Once Upon A Rejection

“Molly, it’s time for dinner.” Grayson said.

“Just a minute, I have to get this set up.” I said. Checking the camera on one of the phones for the twentieth time in the last hour.

“You have been saying that for the last twenty minutes.” He teased.

“I just want to make sure that everything is ready for tonight.” I replied in what I hoped was a somewhat convincing manner.

“I am sure that Rich will tell you if he gets stuck on anything, won’t you Rich?” Grayson said.

Rich nodded his head in agreement.

“I know that you are nervous about having dinner with my family but you can only avoid it for so long.” Grayson said. He was smiling at me sweetly as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

I reluctantly agreed to go with him. He was right about me being nervous to have dinner with his family. I have been to these family dinners before but I haven’t been invited for years. After my mom died my stepfather started to leave me at home when he went to dinner with Grayson’s family.

I wasn’t sure if they would mention my absence over the last few years or just pretend that it didn’t happen. I also wasn’t sure which of those options would make it less awkward.

His family were already seated at the table by the time Grayson and I walked into the room. We took our places at the table and served ourselves food from the bowls and trays in the centre of the table.

The room looked almost exactly the same as I remembered it. There was a large oak table which took up most of the room which had a teal and silver table runner down the length of it. Even the small details like the placemats and cutlery were the same as I remembered.

The main thing that had changed was there weren’t as many people around the table as there used to be a few years ago. Both of Grayson’s brothers were missing but Grayson’s parents were there along with his grandparents on his mother’s side. My stepfather and Ezra were also here but I was determined to ignore them as much as possible.

Grayson’s parents were talking about their youngest son. From what I could tell he had gone to work for the council after he graduated from highschool last year. It was something that a lot of alpha’s younger siblings did. Most of them hoped that if they could prove themselves strong enough then the council would grant them the opportunity to lead their own pack.

In reality this was something that the council rarely granted. They had very elusive criteria that people had to fulfil before their request would be granted. The only requirement that anyone knew with any certainty was that you had to be from an alpha bloodline. Everything else was a complete mystery.

“He is doing really well, one of the council members seems to have taken a liking to him.” Grayson’s mom said. She was positively glowing with pride.

‘I wonder what she means by taking a liking to him.’ Scarlett said.

I knew what she was implying and the thought made me shudder. Most of the council members are in their seventies or eighties, I really didn’t want to think about that.

“Speaking of the council, I just got word that the council is considering your application to give Molly the title of alpha female.” Grayson’s dad said.

I looked over at Grayson. He hadn’t told me that he had put in an application.

“I didn’t want you to get your hopes up when they might have just rejected you instantly.” He said, answering my unspoken question.

Like the creation of new alpha’s, making your mate your equal was difficult and controlled by the council. It happened more frequently for male mates and for mates already from alpha bloodlines. As I had neither of these things going for me it was likely that they would ultimately reject the application.

It was still nice that Grayson wanted them to consider me though. It showed that he wanted me to take a more active role in the pack than that traditionally given to a luna.

I placed my hand on top of Grayson’s. I was probably smiling so much that I looked as though I had lost my mind but I didn’t care.

“You can’t do that.” My stepfather shreaked. That isn’t an exaggeration, he literally shreaked. In an unflattering, high pitched way that I usually reserve for when a spider lands on me in the night.

“For your sake I am going to pretend that I didn’t just hear you telling the future alpha of this pack what he can and can’t do.” Alpha Ward said.

His tone was light and jovial but I could tell from the look on his face that he was far from amused with my stepfather. My stepfather was going to have to start being more careful in how he spoke or he was going to get himself into some serious trouble.

“Ezra, did you ever apologise to that girl?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“What girl?” Ezra asked.

“I don’t know her name, the one you were meant to take to the party the other day.” I replied.

“Oh Annie. No, I haven’t spoken to her since that night.” He said, shrugging his shoulders. It didn’t seem to bother him one bit how much he upset her.

I rolled my eyes.

He really was going to have to mature a lot over the next year if he was going to be Grayson’s beta. I really didn’t think that he was up to the job. Then again, I know that I am not exactly impartial when it comes to my family. I have seen too much of their bad side and I feel like our pack deserves better than that.

“It is ok though, I have been seeing someone else.” He continued.

“You are totally going to get rejected when you meet your mate.” Grayson said.

“Says you.” Ezra retorted, making me cringe.

“That’s my point. You can’t expect that your mate will love you just because you are their mate. You have to prove that you are worthy of their love and I don’t think you know how to do that.” Grayson replied, causing everyone to laugh at Ezra’s expense.

Grayson’s father took that as an opportunity to change the topic of the conversation. He started talking to my stepfather about the business which provided the pack with a huge proportion of its income. The one that he ran with help from my father and Rich. It was also the main employer for the pack with around an eighth of the werewolves from the pack working for it.

It sounded as though the business had been doing really well but that had come with its own issues. They were busy all of the time and sometimes they even had to turn away clients. They could do with additional help but they didn’t want to hire anyone from outside of the pack.

I had never really taken much of an interest in the business when I was growing up. I knew that it was something to do with managing construction contracts for huge corporations but I never took the time to fully understand it. It looked like I wouldn’t be able to avoid it for much longer though.

After everyone finished eating we headed into the lounge to relax. We still had a couple of hours before we would see if the plans we had made would provide the information we desperately needed.

Rich met us in the lounge, he was there waiting for us. He had managed to sort out all the cameras while we were eating and he was now relaxing with a glass of whiskey. He looked as though he might have been there for a while and he smelt as though this wasn’t his first drink.

He spoke to my stepfather and Ezra about the arrangements for tonight. Grayson’s parents passed the time by filling in me and Grayson in on the arrangements they were making for our combined alpha and luna ceremony. The ceremony would take place shortly after I finished my finals. I couldn’t believe that in just a few weeks time Grayson and I would officially take over the pack.

Grayson’s mom was incredibly organised and it sounded like she had the whole thing planned out in meticulous detail. If I didn’t stop her soon there wouldn’t be anything left for me to do.

‘I don’t think she plans on stopping at the ceremony either. If you don’t watch her she will have your whole life planned out.’ Jade said. She was only half joking.