“Thank you for coming!” Kiara smiled at her newest customer as she left. It was odd, this smiling, because she wasn’t used to it. She was used to hearing, “What are you smiling at? You know better. You only smile when a man tells a joke, and only because it is polite,” as soon as she let herself feel any amount of joy. This thought caused the smile upon her lips to disappear as quickly as it had come and she sighed as she turned back to her small store.
Despite being away from the pack, she loved it here. It was here that she could be whoever she wanted to be. Her mother wasn’t here to nag her about what a lady should and shouldn’t be. It wasn’t until she’d bought this place that she’d finally been able to see the small little girl that was hiding inside, just waiting for a chance to say what she had been really feeling this whole time. Leaning against the counter she looked up towards the ceiling as one of her favorite songs played. Now that she was thinking about it again, it wasn’t just the shop that was making her feel this way.
With one more check to make sure that no one was here, Kiara raised onto the balls of her feet arms stretched towards the sky in a dancer’s prayer. When she moved into the dance, she found that most of the steps she was making up, but it didn’t matter. This was how she expressed herself now. Even if no one ever saw or knew, even if no one would even understand if they did, she was showing who she was. In this moment,
she was proving to herself that she was more than her parents had made her to be. One day, she would be free to express everything she was.
The chiming of the bell above the door, made her stop in her tracks, the white dress she was wearing swirling around her as she did. If that wasn’t bad enough, the smell that made it to her nose made her want to run away. What if this was pack? What if they had seen? When she didn't feel the bond that would tell her this was pack, she slowly turned to see a man. A scary looking man, to be honest. He was huge, but not counting that he looked as if he had been in more fights than she could count, and Kiara could count very high.
As she opened her mouth to ask about this, that crippling fear returned. What if her mother found out that she’d talked to a possible mate that way? She’d never hear the end of it. Instead, with shaking hands, Kiara looked towards the ground and said quietly, “Hello. How may I help you?” One day, she would be free to express everything she was, but today was not the day.