ZION’s GREAT DIRE
~1~

Twenty-five years ago (on-going hunt and killing of dire wolves)

The strong breeze blows over the tree, the wind marched into the chilly day and night as they continue their travel. The wind is constantly blowing like a sneezing monster, furiously howling a filthy impenetrable cold. Aaron and Luns have been traveling for six days now. The trip would’ve been shorter if both were capable of running in their wolf form throughout. Instead Luns is five months pregnant, she couldn’t always shift to her wolf form in fear of attracting unwanted attention.

They are now refugees who were exiled from Luns’ Royal pack by her own father, the Royal Alpha Tobias Zeus. Moving away from the ongoing hunting parade. Luns had a vision about the danger of the massacre that was to come; no one but her mate Aaron took her seriously. Though she is the daughter of an Alpha, she was seen as a crazy woman and a traitor of her own kind after accepting Aaron as her true mate. Aaron lived amongst the Royal Dire pack, humiliated and shunned by the pack but this didn’t stop his love for his mate Luns. The hatred of the people grew once they had found out that Luns, a Royal bloodline, is pregnant with a mere regular werewolf. While others advice to terminate the pregnancy, Luns refused.

Aaron and Luns continue their journey in hopes of reaching the Heights Pack soon before the hunt reaches the Southern border packs. They only have one more day to reach Aaron’s birth pack so they agree to rest for the night. Aaron would shift and his wolf would wrap his large body around Luns to keep her and the unborn baby warm through the night. He nuzzled up against her affectionately, reacting from the matebond as he feels his mate body warmth cuddle against his fur. Satisfied to hear the baby's heartbeat still beating strongly and not affected by the travel.

Aaron wasn’t surprised by this, Luns is after all a dire wolf with high stamina. Shifting and traveling during pregnancy will not affect the baby but it was still advised not to do so especially this close to birthing. Dire shewolf are pregnant for five to six months compared to regular shewolves. This is because during the full moon the dire’s shewolf energy goes to the growth of the fetus therefore it quickens the pregnancy rate and protects the unborn

even if the mother was ever killed during her last term.

His wolf Avery was angry to hear that not even the love of a father could persuade the alpha to change his mind about the exile and wait till his daughter had given birth. Worried for his mates safety from the emotional turmoil. Aaron and his wolf were always double checking Luns and the baby’s heartbeat. Aaron was once a pack doctor so he knew what to look and listen for when a shewolf is pregnant. He had estimated that the baby would be born within two or three days. Relieved to know that there was only a day left until they reached his birth pack.

He mindlinks her, “tell me about the dream again?”

“I dreamt of the clouds dark and sky, murky and gray. The sound of thousands of paws pounding the ground. Werewolves pacing forward, hunting for our blood. Everywhere was gloomy, no matter what we did. No matter how much we fought. Blood, blood was everywhere. I could hear the howls of pain, from the loss of their mates, children, parents, and siblings. The smell is unbearable. I remember looking up to the sky and seeing the heavens open and the rain began to lashed down blood. Before I could see what happened next I woke up and that was it.” Luns said in a meek tone.

“What about our baby? What will happen to him?”

“It's strange I see slight images of what I think he would be like in the future but I don’t know. I’ve never seen that far into the future.”

They stayed silent for a moment till Luns decided to ask, “Aaron what would you like us to name him?”

“Zion”

Luns quietly repeated the name with her lips: “Zion Aaron Zeus or Zion Aaron Heights. I think I like your name better. It goes well with Zion.”

Aaron and his wolf chuckled deeply while admiring Luns eyes as they glisten and her deep accent heavies when pronounces their first born child’s name. Captivated by her beauty. As he watches her slowly drift to sleep. He sends a quiet prayer to the Moon Goddess that Zion their son will look more like his mate than him. Luns has the most beautiful white hair he has ever seen. Though majority of the dire wolves have white hair he didn’t believe that anyone could ever be compared to Luns beauty but what stole his heart were her eyes. Two different eye colors, her left eye is light hazel while her right eye is topaz brown and a gold ring on the inside of both the irises. The pure dire werewolves eyes have a gold ring inside of their iris but she’s the only one who has that and two different eye colours.

Aaron was about to drift into a slumber sleep till he heard sounds of paws hurdling their direction. Aaron’s wolf is now on high alert ready to protect his mate and unborn child.

“Aaron don’t.” Luns awake from the sound. It’s miles away but she can hear them so clearly as if they were just minutes away from replaceing them.

“Luns, if you stay with me they will know who you are. Since it’ll take them time before they can follow your scent I want you to go. Hide somewhere for two days and then head to my pack. Don’t look for me.”

“No! No!” Luns cries out.

“I’ll come with you. Aaron I’ll be alright I’ll fight -.”

Aaron’s wolf makes a low guttural sound, interrupting Luns. “Don’t you dare! Promise me that you’ll protect him first! Find safety first and ask for Andy, my brother . He should be the Alpha by now.”

“Aaron!”

“No Luns you must promise that our baby’s safety will come first.”

She choked with emotion to speak, stuttering the words out “I promise.”

“Run Luns. Please do this for me. I'll be back. I love you Luns and I promise you that I'll be back.” He bends his large head down to Luns’ forehead, nuzzles and licks her. Luns begins to run, sourcing her energy and power to protect her baby boy thus giving her the ability to exhilarate her speed as if she wasn’t pregnant at all. Aaron watches his mate run from the opposite direction of where the wolves were coming from. He could hear her stop and take deep breaths in and out calming her heartbeat the way he had taught her to do.

Aaron hears howling direct to him. Aaron looks up to the full Moon and sends a quiet prayer to the Moon Goddess before he gives full control to his wolf Avery. The aura of determination cruising through his body emerging a powerful aura that he hasn’t revealed for a very long time. Both Aaron and Avery have stayed timid in the land of dire wolves for too long. They did this for their love, for Luns. Avery is a large wolf with strong willpower and dominant characteristics due to his alpha bloodline. He is never afraid to shove Aaron back and take control when it comes to protecting what is his.

He waited for signs of danger, ears pinned, growling while showing his teeth. The wolves approach him showing no sign of them backing down. They did not come here to talk or make peace. Avery noted that they didn’t have a pack scent which meant that these were rogues taking part in the hunt for dire werewolves. Only the rogues keep the female dire werewolves to breed with and kill the male ones.

The wolves circle around Avery; it is seven against one. Though outnumbered, Avery only had his eyes fixated on who he believed to be the leader of the group. All at once they launched forward at Avery. Before they could reach Avery he had already leaped forward and started to attack the leader. Avery is being attacked in every direction but with great force he pushes them off. Clamping his long canines deeper inside the group leader's throat. The wolf whimpers as he tries to bite Avery.

Before Avery could do further damage, three of the wolves snap their sharp teeths on Avery’s body ripping off a piece of his skin all at the same time from different directions. In great pain from his injuries, Avery rips out the leader’s throat, killing him instantly. Furious that their group leader is now killed, they attack Avery with tremendous force. Outnumbered and with no time to heal from his injuries. Avery was in pain from every attack, weakened, causing him to fall down. The wolves took their group leader's dead body and left. Leaving Avery to shift back to Aaron and slowly bleed to death.

Luns cries as she leans on the trunk of a tree for support after hearing the werewolves attack Aaron. She could hear the effort of Aaron's wolf fighting for her and their baby’s safety. What broke her the most was having to hear his body fall down on the ground making a loud thump sound. Her wolf Maze was howling both in rage and in sorrow. Forcing her way to the surface and avenge their mate's death.

“We promised Maze.” Luns said to her wolf Maze.

Maze refused, “THEY WILL NOT LIVE WHILE OUR MATE DIES.”