The Scorned Luna Lives Again!

Chapter Four

**Triggers of abuse**

After the assault she was left alone for a week. It felt almost like heaven after everything she endured already but a big part of her feared worse to come. She would watch the door, trembling with every sound. Every shift of the guards. Every rustle of the leaves outside. Even the sound of her own breathing would catch her off guard sometimes.

One day, after living in such fear, she let out a scream and hid in the farthest corner of the room. Trembling like a fearful child, not registering the intruder at first until a familiar voice called out to her.

"Ashlyn...honey?" It was a calm, warm voice. It was Marcus's voice.

She looked up at him, his deep ocean blue eyes full of concern from her reaction. He slowly approached her, his hands out carefully like he was approaching a frightened beast in the wild.

His eyes looked tearful. Full of regret for whatever made his once proud and loving mate so fearful.

"Honey...it's ok. Come here, please." He tried to gently coax her but she refused to budge. Her refusal to trust him broke his wolf but the human side seemed to get annoyed. His tone became more firm as he was getting frustrated. "Ashlyn. Come here." He tried to use his Alpha Voice. Forgetting she was an alpha as well.

The harshness in his tone snapped her out of fear and put her right into fury. The audacity to try and bully her after everything he's done filled her with a rage even could sense as her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits, her voice shaking with anger

"How dare you try and command me like some common pup... After everything you've done!" She wanted to lunge at him, to rip his throat out but she was frozen in place by Belial 's sudden intrusion.

"Alpha, you're needed back at the pack house." Belial shot Ashlyn a warning glare causing her to flinch. Looking pleadingly at Marcus who seemed to hesitate. Belial smirked as he continued, "it's about Lily alpha."

That was all he needed to hear to be convinced to leave Ashlyn again. To hear Lily's name. Marcus looked at Ashlyn. The guilt weighed heavily on him as he tried to find the words to justify things.

"I.. I'll be right back, I promise. We can talk when I come back, I'll leave you Belial's care." And with that he was gone. Leaving his true mate with her abuser, none the wiser to the torment she'd face.

Belial wasted no time in beating Ashlyn. The very thought she could almost have exposed him and Lily filled him with rage as he beat her mercilessly. As she laid there on the floor, a broken and bloody mess, he only felt a need to humiliate her further as he lifted her up and forced her to look at herself in a mirror. She was a shell of herself. Not even a slave looked so pitiful and lowly.

Admiring the tears in her face that mixed with her blood Belial purred cruelly in her ear. "Look at what's become of the proud, dignified, Luna." He forced her to look at the gruesome visage, a figure she didn't recognize in the slightest. "You're nothing but a withered husk. A punching bag. A plaything for anyone who wants to play and nothing more." He gripped her throat, tightly, ensuring she felt lightheaded as he continued spewing his hateful words "This is your fate. This is what the Moon Goddess intended for you. A family that abandoned you. A mate that never loved you. A pack that despises you. Remember that the next time you think anyone gives a damn about you." With those final words he released her, her body slumping to the ground with a sickening thud. He chuckled and walked away, proud of his handy work.

More time passed. Ashlyn had slowly recovered from Belial's beating but his words lingered in her fragile mind. Why must she suffer so much? When would enough be enough? These thoughts mingled with every cruel, hateful word ever thrown at her. She had been foolish to think she could be happy.

A few more weeks passed before Marcus returned. He looked tired. Worn down. He hasn't realized how much work Ashlyn had done in the pack until he locked her away, leaving it all on him. He had hoped the time away would be good for her, be a good little break but as he looked at her sunken and empty eyes he couldn't help but feel a deep rooted panic. His inner wolf couldn't sense his mate's presence anymore, he howled incessantly and paced around Marcus's mind over and over until Marcus put up a block to keep the beast quiet before quietly approaching Ashlyn.

"Dear? H.. How are you?" He asked awkwardly. Her body was thinner, her once warm honey glow complexion looked pale and discolored. Her long silky honey gold hair lost its luster and those Ruby eyes he had fallen in love with once upon a time were dim and cold. She looked like an abandoned doll. Once beautiful and adored but easily discarded by some reckless, heartless child. It broke his heart seeing her like this but he followed Lily's suggestions regardless.

She had suggested Ashlyn just needed time away from the stress of everything, it had made sense to him at the time but now he felt unsure. He knew he was a bastard. Cheating on his mate. He would be condemned by the council if they ever found out so it made sense to lock Ashlyn away until she was calmer, hoping to appeal to her like he always had when he made mistakes but something in her vacant stare chilled him.

"Ashlyn... Honey... Talk to me. Please. I love you.." His pleading words finally seemed to reach her as she finally turned to look at him but instead of feeling joyful he was stunned by her soft, bitter laughter.

"You say you love me... Do you even know what love is?" Tears began to stream her cheeks. She wanted to lash out. To tell him how vile his actions have been but Belial words stilled her tongue. There was no point. She just hung her head, feeling tired of everything.

He reached out to touch her. His hand was warm but the feeling that once ignited her senses chilled her to the chilled her to the core. She whimpered and flinched as he tried to embrace her, he tried again but she remained frightened and distant, annoying Marcus. He finally snapped at her perceived attitude when he saw the deep scarred marks from her assault with the rogues.

The deep wounds had turned into visible silver scars, something that couldn't be washed away. He was shaking with a mix of fury and concern as he began searching her body finding them in more intimate places.

"W.. Who did this?!" He roared. His body trembling with barely contained rage. Marcus and his wolf were synced in their answer but held different feelings. Marcus knew Ashlyn was strong, she must have cheated on him. There was no other explanation. His wolf though just saw someone had touched his mate.

In their combined explosive reaction, Ashlyn ended up hurt. Her frail body barely able to take the force of her mates anger. She curled up as small as she could, hoping to survive. When he had calmed down he saw she had been injured by him but he wasn't moved. Feeling it was deserved by her perceived betrayal.

"Don't act pathetic now...you disgust me Ashlyn Rose." He looked at her coldly, blinded by his own fury as he continued his spiel. "whoring around just because I made one mistake?! This is why I always preferred Lily! Such a sweet, demure girl and to put up with you and your cruelty and still show you care?! She's better suited to be my Luna!" He spat at her, venom in every word.

Ashlyn was stunned by his words. For half a year she was locked away. Fed scraps. Beaten. Poisoned. Assaulted. All while her mate played a happy couple with the person who had brought her so much misery. Believing his lover's carefully orchestrated lies over his own mate.

Ashlyn had tried desperately to make him understand but everyone was against her. Her own brothers had warned him she was a troublemaker. Soon whenever Lily bullied Ashlyn and she tried to tell her mate he just dismissed her. Seeing her as a spoiled and immature woman, bullying Lily for being an omega. He never believed her. He never sided with her. Lily was always perfect in the eyes of everyone who compared the two.

Sitting up slowly, Ashlyn smiled. It was a soft, resigned smile that made Marcus freeze in place. Her voice, hoarse but clear as she faced him with a detachment that sent chills through him.

"I, Ashlyn Elizabeth North, hereby renounce you, Alpha Marcus Jackson North, as my mate." The blow to him was immediate leaving Marcus reeling, and hardly able to breathe. He looked at her in shock as he fell to her knees.

To sever a bond was taboo. It was wrong to reject a gift from the Goddess but she sat there. Calm and collected. As if her heart had broken long before she uttered the cursed words. Now it was only Marcus's heart aching and it was his own fault.

She smiled for once in these long, harsh months as she continued. "I, Ashlyn Elizabeth North, also renounce my position as Luna of Winter Moon Pack."

The fall back was immediate. A pain through the whole pack as she severed that bond with them all. Marcus was enraged. She was just acting in emotion. He thought to himself as he limped away from her. Walking away without a response, refusing her rejection in hopes to convince her with time.

Time. He thought to himself as he passed outside the door to her room. His mind full of the old memories of their love mingling into the cold detachment she carried now. She just needs time.