Mine

Chapter 1 - Genevieve

Life in North Bend was so peaceful like I was in a dream I never wanted to wake up from. Before I could blink, a month had passed, and I was settling into my new life quite well. I had found a cash-in-hand job at a local diner a short walk away from where I was staying and was starting to believe that I had gotten away safely. I no longer looked over my shoulder all the time and was finally used to being called Hayden without being called five times before I realized.

I took all the shifts that the diner would give me and filled up the rest of my time walking around the town and borrowing books from the local library. I chose to keep to myself as making friends just meant more people to leave behind. My diet these days mainly consisted of ramen noodles and the occasional burger from work, and that my slim build turned into a boney build as the weight dropped off, but I was trying to save my money.

Whilst I had no service experience, I learned quickly and had managed to save up enough money in tips to move on again. I just wanted to wait until my birthday had passed before doing it. I planned to try and make it to New York next. It was a big city without much land around it, which meant little chance of running into any other wolves, and it was on the other side of the country.

At 12:01 am on my birthday, I woke from a deep sleep covered head to toe in sweat, my head pounding like a jackhammer was going off in my brain.

"Hello," a quiet voice rang out, causing me to scream and switch on the light so I could search around the room for the intruder.

The same voice chuckled, "you're not going to find me girlie."

And then it clicked. "Are you my wolf?" I queried silently in my head.

"Congratulations, you get bonus points. Yes, I am your wolf." Her velvety voice responded, "my name is Genevieve and I have been waiting eighteen years to meet you!"

It was so weird having someone talk to me in my head, but at the same time, it was oddly comforting. I pulled my legs up to my chest as a wave of shame overtook me.

I heard Genevieve whining sadly in my head, "have I said something to offend or upset you, Cadi?"

It was weird hearing use a nickname only Alexis and Chris used. It made me miss them more. Right now, she was my only friend in the world and, I felt like I failed her.

"Do you hate me?" I queried sadly.

Again, her soft whine echoed in my ears, "oh Goddess, why would you think I hate you?"

"I ran away from our pack." I explained, "I took you away from the wolves before you were even awake."

Instead of whining this time, she let out a loud growl and I waited for the severe tongue lashing that was sure to follow.

"Cadi!" she stated firmly. "I might have just awoken, but I am your wolf, and as such, I share your memories. I know what they would have tried to force us to do if you stayed and to be honest with you, I would have been more pissed with you if you had stayed. I have no intention of allowing either one of us to mate with anyone other than our true mate, and I would have taken out anyone who had tried."

Access to all my memories that explained how she knew my nickname, even living with a pack, there was so much I still didn't understand about wolves. I felt her pacing in my head at the thought of being anywhere near our old pack, letting out a loud snarl.

"wow calm down girl," I thought, "We are getting as far away from them as possible. I just need to do one more shift at the diner today and we are out of here."

She calmed down almost instantaneously, "I'm sorry Cadi, my emotions are slightly heightened as I'm newly awakened." I yawned loudly, my eyes still heavy and tired, "You should get some sleep girlie, and by the way Happy birthday."

I chuckled as I turned off the light and snuggled under the covers, "Good night Genevieve, happy birthday to you too."

Within minutes I was asleep again and before I knew it my alarm was going off. I snuggled under the covers for a few more minutes before reluctantly getting up and jumping into the shower. After I had showered and got into my uniform, I stood in front of the mirror and studied my face. I had expected to see more changes now that I was eighteen years old, but I was still the same.

"Genevieve" I called out in my head, "Are you still there?"

She answered back with a small chuckle, "Not like I can go anywhere girl, I'm part of you."

It gave me small comfort having her with me now.

It was only a short walk from the dingy little motel room I was occupying to the diner which was great since I didn't drive and even if I did, I didn't own a car, so it didn't matter.

I made quick work of clearing some tables once I made it inside for my shift and braced myself for the breakfast rush. As the clock struck eight o'clock, they came breezing through the front door like clockwork. Every day, the three of them, two guys and a girl, came in at the same time and sat together at the same table, a table in my section. The first one through the door seemed to ooze authority, he was at least 6'3 with dark brown hair that he kept slicked back and hazel eyes, and a muscular build. Even though he was dressed casually in a pair of black sweatpants and muscle t-shirt he projected class.

The girl sitting beside him must have been his sister, they shared the same rich brown hair and hazel eyes, but she was more my height than his, and whilst she had a slim build you could tell she was all muscle.

Lastly, there was guy number two, another good-looking guy about the same height as his friend but his sandy blonde hair and blue eyes projected a more laidback surfer boy look.

As I got closer, I felt Genevieve get a little anxious in my head like she was passing back and forth. If she kept going like this she was going to give me a migraine. I took a deep breath and focused all my energy trying to push her back down so I could concentrate. There were only eight hours to go and then I was on the next bus out of here.

I approached the table and put on my best happy face and tried to be normal, the only thing I knew about these people is that they were all gorgeous and tipped very well and I needed all the funds I could get to make it to New York without stopping again.

"Welcome to Randy's Diner. What can I get you guys this morning?" I asked trying to be as bubbly as possible.

All three of them looked up, eyeing me in a way that made me feel nervous. I waited for a minute but when none of them talked.

"I'll give you guys a few more minutes to decide," I stated before I spun around wanting to get away from them as quickly as possible.

Before I could even take a single step, a hand snaked around my wrist, holding me in place. When I turned back, I saw the leader of the group glaring at me.

I thought I heard a growl escape his lips before he spoke, "Care to tell me what you are doing in our territory wolf, and more importantly how you managed to hide from us the past month."

"I tried to warn you Cadi" Genevieve's voice rung out, "They are wolves, can't you smell it."

I took a deep breath and smelled the air, now that my wolf was awake, my sense of smell was heightened and once I focused, I could smell it. Wolves had very distinct smells, as unique as fingerprints but the one thing they all had in common was that they were stronger than your average human.

"You need to get out of here Cadi" My wolf warned "we need to get out of here and as far away from this place as possible. Wolves don't mess around when it comes to their territory."

I brought my eyes down, an automatic act of submission to try and prove to them that I was no threat, "I'm just passing through I didn't know there were any wolf packs around here. I'm sorry I'm leaving now you won't have to worry about me ever again I will not return."

I tried to pull out of his grasp but that only made his even tighter, "You are not going anywhere until our Alpha gets here."

My heart started pounding in my chest, I could not stick around to meet the Alpha. They didn't take kindly to lone wolves, I knew if I met the Alpha he would do one of two things, either kill me or find out whose pack I belonged to and send me back. Out of those two options, I hoped that he would kill me. I would rather die before I went back to my pack.

"Hayden" Randy, my boss called, "your orders up."

A human voice seemed to break the tension in the room and forced the guy to release my wrist. The one thing that wolves protected more than their territory was secrecy He knew holding onto me like that would cause a scene and that was one thing wolves did not do. We had co-existed with humans for thousands of years and the main reason for that is that humans didn't know about us, we were simply fairytales to them.

Without another word I hurried back towards the kitchen to pick up the order and delivered it to the table, it belonged to while I worked out my exit strategy. I was about to head back to the kitchen when I looked out the window and saw a man emerge from the trees near the diner, pulling a navy t-shirt over his well-defined, chiseled chest covering the substantial tribal tattoo that decorated it. If I thought the other two guys were gorgeous, they were nothing compared to him. He was at least 6'5, if not taller, and spikey light brown hair. I couldn't see his eyes from here but the way he walked scared me, they must have called their Alpha already and I was in a world of trouble.

"Get to the kitchen now" Genevieve demanded, "we can get out the back door and run."

I slipped quickly through the kitchen and out the back door as fast as possible, but I only got a few steps before I heard the door slam open.

"Where do you think you're going, little wolf?" A loud voice boomed, the Alpha must have followed me out here.

I swore under my breath and heard him chuckle behind me, I swore again forgetting about the super hearing. As I stopped dead in my tracks. There was no point running, there was no way I could outrun an Alpha without a head start, especially not in human form.

I turned around slowly, keeping my head bowed, praying to the Moon Goddess that I could talk my way out of this. There was no way I was going back to my pack.

"Look at me" he commanded.

"I'm sorry Genevieve, I wish we had more time to get to know each other," I stated as I started to lift my eyes slowly to meet his.

As my green eyes met the Alpha’s deep hazel ones it was as if the world stopped. If I thought he was gorgeous before he was even more delicious up close, to say his scent was mouthwatering would be an understatement. He smelled like caramel popcorn the perfect combination of sweet and salty. Before I could say a word, his eyes started to turn a deep black and he growled deeply, but it confused me it wasn't an 'I'm going to rip your throat out growl' it was more possessive and when he opened his mouth again to utter one-word "MINE"

Genevieve purred in my mind, "That's him, Cadi! He's our mate."

Oh, s**t!