Moon Forest Pack-----Zoey

2

After my aunt left, I stayed in bed for about a half hour until I heard laughter coming from outside. I stood up and walked over to the window. As I stared at the four guys playing ball in the yard, I smiled. I missed the friends I had, but once I turned sixteen, we moved and I didn’t make any friends.  

As I watched the guys play, suddenly one of them looked up with a smile on his face and quickly backed away. His smile was gorgeous. I looked out the window again, trying to hid behind the curtain, but he looked up again, smiled and winked. I smiled and walked away.  

“He was cute,” I whispered into the air like someone would reply.  

I grabbed my bag and as I began to dig around in it someone was knocking on my door. “Coming.” I walked over to the door and slowly opened it. There stood my uncle.  

“Zoey, I’m your uncle Thomas but everyone calls me Tom,” he said with a smile on his face as he extended his hand.  

He smelled funny and I looked at him with narrowed eyes. “You smell weird,” I said, causing him to laugh.  

“Well, I just got done running. Anyways, your grandparents are downstairs and they are dying to meet you.”  

“Like I told your wife I don’t want to meet anyone,” I said with annoyance lacing my voice.  

“Her name is Cindy in case she forgot to tell you. I know this is all new for you, but this is your family. They have been waiting fifteen years to meet you.”  

“I’m sixteen.”  

The smile on his face fell and he said, “Your sixteen?”  

“Yup. I’ll be seventeen in three weeks. Didn’t the state lady tell you?” 

My uncle just stood there and looked at me and his smell was causing me to feel weird. And we are talking a bad kind of weird.  

Just as quickly as his smile faded, it was back. “Please do this, Zoey. Your family has been wanting to meet you. Your grandparents came over early so they could get to know you.”  

I stood there looking at him and knew I couldn't get out of this. “Fine, but if you expect me to change, I am not going to.”  

“Fair enough. Stairs are over there. Follow the voices and you will find them,” he said as he pointed towards the stairs I had walked up earlier.  

“Thanks.”  

Thomas nodded and walked towards the room I assumed was his and my aunt Cindy’s. I walked out of the room, closed the door and walked towards the stairs. I wanted to run and scream because his stench was all over the house. Gone was the scent I had smelled earlier and in its place was a powerful musky smell and I wanted to vomit.  

I quickly descended the stairs in the matter of seconds, careful not to let anyone know how quickly I moved. I heard the voices talking and walked towards them.  

I walked into the kitchen where the voices were coming from and suddenly the smell of food hit my nose, causing my stomach to rumble. It had been hours since I had last eaten.  

“There you are,” my aunt Cindy suddenly said. “Mom, dad, this is Zoey.”  

I looked at the two gray-haired heads to the left of me and watched as they turned towards me. They both had smiles on their faces but the elderly lady had tears in her eyes.  

“Look at you,” the elderly woman said as she stood up. “You look just like Sara.”  

“Spitting image,” the man said as he stood up and walked over to me. He pulled me in for a hug and I froze up.  

“Welcome home baby girl,” the man whispered before he pulled back and smiled at me. The women hugged me as well and all I wanted to do was run.  

“When we found out your mom was pregnant through a letter, we begged her to come back. She never responded to our letters. We never heard from her until social services called and informed us of what had happened to them.” The man said.  

I looked at everyone and stepped back. “Losing dad was hard. It was just us. Perhaps you can tell me stories about my mom.”  

“Of course, we will honey and we even have photos.”  

I sat down at the table far from them but they were not having it. They came right over and began to talk. Honestly, they were nice, but I wanted to be alone.  

“Everyone is starting to make their way over. We have several guests in the backyard already. We should make our way there,” Cindy said as she carried a bowl out the back patio door.  

“Let's go before that daughter of mine loses it,” the elderly lady named Julie said.  

“Ok.” 

We walked outside and there were people talking everywhere. “Is this all family?” I whispered. 

“Yes. I have five siblings; your grandpa has three brothers and we had four children. Each of them has several children. We have a big family.”  

“I see this,” I said as anger began to rise inside of me. I had all this family but they were never around. They had all this while my father and I lived in a s**t hole.  

I put a huge smile on my face as my grandmother introduced me to so many people. By the time I made my way over to the food table I wanted to scream.  

As the night passed by, I was thankful when it ended and everyone began to leave. As the house began to still and the moon rose in the sky, I sat up in bed and looked outside.  

I always felt more alive when it was night outside, but I knew tonight wouldn’t be the night for me to go running, so I laid down and shut my eyes.  

As Zoey slept, her aunt bolted up in bed and looked around. “Everything okay?” her mate, Tom said, as he sat up looking at her with worry in his eyes.  

“I have this weird feeling.”  

“What do you mean?”  

“My wolf senses something but she isn’t sure what it is.” 

“Everything is fine. Max doesn’t sense any danger. You are safe,” he whispered as he wrapped his hands around her and kissed her neck.  

Cindy smiled and laid down. She snuggled into her mate and sighed. “Tonight, was good.” 

“It was. She looked happy.” 

“I think it was fake, "Cindy said with a hint of anger in her voice.  

“Probably. How old is Zoey,” Tom asked as he remembered her telling him that she was about to be seventeen.  

“She should be fifteen.”  

“Well, when I spoke to her after my run, she made a comment about my scent.” 

“That is good.” Cindy said with excitement in her voice.  

“Perhaps but we got onto the topic of her age and she is going to be seventeen soon.”  

“What?” Cindy said as she quickly turned and looked at her husband.  

“I was shocked as well. I have Jay looking into it. If she is going on seventeen then she should have her wolf.” 

“The letter Sara sent would put Zoey at fifteen.” 

“Unless it was sent after her death.” 

Cindy closed her eyes and sighed. “We will figure it out,” she said right before falling asleep.