Chapter 3 The Encounter

• Tatiana
• Many years had passed, I had fought to survive, and after much effort, I now lived alone in a small house and worked at the only restaurant in this small town.
• "Tatiana, thank goodness I found you! We have a very important meeting coming up in the next few weeks with several businessmen from nearby towns, and I need everything to be perfect," my boss Gaby said to me.
• She was an older lady, the owner of the restaurant... and the person who had helped me most since I arrived here. My life was peaceful, much better before I had left the pack.
• She had let me stay in her house, helped me enroll in the local school, and gave me a job. And she treated me like family. I would do anything for this woman.
• "I'll leave a list of tasks for you to give to the other waitresses, you know I trust you and you're the best, so I'll leave you in charge," she said, winking at me.
• "Of course, Gaby."
• "Businessmen, what great news!" my coworker and best friend Mariela said. "I hope they're very attractive, goodness... these uniforms don't make us look good," she said, looking at our dull and unappealing dresses.
• My friend was short and slim, with straight short hair and round glasses. She had an innocent and nerdy appearance, and she was the best girl in the world.
• "I'll settle for just fitting into the dress relatively well," I said.
• "What are you talking about, girl? I wish I had your curves, Tati!" she said, bumping her hips against mine and I laughed.
• Of course, over time I hadn't changed, I continued to be the curvy girl, but now I didn't feel bad about my curves... or at least I tried not to.
• When I left the bathroom, I saw my long dark hair, my ample chest, my hips, and my wide legs. Here, no one laughed at me, I was just Tati, the waitress and girl who lived alone near the forest.
• Suddenly, I heard a noise and when I opened the door, I saw two boys I knew very well, standing at the entrance,in an oversized t-shirt and shorts.
• "My children! What are you doing here? And why are you dressed like that?" I asked, laughing at them and hugging them tightly. The siblings had grown quite a bit and to me, they were already giants.
• "We came to visit you, of course!" Marina said.
• "And it's your fault for leaving us with small shorts! They don't fit us anymore, we've grown, sister!" Henry said, almost offended. I left clothes outside and hidden for them, because they always came in their wolf form, so they wouldn't be naked around.
• Of course, they had come to visit me whenever they could. When they were older, the first thing they did was come looking for me. I spent... years looking in the forest, praying for them to come, to find my scent.
• I wrote them letters and we stayed in touch. I loved them so much, they were my boys.
• "Come on... let's go have dinner."
• - I just wanted to tell you Tati... that I heard there's going to be a meeting of alphas here in this town; Marina said nervously.
• Oh, damn.
• - Alphas? Ohhh the businessmen are alphas...; now that I thought about it, it made sense. This town was practically the territory that didn't belong to any pack, the closest to many packs. Just a simple and silly human town.
• - We thought it would be pertinent to let you know... you know... just be careful and don't let anyone bother you, okay? Henry said, giving me a kiss on the cheek and leaving me with my thoughts.
• - It's just a meeting of alphas... most of the werewolves won't even remember me; I said as I tried to sleep.
• - By the moon goddess, how they eat! I shouted in the morning as they devoured the breakfast I had prepared for them and now raided my refrigerator.
• - We need to grow up, sister... besides, you cook deliciously; they said, and I gave them a kiss goodbye as I left for the preparations for the big meeting of the alphas, called businessmen by the humans.
• - Stay here, behave, if there are many alphas around, it's better to be careful, and leave some food outside for the wolves;
• Sometimes wolves and other animals would come to visit me, I didn't like going deep into the forest, but I liked being close to them.
• That day I worked hard to make everything perfect, I was already nervous and everyone in the town had high expectations of how the big businessmen coming to this small town to meet would be.
• The next morning everything was ready, suddenly we started to see cars and very large vans arriving where men and women of all kinds got out. But there was a key characteristic... and that was that they were all strong and attractive, like no human was. I knew the reason, of course, but the rest didn't.
• - Damn... where did they say these businessmen were from? They look like gods who came down from Olympus; Mariela said very excitedly.
• - Behave, we have a lot of work to do; I replied, arranging the tables.
• - Seriously Tati... have you seen them? Those men are immense and their muscles are so defined... and those tattoos... my goodness...;; she said, and I saw her flushed. Then Gaby appeared quite nervous.
• - Tati... we've been organizing the tables, but could you stay at the entrance and welcome them?;
• Damn it. I didn't like the idea, my goal was to spend as much time as possible in the kitchen and behind the bar so that no one would see me, but she was counting on me, I couldn't let her down.
• So suddenly I found myself as the hostess at the entrance of the restaurant while these magnificent beings watched me as if I were a dead fly, looking me up and down. And I only had my old, worn-out, and ugly waitress uniform.
• I started calling out one by one the alphas mentioned by the names on a list and indicating their seats and tables. But my heart stopped when I got to a name I didn't expect to see.
• - Sebastian Marden?; I asked with a trembling and agitated voice, and practically the rest of the alphas stepped aside for him to pass.