I jumped to my feet as the door flew open.
Two largeAlphasstood there waiting for me.Oneof them grinned.
"Come on, yourLadyship," he said sarcastically."It'stime for you to take your punishment."
My blood turned to ice.ButbeforeIcould protest, they seized me by the arms and dragged me out into the night.
FORTY-SEVEN
VIVIENNE
“Well, there she is—ourMoonWidow,”Harrissneered, asIwas dragged out into theMoonGladeby the twoAlphaguards.He, like the other males in theGlade, were stripped to the waist.Thewomen were all fully clothed—they wouldn’t beShiftingsince only malesWereshave wolves.
I noticed that all the males were taking care to stay in the shade of the trees, leaving the middle of theGladeempty.Aslong as they stayed out of the direct moonlight, they wouldn’t be forced toShift.However, if even one beam of silver full-moon light hit their bare skin, their wolf would come out whether they wanted it to or not.
The moon hadn’t risen yet, so everyone was safe…for now.
The crowd parted andIkept the stained drop cloth wrapped tight around me asIwas half pushed/half dragged into the center of the circle that had formed aroundHarris.Icould feel the eyes of thePackmembers on me.Theywere staring at me—no doubt wondering whatIhad done to be treated this way.
Unfortunately, they were about to find out.
“That’s right—bring her up there,”Harriscalled, making a motion with one hand.“It’stime for everyone to see her shame.”
I felt cold as they dragged me to the middle of the circle they had formed butIfelt even worse whenIsaw thatHarrishad a huge portable movie screen set up right behind him.
“Now then,” he said, raising his voice to be heard above the murmurs and speculation.“Ithink it’s time everyone knows what our esteemedMoonWidowhas been up to these past few weeks.”
“Harris, please,”Isaid in a low voice.“Please, just letKorand me go.Youcan have the pack—hell, you can haveWolvertonManorand all ofCarter’scars if you want.Justlet us go free and we’ll never bother you again!”
His face twisted into an ugly sneer.
“Let you go after how you treated me?Afterthat young pup broke my finger in front of the whole fucking town?Idon’t think so!Anddon’t try to bribe me—I’llget everythingIwant andmorebeforeI’mthrough with you.”
He turned to someone in the crowd and made a motion.
“Play it!”he said.
It was full dark by then so there was no difficulty in making out what was happening on the screen.Isaw, to my horror, thatHarrishad made a kind of slide show of every single private actKorandIhad done together.
He had pictures of us in bed together…pictures of us on the hiking trails with me on my knees to suckKoroff.Therewere almost as many pictures—clearly taken through my bedroom window—ofKorgoing down on me.Plusmany, many pictures of us talking and laughing and kissing.
I wanted the ground to swallow me up.Itmade me sick that our love had been turned into such a tawdry porn show for everyone in the whole town to see.Ihad never felt such abject shame—IthoughtImight never recover from it.
Finally, the slide-show ended.Nowthe eyes on me were no longer curious—they were openly hostile.
“What a slut!”Iheard a familiar voice say.Iturned my head and saw it wasMrs.Browder, glaring at me.“Nowonder he refused myCynthia-Ann,” she said.“Hewas screwing theMoonWidowthe whole time!”
Then all around me, people began to talk.
“Slut!”
“Whore!”
“Jezebel!”
“Disgusting!”
With every word hurled at me,Ifelt myself shrinking and growing smaller.ButIdidn’t want to let them make me feel small and ashamed.Mylove forKorand his love for me was a beautiful thing.Justbecause they’d perverted it didn’t meanIstill didn’t love him.
