My Werewolf, The Alpha

Chapter 1 Part 1: Aberdeen

Aberdeen was just the way she'd remembered it.

Or so she'd try to tell herself, if she was trying to channel the nostalgic energy of a main character in a second-rate romance novel. No – she'd left the place when she was three, for crying out loud. She barely remembered what she ate for dinner the night before; let alone the appearance of her nondescript childhood hometown.

So it was with atypical apathy that Natalie Adams found herself emerging from her cab at 7pm on a dreary Sunday night, analysing the lavish townhouse laid out before her. Her driver, sharing her apparent indifference towards their surroundings, hastily unloaded her suitcases before ducking back into his vehicle without bidding her goodbye. It figured he could barely wait to get out of the no-name town; 'What the hell is an Aberdeen' was hardly the glowing review Nat had hoped for when she had sat herself in the taxi and declared her destination.

Trying to shake the jetlag and the threat of deep-vein thrombosis from a 16-hour flight, Nat dragged her suitcases up the footpath to the front door. She pulled out her phone and entered the keypad combination that had been sent to her. A shudder of revulsion crawled up her spine as grime and dust from disuse coated her fingers, but nonetheless, the door beeped affirmatively and Nat stepped gingerly into the home.

The interior of the house was unexpectedly clean in contrast to the exterior. The counter was neatly organised, with a coffee machine and espresso pods in a small bowl next to it. The floor-to-ceiling bookshelves had obviously been dusted recently, and were filled with a variety of books. The television was new, with the layer of protective wrapping still covering its screen.

Nat's eyes gravitated towards the landline, where the flashing light indicated that she had a voicemail. Not bothering to close the door, Nat left her luggage in the hallway and strode across the living room to press the flashing button.

'Hey honey, hope you got to Aberdeen all good. The housekeepers should have been in the week or so before, but let us know if there's anything you're not happy with or anything you need. Your dad's already spoken to the school about enrolment, so all the administration should be sorted for you to go to Aberdeen High on Monday. We're flying out to Scotland tonight, so we'll be unavailable over the weekend. All the loose ends should have been taken care of though. Love you sweetheart, bye!'

And there it was. The elephant in the room, the other shoe Nat had desperately been waiting for to drop. She knew her parents probably didn't mean it in that way, but feeling like a loose end and then having that feeling validated over a carelessly-left voice message was a wallop to the gut. Nat was acutely aware of how privileged she was: not many teenagers her age had travelled around the world and stayed at some of the best hotels around the world. But with high-profile architect parents whose lives revolved around handshakes and board meetings as their main mode of bonding, it was no surprise that they were slightly lacking in the emotional capacity department. Being constantly whisked from country to country as a child had imparted that deficiency to Nat as well.

Which is why Aberdeen was going to be her new start. Nat had finally put her foot down, demanded that she be allowed to stay somewhere for good, to have an actual normal teenage life filled with normal teenage friends in a normal town. Right – no more of that self pity. Shelving her melancholy (into an ever-growing mental compartment she had labelled 'to be dealt with'), Nat sat about unpacking a change of clothes. By the time she'd showered, exhaustion had set fully into her bones. Barely sparing a glance at the unmade queen bed in the master bedroom, Nat dragged a comforter into the living room and flounced upon the sofa.

Sleep came uneasily for how world-weary she was.