Moonrose

Chapter One

               I had a dream that I was walking along a beautiful deep blue lake around midday. Out of the corner of my eye I see a huge wolf with dark eyes just staring at me like it is analyzing me, memorizing, when all the sudden I hear this loud, obnoxious wailing, next thing I know I’m sitting bolt upright in my bed gasping for breath as I realize I was dreaming, and that awful sound was my alarm clock. I take a deep breath and try to slow my heart rate before reaching over and turning it off. It says 5 am. I hate getting up this early, but it is a habit I’ve kept since my time in school, and I feel like it helps me get more out of my day. Today is Monday and I must head to work. I love going to work, not because I love working my life away, but because I get to spend time with my best friends and, since I work in a coffee shop, it always smells fantastic.   Today I decided to wear black skinny jeans with my knee-high converse, and a tight-fitting I Prevail t-shirt with my oversized grey sweater. I decided I wanted to do something different with my make-up today, so I did my thick winged eyeliner and grey smokey eye and matte nude lipstick. Once I was satisfied with my appearance, I head off to work, making sure to lock the door behind me.

 When I finally arrive at work at 6am, I am greeted by Alison and Kendra. We have been almost attached at the hip ever since I came in to apply for the barista job here. Alison is 20. She is rail thin, perfectly tanned with long blonde hair, light freckles, grey eyes and a laugh that is beyond contagious, honestly the best person I know. Kendra is almost her perfect opposite. She’s 18 with beautiful chocolate skin, brown eyes with rivers of gold in them, stunning natural hair that is almost black with tight curls that have gotten so long they sit on her shoulders. Kendra is full of sarcasm and attitude, at least that’s how it looks from the outside, but Alison and I both know that she is a big softie who is just looking for someone to care about. Like me, she has been in foster care for most of her life, longer than I was. She was abandoned at birth. I can’t imagine how that must have felt growing up. Fortunately, she came out of the system last year. Her foster parents had to stop taking care of her, not because she is a bad person or because she caused trouble, but because they were getting older and couldn’t work as much and they couldn’t afford to keep her anymore, even with the check they received every month, so they helped her get emancipated. Kendra left there on good terms and sees them once a week for a meal and to catch up. She helps with chores and makes sure they have what they need. This coffee shop pays well, and she makes way more than she needs for herself, even after putting money in a savings account and paying her bills, Kendra says she sees them like the grandparents she never had. I think it makes her feel good to be able to take care of them.

“Look who finally decided to show up” Alison said, nudging Kendra and smiling. “I’m still 5 minutes early for my shift, what are you talking about?” I said, half laughing “dude, you’re always here 20 minutes early, so you’re 15 minutes late, we thought you died” Kendra added giving me an exaggerated look of concern. I laughed as I put my bag and coat on their hook and stepped around the corner to start prepping the first batch of coffee. I pour the coffee grounds in the filter while Alison is making sure we have all the cream, milk, sugar and flavorings we need to last until lunch rush.By the time we got everything stocked, it was 630 and time to open the doors, its usually crazy from 7 until about 10 so we run around feeling like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get all our orders out in a timely manner, but we’ve been lucky today, all the orders have been right, and we haven’t had any unfriendly customers, so I’ll take the win.

Unknown POV

Its 5am and I should be focusing on my training, but I have been so out of it today. I’m sparring with my beta, has a good fighter and today he has the advantage. I throw a punch and he blocks me, throwing me off balance before countering with a blow directly to my face, breaking and bloodying my nose. I set it back into place and tried to focus. With a chuckle he says “ooo alpha you’re not losing your edge, are you?”,  earning him a glare and a growl from me. I tried to focus and in 3 moves I had him in an armlock while he taps out. ‘can’t let the beta out fight the alpha’, my wolf Cade said, while I nodded in silent agreement. I headed up to my apartment at the top of the packhouse to take a shower and dress to head to the office. Sometimes I hate that my grandfather built a town over from the pack grounds because I hate the ride Its only ten minutes but I would rather run. Cade could get me there half the time, but it is always good to have a car, I suppose, in case I need to travel somewhere with humans, since we do so much business with them. I finish tying my tie and head to the garage where I find my gamma Taylor waiting for me. We tend to ride together since he works in my office as well, along with several other members of my pack. By the time we leave its 630, Taylor likes to ride in silence, which is fine with me. I am not up for conversation much today. He drives 10 over the limit the whole way, getting us to Cherry Grove faster than normal. As we get to the edge of town, he says “hey, since we're running early, why don’t we stop for coffee? There’s a shop right there.” I look up at him, pulled from my thoughts I normally would just want to go straight to work but today something is telling me that I need to go into this coffee shop. “Sure, maybe I'll have an espresso, I feel like I could use it” I say as he smiles and pulls into a parking space. We got out of the car and walked up the sidewalk toward the door. Taylor opens it and as soon as he does, I’m hit with the overwhelming smell of coffee and something else. It smells like the holidays, cookies, or muffins maybe? And all the sudden, I hear Cade say the thing I’ve been hoping to hear for 3 years, “Mate”.