. Apostasy . A Luna's Struggle
Service

Mature content – partial assault description, violence

Anulla woke in the Monarch’s bed chamber, the chain attaching to her collar to the wall was slack. She painfully rolled over and into a wall of dark fur. His wolf was sleeping on the floor next to her and he had bitten the chain in half, again. Anulla smiled as she ran her hands over the back of the great beast. His fur wasn’t just black, it had strands of dark brown and deep gray, mahogany and midnight. He was beautiful, one great dark eye popped open to look at her as a giant paw flattened her on the blankets with a huff.

“I have to go, dear wolf. Your skin has ordered my punishment, I must complete it and you must stop killing those who take advantage of it, or he will punish me,” she whispered softly.

The wolf raised its lip to reveal massive ivory fangs the size of a dagger. A deep rumble vibrated her whole body with the beast’s displeasure.

“Shush, shush. I know, my wolf. But I only have three more weeks. Then only six a day may touch me according to the law.”

His massive tongue licked her cheek and she giggled as his cold nose pressed into her mark.

“Off, you beast, I have to go.”

Seneschal Matthias opened the door, he is carrying a key to the lock. He bowed deeply to the wolf, “Monarch Wolf, we are honored by your presence. I have come for the Luna.”

Matthias unlocked what was left of the chain that once held her to the wall and escorted her out. Healer Odette was waiting with the numbing gel. She treated Anulla’s wounds from last night’s session with Orion in what he called his pleasure room. Anulla called it his torture chamber. She still refused to say his name or acknowledge him as he assaulted her with ‘his toys’ and heaped abuse on her body. Last night, he drunkenly screamed at her that she should be enjoying his attentions, forcing her to watch hours of perversions again; women moaning and pretending to enjoy being tortured by multiple men. He had snagged his thin silver bracelet and it fell off. Anulla pretended not to notice, knowing the thin silver was the only thing keeping his wolf from taking over. Finally, a few hours before dawn, he had dragged her to his bed chamber, fastened the lock and raped her while she stared at the wall. He was barely finished when he drunkenly passed out on top of her. She crawled off the royal bed, and onto her duvet on the floor. Orion would beat her with his belt her if she slept in his bed. She hoped she would wake up to find his wolf.

The first time it had taken three days for Orion to regain control and his wolf had killed all of his highest ranked warriors who had touched Anulla. Only three had been spared. Head warrior Beta Victor was devoted to his mate and the hooded Masters of the Dungeons were devoted to each other after having lost their mates and children. Only the fact that they had not taken advantage of Anulla saved them, as they had knelt before the snarling king of the wolves. When Orion had regained control, he had whipped Anulla for ever one of his warriors killed, only to collapse in intense pain halfway through because his wolf was attacking him. From that point on, Orion always wore silver. This was the second time he had lost the thin line between him and his wolf.

Anulla walked out to the stocks, poppies were blooming in the fields. The air felt warm and soft. There were a few of Orion’s replacement Beta’s waiting, recruited rogues who cared nothing for the Goddess or laws of the kingdom. They leered at her until a deep rumbling growl came from the castle doors behind her. She kept her face down and did not smile as they scattered like frightened birds. The Monarch Wolf walked out into the morning light, like death walks onto the battlefield. She rubbed her cheek against his, before leaning over the pommel and laying her neck and wrist in their places.

Victor smirked as the great beast lay down by her feet. “I guess I am not needed today, Luna Anulla. I will return at dusk.” He strode away whistling happily.

The whole day Anulla laid in the stocks, occasionally the great wolf would move to have his ears caressed by her or lick her cheek. At dusk, she returned to the Monarch’s room and took her place on the floor. She ate her dinner and hand fed the monster who was her friend and the mate of her wolf. Matthias came in to clear the dishes and the Monarch looked between him and Anulla. Smiling, the old seneschal removed Anulla’s collar. She shifted into her golden wolf.

Together they ran through the poppies until the moon was high overhead. Over and over, he apologized for his skin, saying he was not the man he should be. Insisting the father who had raised Orion had corrupted and cursed him. The Monarch Wolf offered to let her flee, but she refused knowing Orion would destroy wherever she found refuge. When they returned to the castle, he reminded her never to show Orion her wolf. She shifted and Matthias returned her red collar to its place. Then they curled on the floor together and slept. She had never imagined that she would find such comfort in the companionship of the giant wolf, but she did.

The next day was a repeat of the same, but the wolf kept twitching, growling and biting at nothing and Anulla knew Orion had woken from his drunk slumber and was trying to get control of their body back. Suddenly, Victor ran over to where she lay in confinement, freeing her and pulling her away just before the enraged wolf destroyed the stocks. It ran into the castle and the sounds of crashing and breaking were heard for nearly an hour then snarling was replaced by cursing.

Anulla kept her face blank, looking down submissively as a naked Orion stormed out of the castle.

“This is your fault.” He slapped her hard enough that she landed several feet from where she stood. She bit back the tears of pain and stared at the ground. He began kicking and punching her, screaming at her, “It is all your fault my wolf hates me, female.”

Victor ordered everyone out of the courtyard, and Matthias did the same in the castle so no one would witness the Monarch’s loss of control or Anulla’s humiliation at his hands. He had never beaten and raped her this badly, it was worse even than the first time in the forest or the second time in the car. Anulla gave up trying not to cry out and screamed when he broke her bones, but she never asked for mercy because she knew he would give her none. Finally, he knocked her unconscious but still continued to assault her as she flopped like a ragdoll.

Only the cold evening rain, drew him from his rage and he stood over the broken body of his mate. She was almost unrecognizable, even to him. Her heart fluttered awkwardly, like a bird with a broken wing. Her leg and an arm were twisted, each in a bizarre contortion. Her blood mixed with the rain turning the puddles red. For a moment, his wolf feared she would die in front of him, but Orion told him she deserved it for coming between them.

Matthias approached cautiously, “Monarch Balthazar, may I summon the healers to tend your and Luna Anulla’s wounds?”

His face was a malicious sneer. “No, leave the treacherous bitch. If she survives the night, then give her to Odette, and confine her to her room. If she doesn’t, burn the body and let me be rid of her.”

Orion stalked back into the castle only to find his bedroom and pleasure rooms had been completely destroyed by his wolf.

Seneschal Matthias respectfully revealed, “Monarch, I have prepared you another room to sleep in.” It was on the opposite side of the castle from the courtyard.

As Orion settled into his new room to drink, he fastened a new silver chain around his neck. He stared out at the tempest raging over the sea as he got drunk and cursed his mate and the mate bond.

Meanwhile, a hunched, hooded figure tended Anulla in the rain, and two great charcoal wolves lay on either side of her broken body, keeping her warm until morning. The moment dawn’s light broke, they shifted into the tall bulky forms of the Dungeon Masters and one gently carried her inside.

For the next month while she healed, one or the other of the Dungeon Masters stood outside the door of her tiny room keeping the unmated warriors away. Anulla still wore a red collar, but they allowed none to touch her. Having lost their mates, the two knew that what Orion wished to destroy, was the thing they wished to have back more than anything. They were loyal to their alpha and did not wish him to suffer as they had. But they were also loyal to their Luna, for her kindness and sympathy, and protected her from all but him.

After her recovery, Anulla returned to housekeeping and cooking duties. She often went out of the way to discover a person’s favorite dish and often baked treats for the kingdom warriors, castle staff, or other service females, but she was careful to stay clear of the rogues Orion had recruited to build his army.

However, no matter how careful she was, every day, she found herself up against a wall, or bent over a chair, or shoved onto a bed and being assaulted. Always she stayed perfectly still, and stared at a wall, always a little piece of her soul died. She had begun to believe that for every piece of happiness she found in the kingdom, she had to pay for it with her body. Some warriors lied saying they had been with her on this day or that so she could not be dragged into the barracks for entertainment.

Monarch Balthazar had raised the service number from six males a day to ten males after two orange collar service females had killed themselves. He did not care that the reason was because they had both been brutalized by more than twenty rogue males in one night. Orion blamed the abused females for being too weak and for dying by their own choice, so he punished all the surviving service females, instead of punishing the criminals.

-^^^^-

One day Anulla was in the laundry when three of the former rogues came in. She was suddenly terrified by the way they looked at her. She wore a red collar which meant she was subject to a one male at a time limit, unlike an orange collar who could be forced by two, or a yellow collar who was under a sentence of death. Somehow she knew they would ignore the law.

“I have serviced my portion today,” she announced as she backed toward the stairs. “You’ll have to find me tomorrow.”

“Maybe we won’t be here tomorrow.”

She tried to run. They grabbed her and threw her in the laundry water, before pinning her between two of them. She screamed and fought, but the third forced his manhood down her throat to muffle her cries. It was too much to bear and her body convulsed as she fought to breathe. Finally, her wolf pushed forward, and she managed to pull her head back enough to allow her to bite down. She spat the tip of him out as he screamed. The other two didn’t even stop screwing her, nor did they stop their bleeding, enraged cohort from shoving her head under the soapy water as he ranted profanities.

Choking on the soapy water she inhaled, Anulla knew she was about to die, as her wolf cried out farewell to Orion’s wolf.

Moments later, someone dragged her from the water. She coughed and vomited the soapy water as the Monarch Wolf tore the three to pieces. Everything in the laundry room was stained with their blood. Some even splattered on the ceiling.

“Thank you... thank you.” Anulla sobbed, holding onto his great neck, until she passed out.

Beta Victor rushed in with Matthias. Noting there was blood and feces smeared on her buttocks and legs, and fresh bruises blooming on her neck from being held under the water, the seneschal approached the beat carefully as she between his paws.

“Monarch Wolf, the healer needs to tend your mate,” Matthias started then bowed his head as the great wolf snarled to silence him.

They could only stare in shock as the Monarch shifted back to his skin and carried his mate back to his room. His wolf’s eyes peered out at them from his face as he bathed her and laid her in his bed. Then Orion was able to force his wolf’s desires down.

“Tend her,” Orion snapped at the old healer standing in the hall, before he walked away from Anulla.

Beta Victor stood quietly at the door, “Monarch Balthazar, please let me put a purple collar on the Luna, it isn’t good for the men’s morale to have the Monarch Wolf killing any who touch her. And it isn’t good for you to be at odds with your wolf.”

Balthazar could taste the bile in his mouth as he forced his wolf down, “No. She has another year of service.” He could only glare at her as his wolf refused to let him move her, while he secured yet another silver chain around his neck and wrapped a second around his wrist. One was not enough to keep his wolf at bay.

“But sire...”

“Do not test me, Victor!” Orion snarled. Anulla had made a mockery of the Kingdom’s laws concerning service females again. He could not allow it. He would not have it. She would obey.

“Sire, may I propose a solution?” Matthias said quietly, “Have the Luna wear a black collar so all will know that they take service from her at their own risk of death because of the Monarch Wolf’s possessiveness. Then they can fairly choose and if they are killed, it can be said they knew the risk beforehand. She will still be in her time of service.”

Orion thought about what happened for a moment, it angered him that it had not been him to do that with her first. That the rogues he had recruited had flaunted his laws again but he blamed her more than them.

“Very well. Get her a black collar,” he growled, “And get the whore out of my bed. Confine her to her room and give her three lashes when she recovers. She will still be lashed for everyone he kills.”

Both bowed deeply before Victor lifted her from the Monarch’s bed, quickly carrying her away with Healer Odette following. Orion stared out the window at the women hanging out the now pinkish linens above the poppies. His wolf snarled at him and he snarled back, deciding it was time he leave to check on other parts of his kingdom. He would punish her by taking away his wolf’s protection while she finished her time of service, and he would punish his wolf by leaving her behind to suffer.

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