Chapter 11
Aurora’s POV ~
I was up early.. showered and had dressed in a navy blue suit jacket with pencil skirt. A white silk blouse and navy and white blocked three inch heels. My hair braided and bunned at the nape of my neck.
I felt Draco at the door, and opened it before he knocked. He grinned “Eager, are we?” I laughed “Why yes, Alpha! I plan on dazzling them with my magic!” He agreed, nodding “You’re going to distract them with your beauty! They’ll forget why they’re there!”
Adrian groaned “Will you two schtahhhp! It’s too early to listen to your flirty banter! I need caffeine before I decapitate someone.” I laughed and took his arm “Let’s hurry, then.. Before you’re running helter skelter through the corridors yelling Off with their Heads, like the Queen of Hearts!” Draco followed, laughing.
We walked into the council hearing room.. and I groaned under my breath. I absolutely hate that all cases are heard consecutively..ours being after Sacred Moon.. yet, we all have to sit through every case. It’s council edict.. trying to teach every Alpha in attendance how the laws operate.
Sacred Moon lost the dispute.. having to return nearly a thousand acres to Black Hills. Not because they were in the wrong.. simply because their attorney is incompetent!
By the time Draconium was called, I was past ready. Since we were the defendants, and American Gas was the plaintiffs.. they presented their case first. As they finished, I stood.. proving the carbon footprint the pipeline would leave upon the earth.. the detriment to the wildlife.. air quality.. and the amount of time it would take to recover would far outweigh the positives of a shorter distanced pipeline.
The council asked the plaintiff, they wanted rebuttal.. their attorney stood and said “The pipeline will allow more than a million people a more economical way to heat and cool their homes.. to heat water or prepare meals. We can guarantee the damage left would be minimal.”
I then said “Minimal? To whom? You would have to remove over twenty thousand acres of trees.. depriving birds.. insects.. and squirrels of their natural habitat! You would churn the earth into mush.. disturbing rabbit hutches.. natural wolves dens.. groundhogs, prairie dogs, chipmunks, mice.. and other creatures. Making them virtually homeless. Then, you face gas leaks.. allowing massive forest fires, should a spark catch. The astronomical costs to recover from that, would come from where? If you are willing to compensate the billions of dollars it would take, I might be able to persuade my client to reconsider. Would you humanely trap all the wildlife and relocate them, at your expense, to guarantee they would not unduly suffer? If so, it would behoove me to discuss that alternative with the landowner.”
I sat back down, and we waited. I held Adrian and Draco’s hands in my own.. offering a silent prayer to the Goddess. Lead councilman announced, ten minutes later “Continued construction of American Gas pipeline through Draconium territory is denied. This council cannot, in good conscience, allow the earth to be so disturbed.” I breathed a sigh of relief!
The owner of the pipeline jumped up and yelled “This is bullshit! This hearing was a farce.. prejudiced and geared toward shifter justice.. and I will appeal in human court!” I smiled and said “Please do! I will defeat you there, as well! It’s idiotic to believe human courts will overturn a council verdict. Inconceivable that they would entertain the notion. Our treaties state that shifters have the right to govern ourselves. We are a country, within a country, gentlemen! And, for the record, shifter’s justice? We are adhering to our laws.. otherwise, as shifters.. we would have just killed you and be done with it! Stop being a sore loser.”
The day was finally over, and we were joining Caleb for dinner. I dressed, accordingly, in a deep red shift dress and black shawl, with matching black heels. I piled my hair on top of my head in a messy bun, and loose tendrils.
We met Caleb, just as Anderson and his party walked in, to be seated. Adrian asked “Doesn’t that woman own any real clothes? How can Kane not be embarrassed by that blatant display of vulgarity?” And I cracked up “Damn, Adz! Tell us how you really feel!” He shivered his whole body in disgust.. making me laugh again.
Amelia did look like a hooker, though. Another neon colored dress.. with deep décolletage. I whispered “I hope she taped her boobs in place.. or there’s going to be a nipslip in her soup!” Caleb roared in laughter “Nipslip? Oh my Goddess, Rori! That’s priceless!”
Draco whispered into my ear “Thank you for always dressing with such classic taste! You are elegant and exotic,, all at the same time!” I shrugged “It is always possible to look decent and sexy, at the same time. Amelia has ever been an attention whore.. she likes eyes on her all the time” Caleb grins and says “Yeah.. that works, for a moment! I see every man turn to eyeball her.. then they all turn away with a ‘what the fuck’ expression!”
Adrian laughed and high fived my brother. I admonished him “Cal, that is still your Luna! She doesn’t deserve to be talked about by her Beta!” He grinned, again and said “No, baby sister. You are my Luna. She is a poor substitute! She’s Anderson’s Luna! Even the pack go behind her back to do exactly what she tells them not to. She’s a joke!”
I sighed.. so disappointed in her. “She had three years lessons in Luna etiquette! What the fuck was she doing.. six hours a day, four days a week? Chewing on pencils? Is this a result of lead poisoning?” Draco spit his drink out his nose.. choking on laughter, and said “Oh Goddess! I’m sorry for laughing, because I know you’re being serious.. but that was some funny shit!”
As we walked out of the restaurant, Amelia came over and asked “Aurora, can I talk to you a minute?” I rolled my eyes.. muttering “ here we go” and I stepped off to the side.. not so far that she couldn’t be heard, though.
She whined “I know you hate me because Anderson and I fell in love.. and that deprived you of your true mate. But to make Momma and Daddy suffer is just you, being childish! You need to grow up and stop trying to get back at me by fucking MY true mate! That’s low.. even for you!”
I started laughing.. really hard “Oh! You’re being serious, right now? I don’t hate you for falling in love, dumbass! I hate you for fucking my mate.. knowing the pain I would endure without his rejection! I heard you that night, Amelia. Laughing.. saying ‘take that, Aurora’ at the top of your lungs.. that was truly vicious.. and spoke to the type of bully you had become. Your parents knew! Your parents condoned it! If not for MY brother, and Luna Bridget.. I would have died! And every last one of you knew it! That! That’s why I hate you! You’re all heartless! Soulless! And you will have to answer to the Moon Goddess for your crimes!”
I turned around.. pulling Isla forward.. I let her summon Axel.. “Axel! Forgive your human! I couldn’t live with you withering away because of his stupidity! Regain your strength and find your pride! Your pack needs you! Be the Alpha I know you can be! Show your human you are better than this! I am sorry for your pain! You really are a special wolf!”
I hugged Caleb.. looked back at Amelia and she said “Go near my mate again and I will end you!” I laughed and asked “Which one?”