Waindale

“Oh, Wrenley, you’re home. I thought you’d be back later than this. Oh! Also, I found your mother’s old yearbook.” Grandma grabs the thick book off of the dining table and flips to a page she had marked. She points to a small picture of a guy. “That’s him. He’s your mother’s first love. John Aymon.”

I glance at the image for a second before hurriedly taking off my shoes and bag and jacket. “Grandma, where’s mom? She wasn’t on the porch working.”

“Why, she’s gone to the grocery store to pick up a few things.” I think for a moment before stepping back into my shoes and tugging my jacket back on. “Where are you going, dear?” Grandma asks.

“I’m going to go find her.”

“I’m sure she’ll be home soon. Just wait here and I’ll make you a snack.”

I shake my head. “Sorry, Grandma. This can’t wait.”

I leave through the front door as I button up my jacket. Grandma calls after me but I continue down the path and onto the street. It starts to rain, and I curse inwardly for forgetting an umbrella yet again, but there’s no time to turn back. I don’t know how long I have before the news spreads to Adam that the soon-to-be Alpha has a mate who is, get this, a human!

I run across the street when I reach the town center, causing cars to abruptly stop and honk their horns. Of course now there are cars on these roads, right when I’m trying to find my mother; right when I’m trying to break down and admit that I was wrong. My wet hair clings to my frozen cheeks and my legs tiredly carry me to the market. A few people give me looks as I rush into the store, frantically searching for her dark, wavy hair or loud red coat. I peer down aisle after aisle until I catch sight of her. She’s taking in the colorful cartooned cereal boxes, not sure of which one she wants to try now. We used to do that together, before Waindale. We’d try cereal and mutually hate it. Things were simple back then.

"Mom,” I call.

Her eyes shoot to me, having a hard time processing my presence. “Wrenley? Why aren’t you at school? What are you doing? You’re soaked!”

“W-We have to leave. We have to go home.”

“What are you talking about?”

I swipe the hairs from my face. “We have to leave Waindale right now. Pack what we need and go. Just go home. Please!”

She grabs my shoulder and pulls my drenched jacket off of me. “Okay, relax, Kid. You’re causing a scene. What happened? Tell me right now what you did.”

“I can’t. I can’t say. Just—you have to trust me, please.”

“Wren, I’m not joking around. I’m serious. Tell me what you did. Now. Is someone after you? Do we need to call the police? Did you do something illegal?”

I shake my head. “I made a mistake. I should have never gone through with any of it.”

“Any of what? Wren, come on. Please, just tell me. You’re starting to scare me.”

“You’ll never believe me. You’ll never believe me if I tell you.”

My mom, growing frustrated, leaves her shopping cart and takes me outside of the store. We stand alone under the awning, rain beating down on it above us. She grabs my shoulders and stares into my eyes. “I’ll ask you one more time. What happened?”

“I went to school and these people were nice to me. Vivianne and Imogen and Eli. I wanted to be friends with them, but I knew something was off about them.”

“Vivianne? Tali’s daughter?”

I nod. “I kept trying to figure it out. I was getting paranoid. Things were watching me from the woods. Then one day Vivianne showed me.”

“Showed you? What, Wren? Showed you what?”

I swallow. “What she is.”

My mother lets go. “What do you mean?”

“She transforms into a giant wolf.”

“Is this a joke? Are you kidding me, Kid? You came in and caused a scene to—”

“Just listen,” I interrupt. “Vivianne is a werewolf, or a shifter, or whatever. They all are. A tenth of the town is. They live in a pack and—and they have an Alpha, like their leader. Their Alpha was watching me from the woods. There was something about him that I was drawn to. It’s hard to explain, just listen. His name is Adam. We’ve been bonded to one another. We’re what they call mates. But I’m not one of them, I’m human, so it’s caused this whole problem. First, we were going to try and break the bond somehow, but there really isn’t a way to actually break it. So, we were just seeing where things went. He wanted me to transfer to the academy because that’s where all the shifter people go to school. The problem is that no one is supposed to know that we’re mates because an Alpha just can’t be mated to a human because an Alpha is supposed to have a Luna to lead with him. I was supposed to keep it a secret from everyone at the Academy but people started asking questions about why I was there. Then Vivianne yelled at me during lunch. She kinda lost it. She said very loudly that I shouldn’t be mated to Adam. Everyone there heard her say this.”

My mom stares at me with her mouth open.

“Soon he’s going to find out that everyone knows. That’s why we have to go. I don’t know what he’s going to do. No one was supposed to know about me. Understand? So we have to leave. Now.”

My mom straightens up and looks over the parking lot. “Uh, Wren, I’m not sure what to say. Is it drugs? Did Vivianne give you drugs?”

“No, mom! What I said is the truth! I told you that you wouldn’t believe me. I-I-I have to go. I’ll go alone then.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” she says and grabs my arm. “What did you take? Something bad? Something with needles?”

I groan and yank my arm from her. “If you don’t believe me then go to Tali. Drive to her house right now and ask her. Ask her if she’s one of them because she is!”

My mom lets out a long breath before striding to her car. I follow along and get in the passenger seat, my heart racing like never before. I can’t believe I told her.

The entire drive she’s mumbling about drugs. Thankfully Vivianne’s house isn’t far, so I don’t have to wait for long until I get to show her the truth. There are things on this earth that we believed to be myths, but they aren’t. These things have been right in front of us our whole lives.

She parks abruptly and gets out, shuttling the door swiftly behind her. I shrug on my damp jacket and hurry to keep up as she heads for the front door. The bell is rung four times. The door opens and I’m met with Vivianne’s face.

“Where’s your mother?” My mom asks sternly.

Vivianne looks to me as if the grim reaper is hunched before her and not us. “Wrenley, you didn’t,” she breathes.

“Tali!” I mom calls into the house.

Soon Tali appears behind her daughter. “Rachel, hi. What’s going on? Is everything all right?”

"Well,” my mom dramatizes, her hand gripped on the doorway, “I’m just wondering why my daughter is ranting about people that transform into werewolves. Telling me all of this stuff, and why we have to leave Waindale immediately.”

Tali looks down to her daughter then back to us, her face pin straight. “Get inside. Everyone. Now.”

Tali sits my mother down with us on the couch, ignoring her rambling about their kids doing drugs. She stands in front of us and first turns to her daughter. “Vivianne. Explain.”

Vivianne looks to her lap. “I was put in charge of Wrenley by Adam.”

“And why would Adam do that?”

“Because Wrenley is his mate,” she says and Tali’s gaze lands on me.

“Is that true?” She asks me. “You’re mated to Adam?”

I nod, not saying a word.

“No one was supposed to find out about them being mates. My friends and I were supposed to look after Wrenley, keep her safe and from doing stupid things, but eventually she found out about us because I revealed myself to her,” Vivianne continues. Tali brings her hand to her chest, not believing what her daughter is capable of. “I know, it was a mistake, but she had to find out. She had to find out about Adam and their connection, so I did it. He was going to her anyway; she was seeing him in his shifted form.”

My mother speaks up. “Tali, you’re telling me that this is real? Vivianne is a—you’re a—”

Tali nods. “I kept it from you for all these years. My family, we’re shifters. We shift into wolves.”

My mother leans back against the couch then points to me. “And my daughter? What about her? Why is she a part of this?”

“Our kind has a special way of finding life partners. We are bonded to one other person, a soul bond that we believe is given to us from the moon goddess. Your daughter has been bonded to the soon-to-be Alpha of our pack. This is highly usual as we are meant to be bonded to others of our kind, not humans.”

“No,” my mom says suddenly. “No. She is not being bonded to some random guy. She is not being bonded to a guy that turns into a wolf. Undo it. I don’t care. I will not have this.”

“Rachel, you have to calm down,” Tali says. “There is no way to simply undo the bond. Her soul is connected to his.”

My mom stands up and faces me. “Come on, Kid. We’re leaving. Your soul is not being bonded to someone else’s. No. I don’t care. I don’t. Let’s go. We’re leaving.”

I look to Vivianne and her mother, unsure of what to do. Tali motions for me to stay so I listen. She goes to my mother’s side and speaks directly to her. “Rachel. You cannot just take her away. Rachel, listen to me.”

“This isn’t real! This isn’t happening. You aren’t a werewolf. You aren’t. You can’t be.”

“I am. That’s what we are,” Tali says, managing to stay calm.

“No. No.” My mother shakes her head. “My daughter and I are human. You are human. You’ve always been human.”

“I’m not, Rachel. I’m a shifter. We can show you if that will help.”

“No. Please, don’t do that. Just—uh, god! What the hell! This is crazy. This is so insane!”

Tali sits her down in the living chair. “It’s a lot to take in, I know.”

“Is that why you disappeared sometimes? Is that why you went to those religious meetings or whatever? It wasn’t a religious thing, was it?”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“But you didn’t go to the Academy?” I ask Vivianne’s mom.

“My parents didn’t want me to at the time. Maybe I should have gone, but it’s too late now. My parents were rogue before joining the pack here in Waindale. They didn’t want to become too attached. Little did they know that they’d spend the rest of their lives here,” she explains. “But, I’m glad Vivianne attends the Academy. I gave her a choice.”

“Yeah, about that.” Vivianne sinks in her seat. “I attended the high school for a bit. That’s how I met Wrenley; How I watched over her.”

"Excuse me? You told me you met Wrenley at the diner.”

“It was Adam’s orders. I couldn’t say no, mom.”

“Hold on here,” my mother cuts in. “Adam? Who the hell is this Adam guy? He’s the one trying to steal my daughter?”

“He’s not stealing her,” Tali explains, “they’re mates. We do not choose who we are mated with.”

“So this Adam guy happens to be mated to my daughter, a human, and no one tries to fix it?”

I stand up and turn to my mother. “I told you. There’s no way to fix it. There’s no way to break the bond. Adam said that it could be worn down if we stay far away from one another but—”

“Then you will stay far away from him. Far, far, away—I can promise you that.”

Tali stops my mother from getting up. “Hold on. She can’t just leave. He will find her. He will never stop looking for her as long as he feels her alive inside of him.”

My mother pulls a face. “What the hell is this? Do women have no say in your bizarre lifestyle? If my daughter wants to stay away from his guy, she will. Wrenley is a free young woman. She will not be held down by any man, understand?”

“Rachel, Adam is not the only one that will suffer. Wrenley will face consequences as well. They may even be harder on her. She’s human. I’ve never dealt with anything like this.”

“She right,” I tell my mom. “I stop sleeping. I can’t eat. Without him, I wither away.”

“That’s why you were sick?” She says, her eyes watering. “That’s why you couldn’t sleep?”

“They are supposed to be together,” Tali clarifies.

“But we can’t be,” I say to Vivianne’s mom. “He wanted to keep me a secret. No one knew that we’re mates besides us, Vivianne, Imogen, Eli, and Elara, then, well, more people know now. But I can’t be his mate because I’m human. He needs to be mated with someone of his own kind, someone who can become Luna.”

Tali thinks for a moment. I watch her, waiting for a response, praying for an answer.

“Nothing changes,” she says. “It doesn’t matter. The Alpha’s mate is his Luna. Shifter or not.”