"Terri honey, we haven't seen you since last Christmas! I know this is a rough time but I would love to catch up. You have grown so much since we last saw you. Your grandfather and I always get so excited when it comes time for visits. Not that we don't love our town! It's a wonderful place, plenty of young kids your age. In fact, we just had our new Alpha take over and he's not much older than you. Of course, we spoke to him about your moving in, he gave us clearance after a little deliberation. But that's the way he is, fair and kind. But he's gone now, won't be back from his business trip for a while..." my grandmother nervous rambled from the front passenger seat.

I know she's trying to make me feel better, but her nervous speech makes me nervous. Green trees and lush grass fly by as I gaze out the window. I can still hear my grandmother speaking in the background, but it's just a vacant buzz in my subconscious. No, I'm too busy watching the scenery as it mesmerizes me into a thoughtful lull. I try to imagine what I am going to do without my mom while I stare out the window. My rock is gone and I have no one to lean on. Not yet anyways. Perhaps my grandparents, in time, but as for now, I am utterly alone.

"Linda, my goodness you're going to talk the child's ear off. Let her breathe, take in the beautiful Oregon scenery!" Grandfather rasped in an exasperated tone.

"Well Charles. I just want her to be comfortable. You know that's all I want, right dear?" My grandmother asked.

"Of course Gonga, I know. Thank you for trying" I mumbled in a low whisper, using my adopted nickname for grandma that I had used since infancy. Luckily, their wolf hearing was still rather astute.

"See Charles?" she remarked smugly.

"Yes, yes Linda" , he noted with a chuckle, " So T-bear, have you been keeping up with your training since we last saw you? Still working on proper control?"

"Yes Papan, I've pretty much mastered my Telekinesis, and I can almost protect twenty people with my Shield Generation" I spewed out of habit.

"Good! That's fantastic dear" my grandfather beamed.

In that little repartee I learned a lot about the life I am fixing to jump in to. Although I always had fun as a child, I was raised quite closely by an over protective father and a doctor mother. I did not have many leisure conversations. My speech feels rigid and formal, out of place, amongst my grandparents jovial conversation. They still love each other, deeply, and they joke and kid with one another like young adults. If I want to belong, I am going to have to act more...immature. My parents loved each other, they were true mates for life, but their love was never so open. Nothing was ever so...open. Conversations were full of large words and I was expected to act like an adult, and now I feel as if I am out of place sitting in a vehicle with two of the oldest people I know. Such is life I guess.

"You said the Alpha had to... deliberate... did he think it would be a bad idea for you to take me in?" I guess the key to survival is adapting, and the first step of adapting is talking. Hopefully...

"Oh, umm, no dear... don't take it personally. Adding someone new and unknown to a pack is a very complicated decision that needs a lot of consideration. You don't want to add someone that could be...detrimental... to the pack. But no worries! He trusts us and knows we wouldn't bring anyone into the pack that would cause harm. And we explained the whole situation and he was completely informed!" I believe my grandma thought that saying that would make me feel better. Unfortunately, it didn't.

"Oh, I didn't think anyone else was going to be told. I'm not used to people knowing about my problem" I was back to mumbling.

"Sweetie, we had to tell him everything. He is our Alpha and he would have been very upset had you arrived differently than what he was expecting. Don't worry, he'll keep your secret" answered my grandfather, always the voice of reason.

"I guess you're right", I ran my tan hand through my wavy hair, "how much longer until we get there?"

"Actually, right now" my grandmother said as we turned a bend the immediately revealed a massive sign with the words "Welcome to Clement County" printed obnoxiously in the center. Strange, such a cute font on a sign for such a dark, ominous looking town nestled in a massive cluster of trees. The sign indicated that Clement had an outstanding population of 5,000 people. Big difference from Chicago's 2.7 million. I mean, we lived on the edge of Chicago, but I spent most of my life in the city. This was going to be hard. It's easy to hide in a large group of people. In a small town, it's much harder to hide your secrets.



Hi! Thank you for reading! Terri's mom on the side!