“I, Jason Wright Alpha of Crescent Moon pack, reject you, Samantha Stone, Alpha of Tristate pack.” The feeling of deja vu lingers in the air, and I feel my lungs burning as I struggle to breathe. Every cell in my body is telling me this is a bad idea, yet I go through with it.
“I, Samantha Stone, future Alpha of Tristate pack, accept your rejection, Jason Wright, Alpha of Crescent Moon pack.”
I can feel it this time, I can actually feel our mate bond breaking and it's excruciating. Ming is howling in pain, I can't even block her any more because I feel like the blood cursing through my veins has been replaced by hot lava. It just hurts so much, I would rather be dead. I fell to the floor wincing in pain already regretting what I did a million times over.
“Ja... Jason?” I call out for him, but I don't get an answer. Panic takes over me as I frantically start searching the whole house for my rejected mate, only to find that he is gone. I let the sobs take over, hoping to cry myself to death.
What have I done?
46 - Labour
Samantha
Over 3 months have passed, and now Jennifer is due any moment now. She called me screaming down the phone, threatening to burn my hair off if I'm not there for the delivery of her first born child. Apparently I'm the Godmother. She never asked me if I wanted the title, but she didn't have to. As honoured as I might be for my new role in the baby's life, I didn't know it was expecting of me to be there when he first makes contact with the outside world. Anyways, I know better than to go against a very pregnant and easily irritated Jennifer, so I made the necessary arrangements and I'm flying back to England in about... Oh shit, I have exactly one hour to get ready and get myself to the plane before it takes off without me.
“Knock knock, you ready Alpha?” Tyles strolls in my room like he owns the place. I glare at him and his audacity. He always does that, literally not having any respect for his Alpha.
“You know that saying the words 'knock knock' and ACTUALLY KNOCKING are not the same thing, right Ty? I could have been naked, or worse!”
“Relax, It's not like I'm into girls. Seeing you naked does exactly the same thing to me as seeing you in a snowsuit. Which is nothing. You have a bangin' body and everything, I just would rather not be the one.. banging it, you know?” He explains as if it's the most normal thing in the world to tell your best friend, and I'm left confused because I'm not sure if he insulted me or complimented me. So I settle for throwing a pillow straight at Tyler's face. My aim has clearly improved, because he almost lost his balance as a result of the pillow attacking him.
“What the hell was that for?” Tyler screams as he runs his fingers through his hair to fix it, and glares at me.
“You know what for. Why are you even here? I didn't know you're coming with me. Wait, are you?” I ask when I noticed the small travel bag my Beta dropped by the door.
“Sammy, you know I always travel with you, right? Plus, I want to be there for this.”
“For the baby coming?” I ask surprised that a man would want to go meet a newborn. “That's unusual...”
“Sure.. for the baby. Now chop chop. We need to leave in like 15 minutes.” I decide to ignore Tyler's weirdness and focus on packing at the speed of lightning, instead. We moved quickly and stopped the bickering, which means we got the packing done and made it to the plane with 5 minutes to spare.
Tyler decided it would be a good idea to break out the stash of champagne that my uncle keeps locked in a minibar in the cabin of the plane. It made for a very interesting movie marathon. We've enjoyed ourselves so much that we didn't even realise when the hours flew by and the Captain told us to buckle up for landing.
As soon as we stepped out of the plane, Luke was there to greet me and Tyler. I will admit I've been nervous about meeting Luke again. I haven't seen him after Jason and I rejected each other, and there's a chance we might be second chance mates. The thing is I don't think I would want that, although not even a year ago I would have wanted nothing else. The truth is that, mate of not, Jason has been on my mind the same way as before the rejection. I can't even begin to think about dating another person, when all I can think about is Jason's body being tangled with my own in a passionate dance between the sheets. Yup, I had a taste and now I want more, go figure! I haven't been with another male since Jason, but that doesn't mean I haven't been horny. Unfortunately I had to take care of my hormones myself, because I don't think anyone else could compare to my ex mate.
I hope things will change if I ever find my second chance mate, because right now, I'm not too keen on the idea of another man touching me. Please Goddess, don't let Luke be my second chance mate, pretty please!
“Hey, guys, glad you could make it. How was the flight?” Luke asks while slowly approaching us. I'm staring at him, carefully watching every movement he makes. I take a long deep breath but I can't feel any intoxicating scents. Ming is as quest as a mouse, not that she has been speaking to me a lot since the little stunt I pulled and broke the bond with her mate, but at least she's not screaming the words 'mate' over and over again.
He reached us, took a good look at me, as if he was searching for something. My breath hitched a bit, unsure of what was happening, still thinking of the possibility of us being mates. Being engulfed in a tight bear hug is not quite what I had in mind, but Luke hugged me without warning and took a long whiff of my scent. I am a bit uncomfortable, but don't pull away. He is my friend after all, I don't want to be rude.
“Nope, still not mates.” Luke says jokingly, half disappointed and half relieved after pulling away and breaking our hug. I feel the same. On some level I'm relieved, it would just complicate things.
“Still not mates.” I manage to reply, trying to read Luke and see if he's really OK with that. For some reason I thought it would be a great idea to pat him on the back, like guys do. Tyler cringes at my weird gesture, and he's not the only one.
“You know what Samantha, Carla is now basically your mother, so us being mates would have just been weird.” We both laugh, agreeing to that statement. We're better off as friends and from what I can tell, Luke is not mad at that either. “It's really nice to see you, though. I'm glad you're here. Let's take you to see Jen, alright? Poor Ryan needs a break.”
“..will not push this baby out until my best friend gets here!” It's impossible not to hear Jennifer's screams as the doors to the Blood Moon pack's hospital open.
“Which room is she in?” I ask Luke, wanting to get to my friend sooner rather than later, before she bites someone's head off. Literally.
“Uhm.. Jen's actually not in this wing. Come on, it's not far away.”
We walk slowly and as soon as we enter the maternity ward the usual sounds of women trying to push babies out of them hits us. My eyes widen and it is clear that Luke is not comfortable being here either. The whole Blood Moon pack knows that their Beta is expecting his first son to be born any minute now, so all available nurses are fussing about Jenifer. When another scream emitted by my friends reaches our ears, Tyler stops and does one eighty. He rushes out the same way we came in, muttering something about not being drunk enough for this. I wish I could follow him.
“I wish I could follow him.” Luke whispers and I chuckle.
“I was thinking the same thing.”
Soon we reached the door to Jennifer's room. Her parents, Ryan and his parents were all waiting outside. Apparently she kicked them all out because they couldn't help with her pain. Yup, that sounds.. reasonable. What the hell am I supposed to do in there? I don't know the first thing about labour or babies. She's the doctor, not me.
“Sam?” Ryan waves a hand in my face and I snap out of my thoughts.
“Sorry, I just.. I'm nervous, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do.”
“You'll be fine. She just wants to see you. The baby will be here soon, she's ready, they both are.”
I gulp and make my way inside the room, but not before I quickly say a silent prayer to the Moon Goddess.
/> “Hey Jen, How are you sweetie?” I am wearing my widest smiles as I enter the birthing suite to check on my friend.
“Just peachy! What do you think? I'm pushing a big Beta baby through my vajayjay!!” I flinch in horror. “But I'm so happy you could make it, Sam.” She's no longer Jennifer, I tell you. She's squeezing my hand and actually broke it a few times. Luckily I heal ridiculously fast. Ryan is on her other side, also holding her hand and suffering from broken bones. In the end her yelling must have broken me, because for the life of me I can't remember the last two hours of my existence. I don't think I would be making any babies considering it was so traumatic to be in there that my brain blocked the memories.
I now find myself outside, next to Ryan as he proudly introduces his newborn son to their family, while Jennifer is resting after giving birth.
“You don't look too great.” Luke comes next to me as I take a seat on the floor.
“Thanks, I didn't see you in there, tough guy.” I mock reply to him.
“I'll take a war zone anytime of the day over witnessing childbirth.” He shudders.
“So I guess that makes me stronger than any Alpha male.” I retort. But it's true, women of all species are stronger than men.
“I'm not going to argue with that. Do you want to go grab a drink?” I eye him suspiciously. Is he asking me out on a date? Even after we know we aren't mates?
“Just the two of us?”
“Yeah, just the two of us. Even if we aren't mates it doesn't mean we can't go out and spend time together as friends. I have a feeling we both need the distraction. Think of it as the perfect date without any expectations. I get to take a beautiful woman out on a fancy date and you get to dress up and be spoiled. What do you say?”
“Gladly, but I think I should take a shower first.”
Luke kindly arranges for me and Tyler to stay in the Blood Moon's pack house, so I went there to take a shower and freshen up. This fried date sounds like fun. The more I think about it, the more excited that I get. I mean Tyler and I do this all the time, it would be fun to catch up with Luke and bond a bit, without any expectations that another straight guy would have for taking a girl out to dinner.
47 - Dates
Samantha
I took a long shower, a much needed one. Jennifer said she didn't want any visitors until tomorrow morning, so I might as well take Luke up on his offer for a friend date night.
I tried calling Tyler earlier to invite him, hoping it would break the awkwardness a bit, but he declined citing a prior engagement. I don't even want to know what that's all about, so I started to get ready for dinner.
I opened the bag I had packed, knowing I only have 1 outfit suitable for going out. Taking out the knee length black dress, I inspect it a bit before deciding to try it on. It's not like I could go to a restaurant in jeans and a tee, right?
Having the dress on boosted my confidence a bit and I dared to style my hair in soft loose curls and even wear some make-up. Not feeling too adventurous with the make-up bit, I went the classic way with a winged eyeliner and red lips. You can never go wrong with an old Hollywood style like that. Unfortunately it looks like I didn't really think this through, because as happy as I might be with the whole look, it quickly became obvious that I can't wear my boots with this dress, and stupid me didn't think of packing some high heels, or even some ballet pumps.
Shit! My trusted sidekick decided that tonight he's just going to ignore my texts and calls, so in my desperation I called Ryan to ask if I could borrow some shoes from his mate's closet. Luckily he said I could have whatever I wanted because Jen wouldn't mind.
After Ryan meticulously explained where their house was, I started walking that way, hoping that nobody would notice me rummaging through their front garden in search of the fake rock that Ryan said holds the spare key. I almost sang in victory when I spotted the very obvious fake rock. They need a better hiding spot, honestly.
I made my way inside their house and quickly found Jen's closet and a simple pair of black heels. They're a bit on the snug side, but as Marie used to say, back when life was simple and we all were like sisters, 'for fashion I bleed'. I smiled back at the memory. Honestly, I would always miss Marie, there were some moments where she was my sister, Jen's too.
I jump when my phone rings, feeling like I've just been caught doing something I shouldn't have been doing. I relax a bit when I see Luke's name and picture pop up on the screen, but I also remember I completely forgot to tell him I'm coming to Jen and Ryan's house.
“Hey Luke. You alright?” I mentally curse myself but try my best to appear cheerful.
“Hey, I'm good. Where are you? I've been knocking on your door for a few minutes. Is everything alright?” He sounds genuinely concerned, and maybe a bit scared that I might have bailed on him.
“Sorry, Luke. It's totally my fault, I didn't have any shoes to wear tonight so I came to Jen's house to borrow a pair.”
He chuckles before replying to my rant about shoes. “I'll be there in 5 minutes. Meet me outside.”
As the line goes silent I walk out of the closet and head to the front door. After I locked the door and placed the key back into the fake rock, I saw a car approaching and I instantly knew it must be Luke, so I headed towards it.
Luke jumps out of the car and opens the passenger door for me, complimenting me on how lovely I looked. I blush and get in the car with him doing the same.
“How hard was it to find the spare key?” Luke asks in between chuckles.
“A fake rock, really? I would have expected the pack's Beta to have a better system, or a least a better fake rock.” I join in with a few laughs of my own.
The ride is filled with easy flowing conversation, typical for two friends that haven't seen each other in a few months and are eager to catch up. I'm already having fun and we haven't even started dinner yet.
Jason
I got a strange text message from Samantha's Beta, Tyler. He asked if I wanted to 'hang out' tonight, which is the most random and unexpected request ever. I decided to call him and he told me that both him and Sam are in England. I don't know how I feel about that, about the woman that broke my heart, that broke me, being here.
After our mate bond got broken, I just ran out of the house and left Samantha in there. I knew she was in as much pain I was in, but I just couldn't face her, I just could be near her any longer.
I swear the whole pack walks on eggshells around me lately, they all knew that something must have happened and they're all afraid they will be the ones that do something to finally make me snap. I'm not far from that moment, I can feel it. I'm angry and grumpy all the time when I'm around other people, and severely depressed when I'm alone. I can't stand the thought of another woman touching me and I almost killed Rianna when she decided it would be a great idea to wait for me naked, in my bed. Brian had the task of burning my bed and I slept in a guest room until I got a new one. Yup, I'm that extreme, but I can't help it. Samantha is on my mind constantly and even if I survived the broken mate bond, I still would rather have nothing but her in my arms. I find myself fantasizing about being able to kiss her again, to hold her tight in my arms never let her go. I curse myself every time I remember how stupid I was and how it's my fault that she didn't want anything to do with me.
I think it's a bad idea to meet with her Beta, I might find out it thinks that I don't want to know, or I'm not prepared to know, like if she found her second chance mate. I don't know what I would do in that case, I would probably go mad, turn rogue, it's not like I have anything that I care about anymore. But the thing is I'm also a masochist these days, I enjoy being in pain and suffering, I feel like I deserve it, so I agreed to meet with Tyler.
“Alpha Jason.” Tyler greets me as I approach the table he was sat at.
“Just Jason is fine. What are you drinking?” I ask looking at the pint he was nursing. It looks like sewage water with foam.
“This disgusting black beer that apparently
is a local delicacy, but I find it appalling, and don't don't know how to get rid of it, because I don't want to offend the waitress who assured me I would just love it. So yeah, I want to go back home as soon as possible.” He manages to get a genuine laugh from me with the abundance of information he's given in the span of 10 seconds.
Still chuckling and shaking my head at Tyler I tell him to wait a minute. As soon as I reached the bar, I saw the barmaid coming to serve me, ignoring her other customers that clearly have been there before me. I turn my attention towards the barman instead, asking him politely for 2 scotch whiskeys. He complies rolling his eyes at his colleague's desperate attempts to get me to notice her.
“Here, drink this. This is also a local delicacy and it's actually decent.” I push one glass towards Tyler and he sniffs it before taking a gulp. I do the same, the smokiness in the alcohol invading my senses as the liquor burns down my throat, leaving me to enjoy the sensation.
Tyler eyes me up and down. “Well, you look like shit.” I snort, finding his comment somewhat amusing and welcoming the sincerity. “No offense, of course.”
I just raise my glass and take another mouthful. “How's Samantha?” I feel like hiding under the table. I've lost all self control and already asked Tyler about her. There goes me trying to seem like I've moved past everything and forgotten all about her.
“The female version of you, basically.” He shrugs, leaving me dumbfounded with his candour. Why isn't he making Sam look good? I mean, he's not doing her any favours by admitting she's as miserable as I am since we rejected each other. “But she's out with Luke right now, and you know, he might make it all better.” He winks at me, and I grip the edges of the table, trying hard to calm myself and Luder down. Why is this still affecting me so much? “They might find they're second chance mates, even?” He whispers looking at me. I know Tyler's only baiting me, but I can't help myself. I growl causing half of the pub to look our way, my extended clays leaving indents in the wooden table. I'm close to ripping chunks off it and shoving them in Tyler's mouth.
Fight For The Highest Wolf Rank Page 23