Warriors of Blue moon

Layton zipped up my dark blue gown and I finished pinning some of my hair back as the rest fell into curls over my shoulders. I stared in the mirror, but I wasn’t really looking at myself, my thoughts were far away, and I faded into a daydream contemplating the day ahead.

Today was Zara’s hearing. I had no idea what decision had been made. In fact, I knew as much as Zara did, that anything could be said or done today. But I knew her wishes were to be able to go as quickly and easy as possible and that is all I could hope would happen. Of course, I felt a little foolish for feeling so sorry for her, but I’ll be damned if I don’t show any compassion to someone that has shown such remorse and regret and today, more than ever, it was eating away at me.

I barely ate at breakfast and it was hard to take my eyes off of Layton, who seemed to eat so casually and calm, as if today were the same as any other day… did it not bother him that he was about to dish out a death or permanent prison sentence to someone who was only my age? But I did notice how much more affectionate he had been all morning, kissing my hand, rubbing my shoulder and practically not leaving my side.

It was 09.00hours, and as me and Layton sat in the back room that connected to the main court, all I could hear were footsteps and the shuffling of people entering and low hushed talks, as they took to their seats.

Only moments after, when the noise had subsided, did we hear the clanking of chains and the heavy steps of the guards that escorted her. Then came the turning lock of her chains that locked her to her wooden seat, positioned in the middle of the courtroom which was bolted to the floor. This was all to lessen the chance of a criminal being able to attempt to escape, but in Zara’s case I’ll bet she felt worse right now being chained in that chair than she had felt before.

Layton nodded at me to inform me it was time… time for me and him to enter. He stood up and took hold of my hand and grasped it supportively. I took in a deep breath as we walked out together and into the court room.

My eyes widened as we came through the connecting doors, but I tried to mentally shake off my nervousness and being back in this room, having so many people looking straight at me and Layton. We sat down in our large leather chairs and Layton still didn’t take his hand from mine. He took his folder from the desk in front of him with his free hand, sat straight and stern, looking at Zara. I finally allowed my gaze to land on her, and my stomach tightened in angst, my palms became sweaty as my breathing hitched and my mouth went dry.

She already had tears streaming down her face, leaving a trail of dirt across her pale skin, but she remained quiet and still, she didn’t sob or sniffle, she just let her tears fall. With her messy, notted hair covering most of her face and her tired red eyes looking at us through her tears.

I tensed involuntarily when Layton first spoke, as his booming voice flooded the room.

“WE ARE HERE TODAY TO ANNOUNCE THE FINAL HEARING FOR MS ZARA CAROLINE MAVEN.”

Whispers filled the room, but with one stern look from Layton and everyone instantly fell back into silence as he resumed to list her record .

“ON 14TH JUNE 2007 AT APPROXIMATELY 18.00 HOURS YOU WERE ARRESTED BY THE BLUE MOON PACK GUARDS ON MY ORDER UNDER THE CHARGE OF… CONSTRUCTING AND FALSLY ACCUSING MRS LELANNA MAY CARERA, NAMED WAS MS VANDERWOOD AT THE TIME, ON THE CLAIMS OF A VICIOUS AND BRUTAL ATTACK AGAINST YOU WHICH LED TO HER BANISHMENT.

YOU ASSISTED AND WERE ASSOCIATED WITH THE REBELLION LED AGAINST THIS PACK WHICH LED TO INJURY AND DEATHS. YOU ALSO NEGLECTED TO INFORM US OF YOUR MOTHER TINA ANNE MAVEN’S PLANS TO BREAK YOU FREE FROM THE CELL IN WHICH YOU WERE BEING HELD.”

Zara’s brows raised and she opened her mouth to speak when Layton held up a firm hand to silence her while he continued.

“YOU HAD ALSO SHOWN GREAT DISRESPECT AND DEPLORABLE BEHAVIOUR, LET ALONE YOUR ACT OF TREASON”.

The room remained silent as he glared at her for a moment. “IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO SAY TO COMPENSATE FOR YOUR TREACHORY AND HARM CAUSED TO YOUR FORMER PACK MEMBERS?”

Zara blinked as she took a moment of thought and cleared her throat when a quiet, timid and croaky voice spoke as she looked out to the floor in front of her “I… I wish there were words that were enough to portray my deepest regrets and sorrow at all the horrible things I have allowed and turned a blind eye to. I wish I had at least tried to do the right thing without so selfishly putting value on my own survival before others. I can’t begin to fathom the despair and pain we have caused for so many, and I know that I will never earn forgiveness from the Blue Moon pack. I’m so sorry, from the depths of my heart I am sorry”. She glanced at me and managed a small smile as I smiled back nervously.

“And to my Luna, I thank you for the kindness you have shown me, when I felt I had no one else. I’ll never forgive myself for what I did to you, and I accept the consequences of my actions”

“ZARA, IT IS NOW TIME FOR YOUR SENTENCE TO BE DELIVERED TO YOU”.

Zara nodded in angst as she gulped, awaiting her verdict. Layton took in a long breath through his nose and slightly leaned forward, still clutching my hand.

“IT SEEMS, ZARA, THAT YOU HAVE AN ANGEL OF MERCY IN YOUR MIDST, EITHER THIS ANGEL IS TOO FORGIVING OR THEY HAVE SEEN SOMETHING IN YOU OTHERS HAVE NOT! HOWEVER, I WAS ASKED TO KEEP AN OPEN MIND AND CONSIDER YOUR REGRET AND REMORSE”.

Zara just looked at him puzzled and neither did I know where he was going with this.

“YOUR LUNA HAS SPOKEN FOR YOU ON SEPERATE OCCASIONS. SHE INFORMED ME THAT YOU WERE ONLY AT THE TENDER AND INFLUENCEABLE AGE OF THIRTEEN WHEN BOTH YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER GROOMED AND INDUCED YOU INTO THIER PLANS TO OVERTHROW ME AS THEIR ALPHA AND CLAIM THE PACK AS THEIR OWN… IS THIS TRUE?”

She nodded guiltily and he motioned for her to explain

“They, they said that it was our family that had real rights to the position and that your family had stolen it from them, they also told me that your family had resentment against ours and that eventually you’d have us exiled or even...”

“EVEN WHAT?”

“Even put to death, to ensure you kept your title”.

"AND YOU BELIEVED THEM?” he scoffed.

She shrugged as she looked to her feet “They were my parents. At the time they were still loving and seemed to care for me, so yes, I believed them. Whenever they spoke of it, they always seemed so...saddened by it. It wasn’t until I got older and their plans to take power wasn’t working that I started to see them for who they were. It was as if they had enough of pretending to be good, but by then I thought it was too late, I guess I didn’t have much courage”.

“YOUR LUNA TOLD ME THAT YOU HAVE SPOKEN OF REGRET MANY TIMES, OF COURSE WE HAVE KEPT IN MIND YOUR LOYALTY WHEN YOU AIDED US IN YOUR FAMILY’S THIRD ATTEMPT AGAINST US”.

He looked at me then back to Zara looking deep in thought before he decided to speak again, and my stomach clenched, knowing he was about to deliver her sentence.

He took in a deep breath and sighed with cynicism and I could see in his expression he was battling himself with what he was about to say. ”ZARA, WE HAVE GIVEN YOUR SENTENCE A LOT OF THOUGHT AND WE HAVE BEEN IN DISCUSSIONS MORE THAN USUAL WHEN DEALING WITH A CRIMINAL, HOWEVER BOTH MYSELF AND THE COUNCIL DECIDED TO RESPECT OUR LUNA’S WISHES AND TRUST HER JUDGEMENT IN GRANTING YOU YOUR FREEDOM”.

Her eyes went wide in shock “wait what?” she rambled out as she looked at Layton and the council. My head whipped to Layton as I sucked in a shocked breath.

Layton nodded ”WE ARE KNOWN TO BE FIRM BUT ON OCCASION WE ALSO BELIEVE IN SHOWING MERCY. HOWEVER THE TERMS OF YOUR FREEDOM ARE THUS… YOU WILL BE ON PERMENANT PROBATION, YOU WILL BE TAKEN TO OUR REHABILITATION ACCOMMODATION TO ADJUST BACK INTO THE SOCIETY OF YOUR FELLOW PACK. YOU WILL BE ESCORTED EVERYWHERE YOU GO, ALL YOUR VISITORS WILL BE MONITORED YOU WILL BE WATCHED CLOSELY AND SUPERVISED.”

He looked at her sternly as her shoulders shook while she wept ”ZARA MAVEN! YOUR LUNA HAS PUT FAITH IN YOU AND HAS FORGIVEN YOUR MISDEADS. DO NOT DISSAPOINT HER… IF AT ANY MOMENT WE FEEL DISTRUST IN YOU AND YOU SHOW SIGNS OF ACTING AGAINST US YOU WILL BE ARRESTED WITHOUT HESITATION AND SENTENCED TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT, AND BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY, IF YOU LET DOWN YOUR LUNA, I WILL REIGN HELL AGAINST YOU FOR YOUR REMANING DAYS. IS THAT CLEAR?”

She nodded her head vigorously as she cried harder with dribble falling from her mouth as she couldn’t contain her blubbers “I promise with my whole heart I will never let my Luna or my Alpha down again.”

Layton nodded and motioned his hand for the guards to unlock her chains and escort her to her new accommodation. As her chains clanked, Layton stood with my hand clasped in his and led us out to the back room. As soon as the doors were closed behind us, I threw my arms around him and I squeezed him tightly ”Layton, oh my goodness”. I squealed with glee and surprise. ”I didn’t expect for one moment that had been the decision? how… why?” I stuttered as I pulled back to look at him.

“Well, me and the board did some rounds with pack members, especially those mostly affected by everything that’s happened. Of course, a lot of them were quite mystified at first, but once we explained how you felt and the talks you had with Zara and everything, she had told you… over time they came around to the idea and agreed. Of course, it’s going to take some getting used to for everyone to accept her and give her another chance. Not to mention they all have to trust she’s not fooling us, but if I’m being honest, after seeing her reaction… I do understand why you spoke for her… I think perhaps your right and she was just brainwashed into believing she was doing the right thing. Perhaps it was more out of love for her parents than anything else”.

I shook my head feeling flabbergasted. “I can’t believe you did that!”

“Yes, well, my love, I trust your judgement and I love that you wanted to show her mercy! I love that, after everything she and her family put you through, you forgave her and you’ve put your trust in her… it’s just made me love you all the more! My soft and fierce little warrior” He grinned as he planted a hard and strong kiss on my lips that brought a heat to rise up in our bodies as we grasped hold of each other tightly, the passion arising he lifted me up and put me on a bare desk as he scrambled to put my dress up around my waist, unzipping his trousers and quickly lowering his boxers as if he couldn’t wait a second longer to feel my wetness all over his throbbing cock. I leant back as he pushed his way in and penetrated me deep and hard all over the desk as sweat covered our bodies as the wild and frenzied fireworks took over, unleashing our juices as he kissed and bit my neck with my hands tightly clasped around his big strong shoulders.

It seemed showing an act of mercy today had made us both even more sexual than normal as we ravishly made love more throughout the day, any chance we got we ended up either semi or fully naked with me against the wall or on the floor in our office, on the desk in our library and later that night when we had finished signing the paperwork for Zara we went for a little walk and made sweet and tender love three times under the trees and held each other’s exasperated bodies as we spoke softly watching the starry night sky.