Lunar Eclipse

Chapter Two

(Annette’s POV)

I unlocked my front door and threw my gym bag into the laundry room then taking the stairs two at a time I walked into the bathroom, first thing was to brush my teeth dirt was still in my mouth then I went to the shower. I turned the water to the hottest setting and undressed while I waited for it to warm up the hot water would reduce the soreness in my muscles, normally I would have taken a bath for my muscles but I didn’t have the time today. I got out of the shower and quickly toweled off my body and wrapped my hair up in the towel. Looking in the mirror I could see the bruises starting to fade already. My black hair looked like a nest for a bird when it came out of the towel and it took me a long time to brush out the waist long strands.

I was not as beautiful as my sisters who were all petite, blonde and had green eyes like our mom. Freyja had a slight mixing of our parents eyes so hers were more teal than green but still beautiful. My eyes were ice blue like our fathers, they were almost white, it made people uneasy under my gaze which was the only thing I liked about my features, only the people with something to hide avoided my gaze. I also got some of father’s tall height, I was not exactly the same height as dad since he was 6’ but I was taller than the rest of our family at 5’9” which earned me the nickname ‘Jolly Green Giant’. In the werewolf world most males and females were tall on average so I was average, all of them were just short. My body unlike my sisters was athletic thanks to all of the training that I did, not that they needed to train to maintain their body they were all naturally thin.

My wolf, Gia, started to stir in my head, for the past couple of days she had been restless stirring and pacing at the most random times. Gia, like me was taller than some she-wolves but unlike me she was very proud of her lithe body. Gia was a laid back wolf only really speaking when trouble was near or in sparing sessions to help defend myself.

When I was done my after shower routine I picked up my uniform, admiring it for a couple seconds before starting to put it on, we recently got new uniforms and in my opinion they looked much better than the old ones, much more official. Our guard was newly formed unlike the Alpha Guard that had been around for generations.

The Guard was formed after an attack on the Luna 6 years ago, some Exiles broke into the pack, they masked their scents to slip past the border guards. The Luna had just given birth to her youngest pup Jakob, she was recovering in her room when the Exiles had broken into the packhouse. Rose and I were coming from the rec room and saw the Exiles, they attacked us and we barely defeated them, we both had the scars to show from it.

One of the Exiles survived, gravely injured, but survived enough for him to be ‘questioned’. After the ‘questioning’ he revealed that he was out on a personal vendetta to get revenge on Alpha Cajetan for murdering a family member of the Exile.

Checking the time and seeing I was running behind so I finished putting on my uniform, braiding my hair back I picked up my work bag filled with fresh towels and other things needed for work. Locking my door behind me I took off down the road towards the packhouse, it was only a short run but traffic in the roads slowed me down.

The Alpha family lived on the sixth floor of the pack house, which was located in the middle of the pack lands, it was the biggest building by far so it could be seen for miles. Everyone gathered at the packhouse for dinners, events, and important news so it had to be big enough to fit all of the pack members plus guests.

The Beta family lived on the fifth floor with the Gammas underneath of them on the fourth floor. The third floor was used for guests and the Omegas that chose to live in the pack house. Second floor was a recreation room, offices for the ranked members, library, spa, and theatre. First floor was where most of the action happened it held the kitchen, dining hall since most the pack members ate at the pack house, most of the public bathrooms, and the event hall.

The basement was for training, so we had a full gym with plenty of equipment, mostly the ranked wolves used this, most preferred the outdoor training area as the basement got hot over time with too many people in it. The basements also held the cells, and though it is never used the torture room, and the armory. The pack house also has a direct link to the pack hospital for ease of access for the ranked families.

“Morning Annette” I passed by Sage and her mate Derrick on my way into the packhouse.

“Good morning Annette” Derrick was mute so he used mind links as his form of communication.

“Good morning Sage and Derrick” I bowed to show my respect to one of the Alphas children and her mate. Sage was a 50/50 blend of her parents, she had her mother Randve’s stature of 5’4”, her father’s dark hair which she kept bobbed, and ember eyes like her mother. Sage trained with her brother Alex most days, for a while everyone thought she would be the first female Beta in 10 years but she declined and no one knows the reason why.

I always visited the Luna before my shift so I headed up to the fifth floor, while I was on the stairs a half-naked young wolf ran past me with Rose’s scent all over him then like clockwork a growl came from the Alpha floor.

“You can’t sleep with any wolf you want! You are an Alpha female and my daughter you need to set an example to this pack! What if you find your mate in this pack? They will know of your history! Did you ever think that your past history could make your mate reject you? What if a jealous ex fling of yours threatens your mate?” he was pacing back and forth while she sat and watched him, this speech was not new, Rose heard it every time she got caught with a guy in her room.

The Alpha was an imposing person, his size at 6’5” was intimidating enough without adding in his Alpha aura which came out when he was pissed off, this made wolves bow their heads and submit to the Alpha. In front of Rose the size differential was concerning, Rose like her mother was 5’4” and petite but she did not cower or submit to Alpha Cajetan like most wolves. If it wasn’t for her red-brown hair she would be exactly like her mother but the attitude was an exact match. Rose was still unmated and the only one of the Alphas children still unmated, well except for Jakob but he was only 10 and not able to find his mate yet.

Rose huffed and tossed her red locks over her shoulder, at this point the speech was getting repetitive even for me. Rose started to pick her nails showing Alpha Cajetan that she was not paying attention which made him fume more the steam that came out of his ears was almost visible.

“Dad I am not taking over this pack, Sage and I agreed we forfeit our claim to Alpha so it can pass on to Alex. He is more cut out for it anyway he is the golden boy” she waved her hand nonchalantly in the air, that was the last straw for the Alpha.

“Go to your room! I don’t want to see you come out of it for the rest of the day!” my wolf and I both winced hearing the Alpha raise his voice like that but Rose stood up from her chair gave the Alpha the death stare and stomped to her room, once again I winced when the door was slammed so hard the chandelier shook.

I went into the Alpha’s common area where Luna Randve and Jakob were sitting on the couch watching some child’s cartoon. The Luna had come over from Scotland when she was young and her looks and attitude reflected her Scottish roots. Her red mane as wild as ever spilled over the back of the couch she was sitting on, her head was tilted back on the back rest of the couch with her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose. More than likely, like always she was fed up with her daughter and husband and trying to keep her temper in check. Jakob who was sitting next to the Luna was not at all bothered by the fight and continued to watch his cartoons.

Jakob was the only one in the Alpha family with blue eyes and blonde hair, it was a running joke that because all of the other siblings had their mothers temper that Jakob’s hair and eyes would turn red when he got his temper. The Luna however did not like this joke and quickly changed the subject each time the joke was made or if Alpha Cajetan made the joke he got a swift hit to the back of the head.