The rain was pouring but nothing would stop her. She needed to run. Run as fast as her weak skinny legs would willingly go. Her heart was pounding so hard she could barely hear anything but that. Pain was flooding her body but she knew she couldn't stop. There was no one to help her. There was no where to hide.

Just run, and keep running. The voice in her head kept telling her. She could hear his screams behind her though still, getting closer as her body started to fail her.

"Get back here you fucking bitch!" Neal yelled. This was it. This is where she would die. Hiding behind a dumpster in a back lane, praying to moon goddess that someone, anyone, would come save her from her nightmare life. She didn't deserve this. She'd never hurt a fly. She'd never even spoke more than 10 sentences in the last month! As if she forgot what was happening, Emma peaked round the side of the dumpster to check if the coast was clear.

"Ha, thought you could get away didn't you," smack, she hit the ground with a thud. "Thought you could run away you fucking idiot. Like you," kick, she curled into a ball on the floor to try protect herself. "You scrawny piece of shit, could run from me?!"

He was kicking into her ribs, punching into her face. Any pain he could give he was throwing out at her. She could feel the blood flowing from her nose, her brow, her ear. With one last swing of his foot landing straight into her gut she thought he would stop. Just for a second there was nothing. Still the existing but no extra unwanted pain.

"I'll fucking kill you for this, fucking kill you!" Suddenly there was pressure on her throat. Every breath she tried to suck in was nonexistent. Before she felt like she couldn't open her eyes but now they were wide with horror. This really was it. He's going to choke me to death. Her head was fuzzy and her vision was blurring, but she could still see his face. A sickening smile plastered over it, as though he'd wanted to do this forever. The pain was taking over her and the dizziness was growing. Black speckles started to cover her sight. And just like that, nothing. She couldn't see, she couldn't breath. This was it. Death. All she was going to be was a dead girl in an alley way in the matter of seconds. She just lay there and took it, unable to fight, unable to move at all. Agony was all she felt now. It's all she'd felt for the last 5 years actually.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Emma heard a faint unknown voice from a distance, and suddenly she could take a breath. The feeling of a hand on her shoulder and the sound of a angry viscous growl was all her senses brought her before she felt absolutely nothing again.

- 10 hours earlier. -

"Give me it!" He was in her face once again, screaming about something she didn't have. There was always something she'd done wrong. Sometimes he didn't even have an excuse he just liked to hit her.

"What do you mean Neal? I haven't got anything!" Emma promised, he snatched her handbag from her hands and emptied the contents onto the floor, rummaging through it looking for whatever he was yelling about.

"You have it! You've stole it you selfish little slut! Fucking give me it now!" With a slap to the face Emma fell to the ground, knocking her head on the cabinet door on the way down. Just as he went to lift his foot with the intentions of giving her a good kick to the face, victor walked into the kitchen.

"What's all this commotion?" He yelled. Victor was the Alpha of their clan. The Red Moon clan. They weren't very big compared to others in their town, having about 25 members including children and elders who have yet to or could not shift anymore. He acted like a fair man but he was anything but. Watching the beatings emma took on a daily bases and turning a blind eye. She knew that he knew. Damn he'd even given her a couple bruises himself over the years. But he was the Alpha and he had to put pack members in their place at times.

"Skinny skanks a thief Alfa! She's robbed me of my money!" Neal raised his hand again to swing it across her face when Victors hand caught his wrist.

"That's funny because she's been in this kitchen cooking like I told her to for the past 3 hours. Shut up with your whining and go help the others upstairs. This dinner can not fuck up. Do you hear me?" Aiming the last part mostly at Emma, he turned to walk back to the dining room but first made sure than Neal was doing as he was told. Everyone obeyed their Alpha, and if they didn't they'd soon find out what would happen. Victor was the strongest out of our pack but definitely far from the strongest of the Alpha's around. But they weren't a viscous clan, staying out of the city most the time and venturing in the woodlands that was their back yard. They stayed away from trouble and trouble stayed away from them. Other than Emma, apparently she was always causing trouble, even though she didn't have an actual bed to sleep on or more than 4 outfits to wear.

"NEAL!" He jumped just slightly, but enough for her to notice. He knew she'd noticed but also knew Victors command was pulling him out the room. With one last death glare he finally left her to finish the meal she was prepping for tonight. Victor had demanded she take the night off of work and make sure that every little thing was perfect. She'd cleaned the whole house top to bottom until it was sparkling, she'd set the table ready for the pack and their dinner guests. And now she was preparing a 3 course meal for 30 people to be served within the next half hour.

"How are you getting on?" Victor asked. To anyone else that would sound like a genuine question, but Emma knew what he meant. He wants to know she's getting everything done in time otherwise it would be him kicking her to the floor. But she was on time and everything was close to being ready for the girls to serve.

"All the appetisers are ready, main is just about ready in the oven and desserts are all in the fridge, Alpha." She said with a smile, proud of herself for making damn sure she wasn't behind on her work. Not that she ever was. She knew she wasn't going to be praise though. The clan hated her, though she could never find what she'd ever done wrong. She cleans the house, their clothes, cooks their food and cleans their dishes. She stays well away from everyone, living in her little 'home' in the basement. The only things down there were old worn out and broken furniture, shelves of useless items, and her...

"Make sure it's damn good girl," He didn't even look at anything she pointed to as she'd spoke, just turned in the doorway again to head into the dining room, "Or you'll be sorry. Oh, and I don't want to see your face up here when our guests arrive. Wouldn't want to scare them off."

With that last comment Emma's hand automatically touched her face. She knew what he meant. She was hideous. She tried to cover it with her hair as much as possible but with the heat of the kitchen she must have pushed it back to reveal the mighty red scar going from the top of her eyebrow across her eye and down to her jaw bone. No one was ever going to love her when she was a disgusting excuse of a girl. She pulled her hair from behind her eye looking down to make sure no one could see and began cleaning the kitchen. It wasn't long before the main was out the oven and the girls were down ready and waiting to be told to serve the food.

"This is the starter, brandade de morue canapés." Both Kathryn and Ella stared at her clueless, clearly they had no idea what she just said. Emma rolled her eyes behind her hair before explaining. "It's cod and potato spread on top of a baguette slice..."

Moving onto the mains that were half plated she showed them what to put on and how to present it properly for the best appearance on the plate. The two looked completely puzzled and she knew they weren't all that interested anyway so she ended telling them how to finish the desserts and headed down to the basement. It was starting to get colder now in late October. Since she had nothing of her own Emma had to adapt to her surroundings and use whatever she could find useful in the forgotten underground space. Quickly changing from her dirty clothes she slung on an old tatty pair of jeans and a way to oversized off white T-shirt she'd found left in one of the dressers down there. There wasn't much light bar a small lamp and the window in the far corner that looked out onto the front of their home. The sun was setting and the light would fade into darkness pretty soon. She sat on the couch rereading one of the few books she'd found over the years. It wasn't long before she head car doors closing and the mysterious guests of the night arrive. She was at the window within seconds to try sneak a glance at the group, but all she could see was feet. She noticed the door was open and a set of brown scuffed boots, she new those belonged to Victor, and a set of dark brown paws next to him, more than likely Will. He was Victors Beta, and had been for many years. Neal was planning to be the next Beta, but Emma knew he wasn't strong enough to beat Will out of that spot. Walking towards their door was two sets of black leather derby shoes, these guys were definitely dressed to impress. They seemed so out of place at their clans country style house, clearly these people were from the city. She noticed she couldn't see any wolves behind the two smartly dressed men, clearly meaning they knew they did not need to protect themselves. If they were from the city, which it seemed like they were, this clan was definitely much stronger than their own.

"Welcome! We're so glad to have you here tonight!" Victor stated, trying to seem like a much better person than he really was, when he was really a rude and cruel man. One of the posh set of feet stepped forward, maybe shaking Victors hand?

"We thank you for having us, Peter and I apologise for our brothers absence, he has a lot of work to do." The man didn't sound like he was appreciative of tonight, maybe Victor invited them for something they weren't wanting to agree too? Or maybe the other way round? Why were they here? Who were these men? She wanted to see what they looked like, the mans voice sounded strong and courageous, as if he knew his place in the world was higher than Victors. He probably was.

"Come in, please. Food is ready to be served, our chef had prepared a lovely meal for us this evening in your honour." My god what a kiss up, the voice in Emma's head groaned. He was never like that, ever. She'd seen a nicer side of victor before but he was only slightly less cruel than his normal self. The feet disappeared and Emma ran to the basement door, ear pressed up hoping she could hear any conversations. Kathryn and Ella were in the kitchen chatting about how handsome the men were, she wished she could see them. Not that they'd want anything to do with her. She'd probably put them off their dinner she'd just slaved over making.

After what felt like forever of leaning her head against the the girls were back in the kitchen. They were whispering in hushed tones obviously making sure the pack and visiting clan could hear them.

"Why is the hot ones always the most violent?" She head Ella giggle. Violent? What did she mean? Did these men have a red right hand? Who where they?

"Girl they are the most vicious clan in the city! What are they doing here?" The most vicious clan in the city? Emma scrambled her brain trying to remember some of the clans she'd heard of through listening in on the pack members conversations. She only knew of a few, the Blue Moon clan, the Eclipse Moon clan, the Black moon clan, the Wh- WAIT. The most vicious clan she'd ever heard about was definitely the Black Moon clan. They were monstrous, violent and took no mans mercy. They'd took out clans over night, just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, giving the Alpha the wrong look, saying the wrong thing. They ran pretty much the whole city. Maybe it wasn't them? Maybe they were just another clan that had a reputation? Maybe one Emma hadn't heard of as of yet?

"They can do me while they're here," Ella laughed in a flirty manor, she was always after a mate, "Graham looks super sexy."

"Hands off girl, Regina's had her eye on him all night." Emma sighed again, Regina was the it girl in their pack, always having to have the best out of them all. With her curled black hair and beautifully done makeup, she'd had any wolf in the pack she wanted, even Neal, who was meant to be with Emma. Not that she wanted him in any way, shape or form. When Emma first met Neal he was a kind and adventurous boy. It was about 6 years ago, Emma had no clan after her parents death and Neal had just joined the Red Moon clan. They were only young, her being 13 years old and him 16. They had fun and got into trouble and laughed. He 'loved' her for about 2 years, but still then all of a sudden he despised her. To this day she still had no idea what she'd done. But she knew Neal never loved her. He used her as a toy to get what he wanted, and now he was bored of her but still used her.

"GIRLS! Did you see how Graham looked at me in there. It was as if he wanted to rip my clothes off right there and then. I would've let him too the sexy fucker." She heard Reginas voice enter the kitchen, they must be clearing the table by now. Emma didn't realise how long she'd been sat at the door till she looked down the stairs of the basement and it being completely black without her lamp on. The voices of the men, Graham and Peter, emerged from somewhere else in the house, more than likely the hallway. She could just make out what they were saying.

"Thank you for such a fantastic meal, I must say we were not expecting it. It's been so long since we've had a homemade french cuisine, you much pass our gratitude to the chefs." The man she assumed was Graham spoke. Gosh, he liked my cooking! No one had ever complemented Emma's food, as much as she tried to perfect it nothing she ever done was good enough for her pack.

"I must ask, did we meet all the women in your clan tonight?" There was a second of silence before Victor answered his question.

"Apart from the ones yet to faze, yes that is all our girls still looking for their mate." She knew he wouldn't mention the ugly creature in the basement that was herself, but she was slightly disappointed. Not that either of the men would ever love her. Even if she was one of their mate she'd be rejected the second they saw her face, her skinny, pale and bruised body.

"Shame, my brother will be disappointed. Guess he'll have to keep searching." The man joked, but it wasn't in a funny way, more harsh. The girls in the kitchen must've heard the statement too, Emma heard them bickering about how they were too good for them anyway, which was funniest thing she'd heard for weeks! Those girls were skanks who would jump on anyone who told them they were pretty. None of those girls were good enough for even a moderately nice guy. The front door closed, meaning the guests were heading back to wherever they came from. Running to the window once more Emma stood on the old table placed in front of it, peering out to see if she could catch a glance at any of them.

"Keep searching, she's out here somewhere." Was the last she heard from them, the doors slammed and engine growled to life once more and the men were gone.