The Unbroken Luna

5

  Emily’s pov

“Thank you,” I politely smiled at the cab driver as he stopped in front of the airport’s glass doors.

“You’re welcome, miss,” he replied as he took the money. “Have a nice trip”.

The tires screeched against the road as he drove away. I quickly checked my surroundings for known faces and, once I was sure the surrounding people were all strangers, I walked into the airport.

The last time I’d been there, I was seventeen and headed towards Miami for spring break with my best friends. A sad smile grew on my face as I realized how much I’d lost since my eighteenth birthday. Clayton had never brought me on a trip; we didn’t even have a honeymoon. Whenever he had to leave the pack lands to visit other Alphas or go on a business trip, he’d always leave me home to better enjoy his time with his various “friends”, and when he’d come home, he liked to tell me how many times and with how many people he had cheated on me.

I set aside those thoughts, determined to keep Clayton out of mind as much as out of my life, took out of my backpack the yellow envelope the receptionist had given me that morning, and opened it. Inside, there were some documents and a boarding pass for Frankfurt.

In Germany? The pack that’s taking me in is in Germany?

Something clicked in my brain, a piece of information that I’d long forgotten and that now felt more like a remembered childhood dream than a fact; the Lycan royal family lived there, ruling over the werewolves’ world from their castle in the Black Forest. Their word was law, and whenever there was a feud, the two packs’ Alphas would go in front of King Henri to seek his advice and solve the fight.

Maybe… maybe I could ask the Alpha of my future pack if he could arrange a meeting between the king and me. He was the only one who could actually protect my family from Clayton, whether he attacked them. The picture of my younger brothers' faces appeared for a second in front of my eyes, and my guts clenched in fear. I needed them to be safe.

Still, I knew that getting a hearing with the king or a royal while not being an Alpha was more unique than rare, so I tried to keep my feet on the ground and not put too much hope into that.

The gate for my flight would not open up for at least another hour, so I sat down at McDonald's and got myself a whole burger menu. I didn’t have breakfast, so I needed to eat… and ever since that morning, I had this strange craving for a thick, juicy burger. I had spent a long time eating just to survive, so I’d been pretty shocked when I realized that I actually wanted to eat something. 

A smile tugged at my lips. 

Maybe my chance at a better life wasn’t that far-fetched or impossible as I thought it would be. 

I sank my teeth into the burger and stars danced behind my closed eyes. 

I’d missed this. I’d missed the simple happiness that came from eating something you’ve been wanting for a very long time. I’d missed happiness.

When you’ll be older, we’ll go to McDonald's every Saturday, I promised my baby. Just like your grandparents used to do with me and your uncles. 

Goddess. 

My brothers, James and Mark, would have been heads over heels if they knew they were about to become uncles for the first time. Whenever Clayton brought me back home to show off what an amazing husband he was, my family often asked us about children. I would usually keep my mouth shut because I didn’t want to say anything that could even hint at what actually happened between my husband and me, but he would always say that we were trying our best. Once he even said that I’d, unfortunately, had a miscarriage, and that was the reason I looked so sad and pale; little did they know it was because he’d punished me the night before after finding some birth control pills I’d been taking behind his back. 

“You don’t want my f*****g kid, b***h?” he’d whispered in my hear. “Well, if that’s really what you want …”

I shuddered as I felt again his fist clenching my hair and pulling them hard with all his ruthless and violent Alpha strength. It had hurt so much I thought they would eventually come off my head, and then he’d forced me to swallow all the remaining pills before proceeding with his usual punishments. 

I’d almost died that night. Only my werewolf healing had saved me from the drugs poisoning and the beating, and the witch he usually hired to make me look like a healthy woman had to work more than usual to get what she defined as "the bare minimum". 

Don't think about it, I sternly ordered myself. That was your old life. You're leaving the country and you'll be safe. You won't have to interact with Clayton ever again. 

I went back to my burger and finished it just in time for the boarding gate to open up. 

I joined the queue, ready to wait for my turn, when the phone rang.

Foley.

"Hello?"

"Are you on the plane?" he asked, frantic. I could feel the fear, the absolute panic in his voice, and I closed my eyes for a moment. I knew what that meant. 

"I'm boarding," I said. 

"They know!" he shrieked. "They've discovered you're not in a different hospital, and they've told Clayton, he got a witch to track you down… they just blipped away… get on that plane as fast as you can, I'll get there ..." 

He hadn't even finished talking when a thick, disgusting smell washed over me. 

A smell I knew all too well, that made my guys clench in fear and expectation of terrible pain. 

"Well, if that ain't my sweet wife Emily".