The Werewolf Heir

Chapter 1

SPLATT!!!! The dishes came crashing down. "Oh no," Zoey mumbled to herself. The room went silent as the customers in the restaurant stared at her. Hannah tripped her, and Zoey knew Hannah had done it on purpose. Before Zoey could say anything, she had the manager screaming, "You idiot, look what you did!" Zoey wanted to explain it wasn't her fault, but the manager cut her off. "You are fired," the manager said angrily. Zoey knew she couldn't argue, so she gave up. She knew the manager wouldn't believe her if she tried to explain it was Hannah's fault, not hers, especially since Hannah was the manager's niece. Zoey stood up and looked at all the bystanders, feeling embarrassed. She left the building without changing out of her uniform.

Zoey walked home dejectedly, not knowing what to do. She took out her phone to call her boyfriend, Ben. Ben seemed to be the only good thing in her life. Whenever life felt terrible, Ben was a shining light. The phone went straight to voicemail. Zoey was confused; usually, he would be quick to pick up, but his phone seemed to be turned off. She sighed but noticed her boyfriend enter a restaurant with a strange woman. She ran across the road towards the restaurant only to see him sitting in an exclusive corner with the woman. She tried to enter the restaurant but was stopped at the door by the security guard. "No, you don't understand," Zoey began, "that's my boyfriend." The guard stared at her indifferently and maintained his stance. Zoey knew she wasn't going to enter, so she began calling out to Ben. "Ben!" who wasn't expecting Zoey, turned to see her calling and waving at him. His face twisted in shock, but the woman standing next to him was visibly annoyed. They both made a move towards where Zoey stood. "Ben, what are you doing here, and who is this woman?" Ben began to stutter, but before he could give a direct answer, the blonde-haired woman spoke. "My name is Stella, and Ben is here on a date with me." Zoey couldn't believe what she was hearing. "A date?" Zoey asked. "Ben, is this true?" Ben looked the other way, feeling guilty. Zoey felt her world collapsing. Ben's silence was as good as a confirmation. "Why, Ben? Why would you cheat on me?" Zoey questioned. Again, Ben didn't say anything, but in his stead, Stella spoke. "Why, you ask? It's simple; you aren't good enough for him. You think Ben would date a poor, ugly beggar like you?" Zoey kept staring at Ben. She was shocked that he wasn't even going to defend her from this woman's insults. "Ben, say something," Zoey screamed. Finally, Ben spoke to Zoey. "I think we should break up." Zoey was speechless. Instead of explaining himself, Ben broke up with her. What hurt Zoey even more was Ben's indifference. Ben Locked Arms with Stella and went back into the restaurant.

It seemed like her world was about to collapse on itself. Then her phone began to ring. Zoey sighed and picked up the phone. "What bad news was she going to receive this time?" "Good evening," the speaker began, "am I speaking to Miss Zoey?" "Who is this?" Zoey asked; she wasn't interested in being polite. "Miss Zoey, my name is Charles, and I am the family butler of the Phoenix family." "Phoenix family?" She didn't know which family that was and how it involved her. "The Phoenix family is a prestigious werewolf clan," Charles stated. "We've lived for thousands of years, and Miss Zoey is the heir to the family." "Werewolves? What?" Zoey was baffled. "What the hell is this?" Zoey thought to herself. "Was this some kind of prank? If it was, it wasn't funny." "What do you mean I am the heir to the Phoenix family?" she asked Charles. "That's exactly what I said. You are the heir of the Phoenix family dynasty." "Sorry, I am not interested in whatever you are selling," Zoey said as she cut off the call. She made sure to block the number. She wasn't in the mood to entertain scammers.

Zoey headed to her dorm at Almond University. As Zoey entered the dorm, she noticed Emma, her roommate. Emma seemed to be on a live stream. They made eye contact for a second, and Zoey quickly made a beeline for her bed. But before she could get in her bed, Emma sneered, "Can't you see you are ruining my livestream?" Emma was a self-proclaimed influencer. She always seemed to post pics and record herself, even though she came from a well-off family. She would always spend her allowance too quickly, so she did live streams to get money as well as fuel her ego. It was clear to see that most of her fans were guys only interested in her assets and nothing else. For some extra cash, she would indulge them.

"Why are you disturbing my livestream with that ugly face of yours? Are you trying to make me lose subscribers?" Emma complained disdainfully. Zoey didn't know what to do. Emma always seemed to pick on her for the most trivial things. Zoey just got in her blankets and went to sleep. She couldn't deal with Emma today.

Zoey dozed off quickly. The next day, Zoey got up at her usual time and headed outside. She didn't know where she would find a job, but she had to find one quickly. As she walked towards the entrance of the campus, she spotted Ben, her ex-boyfriend. He seemed to be cozy with the girl she had seen yesterday. Zoey tried to avoid them, but it was too late; Stella noticed her. "Look who it is," Stella began, "it's the poor ugly girl from yesterday." Ben stood there indifferently. You would think after 2 years of being in a relationship, he would have some sympathy or remorse, but no, he had no emotion on his face.

Zoey wanted nothing to do with them, but Stella wasn't going to let her go. "Did you cry yourself to sleep last night?" Stella asked condescendingly. "I know it must be hard to accept, but you can't keep a man like Ben. Face it, you are a poor loser who will never amount to anything." Zoey felt humiliated. She wanted to get out of there. Emma stood to the side laughing at the situation. This was the perfect nightmare, and just when I thought the humiliation would never end.

Suddenly, a row of luxury black cars headed in the direction of the university. The cars were from different expensive luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Porsche, with the middle cars all being Rolls-Royce. The motorcade suddenly stopped in front of the entrance, and an elderly man came out of one of the Rolls-Royce. He seemed to be looking for someone. The crowd began to murmur. They wondered who the motorcade belonged to and why it was

there at the campus. Maybe there was an insanely wealthy transfer student attending the University. It was no exaggeration to say that many people in the university came from truly wealthy families, some from old money, others from new money. So seeing wealth wasn't uncommon. As trust fund babies, most of them got monthly allowances of $10,000 minimum and $1,000,000; they usually spent all this money on luxurious clothing, and expensive restaurants where the food cost the average man's monthly salary. They would rent out Ferraris, Bugattis, and other expensive car brands, all in a fit to impress one another. The amount of dick measuring was insane. As wealthy as they were, or their parents at least, no one at the campus currently had the money to arrange this. The crowd was both puzzled and excited, wondering which new celebrity would emerge from the cars. The tension seemed to linger as the elderly man appeared to want to enter the campus for further investigation, but the crowd seemed to be blocking him. Zoey saw an opportunity to escape while the crowd was distracted, but Stella noticed and quickly called Zoey out. "Hey, bigger girl, why are you running away? We weren't done talking!" Stella yelled at the top of her voice. Momentarily, the crowd's attention shifted back to Zoey, and she felt the stares stab at her. "Yeah, Zoey, why are you running?" Emma echoed. "Are you afraid?" Zoey just wanted to start her day. Was that too much to ask? "I bet you've never seen wealth this up close, so it's intimidating, isn't it? It's a reminder that you are just insignificant." Zoey didn't know what she did to deserve this. Wasn't her life hard enough as it is? She was about to burst into tears when she heard the elderly man say, "Are by choice, Miss Zoey." The crowd went dead silent. Emma, Ben, and Stella were the most shocked of all. Surely, Zoey wasn't the one this refined elderly man, who emanated an aura of wealth and elegance, was referring to. "Sir," Emma began, "you must be mistaken. Are you sure this is the Zoey you are looking for? After all, she is nothing but a lowly beggar." While Zoey wouldn't have phrased it like that, she thought the same thing as Emma. She assumed that this was a case of mistaken identity; after all, there were many Zoes on campus. Zoey rushed to clear the misunderstanding, fearing that she would get in trouble. But as she was about to, the elderly man smiled widely as if he had discovered a treasure. He looked at the picture again and said, "It is you." Before Zoey could react, several people came out of the cars, and bowed on one knee in front of Zoey. "Miss Zoey, we have finally found you," the elderly man said, his head down. The looks on everyone's faces became so twisted that it seemed that everyone could play a character in a horror movie. Zoey was just as shocked. She wanted to refute it, but then she remembered the call from yesterday and realized that the elderly man bowing had the same vision as the person she spoke to last night. She couldn't believe it. Was she really from some unknown prestigious family? Zoey had a million questions she wanted to ask, but the elderly man opened the door and said, "Please, miss, we must go. There is a lot to discuss." Zoey hesitated for a second but decided to go in. Once in the car, she could clearly see the shocked faces of the people standing outside. She felt satisfied as the car drove along.