Chapter 6: A Day Out

Zalena had made her way to the front desk the next morning, asking for some of the best places to go since the owner of the motel was the one working the front desk. The woman behind the counter was more than eager to give her a complete list of everything that locals to the area found much more fun to do than what the advertisements had listed, and a few weren’t quite as busy with tourists like what other sightseeing locations were. Thanking her, Zalena made her way out of the motel, the day wasn’t as hot as other days so she was able to dress a little more casually.

Starting with the easiest place first, Zalena had decided to revisit the cafe she had been told about previously. She had ordered herself an iced frappuccino, naturally going with caramel since it was her favorite flavor, at least until autumn rolled around, then it was pumpkin spice everything. At least it used to be, Andros didn’t like it when she brought pumpkin spice into the packhouse, he always said he could never stand the smell of it. She sighed softly as she took a sip of her coffee, this time around it would be different.

She had been sitting outside, watching as the townspeople went about their day. Though she froze as her gaze had caught sight of silver eyes from the other day and her wolf had become restless. She stood, making her way through the crowd, her coffee long forgotten on the table as her wolf had demanded that they follow him. For a brief moment, she thought she had caught sight of the Alpha, but was too slow and he had disappeared from her sight. A frustrated growl left her as she was standing in the middle of the sidewalk now with no coffee.

“Great… I forgot my coffee…” She grumbled quietly to herself as she made her way back to the cafe, only to find that one of the employees had cleaned the table she was sitting at. So she was truly without any coffee.

With annoyance settling in her veins, she decided to make her way to the next stop, a local shop that sold various trinkets that shifters could use. Stepping inside, Zalena glanced around at all the knicknacks hanging up and nearly laughed at them all. These weren’t items that shifters needed, maybe to decorate a house, but the fake wolfsbane hanging above the doorway was more than enough for Zalena. She had browsed for a few moments before heading back outside, having seen enough. She had taken a picture of the fake wolfsbane and sent it to her friend who had only replied with a bunch of laughing emojis.

As she had begun to walk towards her next destination, she paused as the familiar smell of pinewood passed by her. Her wolf became increasingly agitated at whatever game this Alpha was trying to play. An annoyed huff left her as she glanced around, only catching sight of black hair that had her wolf going nuts.

‘Would you please calm your a** down you horny mutt.’ Zalena grumbled to her wolf, which had it quieting down but snorting in response.

‘Says the one who’s also heavily interested in this guy.’ Her wolf retorted. A soft sigh leaving her at the comment since she couldn’t exactly say anything in response to that. Her wolf and her usually got along great, but it was times like these that reminded Zalena of how sassy her wolf could be when she wanted to be.

‘Uh-huh, that’s what I thought. Now follow like a good human.’ Her wolf laughed in her mind and she immediately locked her away for the time being as punishment. Her wolf knew that she hated when she called Zalena a good human, it was just as bad as her calling her wolf a good dog. Zalena could still hear her wolf snickering at the comment even though she had practically put her in time out.

She had followed who she had thought to be the silver eyed Alpha she had seen earlier, but much to her disappointment when she saw his face, it wasn’t him. She had been following someone else, another huff left her as she trudged back to the main street and began to walk again, others slowly moving out of her way as though they could sense the irritation within her.

After she had finished touring the rest of the town, and decidedly getting another coffee from the same cafe she had been at because she was determined to finish at least one cup of coffee today. She had made her way back to the motel and decided to watch some reruns of old shows that she used to watch when she was younger. When she was with Andros, he never entertained the idea of her watching any of the old shows, he’d just scoff and say they were boring and change the channel much to her dismay.

She glanced down at the cup of coffee in her hands, realizing just how bad it was with Andros. She was finally able to do whatever she wanted while she was on this vacation and… She had realized it a little too late. A soft sniff came from her as tears pooled in her eyes, making her vision blurry as she sipped at the coffee, she would have to go back to the harsh realities of her life soon.

The empty cup fell to the bottom of the trash with a soft thud, a whiff of vanilla puffing up from the small trash can thanks to the scented bag in it. She decided that she needed to go for a run, her wolf had become a bit of a nuisance with wanting to get out and enjoy the last bit of their freedom before they had to go back to reality.

Making her way to the forest again, she stripped and put her clothes inside a notch of a tree, it didn’t take long for her to shift this time, her paws digging into the soft ground as she took off running, following the delicious scent of pine trees after a rainy day, unknowing that her wolf was leading her right to the Alpha.