The Unbroken Luna

7

Xavier's pov

That meeting had been… intense, to say the least. 

I dropped on my bed like a dead fish, wondering why the hell people insisted on having super important online meetings even before f*****g dawn, sacrificing their sleep and health just to appear more "productive". Those guys weren't normal. 

I closed my eyes, trying to get back to sleep, but it was useless. My body and mind were now awake, and sunlight was invading my room, meaning that there was no way I would get some rest again. 

I should probably get some work done. But first… 

I changed into my workout clothes and went to the gym on the palace's ground floor. There were already some folks training: five warriors and a couple of girls. 

All of them greeted me with warm smiles when they saw me. I smiled back and started doing some warming-up exercises as I thought about all the work I had to do. 

Being Alpha was more than a full-time job: it was a mission that required you to put your whole life at the service of your pack. I'd taken up the mantle two years before, at twenty-four, when my father decided I was old and wise enough to take good care of an entire pack of wolves. Even if it was an exhausting job, I would have lied if I said it wasn't incredibly fulfilling, or that it wasn't the best job in the world. Sure, the responsibility was terribly heavy sometimes, but it was incredibly rewarding. I felt useful, and the positive feedback I constantly received from my packmates was among the things that kept me going.

Even though the work was overwhelming, I knew I didn't want to be the kind of Alpha that only thinks about war and business, like so many in the werewolves' world. I'd always took on my father's example: I wanted to be there for my pack, to make sure they knew they could count on me as a friend, a packmate, and a good listener. That was why I'd been so upset that I couldn't go meet our new packmate, Richard's friend and Luna (or former Luna?): I would have been her new Alpha, and given her backstory and the whole situation she was running away from, I wanted to make sure she felt welcomed and at ease in her new country, home, and pack. After all the things Rick had told me - a small, I knew, part of what she'd been through - I really wanted to give her and her unborn child a new, safe, propitious start.

I should probably call Franz, I thought. Check in to see if she arrived, if she's alright. 

I picked up my phone, and he answered on the first ring. 

"Hey, man" he barked. I felt some background noise: the engine of his car. "How was the meeting?" 

"Interesting and motivating as always," I deadpanned. "Is Emily there with you?" 

"Yes. I'd pass her the phone, but she looks rather car sick. I think I'll have to stop to let her puke soon. She says hi, anyway". 

"I didn't just say hi" a warm, feminine voice rang. She had a strong American accent that clearly opposed the German one Franz had whenever he spoke English. "C'mon, pass me the phone… good morning, Alpha". 

There was something in her voice… something that made something else grow in my chest. I felt my eyes widen in shock: it had never happened to me before, and I couldn't give a name to that warm feeling. 

I was feeling so strange that it took me a few seconds to answer. 

"Emily Carnahan, right?" 

"Yes, that's me. I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am for all the kindness and warmth you and your friends have shown me. Thank you". 

I could feel a smile in her voice, and I realized a second after that my lips had turned up on their own. 

"It was… nothing," I managed to say. 

"For me, it was everything and something more…" 

"SCHEISSE!" Franz screamed, and I felt my guts turn to ice as I heard the car tires screech. 

Emily screamed, and that sound of pure fear got right into my heart. 

"What's happening?" I asked, half-screaming as I felt my heart thundering in my throat. "Answer me, dammit!" 

"S-someone is… is following us," Emily stuttered, clearly in panic. "They're trying to get us off the road… it's a black Volkswagen. I can't see the plate…" 

They both screamed, and the sound of their panic mixed with a loud crash, and suddenly the line went silent. 

"Franz? Emily?" I called them. "Guys, are you there? Hello?" 

Silence. 

Something happened, my wolf said, worried, pacing back and forth inside me, relentless. I felt my skin itch with the urge to shift, and I didn't hold back. 

I ran towards the window and leaped, shifting in mid-air as I broke the glass and fell on my four legs on the humid forest floor. I howled to call all my warriors, and I had them on my sides in less than thirty seconds, all of them already in their wolf form. 

Together, like we were all part of a single body, we dove into the thick forest, running and searching for Franz and Emily. 

We found Franz first.

The search for them had taken almost all day: we'd just passed five pm, and the light was now scarce, but we saw him anyway. 

He was in his wolf form, bloodied and limping through the forest, carrying a small, feminine frame on his back. As soon as he saw us, though, he collapsed on the ground with a small, weak howl. Time seemed to slow down as I saw his legs trembling and giving up in a slow-motion, his balance shifting on the right, him falling down onto that side, and the girl's limp body starting to slide down just to end up crushed by the wolf's massive weight ...

I sprinted into action and scooped her up in my arms just moments before she fell. 

Max and Gustav rushed at his sides, helping him stand up while he shifted back to human and ultimately getting him to climb onto Max's back. His black wolf looked in my direction, waiting for my command. I nodded, and he broke off into a run towards home to get him the medical help he needed. 

Mike, Lukas, Tobias, go with them, I ordered them. Until we know more about who attacked them, we all need to be on high alert. Everyone else - stay with me. 

Only at that moment, I allowed myself to focus on the girl in my arms. 

She had an open wound on her right brow: it wasn't deep, but it was bleeding, and the thick, red liquid was trailing down her temple and cheek. Apart from that, though, and the bruises on her body, it looked like she was fine. 

I didn't have any bandages for her head, nor clothes of mine that I could rip, so I had to make a quick work of hers. I ripped a small strip of fabric from the t-shirt she wore under her hoodie and used it to clean the wound the best I could before tying it around her head. 

It was at that moment that she opened her eyes. 

And my breath was immediately cut short. 

They were of the warmest shade of light brown, with golden flickers, sweet and full of innocence… and fear. 

As soon as her eyes met mine, I felt something click inside of me, inside my heart. At that moment I knew that the thing I'd always been looking for, my missing piece, was her. 

It was like when you find the answer to the question you've been asking yourself your whole life, when you find your true purpose. It felt like two pieces of a puzzle snapping together, like my heart had grown a thousand sizes, like nothing else mattered any more: just the woman I had in my arms. 

Only Emily Carnahan, wife and Luna of another Alpha. 

My mate.