Rising Sun and the Golden Moon

Chapter 1

Stacy POV

“Stacy! Wake up sweetie, or you’ll miss your flight!”

I groan as I hear my mother screeching at me to wake up. My mother and I have had a love-hate relationship ever since my dad (her mate) died 6 years ago on my 18th birthday. With the absence of my father, I grew to have anxiety. It just hits me anytime for no reason, especially when I am in a crowded area or when someone is in my personal space. I begin to panic, sweat, and sometimes hyperventilate in the fetal position. It affects most of my life. I can’t work at the packhouse, too many people there. Hospital too. Finding a job at the werewolf schools was a no-go and being on patrol. Yeah right. I’m an omega wolf and female at that. Our pack takes pride in protecting the females so most females don’t know how to fight or track. The girls that do know combat end up guarding our Luna and her friends.  I want to be of some use to my pack until I find my mate. Luckily, Alpha Kaden of my pack is willing to help me. I talked to the Alpha of our pack about my anxiety attacks and he recommended that I see a Shaman he knew. Problem was, the Shaman was now living in Japan. Seriously, it’s on the other side of the world, plus I heard rumors that wolves are not really welcomed there. 

“Stacy!” I hear my mother yell, I can tell she is now yelling at me from the kitchen downstairs.

“The pack van will be here any minute to take you to the airport. Hurry up!” 

“I’m up,” I slowly respond as I crawl towards the bathroom for my morning routine. Dressed in jeans and tee-shirt, my favorite blue and white converse, then placing my blue Skull Candy headphones around my neck. I swing my suitcase towards the staircase. Not balancing my strength, the suitcase flies down the stairs and lands with a solid thud. 

I finally make my grand entrance into the small kitchen to grab a bite of breakfast before my ride to the airport arrives. 

Suddenly, a pair of arms wrap around me. 

“Mom.” I plead, “I’m eating breakfast, can I eat in peace before I leave?”

“I am going to miss you, sweetie, can’t I hug you one last time?” 

“I am going to miss you too mom.” 

My mom turns me around and I can see the dark circles under her clear, grey eyes. She looks worried, happy, and sad all at the same time. I give her another hug as she strokes my head. Lucky me I put my long, blonde hair up in a messy bun. My mom always liked my hair since it reminded her of my dad. Although I got my mom’s clear, grey eyes and high cheekbones. 

“I’ll be back in a year mom, don’t worry. Plus I’ll be staying with the Shaman Frank so things will be alright. I’ll come back as a new wolf.” I say as I try to comfort her with a smile. Not really sure if what I am saying is true. 

We hear a honk outside, which must be the Pack van to pick me up and take me to the airport. 

I grab my suitcase and hear a knock at the door. Impatient wolves.  As I open the door, Joey the jerk neighbor next door has his large hand in position to knock again. Instead of knocking on the open door, he knocks on my forehead. 

“Anyone home?” He says with a condescending look. 

“You ready to go squirt?” He continues. 

I roll my eyes at Joey. I swear by the Moon Goddess, why on earth are warrior wolves absolutely annoying? My whole 24 years of life have been nothing but filled with annoying warrior wolves like Joey. Most of the girls I know have been swooning over Joey since the beginning of time. Tall with muscles on muscles that make him look more like the fat Michelin tire mascot. His unkempt hair looks like he just woke up with a bad hangover. Completely not my type. It’s wolves like him, who invade my personal space that aggravates my anxiety. 

I quickly climb into the middle seats of the van with my large black suitcase. The nerves are quickly getting to me as my sweaty palms start to leave damp spots on my jeans as I rub away the sweat. 

During the whole ride to the airport, all Joey did was ask me question after question. Including making requests to hook him up with some Japanese girls. I don’t even know any. I think Joey forgot the whole stranger danger thing during elementary school. Does he ever look at the road while he is driving? To finally shut out whatever conversation he was having with himself, I put on my headphones and drifted back to sleep.  

Once we finally arrived at the airport in Washington DC, he dropped me off, not even getting out to help me with my luggage. Maybe Japanese guys are different, maybe the guys out in Japan know how to be a gentleman. As soon I was inside the airport, I high-tailed it to the restroom. This anxiety thing keeps getting worse and worse. Simple things seem to keep triggering it. Being in a crowded room, or unexpected surprises, even new experiences like talking to a small group of people or werewolves in my case would just ignite the fire of my anxiety. I would just start to hyperventilate, then cry, and finally curl up into a ball.

 After my three-step breakdown in the restroom, I checked my luggage in then went straight to my terminal. This was going to be a long flight. A flight I wasn’t really looking forward to.