His Rejected Curve

Chapter 6 - The Council

Darius Bello didn't come alone.

He came with five black SUVs, ten guards in Silverpine royal grey, and the Werewolf Council - three old Alphas in suits who looked like they had never been told no in their lives.

They parked at the white flags on the river at exactly noon, when the sun was highest. A power move. He wanted Stoneclaw to see his shine.

I watched from the porch with my mother, Theo, and Giselle. I was wearing Mama River's gift: black leggings, black boots, and a fitted deep-red wrap top that actually showed my curves instead of hiding them. Not the sparkly dress from my cover - the everyday armor version.

My silver mark was pulsing. It knew its enemy was close.

Jaxon stood on our side of the river. He had refused to go back to his father. His hands were still raw from scrubbing my old attic. He stood between me and Darius, and for once, that felt right.

"Alpha Alisha!" Darius shouted across the water, his voice booming. He was handsome in a cold, cruel way. Exactly like an older, meaner Jaxon. "You are harboring fugitives and a minor under false law! Return my son and my Beta's daughters immediately, or I will bring this to war!"

My mother didn't shout back. She just walked down to the riverbank, barefoot, in a simple dress. She was curvy, soft, and every guard took a step back when her eyes flashed white.

"Darius," she said calmly. "You tried to kill my daughter by starvation. You told me to fake my death or you'd kill her as a baby. You don't get to use the word 'law'."

The Council murmured.

One of them, an old woman with silver hair, stepped forward. "Is that true, Darius?"

"She's a liar! An Omega who ran away!" Darius snapped. "And that girl -" he pointed at me "- is a Silverpine-born Omega! She is unmated! She rejected my son's rejection which is not legally binding! By pack law, she must return to her birth pack and accept the Prince!"

"She didn't reject your son's rejection," Theo said, stepping forward. "The Moon Goddess did. Check her wrist."

I held up my wrist. The silver crescent moon mark flared bright in the daylight, visible even from across the river.

The old woman Council member gasped. "The Rite of Three! That's not been invoked in -"

"Two hundred years," my mother finished. "My daughter was given the right to choose. By the Goddess herself. You cannot overrule the Goddess, Council."

Darius's face turned purple. "She is eighteen! She is plus-size! She is -"

"She is a White Alpha," Jaxon said loudly, cutting his own father off. Every head turned to him. "And I will testify."

"Jaxon, shut your mouth!" Darius roared.

"No," Jaxon said, and his voice shook, but he didn't kneel this time. He stood. "For ten years you told me Luna had to be thin and perfect and political. You told me Alina Hart was lazy and ate too much. You told me to avoid her. You lied. I cleaned her attic yesterday. Do you know what I found in that attic, Father?"

He pulled something from his pocket. A small, worn, pink journal.

My journal. The one they stole in 10th grade and I thought was lost.

"I found her journal," Jaxon said. "With calorie counts written by other girls. With 'fatass' written on every page. With drawings of her as a pig. She kept it. She kept all of it and still came to class and still helped the pups with homework."

My throat closed. Giselle grabbed my hand.

"I rejected her because you taught me to," Jaxon shouted at his father. "And the Moon Goddess inverted the bond to punish me! I haven't slept in four days! I feel everything she feels! And for the first time, I felt her feel POWERFUL this morning when she lifted a log bigger than me! And I was PROUD!"

Darius stared at his son like he was a stranger.

The Council woman looked at me. "Child, step forward. Is this true? You carry twin wolves?"

It was time.

I walked down to the riverbank, to the white flags. My mother and Theo flanked me. Giselle, surprisingly, flanked me on the other side.

"I was never plus-size because I was lazy," I said, loud enough for the guards to hear. My voice shook at first, then steadied. Luna and Liora rose inside me.

"I was plus-size because I was carrying two wolves. Luna and Liora. Because the Moon Goddess needed a bigger body for a bigger power. You tried to starve them. You failed."

And then, in front of the Council, in front of Darius, in front of the boy who called me fatass -

I shifted.

Not into a shy, small wolf. Not into an Omega.

Into a giant snow-white Alpha female, twice the size of Jaxon's black wolf, with silver-tipped fur and two voices howling as one. My red top tore, but I didn't care. I was magnificent.

The entire Stoneclaw pack behind me howled back. Giselle gasped and clutched Theo.

Darius stumbled back.

The old Council woman dropped to one knee. Then another guard. Then another. One by one, until even some of Darius's own guards knelt to the White Alpha.

In wolf form, I walked to the edge of the river, to the white flags, and stared directly at Darius Bello.

You tried to crush me, Liora growled through me.

Now watch me stand, Luna whispered.

I shifted back, Theo instantly wrapping a blanket around me, and said the words Mama River taught me.

"I, Alina Hart, White Alpha of Stoneclaw and daughter of Alisha Hart, invoke the final day of the Rite of Three early."

The silver mark on my wrist exploded with light.

"I choose."

Everyone held their breath. Jaxon looked like he might pass out. Giselle squeezed my hand. My mother smiled.

"I choose -"

And from the forest behind us, a new howl cut me off.

Not Jaxon's. Not Stoneclaw's.

Red Fang's howl. The pack Darius wanted to sell Giselle to.

They were early. And they had come for Giselle.