What’s Left Of Me

Chapter One: It’s a Bad Day   POV: Hazel Sirens in the distance went mute as quickly as they come. Walking home at night in New York is an experience in itself. My name is Hazel Domain, I am a wolf. I can take care of myself a problem arises. My parents are both pretty famous, they both own huge advertising companies. I just finished up college, now I’m looking for my place in life. I’m 23 years old, yes I should have found my mate by now, no I haven’t gone searching. It’s not something, I’m going to force. Everything will happen in time. We are having family dinner tonight so I decided to stop by one of the most famous bakeries in Brooklyn. I bought cake and cannolis. I think I could take all twenty cannolis down myself. I’m an only child so my parents would probably let me.  I make it back to our penthouse, our building is called, ‘Lavigne.’  It’s like 4,000 a month but we can afford it. I wave at the doorman and slip him 2 of the Delicious bakery goods. I head on up to an empty dark room. I call for my mom and dad but no one answers. I go to our answering machine and I see that I have one message. I click play and walk over to set the goods down. It was my mom. - “ BABY. HAZEL. When you get this pack what you can and go just go. They took your father and now they are following me. I booked you a plane ticket, the first flight to Paris leaves at 6 am tomorrow. I’m sorry there isn’t much time to explain everything, there will be another wolf there waiting for you to take you to his pack, they will keep you safe. If I don’t make it to Paris by the end of the week, just know I love you and I’m sorry. Your dad and I become friends with some bad people and...”  click.... ‘HONK’ ‘ A HIGH PITCHED SCREAMING’ The line went dead. I dropped everything that was in my hand and ran to the phone. I tried calling my mom Six times and my dad just and much I tried calling the office and nothing. I can’t call 911. We are wolves and forbidden too. I hear a knock on my door and it’s our neighbor, Shelly. I open the door in tears, she shoves her way in and makes sure no one is outside the door. Shelly turns to me and grabs my face, “Baby, listen to me and listen good. Your mom's pack back in Paris, they will take care of you okay? Everything, in your parent's name and back, has been closed and given to you. I was brought here to watch over you, all. I can’t tell you how sorry I am, I failed you. Go pack I will take you to the airport.” My whole body is in shock, from what I gathered both of my parents are missing and they made friends with bad people that wanted to kill them? I’m so confused. My cries are silent, hardly coming out actually. I pack two suitcases full of things I think I will need, I don’t know what I will need. I’ve never been to my mom's pack before. We don’t have one here, okay we do but it’s spread out between a few states. If we do anything concerning being a wolf, we report to this area's alpha. We are a free-roaming pack, which is rare but it happens when it comes to more populated areas. Shelly and I go down to the parking garage. We put my things in her truck and before we could get into the car we hear gunfire.  ‘POW. POW. POW. POW.’  Shelly and I run and jump into her vehicle. We speed as fast as we could. We got onto the highway and we are going, as wolfs we have good reflexes. Though we are speeding, time felt like it was going slower and slower. We made it to this rest stop and she leans back in her seat. That’s when I finally brought my attention to what here in the car. Blood, I smelled blood.  I start crying and she rubs my back and hushes me. “Hazel... look at me” Through my blurry eyes, I shake my head no. Repeatedly, I say no. She grabs my face and makes me blink away my tears.  “In the glove box is your passport, plane ticket and everything you will need. Along with new debit and credit cards, it’s a whole new account. When I say everything you need is in there, I mean everything, okay? Take it. I’ll order you a Uber. I can’t go much further when someone finds me... I don’t want you connected to me. Make a new life for yourself in Paris okay? If your parents don’t show... Do Not look for them.”  With that she got out of the car with blood coming from her back she gets my bags and sits them on a bench nearby. She comes and opens my door. She hugs me and takes my phone demon my hand. She removes my Card, and breaks it, She gives me another and says, “all of your things are on here. You can’t be tracked but the important phone numbers are in here. “ She gets into her car and waves goodbye to me. She has tears in her eyes as she drives away fast. I sit on this bench and think about everything that has happened and how today’s events played out.   Flashback to 8 am   The sun is blinding me. I pull my pillow over my face and lay there with my eyes closed. I finally decide to get up knowing, I won’t be able to go back to sleep even If I wanted to. I brush my teeth and hair, then go to the kitchen. My parents are sitting there looking worried, honestly, it looks like they have aged more this past week more than they have in their entire lives. I run my mom's back, and ask, “Are you okay?” They look back and forth between each other and finally say what’s on their mind. Well, my dad does, “ Honey. We sold the company.” I am utterly shocked. I sit up straight and before I can say anything, my mom says, “ We are retiring early, and moving back to my home pack.” I am speechless, I sit up straight and look at them both, I mean look at them because something doesn’t feel right about this.  Finally, I work up the nerve to talk, “This is sudden, You sold the company? Also your Moving...How soon should I look for my place?” They both look at me wide-eyed, my dad reaches over the counter and says, “ Yes it is sudden but we all needed it, it was sold for 4.3 billion. You don’t need to look for your own place because you're coming with us.” I abruptly stand up, no not because we have a new status of, ‘Billionaires.” No, because he said I’m coming with them. “WHAT? I have my own photography business, employees, and clients! I can’t go moving to Paris”  My Dad's face quickly goes from soft to serious and demanding, “ You are coming with us and that is final! It’s time you find your mate, and go back to a pack with us. As for your company, there will always be more, it’s finished and shutting down as of today.”  I am red hot with anger now. My dad and I are equal when it comes to our tempers and My m was siding with my dad on this without having to say a word because she stood up and walked beside him. “ YOU CAN NOY SHUT DOWM MY COMPANY. I Built it from the ground up. WITH NO HELP. Even from you!”  My dad's face fell he knew I was right. Don’t get me wrong, my company is really successful. He knows if he would have helped me, I would have been even better, he just overlooked me every time I tried to talk business with him. I still off to my bedroom and got into a shower. I needed to cool off. I stepped out of the shower and put on some clothes. I went into the kitchen and grabbed myself an Apple.  My mom come into the room and hugged me. When we pulled apart, he grabbed my face and spoke the word I didn’t need to hear. “Baby, you need to do this. Your company will always be here. Your father and I. Will not. Come home for dinner tonight so we can all properly talk about this.”  I shake my head and walk out the door. I don’t feel like driving today so I decide to walk. I reach my studio and set up a shoot with a few models that have been with me for a few weeks now. I get some really good shots today. I go into my office and take a moment. One of my best friends walks in, his name is Luther but he likes to be called Led. He is bi s****l which is amazing! He mostly goes for men but I catch him looking at me occasionally. He gives me a raised eyebrow and asks, “What’s on your mind hot stuff?” I sit back and run my hand through my hair. I look him in the eyes and spill my guts about what happened a few hours ago. He just puts one leg over the other and says, “ Do it. Move to Paris.” My moth falls opens and I just say. “ what?” He starts laughing and says, “ I’m not saying shut down Your business. I’m saying look at the opportunity to expand overseas with our photography! That will make more people want us! I will run things from here and keep you closely updated. I know how to do it, you taught me everything I know. It’s also not like your gonna go bankrupt. Your family is now richer than it was before. Think about it.” With that, he left.  The more I think about it the more he is right. I don’t think my family thought about this. After a few more hours of work, I let him know that I love his idea and I will see what I can do. I decide to go to my parent's favorite bakery to lighten things up and to apologize for my short temper. It’s a good walk to by the time I get home it should be dinner time.   End of flashback...   I am staring off into space. When a car pulls in front of me. The driver gets out of his car and says, “I’m here for Hazel. I am to take you to the airport.” I just shake my head speaking nothing.  He helps me with my bags and we are soon on our way. I look at my watch and it’s 3 am. So I have three hours to kill. Okay, I lied. It’s 5:20 by the time we reach the airport. I pull out my plane ticket and passport. Soon I was on a private plane. I don’t know where to go from here if I’m behind honest. Everything is happening so fast it’s hard to keep up. After hours on a plane, I finally get off and stretch my legs. I walk to get my bags and then to the greeting area. I assume no one knows I’m coming so I just walk on by. I feel a tap on my shoulder, I turn to see a tall man in a black T-shirt and jeans. “ Are you, Hazel Domain?”  His deep voice comes out emotionless. I shake my head yes. His eyebrows raise and he finally lets out a huff. “Okay, I’m here to escort you to Grey Moon Pack, brother to the Grey Howls Pack.” With that, he takes my bags and walks me to a black SUV.  He gets into the driver's seat. I’m in the passenger seat not liking the situation, I am in. After an hour of driving. I see from the corner of my eye, he keeps looking at me. I sit up straight and say, “Whatever it is, you can say it. ”He looks at me and lets a deflated sigh, “ I’m sorry. I heard the details of why you are coming to our pack on short notice. I couldn’t imagine.” I look at him like he has gone mad. “ To be honest with you, I don’t know how to feel. My thoughts are all not making any sense right now. I’m still trying to understand what’s happening.” To make sure this doesn’t get awkward, I lean forward and turn on the radio. This man gives me a sad smile and continues driving us. We get to this forest. We continue to drive for miles until we reach this huge gate, with ease it opens for us. Something in me is jumpy. Not going to lie I feel sick. Something is coming to me full force like a train. The car stops, I can’t understand anything is the man just said to me before getting out is the car, it’s like my vision is getting blurry and every sound around me is muffled like I’m underwater. I open my door and stand slowly. There are people on the porch in front of us. I’m hanging on to the door for dear life. I close my eyes for a minute and open them. I look to the porch again and see the most beautiful man I have ever seen. Everything in my body is such a jumbled mess, I can’t tell what my wolf is trying to say.  I look down and that’s when the ground and I meet face to face. I collapse.  I hear suffering around me and yelling. I can’t keep my eyes open. The spilled second they were that man who was on the porch is hovering over me, or am I hallucinating? All I know is I hear someone scream, “GET THE PACK DOCTOR MY MATE COLLAPSED!” with that I was out like a light.   Who was that man? Also, did he call me his mate? Or did I make his mate fall when I did? I don’t know I felt so sick, she could have come to greet me and I wouldn’t have known it.