Rise of the Chubby Lunar Queen

POV: Ava

"I reject you, fatass."

The words cut through the  silence of the grand hall like a knife.

BOOM.

The entire pack went dead silent for a fraction of a second, and then the laughter started. It began with a few snickers from the back row warriors, but in less than 10 seconds, the whole Silvercrest pack was cackling and giggling like I was some clown in a circus. 

I could feel my vision slowly wavering due to how overwhelming everything was. I froze right where I stood in the middle of the room. My hands were shoved deep into the pockets of my oversized black hoodie, my thick dark curls falling over my face to hide my burning cheeks.

I stared at Kael…. The Alpha Prince. The golden boy with the sun-bleached hair and ice-blue eyes who I had spent my entire childhood secretly crushing hard on. The boy whose smile used to make me believe in fairytales.

He didn't look like a prince right now. He looked like a monster.

He stood on the raised dais, his handsome face twisted into a cruel, mocking smirk as he looked down his nose at me. He didn't care that we were standing in front of the entire pack hierarchy. He didn't care that the Moon Goddess had just tied our souls together five minutes ago when the clock struck midnight on my twenty-third birthday.

Then, the mate bond snapped. It ripped forcefully.

A sharp, agonizing pain exploded right in the center of my chest, like a hot iron rod being driven straight through my heart. The invisible tether that had just sparked between our souls shattered into tiny, jagged pieces, sending a shockwave of cold rejection through my veins.

My knees buckled instantly.

Everyone in the hall leaned forward, their smirks widening as they expected me to burst into tears and beg for his mercy. They probably thought I was collapsing because my spirit was broken. Or that the weak, worthless daughter of the pack was about to make an even more pathetic scene for herself by crying on the floor.

But I just knelt in the dust because the force of the bond breaking literally dropped me to the floorboards. The pain was so intense it stole the oxygen right out of my lungs, my fingers scraping against the cold stone as I forced myself to breathe. Deep inside my mind, my wolf, Nyx, let out a low growl that vibrated through my bones, her territorial fury waking up from a long sleep.

*Let me out,* Nyx snarled, her voice dark. *Let me tear his throat open.*

*Not yet,* I whispered back in my head, pressing my palms against the stone. *It's not like we can overpower him like this. 

I slowly tilted my chin up, pushing my curls out of my face. I looked directly into Kael’s ice-blue eyes, my luminous amber eyes flashing with a sudden golden light that made his smile falter for a microsecond.

"May the Moon Goddess never give you another mate," I whispered, the bitterness evident in my voice.

My voice wasn't loud, but it carried perfectly across the silent room.

The entire hall gasped in unison. The warriors stopped laughing, the elders shifted uncomfortably in their seats as the weight of my words settled into the air. A curse like that from a rejected mate wasn't a joke. It was a rotting dark energy that could ruin an Alpha's line forever.

Kael’s face turned an ugly shade of red, his chest rising and falling quickly as my words hit his stupid ego. He let out a loud, forced laugh to cover his sudden nervousness, stepping back toward the center of the dais.

"I don't need a curse from a rogue's daughter to tell me my future," Kael publicly shouted, his voice shaking the hall.

He turned around slowly, his eyes locking onto Lyra, who was standing near the front row. She looked perfect, her platinum hair styled flawlessly, her doll-like features twisted into a smug grin as she looked down at me on the floor.

Kael reached out, wrapped his hand around Lyra’s waist, and pulled her flush against his chest. He bent his head down and kissed her right in front of my face, his mouth moving aggressively against hers while the pack started cheering again.

It wasn't like the humiliation could get any worse. The only good thing about hitting rock bottom like this was the fact that it couldn't get any worse. Or so I thought. 

I didn't watch them finish. I forced my shaky legs to stand up, my boots making a quiet clicking sound against the stone as I turned my back on the dais and walked out of the double doors alone, the sound of their clapping fading behind me.

★

The walk back to my family's estate was so cold, the northern wind cutting straight through the thin fabric of my cotton hoodie.

I pushed the front door open, stepping into the quiet foyer. I just wanted to get to my room. I wanted to lock the door, crawl into my blankets, and let Nyx soothe the burning ache still throbbing in my chest.

But the peace didn't last three seconds.

My mother was sitting on the velvet sofa in the main parlor, a glass of dark wine in her hand. She didn't stand up when I walked in, and she didn't look at the dirt on my knees. Her sharp face was twisted into a mask of cold disgust as she stared at my oversized clothes.

She didn't comfort me. There was no hug, no soft words, and no checking to see if the mate bond breaking had hurt my wolf.

"Couldn't you lose some weight before embarrassing this family in front of the entire council?" she snapped, her voice dropping into that familiar, cutting whisper that always made me feel like an accident. "The Alpha Prince rejected you in front of the high lords, Ava. Do you have any idea what that does to our standing? You looked like a giant, clumsy fool out there."

I closed my eyes, my knuckles turning white inside my hoodie pockets as the words hit me. Ouch. Even after everything that happened in the hall, her tongue was still the sharpest blade in this house.

"He rejected me because his father ordered him to," I said quietly, my voice steady despite the shaking in my hands. "It had nothing to do with my size."

"Keep telling yourself that lie if it makes you feel better," she scoffed, setting her wine glass down on the table with a loud click. She stood up, her expensive silk robe rustling against the rug as she walked over to the desk near the window.

She picked up a small leather travel bag that was already packed and sitting by the chair.

"Pack the rest of your bags," my mother commanded flatly, not even looking at my face.

I froze near the doorway, my brow wrinkling. "...Why?"

My mother turned around slowly, her cold eyes staring into mine with zero mercy, a cruel smile touching her lips.

"Because your father and I just signed the transfer ledger with the northern border scouts," she said, her words falling like bricks in the quiet room. "You're being sold.”