Fated: The Alpha's Unwanted Luna

Chapter 203: A silent challenge

"When a she-wolf doesn’t have control of her own heat, what happens is up to her. Do not sentence innocent males to death for something as natural as instinct. Our males are not made to control themselves around a female in heat. They were made to claim her and get her with a pup. That is how we are made. We are not humans, we are werewolves!"

Viola turned to look at the opposing group, unable to conceal the disgust that rose to her face at those words that left Ember’s mouth. No doubt many of those arguing against the law change were ones who had never gone through the nightmare of being attacked for something as natural and involuntary as a heat season.

But then she would be surprised that females with an Alpha wolf aura ever got attacked, considering how they carried themselves and how powerful their presence was, enough to force a regular wolf into submission.

"Our males are not made to control their instincts?" Viola asked with a look of calm, amused disbelief as her eyes swept over Ember and Laila and her former pack members who supported this belief, probably because it was Laila standing at the front of it.

Had it been someone like Laila or Ember standing in her shoes wanting to make this change, they wouldn’t have dared argue against it. But it was her, the wolfless nobody who had gotten the position through sheer will and luck, and so they felt entitled to tear it apart.

But Viola wouldn’t let them intimidate her. Not when she was trying to make a safe place for her sister and others like Sofia. Not when she was going to bring Ivy to live here with her, and knowing that they were twins, her sister most likely also carried her condition of uncontrollable pheromones. For Ivy, Viola would walk down a path of open flames and burning coals without flinching.

"If our males are made to be incapable of controlling their instincts, then tell me how it goes for the female who also cannot control hers? If they cannot control themselves then they should not turn around and blame the female when she gets raped and assaulted against her will. They should accept a female who falls victim to their actions and not abuse her for it. They should raise the pup that was made in the act of their disgusting behavior."

Murmuring broke out across the hall at Viola’s words, and many of the she-wolves standing behind her began to nod in firm agreement. Though many of them might not have liked that she was wolfless or felt she was the best candidate to rule them, a large number of them had quietly hoped for someone to step up and make this change for a very long time, to keep them safe in their own world during their most vulnerable seasons.

"Bullshit." Laila scoffed as she walked over toward the side where Viola was standing. "Suppressants are made for a reason, in case you were unaware, Luna." She said the word Luna with so much open scorn that some of the she-wolves standing behind her laughed like she had delivered a punchline.

"And I can see that only wolfless like you struggle to have control of their heat, but suppressants exist to help with that. Don’t force your beliefs on the rest of us and tear apart what our world has always known." Laila mused, smiling and looking down at Viola despite the heels Viola wore, the height difference between them working in Laila’s favor. "You don’t even belong in our world without a wolf. You are nothing but a misplaced puzzle piece that someone forced into the wrong picture."

Viola felt Laila’s wolf presence pressing in on her, pushing against her with the full weight of an Alpha bloodline trying to intimidate her into submission. Her forehead was damp and her legs felt the pull to bow underneath her, her body responding to the dominance the way any wolfless she-wolf’s would. She clenched her fingers tightly at her sides and held her ground.

Viola recalled the scene she had witnessed two days ago of Laila throwing her arms around her husband without hesitation, like she had every right to, and the anger that rose in her chest from the memory made her fight against the pressing wolf presence even harder.

The feeling bubbled hot into her throat and sat there. She hated that this woman not only shared a connection with her husband but held everything her current position demanded, a powerful family name, a powerful wolf, and perhaps even a deeper and more meaningful history with the Alpha than Viola might ever be able to build. A history that had existed long before Viola had ever walked through the doors of Silver Pack.

Perhaps it was the bitterness of that realization, the quiet and painful understanding that she might never amount to everything Sebastian would need to make him never look at another woman, that hurt her more than Laila’s wolf presence ever could.

But then she reminded herself, steadily and firmly, the way she had learned to remind herself of things that kept her standing. He hadn’t married Laila. Laila was not the Luna. She did not have the right to stand here and make her feel small and undeserving of what she had fought and bled to earn.

Viola ruled over Laila whether Laila wanted to accept it or not, wolf or no wolf.

"You have quite a lot to say for someone who has no standing here, Miss Serrano." Viola said calmly, her voice carrying across the hall without needing to be raised. "Might I remind you that you failed the competition that would have given you the right to speak in this capacity. It seems you forget that easily and require a reminder more often than you should. I rule the she-wolf council now, and I have both the Alpha’s and the elders’ full support behind me."

Viola pressed a button on the tablet she held, raising a holographic screen for every she-wolf in the hall to see, the Alpha’s signed agreement appearing in bold and undeniable clarity on the enormous blue screen above them all.

"The law change is a done deal. And from this day forward, any male who dares touch a woman without her consent and assumes she asked for it will be sentenced to death before everyone!" Her blue eyes locked angrily with Laila in silent challenge.