Once Upon A Rejection

“Molly, why haven’t you been replying to my messages. I have been worried that your stepfather had locked you in a cage or something.” Dominic said.

I completely forgot that I had signed out of the messenger app that I used to communicate with Dominic. I had signed out of it after Ezra overreacted to meeting Dominic in my dorm room. hadn’t wanted Ezra or my stepfather to see any messages from him and start another argument with me.

I had originally planned to sign back in when I got back here but so much had happened since then. I probably should have messaged Dominic when I got back to let him know I had found my mate. I definitely should have warned him to stay away from us for his own safety. I guess I should have done a lot of things differently but apparently I am allergic to doing things the right way.

“Everything was fine, there was no need to worry.” I said.

I felt extremely conscious of Grayson’s eyes on me. I wondered if he could sense how nervous I was or if he could tell that Dominic had feelings for me.

“That’s good.” He said.

He sat down at the table opposite Grayson, slowly and purposely. From the way he looked between me and Grayson as he sat down I could tell that he knew what Grayson was to me. Given his bad history with werewolves he probably thought that Grayson was here against my wishes. He was probably gearing himself up for a fight.

Dominic and Grayson were staring at each other in a way that was making me feel uncomfortable. I felt as though violence might break out at any moment without warning. I needed to do something to break this tension before violence broke out.

“Dominic, I would like to introduce you to Grayson. He is my fiance and the love of my life.” I said.

It was probably a bit insensitive of me to break this to him so bluntly but a bit of pain now is better than him being beaten into a pulp by my possessive mate.

I smiled at Grayson who looked completely thrilled with my declaration of love. Dominic however looked shocked and a little bit irritated. I wouldn’t be surprised if he never wanted to speak to me again after this. I probably deserved that and much worse.

“This is a bit sudden.” Dominic said.

He was staring directly into Grayson’s eyes. He was leaning forward in his chair, his jaw was clenched. He was challenging Grayson and he knew exactly what he was doing. Grayson was trying his best to keep his wolf in check but I could feel his tension through our bond, it was that intense.

Grayson growled.

I reached out and took hold of his hand. I ran my fingers over the back of his hand to sooth him.

‘Be careful, they are humans, remember.’ I mindlinked him.

“We have had that conversation already but Molly is happy so we are happy for her.” June said. She was smiling but I could tell from her tone of voice that she was as worried as I was about how this situation would play out.

“Fine.” Dominic said. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. I felt Grayson relax slightly as Dominic broke eye contact.

“So, there is this amazing party this weekend and the two of you have to come.” June said, pointing at me and Grayson.

“We can’t, my family wants to spend all of Saturday planning our wedding.” Grayson said.

June smiled at us excitedly but as I watched her I couldn’t help but notice Dominic rolling his eyes in my peripheral vision. Grayson noticed it too, he turned his attention towards him again.

‘If he isn’t careful our mate will end up beating him up.’ Jade said.

‘Now that is kind of hot.’ Scarlett replied.

“Well that works out well because the party is on Friday night.” June said. She passed me a flyer for some kind of music event that was being held in one of the local bars on Friday.

“This looks great but Grayson is taking me on a date on Friday night.” I said. Grayson put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me towards him. He kissed my cheek and breathed in my scent. He was trying to keep his wolf calm.

“I would suggest we could rearrange but I have the perfect night planned for us.” He said, kissing me again.

Dominic rolled his eyes again and tutted.

‘This boy is really trying my patience. My wolf wants to rip him to pieces. He needs to stop, I am not sure I can hold Bran back much longer’ Grayson mindlinked me.

‘Let me handle him.’ I said.

“Dominic, can I have a word with you for a moment?” I asked.

He nodded his head so I stood up and walked out of the cafe. I walked for a couple of metres before stopping to wait for Dominic. He walked out of the cafe a few seconds after me. He looked a little sheepish.

“I am sorry.” He said.

“What for, making Grayson feel uncomfortable or for acting as though you had some kind of ownership over me?” I said

“I am not sorry about how I acted, I am only sorry that I upset you.” He said.

“Fine.” I said. If he could be moody then I could be too.

“Can’t you see how wrong this is though? You had no feelings for this man until a few days ago.” He said.

“That’s not entirely true.” I said.

Although I had spent most of my life pretending not to like Grayson, I had always had feelings for him. It is only now that I am starting to understand why I felt the way I did and why he acted the way he did.

“You can lie to yourself all you want. I know that until a few days ago you and I were happy together.” He said, the emotion was clear in his voice.

I felt guilty. I always thought that I was a good person but maybe that wasn’t the case. I should have called things off when I started to suspect that he was developing feelings for me. By staying with him I let him think we had a chance together and now I had to break his heart, he didn’t deserve that.

‘You are wrong. You should have never let anything happen in the first place. Now our mate is upset.’ Jade said.

“Now who is lying to themself. I never said that we were anything other than friends who have some fun together.” I said.

I cringed internally at how nasty I sounded but I didn’t want him pining over me for weeks or months. He needed to know that me and him were never going to be more than friends.

“Why are you being so cruel. You know how I feel about you.” He said. I could see unshed tears in his eyes.

“I know and I told you that I couldn’t be what you wanted me to be. I understand if you never want to see me again but I can’t ever be your girlfriend.” I replied.

“Fine.” He said.

He looked at me for just long enough for me to see the tears start to fall before he turned and walked away from me. I watched him until he was out of sight. I had a lesson with him this afternoon but it was probably best if I didn’t go so he could have some time away from me.

I went back into the cafe and sat down next to Grayson. I felt uncomfortable but nobody mentioned Dominic’s outburst or his disappearance. They just carried on with the conversation as though nothing had happened.

Grayson pulled my chair towards him with one hand. He was able to move the chair with me on it as though I weighed nothing, which was a long way from the truth. He wrapped one of his arms around my waist and pulled me into his chest. He placed his remaining hand on top of my hand and interlaced our fingers.

I could have easily moved out of his arms but I didn’t want to. I could feel the heat of his body and hear the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. It was comforting and I couldn’t think of any place in the world that I would rather be. I leaned into him sighed in contentment as Grayson kissed the top of my head.

I sat wrapped up in Grayson’s arms for the next hour until Ellie and June left to go to their next lesson. He was still holding my hand as we walked out of the cafe together.

“Do you have any lessons this afternoon?”

“I have one but I wasn’t going to go.” I said, cringing at the thought of sitting next to Dominic for a whole hour while he either cried or gave me dirty looks.

“That is probably a good thing. I think we need to talk.” Grayson replied.