LUNA

LOUISA.

The sun comes up to see me, huddled in a corner of his room.

Bruised, bloody, and hurting.

While he sleeps soundly without a care in the world.

I want to kill him.

The thought is as strong as it is alarming.

In all my years of living with Dominic, I have never resented him for the way he treated me.

Oh, I didn't like it, but I understood him.

So, I tried my best to never cross his path.

But this…

This makes me cold.

Not a sad kind of cold but a building rage that I try to tamp down.

It is every shewolf’s dream to have a beautiful mating ritual, filled with tenderness and love from her mate.

I… I was brutalised. Raped and broken all because of his own misconceptions about me.

I never did anything to him.

Never undermined him or insulted him, why would he hurt me like this?

His own mate?

It's not right.

It's not fair.

It makes me mad.

And for the first time, I contemplate killing someone.

My own mate.

And yet, I don't move.

I just stay here, huddled in a corner, like a pathetic whelp.

Maybe he was right.

Maybe I am truly weak and pathetic. I can't even defend myself.

Lost in my self loathing, I don't hear the clicking of the heels until it's too late.

The door swings open and Harriet, Luna mother, walks in.

“Dominic! What is this-” her words cut off as she sights me in the corner. “Louisa? Louisa! Child, what happened to you,” she asks as she rushes to me. “Why are you so bruised?”

Like her husband, the previous Alpha, Harriet was kind and good to me. She treated me well, like a daughter and whenever she was around, Dominic had to behave himself.

Unfortunately, she is not always around.

“Luna…” I cry out, the tears finding release under her concerned gaze.

“Oh, Rowan,” she says as she pulls me into a hug.

I let loose on her, huge, body wracking sobs tearing out of me in a pin and anguish and she keta me.

Gently patting my back but offering no words of consolation. She understands what has happened and knows nothing could alleviate it.

At least not so soon after the deed.

Soon, I am calm enough that my tears reduce to quiet sobs and she gently pulls away.

“It's alright,” she says as she wipes the tears off. “Everything is going to be alright.”

I watch as she gets to her feet, her whole demeanour changing as she approaches the bed.

“DOMINIC VALOR,” she screams as she whacks him across his face. “Get up, you disgrace!’

Dominic flails around in bed before noticing his mother.

“Mom? What are you doing here? When did you get back?”

“Don't mom me! You have disgraced me. Disgraced your father and the honour of this pack! I knew about your dislike for Louisa but I didn't think you would go this far to hurt her.”

“Hurt- Louisa? What are you talking about he asks, running a hand across his face before he sights me on the floor.

I must look at him.

Braised, bloody, tear streaked.

I just hope the hate isn't showing.

“How do you explain this, huh?”

“Mom… it's not what it looks like… I can explain-”

“Can you explain?! It's not what it looks like?! Do you hear yourself?! You raped her. A member of your pack! The ones you swore to protect. Even if you didn't like her thud was too much for you… your father would be grieved-”

“She is my mate!”

“...-in his- what? What did you say?”

“She is my mate, okay? For some reason, the goddess paired me up with her!”

Harriet turns to look at me, “Is this true, Louisa?”

“It is true,” I answer, my voice weak and hoarse. “I found out yesterday.”

“And?” she asks turning to Dominic. “That gave you the right to rape her? Is that it?”

“No, goddess! Of course, not. I don't mean to do that… I don't even remember anything-”

THAWACK!

“You are a severe disappointment, Dominic,” Harriet says while I stare at him in horror.

He doesn't remember anything?!

Is this a joke?

He turned me and he doesn't remember it?!

“Ugh,” I groan out as I bend lower, unable to keep it silent as the pain -both physical and emotional - rips through me.

“This is what we are going to do,” Harriet says as she walks towards me. “I am going to take Rowan to my rooms, clean her up while you will prepare for the mating ceremony-”

“WHAT?! I am not going to do that!”

“You don't have a choice!” she snarls at him. “This is an order. At the breaking of dawn tomorrow, you and Rowan will be mated for all to see. Am I clear?”

“Mother! She is weak! She doesn't even have a wolf, there must be some mistake-”

“Am I clear?!”

The both of them get locked in a staring match, a battle of wills, and neither is willing to give in.

“Fine!” he says. “As you wish.”

“It's going to be alright, dear,” Harriet says as she helps me to my feet and heads toward the door. “I am here now, and I am not going anywhere. Your life is going to get better from now on.”

I don't say anything in response to that.

I get that she cares for me and is completely disappointed in her son.

But he is still her son.

I wonder, if I was her daughter and my mate did this to me, would she still insist upon getting mated?

No.

At the end of the day, she is doing it for her son.

It is popular knowledge that a wolf’s strength increases with his rightful mate by his side and Dominic’s power will definitely increase with the completion of the mating ritual.

But I don't want him.

I don't want to be mated to a rapist.

He will only make my life even worse.

I have to leave.