Moonlit Bonds: Alpha's Embrace

Chapter 2

Fleur huffed in annoyance at the snow which clung to her boots. November had just started, and Bennington was already covered under a thick layer of snow. Gone were the gentle rays of sun she had so appreciated at the beginning of October. The constant snowfall was much to the delight of the wolves around her, who had an easier time getting places in their shifted form. But Fleur was no wolf; if the last month in Bennington had taught her anything, it would be that she could not be more different than her peers. While what Andrew had said was definitely true, and they were warmly welcomed into the pack community, Fleur was still struggling to find her footing.

On the other hand, her mother had joined a yoga group and a cooking class and helped out at the local nursery while working part-time at the local hospital. However, she had hardly any work there because it was tough for werewolves to get seriously hurt. Her mother's involvement in pack life was much to Andrew's delight as wolves were very social creatures, and Fleur would often come home from school to find friends of Andrews at their house. They stayed for long hours after dinner, by which time Fleur would have already excused herself and fled to her room. While her mom had always been social, her demanding job back at the human settlement hadn't left her much time to invite friends over to their house, and whatever free time she had, Sabine wanted to spend with Fleur.

It had now been a good month since they moved to Bennington, and Fleur had volunteered at the pack library twice a week and on the weekends for the last two weeks. It had come at her mother's suggestion for her to get out there more. Now that Sabine had more time available, she could see just how much her daughter isolated herself.

Late one night, she confessed to Andrew that she saw this as one of her most significant failures. Fleur was jaw-droppingly intelligent, incredibly quick-witted, and even quite funny if she wanted to be. But it was mostly Sabine who saw this side of her as her shyness stood in her own way, and she reduced herself to a whispering mouse around others. Andrew calmed his mate; he had grown to love Fleur for who she was, and so would everyone else. Fleur simply needed time.

It had only been a few weeks, and this move was a drastic change, especially for someone as sensitive as Fleur. Andrew didn't mention it to Sabine at risk of her panicking and moving them back to the human settlement, but during the first few days they had come to stay in the cabin, Fleur had cried every morning under the shower. Andrew, ever the optimist, was sure Fleur would find her place in the pack. She just needed to do it in her own time.

That's how Fleur had come to trudge her way from the school building to the library on this particularly dreary Tuesday afternoon. What once used to be a fifteen-minute walk now took her a good thirty minutes of huffing and puffing through the knee-high snow. Her mother had offered her a ride before her yoga class, but Fleur didn't want to make her mom drive all the way to the school to come to pick her up and drop her off; it was out of her way, and so Fleur was fine with walking.

Finally, after feeling warm sweat starting to form under her wool hat, she spied the warm glow from the Library building in the distance and hastened her step.

Fleur tumbled through the door as a cold gust of wind carried her in. She quickly made her way into the staff room to take off her wet gloves and hang them over the heater.

"Fleur darling, you're here; how lovely!" A kind, a smooth voice reached Fleur as she stopped in her tracks. Sophie Marks was well into her sixties and had been the pack's librarian for longer than she cared to admit. She was born in the pack and had met her mate at sixteen. They had spent their entire lives here. Wolves rarely left their packs if there wasn't a concrete reason. Sophie was also an anomaly in the pack, preferring the solitude of the library to the busy pack life. So when she was introduced to Fleur through Andrew, she immediately saw herself in the young girl.