Alpha Female

d had always believed

s. If life was a garden, hers was meticulously

her nose and sighed. The other passengers - retirees in sweatshirts, families with sticky-fingered kids, a couple of exhausted hikers - paid her no mind. Good. Abby wasn't in the m

couldn't explai

tings, disguised as "just another busy semester." She had ignored the warning signs: the sleepless nights, the creeping cy

d "a bold new beginning" - it felt like a dare. Abby wasn't the daring type. But something

She packed a bag. S

s closed in, towering pines and dense underbrush. The road narrowed to a gravel path. Some

to the yoga studio downtown, or the sensible mindfulne

, the water so still it seemed like glass. On the far shore stood the resort itself: low, timber-fr

he strap of her leather bag.

wheezed

bellhop, not quite security - boarded and ca

r linen jacket, and sh

, warmer than she expected. The uniformed man smiled poli

re, Professor Stafford.

t the way he said it - not j

t a random choice, but p

k off th

ation. A little vitamin D an

was

a subtle smell of lavender - the kind of rustic luxury that was supposed to soothe fray

amber bottle. "Orientation is about to begin. Please start taking t

o label, just a tiny wolf e

ts?" she a

. "Think of them

bag, accepted a campus map - the grounds were much larger tha

t, something else pulsed - a low vibration, almost below the thr

self it was

was a chance to heal,

ow right - and ho