Chapter One
Her tired blue eyes slammed shut with a searing pain as the blazing morning light bombarded her bedroom. It was spring, almost summer, and the day was warm and oh so bright.
The blackbirds were fluttering about, foraging for food as they returned to the wetlands from the south. The spring sunshine enveloped the town. It reinvigorated the trees and poured its revitalizing energy into the home of every resident.
Sage had decided never to draw the blinds of her room the very day she was tall enough to look out of the window. She loved looking at the sparkling water of the Dolphin River that flowed through uptown Graca Park, the town where she had lived since the day she was born.
Graca Park was a fairly big town, and there was activity all around as Sage slept the morning away. Bicycles, cars, buses, and trucks buzzed through the town as the vast assortment of residents made their way through the streets, going about their business.
There were high-rise buildings and vast business parks, towering apartment blocks, and expansive shopping malls. Houses surrounded the parks and schools, and there were family-friendly pubs on almost every corner.
Markets selling everything from fresh produce and homemade lemonade to intricate beadwork, hand-crafted dream catchers, and collections of magical gemstones still occupied the older parts of the town.
In a quaint little shopping village called The Square, you were sure to find the best pastries in the state at The Rising Raisin Bakery. The Fat Cow Cheesery produced the widest variety of Artisan Cheeses.
The Cat Tessen Deli served the best Basil Pesto Pasta Salad Sandwich in the state. Not to mention their newly included juice bar, where you could order a fresh juice made from any fruit, vegetable, or herb available.
The neighboring towns were all farming villages. The harbor was not too far from Graca Park, which meant that every piece of fish, meat, fruit, or vegetable in Graca Park was the freshest in the country.
There were also fast food takeaway shops all over Graca Park. But the townsfolk were very health-conscious, and most of them were always jogging or playing action sports at one of the many country clubs in the town.
To an outsider, Graca Park seemed like the most perfectly normal community, full of perfectly normal people, living perfectly ordinary lives. Any visitor would assume that nothing strange was taking place, that it was a town like any other.
There was, however, something very different about Graca Park. It wasn’t the jeweler or the cobbler or the salon. It was the people. The hospital, doctors and pharmacy differed from any other.
They had to treat human conditions as well as animal conditions, and in particular, they had to know all about treating the specialized medical conditions of werewolves.
Inside the Lowell family’s house across from the Dolphin River in upper Graca Park, the sun blasted into a room. This room had been Sage’s nursery. When she was little, her father had held her up to see the Dolphin River every single day, even in winter, when the river flowed in morbid shades of gray and black. Sage loved water and appreciated it in all forms and conditions.
On a clear and calm spring or summer’s day, the river swarmed with brightly colored boats that could hypnotize even the most stubborn mind.
The river was gifted with an almost full day of bright sunlight, as the ancient trees and bush surrounding it only caused shadows around the banks. The sun on the water created diamond-like sparkles that added a touch of magic to the mundane drone of everyday life.
The river had gotten its name from the settlers who had founded the town many years ago. After traveling thousands of miles by sea to reach their destination, they had mistaken the sparkles and waves on a windy day for the fins of dolphins.
For the last couple of years, though, Sage had little time to enjoy the view from her bedroom. She might even have forgotten about the magic of the Dolphin River, with classes and work and her feeble attempts at having a social life.
The sharp pain running from her highly sensitive eyeball through to the most delicate part of her brain finally ran its course. Sage let out a groan, rolling over in bed to face the other side, where she wasn’t blinded by the direct brightness of the sunlight again.
She was still exhausted and was enjoying the love affair she was currently having with her bed. Sage loved her bed, especially when she was as lazy as she felt now. She had recently changed her sheets from the warm flannel ones that made her love the comforting warmth of her winter bed to silky summer ones.
Sage knew it was late and wanted to check the time. She slid her hand across the lustrous bedding, feeling for her phone. She had the bad habit of falling asleep while scrolling on social media in bed and often ended up sharing her sheets with her phone.
The phone made a harsh vibration and let out an almost inaudible notification, sounding like chimes on a windy day. Thanks to this identifying feature, Sage finally grabbed hold of her phone from its hiding place under a stray pillow.
She slowly unsealed and eased open one of her eyes, slowly glancing at the screen. They flew open as she realized what the time was.
“Oh, crap, 11 a.m. already,” Sage mumbled to herself, not noticing the message that helped her find her phone was from Mae Smythe.
Mae was her best friend. They had met in college, and Mae’s classy apartment come laboratory in downtown Graca Park was where she should have been right now!
As Sage leaped out of her soft, cozy bed, she could feel the weight of her golden yellow tail wagging lazily under her pajamas. Despite her sleepwear being rather loose fitting, her tail caused an uncomfortable tightness.
She quickly shifted back to full human form, and made a mental note to clear her mind before falling asleep at night to avoid half shifting in her sleep again.
She rummaged through a pile of clothing that had a regular spot on the antique rocking chair that had been in her room since her mother was pregnant with her. These were the clothes that were not quite clean enough to hang back in the closet, but not quite dirty enough to put in the laundry basket.
Sage was nothing if not predictable. She slid her favorite pair of plain and faded jeans over fresh undies. Those were rapidly followed by a dull gray halter neck stretch vest which she wore without a bra because of its built-in chest support.
She knew that this would almost definitely guarantee a lecture from Mae about breast health and being more feminine. She couldn’t worry about that, however, because being extremely late for her meeting with Mae, would most assuredly get her a lecture.
Sage flung her bag over one shoulder as she dashed from her room, down the stairs, all the while running her fingers through her dead straight, shoulder length golden blond hair and forcing it into a tight ponytail.
She glimpsed herself in the mirror that was on the wall of the staircase and figured she didn’t look too bad for someone who didn’t fuss at all over her appearance. Those closest to Sage would most certainly disagree with her, though. They saw her sloppy attitude towards her appearance as wasted potential.
She planned to grab something that would make for a super quick breakfast on her way out, and with Cerise, her mother, downstairs in the kitchen, breakfast may make her even later.
She knew that her mother was in the kitchen. Not only because of the sound her shoes made on the floor tiles, but because she liked to make sure that her children ate healthy and well-balanced meals.
Well, they were no longer children. They were adults who were perfectly capable of feeding themselves something other than a takeaway burger or a milkshake that contained copious amounts of sugar and empty calories.
However, she knew her children. Sage would eat anything sweet and anything that didn’t take too much time to prepare, which was why there were no easy to snack on items of junk food in the house. Werewolves didn’t exactly require a special diet, but poor health in human form would definitely result in poor health when in shifted form.
Sage was born into a family and community of werewolves. There were various ways of becoming a werewolf, but the most common way was through genetics. It was extremely rare that a human with wolf genes would breed a child without them, but it was slightly less of a rarity that a couple without known wolf genes would breed a wolf child.
This was because of the complexity of genetics. These wolf children born to non-wolf families often didn’t even realize that they carried the gene. Only contact with another werewolf would activate it.
It was a rare occurrence, but often these children would shift during a full moon with absolutely no knowledge of what was happening to them. While in wolf form, it was tragic but common that they would severely harm or even murder those around them, including their own loved ones.
A negative trait in werewolves is their violent temper. And shifting into full werewolf form without understanding what had just happened was sure to trigger a serious temper.
This is a known danger, and parents and teachers spend a lot of time ensuring that their children learn to control their tempers. At a young age, the temper isn’t too active, but by their mid-teens, one wrong look in their general direction and they would rip whatever is closest to them to pieces.
This, coupled with the need to find their mate, can be disastrous and it would push those who never received the correct guidance over the edge and turn them rogue.
Many untrained werewolves who lost control were forced into a life previously unknown to them, as it was difficult for them to return to their families. Without the love and understanding of a community, they would live nomadic lives, mostly staying away from others, but occasionally terrorizing those who attempted to make contact with them.
It was these rogue werewolves that scratched or bit humans, thereby turning them into werewolves. These newly created werewolves needed to be tracked down and either helped to understand their new fate or, if they could not be tamed, destroyed.
Searching for rogues or new creations was the full-time profession of many werewolves, including Sage’s father, who was away a lot.
Sage slowed down when she saw her beautiful little mother preparing whole-wheat toast with jelly. She loved Cerise’s homemade jelly, full of fresh fruit but with drastically reduced sugar. Sage had quite the sweet tooth, but Cerise found store-bought jelly to be far too sweet for her healthy palate. As a result, Sage also ate healthily, when she was home, at least.
Cerise wasn’t even five feet tall, or five feet short, to be more specific. Her body was well-toned and curvaceous, which drove the men wild and the women wild with jealousy. She kept her dark strawberry blond hair perfectly styled and used minimal, natural makeup that highlighted her deep brown eyes and full lips.
Her healthy diet showed in her flawless skin and natural glow. If she wasn’t so conservative and age-appropriately dressed, a stranger would not believe that she was old enough to have grown-up children.
Her healthy diet showed in her flawless skin and natural glow. If she wasn’t so conservative and age appropriately dressed, a stranger would not believe that she was old enough to have grown-up children.
Sage rubbed cheeks with Cerise in greeting, as most wolves do.
“Good morning, my darling. I’m almost finished. Are you having breakfast with us?” asked Cerise, as bacon sizzled in the oven and eggs were poaching gently on the stove.
“I would have loved to sit down and join you, Mom, but I’m supposed to meet Mae at eleven.”
“Eleven? But darling, it’s almost ten minutes past eleven.” She put the toast and spreader knife down on the plate and moved over to scoop the eggs from the boiling water.
“Eleven? But darling, it’s almost ten minutes past eleven.” She put the toast and spreader knife down on the plate and moved over to scoop the eggs from the boiling water.
“I know, I know, that’s why I can’t sit down for breakfast,” blurted out Sage, before downing her glass of milk in one smooth gulp.
She popped the glass in the empty sink and grabbed a slice of toast, freshly slathered with organic mixed fruit jelly.
“Why were you working so late last night? Your hours are ridiculous at times my dear.”
“Shit, my phone. Mom, I will explain my entire project to you in detail when I get home.” She started towards the stairs again. “Just getting my phone from upstairs.”
“Sage, honey, wake Oliver while you’re upstairs. He didn’t work late and has absolutely no reason to still be asleep.”
Sage stopped in her tracks and stuck her head back around the corner to look at her mother while she spoke in a slightly hushed tone, mouth full of a mess of toast and jelly.
“Mom, do I have to? I mean, you know we don’t get along, yet you are always pushing us to be in contact. I get an attitude from him no matter what I do or say. It’s infuriating.”
Cerise smiled at Sage. “Don’t speak with a mouth full of food, my love. Don’t roll your eyes at me and don’t take your brother personally. Some wolves are just not social creatures, it’s his personality, that’s just the way he is.”
“As if you can call that a personality,” Sage replied in a huff as she climbed the stairs.
“He is plenty social with his friends and girlfriends, and he is not my brother.”
She made sure that she was out of earshot when she said that, as that last statement would have upset her mother. It was always a difficult situation when there was conflict in their family.
Sage only wanted to see her mother happy. Cerise only wanted to see her family close and getting along, and Oliver only seemed to want to be miserable when in their company, or maybe just in Sage’s company, as she didn’t know how he acted when she was away from home.
Their father was not home much, but he created a sense of completion and calm when he was there, which made Cerise float on a cloud for having her dear husband home and having peace in the house.
Sage cursed herself as she walked up the tiled staircase. First of all, for being so late. And then, for having to go back upstairs to her room because she was in such a rush that she was careless. Even though it happened quite often, she clearly hadn’t learned her lesson.
Her simple gray rubber sandals squelched against the tiles from how she was stomping her feet. She did not relish the prospect of having to enter the room of her arch-nemesis, who seemed mortified by her mere presence in his otherwise happy life.
The one thing that frustrated Sage about her mother was how blind she was to the genuine disdain that Oliver had for her. Almost everyone who knew them could see how awful Oliver was to Sage. Most importantly, they could see how he changed from Mr. Social to Mr. Miserable the second he noticed Sage’s presence.
