Esmeralda, The HUman Luna

The alarm echoed through the pack in the middle of the night. The Alpha left the frightened pregnant Luna in the tent and ran to meet his warriors. Rogue wolves had once again entered their territory to plunder their people in the middle of a snowstorm that hindered the scent of their trackers, making it difficult to search for the wrongdoers.

Luna Edite's guards fell victim to poison in front of the tent, and the traitor smiled with satisfaction before clearing the way for the invaders' leader.

The Luna was worried about the consequences of the battle, and clutched her chest with the pain of losing her guards. The storm sounded like a funeral lament when she pulled back the fabric of her tent's entrance and found several of her guards dead.

She was alone, and just a few steps away, a menacing-looking male stared at her with a cruel and lustful smile. She knew that male, a former pack member, obsessed with her, who was exiled and became a rogue wolf.

The gamma fighting alongside the Alpha felt the danger his Luna was in, his eyes turned silver like the full moon. When Alpha Hermes saw the guard's eyes. He ran towards his tent, his wolf form running as fast as it could amidst the snowstorm. He reached the tent in time to see the invader on top of his Luna, who was trying to defend herself from him. The wolf was naked on top of her, his member hard, eager to possess her body.

To prevent the invader from violating her, the Luna renounced her pup and transformed into her wolf. Using all her strength to attack the pervert. She scratched and bit the wrongdoer with everything she had, but he was bigger and stronger.

He turned her body face down, pressed her belly to the ground, and prepared to mount her. Edite begged for help; neither she nor the pup would survive if the rogue wolf succeeded in his intent.

The invader's weight left her body and fell to the side, with the Alpha, thirsty for revenge, on top of him.

Edite cowered watching the fight. She was relieved that her Alpha had arrived in time. However, the labor began.

The Alpha stood up and threw the corpse away before running to his beloved. His brave Luna had to reject the pup and transform into a wolf to survive long enough until he could come and save her. He was proud of his female; the decision was correct; they could have other pups in the future…

He ordered them to fetch the midwife, who immediately came to care for the Luna, who was howling in pain. The elderly woman touched the she-wolf's belly with a sad look, but soon her eyes widened, and she smiled, surprised.

— The pup is still alive!

Tears streamed from Edite's eyes. She knew he would be strong and valiant for enduring everything they were going through.

However, her relief was short-lived. It was too early, only seven lunar cycles, and she was in wolf form, impossible to reverse the transformation during childbirth.

Hermes tried to pick up his Luna and take her back to the tent, but she groaned in pain and tried to bite his hand so he wouldn't touch her.

— The birth has begun, my Alpha, it's not safe to take her from here. — Said the midwife.

The Alpha gave some orders and the wolves ran back and forth in the wind and snow, organizing a wall of tarps and furs to protect the Luna from the bad weather.

— Everything will be fine, my female! I am very proud of your bravery!

Luna Edite licked her mate's hand, closed her eyes, and howled in pain. The Alpha, naked in the snow, felt no cold, only fear for his family's life, for being unable to do anything to help her.

The midwife asked him to step away, but he hesitated. It was necessary for his Beta and the gamma general to forcibly remove him, with the help of several generals to contain the out-of-control Alpha.

The storm calmed from the moonless sky. Despite the low temperature, the midwife was sweating, her chest heaving, and her furtive glances sought the Alpha chained to the altar stone. His wolf was out of control, distressed by the Luna's suffering and the smell of her blood.

— Don't push anymore, the pup is breached, there's no passage for him to come out!

The Luna looked at the midwife, her desperate gaze made the midwife sob.

— My lady, you have already lost a lot of blood, you need to give up the pup. Your body rejected him to be able to transform, you need to reject the bond for good to survive.

The Luna growled loudly, the eyes of all surviving gammas turned silver. They formed a circle around the Luna, preventing the Alpha or any other pack member present from witnessing the birth.

— My Luna, I will have to cut your belly to remove the pup, the Alpha will not let me live after this!

Luna's decision was made. The Alpha, although he could not see, felt the hostility of the gammas as they obeyed, without choice, Luna's last order. Edite was brave, she endured the pain of the blade cutting her flesh in silence, so that the Alpha could not understand what was being done.

The Alpha's heart burned, his Luna was dying, he struggled, trying to break the chains furiously:

— Female, reject the pup, we don't need it!

With a sad look, the midwife stood up with blood-stained hands holding a premature, robust, and healthy pup, despite the short gestation period.

The Alpha stopped, the bond with his soulmate disappeared. The pain in his chest was excruciating. The gammas fell to their knees on the ground, defeated for failing in their mission to keep the Luna alive. But her wolf's order had been too strong, impossible to disobey.

The first rays of sun touched the red dye that stained the snow. With a furious howl, the Alpha managed to break the chains and jump over the gammas. Their blood mixed with Luna's, without them having the courage or time to face the grieving Alpha. One by one, all of Luna Edite's gammas joined her in the world of the dead.

The Alpha wolf, with his red, lost eyes, slowly walked towards the midwife. She held the pup against her chest, praying that the great Goddess would help her and spare the pup, or Luna Edite would have died in vain.

The Wolf growled, teeth bared, but as he prepared to attack the newborn pup, he smelled the essence of his Luna. He shook his head, stunned, and gradually, his eyes lost the redness of madness. He returned to human form and stared at the pup for a few seconds.

The newborn Alpha recognized his father's essence and stopped crying, extending his small hands towards him. The Alpha stared at his heir, there was no love in his eyes, only contempt and resentment.

— My Alpha, it's a male, the strongest I have ever seen born into this world!

— Get that thing away from me, Dófona, or you'll have another body to embalm!

Horrified by the Alpha's words, the midwife pressed the pup against her chest.

— But, Al-Alpha... he needs a name...

The Alpha stopped, looked at the sky, and replied with a grunt, without even looking back:

— Let him be called Ares, The cursed! The one who was born his own mother's killer!