. Apostasy . A Luna's Struggle

Anulla was on her hands and knees, naked except for her black collar with its burning silver threads, and sheer white apron dress. Orion was trying to get any wolf to take advantage of her last days of service by refusing to let her wear underwear and only allowing the sheerest of dresses. But after her display of power a few weeks ago, most of the unmated wolves were as scared of her wolf as they were of the Monarch’s.

Today was her last day and she was scrubbing the vast ballroom floor by hand. She was almost done, it had taken most of the day. She shuddered as her skin tingled. HE was watching her. She ignored him, shutting him out of her mind as she continued working. His laughter echoed around the high vaulted ceiling and chandeliers as he leaned against the frame of an open doorway. The one entire wall of the room was a series of double glass doors which opened into the meticulously kept gardens.

“Don’t be that way, my golden one. We’re having a party to night to celebrate your 20th birthday. I’ve spared no expense to entertain the visiting Alphas. There will be food and dancing, and...”

She sat up and wiped the sweat from her brow, “I don’t dance, Monarch.”

She had reverted back to calling him Monarch after the day she had saved the she-pup and he had brutalized her for it. After he had let nineteen she-wolves stolen from another pack be raped to death for the mercy killing of eight younger she-wolves in their group. Three had escaped and two of another three were mated to his secondary Betas. Cruel mates that they would rather see dead. The third had killed her mate as he killed her leaving a bloody mess that had taken a day and a half to clean up. She looked up at Orion from where she knelt on the floor, letting him only see how hard she worked and how tired she was.

He smirked, pulling her up and against him. “You don’t dance, my dear luna?” he taunted in mock surprise, “Well, let me teach you; all you have to do is follow. It’s perfectly natural; a female’s place is to follow as always, and you’re supposed to call me Orion, we’re mates.”

He stepped and turned, gently pushing, and pulling her to and fro. “Chin up, head back... No, no, no, keep the eyes down on my heart.”

Soon they were gliding and twirling around the whole of the grand room, he was laughing, and she actually giggled. She felt almost happy, but she knew it was a lie and hormones. She hated the bond because it wanted her to believe she could love this Orion. However, she knows this Orion was the lie he was trying to sell his subjects. She heard wolves passing and murmuring, the sounds soon faded, and they were alone.

“See dancing isn’t hard. Did you have fun?” he smiled gallantly. Sometimes when he looked at her like this and the bond hummed between them, she wanted to start to believe. Maybe, it whispered... but she knew better.

“Yes, Orion. Thank you,” she whispered, smiling shyly, to let him think she was swayed by his charm.

He cupped her face and kissed her tenderly, “Good, because if you don’t finish this floor before our first guest arrives, I shall have to punish you for having fun when you should be working.”

His eyes changed from tenderness to cruelty, and he chuckled as he strode out of the ballroom. The true Orion was back, just like that. Sighing exasperatedly, she turned to her bucket only to gasp in horror. The whole floor was covered in muddy bootprints. Hours’ worth of back breaking work was ruined in minutes. She shrieked in rage before storming out to the laundry for more towels. Somewhere in the castle he heard and laughed again, letting her feel him gloating, so she cussed and cursed at him though the bond, which only made him more amused. He enjoyed his punishments, especially since his mistresses had vanished without a trace. But Anulla was determined not to give him the satisfaction of being justified.

Using wet and dry towels, Anulla managed to clean all the muddy footprints and dry the floor. She assigned two young shewolves to do the windows while she worked feverishly. As they dumped the dirty towels in the largest laundry pool, she fell into the soapy water. It was the first warm bath she had since she left the Lakeshore manor. The two ‘service females’ giggled as their Luna splashed them. Anulla rushed up the back stairs to her room. Amy quickly rubbed scented oil into her chapped skin and disguise the scent of her pup and helped her into her gown. In moments, she was dressed and her slightly damp hair was piled and pinned into a curly bun. Anulla was at the entrance foyer with the staff and ‘service females’ clothed in sheer red drapes when Orion came down in a fine suit.

The Monarch scowled when he saw her and took his place. She shivered slightly as he breathed against her neck. She again cursed the mate bond and her wolf’s hopeless devotion to the wolf of this monster. All three of them would love to see Orion humbled.

“If I discover you disobeyed me and had help with that floor, I will put you in the stocks on the training grounds, Luna.” He hissed at her, his temper coiling like an aggravated serpent.

“I had no help with the floor, Monarch, even after some child forgot to wipe his muddy feet,” she snarked back. Having visiting Alphas made her feel foolishly brave, because he couldn’t punish her for a few days and by then... She stopped her thoughts before he could sense the truth behind them and focused on the idea that he couldn’t hurt her or bruise her until the Alphas left or his illusion as a benevolent king would be lost.

“Do not count on that, kitten.” He muttered to her.

She turned to look him dead in the eye for the first time in a long time. “Would you beat your heir to death in my body as your Beta did your last one, my Monarch?”

He blinked rapidly as his wolf snarled not to hurt her. Orion bend his neck to smell his mark. While he was confirming that it was his pup she carried, his wolf gave her a small lick on her mate mark scar before Orion regained control and jerked his head back. “When were you going to tell me about my son?”

“You’re the Monarch Alpha, I thought you would have noticed something like that yourself. He is your spawn, after all.” The lovely smile on her face was completely the opposite of the whispered vehemence of her tone. The level of revulsion and hatred she pretended to have for the life within her surprised him and the bond coiled and writhed like a wounded snake. He refused to believe she hated her own child, but he could not delve into the animosity of her feelings at that moment.

“Oh, there are many ways I can make you suffer without leaving a visible mark.” He threatened quietly then smiled because the first of their guest was walking into the foyer.

“You always leave a mark, like you did on the floor today; you can’t help your childish nature,” she murmured back in a demur sounding whisper.

The Alpha Troy of the Central Mountains walked in proudly with Luna Mira, a full company of warriors and a woman in a sheer veil, who looked remarkably like Orion’s mother. There were gasps of surprise from many of the older wolves who served the Monarchs Sade and Sovereign.

“Greetings, Monarch Balthazar. Queen Anulla, congratulations on your birthday and coronation. You look as lovely as I remember.” His party bowed before them, then Troy raised an eyebrow, adding as if he did not already know, “And congratulation on your forthcoming pup.”

“Thank you Alpha Troy.” Orion answered, slightly tensing, “You and your Luna look well, but I was not expecting you to bring a concubine. I assure you we have many well-trained service maids.”

The well-dress female, snarled in offense, “I am no concubine, brother dearest. I am Princess Androma, daughter of Monarch Sade and Queen Cassiopeia. ” She pulled the veil from her face, revealing she was the doppelganger of the long dead Queen; no one could deny she was who she claimed she was.

There were several seconds of silence, Anulla could feel Orion’s rage pouring like lava through the bond but there was something else... regret. In a moment, Anulla glimpsed the night of her birth, the night of the Blood Moon.

Orion was staring at his chained mother, holding a torch in his hand, as his father ordered him to light the fire. While the queen burned to death, she looked at her son, “I love you Orion, I forgive you.”

Then several she-wolves ran screaming from the crowd and threw themselves into the fire. Chaos erupted as high-ranking wolves went insane from their mates dying. A pregnant girl was screaming that they had chosen to die to weaken the kingdom. Later, the same girl stood on the rail of a tower, saying she would rather die with her child than live in this cursed kingdom. She jumped to her death and her mate attacked Sade, only to die. The hatred for his father’s reign realized for the first time in the young Orion’s mind.

Suddenly Orion’s walls slammed back up with such force that she staggered, almost collapsing to her knees as Orion stepped forward, snarling at the Princess.

“You lie! My sister died at birth. I burned her with my mother,” He growled out, but it was obvious he was as shocked as everyone else. He knew who Androma was, his wolf knew. His careful mask slipped for a few moments as she walked confidently up to him, standing less than a foot away.

Androma smirked, her voice poured out with saccharine venom, “A ruse to preserve my life, dear brother. A dead pup was wrapped in my afterbirth so I could live. Another shewolf sacrificed her daughter so our mother would have the chance to destroy father and his madness. I was to continue the Monarch bloodline if you were killed. Sadly, some of mother’s allies were cowards and did not come to the battle after her noble sacrifice and you... you turned out just like him, an apostate. You are not worthy to be Monarch of the kingdom our father stole from our mother’s true mate.”

“You know nothing of our mother or father,” Orion retorted.

Androma leaned forward and whispered, “Don’t you mean fathers. Your parentage is a lie as is mine. I know the secrets buried beneath our feet and that your kingdom is dying, dear brother.” Her words were hissed low enough that only Anulla and Orion heard, her eyes as cruel and hard as Orion’s. Anulla had no doubt she was his sister.

“My kingdom is strong!” Orion grated out, and Anulla whimpered, curling her hands protectively over her pup. She was barely able to make herself stay where she was to stand.

Androma laughed, as if truly amused, “Strong? Really? You only have one eighth of the females you need to provide the next generation. Haven’t you notice, dear brother, that none of the females born in your kingdom make their first year. Your shewolves are killing their daughters to spare them from a life of pain and suffering. They would rather go to the moon with their daughters’ blood on their hands than have their daughters raised as slaves. Even those you pay to have stolen from other packs prefer death over life here and fight every moment their shackles are slack.”

Anulla felt his rage at her statement, that his sister knew what had happened the last two months. Androma knew about the Floria shewolves and how they had killed their own daughters and sisters. The princess mocked him over how they fought to the death every time they were unchained. Only the two of three with mates were still alive.

Orion’s anger coiled and struck like a serpent at his sister as she proclaimed the truth, but he could not attack her. The hatred for his father never died when he came to power, it was turned toward him while the treachery of females only became more insidious. He realized his sister spoke the truth; his shewolves were killing his kingdom by killing their children. Anulla sensed his cold calculation as he struggled to respond in his father’s rhetoric.

“Females are weak; they have always been weak and that is why they die.”

His sister just snorted derisively but glared at her brother, “Our mother was not weak; females are stronger than males can ever be, because they will still fight even after they have been broken. They are strong enough to destroy that which they love most, whereas males only destroy that which they hate.” She stepped back with her head held high like a true queen, like the portrait of Queen Cassiopeia in the library. “Love is always stronger than hatred, dear brother. That is why the Goddess still lives in spite of our father’s apostasy.”

The siblings who had been separated all their lives stared at each other with an animosity that was so tangible, Anulla wondered if it had been cut up and made into bricks for them to hurl at each other.