Lunar Eclipse

Chapter One

(Annette’s POV)

Dirt didn’t taste so good, I found that out today. I just ate a whole bunch of it and I think it might have had a worm in it too.

“Had enough? Or you want to go for round three? Or is it four? I wasn’t keeping count” my sister Camilla laughed as she hopped from foot to foot in her fighting stance. “It was five but who was counting?” I spit out most of the dirt in my mouth and pushed myself off the ground. I knew I was holding back so I really didn’t hurt her but she was getting too cocky now for my liking.

Time to show her who was the trained Warrior, spitting out the rest of the dirt in my mouth I get into my fighting stance. Because she was irritating me I taunted her, just like I predicted she charged me full force with her fist out. So many holes in her defense, too many opportunities to knock her on her ass so I took the one that would hurt the least. I swept her leg but she recovered quickly so I placed a few quick jabs to her ribcage hoping she would call it there.

Camilla huffed out a curse before trying to wheel a roundhouse on me that I easily caught, hooking my leg around her torso I used my body weight to slam her to the floor. All the wind was knocked out of Camilla when she hit the ground, that would put her in her place.

“So that is 4-1 and you shouldn’t get cocky, when you get cocky your defense takes a s**t” getting up from the matt I stretched my slightly sore muscles. This was barely a workout for me, sparing sessions with the Beta were way worse. Camilla was still on the matt recovering, I walked over to her to help her up. I felt bad, maybe I went too hard on her.

“Jesus I never should have stopped training after I had Annika, my fighting skills were never good to begin with but now they are worse. I am going to have bruises all over” slowly she got up from the mat groaning, dusting herself off she walked over to the fridge next to the training ground. Picking up some water she half of it then with the other half she poured on her head.

“Don’t blame my niece you could have got back into training after she was born, you were recovered from her birth a month after she was born. It’s been almost a two years since then, that’s a long time to not train.” She punched my arm hard, probably harder then she meant to but either way it still hurt like a b***h.

“I just said that, I know I should get back into training but the girls take so time out of my schedule” she sat down on the bench trying to regulate her breathing still. Then she worked on her hand wraps, they looked better than mine which were bloody. Yeah I went too hard on her, my knuckles shouldn’t be bloody.

“How is my niece anyway?” I chuckled watching her reaction as I asked, her expression could have been a caricature. Camilla and her mate Asbjorn had two pups Hilda who was 3 the spitting image of her father and Annika who was 2 and Camilla’s copy. Hilda was an angel, hardly put up a fuss, but Annika was the exact opposite she was a sassy stubborn handful. Our mother said we were the same way, me being the oldest was the easiest child, but Alma was the opposite of me. Freyja is also a terror but nothing compared to Alma. Camilla was the baby of the family so she never had a problem with my parents since they spoiled her rotten.

“I tried to go to the store yesterday and she had a complete melt down in front of everyone I was so embarrassed. And the whole melt down was because I didn’t let her pick out the kind of bread we got” she hung her head, looking at her face I noticed the dark circles and over all paleness of her face.

“Asbjorn had to come and pick her up so I could finish the shopping, it was all just too much” she wrapped a towel around the back of her neck and wiped the sweat off her face Camilla never handled stress well which is why Asbjorn was perfect for her. Asbjorn had such a calming effect to him that it made those around him calm, nothing ever bothered him or stressed him out, he was also the perfect one to deal with Annika’s temper tantrums.

“Well I can always babysit the two of them if you and Asbjorn need some time to just decompress” I offered “you also look like you could use some sleep.”

“That would be amazing Annette, though if you can find time off of work” my work as a Luna Guard was a very serious job in the pack because of this I work some crazy hours. She needed a break, I know Mom and Freyja babysat a lot but Mom worked in the middle school and Freyja was a nurse so their schedules were also tight. I could have sworn there was a piece of gum in Camilla’s blonde hair, it looked like she hadn’t taken a brush to it this morning.

“I can ask the Luna for some time off tomorrow” as soon as I finished she jumped up off the bench squealing. Running over to me she gave me the biggest hug still jumping up and down, once she let go she pulled out her phone and called Asbjorn.

I chuckled and grabbed my gym bag and stuffed my towel, hand wraps, and my canister of water into it before yelling to Camilla that I was leaving, she gave me an absentminded wave. I knew she was probably planning exactly what Asbjorn and her would do with their rare day off. Let’s just hope they don’t make another pup with that day off!

I walked out from the training building and down our street. My father was not a ranked member in our pack, he was a carpenter. My father built our house at the beginning of the street then when each of us became of age he built each of us a house each one next to the other.

I saw through the livingroom window of Mom’s house that she was sitting in the livingroom. I had some time before work to go in and grab a quick snack, I don’t cook so my house had pretty much zero food and mom’s fridge was always stocked.

“Mom! I am grabbing a snack!” I dropped my bag by the door and grabbed a glass from the kitchen then raided the fridge. Mom had some sausage and bacon left over from this morning’s breakfast probably I grabbed that then popped some bread in the toaster. Filling up my glass in the sink I looked at all the pills on the window sill above the sink. We lost dad about five years ago in a car accident of all things, my dad used to me invincible in my young eyes but to lose him to something as human as a car accident was hard to come to grips with.

I remember the day so clearly, all of us were sitting on the couch when mom screamed out in pain, her screams haunt me to this day. It was like she was being tortured, we all were too shocked to move so we just sat there and watched her scream. After what seemed like hours we finally sprang into action, Camilla went to go get some cold compresses, Alma went to the neighbor’s house to see if they could help, Freyja was trying to comfort mom, and I called the only people I thought would be able to get the situation under control, the Alpha. Alpha Cajetan and Luna Randve came in an about 15 minutes later and knew exactly what happened, they took her to the pack doctor who kept her under sedation for a couple of days while her body recovered from the loss of her mate. The mental wounds never really healed, she takes medication now to help cope with the loss and visits a therapist. We are very lucky some wolves when they lose their mate also die from a broken heart.

After watching that happen all those years ago, watching what my mom went through and still goes through to this day finding a mate was the furthest thing from my mind. I could have lost both of my parents that day leaving Camilla, Freyja, Alma and I orphans and when I look back on the years after our father’s death it brought us closer together as a family our bond was iron clad now. But had we lost mom too we would have fallen apart.

“Mom!” she was still in the livingroom talking to one of my sisters probably Alma, she was the talk of the pack since she was mated to the future Alpha and rumors were that she was expecting soon. Mom smiled and waved to me when she saw me in the doorway. Her little five-foot frame was sat on the huge couch that used to fit all of us onto it, her legs tucked up under her only made her look smaller. She looked so fragile, small but when I think of the amount of pain she endures everyday she could be the strongest one of us.

After dad died mom put a lot of her energy into my sisters and I, it was her coping mechanism to focus on us and when Camilla got pregnant all of her attention went to her first grandbaby. When Hilda was younger mom was over at Camilla’s house everyday with loads of gifts, and now that Camilla had two pups it was double the presents.

“Who are you talking to?” I whispered “Alma” she mouthed back, knew it. I nodded and went back to the kitchen to dump the water I wasn’t going to drink and put my plate in the sink.

“Bye mom!” I yelled while picking up my gym bag.

“Bye honey have a good day at work!” I heard her yell before I closed the door.