Finally Taken {Beyond Royal Wolves Series}

Chapter Two

~~ Reika's Point of View ~~

I scrubbed my hand over my face again as I sat up in bed. For the seventh night in a row, I just tossed and turned all night. I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep deeply for one night.

Getting up, I went into my kitchen and turned on my electric water kettle. As it heated up, I reached into my cupboard to retrieve a few of my herb bottles. Making an energy potion was easier now days than they were in the old days. Herbs were so easily accessible, but you just needed to make sure they were the real stuff.

Once I made my energy potion, I let it sit to cool and mellow so the energy doesn't hit me all at once. I took the time to wash and dress for work. Coming back to the potion, I poured it into a travel mug and left. I would just deal with the bitterness of the potion if it would help give me some of my energy back so I could get through this day.

Walking the distance to my car always felt like a chore because of the fact I wasn't happy about the job I was heading to. How can anyone be happy with a job that takes full advantage of you. I work the hardest and know everything there is to know to get my job done and that of my manager, yet she gets to lay back and relax while I do everything.

Driving to work, I glanced a few times in the rearview mirror. My senses were telling me I was being followed, and there was this one vehicle that seemed to be going the same direction as I was. But that could have been just a coincidence. This particular road had a ton of people that travel it all the time. It might just be that I was just now noticing it for the first time after three years of being at the same location.

Times were tough during the werewolf civil war. Nobody wanted to work for fear of the fighting coming to wherever they were. Even when I put up wards, people were too afraid to be anywhere the fighting could happen. I may have known it was safe, but I just couldn't tell anyone that it was safe and why.

It was something my Grandmother had demanded of us all. She was the Grand Witch after all. The one that oversees all witches and helps instill the rules we had to live by. Rules that were supposed to help keep us safe and everyone else safe too.

Should a witch break any of the rules that have been set by the high coven that my Grandmother leads, there was deep consequences. I've done my best to stay within the bounds of the rules, but my Grandmother has never had faith that I would follow the rules she and her coven has set. She always had her spies around to ensure I stayed clean and obedient.

Maybe that was one of her goons, though they usually were the supernatural type. They at least could keep their distance and be invisible to all the mortal humans that were around all the time. She loved making sure to keep tight tabs on me.

Shaking off the thought, I moved to the right turn lane as I was almost to work. My imagination must be running away from me as I was still low on physical energy. Magically energy was something I never ran out of since I was restrained by decree so I couldn't really use it to my full potential.

Parking my car, I sighed before I got out. Well, here I was and about to feel like I wasted another nine hours of my life. Don't get me wrong, I loved talking to all the customers and doing the prep for each service. The part that I didn't like was all the b.s. that went with dealing with a manager that did as little as she could. That also meant that team members also tried to do as little as possible too.

The whole day dragged on and on as I tried my best to make it a good day at work. Unfortunately, my general manager caused so much chaos that I had to try and reign it in or else it would have gotten too out of control. Just keeping the flow going was so irritating and exhausting.

Finally clocking out, I needed something to make me feel better. There was only one place in all the world that I could go that was a haven for me. A restaurant I've patronized since the second day it was open. Everyone there and the food were always so amazing and delicious. I've never had a bad time there and it was my little piece of heaven on earth.