Page 4 of The Barren Luna

“The Elders, me, and Liam are the only ones who know for now. Before the female is chosen, an announcement will be made to the pack so that the volunteers can be examined and interviewed.”

I imagined an army of willing females descending on the pack house and eagerly submitting themselves to invasive medical examinations because they desired to be bred by my powerful mate. The thought made me sick.

“Is there any way – are they not breaking mating laws by doing this?” I grasped onto my last hope and the reason why I came here - I wanted to file a formal complaint with the Royal Court in Colorado, the highest shifter authority that had the last word when it came to territory, power, and mating disputes. I wouldn't file the complaint in order to get Henry back, but merely to prevent them from doing this to me. By the way Calum wouldn’t meet my gaze, I already knew his answer.

“Unfortunately, Luna, there is precedent in the old laws. Alphas are allowed to breed concubines chosen from volunteering unmated pack members if they haven’t found their fated mate and are over the age of 24. They likened your, khm, situation to that one, and, using the limited procreation window of shifters, they would probably win any appeal. They covered all their bases. I’m sorry.”

I understood the issue theoretically. Only an Alpha could beget an Alpha. Without an heir, the pack was in danger of falling into anarchy upon the Alpha’s potential untimely demise and was viewed as weak and futureless by other packs who might have expansion plans even while the leader was alive. That was the political side of it.

On the other hand, our nature had played a cruel joke on shifters – we were the fastest, strongest, and deadliest apex predators in existence who could also shape-shift, but in order to protect our food sources from us becoming too numerous, we had a lot of limitations around conception. Females could only conceive during heats that occurred twice a year, we never had more than two pups (with the exception of that one family in Utah), malesrarely fathered pups after they turned 35, and female heats generally stopped after the female turned 32 years old. Some could still be induced with the appropriate herbs, but as I knew well from recent experience, the process was grueling and was ultimately mostly fruitless anyway.

“Well, I guess there’s nothing we can do then,” I said and stared at my plate, thinking of the one thing I still could do.

After breakfast with the Phillips family, I made my way to Dotty’s house. I needed her. Luckily, Jonathan was at work, so I was free to break down in her arms and, in between sobs, tell her what had happened last night.

“Oh, my sweet girl, what an awful, awful thing. That male doesn’t deserve you, I’ve been telling you for a while now, him and his harpy of a mother -”

“I know Dorothy, I know, but he is my mate. You know this as well as I do, it’s not like I can reject my mate and choose another one. It’s him or nothing.”

“I know Ginny, damn it. Sometimes I wish the old legends were true, the ones from back home.”

“I know, Dotty. I wish so too. I would be rewarded for my patience during this terrible ordeal and I would get a new mate, a poor lumberjack this time,” I said dreamily, making Dorothy laugh with abandon.

“A lumberjack? Why?” She started wheezing at this point.

“No more Alphas for me. A simple male with a forest cabin will do. All I want is him and his love. No politics, no pack, no bigger picture stuff.”

“And then, during the winter, you’ll be cozy in the cabin and have all the wood you need,” she winked mischievously, and it was my turn to laugh.

“Dotty! You old perv!” I hit her with the couch cushion before laying my head in her lap, enjoying her fingers in my hair, and feeling like the 10-year-old who used to do this while talking to Dotty about mates and her changing body.

“Got you laughing, didn’t I?” She asked smugly, proud of herself, and I shook my head with a smile. Only she could make me laugh after the sob-fest I just had.

“I’m gonna run away,” I whispered and her fingers stilled. She sighed.

“I figured you might. I can’t see you staying and enduring whatever they have planned. I just hoped,” her voice cracked a bit and she stopped talking, so I sat up and took both her hands in mine.

“I know, I also wish it didn’t have to come to this.”

She composed herself quickly and was back to the ever-pragmatic female I knew and loved.

“What is the plan?”

“I’ll take all the money and jewelry I can carry, and during the tryouts for the pack whore, I will run as far as I can get as my wolf. And I’ll keep running until I find a human town where I can sell some of the jewelry. Then I’ll get on a train or something to get as far away from here as possible. And I’ll live among the humans. That’s what I have for now,” I looked at her expectantly and she nodded.

“That would be the wisest course of action. No pack will harbor you if your mate wants you back. Even worse, since he’s an Alpha, going against him means going to war against his pack.”

“Not even my parents would risk that,” I verbalized what we were both thinking and she looked at me sadly.

“Wait here,” she instructed and ran to the back of the house, where I heard her rummaging through cupboards. She came back holding a thick envelope, which she handed to me.

“What is this, Dotty?”

“Money. And don’t even start with me. You need it and I want you to have it. Let me do this for you, my pup.”

“Thank you,” I croaked out with tears in my eyes. I wanted to say more, I wanted to say I’d pay her back, I wanted to tell her she was the only mother I could ever need in this world, but the words were stuck in my throat and it didn't matter because she knew all of it anyway, because she knew me best.

“Hush now. Give me a hug and make me some lunch.”

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