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Chapter 3

Owen

"Hey, Owen, look."

I hum and glance toward where Carter is pointing, slowing the car down, and even Gray fidgets in interest at the back of the car. There's an old sign on the right with Welcome to Raywald written in a small font with fresh green paint.

"Is it here?" I ask, just to make sure we aren't gonna take a wrong turn and end up in a summer camp or something. The first houses start to appear in the distance though, so I guess we’ve arrived.

"Yeah," Carter confirms after checking the GPS. "Three hundred feet left, and the diner will be on the left."

I nod and focus on the road, gripping the wheel tighter. We've been driving without a break since morning, and I really want to reach Raywald already. The sound of the radio is already a white noise in my ears—but the sights of two mountain peaks and the road twisting up the slope are worth it. It looks like a nice place to settle, after all.

I can't help but notice thick pine forests rising all the way to the mountain peaks, and the wolf spirit under my skin fidgets in anticipation. It would be a good place to stretch our muscles after the ride. No wonder Abel decided to stay here—well, all the mating stuff aside—the woods around here are perfect for a shapeshifter.

By the way, yes, we are shapeshifters—me, my brother Carter, and our cousin Gray—as in, we can take the shapes of our inner spirits. For me and my family, the wolf spirits have lived with us for so long that nobody knows anymore if we were wolves or humans first at the beginning of time. We share our lives as one from the first moments till the last, thinking as humans and living as wolves, surviving in the world that honors the former and hunts the latter.

And that, in a way, is why I’m driving to Raywald—to try and make peace between the two.

It all started with Abel. He is a shifter too, and our packmate—or well, he used to be. A few years ago, Abel left our pack to find a cure for the curse that had taken away his control over his wolf spirit, and I haven't seen him since.

Even though we aren't closely related, our families are part of one pack, and Abel has always been like a brother to me. I still remember how hard it was, both physically and mentally, to deal with Abel when the curse was turning him into a beast under the full moon. A werewolf is a curse for a whole pack—but we did our best, we really did. But it wasn’t enough, and eventually Abel had to leave.

We'd kept in touch all this time though, so when Abel found a cure and a mate rolled into one and decided to settle away from the pack, we found out only a week later. It was good news, of course, but for me especially.

For a long time, ever since I turned twenty-one and gained full rights as a member of our pack, I'd been arguing with the Elders about the life they'd chosen for us. You know, my family, my whole pack had been living in the wilderness for decades. Why couldn't we try to find peace with humans instead?

Our ancestors used to live as outcasts because of the fear of being discovered—but now, in the 21st century, it is practically impossible to hide. Every now and then my packmates would meet a tourist on a mountain trail, get caught on a road camera, or sneak out of a human's sight as if a lone tourist is more dangerous than a bear in winter. But why couldn't we live among them? What harm would it bring to live in a community with people who would be able to accept us?

I'd been trying to prove my point by visiting the towns near our settlements, making friends, and working with people instead of just carving another figurine to sell at the local market. But of course, all I got in response were multiple lectures from my parents and warnings from the Elders to not break our traditions.

The idea to leave my pack and start a new one had been brewing in my mind for a long time. It's not forbidden— every pack starts with an alpha who has left his family, after all—so I talked to my younger siblings in my family to see who'd like to leave with me. Most of them were too comfortable under our parents' wing to think about leaving, but Grayson and Carter agreed to follow me. It was enough to give me hope for the future, and even now I don't know what I'd be doing without them. Wolves need family, and I need their trust to keep going.

The three of us had been looking for a place to start our journey when the news about Abel finally reached us and I heard the name of the town for the first time. Raywald. It's a small town settled between two mountains and separated from the rest of the world by rocky roads and wild forests. I've searched for all the information I could find about it in the internet café of the nearest town, and it looked like a good place to start a new life and a new pack.

With GPS and our parents' blessings, Gray, Carter, and I left our settlement and set on the road to Raywald. Who knows what our families think about it now and whether we will ever see them again. On the day of our departure, Dad told me that he sees me as an alpha—but it is up to me now to make his vision come true.

Everything about Raywald seemed too good to be true, so it shouldn't have been a surprise to find out that I hadn't been the only one interested. Just last night, a fae from the motel we stayed at warned us about the town and the woods around it. As it turns out, Raywald is infamous among local supernatural entities as a place with an unstable magical field. For dozens of years, a big pack of shapeshifters had been keeping it under control—and that could be quite a problem for us.

But we can't just turn around when we're almost there. Besides, what alpha gives up on his goal? Abel didn't mention any issues with the local pack either—although there is a chance he simply joined them—so I decided to give it a go anyway. Which didn't make it less nerve-wracking to drive into the territory of an unfamiliar pack. If their alpha sees us as a threat, he'll have every right to challenge me—and honestly, I'm not sure if I'd be able to handle it.

But for now, I have to focus on our first goal, which is finding Abel and a place to rest. I haven't talked to him personally, but I've heard that he works at a diner now, so that should be a good place to start. I drive into the parking lot of Till Dawn, which is shining with bright neon lights over the road, and all three of us get out with groans and stretched arms. Wolf spirits like freedom, not long rides in the confines of metal and plastic.

As soon as we step on the ground, I sense a low buzz of ancient magic under my feet that dissipates a moment later. I don't know enough about the town to try and understand what it means, but it sets off alarms in my head all the same.

"Don't walk away on your own," I call out to Carter, who seems interested in the woods across the road. He's only nineteen and often follows the curiosity of his wolf spirit —which as I've seen, often behaves like a pup. "We don't know who lives in the woods and if they want us here."

"Yeah, okay."

Carter quickly walks back, easily switching his attention, and I turn to Gray to see if he understands the danger. He catches my gaze and nods, as quiet as ever, but I can see that he senses the magic field too, and his usual frown is even deeper. Gray had a bit of trouble with a witch in the past, so any hint of their magic makes him uncomfortable, and he glances around with wariness. He's twenty-four, only a year younger than me, but I feel protective when I see his tense frame nevertheless.

Only Carter seems to be at ease when we finally enter the diner, and the mix of old music, loud voices, and the smell of fast food hits me harder than I expected. It's hard to stay focused here, especially after a quiet and tedious ride, and it sets my instincts on edge. I walk to the counter, hoping to find Abel as quickly as possible, but there's no one to ask so I focus on searching out his smell instead.

It's been a while since I scented Abel, but I'm pretty sure I can sniff a bit of his scent here. Even with heavy odors of grease and coffee, I catch a hint of his scent—but it's not quite as I remember it. This one is lighter, and sweeter, and I'm struggling to place it when suddenly I notice a movement from the corner of my eye.

"Welcome to Till Dawn, can I—"

I snap my head to the waitress, following the wolf's instincts, even before she has the time to finish the sentence. Our eyes meet, and I can see her blue eyes widening slightly, lips parted around the unfinished question. The girl is slim and tall, her blonde hair tied into a ponytail, and I can’t help but notice her full lips and soft features. She looks pretty even in the simple blue uniform, I notice absentmindedly—and immediately pull my thoughts back to order.

"I'm looking for Abel," I say sternly, too tense to wait for her to come back to her senses. I'm pretty sure she was going to say something pointless anyway, like take us to a free booth or offer their special pizza.

The expression on the waitress' face shifts in an instant. Her smile wavers, one eyebrow arches in something close to annoyance, and she eyes me with a cold look. I frown despite myself. What?

"You have to wait for Rorie then," she says, less enthusiastically than before, and gestures at the counter before turning away.

One of the customers calls out, "Hey, Asya, get me another piece, will you?"

"Isn't it too much for a day?" she retorts cheerfully and walks away to the kitchen while I stare after her in bewilderment.

What, is she mad I didn't try to flirt with her?

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