RUNNING WITH WOLVES

Brekenridge, Colorado was a quaint little touristy place where a branch ofthe Hale family had settled for the past couple of generations.  It also happened to be the home of a small, peaceful wolf pack.  It was a quiet, stable life that Tessa was born into, despite that it had been a little different than most kids, her parents both werewolves and being raised in a wolf pack. It was normal to her, however, and was just another facet of her life.  It was nice to grow up with numerous uncles, aunts and cousins - not by blood or marriage, but by something greater. 

 

She'd always assumed that when she became old enough, she'd make the choice to be bitten and take that final step to become one of the pack fully.  When her older sister, Brianna, decided against it, it made her pause and question herself and family.  Of course, that was before Avery came into her life.  A few family joined the pack and the Brekenridge community, bringing along their son, Avery, who was a year older than Tessa.  Sweet puppy love was born, first love's blinding rush swept up the woman-child with a flourish, her entire universe centering around the blonde hair, blue eyed heart throb.

 

Caught up in the magic of her first brush with love, everything Avery said was appealing and hung among the moon and stars.  A year older than her in school, he was given the choice to be bitten a year before she would, and he took the opportunity to be like his family and join the pack fully.  Convincing Tessa to make the same decision so they could truly be together was an easy feat for Avery, and in secret beyond the pack's perview, Avery bit Tessa in the woods one late summer night before he left for college in Texas.

 

Everything was fine for a little while after Avery moved away and she started her senior year.  There were video chats and texts and calls.  By October, however, that communication was becoming more and more infrequent. She couldn't get a hold of him, and when she did, he was always busy studying or hanging out with friends, quick to cut the conversation short.  She claimed she understood - she didn't want to lose him - but it was weighing heavy on her mind and heart.  When he finally came home for Christmas break, she'd been beside herself with excitement.  Finally he'd be right in front of her. 

 

That dream was shattered the moment he pulled up and a tall, tanned blonde stepped out of the truck with him, clinging to his arm and looking every bit as crazy about him as Tessa had just a few months before.  When she finally managed to wrest him away, Avery had just looked at her like she was crazy with a flippant 'what did you expect?'   Her world came down around her, everything that had once had purpose and meaning now was void and empty.

 

She walked around in a blur for the next several months, robotically doing what she had to in school, though she refused to even consider applying to colleges.  She stopped coming around the pack very often - how could she when Avery's family was always there?  Graduation came and went without much fanfare or excitement from the petite brunette.  It seemed even bleaker that fall when they received news that Harker Sterling, their mother's father, had passed on and was leaving his business in Denver to his daugther's family.

 

When Brianna voiced her want to try to take over the business for herself, Tessa jumped at the chance to offer to go help her.  Thinking it would be good for both girls to get out of the area and have a chance to build their own lives, the diner was deeded over to the sisters with a call ahead to the Road Wolves and cousin Jason Hale, tomake sure they were affiliated and looked after while in Denver.

 

Determined to start a new life and get control of her own destiny once and for all, Tessa is fully determine to make a go of this chance, this fresh start.  Only time will tell how successful she is with it.