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Three.

Trigger Warning: chapter discusses suicide and mental health issues.

"Calum, please." His Mother called, as she frantically followed him out of the house. "You have to stop this, it's not healthy." She pleaded, running out onto the road after her son.

Calum sighed loudly, as he swung his leg over the saddle of his bike. Without answering her he turned the engine on and pushed the throttle forward, intending to take off along the road. He knew she was worried, and he hated it. But still, he had to go back. His mate had to be somewhere, it just wasn't possible that she could disappear without a trace. He would find her somehow, he had to.

But, before the bike had even moved completely off the kick stand, Calum found he was slamming his hands onto the brakes and releasing the throttle. His mother had jumped in front of him, putting both her hands on the handlebars, daring him to even try and escape her.

"Mum, please, just get out of the way." He sighed, pleading with her. "I have to go."

"No." Maria Macgregor replied stubbornly, clenching her jaw tightly in her determination to make her son see sense.

Calum sighed, and killed his engine. Putting the bikes weight back on its stand and dismounting, he moved to the front to calm his fraught mother.

"I have to go, Mum. I have to find her." He tried to explain, pulling her away from the bike to give her a hug, as he did so. "I don't have a choice."

"Calum, you are my son." She sighed, pulling him close. "You're father is gone now, he cant protect you anymore, and your Uncle Colin is intent on still marrying you off to procreate. Stop pushing his buttons, by disappearing for weeks at a time to look for a ghost." She paused to pull back and look at him. "My boy, she is gone, and I am sorry for you, truly. I don't know why fate has treated you this way, and twice over. But, we must keep going. You know your duty to the clan." She reasoned desperately with him, begging him to understand.

"I can't Mum. Until I see her body, or her grave, I won't believe she is dead. I can't. And tell Uncle Colin he can bloody piss off! I won't marry anyone but my mate, I can't. It was over the moment I caught her scent." He explained to her, before swiftly stepping away, jumping on his bike and speeding off in one smooth movement, before his Mum could stop him again.

Calum drove at dangerously high speeds down the winding roads. The biting force of the wind blasting his face made his eyes sting, he didn't bother with a helmet now, and his Mum had long given up trying to make him wear one. Calum was clearly of the opinion, as a cat he would land on his feet should there be an accident.

His motorbike was his first ticket to freedom when he was younger, and now he was so attached to it, it had become like an extra limb to him. His love of bikes came from his father, who much to his Mother's horror, gave him his first bike at seventeen. His father knew what his elder brother, and Calum's Uncle was planning, a mating to Amy Mackay a wildcat from the north. But, Amy although betrothed, had other ideas when the time came it turned out.

But, at the time Calum's heart was a wondering one, and his recently late father knew this. So, he gave him the ability to do just that, to wonder and explore, the way he had always dreamt of. Calum dropped out of school the following month, and spent five years on the road. He toured the UK, and most of Europe in that time, picking up small jobs here and there to pay for his fuel and the odd nights accommodation. All of his life was done, much to his Uncle Colin's disgust.

But at twenty six, he was ordered home from his trip to Queensland. It was apparently time he settled down, got married and started working on the future of the Macgregor clan. To be fair, he did get along with Amy well enough he supposed, the time they spent together was never negative in any sort of way, but neither was it particularly positive either. Now he would describe it as comfortable, they could co-exist comfortably together, at least he thought they could.

Only one day when he went to pick up Amy for dinner, a month before their wedding, she wasn't answering the door. The door was unlocked when he tried to open it, and he allowed himself in. He could smell her, but she smelled wrong somehow. When he found her though, he instantly knew what was wrong. Amy was lying in bed, she looked almost like she was sleeping, with her auburn curls, splayed out around her freckled face. But, the three empty bottles of vodka that were on her pale green bedside table, with an empty box of prescription sleeping pills said otherwise. He had dialled nine-nine-nine, and started chest compressions immediately, but it was too late. Amy was gone.

He later found out, about her depression, the pressure from their upcoming marriage and mating had been too much for her. She had never wanted it, and decided to take the only way out of the trap she felt she was in, that she could. Their stupid, and in his opinion outdated and ridiculous culture had cost this lovely women her life.

That was almost three years ago now, and on the second anniversary of its occurrence, his friends booked a touring get away to Ireland, where they would bike around the coast, spending each night in a different place. So, he gratefully moored up his fishing boat for the week, and went to explore the Country of Northern Ireland, where he found much more than he bargained for.

So, now, Calum was heading South, down towards Cairnryan, a small village where he would board the ferry to Ireland, and then he would take up his search for his true mate again.

It had been over eight months since he watched his true mate jump into the sea. Eight excruciating months where he had cursed himself over and over again, for his second guessing, and for going to buy her flowers at the local town shop, only to discover there weren't any there at that time of year. Why he hadn't just ran straight to her, and grabbed on tightly pulling her into his arms, he would never know now. He was so desperate to make a good impression on her. To not put too much pressure on her, pressure Amy had suffered.

But, by the time he returned, he made it to the cliff edge just in time, to see her launch herself into the water. He made out her body being thrown viciously about, as her friend jumped in after her. But when he got down there himself, there was no trace of either of them. Not in the water or anywhere around. He dived in to search for them, he had always been an exceptionally strong swimmer, but the water was too rough and he had to haul himself back out quite quickly.

The only proof he wasn't insane was when he returned to his bike to call the coast guard with his phone - which he stupidly left on his bike - was the little car that was still sat there parked, and waiting to be driven away.

He was there standing by that car for two days, before his friends finally found him. They struggled to get him to leave, and in the end it was Alasdair, his so called best friend who knocked him out, so he could be dragged away. When he woke up in their hotel he beat Alasdair Dougal to a pulp before making his way back to the Giant's Causeway, but by the time he had, the little car was gone. It had vanished completely. He tore the roads up on his bike for days looking for that car, or any evidence of it. But, he never found it.

After a week, the coastguard very apologetically called off the search, and in time everyone went back to normal. Everyone except, Calum that is. Calum developed a new normal. He started renting a small flat in Northern Ireland, and then he bought another boat, a Mitchel Sea Angler, equipped for diving. Next, he got his diving certificates, and started hunting for his mate himself. Exploring more of the seabed around Northern Ireland than any cat ever should.

He spent most of his time there now, looking for the black haired woman who jumped into the sea. He was only ever at home for a week at a time, sometimes months apart. He wasn't there when his father died suddenly, but he did managed to return for the funeral. But, the day after, he left again, determined he would find his mate. It drove his entire family wild, but he couldn't help it. He had to find her.

So many people tried telling him she was dead, that he should move on, and it was probably that very reason, he stopped his underwater searches. He didn't want to give any credit to their opinions. So, he cruised around the Irish coast, praying for a glimpse of the woman he was determined to claim. If he wasn't at sea he was biking around the coastal towns and villages. Desperately seeking her out, asking everyone he met of they had seen her.

He would find her. He had to, there was simply no other option for him.

When he was just over a year into his search, he even met an interesting wolf briefly. A man who was also looking for a lost mate.

*Author's Note: I am so sorry with how long this update has taken. Life has been a bit busy. Between trips to Loch Ness to buy trucks (5 hours of driving) - Nope, Maeve wasn't in residence today...;-) Then today I had to take the puppy to the vet, and tomorrow we have guests coming up, plus change overs at the holiday rental... life has been hectic. Anyway, here it is and I hope you enjoy it. What do you think of the time Calum has been having? *

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