Chapter 1
“Sonja, would you please sit down.” Dimitri rushed after me as I carried a tray of food out to one of the tables. We were preparing for our annual Winter Solstice festival. Dimitri, my mate was the Alpha of the Eclipse pack, making me the Luna. One of the Luna’s responsibilities was planning pack events. Alec, our gamma, had been covering all of my duties while I finished the warrior training program.
The Eclipse pack were known for having the toughest warriors and had opened up their training program to all of their allied packs. They allowed each pack to send three of their own warriors to the year long program every June. It was my attendance to this program that led me to meet my mate. It was love at first sight and he claimed me the night we met.
I finished the initial program at the end of the following May and had planned to attend the next training program. Six months of additional training reserved only for Eclipse warriors that would have began in September, however I discovered a great blessing from the Moon Goddess. We were expecting our first pup.
This little one was coming a few years, or decades, before I would have preferred. I was only 22 and Dimitri just 26. Most wolves had their pups far into their 30’s and 40’s. Many still into their 50’s. We aged at half the speed of humans and lived an average of 150 years. That leaves us plenty of time to have pups. Even being so young, Dimitri and I are both elated at the addition.
He had gone into hyper protective mode as soon as I shared the news with him. He assigned my personal guard, Liam, to be with me whenever he was not. He even moved Liam into the pack house so that he was close by should the need for protecting me arise. For the last five and a half months Dimitri has been following me around, getting after me anytime I lifted a finger. He was constantly picking me up and carrying me around.
Dealing with him had been more exasperating than the pregnancy itself. Luckily I only have a few more days to go. Werewolves, like myself, only carry our pups six month rather than the nine or so humans do. It goes along with our rapid healing. Our bodies are able reproduce cells mush faster than humans.
“Sonja, for the last time, please sit down.” I had just sat the tray of food down and turned to head back into the pack house kitchen to get the next tray when Dimitri picked me up bridal style and carried me into one of the sitting rooms on the other side of the house, placing me down gently of the dark brown leather sofa. He leaned down in front of me, looking me in the eyes. “You are too close to your due date to be doing all of this.” He reach out and placed his hand gently on my swollen belly.
“Where is Liam? He should be doing this for you!”
“He is.” I said with a laugh. Had we not left the room he would have seen Liam hauling out his own trays.
A low rumble came from Dimitri’s chest. “I will have to have a talk with him about this. He should know better than to have you doing work.”
“Dimitri, there is too much to do. And do you really think Liam is able to stop me? I promise I am not doing any heavy lifting, just let me take care of these things. The festival dinner will begin in half an hour.”
“Let someone else do it. There are plenty of pack members here to help.” He huffed out.
“But this is my event, I know exactly what is supposed to be done.”
His eyes glazed over as he mind linked someone. Oh, great… What is he up to know?
Alec came barreling through the front door into the pack house before speeding into the room we were in. I let out a little laugh watching him speed past everyone. I wonder what Dimitri told him to get him to hustle like that.
“Alpha, Luna!” he said while trying to catch his breath. He bowed his head in submission, showing his respect for us.
“You are now your Luna’s servant for the rest of the night. What ever she needs done, you will do it. I do not want to see her running around anymore. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, Alpha.” He said as he bowed again.
“I have to go make a phone call to the Crescent Moon pack out in Virginia real quick. I will be back in time for the dinner.” He leaned down and kissed the top of my head.
We both watched him walk away before I stood up and gave Alec a little push to his shoulder. “What did he threaten you with?” I asked with a little laugh.
“He told me that I would be leading the night patrol for the next six months if I wasn’t in here in the next two minutes.” I bursted out laughing.
Alec scrunched his nose as my reaction. “What did you do to get him to make the threat?“ he said, raising his eyebrows playfully at me.
“Agh, you know him! I’m not allowed to do anything! All I did was bring a tray of food out from the kitchen.” This time Alec burst out laughing.
“Alright then Luna, I’m at your service.” He bowed his full body throwing his arm out to the side in exaggeration.
We laughed together as we made our way back through the pack house to the dining hall. We had spent the whole day in the village square where a small market had been set up. Activities ran across the pack grounds. One of my favorites was the snowball fight arena that I had set up at the training grounds. After watching all of the visiting warriors last year run around like children tossing snow balls at each other, I knew I wanted to plan something official.
I had come back from the village half an hour ago the help the kitchen staff set up for the feast. All I was doing was moving some of the trays of food out from the kitchen. This was just another over reaction from Dimitri. But if he wanted Alec to do my bidding while I put me feet up, I won’t complain. Alec set a chair up for me near the door to the kitchen along with a second one for my feet.
I sat down and propped my feet up as Alec wondered into the kitchen, returning soon after with a tray of food. “Where would you like this my lady?” He said sarcastically.
“Alright, enough of that. Just put one tray on each table.”
“As my lady wishes.”
Agh, Alec can really grind on a girl’s nerves. I watched as he, Liam and several others placed a tray on each table. We liked to serve our pack meals family style, but with almost 500 wolves in our pack, that meant that we had to have a good amount of space to fit them in and even more serving set ups.
Our dining room was arrangedwith five long rows of tables. Each row consisted of ten tables lined up with with chairs on either side. All together, each row could hold up to 100 pack members.
At the far end of the room was a step up to a low platform that held the heads of the pack. Of course, my mate, Dimitri and I would be seated there. He was the Alpha and leader of the pack. We sat centered on the table.
To our right was the pack Beta, Jason and his mate Hillary. Jason was second in charge and responsible for pack safety, which included all of the warriors and patrols. He was in charge of the pack when Dimitri and I were gone.
To our left was Alec, the Gamma and third in charge. He was in responsible for the internal structure of the pack. He made sure that we had enough housing for all of our members and that all of the the facilities were properly maintained. Before I took over my responsibilities, they landed on him. He was also in charge of my safety. He made sure I had my personal guard when needed and would often accompany me himself if something posed enough risk.
All of us sat facing the rest of the pack. It had the same feeling of the old monarchies, but we did not try put ourselves over the others. It was just simply good for the whole pack to be able to see us present.
Behind our table was a giant wall of windows overlooking the meadow behind the pack house. The whole building was a giant log cabin. Full length logs lined the windows and the rustic tables matched the worn hardwood floors and the black cast iron chandeliers suspended from the ceiling.
I watched as everyone finished setting out the trays. I reached out and gently grabbed Monica’s arm as she passed by me. She was an older petite woman who was in charge of the kitchen. She kept a tight ship but was one of the nicest people I had ever met. “Monica, you out did yourself once again. Thank you for all of your hard work.”
“Thank you, Luna.” She bowed her head at the compliment. “I am glad to see you resting. Those last few weeks are always the hardest, dear.”
“Yes, well, Alpha Dimitri will have it no other way.“ I laughed.
“Good for him, he knows how precious you both are.” she said with a kind smile as she patted my hand on her arm. I gave her a little smile before she headed back into the kitchen.
Pack members were beginning totrickle into the dining hall and I decided to go find Dimitri.Start writing here…
