CHAPTER ONE: CRAZY JESSA

Jessa's POV

Early morning was the best time for me to get my chores done. When the sun was barely peeking over the tall redwoods of the forest around the small town known as Silverwood that was shared among a dozen or so wolf packs, I could get things done without running into too many people. Most shifters who lived here liked to be out all night in the forest, and so slept in late.

This morning, though, I sensed someone following me. I had my duffle bag of laundry, heading home after using the laundromat, and I kept hearing snickers behind me. When I turned, there was nobody there. It sent shivers down my spine. Was I going to get jumped again? At twenty-five years old, I shouldn’t be afraid of getting jumped by a bunch of teenagers, but it happened with more regularity than I cared to admit.

The other adults, at least, didn’t use physical violence against me. I swallowed hard as I turned again, searching the doorways and alleys closest to me. Still nothing. I sped up, tightening my grip on the cross-shoulder strap of my duffle bag. I only had three more blocks to go before I reached the barracks where I lived with the other Omegas. The others in the packs never went into the barracks, not unless they were looking for someone to fuck.

And the best thing about being the most undesirable wolf in town meant nobody wanted to fuck me.

The giggle came again, and I whirled. I immediately flinched back when a big-eyed creature zoomed right into my face. It laughed again and backed off. It was the size of two fists put together, vaguely humanoid but with a head far too big for its diminutive body. The big, round eyes took up most of its face while a sharp-toothed smile took up the rest of it.

I sighed, adjusting my duffle bag. It was a sewer spirit, one of the little creatures that mainly lived in the drainage and sewer systems beneath Silverwood.

“What do you want?”

Sewer spirits usually didn’t end up topside like this. It had been raining heavily lately, though, which explained why this one had found itself up here. It bobbed on the spot, surfacing an invisible current.

“Can you help me?” the spirit said in a high, sing-song voice.

I pressed my lips together, debating. From experience, the spirit wouldn’t leave me alone until it got what it wanted. Our town had a population of less than five thousand people in total, but I was the only one who apparently could see the spirits. I’d been communicating with them from the time I was a toddler. At first, it was laughed off as the overactive imagination of a child.

The older I got, the worse the reactions got. By the time I reached high school, I was easy pickings for the other students. It was bad enough that I was an Omega hailing from an Alpha’s family, but I was also a weirdo who talked to myself.

Don’t get too close to Jessa Malraux, the students would stage-whisper to each other. Crazy is catching, and she’s Typhoid Mary.

“I don’t have time right now,” I whispered to the sewer spirit. “I have a lot to do today.”

I only got one day off per week, and I needed it to take care of all my needs. Laundry, a deep clean of my studio apartment, and meal prepping for the coming week. And that was only if my brother didn’t decide that I needed to be punished for daring to be his sister. I’d seen him out with the other Alphas the previous night, and they’d seen me as they left town. One of them, I thought it looked like Denric, shoved Joe’s shoulder and laughed.

It might not have been about me, but if it was…

“Hey, girlie, I have a busy life, too,” the spirit complained.

I turned and headed for the barracks again. The spirit zoomed around me and chomped its sharp teeth.

“It’ll only take a few minutes,” it complained. “If you don’t help me, I’ll spend the whole day screaming in your ear.”

“Please leave me alone,” I muttered.

The spirit started to scream. It bobbed close to my ear, letting out a high-pitched shriek that gave me an instant headache. I growled as I rubbed my temples.

“Fine! I’ll help you. What do you need?” I said quickly.

The spirit’s grin widened even further, and it zipped away. I groaned softly to myself and jogged after it. It led me away from the barracks, closer to the outskirts of town. There, the bigger houses were with lawns and flower gardens. Where the Alphas lived. I tensed as we got further from the city center. Finally, though, the spirit came to a stop over a drainage grate.

I came to a stop, panting lightly.

“You have to fix it,” the spirit said, waving a stubby arm toward a pile of rocks.

“What?” I set my duffle bag down. “Fix what?”

The spirit buzzed around the rocks.

“Fix it! Fix it! Fix it!”

“Alright, alright!” I cried.

I dropped into a crouch and started to rearrange the pile. The spirit quickly informed me I was doing it wrong.

The big flat one went on top, not the bottom, stupid! No, the pinky one went to the left. Etc. Etc.

I was so focused that I didn’t notice the group creeping up on me until one of them kicked over the pile of rocks. I jumped to my feet as another one grabbed my duffle bag.

“What are you doing, Crazy Jessa?” Benji, one of the wolves from my year in high school, asked.

He kicked the rocks around in a wide circle. The sewer spirit, invisible to them, dove into the drainage system and watched with its overly big eyes.

“Playing with rocks when you should be working?”