Healing His Broken Luna.... Chapter 100

####Chapter 13 - Stroll

It's been two months since I escaped, and with each passing week I feel stronger and stronger. I was off work every Sunday and Monday, but gladly worked extra if things got busy downstairs at the restaurant. I wasn't use to having so much free time, but it sure was great.

I have also become acquainted with Mr. Lee, who owns Mr. Lee's Chinese Kitchen. I work a few days a week for a few hours with him. I mostly helped with cleaning, washing pots and pans and even help with some food prep, pealing and cutting vegetables. Working with Mr. Lee helped fill up some of my free time. Plus, he not only paid me, but always sent me home with the most delicious food cartons.

Today is Monday and I'm off work. I've decided to visit Russ at Hell's Glam Salon for a hair resuscitation, as he called it. Human life is peaceful and easy for me compared to pack life. I put on a new fall dress, denim jacket and boots I recently purchased and felt great. I slung my denim purse sack over my shoulder and walked over to the salon.

"GASP!" Said a man wearing a pink scarf around his neck and drinking a glass of wine when he saw me walking in.

"Can I help you honey? Judging by the hair, you need quite a bit of help." He smiled and walked a circle around me.

I smiled and pointed to Russ who was engrossed in a show on the television.

"Oh honey, he's catching up on drag race. You might have to wait for him. I'm Jim. Can I pour you a glass of wine while you wait?"

"WERK IT GIRL, WERK IT!" I heard Russ yelling at the television before he turned his head and notice me. "Oh, hey Syble! You came back. How's everything going over at Lola's?" He asked.

I smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

"You look better, put on some weight too, and I all the right places. Now let's see if we can bring this hair back to life." He said.

"And don't fuck it up!" Jim said to him and snapped his fingers in the air.

"Jim, you're going to have to sashay back a bit and let me work my magic!" Russ said as he draped the cape around my neck.

An hour later, I was sitting in the chair, foil squares wrapped in my hair, drinking my second glass of wine and watching drag race. I learned that Hell's Kitchen has a bar a few blocks down that also had drag shows and entertainment. 

After Russ washed my hair out and gave it a textured trim, he slathered it with a deep conditioner and sat me under a hair dryer for fifteen minutes.

"That's a lovely tattoo on your neck. Did you get it here in the city?" He asked me.

I didn't have any tattoos on my body. I look up at him and gave him a quizzical look.

"This one. On the nape of your neck. It's a crescent moon." He said as he touched the back of my neck.

I tried to turn my head to look in the mirror and he held up a handheld mirror so that I could see a reflection of it. I touched my hand to the back of my neck. Where did that come from? I've never seen it before.

"Oh, honey don't worry, I've woken up in the morning and have completely forgotten entire weekends of shenanigans! One time I even woke up with this tramp stamp on my back." Jim said to me.

"Sit down, no one wants to see your ass Jim." Russ said to him.

"Well that's the first!" Jim huffed and I couldn't help but giggle at them.

When Russ was finished with my hair he gave me some makeup pointers and applied some makeup using samples. I still had most of Saul's money, so I purchased some make up, hair products and paid Russ for his service. I felt and looked like a completely new woman walking out of there.

"You look marvelous darling. Now werk it girl!" Russ said as I left.

There's so much to do in New York, and yet I always find myself returning to Central Park for a stroll. It was midafternoon, and I took the subway to visit central park. The leaves are beautiful, such stunning vibrant fall colors. The walkways in the park are scattered with fallen leaves and the light breeze feels wonderful on my face. Thanksgiving is this Thursday and many visitors have flocked to the city to enjoy the big parade in midtown.

Lola had invited me to join her and a few lone wolf friends at her home in the Hamptons for the holiday. I had declined, I wasn't really ready to be around other wolves yet. I had been trying to work on my speaking skills, but so far, I could only comfortably hum along to music. My understanding of Spanish was also growing thanks to chef's Ricardo and Carlos.

Ricardo is Puerto Rican, wears a lot of gold jewelry and loves to sing while cooking. Carlos is Dominican and he's always dancing while cooking. Working with those two has been so much fun. They always keep me well fed and laughing.

I was currently strolling by the Wollman ice skating rink in Central Park and it was packed with skaters. When I first arrived in the city this area was set up as a carnival type of amusement park for children. During October and throughout the winter, it's converted into an ice skating rink. I stood watching children and families skating and having a good time. I watched as couples skated hand in hand. One couple even stopped to kiss in the middle of the ice. Something deep inside of me whimpered as I wondered if I would ever meet anyone or dare to ever be that happy.

I heard the whimper again. It came from inside of me, inside of my head. I stood still and closed my eyes trying to focus on the sound.

"Mate." I heard a whisper from inside of me.

"Hello." I said to myself inside my mind. Nothing. I heard nothing.

I opened my eyes again and I noticed a man standing on the other side of the skating rink. He stood frozen in place looking at me. This is a pretty big rink, there's no way he was looking at me all the way over on this side. Right?

I looked closer and he had a familiar look, maybe he was a bar patron at work. No, no, I would remember someone with that large physique. He was wearing running clothes and a beanie. He turned his head and started jogging off. I walked back towards the path and tried to focus on the whimper inside of me. Maybe I was just hungry, there's a brick oven pizza joint just two blocks from here that I really like. I was walking and thinking about the pizza toppings, Italian sausage, peppers and onions is my favorite.

A horse drawn carriage carrying tourists stopped in the path, the tourists handed their camera to the driver to take pictures of them with the rink in the background. The horse pulling the carriage was black and reminded me of my dear friend, Domino. I reached a handout and rubbed the horse hello. He let out a snort to greet me and sniffed my hand. I continued walking and decided I would order a whole pizza and take it home so I could have plenty of leftovers. A storm was coming in tonight and I didn't want to leave to get something to eat.

I heard a growl and quickly looked around me. I turned and looked behind me and saw nothing. My heart skipped a beat, something was off. Someone was watching me, I could feel their eyes on me. For a brief moment I remembered Saul, he would be out to kill me. Everyone else that knew me thought I was dead already.

"Syble." A husky man's voice called my name and an unexplainable wave of pleasure pulsed through me. I turned my head and he was standing right in front of me. Those piercing beautiful blue eyes. My breath hitched in my throat. 

We stood silent for a moment, both of us just breathing. He pulled his beanie off his head and ran his fingers through his raven dark hair. He stood tall in front of me and he was so handsome. His clean shaven face had at least a week longs stubble on it. 

I was torn between two feelings. The sudden urge to run into his arms and the sudden urge to run as far away from him as possible. I had killed his mate, any moment now he would start raging, barking and tearing me apart. He had come to kill me, to avenge the death of Donnatella.

"Why is she still alive?" I recalled him saying. Those words cut me for some strange reason. Like I wasn't worthy of living or being a pack slave. I felt betrayed thinking about it, though I'm not even sure why. If anyone should hate me, it should be him.

I didn't mean to kill her. She attacked me, in wolf form, I was just defending myself. I looked into his eyes and realized he was studying my face carefully, and his eyes betrayed him when they looked down taking me in. Flutters took flight all over my body.

"You've been hard to track down little mouse." There was a tiny smirk at the corner of his mouth. Did he expect me to respond? Did he think I was just going to start talking suddenly? 

This man hated me and wanted me dead. He's obviously been hunting me for the last two months. Now he's going to stand here and toy with me like a cat playing with its prey. Flashbacks of Donnatella's corpse, the sight of his massive wolf chasing after me, Alpha Jaxon fighting with the gray wolf and jumping off that cliff engulfed me.

I felt a rush of panic, a wave of nausea and tears started streaming down my face. I wanted to scream. I had just started living my life, feeling free and safe and he's been hunting me in the shadows this whole time. I had enjoyed the last two months of my life. If he kills me now, at least I had two wonderful months.

I wondered if he was going to kill me right here, in the open. Or if he was going to take me somewhere else and kill me. He didn't need to shift to kill me, he was built like a beast. With the size of those hands, he could easily crush my skull. 

As if reading my mind, he stepped towards me and reached out his hand. He placed the palm of his hand on my cheek and his thumb wiped tears away. My chest felt tight, my breathing erratic. I couldn't understand what was happening to me. I was so afraid.

I closed my eyes and a wave of memories suddenly came flooding into my mind. Memories of my mother and father, memories of my grandmother telling me I was going to be special, memories from my childhood, memories of being beaten unconscious, fear, starvation, cold and pain. All of it, all at once, like a cracked dam that finally broke open.

It was like he plugged into my emotions the moment he touched my face. All I wanted to do was bury my face in his chest and feel his arms wrapped around me. To have him comfort me.

"Mate." I heard the soft voice whisper inside of me. I must be losing my mind. It was all so overwhelming the fallen leaves in the park started flying up and circling around us. The wind picked up and the leaves spun faster around us like a little funnel cloud. The temperature in the air suddenly dropped. No one else seemed to exist, nothing else mattered. It was just him and I, standing here in this vortex of wind lost in emotions. 

I opened my mouth and a scream escaped me. His eyes widened with shock. Everything stopped and the last thing I felt was my head hit his chest and his arms catching me.

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