Lost Luna

Rain flooded the windshield, wipers barely able to keep up with the torrential onslaught, and Zia was squinting to see through it. Her lower lip was being worked between her teeth, tearing at the skin and causing the iron taste of blood to saturate her mouth. “s**t” She muttered, distractedly digging at her centre console for anything to press to the open split in her lip. Why had she decided that it was safe to drive home from her friend’s house during a thunder storm? What had started out as a study session for her senior year exams had turned into a fight with Laura and she had left in a huff. Now that fight seemed silly, especially when mother nature seemed to be throwing her own temper tantrum that far exceeded Zia’s own temper. Her wolf had been pacing in her mind, eager to be let out to let off steam. Being a teenager brought its own challenges with the onslaught of hormones without the aid of a werewolf’s temper.  When she couldn’t find anything in the console she slammed it shut in frustration.  “Ugh!” She steadied the car in her lane, frowning at how it seemed to be getting even darker out, and leaned across the centre console to pull open the glovebox to check for tissue. Zia took her hazel eyes off the road for a moment as she glanced into the dimly lit interior of the glove box where she spotted the soft glow of a white tissue which she snatched and slammed the glovebox closed and straightened in her seat. Mate? Her wolf suddenly blurted. What are you talking about… In that moment as her eyes came back to the road she noticed she had drifted to the shoulder of the road, and a dark figure was coming into her headlights. Her heart surged to her throat, as adrenaline surged through her veins and she viciously jerked the steering wheel to the left. Too late. Screeching tires. Bang. Her wolf howling in anguish, and the feeling like she had been the one to be struck by her car as it skidded across the wet pavement. Another sickening crunch of steel against steel told her that her car had hit the guardrail on the other side of the road, and then the sound of shattering glass before the world went dark. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ God her head hurt. So did her chest…what the f**k was going on? The darkness began to give way to the sound of a car horn blaring, and she moaned as she started to shift in her seat. What the f**k happened? No answer. She raised a hand to her head and gasped when her fingers touched a wet spot on the left side and a sharp pain blasted through her head.  She groaned as she undid her seatbelt, and began to climb out through the broken window her hip hitting the steering wheel and alerting her to the fact that the airbag had defected and not deployed. Falling out onto the wet gravel of the shoulder she winced, and staggered to her feet. The rain was still pounding down, soaking her dark red curls and beading on her rain jacket. Seriously, what the hell… Then she remembered the figure, and the sound of a body hitting the side of her car and under her tires. The sudden recollection caused her stomach to lurch and twist, and she barely got three steps before she vomited. After heaving for awhile she wiped her mouth on her sleeve and limped across the road looking for a person she had obviously hit. Please be alive…please be alive. Oh f**k. I killed someone… She stared at the figure sprawled halfway on the road and half on the shoulder, their body at unnatural angles and she felt her stomach starting to clench up all over again. Rue what the hell do I do??? Again silence. Why wasn’t her wolf answering her?  Rue had been there ever since her first change two years ago, a constant companion…and now there was just silence as if she had never been there. Zia’s chest tightened with panic. She had killed someone. Her wolf was gone. What the f**k! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Two years later… Zia stood in front of her bathroom mirror, staring down her reflection and trying to pull herself together even as the room seemed to spin around her. Living with herself had been torture, looking into the face of a murderer every day and the pack had cleaned everything up and made it so it was as if nothing had ever happened. “It was an accident.” “You didn’t mean to sweetheart.” And eventually… “You have to get over it. It was just a human.” “Why haven’t you shifted?” The alcohol humming in her veins made the world warm and distant, it took away those dark feelings that plagued her every waking moment since that night. She attempted to smile at herself in the mirror, wrapping a long red curl around her finger before tugging at her dark green dress so that it exposed her cleavage better. Tonight she was going to drink and f**k the horror from her mind. Letting herself out from the bathroom she swayed down the hallway to where the rest of the youth of her pack were partying.  She envied their freedom, the way they seemed to glow with the look of youth who had never been part of a tragedy. Zia lost her balance for a moment and stumbled sideways into a familiar chest. Arms wrapped around her and caught her to them, lifting her face upward she smiled drunkenly at the guy who had stuck by her side since that day. “Adam.” She sighed out, and then giggled into his chest as she burrowed her nose in and breathed deep. He smelled like cigarettes and aftershave, it was so familiar and comforting. “Zia…how much have you had to drink?” His deep voice full of concern thrilled and disappointed her at the same time. She didn’t deserve his concern. Looking up to meet his blue eyes she raised a hand and ruffled his dark curls, “Oh not too much…not enough really…” She hiccupped. The music was nice, it drowned out the silence in her mind from the absence of her wolf. “Ok…”He said, his face full of uncertainty. Zia patted his chest absently and gave him a big smile before turning and drifting toward the guys on the couch where she simply turned and flopped across their laps giggling.  Looking across the room at Adam she saw his fists clench for a minute, before he turned and walked out of the room. Zia shot a pouty face at his retreating back, he hated that she did this. He was such a good friend. She didn’t deserve him at all. A hand on her thigh made her smile and turn her hazel eyes up to the guy who she had unceremoniously dumped herself into the lap of. This was it. She was going to take this one home. She ran her finger down his cheek and across his lower lip teasingly, and watched his eyes go dark with lust. “Lets go” She said, her voice throaty and humming with her own desire. She didn’t desire him, she desired the escape. He lifted her and carried her giggling off to her room, the perk to living in the pack house. She put her arms around his neck and lifted herself upright, long pale legs wrapping around his waist as she pushed her mouth into his, and he slammed her into the mattress. A moan, the sound of fabric tearing, and panting as she lost herself to carnal pleasure to drown out her pain.