Time for Payback

ELENA

If someone had told me I'd ever set foot in that fucking pack again, I wouldn't have believed them. What I wouldn't do to finally get my revenge? With my car windows down and music blaring from the speakers, I drive down the small road that leads to it. Matt wanted to come with me but this is something I have to do alone. After my parents died, things only got worse at Lunar Pack, until my uncle Arthur came to get me. Without him and Matt, I don't know where I would be. Well, I do... probably six feet under with my parents. I've thought about it more than once when you're sixteen and you're told every day that the world wouldn't know the difference if you were gone, and you feel alone and the people you thought were your friends are turning their backs on you one after the other, death seems like the only way out. They gave me something I thought I had lost forever: a purpose and a reason to live. I pass the town line sign and let out a sigh. I drive down the main street and nothing has changed, the same stores, the same restaurants, the same cafes, I even recognize some of the faces. I didn't miss this city.

I arrive in front of Griffin's and I cut the engine. He was surprised to hear from me after all this time but he offered me hospitality during my stay here. I mean, it's not like there's a hotel in this damn town. To come here, you have to know someone and stay with that person. There are never any tourists passing through, you can't find this town on a map.

When I left, I cut everyone off, Griffin was the only one who insisted more than the others but I never answered him. At that point, I knew it was best for me to focus on my future and not look back. Uncle Arthur once told me that we go where we look and that's why racing drivers don't look in the rearview mirror.

When I get out of the car, I see prying eyes in the house next door. When I tell you that there are no tourists here, it is the truth. I knock on his door and he takes only a few seconds to come and open it. He too has changed, the frail teenager has given way to a tall brown man with big brown eyes. He has the same arch as any werewolf you will ever meet. I thought I was the only one who had changed but I was wrong.

For a brief moment, I can read the confusion on his face but his expression suddenly changes when he finally recognizes me.

"Elena?!" He says to me with wide eyes. "Wow, you have changed. You look great. I mean... you were pretty good before too... but wow."

"What do you want me to say? Late puberty and my wolf has made its appearance." I tell him nonchalantly, raising my shoulders.

"Just like you." He pauses looking me up and down again. "Come on in. Don't stay out."

He opens the door wide to let me through. He warned me that it was modest at his house but I think we have different definitions of modest. For a young bachelor, his house is rather spacious, the big living room must be about 40 square meters and he had told me that he had two bedrooms but only one bathroom.

After giving me a tour I got my things out of the car and moved into the room. Griffin is sitting on a stool at his kitchen counter on his laptop when I come out of the guest room.

He closes it when he sees me.

"So what do you want to do? Do you want to go out to dinner in the city or here or do you want to rest?"

"I wouldn't mind a nice meal at Martha's if she's still there," I reply, honestly, that may be the only thing I've missed about this town.

"Oh yeah, she's still here." He tells me with a laugh. "And she still makes the best shakes in town."

"So we have our program."

After our dinner at Martha's, who was thrilled to see me and insisted on not charging me, Griffin dragged me to Spotlight, a bar in town.

Caleb

Thanks, goddess it's the weekend. I thought this week would never end. Finn pokes his head through my office door, holding the door with his tattooed hand.

"We're going to the Spotlight with Theo. You coming with us?"

"Yeah, I'll be right there. I need a drink." I pause. "Did you hear about the factory? About the majority shareholder?"

"Theo managed to get a name, Matthew Callahan. We'll see him at the meeting Monday afternoon."

I slap my hand on my desk before running it over my face. "He's a fucking outsider who's going to be the head of the pack's main revenue stream."

"I know, man." He simply replies to me before walking away.

I join Finn and Theo in the car in front of the pack house. The former got behind the wheel and the latter sat in the back seat. Usually, he hates to sit in the back seat because he is 7 feet tall and he has to be crooked to fit. I think they both sensed my bad mood and decided to make sure we didn't fight over a seat in the car. We spend so much time together that we've come to know each other better than we know ourselves. We were raised together to lead this pack together. That was the dream of our fathers, they were each Alpha of their pack and they wanted to create the biggest and most powerful pack in the United States and they did.

When we arrive at Spotlight, the bar is already full, I indicate to Finn and Theo to go to sit while I order the first round at the bar. I lean against the counter and I hear laughing beside me, I see Griffin with a girl, her back to me. Her head is tilted back so much that she is laughing. Griffin and Tyler, the bartender seem completely transfixed. I slowly approach, trying to get a clearer view of this mysterious young woman.

"Hey, Tyler!" I call to him impatiently.

"Sorry Alpha Caleb." He answers me before hurrying over.

It only lasted a split second but I saw that she tensed up when she heard Tyler say my name.

"Hey, Griffin! You have a new friend?" I throw to him and she turns around.

Holy shit! Her eyes. I never thought I'd see her piercing blue eyes again in my life.

"Elena Romano," I say and she gives me a smirk.