Prologue

Cold air breeze. Leaves falling off the trees. Flowers dancing with the wind.

"Tweet, Tweet, Tweet…" Birds continued chirping.

I was energized by the birds singing on the way to the market. A soothing feeling of calmness and peace were filling the entire sunny morning. It was something that I always looked forward to every time I woke up.

For this day, the most awaited day of the week had come. I woke up earlier than my usual five o'clock waking hour. And mind you, I didn't have to wait for my mother to wake me up because I woke up before she could even knock on my door.

I was smirking from ear to ear when my door opened.

"Hey, little sunshine, wake up… Oh! You're already awake, huh?" My mother's face peeked as she opened the door of my room slightly. She stopped her morning routine when she saw me sitting on my bed.

I lifted my chin with a proud look plastered on my face. My arms were crossed over my chest, and I even crossed my legs. I waited for my mother to fully opened my door and get inside my room before I started talking.

"You're late, Mrs. Rosie. Did you know that my alarm went off ten minutes ago?" I said, trying to sound like her.

My mother laughed as she heard my words. She walked toward me and tickled my tiny waist with her playful fingers. I couldn't help but laugh so hard that my back fell on the soft mattress of my bed.

"Haha, mom! Stop! Haha!" my small laughs filled my dimly lighted room as my mom sat beside me and didn't stop tickling me.

I tried to hold her big hands that kept wriggling my waist. But I knew I could not stop her big adult hands from using my small and weak hands. So, I resorted to changing into my wolf form. But I thought it was a wrong choice because I got smaller!

"Who are you calling Mrs. Rosie, huh? Huh? I shall punish you now! Haha."

The start of my morning for that day was full of laughs. It was a good morning as my mother carried me in her arms while walking down the stairs. I smelled delicious food coming out of the kitchen, and I couldn't help but get excited!

My mother felt my urge to run, so she put me down as soon as she reached the last step. I immediately ran towards the kitchen.

"Careful, Av!"

My mother warned, but it was too late. My small limbs trampled on the hem of the white dress I chose. I screamed and readied my body to get hurt, but luckily solid and big hands caught me before I even kissed the floor.

"Gotcha, baby girl!" A wide grin on his face greeted me as my father caught me and lifted me.

His big hand-held my tiny waist, occupying my whole small waist! The nervousness I got from tripping on my own turned into loud giggling. My small hands extended, and I tried to hug my father's face, but I was a meter away from his face, so he had to bring me closer, so I could touch his cheeks.

"Father!" I excitedly screamed and put kisses on my father's face.

"Haha, baby girl, you'll erase your father's face," my father said.

But his expressions were different from his words. He was grinning from ear to ear like me. He still carried me in his arms and carefully lowered me down when he heard the ting sound from the toaster. He planted a kiss on my forehead before he turned his back on me to go to the toaster.

I giggled, followed him, and hugged the back of his knee. He didn't mind me clinging to his knee, but when my mother came and saw my position, she immediately pulled me away from my father.

"Av, how often do I have to tell you not to do that when your father is cooking? It's dangerous," she said while putting me down on my high chair on the table.

I pouted my lips. "I just missed father," I whispered.

When my mother heard me, she immediately clicked her tongue as a warning that I shouldn't go any further than that. I made a funny face which she ignored and went to help my father. I watched their back as they stood close together.

It was the only day where my father was off at his job from being the Alpha of the town. This would be our first breakfast after six days, so I was pretty much looking forward to this. Plus, this was also a day where the father would do all the cooking. I was getting tired of my mother's cooking, so a change once a week was definitely, I was looking forward to.

A loud thumping made dust fall from the roof of the dining table and made me laugh and cheer. I even stood up from my high chair and danced.

"Snow! Mom! Dad! Snow!" I excitedly said while my hands were in the air and dancing.

"Get down on that chair, Avery! You want to get hurt, do you?" Mother almost screamed at me, but she still managed to tone down her voice.

"That boy, he's at it again," father said while shaking his head.

A second later, loud and heavy steps that made my chair bounces up a bit along with the dishes on the table made my mother scream. I laughed once again.

"Arnold!"

As if my mother's voice was magic, a wolf almost as big as the door entered the kitchen. But before the wolf could even step his foot inside, he changed into a topless teenage boy.

"Yes, mom?" my brother, Arnold, greeted my mom's angry face with a slight grin on his face.

"Can't you be normal when you're waking up? Do you have money to fix our house?"

"Oh come on, honey, stop getting angry and let's start our breakfast, shall we?"

Father held my mom's shoulders while talking in a sweet voice. He massaged my mom's shoulders and slowly turned her body to face the pan, and gave my brother an order by looking at him and signing something.

I giggled when I saw my brother sign okay back to my father. Arnold grabbed a shirt from somewhere before he turned his attention to me.

"Oho! This young lad is wearing a dress. Where are you going? Into a playground? It's too early for that, baby girl," his annoying and teasing voice made me glare at him.

"No! I'm going to the market with mom. We're having a barbecue later, and you're not invited! Hmph," I flicked my hair at him in a snobbish manner.

"Haha, I don't need your invitation," he playfully said and even stuck his tongue to me before he sat down on his chair in front of me.

In short, our morning went longer than usual. My father shared his new experiences about being an Alpha and even tried asking for my brother's opinion about some matters. But at first, of course, Arnold didn't give any serious thought, so he had an earful sermon from our mom. I laughed at his face when our mother scolded him.

After that breakfast, my father and Arnold went out with fishing rods and attire that looked like fishing attire. In comparison, my mother and I went to the market.

As we walked towards the market, an extravagant smell of a delicious and mouthwatering sweet snack entered my nose. My stomach growled just in time for it. Even though I ate plenty of toast and scrambled eggs, my stomach still gave me signals that I should eat or else something might happen. I continued to swallow my saliva to minimize my excitement.

"Wow! That smells great," I said as I looked up to my mom, holding my hands and walking towards the market entrance.

A smile was painted on her face. She leaned her upper body a little to reach me. She fixed the hair strands that covered my face. Then, I pinched my cheeks a little.

"You do want to eat that? Huh? Again?" She asked while pinching my cheeks.

My head started to nod so fast. She chuckled at what I did and patted my head. We walked inside the market. The weird smells of fresh meat, salty fish, vegetables, and fruits welcomed my nose. At the same time, the vendors that were trying to lure the customers with their loud and sell talks were echoing and mixing inside the market. There were so many people inside it, maybe because it was Sunday and people usually went to the market every Sunday.

This wet market inside the town of Tucson was a spot where people could buy everything they wanted and needed. Everything was inside here. Meat, Vegetables, Fruits, Clothes, Silks, etc. From dry ingredients, and stuff, down to the wet and smooth stuff. There were countless stalls with different types of products to choose from.

We were greeted by every vendor we walked by. Well, my mom was the Beta of the pack, the wife of their significant Alpha, and my beautiful mother. I grew up being known to everybody; it's not so shocking to me now. It was one of the reasons why I loved to go out with my mother.

"Good morning, Beta Rosie and Avery!" A fruit vendor greeted us with a full smile on his face.

I could sense how kind and cheerful a person he was by just his stand. In front of him were the products he was offering to us. It was full of colors; they were green, yellow, red, and many more.

I waved and smiled at him. "Good morning, Senor!" I greeted him while my mother and I walked toward him. "We would like to buy some fruits, Senor. Do you have pink fruits? Hihihi!" I giggled as he suddenly tickled my neck.

"I apologize as I don't have pink fruits for you, Av," he said with a smile still on his face.

Mother chuckled at what he did. She then chose some fruits to buy for our weekly barbecue tonight. She was busy picking up while I continued to talk with the vendor.

"Senior, how's Elen? I didn't see her in the playground yesterday," I pouted when I remembered his daughter at my age.

"Hay, Av. That girl is pouting all day long."

"Aww! But I want to see Elen for tonight's barbecue! Make sure to tell her to visit, okay?" I offered my small pinky finger while looking at Senior with a severe face.

I didn't know if he took me seriously, but even though he stomped my waiting pinky finger, he was laughing. I was serious, though!

"Ehem!" My mom coughed to caught both of our attention. The vendor prepared all the fruits my mom chose and gave them to us.

"Bye, Senor! Remember to go to our house later! Okay? Bring Elen, or I will not give you anything!" I bid goodbye to him and walked with my mom towards the meat section.

Every vendor we passed by would greet my mother. Although mother didn't intend to buy so much for tonight's dinner, the vendors ended up giving her pieces of their food products, saying that my father helped them for that week. Some of them even gave me details of candies and chocolates, so I gained a lot by being with my mother.

After a few minutes of roaming around, we were ready to go home. Mom bought everything we needed for the barbecue tonight. Aside from tonight's barbecue, we also bought our food for the whole week. And because of the food we received, I guessed we could last more than a week with full stomachs.

I was so excited to go home and prepare all the food. I helped my mom to carry the bags filled with all the things we had bought. I even sang while jumping. We were going home. Woosh! Everything seemed perfect and in place for that day.

We arrived at the house, and everyone was busy. Everyone had their chores. Our helpers took the bags from us. Besides, my mom shopped for at least four hours. Although I didn't feel tired for that particular walking hours, my feet immediately felt sore as soon as I stepped inside the house.

Since my mother and I were just left the house, we ate lunch together. Although it's just the two of us, the dining table is still full of laughs and giggles. We've eaten together since my brother was a teenager; he usually ate lunch outside with his friends and would just come back for dinner.

"I'll wake you up when the lunch is ready, okay?" My mother carried me in her arms after we had tea together after lunch.

She put me down on my bed, and I just groaned at her as an answer. I immediately fell asleep.

As I woke up because the light from the sun escaping the midway opened the curtain of my window. I yawned and realized that I had slept longer that afternoon. When I looked at the digital clock at my side, I knew that the four digits indicated that dinner was coming!

"Oh no!" I exclaimed.