Page 5 of The Alpha's Baby Girl

As a seer, Juniper was shown these visions in order to provide help to people. If ever as a seer she chose to withhold her visions from those who needed to hear about them, she would have to suffer for doing so, no matter her reasons.

Her visions had often shown up at the most inconvenient times. They had shown up at work so many times and Juniper had been forced to hide beneath the bar and hide her eyes. When they ended, Juniper would get up and see the worried looks of the people around her as they wondered what was wrong with her.

It had become so terrible that she hadn’t been able to leave her apartment, fearing that her visions could overtake her at any time just like one had while she was on the bus.

Another thing that had solidified her decision to return to this place, despite how much it had haunted her, was how real her visions were becoming.

The emotions from her vision had begun to feel so real that sometimes, even after it had ended, she could still feel Rowan’s breath against her skin as he spoke to her. She could still feel his light caress and the pain in her body as they were thrown apart as a result of the explosion.

It had become more and more real until she could no longer avoid it anymore, until she had no choice in the matter.

Juniper’s only alternative to avoiding her visions was at the bottom of a bottle. She had to be blackout drunk or drugged asleep before she could escape the visions and function properly. Although drinking had seemed like a better idea than returning to Moonwood, she had soon realized that she could not function like that—it was not the kind of life she wanted for herself.

Truthfully, Juniper knew that there was no one in the pack who deserved her help, not after all that they had done. But her visions would not stop unless she helped them.

Also, there was a small niggling part of her that couldn’t help but feel a sense of worry for the town. Regardless of all that had happened, Moonwood was where she had grown up and she knew everyone.

Although she couldn’t tell exactly what was coming because her visions were vague in that regard, she knew that it was bad. She had seen the destruction too many times in her visions for her to doubt it, and she had seen and felt the fear and despair that followed immediately after.

The sound of her stomach growling jolted her from her thoughts, alerting her to her hunger as she looked around. She had gotten through the thick mass of ancient trees that shielded the small town from outside.

Although she had constantly seen the town in her memories and visions, Juniper had been blinded by her disdain for its inhabitants and had forgotten just how lovely the town looked with its lush fields and open space.

It was a slower and quieter town compared to the fast and loud life of the city. She took in a deep breath and her lungs filled with the clean air. So far, since she’d arrived, she had not seen anyone moving about—the town was so quiet compared to the largely overcrowded city.

The town was self-sufficient, built strongly around Rowan and his family. They had always been the ones to look after the town, from the beginning of its creation. They provided food for the people, most of whom were forest loggers, logging trees and sending them out of the town to modern areas for building.

It was the perfect profession, considering they were surrounded by so much nature and they were wolves. The task was an easily accomplished one, and it afforded them with more of what they needed. The forest was a super important part of the town and it was protected by Rowan and his family, free from external influence.

Before Juniper had left, Rowan had been modernizing things a bit and building his family wealth to astronomical levels. He was into tech and had a company that he ran out of Moonwood with some of the younger generation. This served as a way to bring in even more money for the town.

The town was completely a wolf town, void of humans or any other kind. It was exactly the way they had wanted it, so they could go about freely without having to keep any part of themselves a secret.

Juniper knew that it was part of the reason they had hated her. She was different from them in a way that mattered.

She sighed and adjusted her duffel bag over her back as she walked the familiar path to the diner. She pushed the door open and walked inside, looking straight at the single employee who stood at the counter.

It was the first person she had seen since she stepped into Moonwood and it was someone she recognized. The young wolf looked up just as Juniper sat down, and her eyes widened in shock, clearly surprised to see her back again.

“I’m quite famished. I’ll have whatever is available,” Juniper said, not bothered by the look of surprise painted over the girl’s face.

The girl remained standing, staring at Juniper with her head cocked to the side. Juniper knew that the girl was trying to see if it really was her or just someone who looked like her.

This girl was younger than her and would have been a kid around the time that Juniper left town, so she’d had no hand in all of the bullying that Juniper had faced while she was still around.

Juniper knew that she had changed quite a bit. She had really leaned into the goth theme and was wearing very dark makeup. Her hair was currently streaked with purple, seeing as she had been plagued with very strong visions for a while now.

Although she knew the time would come when everyone would realize that she had returned to town, Juniper hoped that it wouldn’t happen right away and the girl would not recognize her.

Perhaps if she continued to ignore her, she would think that Juniper was just a human who was into the goth theme and bore similarities to the girl who had been bullied and had run away many years ago.

Chapter 2 - Rowan

Rowan tossed and turned in bed, plagued by his dreams.

It was the coming-of-age ceremony for all of the eighteen-year-olds, when they would all be called upon to present their wolves. The coming-of-age ceremony was for everyone in the pack. It was not just a way to show your wolf to the pack—it was also a time to potentially find your mate.

Some, during the coming-of-age ceremony, found that another wolf who had also come of age was their mate. For others, it often happened that their mate had already been presented to the pack a year before that, or earlier. Rarely, as far as ten years earlier.