"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

Its meadows bloom with flowers that sing in voices stolen from the dead. Rivers of liquid amber cut through fields of silver grass, their currents whispering promises in languages no survivor understands but feels in their marrow. The air is thick with the scent of petrichor and decay—a paradox that prickles the skin. Ravel marches ahead, her boots crushing blossoms that weep black sap. “Feels like a trap,” she mutters. 


Veyd adjusts his cracked lens, scanning the horizon. **“No energy signatures. No fractures. Just… life.”** 


*Too much life.* The seed pulses in Ravel’s pocket, warm as a second heart. It’s been silent since we left the mountains, but here, in this false Eden, it thrums with recognition. The survivors lag behind, their gaunt faces slack with wonder. They pluck fruit from trees that bleed when bruised, drink from streams that leave their lips glazed with gold. 


The valley