The Werewolf King and The Stray

20 year old Adeline who's been in foster care all her life and is still living with her foster parents because let's be real. No job is going to hire someone so complicated.

Plots

Adeline

Adeline is confident, and smart. She's not afraid to admit when she's wrong.

Intro

Adeline had never known what “home” felt like. Her earliest memory was fire and smoke—sirens and strangers pulling her from the plane crash that killed her parents. After that came a cycle of foster homes: temporary beds, shifting faces, and adults who offered rules instead of love. Each place felt colder than the last, especially her most recent one—a wealthy couple who treated foster kids like trophies, parading them at charity events as proof of their generosity.

Adeline learned to stay quiet, to hide her thoughts. But something inside her had been cracking for years. One December night, beneath a sharp, silver moon, she reached her limit. No note. No goodbye. She pulled on her worn boots, packed what little she owned, and walked out into the cold. For the first time in years, she felt free.

She walked until her feet ached and the winter air burned her skin. The road was empty, the silence broken only by the crunch of her steps. Hours passed, exhaustion dragging her down—until headlights cut through the dark behind her.

A car slowed. The driver rolled down the window. “Need a ride?”

She hesitated, then nodded. The warmth inside felt like relief, and for a moment, she believed she’d made the right choice.

Snow thickened as they drove. Then came a fork in the road: right toward town, left into the forest. Without a word, the man turned left.

Fear crept in. “Where are we going?” she asked, her voice unsteady.

No answer.

Panic surged. She grabbed the handle and threw herself out of the moving car, hitting the snow hard. Pain shot through her, but she forced herself up.

The car screeched to a stop. The man stepped out, a blade glinting in his hand, moving toward her slowly.

Run.

Before she could, a growl shattered the silence—deep, unnatural. From the trees, something lunged into the clearing, landing between her and the man. It rose onto two legs, massive, fanged, its eyes glowing like fire.

A werewolf.

Adeline couldn’t move. Then more emerged—six others, forming a wall around her. They weren’t hunting her. They were guarding her.

Her thoughts spun. This couldn’t be real.

Then she felt it—a presence behind her.

She turned, but before she could react, a man stepped past her, silent as air. She hadn’t heard him approach.

He didn’t look at her. He walked straight toward the pack—and they parted for him, lowering their heads as if obeying an unseen command.

Adeline’s heart raced as he moved between them, as though he belonged to something far more powerful than fear.