"Ah! Finally!" Theo said excitedly as he dropped his bag by the front door of my parent's beach house. I watched him as he kicked off his shoes and jumped on the couch. He picked up the remote from the table in front of him and turned on the flat screen.

"Don't get too comfortable," I said heading into the kitchen. "We're going to have to head into town and buy some food."

I looked inside the fridge, the walk in pantry, and a couple of cabinets above the electric stove. All we had were stale almonds, a couple boxes of tea, and a few spices to cook with. I grabbed a couple glasses and turned on the sink faucet on. I took a large gulp from my own glass once it was filled before carefully heading back into the main room. The floors shifted from tile to carpet and the couch Theo was sitting on was made of suede. The other couch and chairs were made of normal fabric, but this one face the T.V. I handed him his drink before sitting beside him.

"Thanks," he said not looking away from the screen. "Hey, how come there are barely any channels?" He flipped to a couple more blank stations before giving up and just turning the whole thing off.

"Because the whole point of this place is to escape." I said the last bit with unenthusiastic jazz hands. Theo took a sip of his drink and grumbled.

"Come on," I said lightly hitting his knee. "Let's go buy some food, make an awesome dinner, and get drunk on the beach."

Theo pouted. "Do we have to make dinner? We've been driving for hours, can't we just go out to eat?" When I didn't say anything he tried again. "We just graduated we should be celebrating not working!" Theo turned to face me. Brown eyes looked at me eagerly. "Please, we will never be able to hang out like this again."

I shook my head, but didn't try to hide the grin that played on my lips. "...Fine."

"Yes!" Theo said jumping up from the couch. I almost growled at him for nearly spilling his glass. "Oh, relax nerd." He said sensing my shift in mood. "Where should we go?!" He started putting his shoes back on.

That was Theo for you. One minute he was ready to be a couch potato the next, he was a little fire cracker ready for the next big adventure. He was right too. After the summer ended, I would be working for my parents and Theo will be moving to the city for his internship. Theo had been my best friend since third grade and my parents knew things were going to be different. That's why they gave us the beach house.

"There's this really nice South African restaurant I've been going to with my parents since it opened. You'd like it, they have rabbit stew." I grinned. Every full moon, the first thing Theo does after he shifts is hunts and eats a rabbit.

"Wait, what? Really?!" Theo said, his heart beating a little faster. "Well then what are we still doing here? Let's go!"

Theo leaves the house first and I follow behind him, making sure the door is locked first. I turned away from the house and something orange caught my attention. It was a bright orange flame of fur and claws. He was stark contrast to the grey stone wall that separated my house from my neighbors. His green eyes pierced mine before he jumped off the ledge smoothly and turned right on the gravel road. For a moment, my lungs were suddenly filled with water and my throat was clogged.

Then, Theo smashed his hand on the horn of his car and it brought me back to reality. "Come on Jonah! I'm hungry!"

I ran the ten feet to the car and we backed out of the driveway, turning left toward town and away from the beach.

~*****~

Theo loved the rabbit stew. He ate it up too quickly and then complained when it was all gone. I gave him one of my skews of chicken shish kabob and we split the bill. After dinner, we drove around town and I showed Theo some cool spots. We had a drive in movie theater, three souvenir shops, a used book store (my favorite place to be), and a general store. There were also a few restaurants and other small businesses scattered around town, but the main attraction was the beach. On full moons, some parts of the beach were rented out and off limits to the public, but usually everyone just ran along the coast until an Alpha told them to back off.

After we got back to the house, I started to put away the groceries we bought at the general store and Theo only helped until he found the beer. His can opened with a classic snap as pressure was released and my ears twitched at the sound. Theo could hear the extra beat my heart made and tossed me a can. I nearly dropped it and scowled at the other boy.

"Oh would you relax?!" He said rolling his eyes.

"No." I responded. "If the can had fallen on the floor and burst, my parents would have my head mounted on the wall and you'd be watching that instead of the T.V. next summer."

"You're parents would still invite me back even if you were dead? Sweet." Theo Grinned.

"Shut up," I said opening my drink and taking a long sip. I finished putting away the groceries while Theo finished his drink. He then went to change for the beach and I soon did the same.

The sun was setting and we both decided that our first night on vacation should be watching the last rays of light go down with our toes in the sand. Theo would probably then want to shift which I wouldn't be opposed to doing since my street had its own "private" section of the beach. Nobody really enforced the privacy rule where we stayed so lots of people plotted their beach towels and umbrellas in our section during the day, but at night there would only be a few scattered campfires.

Our plans quickly changed after we had turned right on the main road and walked down the private beach stairs.

Theo smelt something sweet. This meant that a potential mate was near by. To Theo, this meant his next hook up was near by. Once, when we were in high school, Theo explained his whole idea on mates.

He said, "If it's a potential bond, I'd never date them. Sure, they smell nice, but that's all they have going for them."

"I hope you don't feel the same way about a fated pair." I said as we walked down the hall toward history class.

"Probably." Theo shrugged and my jaw dropped. Fated Pairs weren't like potential bonds. A person only ever encounters a handful of Fated Pairs. The attraction between the couple involved is much stronger and most people marry their first or second Fated Pair. "I bet you the sex is way better though."

"You can't be serious." I said, my mouth still agape.

"I am." He said genuinely. "The only person who will ever have my heart is my destiny mate." Theo said with a firm head nod.

"You and me both, brother." I said giving him a small shoulder bump. The only difference between me and Theo was, he had a choice. Omegas never had a choice. The class bell rang and we missed history to go exploring instead.

~***~