The One True Luna

Newfound Pack

When I come back to the land of the living, it's morning time and, for some reason, I feel like it's been more than just one day.

I shift back into human form.

"Oh, god," I let out, looking around me. My suitcase has been bitten open and, apparently, my wolf decided to grab my clothes to make a bed out of them, "Fuck."

But my belly is full and I'm alive, so I guess I can't complain too much.

I sigh and search for something not as dirty to put on my body before packing up again. I need to find water. I’m thirsty… but not that much, actually, which means my wolf must've found a source of water, right? There must be a lake around here or something.

I grab my purse and my suitcase and keep moving.

I wish I had any way of knowing how long it's been, but all I can do for the moment is look for that source of water, rehydrate and then keep walking until I find the Hellington pack—or any pack—and then figure out a way to survive.

Suddenly, Cain turning out to be a piece of s**t and f*****g my sister doesn't seem as big of a deal, probably because I'm alone in the woods trying to survive.

I laugh at myself again. I'm probably just like five miles away from Garibaldi at this point, but I feel like I'm actually in the middle of absolute nowhere.

"Well, at least I'm not pregnant," I murmur to myself, "I'm not the one who's going to be swelled up and gross in a few months, it's her. I hope she gets so f*****g fat and... I hope he..."

My throat swells up again and my eyes start burning when I imagine my sister pregnant and Cain taking care of her.

Okay, maybe it's still a sore subject and I need to stay away from it.

I cry and walk for around an hour, but then a miracle happens and I see something. A moving body of water.

A river.

"Oh my god!" I shriek in joy and run there. It's small, but it's running water, and I don't give a s**t at this point. I just go to my knees and grab some water to swallow it down my dry throat, "Small victories."

It tastes like pure dirt, but it does the trick and after a few more gulps, I feel a lot better. I lean back and sit down on my butt, looking at the water run for a few seconds, then I finally get the energy to get up and keep walking.

At this point, I have no idea where's east, where's west, where's north or south or what day it is. But I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that you should follow a river downstream... it leads to larger bodies of water and to civilization.

That's my best bet right now, so I go downstream.

"I can't believe they put me in this f*****g situation," I growl as I walk, shaking my head in frustration.

But seriously, I'm almost madder at Cain for the unjustified banishment than for the cheating... I mean, what was the reason behind banishing me like that instead of just telling me he has a thing for the girl he's been complaining about for years and breaking up with me like a normal person?

It wouldn’t be that hard, I'm not difficult. I would've been too hurt to fight him, I would've just left.

But he said I caused ‘enough damage’. What the f**k was that about? I'm not the one who's always doing random s**t to hurt the family—that's Rhea. And he knows it.

"f**k him in the ass," I let out, shaking my head in anger and continuing to drag my dumbass suitcase, "f**k YOU, CAIN THORNE! I hope he can hear me… I hope he dies."

Not really.

Although...

No, no, not really.

I walk for over an hour before my tummy starts grumbling. I guess I should let my wolf out again and let her handle that, but what if I lose even more days and th—

"Stop right there!" someone shouts at me out of nowhere and I let out a terrified scream because I guess I got used to the silence or my own voice. And to think there's a random man in here with me? Terrifying. I gasp and turn, looking around until I see him. Two of them, "Who are you?"

There are two men walking up to me, wearing nothing but old, raggedy pants. I consider throwing my suitcase at them, shifting and running for my f*****g life, but then I look behind them. There's a woman there and she's holding a baby.

Oh, thank god.

"I'm—I-I'm sorry if I'm trespassing on your camp," I murmur, looking at the random stuff scattered around them and an old Volkswagen van parked in the back, in between trees, "My name is Luna Arielle Thorne... uhm, actually, it's Arielle Garibaldi. No title anymore. I just got banished from the Garibaldi pack, I'm looking for the Hellington pack. I think it's this way."

"You're completely wrong, girl. You're going south. Hellington is about twenty miles that way," he points at what I thought was the south before. I sigh and sag in defeat, but the two guys are now backing down, recognizing I'm not a threat.

And the woman walks closer.

"Wait, wait. You say you used to be a Luna and got banished? How?" she asks, rocking the baby absentmindedly. She's a tiny thing, shorter than me, with tight brown curls, deep black skin and very curious honey eyes. And a very dirty maxi dress.

"Amaya," one of the guys drags her name in warning, "Let her continue on her way. Come back."

Actually, I have no rush to continue walking ‘about twenty miles’. And I can see they have a cushy enough little thing happening here, so… I could stay for a bit.

"My husband f****d my sister. He's been f*****g her for months," I start and watch Amaya's mouth fall open in shock. One of the guys makes a chocked-up sound, "I found them today and the motherfucker just banished me and kicked me out of my pack. Just like that. I broke my phone and I have no car, so... here I am."

Amaya breathes out an angry breath and shakes her head, hating them on my behalf.

"Tell me you're planning revenge already," she lets out with a snarl that makes me instantly like her.

"Not yet," I laugh, "Wanna help me with that?"

"Oh, yeah," she says and points behind her, "Come sit with us, we have food. Junk food mostly, but it still works."

"Thanks," I smile at her and my shoulders finally relax a little, especially when the guys behind Amaya immediately fold to what she's saying, not loving my intrusion but not fighting her about it, "What's their names? What's the story here?"

"Oh, well. I had a husband once," Amaya starts, rocking the baby again, "Then I cheated on him with his cousin, Gabriel. This one. And I got pregnant, so we ran away before he tried to kill us.”

"And... him?" I point at the other man.

"Oh, he's Milo. Our boyfriend," she says like that's not the weirdest thing I've heard. Milo waves at me, "We found him on the way, he was a rogue way before us."

"Well, that sounds really fun," I murmur, looking at them with the morbid curiosity I'm so scared of, "Cheating f*****g sucks, though. Have you considered your cousin’s feelings in this, huh?"

"Me?" Gabriel asks. I nod, "No.”

"He's a man of few words," Amaya says, sitting down on a broken, old log. She pats the empty spot next to her, “Sit, Luna. Tell me more.”