Lunar Revenge

Mother Dearest

Rosemary’s POV

Sitting at the table nearest the bonfire I can see everyone at the party. I hate this pack. There are few here who are decent, but not enough to make me want to stay. This pack is like poison, ruining everything good, killing it slowly. I look at my best friend Robyn. She has the same look. She hates this place as much as I do. A Luna should love her pack, the fact that she can’t stand being here speaks volumes. Our husbands are monsters, our children aren’t too far behind. Minus my sweet Emerald.

My phone pings, alerting me to a text.My heart breaks. She thinks I hate her! I start to tremble slightly. I have failed her! She didn’t mention a goodbye or I love you. My child has distanced herself form me! It’s all my fault! The abuse I should’ve stopped! I wish I could tell her I didn’t know she was being hurt. I wish I could tell her face to face why I couldn’t help her, how the silver chains kept me bound to my bed.

Robyn notices my distress. “Rosie? What is it?”

I can’t form words. I just hand her the phone. Her face pales, but she shakes it off. “This doesn’t change anything! We will find her after we get out of here. If we go looking now, they will surly catch her! We have to keep to the plan!” After a few steady breaths I regain my composure. She’s right. I can fix my relationship with my daughter after we are all safe.

“Thank you. I will message her back.I’ll tell her of the path to take, and where to meet us. Maybe, hopefully by the grace of the moon goddess, she will believe me.”

I quickly type out everything I mentioned, ending the text with ‘I love you Em. I am so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. Please follow my instructions. When we are safe, I will explain EVERYTHING.’

I erase my messages from her and place the phone back on the table. Robert has been suspicious of me lately, and this will certainly not help. A plan formulates in my mind. I quickly let Robyn know via mindlink. We set our plan into motion. We fetch drinks from the bar and start like we’re twenty something’s on spring break. Everybody else is having a good time, they pay us no mind. Discreetly we collect empties from the neighboring tables, making it appear as though we have had three times the amount actually consumed.

The beauty of being a werewolf is our metabolism makes it extremely difficult to get drunk, not impossible though. We start to whoop and holler just enough to catch our husbands attention. We never act out, or cause a scene. This will make them want to get rid of us without question. We start singing along to the music acting all cheerful and oblivious. I can feel Robert and Alpha Raymond staring. The anger coming off them in waves.

A second passes before I feel his big hand on my back. “You’re drunk.”

“I am not drunnnnkk. Jusssss tispys all.” I giggle out.

“Let’s get you to bed.”

“I should do the same!” Robyn hiccups. “ let’s all walk together!”

I can see my husband roll his eyes before plastering on that sickly sweet smile. “ yes Luna. What a marvelous idea!”

We make our way out of the party, stumbling here and there to make it convincing. Once inside the pack house, we go our separate ways, Robyn to the Alpha floor and us to the top warrior floor. The walk back to the room is silent save for my random giggles. Those I don’t have to fake. I am so happy to be rid of this place I am giddy.

I become so immersed in my thoughts I don’t realize we’re in the room with the door closed. Before I can fully adjust, I’m slapped hard. His face is red, his eyes wild looking, and his veins are bulging.

“How dare you embarrass me tonight.”

I stand quietly holding my face. Not too much longer and I’ll be gone. My silence apparently angers him more, earning me another hard slap. This time I end up on the floor, my vision blurred, my head pounding, cheek burning. The familiar burn of the silver chain wraps around my ankle. I watch him lock it before he goes to leave. He reaches the door before he turns around. “I think we need to have another pup.”

My eyes almost pop out of my head. Fear sets in. I give into the fear. I let him smell it. He needs to believe everything is normal. I watch as he slowly raises his nose and takes a slow menacing breath. He’s enjoying this. He growls his approval, stalking over to me he grabs me by the throat.

“You need to remember your place. The moon goddess gifted me a breeder. Though you barely survived the last mutt.”

His eyes take on a dark twinkle. He releases me and is out the door in a flash. My heart rate slowly comes back down as my breathing evens out. My eyes well with tears, but I refuse to let them fall. Tonight is the night. I will leave this place and my misery. I take a long slow steady breath. I need to focus on the task at hand.

I pull the pick from under the box spring. It was able to sit perfectly on the frame. I get to work. I’m freed from my silver chains in under 5 minutes. I rush to my walk-in closet, headed towards my money stash I keep behind the shoe rack. Ten thousand dollars. Enough to get a start. I change into joggers, sneakers and a hoodie. I’d rather be comfortable if I have to run, plus my husband wouldn’t recognize me like this.

I stuff the money into various zipper pockets all over my joggers, and in the sling bag I’ve grabbed. As I’m locking the bedroom door, I take one last look around. I used to think this room was magnificent. How I missed the old days when my husband wasn’t a monster. I missed having my family, loving and getting along so well. What I’m left with is memories and broken dreams.

I haven’t snuck out a window since I was in my teens, but luckily werewolves remain agile even later in life. The lush grass is able to muffle some of the sound from my feet. I stride across the lawn sticking to the shadows, although most are distracted by the party anyway. I find Robyn at our planned meeting spot. Her outfit similar to mine, both of us opted for dark colors for stealth reasons. We wordlessly fall into a steady rhythm. Running fast enough to not be seen, but quiet enough to not be heard.

We are nearing the meeting place I told Emerald to meet us. I hope she decided to stay. Robyn signals to slow down, we start to sniff the air. The scent of pine, fresh water and a hint of rosewood floods my nostrils. ‘The rosewood smells faint. I don’t think she’s here anymore.’ Lyra my wolf whispers. She is most fond of Emerald, saying she is special. We cautiously exit the cover of the forest to our clearing.

“Maybe she needs a few minutes to catch up. Who knows where she was when she wrote that text.” Robyn tries her best to look reassuring. I sigh, “it’s my fault she hates me. Maybe she will be safer without us around.”

A small rustling sound comes from the right of us, our heads snap towards the origin. Out of the shadows she steps out.