But I'm just a freak

KAIDA POV “Get out of my way freak,” The she-wolf b***h said as she shoved me out of her way. Mind you, she had plenty of room to go around me. It was a wide footpath. The other she-wolves with her laughed as I stumbled, but I managed to remain on my feet. ‘Freak; Weirdo; Wolf less; Outcast.’ These were but a very small sample of the names I had been hearing for the thirty-five years I have been alive. I scowled as I watched the b***h brigade walk off down the path. I took a deep breath and continued on my way back to my job and home at the local Knick Knack store. Mr James was the only one willing to give the wolf-less freak a job in the whole of the Amethyst Moon pack. My name is Kaida Jalen-Lowell, and I was not a werewolf. I was also not a human, so you may be wondering what I was. No one knew. I did not look like any werewolf or human I had ever seen, hence the names. I was just over five foot five inches tall, was a little on the pudgy side, but had a perfect hourglass shape, I had dirty blonde hair that I wore fairly short, and I had a very rare form of Heterochromia where both my eyes were two different colours. One side of my eyes was a silvery grey and the other side was a golden hazel. I grew up believing I was a werewolf; my parents were both werewolves, so it just made sense…except it turned out my parents were not my biological parents. OK, let me start at the beginning. The people I believed were my parents for the first eighteen years of my life were Robert and Anna Lucas. They were also considered outcasts as they hadn’t conceived a pup after nearly a decade of trying. This was just about unheard of for werewolves. Robert and Anna decided they needed to take action as they didn’t want to be shunned for not having a pup. They approached Alpha Jacob Redfur, who was Alpha at the time, and asked for permission to leave for some time to seek help with having a pup. The Alpha granted them permission and they left the pack. However, instead of finding someone to help them conceive, they scoured all the human orphanages in the country trying to find a supernatural child they could take as their own and pass off as their pup. That’s where I came into the picture. I was found at a murder scene. My biological parents had hidden me in a drawer before whoever murdered them took their lives. I was found hours later by the local police combing the home looking for clues about my biological parents’ murder. My adoptive parents then found me about a week later in an orphanage. As soon as they saw me, they knew I wasn’t human. They decided I was the one. We remained in the human town until they could get the timing right to pass me off as their own pup. They finally returned to the pack with me and told everyone they had finally been able to have a pup of their own. This seemed to appease the pack and my adopted parents were no longer shunned. I, on the other hand, was not so lucky. The name-calling and teasing started in primary school and only got worse as the years went by. By the age of sixteen, most of my classmates had started to notice signs of their wolves, while I still had silence. Then, by the time we were eighteen, they all had their first shifts into their wolves, but it appeared I had no wolf. I was finally forced to go off on my own. My parents could no longer hide the fact that I had no wolf and they told me the truth about where I came from. As the pack freak and outcast, I was given a hut on the edge of town away from everyone else, but it was barely livable. When I was able to finally get the job with Mr James, he offered me the room above his shop. I had gratefully accepted it, and this has been my home for the last seventeen years. This latest attack was the last straw. I have decided I have had enough of the constant abuse, mostly verbal but occasionally physical. I was not wanted here, no one would miss me except perhaps my adoptive parents, even though they didn’t come around much anymore. I think it was time I found my own way in the world away from the pack, so I decided to move to a human town, as far away from here as I could get. I started by researching online and found a bunch of cities that looked like they would be nice places to live, with not too many people and plenty of nature. I then searched for jobs and places to rent in those areas. I knew I wouldn’t be able to leave until I had a job and a place to stay, so I spent the evening sending out both job and rental applications. It was well after midnight when I finally crawled into my bed and fell asleep. I woke early the next morning, feeling better than I had in years. Having finally decided to leave the Amethyst Moon pack, I felt like a weight had been lifted off my chest. I had breakfast and several cups of coffee before having a shower and getting ready for my day in the store. I finally made my way downstairs and found Mr James already opening up. “Good morning, Kaida,” he said cheerfully. I gave him a big smile before returning his greeting. “Good morning, Mr James, I hope you slept well. I know I sure did.” “Well, it’s wonderful to see you so cheery, Kaida. I’ll admit I have been a little worried about you for a while now. You never leave except to do shopping or run other errands and I never see you with any of your friends.” My smile dropped, I hadn’t realised he had been paying so much attention to my lack of social interaction. “Oh uh, you don’t have to worry about me, Mr James, I’m a grown woman,” I said as I headed off to the back of the store to start checking the inventory. I knew he meant well and he had been so wonderful to me over the last seventeen years, but I felt nothing but shame when I even thought about the fact I had no life outside this shop. I would miss Mr James when I left, but I needed to start enjoying life. It was a slow day at the shop, as it often was, so I had plenty of time to think about what I wanted to do with my life after I left here. I mean, other than work, I wanted to experience many things that life had to offer, maybe enrol in some night courses or take up some new hobbies. The opportunities were endless. When the day was done, I headed back upstairs to see if I had heard back from any of my applications, though I doubted I would have yet. I was surprised to find I had a request for an online interview. The position was similar to what I have now. It was for a store manager, but with a home decor store and also like I have now, the position came with a place to live, but instead of a small room with a tiny kitchenette and half bathroom, it was a two-bedroom unit with a full bathroom and a full kitchen. I responded quickly to the email telling them I was very keen on an interview. I made myself some dinner and then sat down on my bed to read a book. My phone pinged, signalling an email. It was well past office hours so I just assumed it would be another crazy junk mail for Viagra… you’d be surprised at how many of those I received each week. Once I had finished my dinner, I did my dishes and got ready for bed. I grabbed my phone and decided to clear out the junk mail folder before getting some sleep. I was very shocked to see it was a job interview for the store manager's position and, thankfully, it was for lunchtime tomorrow. I wouldn’t have to ask Mr James for some time off. That would have made him suspicious, as I hadn’t taken any time off in seventeen years. I could feel the excitement and I couldn’t help but believe it was fate for me to find this job with an attached house. Now I just had to pray to the Moon Goddess that I got it. That night I drifted off to sleep with a smile on my face. The next morning, I was super excited about the interview I would be having at lunchtime, but I realised I needed to tell Mr James I was looking for another job as I had listed him as my reference, since he was the only person I had ever worked for. I just hoped he wouldn’t be too upset. I scoffed down some breakfast and took a quick shower before heading down into the shop. It was still too early to open so I knew Mr James would be in his office at the back of the store. I took a deep breath before knocking. “Come in, Kaida,” Mr James said from inside. I slowly opened the door and peered in. “Good morning, Kaida, come in and take a seat,” he said. I walked over to one of the chairs facing his desk, he smiled at me as he waited for me to talk. “Um Good morning, Mr James…I ah…Well, the thing is…Don’t take this personally as you have been nothing but wonderful to me…” I stumbled all over my words. Mr James’ gentle eyes studied me for a minute before he finally cut off my rambling. “I knew this day would come, though I am surprised it took you so long, you’re leaving, aren’t you?” I looked at him in shock. “Um, well I want to, yes and I have a job interview over the internet at lunchtime,” I said quietly. “I will give them a wonderful reference, Kaida. You have been a fantastic employee all these years. I pray that you get the job. It’s about time you did something for yourself.” My eyes glistened and I struggled to swallow the lump in my throat before responding. “Thank you so much, Mr James, I will go open the shop now,” I said, standing. He nodded and went back to his paperwork. I left his office and breathed a sigh of relief. I was one step closer to leaving the Amethyst Moon Pack.