ELLA
Checking my reflection in the mirror, I turn from side to side making sure that none of my ‘important parts’ are hanging out, as Gramps Walter likes to say. Carefully I check my makeup, avoiding my own emerald gaze in the mirror. Since I ran from my family in the Appalachian Mountains I haven’t been able to look myself in the eyes. These are the same eyes that belong to one of my fathers. A constant reminder that I am not the daughter they planned for me to be. My birth was foreseen, my powers were foreseen, and yet here I stand an ordinary werewolf. The color of my wolf’s fur should have been enough to serve as passage into the magical world of witches. But unlike any Silver Wolf that has come before me I am powerless. Practicing a fake smile for the mirror I don’t miss how my smile no longer meets my eyes, but lucky for me the bar patrons are always to drunk to notice or even care.
I chuckle a little bit at my reflection, Gramps is going to throw a fit tonight. I have on a dark purple crop top that has a low neckline, leaving my overly large breasts partially on display. Dark tattooed symbols line my lower arms making me look more adventurous than I actually am. Tight leather pants that cling to my curves. I’ve paired the outfit with black pumps to make me appear taller than I really am. Several strands of my hair are dyed dark purple, they are hard to see against my black hair except for when the light catches them. Slipping a hair tie around my wrist, I fluff out the curls at the ends of my hair. Nodding my head in satisfaction, “I am getting all of the tips tonight,” I think to myself. Throwing on a black jacket, I zip up the front to hide my outfit from Gramps.
“Grandma! Gramps!” I yell through the cabin. “I am heading to work.”
Before I reach the front door I hear Gramps’s heavy footsteps behind me. “Let’s see,” he grumbles as I open the door. Rolling my eyes, I do a little spin, holding my arms out to my sides. “Hhmph,” he grunts, but luckily he doesn’t ask me to take off my jacket. “I don’t like you working there.”
I groan and stomp my foot like a teenager. “Are we going to have this fight every night I work?”
“You do not know the types walking in and out of that place,” he grumbles.
Placing my small hand on his scruffy cheek, his expression softens a little. “I do Gramps,” I tell him gently. “But I cannot rely on you and Grandma forever. I have to learn to make my own way.” He grumbles at my words. “Plus, I can handle myself. I am not some weak human.”
“You be home as soon as your shift is over,” he grunts.
Rolling my eyes at him, I yell at his retreating back, “you know I am twenty-one, right?”
“As soon as your shift is over,” he yells at my back, and I cannot help but laugh.
Hopping into Gramps’s old Ford truck, the memory of him trying to teach me how to drive it floods my mind. It took him a full month and a lot of cuss words from both of us. At first I didn’t think Gramps liked me at all. For the first full year I lived with them he insisted that I call him Walter. As much as he loves Grace he was not pleased when a werewolf showed up on his doorstep one winter night. Grace assured him that I wouldn’t be any trouble, but that didn’t lesson his unease. He wouldn’t let me shift near the horses and he only called me ‘that wolf girl.’ But something clicked when he taught me how to drive his truck. I like to say we bonded over our love of cuss words. I will never forget the rare smile on his face when I drove the truck all the way into town. From that moment on I was his Ella, and he was my Gramps.
Pulling into the parking lot of the Wolf’s Den, it’s the local bar right outside of the Lycan City limits. Looking at my watch, I am thirty minutes early. Eyeballing the dispensary next door I decide to stock up on some weed, knowing that I am getting low. Stepping into the dispensary I see that Alec is working and I cannot help the smirk that crosses my lips. Alec is a werewolf that must be part of the pack that is within the Lycan City. He does not smell like a rouge. Alec is exactly my type. Tall, blonde, dark brown eyes that swirl to black whenever I approach the counter and built like a linebacker. As far as he knows I am just a human living on the outskirts of the city with my grandparents. I unzip my jacket before approaching the counter. Hopefully I can entice him to come to the bar later and see me.
“I thought you had run off beautiful,” Alec grins as I approach the counter.
Crossing my arms under my breasts, I lean on the counter, pressing them together in a seductive way. I do not miss the way Alec’s eyes flicker from my face to my breasts. “Nope,” I say popping the ‘p.’
“Want your usual?” His face is turning red, and I know that I am pushing his buttons.