HOMECOMING

The alarm buzzed, waking me from the best dream. I snaked my hand over to turn off the incessant noise. I lay snuggled in my blankets for a few moments before leaping out of bed in excitement. Let me introduce myself. My name is Eleanor Jade Grant, but everyone calls me Ellie. I am 5’6” tall, have black hair and jade green eyes. I have a toned, curvy body as I “developed” early, which is both a blessing and a curse. It’s nice to not have a stick figure, but I really don’t like the attention the teen boys give me. I am just not interested in dating at this point in my life. I have dreams and goals for my future. Boys and relationships would just be an unnecessary distraction. My parents are John and Lila Grant, and my only sibling is my older sister, Fiona Grant. We are werewolves. Yes, you heard me. Werewolves. Well, some of us are werewolves. Our pack is made up of a conglomeration of werewolves, werebears, werecats, weredragons, witches, fae, and just about every kind of supernatural being. The pack was formed in the early 1500s, which was a time when supernaturals were being persecuted in Europe. So, along with the people that fled Europe to escape religious persecution came supernaturals. It was decided at that time that they would band together to stay protected and build the kind of community they desired. According to our pack history, the original settlement was in the Mahone Bay area not far from Oak Island. Some of the witches and fae settled on Oak Island as they could easily hide their presence with their magic. That proved to be advantageous to the pack, as the island was a popular place for pirates, privateers, and another organization to hide their treasure. Let's just say not all hidden and buried treasure remains hidden or buried. According to pack history, about 75% of the treasure deposited on Oak Island and in the surrounding area was claimed by the pack inhabitants. I guess they wanted to ensure that nothing, and no one, could ever force them to submit to persecution ever again. Shortly after 1795, the pack, with all their worldly treasures, deemed it wise to move to our current location. It was left to the dragons to do all the heavy lifting and transportation of recovered treasure. And being dragons, they decided the highlands of what is now Cape Breton was the perfect place to settle. It provided a habitat suitable for all members of their unique pack. Our pack is the Golden Moon Pack. We are in the highlands of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, close to the small town of Niel’s Harbor. Of course, no human knows what we are. They just think we are a gated community that backs onto the Highlands National Park. That’s the way we like to keep it. Our pack has about 1200 members, including teens and children. Most of the adults are employed within the gated community at the high-end jewelry design and manufacturing facility our pack owns and operates. A few members work at the hospital and school in the nearby town, though a select few do travel outside the local community for work. The pack members that travel do so as part of the sales team for the jewelry. A few even work online. All in all, we have a very happy and wealthy community. We attend the human school in the nearby town and make up just over half of the student population. We do have Were classes, but they are held within our pack territory. Though we are integrated socially with our human neighbors, we don’t often date, or find our fated mates among them. We do hold “mating balls” where allied packs can attend. Quite often, we will gain new females that are fated mates to our males. And of course, we also lose females that are mates to visiting pack males. Over the centuries, there has been matings between the different types of supernaturals, which means we have many hybrids in our pack. To our knowledge, there are only 3 other packs in the world that are similar to ours. That means we have strong alliances with these packs, and they are always invited to our mating balls, and vice versa. Usually, you can find your mate anytime after your 18th birthday. Luckily, I don’t have to worry about any of that for at least another 4 years. Thanks to the Goddess. Today, December 21st, is my 14th birthday. It is also the last day I will be attending high school. Not for any bad reason, but because I have successfully completed the Grade 12 Advanced Placement Honors program, with distinction. The first student in the history of my school to achieve this. Yes, I admit it. I am a nerd. The Moon Goddess has blessed me in the brain department with an eidetic memory, so learning comes easy to me. I have great plans for my future in the business world. And today is the day those plans can start to manifest. I plan to get my master’s in business administration as well as my Chartered Professional Accounting degree, so I can help run the pack business. In truth, I have already completed year 1 of both degrees as I have been taking online classes for the past 6 months. Fiona, who is 17, is an average student. She will be graduating this coming June. Fiona is 5’ 11” tall, and very strong. With her long blond hair, and deep blue eyes, she takes after Mom & Dad. Her gentle manner and soft voice are deceptive. She could, and has, kicked the butt of every warrior in our pack. She has even beaten the Delta and Gamma in sparring. She is truly a sight to behold. Her wolf, Amber, is just as amazing. I am so proud of both. She is the best sister a girl could ask for. She is kind, funny, and very protective of me. She knows that a few of the teens in the pack tried to bully me because they think I am a nerd, which I am. I guess her being the oldest child of the pack’s Beta carries some weight. She let it be known that anyone that bullied me would get their butt whooped, and she could deliver. The real kicker is that she doesn’t have to be so protective because I can hold my own against any bully. Fiona and Dad have both been training me since I was 6. That is early to begin training, but Dad said I needed the physical training to balance out my development. All study and no physical play make for a very weak wolf. And I did not want to be weak. So, Fiona and I worked out for an hour a day, and then Dad took over for another hour. Once I hit 10, Dad increased my daily time with him to 2 hours. Now, at age 14, I, too, could hold my own with all the teens, and about half of the warriors. But enough of the introductions. I need to get showered, dressed and go downstairs for breakfast. Today is going to be a busy day, and I can’t wait to get started. Once dressed, I headed downstairs. As I near the kitchen, I heard my mom and dad whispering. I pause as I just heard mom say “I hope Ellie will be okay. This is going to be hard on her.” My heart pounds in my chest in fear. What is going to be hard on me? Please don’t let it be something that will mess up my continued education. I am supposed to start physically attending university in January. Hopefully, the university hasn’t changed its mind about accepting such a young student. “Calm down” says a voice in my head. “Everything will be okay. You can handle anything with me”. I shake my head. Now I’m talking to myself? “Not yourself, silly girl. It’s me. Jade. Your wolf.” Just as I go to yell “my wolf”, Jade hushes me.” Tell no one, and I mean NO ONE, I am here. You MUST keep me a secret.” “But how can I keep you a secret? Surely everyone with a wolf will be able to sense you.” In my mind I can see Jade looking at me. She is beautiful, pure black with jade green eyes, and a jade green crescent moon in the middle of her forehead. Suddenly, she has a green glowing light around her. “I am a special wolf sent by the Moon Goddess. I can block everyone’s ability to sense me. So, say nothing, and we will talk later today. You will need to be strong. But with me, you can handle anything.” With that, Jade receded to the back of my mind, tucked her nose into her tail, and went to sleep. Just then I heard Fiona holler “Happy birthday, Squirt” as she rushed to hug me. “Squirt?” I laughed. “Just because I am shorter than you now, doesn’t mean I won’t get taller. 5” 6” is not that short. And I’m only 14, I have lots of time to grow.” I grin at Fiona as we both head into the kitchen. Mom has prepared all my favorite breakfast foods. Bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, waffles, and hashbrowns. A good thing werewolves burn a lot of calories and eat a lot, because the kitchen table is practically groaning with the amount of food. She does this for each of us on our birthdays. She is the best Mom. I really couldn’t ask for anyone better. She and Dad gave me a big hug while wishing me a happy birthday. We then all take our place at the table to enjoy the feast. As we eat, we chat about our plans for the day. The first thing we must do is go to the high school to pick up my diploma and transcript of marks. Then we returned to our pack house to attend the specially arranged graduation ceremony. Ian McGrath, Alpha’s oldest son, is also graduating early, so, of course, this makes it a pack event, and kind of a big deal. I am glad all the attention will be on Ian. I hate being in the spotlight. Ian will be leaving for the Wolfen Council Alpha training facility in the New Year. He will be gone for 2 years, only coming back to the pack every 6 months for a week at a time. Once back for good, hopefully he will find his fated mate, then take over as Alpha. My parents, and Fiona, hope that she is his fated mate. It would make sense, as she is the Beta’s daughter, as well as a very strong she-wolf. They would have strong alpha pups, which is what every pack wants and needs. And they do get along well as they have been friends since birth and have dated for the last year. They were never far apart. Always hanging out together with the other 3 wolves that will make up the Alpha Unit once Ian takes over. Suddenly, I hear Mom snapping her fingers in my face. “Earth to Ellie. Come back to earth girl.” She laughs as she gets my attention. “Sorry Mom, just thinking about today.” I smiled as I responded. “Well go finish getting ready. We leave for school in 20 minutes. You don’t want to be late for your big day”, she says as she shoos me out of the kitchen. I ran back to my ensuite to brush my teeth, then grab my backpack. I need to clean out my locker, then return textbooks. I also have ‘thank you’ gifts for my teachers. They have worked as hard as I have, to get me to this point academically. I hurried downstairs and out to the car where Mom, Dad, and Fiona were waiting for me. Getting into the back seat beside Fiona, I couldn’t help but reach across and squeeze her hand. For some reason, I was more nervous than excited. Fiona chuckled and said, “buckle up buttercup, you are in for a ride”.