. Apostasy . A Luna's Struggle

A few hours later, Anulla awoke. Amy arrived and helped her to bathe and dress. Then Orion fasten her black collar back in place. While she had slept, the healer’s words played over and over in Orion’s mind, one more bottle and she would have died with her wolf. He kept thinking how he was supposed to receive a new shipment, but it never arrived and now he knew why. Someone wanted her to suffer and die slowly, instead of quickly, so his wolf would be harmed more.

The Monarch vowed he would burn their world to ash. He would kill them all then he would collar their bitches. He would have them until they prayed for death and then he would let his army have them. He would make them regret every moment they had made those bottles. Every breath they had drawn since they had begun to plot against him. Orion went to speak with Matthias and Victor, he and his wolf wanted war. He wanted the merchant who sold him the potion claiming it to be herbal wine and more importantly, he wanted the witch who had brewed the potion.

-^^^^^-

Seneschal Matthias and Beta Victor were waiting in his office. “Tell me everything.”

Both bowed, and Matthias explained, “Monarch, it appears the Luna was drinking wolfbane tainted wine. She nearly died and is still at great risk. We were able to discover where the tainted wine came from, but not how it came to be in your private stock. Monarch, did you consume any of the wine that was bottled in pink river glass?”

“It was a gift from a wine merchant. I had part of a glass, but my wolf did not like it. Luna Anulla seemed to enjoy it greatly, so I allowed her to have it. Do you think this was an attempt to harm the Luna or myself?” Orion sounded sincere as he lied, but inside he was seething. He had no idea that the herbal wine was actually poisonous until the healer told him, and he had liked how it made Anulla behave. She had been so compliant and well behaved while she drank it.

Victor had to grind his teeth to not accuse his Monarch of being a liar after what Anulla had told Amy about being forced to drink the wine the first few times. He was grateful when Matthias answered, “Monarch, we believe the target of the poisoned wine was the Luna. If her wolf dies, your wolf will be harmed or killed.”

“You believe they wanted her wolf to die?” Orion growled.

Matthias nodded, “Yes sire, and your wolf with it. The tainted wine contained several sensory altering and very addictive substances which hid that it contained wolfsbane. Healer Odette believes her wolf is still living but barely, and only your wolf can revive her. The Luna will be sick for many weeks while her body gets used to no longer having the toxins and the healer says she cannot be around any other wolves. I have prepared the manor by the lakeshore for you both. The Healer and I will come as needed to provide for you and Beta Victor has already assigned his most trusted to guard and patrol beyond the walls while the Luna is recovering.”

Orion growled his displeasure, this is not how things were supposed to be. He was supposed to come home to a mate who would fulfill all his fantasies and a kingdom ready to go to war in a week, now the war would have to wait until the next spring. He realized a whole year will be wasted because the wine merchant had lied to him and tried to kill his mate. Everyone the merchant knew would pay the price.

“Victor, do you know where the wine was made?”

“Yes Monarch, Miles and Walsh found the valley beyond the southern borders in unclaimed lands. It is a small pack. They could smell a witch. They brought several bottles back so Healer Odette could make the antidote for her treatment,” Victor answered.

Orion nods, “Good... good. Take my army and raze the valley. I want every male and male child killed. Every female is to be yellow-collared and locked in the cells unless they are a mate, then an orange collar. Tell my dungeon masters, I want the wine making witch and wine merchant alive. My Luna is a fragile wolf, I will not allow her to be harmed. It makes me look weak. Matthias, pack whatever my mate needs. I am going back to her in Healer Odette’s rooms. We leave to the Lake Manor as soon as she can travel.”

As Orion followed the seneschal out of the office, Victor twitched in rage. The Monarch’s last words had him seething and his wolf howling for blood. The Luna was only fragile because the Monarch himself had harmed her and Victor wondered if Balthazar Orion realizes he was the one that made the Monarchy weak. He turned on his heel and stormed off toward the barracks. Time to put those useless rogues to work.

-^^^^^-

Anulla could barely stand so Orion carried her out to the car. Miles and Walsh stood on either side of the car. Orion raised an eyebrow at them.

Walsh shrugged, his gravelly voice announcing, “The Luna is sick, the Monarch must heal her, we will protect. Better than pathetic rogues pretending to be warriors.”

Orion knew he could not order them to stay away, if they chose to protect Anulla. His selfish jealousy resurfaced. Anulla was his and suddenly he did not want to share her with any wolf anymore and especially not them. He needed to give them a task to keep them from Anulla.

“No, I need you to go with Beta Victor to the Valley and bring the wine-making witch to Healer Odette. Bring the wine merchant to the cells also. I want them both alive to discover where this plot came from. Then to keep them isolated from the other prisoners until I can come deal with them.” He showed them the wine merchant’s face through his wolf, who wanted the male’s blood for harming their mate.

Walsh and Miles shared a silent conversation, but Miles growled unhappily. Finally, Walsh snarled at him before saying to Orion, “We will go and get the two the Monarch and Healer require, then we will protect the Monarch and the Luna. Miles does not trust those Victor trains. He thinks they will try to take the Luna for themselves.”

“Thank you, Walsh, Miles, and be safe,” Anulla whispered just loud enough for them to hear.

They bowed to them before turning on their heels and walking toward where Victor stood with several dozen wolves. As Orion placed Anulla in the car, he was struck by the thought that his frail, pathetic mate cared more for his dungeon masters than she did for him. She had never told him to be safe when he left the castle. Jealousy burned like a volcano in his chest. Neither spoke as they were driven along the edge of the lake. An hour later, they pulled into the gated manor. As soon as their luggage was put into the master suite and put away the driver and valet left. She tried to make him dinner but halfway through she was shaking so badly she could hardly stand. He had finished and they had eaten in silence. Anulla and Orion were alone in the estate with their damaged bond, neither knowing what to do or say to the other. Anulla had fallen asleep on the window seat after dinner.

At the eighth hour, Orion gave her, her next dose of antidote. She was to take it four times a day for the first week, then three times a day for a week, then twice a day for a week, then once a day. It would be tedious to get her well again. But he was responsible so he would do it. Healer Odette had explained to he and Matthias that it would be at least two weeks before the Luna could be around other wolves, and four to six before she could return to her service duties at the castle. He realized he did not want her to return to her service duties at all, but he could not break the rules he expected all of his subjects to follow and he still needed an heir. In a few months would be her birthday and her time of service would be over. He could deal with it that long.

At bedtime, Orion emerged from the shower to find Anulla sleep on a folded duvet on the floor. He stared at her trying to figure out why she had done that, did she hate him so much that she would rather not recover than sleep with him? He snarled at her rejection, he was the Monarch. He seized her arm, startling her awake. She screamed and held her hands up to ward off a blow that was not coming. In her mind, he saw her terror. Disgusted by her cowardice, he dropped her back on her blankets.

“What are you doing? Do you hate me so much you would rather sleep on the floor like a pet dog than share a bed and get better?”

Anulla kept her head down trembling, and silent.

“Answer me!” he roared.

“Y-you s-said I was n-not to sleep in your b-bed. This is h-how I have always slept after y-you were f-finished with m-my body,” she whispered.

He stared at her disbelieving then he remembered. He had beaten her for falling asleep in his bed and being there when he woke in the morning. She was usually up and gone long before he woke after that. He remembered the carefully folded blankets on the floor under the spot where her chain hooked to the wall. He had chained her in his room after she went back the hers in the servants’ quarters when he had drunkenly passed out before he was done playing with her. He had beaten her that time too.

Suddenly he realized, he couldn’t remember a single time when he had sex with her where he had not hit her, or he had not drawn blood, whether by blow or by bite. His whole body began to tremble as his wolf gnawed on him. Even his father Sade had shown some affection to his favorite concubines. He tried to remember one time he had not been brutal to Anulla and couldn’t... He must have been standing there a long time because Anulla’s timid voice brought him back.

“Orion?”

“Get. On. The. Bed.” He growled out through gritted teeth.

She immediately laid down on the bed with her legs spread and her face turned away. He looked at her position and was disgusted. She was so ill she could barely stand for half an hour to cook and yet she would not stand up for herself, and refuse sex. She was so weak. Then his wolf reminded him that he made her that way, he had beaten and drugged her into submission, and almost beaten her to death several times. She had never been allowed to refuse. He picked up the duvet from the floor and threw it over her. She stared at him wide-eyed, biting her lip nervously like she thought it was a trap.

“Just go to sleep, Anulla. Odette said you needed skin on skin contact when you slept to heal your wolf. We won’t be having sex, because my wolf would hurt me if I hurt you right now.”

He flipped off the light and stripped, it felt awkward to just lay next to her without having screwed her until he was satisfied. He turned away from her, his erection throbbed painfully but he tried to ignore it. He laid awake and played every memory of their time together in his mind. He almost jumped out of bed when she curled into his back in her sleep. Her breath like the brush of a dove’s wing on his skin. There was a softness to her that made him feel strange, it was unwelcome. He tried to rationalize that he had only done what he had done because she provoked him. But over and over his wolf showed him just the opposite. He began to search her memories and found the only time she had purposely provoked him was in the car of the way back from the western packs. He was a far worse monster than his demented father had ever been.

Dawn came and he rose, he had to get away from being touched by her. He realized he craved hurting her the way she craved the tainted wine.