Page 1 of Twisted Destiny

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Hayley Adams leaned over her drafting table, her pencil gliding effortlessly across the paper as she sketched the final touches onto a logo design for a local bakery. The small design firm where she worked was tucked away in a quiet corner of downtown Chicago, bustling with creative energy and camaraderie. At twenty-seven years old, Hayley had come a long way since her traumatic past, finding solace in the world of graphic design.

"Hey, Hayley! You've got mail," her coworker, Mark, called out from his desk near the entrance.

"Thanks, Mark!" she replied, setting down her pencil and walking over to his desk.

He handed her a certified letter with an official-looking seal on it. "Looks important," he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Doesn't it?" Hayley responded, tearing open the envelope. As she unfolded the crisp paper inside, her heart began to race. The letter was from someone named Calder Lorenson, informing her that her great uncle had passed away and left her his cabin in Twisted Tail, a small town nestled in the dense woods far from Chicago.

Hayley's breath hitched in her throat as memories she had fought so hard to suppress came flooding back. She remembered the smell of the damp earth and the sound of the wind rustling through the trees, but most importantly, she remembered the painful events that had forced her to leave her life at Twisted Tail behind. The thought of returning now filled her with an equal mix of dread and obligation.

“We can’t avoid our home forever.” Her wolf whispered into her mind.

She wanted to shout, to scream. That was exactly what she had planned on doing.

"Everything okay?" Mark asked, his teasing tone replaced with genuine concern for her.

"Yeah, just some family stuff," Hayley mumbled, folding the letter back up and slipping it into her pocket. "I'll deal with it later." The last thing she wanted to do was open up this can of worms with her human coworker. No one at her office knew what she was, and she planned on keeping it that way.

Mark nodded, giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder before returning to his work. Hayley stared blankly at the wall, thinking about that damn certified letter, the weight of its contents settling heavily in her heart. The decision to return to Twisted Tail had been the furthest thing from her mind. Now, she needed to go back and claim her great uncle's cabin—if she wanted it. It was something she would need to think about. The decision to return to Twisted Tail would not be an easy one, but it was a decision she was going to have to make. Sadly, it couldn't be avoided any longer.

As she returned to her drafting table, Hayley tried to focus on the logo design in front of her, but her thoughts were consumed by the whispering trees of Twisted Tail and the echoes of a past she could never escape. She knew that returning would mean facing her fears head-on, but it was the only way to truly honor the memory of the man who had been so kind to her in the darkest of times. Without her Uncle Henry aiding in her escape, she wasn’t sure if she would have ever survived. The former Alpha would have killed her, had he gotten his hands on her. Of that, she had no doubt.

With a determined sigh, Hayley pulled the certified letter from her pocket and tucked it into her bag, the crisp paper crackling with the promise of a journey that would test her strength and resilience like never before—if she decided to go.

The sunlight filtered through the blinds, casting slivers of light on her sketchpad. She paused for a moment, her pencil hovering above the page, and allowed herself a brief moment to take in the scene outside. The skyscrapers loomed overhead, their glass surfaces reflecting the vibrant colors of the city below. It was in these moments, amidst the chaos of the city, that Hayley felt furthest from her past – a past filled with events she could never fully escape, no matter how damn hard she tried.

Her wolf whined in her mind, longing for the days of feeling the dirt under her paws as she raced across a wide-open meadow surrounded by mountains.

“You know why we had to leave,” she said to her wolf silently.

“I know, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t still miss our home.” Her animal sighed.

Hayley knew she couldn't make this decision alone – she needed someone who understood her past and could help her navigate the difficult road ahead. And there was only one person she trusted enough to share this journey with, her best friend and confidant, Willow K. Sprout.

"Hey, Willow," she whispered into her phone, not wanting Mark to overhear her conversation. "I need your help."

The sun dipped below the horizon, casting a hazy orange glow over Hayley's apartment as she paced back and forth. The letter lay crumpled on her coffee table, a heavyweight threatening to pull her back into the darkness she'd tried so hard to escape. She hesitated, her heart pounding in her chest as the memories of Twisted Tail clawed at her mind.

"Griffin Engle," she muttered under her breath, the name leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. His image flashed before her eyes—a tall, imposing figure with cold, calculating eyes that pierced through her soul. Griffin had been the one to tear her family apart, his hunger for power knowing no bounds. As the former Alpha, he had single-handedly destroyed everything she held dear.

She tossed the letter onto the kitchen counter, hoping to forget about it. But after changing out of her work clothes into something more comfortable, her mind kept rolling through old memories of her time at Twisted Tail.

Hers wasn’t a happy childhood. After all, Twisted Tail was less of a pack and more of a criminal enterprise. The Alpha and his miserable henchman made their living through extortion, blackmail, drugs, and theft from other packs and humans alike. But that was just scratching the surface. Everyone at Twisted Tail had paid the highest of prices.

Growing up in a violent, dysfunctional pack could easily have left Hayley with a broken life like so many others. But with her entire family wiped out, it was her wolf who gave her the strength to make a run for it. Running had been her only means of survival at the time and her wolf had known it. As much as she wanted to remain within the pack, it simply wasn’t safe.

Making a new life in the city had been easy. She struggled and scraped by until she finally had a decent life. Sure, as a wolf, living outside of a pack was a lonely life. But at least it was her life on her terms. With that, she could hold her head high. For the first few months, she’d looked over her shoulder, worrying the pack would come looking for her. When they hadn’t, she slowly began to relax into her new life.

“We need to talk about this.” Her wolf demanded.

“Not yet. I’m not ready to deal with the possible repercussions yet. I can’t wrap my brain around any of this. I need to talk to someone first. Someone who knows me. Who knows my past.” She couldn’t bear to think about returning to Twisted Tail. Hayley couldn’t shake the fear that still resided deep in her bones when it came to anything related to her former pack.

“Do you mean Willow?”

“That’s exactly who I mean.”

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