Episode 5 of 500 Words
- Genre: Paranormal Romance
- Word Count: 514
- Content Warning: NA
- Series: Moon Shadow Saga, Book One
Charlie had literally spent her whole life being told she was special. And on some level, it might have been true: she was the first werewolf ever born that was part were and part turned. There was one problem: that was all people saw. And as if being some kind of wolf prodigy wasn’t bad enough, her father was the Beta of the North Carolina Pack. She supposed it could have been worse: he could have been the Alpha. All she wanted was to be her own person; except she didn’t know who that was. That was why she had volunteered for the exchange program.
Micah Roman had secrets, some days it felt like too many to count. He had come to Texas under the pretense of generating goodwill with the local pack; however he had his own reasons for agreeing to be some kind of supernatural ambassador. No one here knew him, not really, and he wanted to keep it that way. Then the exchange student showed up. The forbidden attraction was instant. He was the shadow to her light and it seemed that no amount of duty or obligation was going to keep him away.
Chapter 1
The Beta’s Daughter
I’d literally spent my whole life being told I was special. And on some level, I supposed it was true; after all, I was the first werewolf ever born that was part were and part turned. People had so many expectations of me and no matter what I did or said they just couldn’t see past my parents to me. It wasn’t my fault that they had fallen in love and had me. And as if being some kind of wolf prodigy wasn’t bad enough, my father was David Bringer: Beta of the North Carolina Pack. I suppose it could have been worse: he could have been the Alpha. I shuddered at the thought of my grizzly bear of a father running the pack. If he ran it anything like he ran my life, we would all be in matching uniforms and doing marching drills every morning. Thank the moon for small mercies.
I put the tray of scones in the industrial oven and set the timer. I had hoped going to college would help, that I’d finally be able to gain some level of independence. Fat chance. I rolled my eyes as I rolled out the fresh dough. It might have worked if only the entire pack hadn’t insisted I live at the house on campus. There was literally no difference between living at the dorm and living in the pack House. I was constantly surrounded by wolves, none of which had any interest in getting to know me. I looked down at the sticky pieces that had been proper dough. Crap, I’m gonna have to start all over. The timer beeped behind me. I pivoted to remove the golden triangles and lay them on the cooling rack in one fluid motion.
“I swear, you do that just like your mother.” I shrugged noncommittally. Elise meant well, but she really had no idea; she was only human. “Looks like it will be another summer at the bakery for you.”
“Probably.” “Don’t sound so down about it. We love having you around and whether you like it or not, everyone prefers your Eddy’s Scones to your mom’s. But don’t tell her I said that,” she held her finger up to her lips a plea for me to keep quiet. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes; no one made anything better than my mother. “Speak of the fox herself.” None of the villagers knew why the place was called Foxy’s Treats, but I did. They simply believed it was a cute nickname because of her red hair. While that may also have been true, there was an entirely different reason for why it had stuck. Charline Montgomery looked absolutely nothing like a wolf in her changed form; in fact, if such a thing as a were-fox existed it would probably look just like her. I glanced up in time to see the early morning light glint off of her shocking red hair. The ruined dough quickly found it’s way into the trash before she could see the disaster I had made of it.