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THREE YEARS AGO

"I still don't understand why I couldn't bring Jack." Luna spoke as she walked behind her parents. Marcus, her older brother, helped her up the rocky path as she complained.

Her father had decided at random this morning to go camping. Luna hated that idea. She hated spiders and feared wolves. Both were likely to kill her on this day.

"He's not family, Luna. Now, drop it." Her dad snapped as he turned to his children, she narrowed her eyes at the tone.

"No, I won't drop it. He's my family too. Jack has been my friend since preschool. I just don't get why you hate him so much." Marcus moved to partially shield her as their father marched over to them.

"Listen here, brat, you will respect my word. Got it? I am your father, if I say that trash you call a friend isn't invited, then he's not fucking invited. His father has nothing to offer that isn't already corrupt." Luna felt Marcus grab her hand and squeeze it three times to help her calm down.

"I don't care about his father. I love Jack and I won't abandon him. Not now, not ever. We're bound, dad. Always have been." Marcus smiled softly at his sister before glaring at their father.

"Since mom isn't going to help, leave Luna alone. It's not her fault you pushed her aside to prioritize me going to Belgrave. And guess what, I still don't want to go and I'm tired of fighting you on it." Luna watched fearfully as her father hit Marcus and yet, her mother turned around like the coward she was.

It unfortunately wasn't a rare thing within their family. Her father bashed her for her friendship with Jack, Marcus would defend her and be repaid with a bloody nose, and their mother would act none the wiser.

"Marcus," Luna whispered as she crouched next to him, his nose was bleeding but thankfully still in its correct alignment. "This is my fault, I'm sorry." Marcus shook his head as their parents walked away from them.

"No, sister. It's not. But I will fix this, you'll be free. I swear on my life," She frowned as he placed his forehead against hers. "If anything happens to me, go to Pete Morton. Okay? He and Jack will keep you safe."

"What? Marcus, I don't-" She gasped as he grabbed her hands roughly.

"Promise me!" He shouted making her flinch, she quickly nodded. Her confusion was greater than the fear that consumed her, her gut was telling her something was very wrong here.

"I promise."

Hours later, they had set up camp in the middle of the woods. Luna was huddled against her brother as she clasped her hands over her ears at the sound of the distant howling. Marcus wrapped his arm around her shoulder as she tensed up at the sound of a branch snapping, he kissed her head as he glared at their father.

After all, this was his doing.

"Did it have to be camping? You know she's terrified of wolves." Marcus spoke as he watched his mother hand Luna the newly made s'mores, their mother gave them a small smile before turning away. That had been the closest thing to attention she had given Luna in weeks.

"She'll get over it. She's weak, Marcus. To survive, you must face your fears. Which is why she is going back to the truck and retrieving the beer I left." Luna shook her head and pleaded with her father.

"No, no. Please, dad. I can't—it's too dark. I'll get lost." Her father grabbed the flashlight out of her hands and stared down at her with pure disappointment.

"You disappoint me, Luna. You had so much potential but you let Jack ruin you. This," He held up the flashlight. "Is staying with me. It is a luxury that you have not earned. Find the truck and get my fucking beer!" He yelled, she watched with watery eyes as his face reddened in the firelight before guiding their mother to sit next to him.

Luna shakily got up from the log and wrapped her arms around herself. No light, no warmth, and no direction. She was beyond terrified. She didn't even want to be here.

What if there was so murderous being in these woods? What if a pack of wolves ripped her apart? What if she fell into a cave and couldn't be found? All these horrible scenarios consumed her, her breathing picked up in panic as she imagined never seeing Jack or Marcus again.

And the worst part, she didn't have her phone. Their father made them leave it in the console of the truck.

"Hey," She looked up as her brother cradled her face with worry, his blue eyes always held such emotion, especially when it concerned her. "Everything will be okay. Find the truck and call Jack, okay? He always knows how to calm you down, have him come and get you. Dad probably wouldn't even notice." He spat out the word in distaste.

"I can't, Marcus. The wolves-" She whispered as she grabbed his jacket, hoping if she didn't let go she would not have to leave. She felt him grab her hand, he slipped his pocketknife into her palm and discreetly slid his flashlight into her coat pocket.

"Take these, okay? Be careful, Luna. Please." He begged as he placed a kiss on her forehead. With one last glance at her family, she reluctantly walked through the woods. She waited to use the flashlight until she was out of sight to avoid causing trouble for her brother. She hated the idea of getting Marcus in trouble because of her pathetic fears.

She ignored the snapping twigs near her, the not-too-distant howling, and the sound of her loudly beating heart. She needed to focus. Find the truck, call Jack, and go to sleep with her best friend beside her. Easy, right?

No.

It wasn't that fucking easy. Because why would it be?

She finds the truck, thankfully without her being eaten by the wildlife, but it's locked. And of course, her dad failed to give her the keys. Because why would he? She had the worst luck. She patted down her coat and sighed in relief when she noticed a pay phone, it was rusted and looked like it was barely functioning but if there was a chance at all, she was willing to risk it.

She opened the door and winced at the loud creaking sound, the woods seemed to almost amplify it in its silence. With a quick look, she noticed nothing in the clearing and quickly got into the booth. She knew realistically glass would not hold up against a bullet or a bear or anything else of the sort. But if she believed it, it must be true. Right?

"Hello?" A tired voice questioned and she sighed in relief at hearing her best friend's voice. She held the— hopefully not diseased—phone up to her ear.

"Jack." She breathed out, her voice a bit deeper from her crying, as she leaned into the glass barrier around her.

"Luna? Have you been crying? What happened?" She could hear rustling on the other end and knew Jack was getting dressed.

"I'm scared, Jack," She felt her breathing speed up at the sound of another howl. "My dad had lost it. He hit Marcus, locked our phones in his truck, and kept the keys. Jack, he... he forced me out into the woods with no flashlight knowing that wolves were out there. What kind of father does that? If Marcus hadn't managed to give me his—Jack, I wanna go home." She whispered as tears blinded her once more, she could hear Jack speaking with his mom distantly before he spoke.

"Hey, it's going to be okay. Mom said she can pick you up, alright? Luna, just stay there. I won't let anything happen to you, just please don't go back in the woods." Jack said urgently as he joined his mother in the car, his mother gave him a worried look. She loved the girl like her own and feared the worst. "I love you, Luna."

"I love you too, Jack. Please, hurry. Something is wrong, I can feel it." She heard the robotic voice telling her the call had run out of time and cursed at the stupid thing. She raked her hands through her hair as she contemplated on sitting down in the booth and possibly getting a major amount of unknown diseases or forcing herself to climb up in the back of the truck to wait.

Seeing the grime caked on the floor, she regrettably nudged it with her shoe and proceeded to gag at the clump of what could only be described as everything from the last decade. She opened the door and ran to the truck, she didn't care if she looked weak or like a frightened child, she was stranded in the middle of nowhere.

That's horror movie plot 101.

"Well, at least I'm not blonde." She mumbled as she hid her face behind her brunette hair to keep the harsh wind from freezing her face even more.

"Did you hear that?" Luna froze at the feminine voice and used her hands to cover her face, she didn't want to risk any sound escaping.

"Magic," Luna sat confused as they continued to speak. "Fucking witches."

Witches. Her eyes widened in disbelief.

Oh god, that meant human sacrifices. Her blood went cold as she realized her brother was still out there, unaware of this threat. A threat she didn't know even existed until this moment.

"Kill them." A male spoke with a coldness that made a shiver go down her spine, his voice lacked any sense of humanity.

"Where's Hamish? Cassie, this is pack business. You brought him into this, he needs to be here." Luna's brain malfunctions at the word pack.

Wolves run in packs. But so do fucking werewolves.

The universe hated her, it was clear. It gave her the fear of wolves and tossed a pack of murderous werewolves her way.

Fuck her life.

"He's busy, he couldn't come. Just...leave him alone, okay? He's still adjusting. Let's kill the magic users and go." The woman spoke, no, Cassie was her name. Three of them. A fourth was absent but still a wolf.

She clenched her eyes shut at the sound of snarling and the thunderous beating of them running, she peaked over the truck bed and realized they were headed in the direction of her brother.

"I'm sorry, Jack. I have to protect my brother," She whispered as she took a deep breath and clicked on her light. "Here goes nothing." She mumbled as she set off into a run hoping and praying she could reach her brother first. She didn't know what she could do to fight the wolves though, a pocketknife at best would leave a scratch on them. But she would die before she left her brother to those monsters.

She heard the screams and snarls before anything else, her legs locked in place and nearly caused her to tumble down into the vines beneath her. The fear deeply rooted in her from childhood presented itself, her survival instincts telling her to run, to be quiet. But she fought them, she had to.

But she wished she hadn't.

She heard a god-awful sound break the scene in front of her, it took her a second to realize it was her, she was screaming. The beasts had killed her family, they had painted the tents crimson, and the bodies that once were alive and breathing were torn into unrecognizable piles of meat. Her brother had his eyes open, but she knew there was no life in them. She stared at them, seared them into her soul, as she collapsed to the ground.

She crawled to her brother and shook him, this was some awful lesson her father no doubt created for her. It had to be. She patted Marcus' face hoping to feel a drop of warmth in him, she felt none. She didn't care that her that it left her vulnerable to those monsters. She couldn't feel anything but sadness and the numbness that followed.

"Please,  please. Come on. Marcus, please." She begged as she shook him again, his body went limp as she pulled him close, and her hand slipped through the hole in his chest as she let out another scream, this time it sounded wounded as if it hurt her. Those things stole his heart, she glanced at the one hovering above her, his jaws dripping bloody saliva onto her face. His teeth held pieces of her brother's heart embedded in between them. She felt nauseous at the thought. She clutched her brother close as the scarred wolf leaned in to growl directly by her ear.

"Fuck you." She snapped in anger as it reared up to finish the job, its clawed hand came down with speed and slashed her side, it made sure to dig them in before ripping them out of her, almost as if wanted to have the final word.

Despite the pain, she only cared about one thing. Her brother. She failed him. She had his knife, if he had it maybe the outcome would have been different. She had his light, perhaps he would have seen them coming. She did this.

She was the reason he was dead. And the beast had left, they wouldn't even kill her. She was so pathetic that they didn't even want to waste their energy on her.

"I'm so sorry, I'm sorry. This is all my fault." She cried into her brother's hair as she pleaded on a loop for him to wake up. To come back to her, to be her big brother again.

He never listened.

She would learn later from Jack, that she had held her brother for hours until the police had found her. They had said she was in shock. Jack said he had called them out of fear of her being injured or kidnapped when she was nowhere to be found. She would learn that people had deemed her crazy for claiming monsters had killed them, that monstrous wolves feasted on their hearts.

But even with all that, in one quick moment, she was made an orphan.

The flashing lights didn't break her out of her shock, nor did the detectives speaking to her. The medics tried to check her side but it just ended up in panic attacks after panic attacks, the thought of a stranger touching her or taking her brother from her set her off. So, they had called in the one person who could calm her.

"Luna?" She whipped her head toward the sound and broke down upon seeing her best friend. Her soulmate, her partner in crime, was the only one who had seen both the good and bad in her and chose to stay.

"Jack, they're...Marcus is....the wolves they-" She couldn't seem to finish her thoughts as she reached up and gripped his shirt, clinging onto her friend as she leaned into his legs. Jack gently helped her stand as he pulled her into a hug, he didn't care that he had pinned her bloody arms between them. He didn't care that his shirt was stained with blood, he just cared about the girl he loved mourning her family and begging him to make it better.

"I'm here, Luna. I'll always be here, okay? Let it out, baby. Let it out." He glanced back at his mother and watched as she covered her mouth in shock at the gruesome scene. "You'll never be alone, you can live with me. Okay? We'll take care of you, I promise."

"Those beasts killed them, Jack. I heard them. They didn't care. They slaughtered them." Jack held her tighter as she whispered into his neck. "They ate their hearts." Jack reached up to rake his fingers through her matted hair, the blood had dried and left it hard to the touch. Her face, which was covered in blood from the splatter of the wound inflicted on her, was leaving trails of tears down her cheeks. But the worst was her hands, her clothes, they all were painted with her brother's blood. The brother she loved dearly.

"We'll find them. I promise you, we will. You and me, we'll hunt them down and kill them if we have to." She shakily agreed, letting out another sob against his chest.