Page 37 of The Barren Luna

“Tell the truth,” he commanded, and I wanted to vomit from the feeling of betrayal my body was associating with being commanded.

“Oh, here he is. Do you want to take over?”

“Yes,” David said, staring at me intently.

He inched closer to me, and I looked straight into his clear, blue eyes. It had the same calming effect like looking at the ocean. His huge body shielded me from curious stares and I immediately felt better.

“Luna Regina, can you tell us a little bit about your mating?”

“Yes – I – we met when I was 20 years old. Henry was 21 then. The first two years, we were happy, normal, I -” I focused on the bright green pin that held his robe fastened. “We didn't conceive for a while and I didn’t mind it that much, honestly, I viewed it as a fact of life or perhaps a test of our love, but Henry had trouble coming to terms with it. It was only when he held me captive in the house that I’d come to realize just how much of a problem he had with it.”

“Can you tell me when things started deteriorating between you two?”

“I would say a little over two years ago. And he told me for a fact that, for him, it all started after the Alpha Summit some two and a half years ago.”

“Why is that, what did he say happened then?”

I was grateful for the command at this moment because I didn’t know how else I would have gotten the words out, “Alpha Larson had offered Henry toput some pups into that hot little mate of hisand made him feel bad about not being a father,” I said and looked for Larson’s disgusting face in the audience.

I regretted my words immediately when I saw his pale Luna looking at me with a pain-stricken face, but there was no surprise on it. I guiltily looked away.

David looked ready to murder someone. Even an unmated male could see how vile and disgusting those words had been.

“How did you react when you were informed about the concubine?”

“I expressed my displeasure and disagreement, but when I saw that it didn’t mean much to Henry, I decided to remove myself from that situation.”

“You ran?” he seemed impressed.

“I tried to. I didn’t know I was being monitored. I made it to the pack border when the enforcers stopped me, and then Henry commanded me to stay on pack territory,” there were no longer gasps at my mention of the commands.

Those present must have gotten as desensitized to the idea as I had.

“I see. That must have been a difficult situation to be in.”

“It was. Being forced to be somewhere you don’t want to be, and seemingly having no other option, the helplessness that results from that, it’s devastating.”

“Luna Regina, we are wolves, and another female was sniffing around your mate - were you ever tempted to handle things the old-fashioned way? Despite everyone assuring you it was all leadership-sanctioned?”

“I was. The first time I was forced to sit with her in doctor Warren’s office. My claws were already out, and then Henry commanded me again, this time not to harm her,” I looked down at my hands to hide the shame I felt at the thought of my mate protecting another female from me.

“How did that feel, being commanded by your mate?” he asked in a gentle tone.

“It felt like betrayal of the highest kind. It felt demeaning, humiliating, lonely, painful,” the words kept pouring out of me without my permission.

“Was this the command Ms. Collins referred to in her testimony?”

“It was. Both Henry and I had forgotten about it, with everything else that was happening. Of course, he had expected me to remind him of it. I probably should have been thinking rationally while he was murdering Dorothy,” I said bitterly.

“After that, did you find other ways to remove yourself from the situation you were in?”

“None. I asked my father to help me when he visited, I thought maybe Alpha Philip’s command could override Henry’s, but he flat-out refused. He said they couldn’t afford to go against Henry,” I said while scanning the crowd for Alpha Phillip, whose Luna looked furious with him, although it really wasn’t his fault. “I did stop doing my Luna duties after that.”

“What did your duties consist of?”

“I handled all the vendors for the hospital, school, and kitchens. I ordered supplies, checked invoices, handled finances, made weekly menus, helped with the curriculum, and visited sick and old pack members weekly.”

“Do you know that most Lunas do less than that?” he looked at the crowd for confirmation and got several nods. “Why were you working so hard?”

---