The Rejection (Luna of the Pack Series)

by S. J. Hayslett

  I raise an eyebrow that feels like it's gone higher than Dwayne Johnson had ever achieved before. Figuratively speaking, it feels like It's reaching past my hair line.

  “Let's get one thing straight,” I start. I let go of the door and begin to stalk her in the hallway until she backs up against the wall. “There is nothing between us. Not anymore. Whatever friendship we thought we had, is done. Over. You're nothing to me.”

  “It doesn't have to be that way, Kai. I know-,”

  “You're right, it doesn't, but it is. You knowingly went after, seduced and marked my mate. Neither of you are worth the tissue paper I used to wipe my ass after my morning dump. And I can promise you I will end you if you get in my way ever again. You may be mated to Julien but you're no beta female. You don't even smell like one, so not even the Goddess recognizes you.”

  “That’s not true. I,”

  “You what? Nothing you currently have do you even deserve. You’re a wolf who doesn’t know how to fight and stole someone else’s mate. You live in a house on my land and contribute nothing. You are a leech, and you will be his downfall. So, while you may technically be the Beta female of Willowhaven, you will never be able to live up to the name. You and me, will never be friends again. Cordial is the best you could hope for. Now get off this floor, and never darken my bedroom again.”

  I pull back from her personal space, not even realizing that my hands had transformed into my claws. I watch as Natasha scurries down the stairs and then return to my room. The ridiculous interruption had caused me so much tension that the thought of relaxing in bed is no longer appealing.

  With my bags, only three bags since I’m not bringing my personal laptop with me, I closed up my room and made my way down the steps. Since I can’t leave my work laptop just anywhere, I go to find Lincoln so I can get his car keys. I drop my other bags at the door and head out the back for the training fields.

  Of course, I’m rethinking life when I see him standing right next to Julien, overseeing the new pups. The mere thought of staying in close quarters with Natasha and Julien is stomach turning. I remember Lincoln once saying that the property that we are going to be on had several small cabins that can house up to eight people. When a pack registered, they were assigned a cabin for the alpha pair, beta pair, and any enforcers that they decided to bring. This entire weekend is going to be torture.

  “Hey Linc, how are we traveling to D.C.?” I ask once I get up close and personal with my brother and his Beta. I don’t even look at Julien, but I can feel his eyes roaming all over me. I feel like my eyes are burning with the need to roll in the back of my head and never see the light of day again.

  Lincoln chuckles as he digs in his sweatpants for his keys. “What? You're not gonna say hi to Julien?”

  “Oh sorry,” I join my brother with a light laugh as well. “I was so focused on the car keys, I had tunnel vision.” I reluctantly turn to acknowledge Julien and holy hell he looks good. My entire resistance to the lingering mate bond is shattered and I want him. I feel like I need him. I know my mark will make Natasha's disappear but just the one thought of Natasha is enough to rebuild some of the wall that I had in place. How could I possibly want someone who betrayed my heart in the worst way possible?

  “Hello Julien,” I coldly say. Thank the Goddess Lincoln isn't paying attention to me, still searching for the keys. I watch incredulously as Lincoln walks away to look in his hoodie that's laying on the ground about twenty feet away. I know he doesn't know what's going on between me and Julien, but I want to call him out on being a traitor regardless.

  “Hi, Kairi. You look beautiful. I missed you.” Julien’s voice calls out to me and I nearly go weak when the vibration of his tone hits me. No, I can't do this. Not today.

  Without another word, and I'm so thankful that I don't look back at him either, I walk away and follow my brother who finally had the keys in his hand. “I'm sitting up front with you right?”

  “Negative.” My heart stops in that moment. Does he really expect me to ride in the back with Julien and Natasha? Again, I realize the blunder is not his, it's mine and my reluctance to tell him that his Beta and best friend broke his sister's heart. But this might be enough for me to breakdown. “You're riding in the back with me, Dereck and Mark are riding with us and Dereck offered to drive. Natasha and Julien will be in the other vehicle.”

  That is workable, I think. “Will we need to go over anything during the drive before we arrive?” There was a nap with my name on it since I was interrupted before.

  “Nah. You alright? You seem a little distant.” I hate lying to my brother, we've always been close and ever since I found out that Julien was my mate, I’ve done nothing but lie to Lincoln.

  “Yeah, just studying and exams is catching up with me. I'll be fine once I get some rest, ya know?”

  “Okay.” Lincoln drop the keys in my hand. We leave in two hours. Meet us in the driveway.” I nod and wave a hand in salute before walking back to the house. I laugh joyfully with the children of the pack that play and run between my legs on the trek back. Most of the time we don’t go through our initial shift until we are thirteen years old, though there have been a few cases where children as young as nine or ten have shifted. These pups are only about five or six, but they are having so much fun crawling on the ground on all fours, pretending to be wolves. My thoughts sober when I realize I want to have pups one day. The ideal person would have been with my mate. But fat chance of that happening now. I don't even want him to breathe near me, let alone mate with me.

  My bags are still by the door when I walk inside so I grab them all, so I don't have to make multiple trips, and walk to Lincoln’s Navigator. My bags go in the trunk, well except for my laptop bag. That I keep in between the captain seats. With my bags secure, I go hunt Magdalena down for my personal cobbler. At least something positive has occurred on this crappy day.

  |||

  “Here I want you to read over this.” Lincoln is sitting next to me in his truck while Derek and Mark sit up front. Derek, an up and coming enforcer, is driving and Mark, is keeping a lookout as his mentor, for any threats. They are also talking to their hearts content about baseball. My lovely brother waited until they were comfortable, and I was halfway comfortable enough to nap during the journey to hand me a folder.

  “What is it?” I open it up and see a proposal for an alliance with the Stoneforest Pack. The Alpha of Stoneforest, Alpha Thorne, is famous for turning down every proposal for an alliance. Well, really every Thorne that has led the pack has refused to form alliances. Not only did they remain neutral in every and any dispute, but they were also the biggest and richest pack in North America. My brother controlled five towns, including our pack while in comparison, Stoneforest was practically a whole county. Last I heard, he had around 350 wolves in his pack. Most packs consisted of twenty-five to seventy-five wolves. With the exception of Stoneforest, Lincoln’s pack was the next largest at 125. However, he had strong alliances as well.

  “Why are we going after Stoneforest? He's going to turn us down anyway. You should focus more on the alliances we have now and focus on strengthening them. This is a pipe dream.” I hand him back the folder. I then continue, “You should also think about taking some time off and visiting the different packs, to look for your mate. Willowhaven needs a Luna.”

  “Willowhaven has a Luna,” Lincoln counters stubbornly.

  I sigh disappointedly. “Lincoln,” I close my eyes to reflect on the decision I made while I was holed up in a hotel room. “Lincoln, Willowhaven is incomplete. You are incomplete. Both you and the pack need a proper Luna. We’re growing faster than ever, and you're going to need someone to keep up.”

  In my room, I would think of how miserable I would be if I had to run into Julien and Natasha every day in the house. Knowing that Natasha was probably pregnant now since she had her heat already. To see and watch him provide for and love her as if they really were meant to be mated, would be too painful. No mat
ter how high I hold my head, I'll never be strong enough to endure that.

  No, I needed time away from Willowhaven and the traitors. Going to school full time and living on campus was the perfect idea. Now I just needed to get my brother on board.

  “Keep up? You're doing just fine. But if you need an assistant, I'm sure we can find you one. Maybe once Natasha's punishment is up, you can train her as your assistant.” Once Lincoln was made aware of Julien and Natasha’s mating, he banished the couple from the pack house for thirty days. Julien had to pack a bag of his belongings and was not allowed to return for anything. He’s currently staying at his parent’s house and she’s at her parent’s house until they can move into the rooms set aside for the beta pair.

  “Linc, I don't want to be Luna full time forever. I want to go to school full time and earn my degree. I want to travel. I want to do everything that people my age are doing. When we get back from the summit, you are going to every allied pack and search among their wolves for your mate. And then, if you still can't find her, you'll have to seek permission to visit the other packs for your mate. I'll even go with you. Julien and the enforcers can watch over the pack while we’re gone.”

  I pat him on the shoulder even though I am surprised that Lincoln didn't put up much of a fight with me. I’m just about to curl up in a ball in my seat when Lincoln thrusts the folder back in my face. Of course, it's too much to ask for some quiet time.

  “Lincoln, seriously? Why are you so pressed for me to read this? He's already turned you down already. Why are we revisiting this?”

  “Because this time Thorne wants the alliance. He's the one that had the proposal written up.” My brother looked at me with a smug smirk that made me wish I could sucker punch him in the gut.

  “What? Thorne wants this? What are the terms?” It was stupid of me to ask that question. I know my brother wouldn't answer me, expecting me to read the terms myself. I skim the proposal and see that it's more of a business partnership that will be lucrative. I also can see why my brother doesn't want to speak out loud for just anyone to hear. Though he trusts the two wolves that were in the vehicle with us, you can’t always be sure who or what they tell.

  This is major.

  Alpha Wesley Thorne recently acquired some land, though much of it is considered protected swampland, the majority of it is buildable. However, it borders some land that my brother owns but hasn’t done anything with. Currently, it was just an extra parcel of land that the pack would hunt through. As far as I knew, Lincoln had no future plans for that particular piece of land, only treating it like a sanctuary.

  But what Wesley was proposing, was actually pretty brilliant. Half of his land and half of ours would be combined for the joint effort to build a luxury hotel. Priority hiring would be given to wolves, though if a human was more qualified for a position, they would be hired as well. Expenses and profits would be split 50/50.

  Aside from the hotel, Wesley also proposes that both packs will set aside a day per year where unmated wolves would have the opportunity to find their mates. It seems that even with such a large pack, there was an even larger number that have not found their mates. It was a good deal for both packs. Neither were really losing anything, and both had everything to gain.

  “How many packs is he making this deal with?” I searched the proposal terms, but I didn’t see anything written.

  “Second page.” Lincoln said without looking at me. He kept his head forward watching the road along with our two guards. I looked for the timeframes and found them on the bottom of the page. The hotel was exclusively a pact between Willowhaven and Stoneforest. The second part off the alliance, would be exclusive between the packs for two years. During the two years, Willowhaven will receive the full backing of Stoneforest. This all sounded too good to be true.

  I close the folder and my eyes to think. Concentrating on my breathing and the way the light dances behind my eyes, I go over the pros and cons of this deal. Major pro was being the first and only pack to form an alliance with Stoneforest. Sure, the money would be good, but to be honest neither of the two packs needed more money in the first place.

  “Here.” I hand him the folder back, I'm just eager to get some rest at this point. My eyes are fighting for dominance, and they want to shut down. “We’ll talk more later, but I think you should ask for more of the profits.”

  “And why is that?”

  “Because he needs us.” A big fat yawn escapes me before I even have a chance to taper it down. “He can't do this project without us, and we should have some incentive to keep us from taking the project on completely. We have the land for it, he doesn’t.”

  Considering that I never reopened my eyes during my final words with Lincoln, I soon find myself falling into the rest that had eluded me all day.

  CHAPTER SIX

  “Welcome to the Alpha Summit. If you could register your pack over at the registration table, we will be able to tell you which cabin yours is.” I smile at the young wolf, probably the same age as me, and wonder if he got tired of smiling at everyone. Thank the goddess that Lincoln wasn't the one that hosts the summit. I wouldn't be able to handle the greeting of all the packs.

  Lincoln strolls over to the table to take care of everything while I stay a way back and admire the main building that we're in. Alpha Elijah Storsant's pack, though small in number, is pretty rich. They've settled on a huge property of land, about 500 acres, on the outskirts of Washington D.C. They're pack house was massive enough to house every member of his pack. The extra cabins on the property were used as guest homes for visiting packs. Another feature of Alpha Elijah's property was the amphitheater that resembles the assembly floor of the United Nations. The alpha pairs of the packs sat in a circular row while a second arched row was for the Beta pairs. The enforcers of the packs would sometimes sit in the theatre style seats that overlooked their leaders, while some stood at attention around the room. The room is completely soundproof so that those that are on the outside, usually Alpha Elijah's pack who are not a part of the proceedings, can't hear anything; no matter how good our hearing is.

  I for one was somewhat excited to see this room. I didn't have any political aspirations, I was a Business Administration major for crying out loud, but that didn't mean that I was ignorant to the goings on of this country. And while I find the political arena fascinating, I did not envy anyone who dared to take it on.

  "Come on, our cabin is this way." Lincoln interrupts my thoughts and I walk beside him, back out of the main house. On the side of the house, there are several golf carts waiting to transport everyone and their luggage to their assigned cabins. Silently, we load our bags onto two of the carts and Lincoln hands the driver of a card with our cabin number. To my dismay, Julien and Natasha hop into our cart, leaving the enforcers of our pack in the other cart.

  Deep breaths are the only thing that’s keeping me calm at the moment, though closing my eyes with the attempt to shut the world out is helping as well. That is until Lincoln notices how tense I am and asks me if everything is okay.

  “Yeah. It’s been a long day.”

  “Some of the other alphas have already come early as well. If you’d like, Alpha Elijah has arranged a dinner in the cafeteria for everyone that arrived today. It begins in an hour.” Our driver, Jason, tells us. Other than the cobbler that Magdalena made for me, I haven’t had anything proper to eat all day. Thankfully, the cobbler was enough to hold my stomach over as it didn’t make any angry grumbling noises despite how hungry I was.

  “And where is that?” Natasha’s voice irritates me to my soul and I can’t help but to roll my eyes. I reflect on how sad it is that someone I once considered a dear friend could now be a complete stranger. How could I be so blind to her schemes? How compromised is my judgement on others? I inhale some of the country air that's remained untouched from the towns beside it. If my judgment is off about the people closest to me, was I the best person to help Lincoln with the pack?

  I h
ate how insecure about myself and about my pack I am becoming. My trust was shattered in the worst way possible. I hate how being in their presence brings back all of these feelings that I thought I did away with while at school. I hate that they get to be happy while I have to pretend that I’m fine. I’m not fine.

  Jason's voice is faintly in the background telling us that the cafeteria is back in the main house. I pray I’m discreet when I wipe a tear from my eye just as we arrive at the cabin that we’ll be staying in for the weekend. The cart has yet to come to a complete stop before I hop out and follow it five feet to grab my bags from the back. The front door is unlocked thankfully, and I walk straight in and head up the stairs for the bedrooms. The main master is for the alpha, while the second master is for the beta. Not this weekend though. This weekend, I’m commandeering the beta room for myself. We only brought two enforcers with us anyways. They were already planning on sharing a room since the other two bedrooms appear to have separate double beds.

  I lock the bedroom door and drop my bags on the bed. Thinking about going for a run after dinner, I’m pulling out a maxi dress from my bag when I hear a knock at the door. Julien’s scent permeates from beneath the door, and I want to gag on the sickening scent that I once treasured.