food container. I want to see if for myself. I want to know that it makes him happy. The bonus is that I wouldn’t have to