Page 40 of The Barren Luna

There were some gasps and murmurs among the audience, and I could understand why. It was a very harsh punishment, not that I minded. That female had been systematically poisoning my mate against me for years. Why? Crazy, misguided, incestuous jealousy? Her thirst for power and her former title? If anything made me feel sorry for Henry, it was the fact that his mother hadn't enjoyed his happiness and had done everything in her power to destroy it.

“In the matters of facilitating, aiding and abetting two separate assaults on his unlawfully imprisoned Luna, as well as accepting a bribe for going against his superior’s orders, Daniel Mitchell is sentenced to three months in the Royal Jail, where he will be regularly dosed with wolfsbane to keep his wolf dormant.”

I had all but forgotten about the guard. In the grand scheme of things, of all the people who had harmed me, his betrayal seemed insignificant since he was somebody who I had no trust in and no expectations from. But David hadn’t forgotten.

“And finally, in the interest of justice, the health of our society, and to prevent bad habits and future bad practices, I feel it is my moral and royal duty to disband the Spruce Mountain pack.”

Judging by the uproar in the courtroom, I feared those present would mutiny, but David didn’t seem to think so, since he continued without missing a beat, “A pack that strayed so far from protecting the sanctity of the mating bond should not be kept together. A pack that silently stood by while their Luna was being disrespected, humiliated, drugged, and ultimately unlawfully imprisoned, should not be allowed to continue functioning the way it did. And lastly, a pack that turned a blind eye to the murder of Dorothy Evans, a fellow pack member,needs to be reprogrammed as to what being part of a pack means.”

Although the courtroom was astonished by the severity of the punishment, no one dared say anything to the former General. Several heads could even be seen nodding in agreement.

“I hereby order that all of Spruce Mountain pack’s assets be liquidated and redistributed among the pack members to be used for their relocation. The Crown will randomly assign each of them a new pack, keeping nuclear families together, of course, which is more than most of them would have done for someone else.

Every Alpha here will report to the Crown monthly about the former Spruce Mountain wolves assigned to them, their progress, integration, and their retraining in core values. The absence of a pack in West Virginia will be addressed at our next annual summit. We'll probably form a new pack consisting of volunteers, and we have a few packless Alpha firstborns across the country that we can call in to serve as its new leader, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it.”

Since no one had any questions or comments after that, we were all thanked for our time and dismissed. David immediately made his way towards me, surprisingly agile for a male his size.

“Are you planning to spend the afternoon with your friends?”

I blinked at the question.

“Yes. They are all leaving later today, so I want to say goodbye properly.”

“Could you meet me in the big library this evening, around 7?”

“Of course.”

“Very well,” he said with a fond smile. “Enjoy your afternoon, I’ll see you later.”

I just stood there staring at his wide back until I snapped out of it and went to find Lucy.

Saying goodbye to everyone was taxing, especially since things were a little tense now that the pack was to be disbanded. Luckily, none of them harbored any hard feelings toward me because of it. I understood why it wouldn’t be easy for any of them – for instance, Calum lamented the fact that his pups would no longer grow up next door to their grandparents.

I briefly thought about how everyone (including me) simply accepted that a she-wolf whose mate was from another pack would join him there. Our pups never grew up next door to their maternal grandparents unless our mate was from our birth pack, and yet none of us complained. Why didn’t any of us complain?

At least Liam was somewhat excited. He saw the transfer as an opportunity to maybe finally meet his mate. I honestly hoped he would and that it would be a happy pairing. He was a good male, he deserved to be happy. I didn’t know when we would all see each other again or where we'd all end up after today. Maybe that was what the King wanted to talk to me about?

I quickly showered and put on some black pants and a dark blue silk blouse. I didn’t know the dress code for the occasion, so I figured keeping it professional would be safer. I was in the library a little before seven and used that time to look at some of the shelves. Most of the books were about strategy and warfare, and the rest seemed to be encyclopedias and history books.

I wondered where the fiction aisle was. My fingers itched to open my journal and add new thoughts and quotes to it. They would be darker, more raw than what I used to write once upon a time when I was still Ginny. Ginny had been a pup: trusting, optimistic, and naïve in so many ways. Now, for the first time in my life, I felt more like Regina. I felt more jaded, more hardenedby life. I was a grown female now, but I was also less cheerful and less joyful than I used to be.

I sat down on a beautiful brown leather sofa and mindlessly picked up a book from the table in front of it just as David entered the room. He beamed at seeing me, and his long strides ate up the distance between us. He sat down right next to me, and his thigh was touching mine.

“Regina, there you are. Have you had the chance to process everything that happened today?”

“Not really,” I found myself answering honestly instead of pretending I was handling it. “I feel like I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“There will be no other shoe, Regina, I promise you,” he said seriously like he truly believed he could promise me that.

“Well -” I trailed off, shrugging with my eyebrows raised, but he was not deterred by my doubt.

“I want to talk to you about something, if you’re up for it?”

“Sure, what can I help you with?”

He grinned.

“This time, you will be the one being helped. I was wondering whether you have any idea what you want to do now?”

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