As Leanna turned over, sleep gradually left her and her conscious mind begun to engage. Through the edges of the curtains where they had not been properly drawn, light streamed into the room, casting little chinks of golden sunshine onto the carpet. As sad as Leanna was to see the departure of winter and the thaw of the icy lake, summer was also lovely too. It felt fresh, and the year's first flush of sun always seemed to leave the people of the town in a slightly better mood than in the icy winter. Although, with the current state of relations between the werewolves, vampires and hunters, Leanna knew it would take a lot more than a little good weather to thaw that hatred.
As soon as Leanna was properly awake, the first thing she became aware of was the ominous empty feeling of the house. She knew, without even checking, that Axel had already left. There was something that hung in the air when the house was empty. It was utterly silent, but that wasn't the only thing that caused the feeling. There was something almost tangible, but not quite, that left Leanna knowing she was alone. Axel had obviously decided to let her sleep instead of waking her, which she supposed she appreciated. But it only made the gap between them all the more evident in her mind. In public, she and Axel were expected to remain a strong, figurehead like veneer for the rest of the pack, which involved presenting the front that their relationship was flawless, and that they were just on the cusp of wedding bells, followed by pups. In public, she would comfortably stand by his side, kiss him, hold his hand, for that was what was expected of them. But at home, in private, where no one could see them, that pretence was stripped away. They were no longer performing for anybody, and whatever they said or did was not an act but the truth. If she kissed him, she was showing genuine affection for him rather than just doing her duty. And she'd... She'd made that mistake before. She'd lost sight of what she needed to do for the good of the pack in favour of love. And their Alpha had left, because she couldn't make him stay. She'd got caught up in loving Albrecht, Axel's brother. She'd become complacent and comfortable in their relationship. She'd forgotten her purpose, and he'd left. That had been a mistake on her part. A mistake she wasn't willing to make again.
With uncomfortable, reminiscent thoughts on her mind, Leanna realised she could no longer hope to go back to sleep. Her shift at the diner wasn't until a little later, but she wasn't going to just spend the whole day at home. She needed to get up anyway, her presence within town was expected. She pulled the duvet back and sat up on the edge of the bed before getting to her feet. She gently padded through to the kitchen, dropping a slice of toast into the toaster for her breakfast. She could always eat at the diner, but she saw little point in making Axel any more busy than he, undoubtedly, already was. He was a wonderful cook, which caused his diner to quickly become one of the town's most popular venues, all species' lured there by the promise of good. Though even Leanna's toast would come up as substandard in comparison to his, she was sure it would suffice in preference to creating more work for the busy Alpha male.
The toast quickly popped up and she buttered it straight away, so the butter melted on the warm surface. When she was finished with breakfast, she moved to the bathroom to wash. She had had a shower just the evening before, but she always liked to begin the morning fresh and clean. She switched the shower on, allowing it to heat up before stripping off and stepping in. But to her utter shock, the water was still icy cold. She leapt back from the freezing stream of liquid, startled from her fairly lazy morning, that had allowed her to remain in a sleepy haze. She stepped out of the shower, shuddering with cold, pulling a warm towel around her. A couple of minutes later, she checked the water with her hand once more, but it was still running on cold, even though it was set to the warmest setting. Evidently, there was something wrong with the heating system in the house, although she wouldn't have the slightest idea where to begin in fixing. Besides, the house wasn't even really hers. Evidently, she wasn't going to be able to avoid her place of work that morning. She would have to visit the diner to let Axel know something needed to be done.
With a sigh, Leanna gave up on the prospect of a nice, fresh shower. She dried herself off, putting on a fairly usual outfit for her and fixing her hair. Soon, she was ready to leave the house. She locked the door behind her, making her way down the sidewalk towards the diner. But she stopped at the sight of Derek Hale storming away from Sara Jay and a woman Leanna vaguely recognised but didn't know. She watched the woman get closer to Sara, exchanging a few bitter words before marching away herself, but not before throwing another insult backwards towards Sara. Leanna could've easily walked on by. She had somewhere she did want to be, but even though Sara wasn't a member of the pack any more, she had been. Leanna would've said she'd known Sara relatively well, before what had happened with her family, before she'd left the pack. And Leanna still felt a sense of family ties that most packs had. That was something just leaving couldn't bring and end to. Sara looked angry and shaken, and upset. Leanna hadn't spoken with her much in a while, and she couldn't just leave her stood here. So she carefully approached Sara where she stood alone on the sidewalk.
"Sara?" she said gently, as not to startle the girl. "Is everything alright, sweetheart?"
The affectionate term simply slipped out without thought, and she suddenly felt stupid and inappropriate for using it, now Sara had made it obvious she didn't want to be a member of the pack. But Leanna was a naturally caring woman. She acted as a mother, of sorts, to the rest of the pack. She was always protective of them, and saw it as a personal failure on her part if anything happened to them. Leanna wasn't the type to ignore Leanna when she looked upset, and she looked as if she needed some kind of affection, even if it wasn't the pack's support she wanted.