The One True Luna

The Worst Day

The pain hits like lightning as I get out of the patrol and walk beyond Garibaldi.

I don't know if it's the sharp sting of rejection that hits me first, but it's enough to have me doubling over, one hand pressed on my sternum, the other braced on my thigh. Sweat needles my scalp as my wolf surges to the surface, snarling in bewilderment, wondering about her mate again.

Why is he doing this?

"I'm fine," I say through clenched teeth when both guards open the door and move toward me on instinct, "Go back."

They hover. I straighten. The bond simmers back to a manageable throb, like an old bruise you forget until you bump it again. I roll my shoulders and keep walking past the gates of the pack.

You know what’s funny? Cain always pushed me to get a car. He even bought me one himself one day, without consulting with me first. It sat unused for a year before he decided to get rid of it because I wouldn't touch it.

I don't like driving, I like being driven around. It makes me feel important.

But right now, as I look at the endless road ahead of me and I don't have a damn vehicle, all I can do I laugh. I laugh at myself in absolute irony.

I don't know what I did to deserve this s**t, but it must've been bad.

Thankfully, my suitcase has working wheels. And I'm used to walking in heels.

But even if that fails me, my wolf will take me the rest of the way... the only problem is, I have no clue where I'm going. I'm just walking straight down the road without a plan.

Without a plan. Without a car. Without much but fifteen days worth of clothes. Without a mate. Without a family. Without a pack.

"Does this mean I'm a rogue?" I ask myself as I walk, "Hm, I guess so."

I laugh again, but this time it turns hysteric because this road really looks endless. And I have no f*****g destination anyway. I have nothing.

Before I know it, I'm sobbing and sweating. And as if I'm not over-stimulated enough, my phone starts ringing too. I stop and drop my suitcase to grab it, thinking it's probably Cain.

He changed his mind, he realized he made the biggest mistake of his life, he—

No, it’s not him. It's a text from Rhea.

'Don't do anything stupid,' she says. Then, a second later, she sends me pictures of a sonogram, "I'm three months along. I didn't want you to go insane and attack me, but you need to know. Be the better sister and stay away from us."

I stare at the screen, a slow chill crawling up my spine.

"Three months," I whisper to myself in disbelief. How could this be happening and I had no idea? "THREE f*****g MONTHS! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

I throw my phone as far as I can possibly throw it and I let out the biggest scream of my life. My pack is only about a mile behind me, and I'm sure the border guards are listening, but I don't give a s**t. I don't care about anything anymore except this terrible deception.

My hands go up to my hair and I try to hold myself together. I try to give myself some comfort, but I can't. I'm falling apart.

My legs give out and I fall to my knees right on the hot pavement, still screaming.

I keep going until I'm lightheaded and literally have no more strength to keep going.

But I realize, I do have the strength to keep crying, because I continue for minutes. When the sun starts to set, that's when I stop and finally get off the road to sit on my suitcase and consider my options for real.

The closest pack down this road is the Vellaria Pack, and we're not in the best of terms with the Alpha there. I do not think he would take me in. But if I cross the woods to the east, I could reach the Hellington pack and beg Alpha Tobias Hellington to please allow me in.

He knew my father and he knows I'm not a crazy rogue. I'm almost certain he'd give me shelter for a while until I figure out what to do long term.

"Yeah, that sounds good," I say out loud, then I wipe my wet face and stand up... only now remembering that I threw my cellphone into the next dimension. I try looking for it very uselessly and thirty minutes later I have to accept defeat.

This is just the worst day of my life.

➿➿➿➿

I grew up with a silver spoon.

As the daughter of Alpha Jeremiah Garibaldi, I had everything I could possibly want and then some. My dad tried to keep a balance, though, he tried to train us for battle, but my mother took over.

She took us to ballet class instead, then etiquette class, then we were too busy being teenagers—I was too busy sneaking around with Cain—to actually spend time with my dad doing useful things like learning how to fight. Or how to survive by myself in the woods.

"I'm sorry, dad," I say into the nothingness as I walk barefoot through the dirt. I sniffle, "I should've spent more time with you instead of... with that f*****g cunt. Ugh!”

I shake my head and try to stop my tears before they get out of control again. I can't have blurred vision as I'm walking through the darkness of the woods without even having a clue if I'm actually still going east or if I took a confusing turn somewhere and now I'm moving south.

But how will I know? I don't own a compass. Or a phone. All I possess is a sad wolf and those etiquette lessons that are so worthless right now.

"Okay, this isn't smart. I need to stop and wait for the morning," I realize, looking around for a flat surface on the ground. I walk five more minutes until I find a good-enough spot and then I look around to make sure there is nobody around. I take off my Moschino dress and my underwear before asking my wolf to come out and take this one for the team, "Please. I can't deal with nature, that's your thing."

She resists for a while, but then agrees to the shift and takes over.

I decide to disappear into my own mind for a while and just let her deal.