Wild and Free
Chapter One

I could smell then before they even set foot in town. Why couldn’t they just stay away? There were millions of other towns that they could pass through and it had to be White Chapel?

All I could do was hope that they didn’t pick up a scent or even come within twenty feet of me before they left. If they left.

Traveling packs were a pain in the ass.

Forcing a smile, I set down the various breakfast dishes on my hungry customer’s table. I fought back the scowl that threatened to break through and retreated back into the kitchen.

“What’s up with you today?” Cassandra, or Cassie, my coworker and best friend asked me while she cleared the bartop area of someone’s finished plates.

I put my now empty tray back on the rack, “Nothing I just hate the breakfast rush.” I lied, running my fingers through my long, dark brown ponytail

“Don’t I know it,” she replied with a smile that I struggled to return.

Cassie was a really nice girl who was the same school year as me. If I wasn’t in such a crabby mood and the diner wasn’t so packed, the two of us might be in the break room laughing at our sick humors or sharing a slice of carrot cake we swiped from the dessert case. But sadly we were both racked with work, as we usually were on Saturday mornings.

We worked as waitresses at Mel’s Diner, the best restaurant in town. Which wasn’t saying much since there was little to no competition.

White Chapel was a large but secluded town that was mostly wooded and sat right near a large river. Almost everyone knew everyone there and unless you were going to college out of state, no one left. And that was how I liked it. If someone new came to town, you knew it. It was the perfect place to hide. A place where gossip spread like wildfire. A place with no secrets.

The little bell above the door chimed, signalling another customer.

“Hey! Auden! How’s it going?” boomed a loud voice from the front of the diner.

A genuine smile broke on my face as he made his way up to the counter, “I’m good Sammy, how are you?”

“I’m great,” he grinned.

“What can I get you?” I tilted my head at him, “The usual I presume?”

“You know me too well.” he laughed, the boisterous sound filling the entire room.

I nodded at the burly old man and wrote down his order on my pad, tearing it off and clipping it on the rack for our cook Sean to see.

Sammy had been my first customer when I got hired at Mel’s about two years before. Me, a nervous little seventeen year old that had just moved there and was forced to get a job. It was my first day of my training and both Mel himself and Cassie had gone off into the back to do something and I was left, stranded and clueless on what to do. That was until Sammy arrived and started up a conversation with me. He was so kind and didn’t even bug me for not taking his order. Eventually Cassie came back out, took it, and gave me a proper training course. I got the hang of it after a while.

I returned to the counter where Sammy had taken a seat and hung with him for a second, as all my tables had been covered for the time being.

As I was filling his coffee mug with the steaming liquid Sammy, obviously one to love gossip if there ever was any, filled me in.

“So I heard that there’s a new group of people coming into town,” he said, sipping his drink. “Big group of maybe twenty or thirty people.”

I knit my brows acting as if I didn’t know, “That many? Coming here? What for?”

“I have no clue that’s just what I’ve heard,” he said.

Well now I knew why the scent was so strong. Thatmany of them wouldn’t go unnoticed.

“Do you know if they’re staying or just passing through?” I asked.

Sammy shook his head, “Nope. But I’d watch out if I were you, someone said that they don’t look like the nicest people.”

I nodded just as another one our waiters, Anthony, brought out Sammy’s order.

“Smells heavenly as always,” he mused before digging in.

“Auden!” Cassie called to me from a table across the diner, “Your table has been calling for you!” she shot me a look that said get your ass over there before they leave and I beat you to death.

I nodded at her and said bye to Sammy before rushing over to my table to help the customers.

After about another hour of the breakfast rush, it was about ten o’clock and my shift was over until about five. So I untied my apron and put it on the rack in the kitchen before grabbing my bag.

“You know, I’ve always envied the fact that you took the breakfast and dinner shifts,” Cassie called back to me while she was re doing her long blonde ponytail. “I was and idiot to choose back to back shifts.”

I turned around and grinned at her from the doorway, “That you were,” I joked. “Good luck with the lunch rush!”

She scowled at me and I laughed as I turned around to leave. But as I did I, wasn’t paying attention and ran right smack into someone’s hard chest.

I tried to step back but my necklace got snagged on a button on the person’s sleeve.

“Um, wow this is great,” I mumbled. They tried yanking their arm away, “No, stop! You’ll break it!” I protested, stopping their movement.

I looked up to see a tall guy, probably a year or two older than me, with a stoic expression on his face. I looked around him to see two other guys that were dressed in dark clothes just like the guy I ran into. They looked slightly friendlier than their leader. Shame. I had the worst luck.

Oh god no. They must’ve been from the pack passing through.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking,” I apologized, finally unhooking the chain from around the button and stepping back.

I expected him to apologize as well since he wasn’t really looking either but he didn’t. The guy looked down at me through dark, feelingless eyes that were almost as cold as he was. He didn’t say anything but studied me for a second before narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

I traded a look with Cassie and held back a scoff, “Okay then.” I muttered, going to step around him to leave.

“Do I know you from somewhere?” he asked, stopping me where I stood.

God I hope not.

I shook my head, a calm look on my face, “I don’t think so. Sorry again.”

The guy glanced back at his group and they all traded a look but I kept my expression clear of anything that might have given me away. I took that as my chance to slip around the guy and his group and out the door, leaving them hopefully to continue their business in peace.

I got around the corner of the diner and leaned against the wall and mindlinked with Cassie.

Watch out for the guys that just came in. I said.

A second later she responded Do you know them?

No but they’re definitely from a pack and I can’t let them find out about me, I told her.

Got it. Stay safe and i’ll keep you posted. She said before breaking the mindlink and presumably going back to her work.

God I wanted them out of my town already.

Pack werewolves. Ugh they made me sick.

Not only were pack werewolves extremely territorial but they also had to be the most infuriatingly egotistical beings ever. I guess the only good thing about them was the fact that they stuck together. Live together, die together. That was the pack code. Too bad it’s not always followed.

I came to White Chapel after I was abandoned by my pack. No, abandoned isn’t the right word, I was more like deserted or discarded like trash, perhaps even thrown out depending on how you look at it.

After spending a year passing through town after town, I finally arrived at the place that I thought I was totally safe and would never have to interact with another of my kind again. Or at least that was until now.

Sure being a classified Omegawas considered like the stupidest thing you could do because you didn’t have the strength in numbers like you did in a pack. But it also gave you freedom that you never got while restricted under pack rules. After I got over the initial shock, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. The relief was intoxicating and I wanted it to last. Which is exactly why I was counting on this stupid pack leaving so it would.

When I first arrived I was pretty clueless on what to do but Cassie helped me. She got me a job with her at Mel’s and let me stay at her house with her family until I earned some money to rent the apartment near her. And we’ve been close ever since.

She came from a family that moved around a lot so when she was put here she was a year older than everyone because of class rules and garbage. Everyone thinks that she got held back but it’s not the truth.

Cassie Carlyle was one of my only friends in White Chapel so she knew, hence the mind linking, which is a perk of being a werewolf. She didn’t think I was telling the truth at first but when I showed her she thought it was the coolest thing on the planet.

Aside from working and school, the only other thing I did was train. Like I said, being on your own is not the safest choice, however unrestricting and fun it is. Leaving the pack at only about sixteen, I wasn’t finished with my training, so I made up for lost time by practicing in my apartment and sparring with my other friend Holden Kelly.

Holden was my age, unlike Cassie who was a year older. His father owned a gym in town and he let us practice whenever we wanted. Holden knew about me too, his reaction was pretty much the exact same as Cassie’s. The three of us went to school together during the week and were really close.

He was a pretty good fighter so practicing with him was useful but lately I’d been improving a lot faster and taking him down a lot easier. To me that was a good sign, to Holden, not so much.

I was on my way to meet up with him when I got a small head rush, forcing me to brace myself against the wall to keep myself from stumbling.

They just left, Cassie’s voice said in my head. It was really weird, they didn’t order anything, they just talked for a while and left.

I had taught her how to mind link if she ever needed me but it always gave me a head rush because it wasn’t something she, as a human, was naturally supposed to do.

That’s peculiar, did you hear anything they were talking about? I replied, trying to clear my slightly blurry vision.

Kind of, I was cleaning a table nearby and heard them talking about the Perfect Spot. Does that mean anything to you?

Not specifically. They could be talking about anything but let’s just hope that they don’t mean that this is the perfect spot to settle, I answered nervously.

Shit, that’d be bad wouldn’t it?

Very.

~~AUTHOR’S NOTE~~

Woohoo! First chapter!

Again, like I said in the first post, this was an old story of mine that I edited so the first chapter or two might sound kind of awkward. But I swear it gets better.

I hope you enjoyed.

Remember to comment, vote, and read on!

~your Cheshire Cat loving friend

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