The Reincarnated (Book 2A of Wolfcreek Series)

Chapter 26

My father walked behind me and rested his hand on my back. He didn't say a word while I kept hugging my mother and rubbed it, also giving me the comfort that I craved.

Even though there was someone else's comfort that I craved more than theirs...

My father cleared his throat and patted my back before he took a step back. "Come on, let's go inside," he said, his voice soft yet firm. "We have been standing around for long enough."

I took a deep, shuddering breath and nodded before I pulled away from my mother. "Ok," I said, my voice barely above a whisper, and I wiped my eyes with the palm of my hand. I cleared my throat and licked my lips before I looked at my parents to see them staring at me with the same sad smile that I did not like.

It looked like they knew that something that was hidden from me, something that I get from them often, more now, especially since we moved to this city and close to a place where I had belonged to once before.

My mother took my hand in hers and squeezed it reassuringly before she looked at her husband with eyes full of love and joy. "Come on, Hal," she said and gestured for him to start moving. "Lead the way while we stay behind and follow you later."

My father made a face and grumbled, and I couldn't help but smile at the two of them, amused. He reached over and took my mother in his arms, and she let go of my hand with a laugh. He placed a kiss on her lips, and I gagged and rolled my eyes at their public display of affection.

Mom laughed and kissed him back before she pulled away. "Now, now," she teased. "Let's get inside before your friend decides to send someone out here to fetch us."

I bit back a snort and shook my head, even though I had a small feeling that whoever they were talking about would, in fact, send someone to fetch us and could come out any minute just to see what was going on and taking us so long to get into the building.

My father grumbled and picked my mother up by the waist against her protests and started to walk towards the entrance with her laughing and clinging onto him as if she was afraid that he would drop her.

I smiled while I watched them and trailed after them because I didn't want to be left behind.

My heart yearned to have a romance like theirs, someone that would look at me the way that he looked at her as if she was the most beautiful woman in the world and who would always take his breath away even without her trying.

It craved to be in someone's arms and was searching for its missing half daily to no avail.

An image of my blue eyed wolf appeared in my mind, and my heart longed to be near him and let him treat me the way that I was supposed to be treated but no longer was.

His heart was what my heart was searching for; I knew it. I could feel it deep in my bones, and the urge to turn tail and run in the opposite direction until I was able to find him again was strong, but I kept to the path that I was taking and followed my parents into the building that looked just the same as it had once upon a different life.

The dining room was cozy and bright, something that felt family owned and operated, which I knew was the case.

Half of the building had an open floor plan in which there was a mixture of long and short tables placed together with enough space for people to move around and walk through. The other half of the building had a long black wall stretching from the front to the back of the shop in which the area was more private for those who wanted to go on dates there or needed to discuss with someone privately.

A light blush appeared on my cheeks, and I quickly looked away from that area, feeling giddy, happy, and yet sad and guilty as if the last time that I... well... Cassandra... had been there wasn't that good of a memory.