The Names Luna {On Hold}

14. BANG BANG

It's been a week, the herd has accepted their new "lead stallion," or "lead wolf," as some are calling him. Luna introduced Xavier to the herd the day after the big announcement. Xavier would come every morning, check on Luna and the edge of the clearing for other predators, and leave to care for his pack, always leaving the herd in a good mood and making Luna feel loved more than she was in her childhood. The clearing is becoming more of a safe zone rather than a herds home with nothing but each other, horses have started gravitating towards the treeline, making the herd more unsafe in case a wild cat where to pop up when Xavier wasn't there.

Luna noticed a white glint coming from the trees and went to investigate. There, was a white horse with shining orange eyes, he jumped and lowered his head, shy,

"M-May I... Can I-I join you-r herd...?" He asked shyly.

Luna lowered her head to the height of his, "you may." She raised her head back up to her full height, "just don't try to take over." She used the alpha voice without knowing.

The white stallion whimpered in fear, "o-okay ma'am."

Luna moved out of the way of the stallion and he rushed past, Luna's gaze softened when she realized that she scared him. She galloped to him and walked next to him,

"I'm sorry for scaring you. I do that and I don't realize."

"It-It's fine." He didn't look at her.

"I never got your name?" She asked.

He thought for a moment, as if coming up with one, "Starlight."

"Well, I'm Luna."

Starlight seemed to smile, "that's a pretty name."

Luna turned away at the compliment, "thanks.."

The tall grass rustled and only Starlight seemed to notice, he realized that whatever it was, it was too short to be a foal. He crept up and investigated, finding Xavier walking to Luna. Starlight jumped and reared up, being new to the herd meant he knew nothing of the alliance.

Xavier jumped backwards as Starlight brought his hooves down to the ground, Xavier looked at Luna, who had noticed what was going on.

She jumped in the middle of it and faced Starlight, "STOP! Starlight! I forgot a few things! This is my mate! And his pack is allied with the herd!"

Starlight looked down in embarrassment, "I d-didn't know.." He quickly ran off to hide.

Luna sighed, "I'm sorry about that. He just joined." And she walked into the forest, followed by Xavier.

"It's not his fault, I came at the wrong time. You didn't have enough time to explain anything." He reassured her.

BANG! A gun suddenly went off, startling the pair. Luna panicked and did what her horse instincts told her to, run to the herd. Xavier got into a defensive stance and scanned the area for danger before turning and sprinting after Luna. When he reached Luna and was running at her side, another shot went off, hitting the ground just behind Xavier's hind paws. Luna neighed a warning to the herd, seeing the clearing coming into focus, Xavier howled a warning to whoever was shooting at them.

The wind changed directions and pieces of the voices could faintly be heard. "Save ... horse ...ady!" "I ... Try...!" Luna picked up the voices and nudged Xavier in front of her. "Run faster! I think they're trying to kill you!"

Xavier nodded and sprinted faster, leaving Luna behind. The gun shots stopped when he had jumped the bushes into the clearing and Luna slowed her gallop to a canter to catch her breath. Leaves rustled and two boys, most likely teens, crept out of some bushes and scanned the ground. Luna turned her attention to them,one had dark brown hair and deep blue eyes, he was tall and slightly nervous and the other had black hair and amber eyes, e was a little on the short side and he looked scared out of his mind. She noticed the brown haired one holding a gun, she panicked at the sight of it and reared up. The boys jumped and screamed, as if on instinct.

Luna backed away from them and quickly felt the tickle of the bushes around the clearing on her hind legs. The black haired one took big, slow steps towards her, trying not to startle her by moving too fast. A low rumble escaped Luna's throat, signaling a warning if he took another step. The brown haired one held up the pistol like gun and aimed it at Luna, who saw this and acting on fear, reared and galloped into the clearing, leaving the two in fear.