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Fiji was a paradise compared to New York, and when they reached their accomodation, Asher told Robin she was free to do as she pleased. "I've got too much business to entertain you," he told her. "But you will return every night. If you are not here by sundown, you will face the consequences."
Left to her own devices, Robin explored every part of Fiji she could, immersing herself in all it had to offer. The wonders she discovered during the day more than made up for the horrors she suffered each night as Asher exercised his husbandly rights. He never listened to her pleas, often slapping her to shut her up when she cried out in pain, and she soon learned never to complain. Reasoning that passive submission would make the nightly performances easier, Robin resorted to lying limp and letting Asher do what he wanted, but this earned her more slaps, until one night, in a fit of exasperation, he told her to stop being so weak. "You're the Luna," he reminded her, his eyes boring into hers. "Stop being so foolish. You knew what would come when you married me."
The rape didn't get any easier after that, but Robin did learn now to control her body so it would give the response Asher desired. She never enjoyed the nights she spent with him, but she learned to endure the experience in a way that satisfied him. He stopped slapping her after that, but he never eased up. It was almost as if he enjoyed causing her pain, and, long after he'd gone to sleep, Robin allowed the silent tears to trickle down her cheeks in the darkness. She never sobbed aloud. The one night she'd done that, thinking Asher was asleep, he'd slapped her so hard her ears rang, calling her all the nasty names under the sun.
She'd never made that mistake again.
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Two weeks later, they returned to New York. Robin still hurt inside and out, but she'd learned to put on a brave face in public. Asher wasn't entirely pleased, but he kept his comments - and his hands - to himself as they made their way to the lavish three-storey mansion where he kept the pack headquarters. The pack itself was scattered all over the United States, but they could come to the mansion at a moment's notice if called by Asher.
Robin hated the place. It was as lavish as anything she could dream of, but she wasn't allowed to enjoy it. From the moment they arrived home, Asher made it clear her role was to run the house and the staff who kept it in top order. "You're the woman of the house," he told her. "Go speak with Satine; she's the housekeeper, and she'll tell you how things are done. You're to learn from her, and if I catch you shirking your duties, I'll beat you black and blue."
Robin cursed him in her head as she left, and she cursed him even more when she met Satine. Satine was a cold woman, with a face that looked like she ate children for breakfast and picked her teeth with the bones of small animals. Her voice was grating and harsh, and she made it clear from the start she did not like Robin at all. Satine had been Asher's mistress before his marriage, and was the mother of a boy as bratty as any teenager Robin had ever seen. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNDQPAYF4d0
Jo made it clear from day one he didn't like Robin. "You're too skinny," he told her on their first meeting. "Dad'll have to fatten you up if he's going to get any pleasure out of fucking you. That is, if he can find his way into your--"114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4Xg2uhOg2
"Jo!" Satine stood in the doorway, hands on her bony hips. "You do not use that language towards the Luna!"114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHU3BjabMsV
Jo shrugged, flipped both Robin and his mother off, before leaving. Satine fixed Robin with an equally cold stare. "My son is a bastard," she said. "But I won't have him sully this house with his filth. I'll keep him away from you, ma'am."114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7EoVKxCgF8
Robin took a deep breath. "Thank you, Satine," she said.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTKwIUhT933
Satine grunted and left, but Robin had the feeling she'd just won her first victory. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbxtt0V4zuD
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Jo stayed out of the way after that, but not because of Satine's intervention. Asher himself told his son to leave the Luna alone, and where Jo might have disobeyed his mother, he didn't dare defy his father. Robin was grateful for the reprieve, but when Jo started harassing the maids, she put her foot down. Satine listened and grudgingly agreed her son was out of line. This time, Asher sent Jo away to Kansas, where his cousin, Perry, ran one of the many packhouses the White Springs owned. "You're showing brains," Asher told Robin that night as they got ready for bed. "Jo is not learning the right way to treat women. Perry will teach him what he needs to know so he's better-mannered when he returns."114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAMJ2e5V4vG
Robin privately held the opinion that Perry was likely to teach Jo even more bad manners, but she kept her mouth shut on that score. "I just didn't like seeing the maids suffer," she said, a bit more forcefully than she intended. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD1qxrpeJc4
Asher raised an eyebrow. "You're protective," he commented. "Admirable." He said nothing more, and Robin chalked down another small victory.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXwuxxIz8R8
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Jo returned two months later, and while he was no more pleasant to Robin than before, he had a more civil tongue in his head, and he was slightly less abrasive. Robin decided that was as best as she was going to get, and even Satine admitted her son was a bit better behaved. "Perry doesn't take no bullshit," she confided to her mistress over their now-daily morning coffee. They still struck sparks off one another, but Robin's willingness to learn had won the housekeeper over, just a little bit. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAwTvfQ63z0
"Neither do I," Robin said firmly. "I'm the Luna, so Asher says, and I see myself as the Luna of this household."114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf1NpSEb0kY
Satine grunted. "God help the man or woman who crosses you," she said. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5S8PD12BRz
Robin smiled to herself as they proceeded to attend to their duties of the day. It was yet another small win, and as the days moved through winter towards spring, Robin found herself adding more wins to her tally. Asher never improved towards her, but she'd learned to endure his cruelties. She had Satine on her side, and the rest of the pack grew slightly warmer towards her as the months passed. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOyzsGyxvEu
But she never asked about young Gloria. Gloria was the enemy, and any mention of her name sent Asher into fits of black rage that tore the household apart. Robin was the one dependable constancy whenever Asher went on a rampage, and she proved a sturdy bulwark, keeping the worst of her husband's rages away from the rest of the household. Asher, it seemed, was determined to wipe the last of the Black Cold pack out, but Gloria remained elusively out of reach, much to his fury. He often blamed George for it, and though Robin longed to fight back and defend her father, she knew better, instead letting him rage and fume until the worst of his black mood passed.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX3NePxCdKq
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The day of their first wedding anniversary dawned as cold and grey as the day they'd been married. Robin groaned as she opened her eyes, hit by a sudden wave of nausea. Her eyes widened, and she tore herself free of Asher's posessive grasp, making it to the bathroom just in time. Sick realisation followed as she recovered, and she groaned again. Human though she was, she had the finely tuned instincts of a Luna thanks to her contract with Asher, and she knew the cause of her nausea. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfs9dU9oe6H
She'd just turned seventeen the day before, and now she was pregnant with the child of a man she hated with every fiber of her being.
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