Page 36 of The Barren Luna

“What would the side effects of prolonged use look like?”

“Well, no case is identical, but what the medical profession has observed in practice is: paranoia, delusions, in some cases hallucinations, and rarely, permanent damage to the wolf. For some, shifting becomes uncontrollable – either the wolf takes over whenever, or the individual can’t shift at all. Some permanently lose the connection to their wolf. All those affected were aggressive and unpredictable, and they all experienced severe damage to the man-wolf bond all of us hold so dear.”

David shifted uncomfortably before interrupting the questioning, “If this is so dangerous, why do we have legal protocols in place for sedating defendants with wolfsbane? How is that any different than what Alpha Giles was doing? Do you know that he was giving wolfsbane to Luna Regina as well?”

“Ah,” the doctor smiled slyly, “most trials here last less than two weeks – one drop a day will not cause permanent damage in that time period. In addition to that, man and wolf are still in harmony in those cases, the person dosed is not doing anything against their nature during that time, and the animal has no reason to rebel. That, obviously, wasn’t the case here,” he looked at the audience pointedly over the rim of his glasses.”

“As for Luna Regina, I have a confession to make. In the dungeons, her wolf was suffering from her mate's betrayal and the death of a mother figure. Let's not forget the, at that point, basically disintegrated mate bond. When I examined her once she came home, I was very worried about her.

She seemed to have been given wolfsbane in the dungeons sporadically, but I couldn’t be sure how often and in what quantities. So, when the Alpha sent a guard to my office to get some wolfsbane for the Luna, I gave him a very diluted mixture instead. The Luna wouldn’t have sharpened senses, and she wouldn’t be able to shift, but there should be no lasting negative effects, even with these three days,” he said, looking very proud of himself, and I was so grateful to him.

“Thank you for thinking ahead, doctor,” John said.

“I had already failed the Luna so much,” he said sadly. “I’d subjected her to the fertility treatments, and I kept her supplied with poppy seed tinctures, against my will, I must add. She is stronger than any wolf I know. Just imagine: eighteen months of extremely taxing fertility treatments, four months of enduring the physical and emotional pain of her mate cheating on her, coupled with an opiate addiction, then the months of false imprisonment, occasional wolfsbane ingestion, death of a loved one, and then the death of her mate. Yet, here she sits with her head high, as regal as ever. I am so sorry, my Luna,” he bared his neck to me and I gave him a small smile and dipped my head.

“One last thing for us to discuss, doctor. You monitored Miss Rogers’ pregnancy, is that correct?”

“I did, yes.”

“Did you, at any point, suspect that there was some deception at work?”

Doctor Warren blew out a breath.

“I’ve thought about this so many times. As we all know, only an Alpha wolf can smell paternity before birth, on all pups of his pack. Alpha Giles, however, wasn’t able to do so due to the wolfsbane he kept ingesting. At the exams performed later in the pregnancy I had noticed that the pup was measuring smaller than an Alpha would at that stage of gestation, but I mistakenly attributed it to the nasty fall that Miss Rogers took down the stairs.”

“How was her demeanor after the accident?”

“To be honest, this may be hindsight speaking, but she seemed more surprised than happy that her pup was alive.”

“Did Alpha Giles harm the pup after he discovered the ruse?”

“He was a bit rough with him but there was no permanent damage, I examined him several times to be sure.”

“Thank you, doctor. The Crown now calls Doctor Dylan Matthews of the Royal Pack hospital.”

Doctor Matthews grinned at me as he approached the witness stand and then winked at David, who glared at him and growled: “Tell the truth.”

“Hello, everyone.”

He was the most cheerful witness so far.

“Hello, Doctor Matthews,” John couldn’t help but smile as well. “You were the physician on call when Luna Regina Haines was admitted to your hospital?”

“That’s true,” he immediately switched to business mode.

“Did your examination of the Luna confirm what Dr. Warren just testified to?”

“Absolutely. It is protocol to run pretty extensive tests when defendants are admitted into our hospital, and we did the same with Luna Haines. We found severe internal scarring due to the cheating pains she’s endured, external scarring inflicted by silver, wolfsbane in her system, and her nails and hair showed prolonged use of narcotics meant for short-term use in cases of mate death or surgery.

Her wolf was almost completely dormant, and her psychological state was extremely agitated. She demonstrated genuine remorse and horror upon remembering what happened to her former mate,” he concluded and David whispered something to John before rushing out of the courtroom.

“Very well, thank you, Doctor Matthews. The Crown now calls Luna Regina Haines to the stand.”

I took a deep breath and moved to the witness stand. My hands felt numb and my stomach was churning. I could do this. I took another breath.

“The King had to run out for a moment, so I will have the pleasure of using my one command a day on you, Luna,” he smiled and I vaguely remembered learning that, as a twin to the Alpha, he had gotten some Alpha powers at birth, but in a limited capacity.

It made sense now how he was able to deal with the Court duties even without David, though it also explained why justice was usually slow.

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