Human to Luna

Life's Hard

Jack

I was stressed and pissed off as I wiped the blood from my brow. Me and my men had just returned from battle against a pack of irregularly strong rogues, and even though we had won significantly that didn’t take away from the fact that 3 of my men had been killed and 5 of my neighboring pack warriors that had fought along side us had lost their lives. Me and my younger brother Jake were Alphas to our own packs, but once upon a time he used to be my Beta. Our neighboring pack were once rumored to be dictated by an abusive Alpha that cared only for power, uncaring towards its members. Many of its members had defected to our pack begging for sanctuary, eventually one of those members turned out to be my brother’s mate. Jake enraged had challenged their Alpha and had easily one, ever since our packs had lived together in harmony. He renamed the pack the New Moon pack and was loved and respected by not only his members but mine as well. Both my pack, the Golden Light pack, and my brothers were known through out to be large in size and great in power, so we were respected and feared. Our father’s pack had a long lineage going back from the beginning of werewolves itself so as its new Alpha I had certain expectations to meet from both my members and other packs.

Jake sat heavily next to me sharing in my silence. Our wounds had healed fully already, but our minds were heavy with worry. “That was nothing like I’ve seen before. I’ve never seen rogues so organized or…” Jake was lost for words as was I. I finally sat up putting my head in my hands and rubbed my eyes till I saw stars. I sighed “We need to send out scouts to monitor their movements and figure out what the hell they are planning.” I looked at my brother through my hands and saw him shake his head in approval. I couldn’t help but give a small smile to my brother who, even with dirt and blood covering him head to toe, still looked like the little 10-year-old begging me to explore the woods with him. Jake caught me staring and gave me the stink eye knowing what was going through his big brother’s mind. This made me chuckle, I ruffed his hair and stood stretching feeling my brother slap my hand away. “Me and my men need to head home, recuperate. I’ll come by tomorrow with Jasmine to discuss further plans.” Jasmine was Jake’s wife and mate, while technically my sister-in-law I viewed her as family and enjoyed having them both over. “Take a shower, you smell” I said while grabbing him in a bear hug. He rolled his eyes at me and he began gathering his men for the walk back to his pack. The path connecting our lands were well used as most members regularly went to each other’s pack lands. A year after Jake and Jasmine’s wedding I had built a small gazebo in the middle of said path in recognition of our peaceful packs and in celebration of their marriage.  

I looked around at my members and with a sigh retreated to my study. This was not normal, they were too organized and large in numbers for it to be a regular rogue pack. They were rogues for a reason they didn't get a long well with others, especially in large numbers like today. My instincts were telling that something was coming but I didn't have the slightest idea on what that could be which only enraged me further. This was a peaceful time and the surrounding pack lands kept to themselves and respected each others lands, it couldn't be one of them. My Beta, Hunter, walked through my door unannounced looking tired and sat in the chair in front of me. He knew something was wrong too by the look on his face, and he was just as clueless as me. "What's the report?" I asked him. "Everyone has fully healed for the most part, 2 members ended up going to the hospital for more severe wounds but they should be fine soon. The deceased have been taken care of appropriately and we have men gathering the family members to be brought to you." My heart fell as I realized this was the moment I would have to tell them that their loved ones could never be seen again. I knew what that felt like and I didn't with it on anyone. There was a faint knock on the door, I told them to come in and braised myself for the faces. The faces that knew why they were brought here, but couldn't accept it yet. As the small group gathered I took a calming breath and began the speech I learned from my father. "I'm sorry I had to ask you here today..."

Saida

I had finally finished my shift at the hospital, my shoes were covered in feces, there was something sticky in my hair, and I was desperate for a shower. Since the town was relatively small there weren’t a lot of options apartment wise, but I had gotten lucky to find a decent and affordable apartment not far form the hospital making it easy for me to walk to and from. Mickey had been pretty surprised when I had told her I didn’t own a car, but she only smiled and told me that it shouldn’t be a problem. It was a safe town, nothing ever happened here.

The sun was slowly setting but the road was well lit making it an easy commute. I had finally reached the halfway mark, a big oak that had been chopped down, when I felt it. The hair on the back of my neck began to stand up and a spike of fear ran up my spine. I felt eyes on me, but I couldn’t see or hear anything, what the hell was going on? My steps faulted but I casually tried to play it off and walk faster. As fast as the feeling came though was as quickly as it left. I must be tired I wasn’t sleeping well in a new place. My feet felt heavy as I took the stairs up to the first floor of my apartment, my nervous sweating from earlier only making me feel grosser. I was tired and in a new town I told myself. I’ve never been one to be dramatic and I wasn’t going to start now.

I had been in Montana for a month now and adjusting had been a battle. I had never been alone in my life and the defining silence of my apartment was a cold greeting most days. I contemplated getting a dog, but decided I probably wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment plus I was working overtime to keep my mind busy. Mickey had invited me out a couple times, but I had declined with the excuse that I was still getting my apartment settled. I mentally scoffed, some apartment, I had a couch, a bed, and some pots and pans. I had sold everything from the house not wanting anything to remind me of everything I had lost. Now I was faced with an apartment I needed to decorate, but anytime I tried I just got sad for some reason. I stripped and as I was about to hop in the shower caught myself in the mirror. The woman I saw wasn’t the same person a couple weeks ago. My eyes looked dead, I’d gotten bone thin, and overall, I looked like a miserable person to even look at. This wasn’t me and I needed to snap out of it. Mom wanted me to live a happy a secure life, she wanted me to date and meet new people after she was gone. Instead, I was avoiding post people, I only talked to veterinarians or technicians when needed, and I most definitely was not happy. I could feel another wave of sadness take over me as I washed in the shower, I quickly smooshed my face and gave myself a pep talk about how mom didn’t want us to cry and we had promised we would try our best and a bunch of other things I was having a hard time remembering because all I wanted to do was cry. Dammit, I thought as the burning tears slowly mixed with the shower. I let myself wallow in self pity for the rest of my shower and took a shaky breath as I stepped out. The same hollow woman looked back at me in the shower, except now your face is puffy dumbass I thought to myself. I’ll do better tomorrow I told myself as I slipped into bed too exhausted to eat, sleep taking over and relieving me of my thoughts for the night.