The Guardian

Chapter 1: Guardians

I am what they call a guardian. I shouldn't be, there hasn't been a female guardian for more than a thousand years. The last known female guardian was Zenna, the Moon Goddess' sister.  I'm only 16, but my wolf, my beast, has declared me a guardian. Once declared, a guardian must leave the safety of his, well in my case her, pack in search of his or her Luna. Luna's are like the mother's of all packs and therefor the pack is unable to survive with out them. Without her guardian the Luna is hunted and killed to hurt the pack, when the Luna's guardian is killed a new guardian is declared. Guardian's are faster, stronger, and smarter than even the Alpha's because our sole purpose is to protect our Luna. This means, no mates, no friends, NO life! I'm only 16, I'm supposed to be dreaming of my mate and the pups we'll have, who we'll be and, how we'll raise them but, instead I'm being forced to pack my bags. It's no easy task to hide being declared, and if anyone discovers you're hiding it's punishable by death so a new, more appropriate guardian can be declared.  Once declared, your wolf's size will grow two times the size of an Alpha's wolf, your eyes will turn a dark shade of purple, your hair and fur will turn dark black and your wolf will grow stronger, faster, and smarter than anyone else's. As a guardian you develop a very strong bond with your Luna, strong enough you will sacrifice your life for her and if you fail it literally breaks your heart and you die. Of course though, the Luna's bond with you is not the same, since your whole purpose is to die for her.

My is father the Gamma, or third in charge, of the 26th strongest pack in America The Blood Moon pack. The Blood Moon's  are known for their deep red fur color, dark brown or bright yellow eyes, and their rather small litter sizes. Normally werewolves have anywhere from 4-8 pups in one pregnancy, and from the time you go into heat and breed till the time your pups are 1 year old you're in wolf form taking care of your pups totally dependent on your mate. However, in the Blood Moon's pack its typical to have only 1-3 pups every pregnancy.  So, it's pretty normal that I am the first child and my little brother, only 5, is the second and last for now.

I can feel my father's eyes on my back as I stand at my bed packing my back pack. I can hear my mother down stairs crying at the kitchen table, and my little brother standing behind my dad's legs scared and trying to talk to me. It's not fair! I just want to stay here with my family but, my beast is in control packing only the essentials. She doesn't recognize her family anymore. All she feels is the bond for her Luna. Pulling her to leave this place. My father standing behind me in the door way shielding my little brother from me. ME! It's not right! My beast should know Zane, she was there when he was born and has cuddled him every night he's woken up from a night mare or wet the bed. She's been there for him, and now its just gone. There's a hole where my family used to be. My beast is on edge from having an "unknown" male behind us, she knows he won't stop, or hurt us, yet she is on edge ready to attack. I want to hug my little brother good bye, because this will be the last time I ever see him but, I can't its too dangerous, my beast could hurt him.  I beg my beast to just grab one family photo from my bedside table, she refuses. All connections must be lost if I'm to fulfill my role as a guardian. My mother cries, because she feels it too. She can feel me, the pain I feel from losing her and the little family I have. She's the only one who truly understands because of our mother daughter bond and the year we spent together in wolf form when I was a young pup. My beast is breaking her heart, and she doesn't even care. I watch through my now purple eyes as my beast stops folding clothes and starts packing them in the bag. Three pairs of black pants, 2 plain grey T-shirts, 4 black T-shirts, 8 pairs of black socks, 10 pairs of panties, and 3 black sports bras. My beast walks over to my dresser and pushes it to its side to reveal a small 12 inch by 12 inch square hole in the wall I cut. I immediately know what she's going for. She's after Zane's college fund I've been saving up for him. I fight and fight as hard as I can to gain control but it's no use. She pulls out the thousand dollars I'd already saved up from my allowance and my part time job at a diner in town. Just as she's about to pocket the money I break through long enough to separate three hundred dollars and put the rest back. I would've never touched that money had it been my choice but, I knew she wasn't leaving without it. As soon as I put the rest back she gained control again, but she was agitated with me now and was growling out loud unnecessarily. Thankfully she left the rest of the money be, but when she turned around I could see my father ready to defend my brother. Her growling was putting him on edge and scaring Zane.

My beast walked over to the door and shut it in my father's face before stripping, and putting on a pair of black pants, hiking boots, and a plain white T-shirt with a black watch on my left hand and my hair in a pony tail she deemed us fit for travel. Taking the money from my old jeans she placed it in the back pack before walking out the door, down the stairs and out the back door with out so much as a goodbye for my family.

I didn't know how long it would be until we found our Luna. My beast was happier knowing we were on our way to find her. We had to be careful though, if we didn't find her in time she could die, and since I was only declared 30 minutes ago my beast and I haven't had the chance to train. We'd been walking for 20 minutes already and I could tell we were no where near done. We still have another 40 minutes or so till we're off blood moon's territory and I've lost my connection with them forever. The longer we walked the more I realized what was in store for me. I'm not really sure which Luna I'd prefer to have, one who's experienced and has had 5 guardians before me, or a newly declared Luna so we could grow together.

We've been walking for two hours. My beast is getting antsy about how long its taking. We come to a stop behind a big Oak tree and strip putting all my clothes, including my watch and ponytail, into my back pack. She loosens the straps as far as they will go and puts the bag on my back. This is my first shit as a guardian, its very painful, but goes without complication. Looking down at the ground I see huge black paws instead of feet, even my head feels bigger. Now in my wolf form I'm able to move faster. We take off at a light jog now able to cover ground 4 times faster than in my human form.

It feels like we've been jogging for 20 hours, but I know it's probably half that. My beast now hungry after jogging for 10 hours, smells a herd of deer nearby. We stray off this course she has all planned out in her mind for the quickest way to our Luna, just long enough to hunt and eat. She found a good herd. Its a herd of 8, 3 does each with a fawn, 1 senior doe with a limp, 1 good looking buck. We watched and waited for about an hour before lunging for the senior doe. Grabbing her quickly, our teeth sunk into the tender flesh of her neck. She was dead instantly but we held on relishing the taste of blood slide down our tongue exciting us. Tearing into her under belly we ate her organs devouring everything and leaving nothing behind. By the time we were done nothing but, bones were left. She was a good size doe too, I guess with size comes appetite. We start walking till we hear running water. Coming up on a stream of fresh running water, we drink. The cool sweet water rushing over my tongue down my throat. This water and that doe will be the last time I stop before finding our Luna . We're getting close I can tell. I don't want to waste this opportunity though. I shove my head into the water, allowing it to clean off my blood caked muzzle.

Its been 36 hours, we're about to step into a territory. I'm not sure which territory but, one thing I'm sure of, our Luna is here. This 36 hour journey with my wolf has been mind blowing and unforgettable but, also sacred. Guardians never tell of their time before being connected with their Luna, and I now know why. As we come up to this unfamiliar territory we stop just outside the border to scan our surroundings once confident no one is near or watching we slip out of our back pack, if all goes well we'll be back for it. Carefully we hide it in the bushes surrounding a very large tree. Walking back to the border we pause for a long dramatic second, tugging on the bond as if it were animated and pulling us together we come up with a better location for our Luna, once we cross the border the pull will be physically impossible to resist so we must find her and find her fast and, anyone who tries to stop us or get in our way is gonna get seriously hurt. With one paw across the border we break off into a full blown sprint. The second we cross the border this new found energy, strength, and will power surfaces.