Halfmoon Heartache (Shadow x avril)

[Shadowfax278]

Ronnie hugged him back before she was kissed passionately, kissing and hugging him back just as passionately before being told to lay down on her belly after he had both laid out some items for her to enjoy along with getting out a tube of more salve along with whispering what he did in her ear that was an apology. She did so, having her head lay down on her arms while trying not to wince at how bad her newest whipped injuries hurt.

After her shirt was put back in place, she sat back up, faced him again, and then sat patiently as he applied the salve to the wound near her eye as well. When he was done with that and before he had to leave, she kissed him back both times he kissed her before watching him leave shortly after.

She then had her attention go to being on the snacks he had given to her, eating one of them shortly afterward. She then went back to sleep after that, dreaming of a much happier time.

((wanted to reply to your post first before I did so ))

~•~•~tsing two years later~•~•~

Two years later, Ronnie was sixteen years old and the injuries she had received by being whipped were now scars both all over her back and also above and below her right eye. She was currently in the middle of cleaning the hallway in front of the dining room at the far left end of it around dinnertime, and was quickly making her way down to the other end but was still careful to be very thorough in cleaning all of the dirt off of it.

She had just finished a spot and had gone to another spot next to it with the previous one drying, when a pack member stepped in it and caused more dirt to appear there. She glared up at him as he smirked and she went back over to the other spot to clean it again, going back over to the new spot that she had started cleaning earlier and continued to clean it with the brush she was using (she's basically in front of the dining room doors).

[xxavrilxx]

Link started his day as always — beer and sex. During the 2 year time frame he managed to fully avoid Ronnie other than in passing and was back to controlling the mistresses of the house, Catherine included. She offered a night of his life a few months after the mishap and he angrily give in, itching to fill his needs. He also managed to gain almost a body’s worth of tattoos, gauges, an eyebrow ring, and a lip piercing. All of which suited him well, accenting his dark, angsty personality.

He shoved Catherine out the door after he was finished with her, snatching the beer off his stand to chug. He threw on some decent clothes and headed downstairs for dinner. It was only 4 and he was already belligerently drunk. Link joined a group of friends at the dining table, happy to have some human contact that wasn’t a mistress. He had been in an awful funk lately and his moon spirit was back to not speaking to him. Go figure, right? He sat down at the head of the table, trying to steady his eyes that looked glazed over. His friends didn’t help his drinking problem — they were almost as bad. Max, the pack mate beside him, already had poured him a glass of wine. He took a sip of it, listening in on the chatter around him.

Out of nowhere, someone said his name. It was one of the pack mates at the other end of the table, Felix, known as the Trouble Maker. “What?” Link responded, seemingly uninterested in anything he had to say. “How’s your little slave? You still trying to f—k her?” He asked with a smirk. This made everyone else roar with laughter. He played along and laughed too, flipping him off before taking another sip of wine. He didn’t let it show but this infuriated him. After a moment of silence, he responded in a taunt,“You know, Felix, that was a time in my life I wasn’t proud of. I was young and horny. She was just a toy, I don’t know why my moon spirit lead me on. She fell into my arms like the rest of them — not that you would know what that feels like!” Everyone belly laughed to tears, except Felix. Link knew he said just enough to make his skin crawl. Satisfied, he took another big gulp of wine and winked at him.

[Shadowfax278]

Ronnie heard the jeers that Link and his friends were saying about her while drunk, their comments stinging a bit but her heart knew that the former was just drunk and probably wouldn't remember everything he said later when he was sober again although her head was saying other things. She didn't let their comments bother her that much as she continued to clean the hallway, going past the door and further down to the left of it.

When she finished cleaning the rest of the floor, she briefly glanced in the dining room on her way to find Don and saw Catherine smirking while rubbing his shoulders from behind near the tail-end of the conversation with his friends (if that's okay) and looking right at her but looked away and walked off to find the former (Don) to tell him that she was done with her task while carrying the bucket and cleaning solution. She didn't want to give her the pleasure of seeing her being upset so that's why she just ignored her.

After she reported to him, she went to the edge of the woods, dumped out the bucket, brought both the bucket and brush to where they needed to go, and then discreetly headed to the archives building to look up some info. When she got to where the building was, she looked around to make sure no one else was there and would see her before quietly entering it just in case there was someone she hadn't seen around. When she had entered it, she went towards the back, and started looking through the packets there to see if there was anything regarding unruly moon spirits that was easy to spot.

She found one a few minutes later, lowering it down, and then bringing it over to a table nearby to start reading. As she did that, she saw another one that had her family name on it, Hemming, lowering that one down as well with a curious expression on her face and then also bringing it over to the same table as the one about the moon spirits to read as well. She had gotten through half of both of them, getting to a page with a younger version of her when she was five in the packet about her family when she heard a ruckus outside, causing her to look up and see some castle guards outside and looking straight at her. She got up, trying to get away but they caught her and brought her to the castle before heading to Link's room soon after with one of them holding both of the packets in his hands while the other held her hands behind her back.

[xxavrilxx]

Link could feel the alcohol wearing off as he stumbled back to his room after dinner. His head was pounding, causing him to be even more irritated. Once in the privacy of his room, he stripped down to take a cold shower. As he was drying off, he heard a knock at his door but ignored it. Still feeling hungover and ill, not wanting to deal with another mistress demanding his attention — he locked the bathroom door. He could hear someone enter his room and then soft whispers being exchanged. Link furrowed his brow, confused. He pressed himself against the door, trying to listen, but was met by what sounded to be footsteps leaving his room. He shrugged it off and got dressed.

When he entered his room, he noticed some folders laying on his desk. He ignored them at first, lighting a cigarette. But curiosity got the best of him and he read the labels marking each folder Hemming Family and Odd Moon Spirit Behavior. He remembered learning the Hemming family used to be wealthier than the HalfMoon family. When the HalfMoon family got stronger, they raided the Hemming family, killing most of them off. Children and some women were sent off on cargo ships to be sold into trades. His family had great pride knowing all the blood they spilled put them in the number one spot. The story always disturbed Link as a child, but he let it go usually, knowing he had no connection to the family.

Link opened the Moon Spirit folder first, he skimmed through it not finding much information. He was about to put it away when he caught a page titled Unexplainable Mate Connections. As he read the page, he seemed puzzled at what was listed. It explained that your mate connection can only be to someone of an equal status. He never really got to ask his moon spirit how or why he was connected to a slave, he only denied it. Trying to make the connections, he opened up the Hemming family folder. He was greeted with a photo of a small child. Link flipped it over and read Veronica- 5 years old Suddenly his headache was gone and he smiled at the photo. He slipped it into his desk to keep. Thumbing through the rest of the pages, he gasped when he realized Ronnie is supposed to be a Beta from the Hemming family but was shipped off to be sold. Makes sense now, doesn’t it, Link? Yet you continued to push me away and deny me, you asshole. His moon spirit chimes in.

Link quickly gathered all the papers and made his way down to the guards quarters.”Where is she? Where did this come from?” He asked, flashing them the folders with a concerned scowl on his face. The guards explained she was in the dungeon. “Release her immediately!” He snapped. The guards nodded, already knowing what those folders possessed. He stood there nervously, as he waited for them to retrieve Ronnie. He hadn’t gave her much of anything the last two years. Frankly, he couldn’t even recall what she really looked like anymore.

[Shadowfax278]

Ronnie sat in the dungeon, cuffed wrists chained to the wall beside her while her hair stayed in its ponytail even though she had some loose strands framing her face. She had squirmed a bit to get more comfortable before sighing as she looked at the ceiling. She hadn’t said anything in two years except to her only friends the healers that had always been kind to her and the only ones that were genuine. She had thought that Link could be a friend but after she had been forbidden from seeing him two years ago and he hadn’t talked to her or let them know that she no longer needed to be forbidden from seeing him, that hope went out the window. She had seen him at times very briefly when she would be cleaning and he’d walk by, but then would always have her attention go back to being on her task.

The other prisoners sneered and made catcalls at her, but she ignored them as she listened to her moon spirit. She had become very good friends with her in the last couple years or so and she was always a comfort when she needed her. She turned her attention to be on the hallway when she heard footsteps approaching, seeing the guards from earlier come towards her with a set of keys. She looked quite curious about it and it ended up piquing her curiosity even more when they opened the cell door. When they entered, she braced herself by closing her eyes for them to beat her but that never came since instead, they unlocked the chains that kept the cuffs against the wall.

One of them then helped her up and they led her out of the dungeon and back towards the guards quarters where they stayed. On the way there, they told her that Link wanted to see her and that caused her eyes to widen slightly before she had them go back to normal to be kept neutral. When they got there a few minutes later she looked him in the eye and asked while being expressionless, “You wanted to see this lowly slave sir?” She didn’t say his name as she had been told to not call him by his name and only by “sir” since she was an Omega and had been reminded of that every day.

[xxavrilxx]

Link was taken aback by her snide comment. How did she hear that conversation?! He thought to himself. It hurt a little, but he didn’t let it show. He gave her a grim smile, realizing how much she has changed. Her hair had grown slightly longer, it looked unkempt from her being treated poorly. Her curves were more prominent which he quickly drew his attention, but forced himself to swallow those thoughts back down. “Veronica, you are to come with me. We have a lot of things to discuss.” He said calmly, not wanting to show any emotion in front of the guards. The guards then released her into his possession. He grabbed her by the arm to drag her along, so nobody would question what was happening.

“Don’t say anything until we get to my room.” He said in hushed voice to Ronnie. He led her to his room, ignoring the curious stares from others in the castle. Link reached his room and the moment he was in there, he shut and locked the door. “Have a seat. Tell me what you know about these.” He said, holding up the folders.

[Shadowfax278]

Ronnie noticed that he had looked a bit hurt at her question as well as a bit surprised, but didn’t react. Although it was true that she had overheard him say that she was mainly just confirming that, that was what she was as she had overheard many of the pack members refer to her as such and just accepted being called that. She didn’t want to share his smile although she was tempted to when she saw him do it, but did look curious when she heard what he said by also calling her by her full name. She nodded and did so after she was released from the cuffs by the guards. When she heard what he said to her in her ear as they were on their way to his room, she nodded again in both confirmation and understanding.

When they were in his room a little while or so later and he had closed and locked the door behind them, she relaxed a bit and then sat down when told to do so. She then looked a bit embarrassed when he said to tell him what she knew about the folders he held up in front of her before saying in reply, “I got them from the archives building. I know I shouldn’t have been in there because an Omega isn’t allowed there, but I wanted to help you out by finding out the info regarding our moon spirits being a bit unruly. I, um, overheard what you said to your friends earlier at dinner, I was cleaning the hallway outside the dining room, and was curious to see if I could find anything out. As to the other one about my family, some of the other Omegas were talking about it, and I realized that I didn’t know much about them so I wanted to see if I could find anything and I did. My moon spirit told me to bring it to you before I was caught, although I’m not sure why as I hadn’t had time to find out the reason before I was put in the dungeon.”

[xxavrilxx]

“Did you read all of it? You’re not an omega, Veronica. You were stolen and sold. You should be a beta and you are my mate. I am sure of it now. My moon spirit refuses to talk to me unless it’s to make fun of me or you are around. ” He said, all of the words feeling like he was spewing them out from the nervousness he was feeling. He stopped and took a deep breath. Link looked at Ronnie with softness in his eyes and said, “Ronnie, I’m sorry. For all of this. I’m sorry for what happened and how terrible I was to you. I neglected you when I shouldn’t have.” He looked down, ashamed of himself. The frustration of losing her was unbearable, and he couldn’t even explain why. It drove him to drink and f—ck away his problems. Ever since he started ignoring her, he felt empty.

Link wandered over to where Veronica was sitting and gently used two fingers to bring her chin upwards in his direction. He gave her a half smile, while noting all of her facial features. Her soft skin, her chiseled cheeks, the scar surrounding her eye. “You are still as beautiful as ever.” He said in a wispy tone. He brushed the stray hair out of her eyes, aching to kiss her again. But he didn’t want to overstep, especially with how snarky she had been before they came upstairs.

“Is there anything I can get you right now?” He asked politely.

[Shadowfax278]

Ronnie shook her head in reply to his question before looking a bit shocked when she heard the next part he said about her actually needing to be a Beta instead of an Omega, and the reason for why that was. She had been stolen and sold? She covered her mouth with the shock she felt from that revelation before hearing the rest of what he said while acknowledging her as his mate. She looked down at her lap as all the emotions she hadn't let herself feel in the two years before now started to break free, the main one being sadness with a bit of happiness. She heard the rest of what he said that was mostly an apology for all the things he had done and didn't do, nodding in acknowledgment while still looking down as if to say that it was okay and that she forgave him due to not being able to speak at the moment.

She then looked up at him shortly after she felt him lift her chin with two of his fingers for her to do so, her tears falling freely down her cheeks right then. "You really think so even though I'm scarred?" she asked softly in reply to his statement while blushing a bit.

"Um maybe dinner?" she asked in reply to his question he had asked while rubbing her tears away with both hands on both sides of her face and sniffing slightly. "I didn't eat anything before I went to the archives building."

[xxavrilxx]

Link felt like his body was crumbling to pieces, watching the tears slowly fall down her cheeks. He wanted nothing more than to heal what he had broken. “Your scars don’t change anything about your pretty smile.” He said, soothingly. “What are you craving for dinner? I think roast beef is in the menu for tonight, but the cooks like me. I can get you whatever you want!” He flashed a smile at her as he said this. “In the mean time, I’ll run you a bath so you can get settled in. Until you’re fully comfortable, I can sleep in the lounge.” He said respectfully.

He wandered off to the bathroom to start the water. He came back to lay out towels, clothes, and a new bottle of sweetly scented soap for her. “The bath is ready for you, whenever you are ready. While you bathe, I’ll grab whatever you’d like to eat.” He assured her, while taking her hand and placing a kiss on top.