Anabelle's POV
"Would you have her stand there and demean your queen Lucas?" The rage in my voice was evident in my facial expression.
"Queen?....queen you say Anabelle..., for all I know, all my life I've had just one Queen, the queen of my heart, Nicole" Lucas smirked holding on to Nicole's chin like it was the most Precious thing he's ever seen.
"You my dear Anabelle, could go be the queen for the pack, I would never drag that with you.....after all you're wearing the crown" her sarcasm reeked of mockery. I felt a tear about to drop down my eyes but I held it in, it would have only added to my humiliation.
"I've got all I need right here" Nicole said seductively rubbing her hands through Lucas's chest. "His heart, something you can never take from me!" she concluded with a fierce look in her eyes. They were so audacious that they began kissing right in front of me. I couldn't stand the sight of it anymore as I stormed out of the room. Watching my husband slip off my hands to his childhood lover was a sight I couldn't get off my mind.
I was in physical competition for my space as a wife. My position as Luna was well preserved while I slipped off the edge of my matrimonial bed. "Hey, Hey, Hey" the clouded thoughts in my mind and the tears in my eyes blurred my vision that I bumped into Logan, my husband's twin brother, unknowingly.
He held my two arms in his palms as I struggled to walk away with tears running down my eyes. "I'm not letting you go.....please tell me what brings tears to your eyes" I saw concern in his eyes, the genuine care I used to see in Lucas's eyes. "Unhand me this instant, it's a Luna command" it surprised me too where the fiery command came from amidst the emotional turmoil in my heart.
"Not for a second, I'd only let you go if you tell me what's wrong" Logan said, still holding on tightly to me. For a moment I forgot he was very much as stubborn as his twin brother.
"Maybe you should ask your brother why his childhood sweetheart is in our matrimonial room" I spoke swiftly, pushing him away and running off.
I guess he too was surprised with what I said as he stood frozen at the spot. My emotions got the best of me as I ran to the kitchen, it was the only place I could relive my anger. "All of you, get out, I don't want to see anyone walk in here, I said!" The maids fled by my swift command.
Cooking was my best stress reliever. Seeing those two extinguished the hunger I felt, but sniffing into my nostrils the sweet aroma of beef curry the maids already prepared whilst listening to soul music all the way from the sitting room did the trick. I heard the door handle Open and for a brief moment I was reminded of the world outside the kitchen. "I thought I said no one should come in here!" I abruptly turned around angrily only to see Logan before me.
"I come in peace....." he said with his hands in the air and a broad smile on his face, trying to create a contiguous humor but I wasn't interested. "Am here to apologize on behalf of Lucas, he could be a jerk sometimes, I know, but be patient with him, it's really not been easy for him....." he paused and he saw the ticked off look on my face. "I mean for both of you" he concluded with utter regret in his eyes for making his last statement.
"It's not been easy for him you say......i too lost a child Logan, one I felt growing inside me everyday, gone before I could see his or her face" I stared at the window expressing my emotions. "And you stand there to justify your brother's actions, bringing another woman home. Is he healing from the miscarriage? Oh please" I said and continued chopping the vegetables with so much enthusiasm.
"I didn't mean it that way Anabelle, I......." Logan tried defending himself when I interjected. "Save it Logan, after all blood is thicker than water, you have the same face, you both are identical.....Am sure you're no different!" There was a brief silence in the kitchen before Logan quietly walked out without saying a word. It was wrong of me to have identified Logan's character with Lucas, I felt immensely guilty watching him leave.
I stood there self blaming myself, recalling the good old days when Lucas and I would run around the castle playing like kids and have the maids and guards watch us in admiration, praying to the moon goddess to bless them with a union like ours. Our problems began when we both decided as a couple to build our family and that was the impossible task. "What do you mean you lost the baby?!" Lucas yelled at me with blood trailing down my thighs.
"I don't know how love happened, I just woke up and found myself bleeding" I defended myself at the same time suppressing the pains from my womb shedding off my first child. "Am sorry Lucas, the next baby would stay…...am sorry" I said, collapsing slowly on the ground with tears in my eyes. Lucas rushed to me and picked me up at the hospital, apologizing for yelling while on our way. At least then he had some empathy for me.
From promising it would be the last time of my miscarriage to it reoccurring up to the seventh time when Lucas no longer cared. He blamed me constantly for it. "You don't only have a weak wolf, but a weak womb too" he said to me as soon as we returned from the hospital after the seventh miscarriage. "Sometimes it seems like you have no wolf, like you're a bloody human and now it seems like you have no womb, you couldn't even carry a...…"
Out of anger I slapped him across his face before he could complete his statement. "Am sorry........love am sorry...am sorry" I began apologizing realizing my mistake, regardless he led me to the provocation that prompted it.
In a twinkle of an eye Lucas retaliated by domestically abusing me. I felt his powerful fists in my belly, and his legs on my spine. The pain from my womb readjusting to my baby's absence collaborated with his punches, intensifying my screams. He ended the assault by saying to me, "You're not worth my strength, I've been wasting my semen on you for the past five years........but never again!"
A year on and Lucas never touched me, even after I made sexual advances to him, he rebuked me and walked away. I knew Lucas to be really sexually active, he wouldn't go a week without going down my panties but he stayed a year avoiding the mere look of my underwear.
The big reveal was made at my thirtieth birthday party. I recall Lucas pulling me by the arm and ordering me to ensure our happy couple act is as convincing as possible to the guests. "I'm not throwing this party cuz of you, I'm only doing this to seal an important deal and to create new connections of course" my heart sank as he said those words to me, I just had to comport myself and pretend to be happy.
The moment the sophisticated looking young lady walked into the hall, all the men stared at her waxed legs and firm boobs. Even some women stared at her too. With her kind of dressing, she definitely was from the contemporary world. She was quite familiar to the Betas and it made me wonder who exactly she was. Until she walked to me. "My Luna, what an honor it is to behold her highness" I was intrigued by her modesty, as she bowed gracefully before me. "Arise…. Am delighted" I replied smiling. She turned around to leave when I asked her the question that lingered on my mind ever since she stepped in.
"Who are you?" I asked halting her to a stop. She took some seconds before turning around and said "I'm Nicole your grace, only child of senior Beta Damon. You might not know me but I've been aboard due to my career". "Oh wow, Likewise, I was, I mean, five years ago" I began excitedly and lost my happiness halfway in my statement, thinking of how lonely life had now become. "So why did you return home my Luna?" Nicole asked with knee interest. "Well Nicole, I returned by special request to serve as chosen mate to my beloved husband Lucas" I said with so much pride and smiles, looking at Lucas who was in the midst of guests.
"What about you? Are you here for the party or do you have other plans?" I asked inquisitively. "Luna Anabelle, let's just say, am back to reclaim something Precious" Nicole replied. I read no meaning to what she said, instead I admired her kind of Lady.
Nicole walked gracefully out of the party through the front door then strangely I saw Lucas following suit. I don't know if it was my instincts pushing me out, but I followed them both outside to the garden.
Then I heard Lucas whispering to Nicole, whilst holding her by the arm "What did you tell her?". She tried defending herself before I butt in. "What was she not supposed to tell me, Lucas?" he was startled that he let go of her arm immediately.
"And why are you out here, go back inside" he tried posing haughty but I was firm. "What wasn't she supposed to tell me, Lucas?" I asked again this time with so much inquisitiveness. Nicole interjected him quickly, responding in the most disrespectful tone, leaving me dazed if she was the same nice lady I spoke to minutes ago. "Let's just say I'm my Alpha's mistress...….Oooops I forgot to add that during my introduction, and that I'm…... also your beloved husband's childhood sweetheart" I gasped. "And yes, the best one is coming, a birthday gift from Lucas and I to you" her face beamed with joy and mine with confusion.
"Here comes! Am carrying his child!" I was bewildered.