Chasing My Luna

6

REBECCA

After a long, steamy shower, I changed into some clothes Ravi and Wayne had put together for me. It was all men’s clothing, as they’d picked it from their suitcases, but it was warm and comfy, and I couldn’t have wished for anything better. My own clothes were ripped and dirty, and they reeked of blood and sweat.

I rolled them up and threw them in the trash can underneath my bathroom sink. Then, I pinched my cheeks to at least try to look alive and, taking a breath, I walked over to their room for dinner. They’d been adamant about that: I was not allowed to skip it. After the fight, they wanted to keep an eye on me and make sure I was fed.

At the prospect of dining with them, though, a small smile made its way on my face. I'd known Wayne my whole life. Our mothers had shared a room in the maternity ward when we were born, just a couple of days apart, but we'd truly become friends on our very first day of kindergarten, and we hadn't parted ways for anything in the world until high school, when his parents had moved to New York for work and he had followed them. Since then, our relationship had become a bit more sporadic, and even though, once we'd grown up and got caught up in the hectic pace of our lives as a lawyer and as Luna, we hadn't been able to keep in touch as much as we wanted, we'd always been there for each other at the major events in our lives. He had been my man of honor at my wedding, and I'd been his best woman at his.

I felt like I’d lost the ability to feel happiness, but I was glad he was around now. And Ravi too.

Still, I also felt scared, and defeated: I wasn’t ready to talk about what had happened, but I also knew the subject would come up, and I wouldn’t be able to hide it. The pain was too great to continue masking it for long, and pretending would be useless. I'd never been a great actress, and besides Wayne knew me too well. He would immediately catch the lie.

Besides, I had to tell them. They wanted to bring me back to the pack the following day, and they’d have to know why I couldn’t go back.

It’s gonna be alright, I thought. They’re my friends. They’ll believe me.

If there was one thing I was sure of, was that Wayne had always had my back.

Well, you thought the same about Reiner. A tiny, evil voice inside me chuckled.

I knocked on their door before courage failed me, and less than two seconds later, I was welcomed by Wayne’s bright smile.

“There you are!” he exclaimed, opening the door and leading me in. “We’ve ordered pizza. Thought you’d need something warm and cozy instead of the avant stuff they make down at the restaurant. And before you ask, yes, yours is the spicy pepperoni one”.

Oh, thank f*****g Goddess.

I basically ran for my pizza. I desperately needed it. I hadn’t eaten anything all day, and there was a big-ass juicy pizza waiting for me. Moreover, I’d always had the tendency to try and bury my sorrows into food… something Wayne knew.

He was trying to comfort me, just like when we were young, and we curled up in blankets and ate junk food when we got bullied in high school.

Wayne and Ravi were quick in joining me, and we all pounced on our pizzas. The more I ate, the more grounded and calmer I felt – though I couldn’t tell if it was because I was placating my hunger or because I was focusing on something other than my pain.

As we ate and drank, we made some small talk. Well, they mainly did all the talking, while I just listened.

"Yeah, it was actually one of my most exhausting cases." Ravi commented, finishing up outlining the last divorce he had handled. Wayne and him were both lawyers, but while Wayne dealt with defending big companies and brands, Ravi was a highly regarded divorce lawyer not only in the city, but on the entire East Coast, who handled divorces and settlements worth hundreds of millions of dollars daily.

“I bet,” I smiled. “That didn’t seem easy.”

He laughed. “Definitely not!” He said, and started recounting an anecdote when I heard the sound of a notification on my phone.

My stomach clenched up.

I knew very few people outside the pack, which meant the chances that the notification was from someone from the Blood Moons were very, very high.

My suspicion did not go unattended.

I can't believe you came to me to ask for confirmation about your lover's pregnancy. I'll have the heart not to tell my brother. He does not deserve this. You're just a filthy w***e.

The slice of pizza in my mouth tasted like ash as I read Isabelle’s text.

As I felt the utter pain of betrayal slice through my chest.

Izzy, the woman I loved like a sister, my girl best friend…

No. Not you too.

The most welcomed distraction dinner had offered me shattered, and when I felt Wayne’s hand land gently on mine, I couldn’t keep the ruse up anymore.

“Oh, Goddess!” Wayne exclaimed, shocked. “Becks, what’s up?”

The pain was… unbearable. I’d lost nothing short of everything, and reading that text from the woman who’d shown me my babies, who’s cried and smiled with me, had felt like a last nail in the coffin.

"Come on, sit down." Wayne urged gently, helping me onto the neatly made bed.

"Now try to breathe and calm down, alright?” He sat down next to me and hugged me. “Ravi, can you go downstairs to ask for some tea?”

“On it,” He replied.

Wayne held me in his arms until I had no more tears to cry. By then, Ravi had already come back, and I took the warm cup from his hands.

I felt so broken I couldn’t even enjoy that feeling.

“Come on,” Wayne murmured. “Tell me what’s wrong. I'm sure it's not as bad as it seems."

A harsh, raspy laugh escaped my throat. In fact, my situation wasn't bad. It was catastrophic.

"So, let’s see." I replied, unable to contain the bitterness in my voice. "Within 24 hours, my life has become hell. I found out I'm pregnant with twins thanks to Reiner's sister, who thought it was a good idea to tell her mother... who thought it was a good idea to fabricate a nice video of me cheating on my husband with another man in our bed - a video said husband believed, which led him to kick me out without even asking for my opinion or explanation, leaving his mother to make me sign divorce papers. Obviously, I'm cut off from the bank accounts too, so... I'm pregnant, divorced and broke, with no assets or significant prospects, and I just survived an assassination attempt orchestrated by said mother in law. How's that for a situation?"

For a long, endless minute, Wayne and Ravi remained in stunned silence, their eyes wide open. Occasionally, Wayne shook his head, as if trying to shake the gears of his brain to process that infinity of information I had just vomited all over him.

"Holy f*****g s**t!" Ravi said after a while.

I swallowed, nodding and taking a sip of tea.

"Pretty much."

"Okay," Wayne swallowed. “Is it too late to say I was kidding?”

Despite the situation, a half-chuckle escaped my lips. "No, don't worry."

"I can't believe it." He commented, as Ravi too sat down next to me. "Good Goddess, Sheila always seemed like one of those classic psycho boy moms... but this is a whole other level. What about the rest of the pack? I mean, someone must have done something, right?"

I shook my head. "I got back after I went to... get a little surprise for Reiner, to tell him about the puppies. It was a...apocalyptic scene, W. No one around, no one muttering a word. They were all terrified - and considering they had just heard their Alpha pissed as hell... I don't blame them. Also, you know how gossip works. As soon as the Alpha goes crazy and within two minutes the lawyers are called to draw up divorce papers, doubts and whispers start going around. And if you add that the Alpha and the Luna have been having problems for a while, with no heir in sight... no one would have intervened in my favor anyway, video or not. We both know how our world works."

"It's full of crap, that's what it is." Wayne huffed. "Our world and Reiner."

I sniffed, grateful for the warmth the cup in my hands offered. "I don't blame him. He had no reason to doubt his mother, and that video... it was f*****g realistic. If I hadn't been sure I never cheated on Reiner, I’d have believed it myself."

"Shouldn't we report her?" Ravi interjected. "Sheila. Let's prove the video is fake and..."

"With the means she has as the mother of the Alpha of the most powerful pack in the state? She already tried to kill her!" Wayne hissed. "Honestly, Ravi, if my mother did to you what Sheila did to Becks, if she showed you a video of me apparently cheating on you, would you act like that jerk? Do you realize he hasn't even spoken to her? That he refused to meet her?"

Ravi swallowed. In his silence, his answer was crystal clear.

No.

He wouldn't behave like Reiner did. He would ask for an explanation. He would want to hear both sides.

But Ravi and Reiner were two different men. Ravi was a lawyer, used to see how many nuances reality and truth could have, Reiner an Alpha. And by nature, he tended to see everything in black or white.

"Becks did the safest thing, going along with Sheila. Who knows what that jerk would have done if she'd stayed! He... he doesn't know you're pregnant, right?"

I shook my head. "Sheila kicked me out precisely because of that she didn't want Reiner to have children with... with someone as low as me. Isabelle sent me a message insinuating that the babies were from my alleged lover, so I highly doubt either of them will tell him anything. And I didn't have a chance to tell him anything."

“Anyway, it’s not like she can go back.” Wayne said to Ravi, who nodded. “Sheila thinks she’s dead, now, and Reiner has proved himself to be so far up his mother’s ass that he’ll never believe mommy dearest could ever do something like this. If Becks goes back and tells the truth… Ravi, no one would believe it. They’ll all believe she’s just trying to get away with cheating, and Reiner will be the first of them. If he finds out about the kids, he'll definitely want a paternity test, and at that point, two paths would open: if it turns out he is, of course, the father, he'll take them away from Becks, but if Sheila pulls another trick and manipulates the results..."

"Enough," I said at that point. I couldn't bear to hear all those ifs, all those options. I’d already considered them all, and each one had made me sweat and cry in fear. "I know damn well what I'm risking, guys. I've considered everything before signing those damn papers. Divorcing was the safest thing to do for me and for the pups. The only thing I have to do now is... focus on the future. Find a home, a job, things like that ... all stuff I know nothing about. I mean, I became Luna straight away, and the pack house was my house, and ..."

My voice died, as the grim and awful, utter realization dawned on me.

I was f****d. Totally f****d.

For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.

Then Ravi's hand landed on mine, as did Wayne's.

"You have us."