#Chapter 10 Pick Someone Your Own Size

Olivia’s POV
“Please, consider going to the hospital,” I plead, seeing the color in Reese’s face drain.
Being outside in the cemetery, it’s obvious his allergies have gotten the better of him. There are roses everywhere, bouquet of flowers hung all over the headstone and the casket, my old body waiting to be released into the ground forever.
My brother twiddles his thumbs, sitting in the front row with me as he stares at the ivory coffin. I’m half shocked that Herold put any money into this ordeal at all, considering he was probably throwing cartwheels after finding out I was dead and out of his way. At least now, he won’t have to worry about the divorce papers and he looks like a saint to everyone else.
Reese rubs his red, raw eyes, wheezing slightly. “I’ll be fine, Queen Luna. Thank you for helping me earlier, but I have to see this through. I loved my sister. This is the last moment I’ll ever have with her. I was the one who sent her out to the moon goddess. I need to be here.”
I brush his hand, holding it in both of mine. “If you think you can handle it, then okay.”
Alicia plops down in a seat beside my brother, her arms folded over her chest as she stares arrogantly at the coffin. “Don’t worry, little Reese. At least now, your sister’s mate can finally live out her truth. She was a silly woman anyways, thinking she could love my mate.”
“She made a mistake loving that pathetic Alpha,” Reese bites. “She was not a silly woman. She was a loving, generous woman and you and I both know she stepped up to help him in his time of need.”
With Herold far out earshot, Alicia leans forward, smiling crookedly. “The logistics don’t matter now, do they? I have the Alpha and your sister has nothing.”
Reese dares to confront her, but I hold him back, watching her strut away towards my old mate, cooing over him now as though to edge herself into his weaker side. She’s a thorn in soft skin, sharp and cunning on the outside but other than that, she is nothing beneath the surface.
My brother sobs into his hands. I’ve never seen him so distraught.
“I hate her, dammit, I fucking hate her…”
“Relax, Reese. It will all work out in the end.”
He stares through me, his eyes bloodshot and black in the centers. What little of his wolf is left through his illness, he holds onto now in the form of rage and anguish. I can’t watch my brother suffer, not even to protect the guise of my new life.
“Leave the revenge to me, Reese,” I hum. “I will do whatever I can to make that woman pay for what she’s done to you and to your sister.”
He looks thoughtfully at me, his tears of resentment slowing. “You seem so familiar to me, Queen Luna. I can’t pin it, though.”
I brush his hair back, wishing he would take better care of himself. “Promise you’ll let me handle that witch, while you try to get better. Deal?”
He nods, relaxed at last. “Deal.”
Gabriel is at my side now, his hand caressing my cheek. He gives me a gentle, warm grin and helps me from my seat, pulling me aside as the slow music begins to play. I suppose I should move seats anyways; the Queen Luna not really close enough to my old life to be sitting in the front row of the funeral procession.
The Alpha King hangs off of my every movement, my every glance, holding me in front of him, his arms hugging tightly around my hips. I sink back, relaxing my head into his neck, his warm body securing me perfectly as we sway with the gentle breeze that trails through the cemetery.
“You are amazing,” he mumbles. “Comforting that ill wolf. You really do care for Luna Olivia, don’t you? Looking after her sick brother… it’s so nurturing, my dear.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. Nurturing. As in, motherly.
I try to hide the flinch of thought that crosses my mind about losing my unborn pup. I cling to Gabriel as the funeral begins, the flowers being tossed onto the casket as it lowers slowly into the dirt. In my moment away from Reese, I half expect him to be a blubbering mess but when I spot him across the yard, I watch Alicia approach him like a snake finding its’ prey.
She holds a bouquet of lilies, the worst allergen you could have around my asthmatic brother and when she slams them into his chest to take, pointing at the coffin as though to tell him to toss them over my casket, I loose my mind.
My brother is already suffering from his allergies. This doesn’t help.
I rush to his aid.
I rip the flowers from his hands, throwing them aside while I grab for the inhaler, holding his head upright as he takes in low, shallow breathes. Gabriel is beside me now, kneeling on the opposite side of my brother, his eyes wide in subtle panic.
“How can I help, my dear?”
“Please have someone get him to the hospital, he isn’t well. He can’t stay out here.”
Gabriel calls for his warriors, my brother being carried away in haste from the cemetery. The rage is still fresh in my soul, though. When I catch Alicia snickering behind the palm clasped over her mouth, I skip the pleasantries of an accusation.
I charge toward the amused witch, uncaring that this is my own funeral.
I close my fist, crossing it over her cheek without any sense of remorse. She looks discant, blood pooling from her nose, watching me like she wants to retaliate but she can’t; after all, I am the Queen Luna now.
“You knew he would pass out from those flowers,” I growl. “You’re the worst kind of evil there is. I loathe you and your nasty tricks—you are a wretched, jealous bitch!”
I suddenly feel everyone staring at me again, but not as I had anticipated. I figured I would be looked at like I’m crazy, maybe even unhinged, but everyone, including Herold, stare at me with a moderate sense of adoration. I collect myself, looking to Gabriel as he holds his head high in my decision.
“It’s time for us to leave, Herold,” Gabriel says, sneering. “It’s obvious that you and your trickster of a mistress have caused my Luna great distress. I pity your mate in her passing; if she had to live with a fraction of what I’ve seen today, I would assume death would be the easy way out of this toxic trap.”
Herold looks to Alicia now, furious and panting. He will shift soon but I won’t be around to watch it happen. Gabriel leads us away at once, holding my hand the entire drive back to the palace on the royal pack lands.
I can only imagine how I looked today.
If he wanted to divorce me back then, he certainly will want to now.
Gabriel settles into his office, taking phone calls and moderating issues that arouse in our time off the pack grounds today. I reach for the divorce agreement, brushing it in front of him. He pauses his work, cocking a brow at me subtly.
“You should sign these,” I exhale.
He sat back in his chair, tapping his finger to his broad jawline. I wait for him to grab a pen, to start the process of divorce like he wanted, but instead he cracks a lax grin.
“No. I won’t sign them.”