3. THE ARRIVAL OF THE MOON

He shouted at the top of his voice, in front of Enril's surprised eyes. Enril had never seen him behave that way before. Aren took two steps back and, as his brother remained silent, turned around and asked,

"Don't you understand, Enril? They will follow me everywhere until they find her, and they will kill her. They will kill my Luna just to maintain control of the herd."

"It's true, you're right, my brother. I'm sorry I didn't think of that. I'll get everything ready, then I'll pick you up."

"Don't let anyone see you with those secret books, or they will suspect that we're up to something. Remember how our parents always hid what they truly were."

"Don't worry, no one will see me."

He watched him walk away and slowly transformed back into a wolf. His paws ached a little from the long journey he had undertaken just to see this beautiful little person leaning out of his window and smiling at him. She had grown up; she was truly beautiful. He still remembered the day she came into the world. It was a usual scene in the forest, with a full moon shining down. He sat on his hind legs and contemplated it, unable to recall how many years it had been since he last performed this ritual - coming to beg the mother moon to send a half, to set him free.

Suddenly, he felt a strong urge to run towards a specific point. He ran with all his might until he left his territory and entered enemy territory. There was a fierce battle underway; they were under attack. Stealthily, he followed his scent until he arrived behind the alpha's house. There, hidden among the vegetation, he saw the Luna, frightened and in the company of a woman who was assisting her.

He realized that the scent was coming from the woman's womb and understood everything. His half was about to be born from the womb of that enemy moon from his pack. But that didn't matter to him; he turned his back on them and stood guard, defending her from all the wolves who discovered her.

When he saw that it was going to be impossible to defend her from the enemies, and feeling that his Luna was struggling to come into the world, he turned to the woman who was guarding her and ordered,

"Mount her on my back. I won't be able to hold on much longer. They must know by now that your Luna is in labour, let's go. If we don't do it now, they will find her."

The woman looked at him hesitantly, she peeked out of the place where they had taken cover and saw that it was true, they were losing. Neither the Alpha nor her husband, who was the Beta, were nowhere to be seen. She turned around when she heard her Luna speak.

"Nara, he has been defending us, he is our only hope to save Gil."

"We'd better wait for Serafin, my Luna," she insisted, fearing that it was a ploy of the wolf to steal her Luna, or her daughter.

"There is no time, they are losing. We have to leave now or we won't escape."

The Alpha Aren urged them as he attacked two wolves that had discovered them and killed them, then returned to them and asked the same of them, placing himself in front of them on alert. He could clearly hear his little Luna's heart racing and scared.

"It's true, Nara, come on, let's go."

The Moon stood up with difficulty, holding her belly and taking a few steps towards the wolf that approached. He bowed in a clear invitation for her to climb on his back. The Moon, without thinking twice, did so, helped by Nara, who looked frightened towards the back where they had left everyone fighting fiercely. They left stealthily without anyone seeing them. As they walked away, the screams could be heard. Suddenly, the Moon clutched her chest and fell fainting to the floor.

"My Moon, my Moon!" Nara cried.

"You have to get the baby out of her or she will die," said Aren. "The Alpha must have died and she will too soon. You have to save the child."

"I will do no such thing! My Moon, my Moon..."

"Nara, Nara," the Moon called her. "You have to help me to give birth to Gil. You will escape with her, you will take care of her as if she were your own, and you will never tell who her real parents are."

"But my Moon..."

"Nara, you know very well that when our mate dies, we do too. Call your husband through the link, tell him to abandon everything and come, I command him."

"But Serafin is the beta, he can't do that!"

"Nara, stop arguing! Someday they will recreate our pack. I need you to take care of Gil. Open my belly with this knife and take her out of me, save my daughter, Nara! Promise you won't let anything happen to her!"

"Do it now, or the child will die," said Aren, who sensed the exact moment when the woman's heart grew weaker and weaker. "Call your husband now."

Nara, with tears in her eyes, did everything her Moon asked her to do. While she hugged her with love, she communicated through the link with her husband, asking him to leave the Alpha and come for them. It was an order from her Moon, and to her surprise, he was already looking for them.

"We must leave now, they are following me!" he said in his wolf form when he came, turning menacingly against Aren. "Who is he?"

"He's someone who helped us escape. What are you doing here?"

"We lost. My Alpha sent me to take care of his son. It was his last order. We can't waste time, we have to go."

"You go with the Moon, I will delay those who are chasing you," ordered Aren.

Seraphim bowed his head to him, realizing that he was a powerful Alpha. He took the Moon in his arms and hurried away, losing himself in the darkness of the night. Aren dedicated himself to marking the territory, to confuse the pursuers, wanting to give them to understand that they were trespassing his area. He saw them arrive, there were more than ten of them, and they stopped at once, sniffing, while they communicated with each other. Then they turned into humans.

"We can't go on, they went into the Arcane pack's territory. You know that the Cursed Alpha does not forgive anyone who trespasses his area. We don't want him as an enemy."

"It's too far away, we have to take the Moon. All this will be in vain if we don't get hold of the Moon, you know what the sorcerers said. Their son will be our undoing. We have to do it!" one of them shouted very loudly.

"If you order it, we will follow you, but you will be responsible for everything when we turn around if something goes wrong," another one confronted him.

"Don't be cowards and follow me!" he ordered at the top of his voice, turning back into a wolf.

But a growl and red eyes made them stop in their tracks. They watched in terror as the figure of a huge black wolf with glowing red eyes, its back bristling, its head lowered slowly, growling and baring its fangs. It was a clear declaration of war, its huge jaws opened and closed, bringing out the most bloodcurdling growl they had ever heard.

"Who are you people?!" he asked in a thick voice that made them cower. "Why do you want to enter my territory?!"

"Alpha Aren!" they all exclaimed, backing away in fear until they left the place he had marked.

"I'm waiting for your answer!" he insisted in the same way, while he growled threateningly again.

"Excuse me, Alpha Aren, we just got confused," hurried the one who was acting as chief, submissively lowering his head almost to the ground as a sign of complete submission, an act that everyone imitated to answer. "We were chasing some fugitives."

"I've been listening to the cries of that herd for hours, and I assure you that not a single soul has passed this way."

"But their trail led us here," replied the big one.

A loud growl and a vicious attack that sent him flying through the air caused them all to fall on their paws with their heads against the ground, as they watched the Cursed Alpha stop on top of the daredevil and yell at him.

"You dare to disprove me on my own turf? You're lucky I don't kill you on the spot."

“No, no Alpha, if you say that, we must have gotten confused," another one crawls forward to stand in front of him. Then he turns to the other and says, "I told you I had sensed their trail to the south, but you didn't believe me," as he growls at the burly man, "your sense of smell has never been the best. Men, follow me, we've wasted valuable time! Alpha Aren, sorry for the interruption.

Saying this, they left quickly. He let out a loud howl of supremacy and warning at the same time, then stayed a while longer until he was sure that they had really left. He instantly followed the trail of the others that led to his Moon, until he came upon them in a cave.

The Moon had finally given birth to a beautiful baby with the help of Nara, and had passed away. He arrived when she was being buried, the baby was in a basket next to her. He crept up to her, full of curiosity to see what his long-awaited Luna looked like.

She was the most beautiful and peculiar baby he had ever seen in his long life! Her hair was completely gray, she was all rosy, and she didn't move. He got scared. He brushed her with his snout to check if she was alive, and when he did, she opened her little gray eyes that turned golden when she saw him. She smiled happily, and to his great surprise, he became human!

And not only that, he perceived all the fragrances of his partner. He could not believe that at last Mother Moon had taken pity on him and sent her to him. But yes, there she was, and she had turned him just by looking at him into a human.

It was his half, his Moon had appeared at last!

He picked her up and held her close, tears streaming down his face. He had finally found his Luna, and he would never let her go.