. Apostasy . A Luna's Struggle

mature content - intoxication, addiction, BDSM, depression

Orion watched Anulla scrubbing the entry way on her hands and knees. The perfectly enticing curve of her butt showing from under the lacy edge of the black maid dress. Her bountiful cleavage almost falling out of the low V neckline. Her hair was piled up on her head, but a few strands had fallen and swung back and forth seductively, and the motion of her scrubbing mimicked the motion of sex. He knew she knew he was watching her, but she never looked up. Her mind almost blank as it had been since he had taken her in the dungeon of solitary confinement. He savored the memory.

Anulla lifted the chalice of herbal wine from the pedestal and drank it in the dim light of the freezing room where he kept his fathers. She was sobbing as she gulped its contents. Her voice was like a whispered prayer for release, “Please, please Orion.”

He had walked in through the secret entrance. Her head lolled as she stared at the only torch still burning. She startled at his touch, cringing in fear as he turned her face toward him.

“Hello, kitten, say my name again.”

She licked her lips and swallowed, parting them, she breathed out his name, “Orion.”

He could only smile, Miles set a tray of food beside him. “Are you hungry, kitten?”

She nodded, her winter blue eyes were large and luminous. She nibbled each bit from his fingers like a little mouse. She let him caress her face while he fed her without pulling away.

Around them the room grew warmer and lighter as Walsh replaced the torches and Miles started the fire, then the Dungeon Masters placed a tub and began filling it with warm water. When all was ready, they left through the secret door. Orion had bathed her, startled at the way her ribs and hipbones protruded, but her breast were still full enough to please him. Her skin felt tingly under his fingertips and his arousal pressed painfully against his pants. Finally, he had just laid her wet, trembling body on the bed and stripped himself. It was still a little cold in the room, but he had known he wouldn’t be cold for long. She lay with her face turned away. As he positioned himself between her legs, he turned her head to look into his eyes. The large dark centers only had a halo of blue around them. Her mind filled with haze and horrors.

"Say my name, my golden one,” he panted as he thrust into her.

"Orion...” Her body jerked with impact after impact.

"Again.”

"Orion.” Her eyes closed slowly.

"Again.”

This time she moaned as she said it, “Orion.”

And for the first time, her body moved on its own volition under his...He almost came right then. It had taken so much longer than he had expected for her to breakdown. Months in her cell, cleaning the upper dungeons, and over a month in his special room. He owned her now, she was finally his slave in mind and body. She had finally surrendered.

“Monarch Balthazar,” Beta Victor’s voice interrupted his memory.

Orion felt his claws dig into the wood of the rail. Below him Anulla had almost finished her task. Her skin glistened with a light sheen of sweat, just like when they had sex. He needed her now. “What is it, Beta Victor?”

“Sire, there is a new group of rogues at the western border. They are requesting to join the Kingdom’s warrior corps,” Victor sounded grumpy.

Victor was always unhappy, since taking Henry’s place as First Beta, because he had to train and discipline those who came. Orion had started recruiting rogues to build his army while preparing to attack the Western Allied Packs. He was going to punish them for hiding his mate. He was going to punish them for making him kill Henry. He was going to punish them for denying his request to let his warriors cross their borders to seek their mates. He was going to punish them for still worshiping that dead Moon Goddess his mother and mate both loved more than him. To punish them, he needed an army, a large one, a vicious one. An army of the most blood thirsty wolves he could find, and he found them among those who had been cast out by other packs. The allies would surrender, or he would paint their lands red.

“Bring them to the proving grounds, I will decide tomorrow.” Orion watched Anuula like prey as he spoke, and Victor almost shuddered for her because he knew what the Monarch’s next words would be.

“Send my mate to my chambers. She will be unavailable for the rest of the day, she can finish her service duties for today in addition to her duties tomorrow.”

“Yes Monarch, it shall be done.” Victor answered stiffly.

He did not know how his Monarch could let those filthy rogues turned mercenaries touch his mate. Victor loved his mate Amy, her years of service almost killed him. He had earned the position of top warrior just to protect her until it was over. He and his father had basically sold themselves into slavery just to pay the Collar Price when her four years was over. That day he had almost beaten Beta Henry to death. At dawn, Victor had returned from patrol only to discover she was not in her room. He had run to Henry’s room and discovered him passed out and Amy nearly dead. He had carried her to the healer Odette as she sobbed in his arms, over and over that she had submitted just like she was supposed to, but HE wouldn’t stop. As soon as Amy was safe with his father and uncle, Victor had gone back to Henry’s room and attacked him. Only the power of the Monarch’s wolf had forced him to submit and saved Henry’s life. Henry wasn’t even punished for violating the law and taking service from Amy after midnight on her birthday, the day after her service had ended. His loyalty to the Monarchy had turned to hatred on that dawn.

He felt pity for Luna Anulla as he approached her, “The Monarch request you in his chambers, Luna.”

She looked up at him with empty, dead eyes, “Yes, Beta.” She looked around at the floor.

“I will see that it is finished, Luna.” He promised.

She nodded once and walked away and up the stairs like a martyr going to her death, only her fate seemed so much worse than death. His heart ached for her. Secretly in his heart, he prayed for her to be strong. He could see she was dying inside, numb to the horror of her situation, if the war didn’t come soon it might be too late to save her. All he could do was wait and hope he and Amy survived it.

-^^^^^-

Anulla walked like the dead up to the Monarch’s chamber, inside the door on its pedestal was the chalice of sweet wine. She hated to drink that much but if she didn’t drink all of it, he would pour the remaining down her throat. During her quick, cold shower she thought about the hazy memory of the first time she drank it. It was like a nightmare, in her drugged state she had hallucinated she was reliving the late Queen Cassiopeia’s experiences, and that Orion was either Sade or Sovereign raping her. Her body had throbbed and burned like fire, reacting in ways it never had before.

She later realized the wine made her want him. As it started to wear off, Orion had tried to make her drink more, she had refused but he had forced her to drink another half cup and then finished it himself. She didn’t know how long they had sex under the watchful audience of the dead kings, but it was a nightmare she never wanted to return to. A few times in the weeks since, he had dragged her back down the long spiral stairs from his chambers to punish her for refusing to drink. Forcing himself on her in the old royal bed while his dead fathers watched.

She preferred the comfort of his own bed and pleasure room, so she drank. She put on the clothing left next to the ornate cup then gulped its sweet poison. Kneeling at the end of the bed, she waited. The world took on a strangely unfocused edge before swirling into the strange giddiness that amount of the drink brought. As she sat and stared at the walls, the stone became more textured, the leather straps that wrapped her skin less constricting, the hard floor softer. Everything felt less horrible. Time stopped as she surrendered to the numbness. Anulla’s spirit was broken.

When Orion came in she looked at him through dilated eyes, he was so beautiful when she felt like this. She didn’t mind that he hurt her until later when it wore off. He caressed her cheek, “You know what to do, kitten.”

Anulla nodded compliantly and began to unbuckle his pants. Her lips and hands worked him perfectly and soon he was pulling her hair tightly as he held her head in place. She didn’t cry or complain, only a single tear ran down her cheek to show her discomfort. His legs trembled.

“Swallow,” he ordered, and she did.

He dragged her lips up to his by pulling her hair, she gasped in pain as he bit her tongue just to taste her blood. She was drugged and she was his drug. He surrendered to the pleasure he took from his cruelty to her body and she no longer resisted.

Just as the wine dealer had promised the intoxication of the herbal wine would allow him to bend her to his wanton desires. It did its job perfectly. She no longer refused to drink it as she had the first few times after she had left solitary. In fact, she stole little sips of it almost every morning. He didn’t mind. The longer she was drinking it, the more submissive she was. It was his fantasy come true. The wine allowed him to do the things he had seen in the old recordings to her without a whimper or complaint. Even his Pepper fantasy, for which he used his dungeon masters. Blindfolded, she had groaned between them while they silently rutted her, just like on the old recordings. And he wished Henry was alive to share her between them. Her body was his to do with as he pleased, he just wished he didn’t have to interrupt his pleasure to tell her what to do or say next, but if he didn’t, she would lay there like a lifeless doll. Her surrender had been complete, but it wasn’t as satisfying as he had hoped.

Hours later, Anulla rose from the Monarch’s bed. She hurt so badly, she needed something for the pain. She showered, stealing a few moments of warm water before turning it back to body numbing cold. She rinsed his disgusting seed out of her body, the cleansing solution burned the abrasions he had left inside and outside. She dabbed the healing ointment onto her swollen lady parts and bite marks, but she felt she needed something more. Her head ached and she craved numbness.

Watching him to make sure he didn’t wake, she slipped into his pleasure room. Opening the cabinet, she took the open bottle and gulped several swallows, in moments the familiar dullness settled over her senses, numbing her pain. She poured a little into the small flask she carried, just in case the dose wore off. She stole a sip or two every morning. It made it easier to get through the days if she didn’t feel.

::: Many victims of abuse will turn to addictive substances to take their pain away. This only masks their pain and results in more harm done to their bodies and lives later. Getting high or drunk or intoxicated, in never the answer when dealing with abuse. It may make one feel better for a little while, but the problem is not fixed. One should never have to get intoxicated to do something their lover wants them to do - that is abuse. If you are being abused, don’t get intoxicated, GET AWAY! There are programs through alcoholics anonymous and narcotic addicts anonymous that can help you.::