17: Her new life

Three Months Later

*Cathwulf*

The menu at Joe’s Diner switches to lunch at ten in the morning, but we keep breakfast on the grill for those few souls who still crave pancakes and eggs at noon. It's a quirky little place, and I love it. The breakfast crowd is long gone, leaving behind a faint aroma of coffee and sizzling bacon. I’ve cleaned all the booths and straightened the counter, so I wander to the glass front door and peer out onto the street, half-heartedly searching for something or someone. In the beginning, I looked for a savior, a glimmer of hope, but now it’s just a habit… a ritual of sorts.

I’ve shed my old life, living as an unassuming human named Sarah Smith. I even adopted a southern drawl that feels oddly comfortable on my tongue. It’s a strange freedom, this new existence, where no one knows I’m special and no one wants to buy or breed me like some exotic creature. The werewolf life is a distant memory, buried under layers of mundane routines, so far removed that