. Apostasy . A Luna's Struggle

Beta Victor was standing at the gate when the Monarch returned, he bowed deeply. A large wolf Orion had only seen a few times but never met stood over his shoulder.

“Monarch Balthazar, the Western wolves are moving in the south,” Beta Victor announced. “Two of the Alphas who ran away the night of the Luna’s birthday are planning on attacking us. They left behind some spies but after a thorough search of the castle and surrounding territory, eight have died rather than be detained for questioning.” In truth, the dead were Orion’s rogues but the bodies were burning and Victor knew the pyre would satisfy the Monarch’s curiosity.

“Very good, Beta. And you’re sure it is those who fled like cowardly dogs?” The Monarch sneered.

Logan stepped forward and bowed, “Monarch Balthazar, I tracked them to the southern border myself. They are massed along the no-wolf land between the farms and ranches toward the coast.”

Orion eyed him skeptically, but his wolf sensed no deception in him, “And you are?”

“Forgive me Monarch, I assumed my father had introduced you. This is my uncle, he is an elite tracker, they simply call him the Wolverine because he never stops going after his prey.” Victor said proudly. “He finds our most difficult criminals and recons for the feasibility of extraction, he worked closely with the Dungeon Masters on occasion, out of the Northwoods. But recently I have had him watching the southwest.”

“Very good, Beta. Tell me Tracker, what did you see?” The Monarch demanded.

“Before I left to return here, I saw thousands of wolves moving to reinforce the Southern war-front. Texica and Southwestern are headed to help Tennessy and Floria,” The tracker answered professionally.

Orion scowled, thinking, then gave orders, “Beta Victor, send Betas Adolf and Michael south with two thousand reinforcements, that will bring the strength on the southern border to 4000. Spread the rest from the interior to reinforce the borders. There are five packs in the Western alliance, your uncle is to find out what the other three are doing. Now if you will excuse me, I need to go check on my clumsy Luna and how she is recovering after her little fall.” Both Victor and Logan bowed, Orion turned away then stopped looking over the wolf, smoking a cigar. “Thank you for the intelligence, Tracker, please enjoy the hospitality of the service females of the castle before you head west.”

The large wolf gave him a toothy smirk, “I always do, Monarch, thank you. And it’s Logan.”

The Monarch nodded and strode into the castle, as they expressionlessly watched him go. As soon as he was out of sight, a snarl rumbled in Logan’s throat.

“Easy, Uncle Logan,” Victor warned, leading his uncle toward the barracks beyond the walls.

“Clumsy Luna, my ass. Does he even see what he does to her?” Logan growled out as they walked.

“No. He has never admitted any wrongdoing nor fault in the harm he does the Luna or any service female, in his mind they are easily hurt because they are weak,” Victor explained, then he stopped and worriedly rubbed his face, looking out to the water, “He actually admonished other wolves for being cruel to their mates in the same moon he had nearly killed his. He has no awareness of his cruelty toward her or toward any wolf. Through his words only, he could be a great king, but his actions are those of a monster, and he likes to be that monster.”

Logan grunted a response, he had seen the reminders of the Monarch’s cruelty on his Luna’s flesh, had kissed them. It saddened him that she did not remember him. In truth he wasn’t the whore-mongering wolf he let everyone believe. He had only fallen in love twice, once with a fiery red-head, and once with a golden beauty, but neither were his mate. It was the only thing he prayed for until now, now he prayed that his new sunshine would survive the next few days and beyond.

-^^^^^-

The air was thick with the smoke and scent of healing incense. Odette was very old and very old ways, her healing relied as much on prayers and candles, as herbals and medical skill. Still he had watched her heal all but the destined to die cases. Wolves he would have believed dead, revived under her ministrations, including his Luna. Anulla’s face was covered with the mottle greens and purples of healing bruises. He slid the thin blanket from her body to see the damage. There wasn’t a hand-span of her flesh that was not discolored. Orion just stared at her for a very long time before pulling the blanket back up. A tube in her arm gave her fluids and pain medicine. An empty blood bag hung next to the other. He didn’t remember beating her this badly. She moved slightly and groaned in pain. His wolf punished him at the sound of her misery. His wrath had wrought her suffering and murdered his heir.

He barely even remembered why he had taken his rage out on her, it wasn’t like a weak female such as herself could have helped the Western Alliance Alphas escape, when she was in his bed where she belonged at the time. And yet the shapes of his fists and hands were clearly visible. He cursed that he had sent Victor south in his place, while allowing Hefner to remain. Hefner’s lapse in guarding the visitors was to blame. True that Henry’s younger brother was quickly taking his late best friend’s place, he was simply inexperienced to the point of incompetence, and too easily distracted by females. While he shared his brother’s malevolent cruelty, he didn’t have Henry’s vicious ambition. Hefner would never be the Beta his older brother was and that was what Orion needed in this time of war. He walked out to the balcony to get a breath of fresh air. Looking down, he noticed for the first time the drops of blood on the stones and below the balcony, the flowers were still stained with Anulla’s blood. He didn’t realize his fist was pounding the stone railing until he heard the bones crack. Her suffering made him feel weak. She made him weak.

Suddenly Victor’s wolf spoke to his, ‘Invaders crossed Wheatland and headed to the interior, they will arrive by evening.’

He did this, he started this war with his wolf, waged war against his mate and the Moon, and now his enemies moved against his kingdom. Before leaving, he pressed a gentle kiss onto Anulla’s forehead, murmuring, “Why do you have to be my weakness?”

The door closed behind the Monarch and a tall red-headed wolf in a scarlet lined cloak stepped out of the closet, his eyes alight with murder. He warred with his need to kill the Monarch, but he was a healer as well as a tracker, and the Moon punished those who betrayed Her gifts. So instead, he took a soft cloth and wiped Anulla’s forehead.

She stirred, whispering, “Thank you, Joel. Is it time?”

“Not yet, my little hummingbird, not yet.”

“Okay, I think I’ll go back to sleep, I’m so tired,” she yawned then whimpered at the pain in her jaw.

“Then rest, sunshine. Rest.”

She squeezed his hand as she drifted off to sleep with a small smile on her swollen and split lips. Joel watched her with longing. Taking her hand to his lips, he whispered four words before leaving.

“I love you, Anulla.”

-^^^^^-

Nearly 8,000 wolves faced each other, a tenth of the wolf warrior population on the continent. The Monarch growled as he surveyed the battle lines. He had not expected the Western Alliance to come until spring. That they had come in fall meant that they were determined to win or fight to the last wolf before the snow set in. He reached out to his wolf only to have him turn away. He would have to fight this battle using his own mind and instincts, but at least he still had access to his wolf’s strength and speed. As the sun sank into a crimson and fire sky in the west, a bloody moon rose behind him and his army. He could see the giant dark form of Alpha Tlingti standing next to his sister, and on her right Alpha Troy stood tall and proud. His eyes narrowed, if his sister wanted his kingdom she would have to kill him to get it.

Hefner snarled on his right. “It would be my honor to teach that bitch a lesson, my monarch.”

Victor stood on his left, taking in every detail of the approaching enemy. “We are ready, Monarch Balthazar.”

“Let’s end this quickly so we may return to our mates.” Orion dropped into his wolf form and howled in challenge, charging forward.

Suddenly, pain seared his existence, and he had the sensation of being torn in half, but his body was untouched. Convulsing in agony, he screamed. His anguish was echoed by three or four others, but his mind was in too much pain to process the source.

-^^^^^-

Anulla reclined in her bed, the two surviving Floria females and three others waited and prayed together. The sun was setting; the sky was a thousand shades of amber and scarlet. She knew without seeing that the moon was rising on the other side of the castle over the water.

Amy turned her head as if listening. Tears in her eyes she turned to Anulla and the others, “It’s begun.”

Anulla bowed her head and said one final prayer, “May the Goddess bless and keep us. May her face shine upon us. May she forgive her daughters for what we are about to do.”

Kenetta, Hefner’s mate, held up her cup, “For the Goddess and all who serve her.”

The others repeated her words, and they all drank.

Kenetta reached up and ripped the collar from her throat, gasping in pain, “My wolf and I will die free as a Floria wolf should.” Two of the females began screaming, the other two collapsed in seizures.

Anulla’s body writhed as her soul ripped in two. Her wolf whimpered in agony inside her. They endured the pain together, resolute and sure. This was the only way out, the only way they would free themselves and the wolf they loved from Orion’s insanity and cruelty, the only way to free the kingdom for the future. Joel had told them a secret after Orion had declared them his weakness and left. Her firstborn son, Prince Sovereign Valiant, lived! Raised in the ways of the Goddess by Cathy, and in the honorable warrior traditions of the Pacific Northwest by Androma and Tligti, he would be the next Monarch. Her last conscious thought was a prayer for the son she had never met as her wolf ran ahead of her into the fields of the Moon.

-^^^^^-

Victor led those loyal to the Moon against those who shared the Monarch’s apostasy. His army divided against itself, the casualties were only those who hated the moon. Many rogues turned warriors had disagreed with the vile traditions set forth by the Monarchs Sade and Balthazar, they turned against their rogue cohorts offering them one chance to renounce the Monarch’s ways or die with him. Nearly a third chose to fight to keep their allotments of free food, shelter, and sex. By noon the next day, the last of the Monarch’s supporters were dead. At the Castle, Matthias had summoned the ranked older males he knew to be loyal to Sade and Balthazar. The surviving dungeon master and the red four, as Liam and his brothers were called, imprisoned them but not before forcing them into the deepest dungeon to hang on the walls with the wolf who began the kingdom’s descent into blasphemy. They would die, staring at the body of Monarch Sade.

Monarch Sovereign was removed for a proper cremation, his ashes to be scattered to the waters by the wind as were his Queen Luna’s ashes two decades earlier. As acting, Princess Regent, Androma declared all females of the kingdom to be freed, and end to the time of service, and that assault on a female was a crime punishable by death. Logan and Joel, lead the trackers to chase down the last of those who followed Sade and Balthazar’s perversion. Not surprisingly the surrounding packs were all waiting for them at the borders, with the traitors to the Moon Goddess in chains. A week after the fall of Monarch Balthazar Orion, the kingdom gathered to mourn their queen.

Little Prince Valiant held Priestess Cathy’s hand as Princess Androma spoke of Queen Anulla’s courage and perseverance. As the priestesses of the Temples of the Moon sang, Joel struggled to catch his breath, his eyes burned but not from the smoke as he touched the torch to the funeral pyre. Anulla looked beautiful in her white gown with its sheer veil and crown of flowers, more like a sleeping bride than a corpse. As he watched, his hand touched his cloak pocket, inside a small carved hummingbird. He swallowed uselessly as tears wet his cheeks, remembering her last words when they were alone, when she had given it back to him.

“Hope is like a prayer carried on hummingbird’s wings,

it flits to and fro in a jewel-colored dance, never staying in one place too long,

but always remembered for the beauty it brought and the promise of its return.”

A small hand tugged at his pants, smiling, Joel reached down and picked up the golden-haired young prince. The power of the next Monarch’s wolf already tangible. “Uncle Joel, did you love tha purdy lady?”

Joel couldn’t make the answer come out, so he pulled the carved figure from his pocket, “My prince. Let me tell you a story about beauty and bravery.”

The Original End

Alternate ending to follow.

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