"Hi, yes you aren't dreaming, it's the chubby Kelly," I say inwardly as I see the unhappy face expression of Jason who is disheartened. 

The guests laugh at us. They call our couple all sort of names. "The prince charming and the pancakes' eater Kelly" is one I can sadly remember."

"I, Jason Bentley of the South pack, reject you Kelly Thompson as my mate and the Luna Queen," he declared fiercely.

***
Kelly Thompson, an eighteen-year-old curvaceous and wolfless she-wolf, has been quietly admiring Jason Bentley, the heir apparent to the throne of the dominant South pack, for a number of years.

Unfortunately for Kelly, she doesn't get the same attention in return from Alpha heir Jason, as the handsome daughter of his old father's Gammas, Betty Nord, is already the love of the pack's future Alpha. But, the plump Kelly has an advantage over the skinny Betty because of a strong vow made by Jason's father, the Alpha King Don Bentley, that his son will marry the daughter of his Betas who gave their lives two years ago in a fight against the North pack's fiercest adversaries in order to preserve the life of the Alpha heir.

But clearly, nothing goes as smoothly as Kelly imagines.

The Rejected Curvy Luna Queen

The fortress isn’t a sanctuary—it’s a *cage*. 


The black oak’s roots coil around the crystalline walls like serpents, their thorns dripping a viscous sap that smells of Eden’s blood. The Forgotten have carved their homes into the tree’s flesh, their laughter echoing through hollow chambers where the Hunter’s heartbeat thrums beneath the floorboards. I avoid those rooms. The sound is too much like a dirge. 


The leader of the Forgotten—she calls herself **Veyra** now—has taken to wearing a cloak woven from the oak’s leaves. They hiss as she walks, whispering secrets even the static can’t decipher. She finds me at dawn, her scarred throat bobbing as she forces words through ruined vocal cords. “The western grove… rejects the Seed. The ground… bleeds.” 


I strap the storm-gun to my back. “Show me.” 


No longer a sanctuary