Valerie

Chapter Ten

At the bottom, stood a man and two look alike girls, neither of them my sister.

"Luna," The man greeted, tall and burly as most Alphas were. He bowed to me. "We welcome you to the Colina Dorada pack. We call it golden, for short. These are my two eldest daughters, twins." They each kissed my hands.

"Nice to meet you," I said. Their eyes shined, like they waited for something more and I realized, they were looking at my mark. "You may speak if you wish."

"Did it hurt?" one girl blurted out, immediately blushing.

"A little." I tried to think of the most regal and bland response as possible. "But if it's the moon's will, it can't be bad at all, can it?" They blushed again and I caught the flash of movement behind them. "Excuse me."

From a red sports car appeared the smiling form of my sister. She wasn't asI remember her. For one, she was taller than me. Secondly, she wasn't frail and sick, she was long and lean and toned. Thirdly, she'd shed all the baby fat on her cheeks. I flew into her. "Myram!"

She caught me with surprising strength. "Goodness, Valerie, you're light as a feather!" She pulled back and held my shoulders. The smile melted from her face. "You're tiny."

I pulled on the loose shirt I'd chosen to wear in an attempt to disguise it. "It's a long story. Take me to where you stay and I'll tell you on the way."

I held her hands in the back seat. Two years. Two long years. Last I saw her, she was chubby, with round cheeks and a love for the movie stars that we saw on the old films in the orphanage. "Is it true? Everything they say? You're the Luna? The real Luna?" I nodded. "Why did he pick you?"

"Because he's selfish." The Driver's head ticked with a vein. "I mean, because we're true mates. But he had some very good pairings, some very close call genetic pairings I'm sure. All I'm saying is that he could've weighed the benefits against the drawbacks." Her eyes are wider than an owl's. "It happens all the time. Servant girls get taken away all the time. I thought, foolishly, that I'd be able to make it out. It was rare, but possible. I just didn't have the...tact."

A soft "oh" was her only response.

"Tell me how you've been," I said. "You've been here, three weeks?"

"Two months actually."

I raised my eyebrows. Two months? But that could be the entire duration that I knew the King...

My heart did a pop and my hands went cold. "Who moved you here?"

"The Alpha of this pack flew out and told me to collect my things. Three weeks ago a friend flew out to meet me. We live here together." I bit the tip of my thumb—a new, quickly developing nervous habit. If didn't behave as he wanted, would he move my sister back into the orphanage? Was this Alpha set to watch her? Would she end up just as I have?

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"No, nothing."

Myram ran her eyes over me. "So how did you...get so thin?"

"It's a long story." Her eyes wouldn't give me any room to get out of telling it. "The servant food isn't much. The meat, the dairy, the eggs, it goes to the wolves. And...it's a strategy."

"A strategy?" Her voice rang hollow.

"At the palace there's two groups of us. Or there were. The long term servants and the new girls who won't go on scent blockers. Us long term girls, we had a ritual, we called it uglification. And we..." I began to laugh, dry, nervous, and weak as I sorted through my words. "Wolves value the curves on a woman. Almost religiously. So we just...we just took them away.

Myram was silent. I wanted a warm welcome from her, not the same shocked, horrified gaze Aeneas offered when he heard of my strategy.

"It was necessary," I pressed. "I've seen almost a hundred girls claimed, right before my eyes. And—" I almost went into detail about my education so far, about my procedure. But I didn't need to relay the burden onto my younger sister. "Nevermind." It was mine to bear alone.

"Do you eat now?" I reached into my back and pulled out a bottle.

"I have no idea what's in these, but it's the only thing I've managed to keep down so far. I've been trying real food, solid food every now and again, but wolves eat so much meat—"

"Then you'll eat real food now." She took the bottle out of my hand and her face lit up again. "We'll get you back to what you used to be."

❂ ❂ ❂ ❂

Myram was living with Jenia, a formerly buck-toothed, pig-tailed twelve year old. But she'd shown the same change as my sister, growing out--though she wasn't taller than me--and tanning. I wondered as I looked down at myself if I'd gain the same muscle mass they had.

That night, Myram made a lettuce and chicken wrap and prodded me until I ate it all. I didn't throw-up, which surprised me. In the morning, she dragged me out of bed.

"We're going to work out," she said. I knew work. I knew work until my hands peeled. But when they said work, they meant a weight room with all sorts of equipment. Heavy 'dumbbells,' 'ellipticals,' and 'resistance bands.' She set me up on light weights, with the promise I'd move up soon.

That night, she made an egg and pork dish. I managed to force it all down.

I'd never had so much free time before. At the palace my every second was spent sweeping, weaving, washing, cooking, and barely breathing. But now, what else did I have to do but lounge on the beach? I didn't wear the bathing suits and bikinis my sister and her friend favored. I didn't like the way my hip bones and my knees looked, so knobby and painful. 

Next, my sister cooked pasta. It was the first time I'd ever had the dish, covered in cheese and mixed with chicken. I didn't have to force this down.

A week into my stay, a delivery of my smoothies came in. I still drank them, they were a guilty pleasure. "Is that ice cream?" she asked.

"I don't think so," I replied.

She took a sip. "No, it's not ice cream. Huh, what's in here?" I didn't want to know.

More days passed and I discovered my favorite meal was yellow, jasmine rice, cooked in a curry. I ate three plates of that. I'd never felt so full or so lazy. I ended up sleeping in the sun for three hours after.

"You're really carrying weight," Jenia said one day, spotting me as I did a shoulder press.

"Twenty pounds is nothing."

"It's more than last week."

It was a reminder that this was my third and last week there. In a few days, he would come back and take me. But I didn't want to go back.

Three days came and went and the third week bled into the fourth. Maybe he was running late?

I licked up a spoon of ice cream from my towel on the sand. It was an abnormally hot day and Myram had declared we'd go to the beach. And the beach meant cold treats and chilled brownies. I thought back to my time as a servant. This was spoiling me. And I liked it. 

Later, I dipped my hair in clean water, a strategy to keep the salt water out, and waded out into the ocean. It was cool, but not unpleasant and I turned onto my back to float. If I could stay like this forever, then I might start worshipping their moon goddess. 

In the distance, I saw Jenia and Myram had pulled themselves out of the water and now bumped a volleyball back and forth.

"Hey Valerie," Jenia called out to me. Don't you think it's time you get a real swimsuit! Not those grandmother d--" She was silenced by the volleyball in her face. Myram threw me a thumb up and my head tipped back into the water. I laughed and it sounded fresh and clear as the sun.

That night, we ate a barbecue roast, delivered courtesy of the Alpha of the local pack.