Lunar Eclipse

Chapter Five

(Annette’s POV)

I mind linked Prudence to let her know I was on my way to the Amory to get my vest and hop on my patrol. I passed some other warriors on my way down to the basement, I had kicked most of these guy’s asses in the training arena so I had pretty much earned all of their respect. While wolf laws are still based around male wolves the respect had to go to the she-wolves, we birthed pups, protected them and when it came to Luna’s they were mother and protector for the whole pack.

Randve had changed most of our Packs laws when she became the Luna to be more equal between the two genders. Because of her our guards were 50/50 male and female, she opened many doors for she-wolves that were previously closed.

“Hey Theo, how you been?” I passed by Theo sitting on the bench in the locker room it looked like he had been sparing and was nursing a black eye and probably a broken hand.

Our locker room was shared between men and women, when you are a wolf you get used to nudity, a day doesn’t go by I don’t see a naked person. Not to say we all walk around naked but we aren’t going to have separate locker rooms at this point.

Theo looked up and gave me a half swollen smile “I have been doing good just training with the Beta” he went to go give a thumbs up and hissed in pain at his broken hand.

“Well looks like the Beta went easy on you” I chuckled, Beta Astor was a great guy, super nice to all the pack members until you got into his training arena then he changed into full warrior mode. He was an amazing fighter probably the strongest in the pack, behind the Alpha, and when you spared with him you were lucky to walk away with a few broken bones.

“Yeah I think he was holding back but it still hurt like f*****g hell” he pulled at his hand and I could hear the bone shift into place, when you get hurt as much as we do you learn to set your own injuries after a while. I chuckled if Beta Astor had not held back and gone full throttle Theo would probably be dead, the Beta never went full throttle with anyone except the Alpha because when he did he was out to do serious physical harm, a lot more than a few broken bones.

“You deserve it just a bit” I chuckled again as I made my way over to my locker and found my brand new vest. It was amazing, not as bulky as the previous ones with elastic on the sides that looked long enough to fit around my wolf. It took some engineering at first to get vests like these but they proved useful when patrolling the borders, they protected against bullets, teeth and claws.

Pulling off my shirt and pulled on an undershirt then the vest. I moved around testing the comfortability of the vest and so far it wasn’t too constricting.

“Looking snazzy Netty” Theo laughed as he saw me fighting the mirror. I snapped my head towards him and let my wolf come through in my eyes, I could tell he saw the glow because his face paled a bit.

“Do I need to give you a refresher on your lesson?” He paled even more.

“I think you might need a whole nother course Theodore” I punched my open hand and walked menacingly towards him.

Five Years Ago

I was walking down to the Armory to find my new locker, I had just been assigned to the Luna Guard and many of the other warriors didn’t approve of someone as young as me being selected for the Luna Guard.

I had gone through an extra year of intense one-on-one training with the Beta and the Alpha to catch up on my training, I needed to be top notch if I was going to protect the Luna. After all the training I was better trained than most of the guards, I should be after all the beatings I had received at the hands of the Alpha and Beta.

I finally found my locker and it had a lock already on it, my paper did not say anything about a lock on the locker or a code to open it. I double checked the locker number before I jimmied the lock in hopes it wasn’t actually locked but to my dismay it was locked.

“You don’t belong down here she-wolf” I let out a sigh this was bound to happen, humans call it hazing but for werewolves it was asserting dominance. If I didn’t put them in their place I would never gain their respect and will be on the bottom of the pecking order.

I slowly turned to the source of the voice, it was a 6’ tall wolf with dirty blonde hair and a s**t eating grin plastered on his face. Honestly he looked like a asshole from the start, I wanted to rip that smile off his face and feed it to him.

“The Alpha must have been out of his mind to assign you to the Luna Guard, any one of us would have been more qualified to guard the Luna better than you” I wasn’t going to waste my words with this wolf, male posturing would not listen to words.

I vaulted over the bench in front of me got into the assholes space ducking as he tried to take a swing at me, grabbing his other wrist with my left hand I spun him around to face the table/shelf built into the wall. I grabbed his hair with my right hand and shoved his head down onto the table and kept his arm extended holding it vertically from his body, this particular hold I learned from the Beta to put pressure on the hand, elbow, and shoulder. Just a little more pressure I could snap his wrist and dislocate his shoulder.

Leaning down to his ear I spoke in an eerily calm voice “I will only tell you this once I have already protected the Luna and received personal training from not only the Beta but the Alpha himself. I was chosen for my actions and bravery not because I was a musclebound meat head. Cross me again and your pride won’t be the only thing that is wounded” he whimpered a couple times before I slowly released him, I looked around to the other wolves staring at the interaction “The same goes to all of you!” they quickly went back to whatever they were doing before I spoke.

“No Annette, we do not need to have that conversation again my shoulder hurt for a week after that” he rubbed his shoulder and I c****d my head to the side “Poor thing, you deserved it for being a total douche bag on my first day” I shut my locker and headed up to the main floor giving Theo a playful hit on the back of the head as I passed him laughing all the way up the stairs. Men really never did learn.

I caught up with Zephyr and Calliope after getting a mind link from Prudence that they were at the park near the border. Jogging over I heard them bickering before I saw them, Zephyr and Calliope were cousins and famously bickered since childhood. I snuck up and tackled Zephyr laughing while he screamed out curses.

“Why did you sneak up on me like that, for f***s sake!” he let out some other curses catching his breath and Calliope joined in on the laughing, by the time I was done laughing Zephyr was staring at me waiting for an answer.

“Zeph do you really think that a rouge or exile is going to announce themselves before they attack? You need to expand your senses; you should have been able to sense me behind you seriously” I put my hand on my hip as I admonished him then I started walking with Calliope hot on my heels.

“Okay okay I forgive you but no one tells the Beta, or Prudence last thing I need is sensory training from them” he caught up behind me and Calliope. I sniffed the air and scanned the tree line looking for threats but so far only a couple of pups were running around, another pack member in wolf form, and some wildlife here and there.

“There is nothing to forgive because I did nothing wrong. A wolf who is on patrol and can get snuck up on is not useful to the pack” I looked back at Zeph who was looking at the ground in serious thought.

“Are you ready for the Full Moon Gathering tonight?” Calliope asked but I hardly acknowledged her I was busy scanning the tree line, Gia was pacing in my head which was unlike her. Calliope tapped my shoulder bringing me back from zone out.

“Oh I totally forgot about the Gathering tonight but I am probably just going to stay home, I have off tonight, I have a book that I have been trying to read for a while” I shrugged, the Full Moon Gathering was fun and all but it was mostly just all of the pack going for a run under the light of the full moon.

Our wolves have better sense then us so most wolves hope that during the full moon runs they will find their mate, since I am not really looking for a mate I don’t run with the pack, I don’t really shift with the pack either. I might shift tonight if Gia wants to go on a run but most full moons she was content with resting, she was unique in that way, most wolves would be clawing to get out but she was content.

“Really Annette a book? You don’t want to run with your pack?” Zephyr piped in raising his eyebrows at me. He met his mate during a full moon run so now each full moon was a date night for the two of them, a reminder of the night that they found each other.

“You know full moon runs just devolve into the unmated male wolves fighting and posturing. Plus, being unmated I really don’t want to get pestered by a s**t ton of male wolves.” I rolled my eyes just imagining the following I would get during a run; male wolves couldn’t help themselves sometimes when they saw an unmated she-wolf.

They both shrugged their shoulders and let the subject go. The rest of the day went by with nothing interesting happening, finally at about 6:30pm I hung up my vest and headed home.

I weaved through all the omegas setting up for tonight, it was like a big party with food and festivities then the run at the end. Not all packs had a gathering every full moon but it helped us maintain a close knit pack. Finally, I got home and immediately went to the bathroom to shower. I showered this morning but the vests are hot and heavy so I was drenched in sweat from wearing it all day. I pealed myself out of the tank top I was wearing making sure to put this in the laundry as soon as I was done my shower, didn’t want my hamper stinking like sweat.

I turned the water to the colder side, after a hot day wearing a Kevlar vest a cool shower was just what I needed to wash the heat off my body. I exfoliated my skin with some sea salt scrub making sure to pay some close attention to my break out spots for preventative measures.

After I stepped out of the shower I wrapped a towel around myself and set to brushing my teeth and washing my face. With my skin feeling nice and cleansed I went down to the basement to wash my sweaty clothes.

Grabbing the container of detergent, I sensed a presence I whipped around ready for a fight but I saw no one. I hesitantly walked around looking in all the nooks and crannies of my basement but saw no one, listening carefully and letting my senses open more, I listened for anyone upstairs.

Nothing, whatever I sensed it was not in my house but possibly outside of it, which might just be a couple looking for privacy or could be a straggler from the gathering. I shrugged and went back upstairs ready to settle down with that book until I was ready to go to bed.

“I want to run” Gia whined in my head pacing back and forth, I agreed with her and changed my course to the back door, it was good I am in a towel so I don’t have to take off all my clothes.

Dropping the towel, I dropped to all fours and let Gia take control. I felt my bones break and reform out of the pieces into Gia’s bones, on my first shift it was incredibly painful but now it was only discomforting to shift if I was taking my time with it but the faster the shift the more painful it is. I felt the fur sprout on my body and my ears change position and shape, my face elongated and my canines dropped down.

Finally, after a couple of minutes my shift was complete Gia stretched for a while warming up her newly formed muscles before taking off into the forest behind our house.

Gia was not what I would call shy, I know that if the situation called for it she would shift to protect me but she generally did not want to shift in front of others, we were not a special wolf we had no special markings or outlandish coloring she was just more of a private wolf which like her in general was unique.

While she was running and enjoying her freedom my consciousness took a backseat in a sense, it was like watching a movie in a theatre and the screen was Gia’s eyes. We could switch control between the two of us when in this form but I preferred to let Gia have control on her runs because she didn’t ask for them often.

I could tell she was getting tired after running for about forty minutes and was about to head back when she changed her attention and stopped dead in her tracks. A delicious smell hit her nose and she immediately charged for it.

I panicked I knew what a delicious smell meant, that meant mate! I didn’t want a mate! I tried to take control of our wolf form but Gia fought me, that was the first time she fought me about control of our form she kept charging towards the scent and we were about to cross pack boarders.

“Gia stop! The pack boarders! We are about to cross!” I yelled in my head hoping she would listen to my logic and halt her progress for her mate.

“But that smell is delicious I want it!” her whines bouncing off the nearby trees, she started pacing at the border and I could tell she wanted to cross but couldn’t. Our boarder was the only thing protecting us, if we crossed it our scent could attract unmated rouges or even exiles towards us, towards our pack.

We couldn’t bring rouges or exiles to our pack plus the numbers in which they might show up was unknowable and it’s not certain we could protect ourselves or make it back to the pack to alert them. This far towards the boarder mind linking would be weak at best since we were an Omega wolf with no title or extra power reaching the right people would be difficult.

Gia let out a low howl it wouldn’t be heard to far from our location but she was sure the scent was nearby, it was strong even at the boarder which meant the wolf had entered our boarder had left almost immediately and not that long ago either.

She waited a couple minutes after the howl, I could tell she was hoping the wolf would show themselves. Through her eyes I saw a shadow move about 40 yards towards our left, Gia didn’t seem to pick it up she was still looking in the direction the scent was going hoping for movement there.

I did not want this mate so I did not bring it up to her, if I could help it I would avoid my mate and avoid awakening the mate bond.

“Gia we have to go it is past midnight and I have work tomorrow I need to sleep” she whined again, it sounded painful almost before she turned back towards our house.

“We are coming back tomorrow” she stated and I knew that there was no room for argument it was finished.

Finally, back at my house Gia shifted back and I returned to my human form, stretching and flexing my newly reformed muscles I jogged back into the house picking up my discarded towel along the way, after washing off my feet I settled down to go to bed, so much for reading that book tonight.