Page 2 of Twisted Destiny

Hayley met Willow quite by accident nearly six months ago. Hayley could still remember the exact way it happened. She was at the grocery store checkout. The woman in front of her had just finished paying for her groceries and was headed to the parking lot when Hayley realized the woman had taken her purse but had left her wallet behind. Hayley raced after her, but the woman had seemingly vanished into thin air.

Hayley had little to no trust that the cashier wouldn’t clean out the poor woman’s wallet. So, she took it upon herself to make sure the wallet was returned to its rightful owner. The second she found the woman’s business cards; she knew the wallet belonged to someone special. “Willow K. Sprout, Fairytales and Happy Endings,” she read out loud. “Fairytales and Happy Endings,” she repeated and dialed the number.

“Willow? Hi, my name is Hayley Adams. I was behind you at the checkout today, and you left your wallet. I just want to make sure you get it back.”

“Thank you so much! I’ve been looking everywhere for it. Can we meet? There’s a little café near my place. I’m sure you know it.”

After making the arrangements, Hayley was full of curiosity. There was just something special about Willow, and she wanted to know why she assumed she’d know exactly where to meet.

At that very first meeting, an extremely grateful Willow touched Hayley’s hand as she thanked her. Hayley instantly sensed the woman’s magic as it wisped gently across her skin. Willow’s magic was soft, sweet and comforting. A magic that was completely foreign to her. While Hayley didn’t know exactly what or who her new friend was, Willow seemed to know what Hayley was immediately.

“Ah, a wolf. I knew there was something about you I liked.”

Wide-eyed and suddenly frightened, Hayley pulled her hand away and leaned back. “How did you know?” She’d worked so hard to keep her dual nature concealed. This woman blew right past every shield she had ever erected to keep other magical people at bay.

Willow smiled, “It’s just something I have a knack for.”

Hayley shook off the fears she had that Willow would out her to her former Alpha. One look in the woman’s eyes and Hayley knew without a doubt that she could trust her with her life.

From that moment on, the two became good friends. In time, Hayley confided her life story to Willow, especially about her tragic life with the Twisted Tail pack. Sensitive to how Twisted Tail had affected Hayley, Willow never brought it up again.

But the letter she had received was about to change all of that. Bile churned in her throat. After all this time, her pack had found her. What Hell would she have to pay for running when she did? It was a question Hayley hoped she would never learn the answer to. As she eyed that damn certified letter, she knew she would find out sooner rather than later.

2

“Hey, Willow, can we get together for coffee tomorrow morning?”

“Of course. But I sense something is weighing on you. Maybe we ought to meet this evening?”

Hayley turned the unopened envelope in her hand and wondered if she’d ever truly put Twisted Tail in the past. “No, I’m tired and going to crash early tonight. Besides, I really don’t think I could force myself to go back out in this weather if I tried. I’m just sorting out some old memories. It’ll be better to sleep on it and have a conversation in the morning anyway.” At least, she hoped it would.

“That’s fine, sweetie. I’ll see you tomorrow at our usual hangout.”

“Perfect! See you then.” Hayley sighed and ended the call. She wanted to work through her thoughts on her own before she dragged Willow into her bullshit life.

It was one of those awful sleepless nights for Hayley. She wished she would’ve taken Willow’s advice and ignored the weather. Maybe if she had just talked through her issues earlier in the evening, she could have gotten some sleep. As it was, she was dead-ass tired when she finally met up with Willow the next morning.

“Thanks for meeting up with me,” Hayley slid into the seat across from Willow in their favorite café. “At least the skies are clear today. But mainly, having you here makes it easier to deal with this,” she said, setting the envelope on the table.

“What do we have here? A Pandora’s box in letter form?”

Hayley shrugged. “Pretty much. It’s a certified letter from someone at Twisted Tail. I—I just—ugh! I have no idea who he is. All I do know is that I don’t want to deal with any of it.” Hayley hated that an innocuous letter made her feel like a chickenshit, but here she was—having her friend read her personal mail all because she didn’t want to deal with her past.

“Of course. Let’s see what we’ve got here.” Willow quickly opened the envelope and read it to herself. Before responding to Hayley, she sipped her coffee and reread the letter.

“You’re killing me. What do you think?” The words lodged in Hayley’s throat. She had been imagining the worst-case scenario from the moment the damn letter had been delivered. She half expected some big brute to show up and drag her kicking and screaming back to Twisted Tail against her will.

“It’s from Twisted Tail, that’s for sure. From a man named Calder Lorenson, the Alpha. Do you know him?” Willow asked.

Hayley shook her head. “I know it’s from Twisted Tail, but I have no idea who Calder is. I’ve never heard of him. How do you know that he’s the Alpha?” She was surprised to hear there was, in fact, a new Alpha to begin with. She wondered if he was from the same shitty ranks as the previous Alpha—though she wasn’t quite sure if anyone could be as bad as Griffin Engle had been. Shivers traversed her body at the thought of how he had treated everyone within the pack.

“Well, let’s just say Twisted Tail is under new management. I know Calder. He’s a good man.” Willow said with a flair of positivity in her voice.

“And you never mentioned that. Don’t you think you should have, I don’t know, maybe told me? Like oh, hey, your pack has a new Alpha?” Hayley was taken aback by the fact that Willow clearly knew the new Alpha and hadn’t said a damn word to her one way or the other.

“Just to be clear, I didn’t bring up the Twisted Tail pack after you told me about how it was when you were there because you weren’t ready to talk about it. I didn’t want to push you or make you uncomfortable. Maybe I should have. Anyway, Calder is writing to let you know your great uncle Henry passed away and his old cabin is now yours. He left it to you. How well did you know him?”

“I saw that. I did read the letter. But I don’t know. Something feels off. Like it could be a trap or something. Are they just trying to lure me back to face whatever justice this new Alpha wants to enact?” Hayley knew she sounded paranoid, but she couldn’t help it.

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