Once Upon A Rejection

It was early the next morning by the time that I went back to my room. I didn’t want to do the walk of shame in my party dress so I borrowed a t-shirt and jogging bottoms from Dominic. My dress folded over my arm as I walked.

After sleeping off the rest of my hangover yesterday afternoon I had planned on leaving but Dominic had persuaded me to stay to watch films and eat junk food. I think I would still be there now if I hadn’t had to work this morning, he really didn’t want me to leave.

I opened the door to my room slowly. June was still in bed so I closed the door as softly as possible and snuck over to my wardrobe. I put my dress away and picked up the uniform for the dinner I worked in.

“Did you really think you could sneak past me missy?” June said, she sounded amused.

“I wasn’t sneaking.” I said defensively.

“Yeah right. So does this mean that you and Dominic are official then?” She asked after looking me up and down.

“It’s not like that.” I objected.

“So you are just wearing your friend’s clothes after spending most of the weekend banging him?” She raised one eyebrow at me.

‘I like her.’ Jade said, laughing. The last thing I needed was to be ganged up on like this.

“I can’t talk about this right now, I have to get ready for work.” I said.

“Wait a moment, you don’t work Sundays.” June said.

“No, I had to swap a shift for this stupid party.” I grumbled.

“Party, what party and why aren’t I invited?” June whined.

“It is a family thing and it is the last place I want to be, trust me.” I said.

“Then take me with you. I can make any party fun, do I need to remind you about freshers week?” June said, giving me a very serious look.

I laughed.

“I think they will be sharing stories about that party for years to come.” I said.

June had been curious what all the fuss about the frat house parties was. She decided that she would crash one of them and take me along with her as backup. We were there for a grand total of thirty minutes before she decided that she was bored and started doing shots with the football team.

Fast forward a couple of hours and she had convinced them all to dress up in cheerleading outfits and sing Britney Spears songs while standing on top of the sportshall. I still to this day don’t know how she managed to convince them to do it.

“So, when do we leave?” June asked with a glint of excitement in her eyes.

“As much as I would love to see what chaos you could cause, I am not allowed to bring guests.” I said.

“Oh come on. You know that I am a master when it comes to sneaking into parties. If only there was some way I could market that skill I would be a literal millionaire.” She said.

“The answer is still no.” I said as I walked into the bathroom.

Once I had showered and changed I had enough time to pack my bag for the next couple of days before setting off for work. I would only be gone for a couple of days so I wouldn’t need much. I packed a couple of party dresses, a few regular outfits, changes of underwear and a book.

I didn’t normally work during the day or on a weekend. It was much busier than my usual shifts but then again I also got a lot more tips. I was at work for five hours and yet it felt like it went by in a flash. I was so busy that I didn’t have a lot of time to worry about the next few days. It was only as I was walking back to my dormitory that I started to think about it.

It was probably due to the extra tips that I was carrying in my pocket but I wasn’t feeling quite so pessimistic about the trip as I was a few hours ago. It was only a couple of days, that didn’t seem too bad in the grand scheme of things.

All I had to do was go to this party and stand beside my stepfather for long enough to be seen. Then I could find a dark corner to hide in until I was sure that nobody would notice my absence before sneaking out of there. If I was lucky I would only be in the alpha’s house for a couple of hours and I could spend the rest of my time reading.

I walked around the corner towards my dormitory. My stepfather’s car was parked outside of my building. Ezra was leaning against the car with his phone to his ear.

He had changed his look since the last time I had seen him. He used to have short hair, almost shaved to his head but now he had grown it out somewhat on top. He was also dressed a lot smarter than he usually was in dark jeans and a white dress shirt.

He looked frustrated as he took his phone away from his ear. He glanced at it again then shoved it into the pocket of his jeans. He looked around anxiously before he eventually noticed me.

“Where have you been? We have been trying to call you for almost half an hour.” Ezra said as I approached.

He was trying to sound annoyed but I could tell he was relieved. He must have thought that I was hiding from them to get out of going to the ball. To be fair, if I thought that might actually work then that is exactly what I would be doing.

“Sorry I had my phone off, I was at work.” I replied.

I was trying my best not to get annoyed with him. They showed up an hour earlier than he said he would and then he wondered why I wasn’t ready. That was so typical of both of them.

“If you needed money you should have asked.” My stepfather said as he got out of the car.

Maybe he was feeling guilty about not treating me well in the past and practically driving me out of my own pack. Then again, knowing my stepfather it had more to do with the appearance of caring rather than actually caring.

If other members of our pack found out that I was working to support myself it would be an outrage. I was still the first daughter of the beta. Despite how he thought about me, not providing for me would make it look like our family was struggling financially. As my stepfather worked alongside our alpha this would also make people worry about how well the company was doing. The alpha would not be happy about that.

“It’s fine, I like being self-sufficient.” I said.

“Are you ready to go?” Ezra asked.

“I just need to get changed.” I said.

I walked into my building closely followed by Ezra and my stepfather. Did they not hear me say that I was going to get changed? They had only been here a few minutes and they were already getting on my nerves.

I picked a pair of skinny jeans and a plain t-shirt then walked into the bathroom to get changed. I was in there a few minutes before I heard a commotion coming from my room.

“What are you doing in my sister’s room?” Ezra growled.

“I came to see my girlfriend before she left.” Dominic’s unmistakable voice came through the door.

Sh.t

‘He is going to get his throat ripped out.’ Scarlett said. I didn’t know that she cared.

‘I don’t, I just want to watch.” Scarlett replied.

‘That is what he deserves for touching what doesn’t belong to him.’ Jade growled. She really hated him.

“How dare you touch my sister.” Ezra growled.

I started to get changed faster, I was worried about Dominic. Ezra may not have his wolf yet but he had been training to fight since he was young and he was much stronger than any human. If he wanted to hurt Dominic then there wouldn’t be a lot that Dominic could do to stop him.

I pulled on my jeans and rushed back into my room, almost tripping over the bin in my rush to get to them. When I opened the door I saw Ezra and Dominic squaring up against each other while my stepfather observed them from the doorway with his arms folded across his chest.

“You can both stop that right now.” I said.

“Molly, I just wanted to make sure you were ok before you left.” Dominic said.

He smiled at me sweetly but I could tell he was enjoying this. I had told him enough about how Ezra used to treat me for him to enjoy watching him get so worked up. Particularly because there wasn’t really anything he could do about it. He would get into a lot of trouble if he hurt a human without good reason.

“I am fine, I will be back in a couple of days anyway.” I said trying to sound nonchalant. I was extremely aware of how Ezra and my stepfather were looking at me. I dread to think what they were going to say to me once we were alone in a car together.

‘You deserve it.’ Jade said.

“Well how about a k**s before you go.” Dominic said. Is this guy brave or does he just have a death wish?

“No f.cking way.” Ezra said, clenching his fists and his jaw. I could see the veins sticking out on his neck. It looked as though he was weighing up whether hurting Dominic was worth the inevitable punishment.

“I don’t think that is a good idea.” I said.

My eyes darted anxiously between Ezra and Dominic. Dominic followed my gaze over towards Ezra. For a moment I was worried that he didn’t get my hint but then his demeanour changed.

“Ok, I will call you.” He said before making a hasty exit.

Ezra followed Dominic out of the room. He watched Dominic walk down the hall before returning to my room.

“Please tell me you aren’t dating that human.” Ezra shouted.

“It really isn’t any of your business. I can date anyone I want to.” I replied.

I could have denied it but I didn’t like the way he was talking to me as though I couldn’t make choices about my own life. It reminded me of everything I hated about my old pack but this time I was going to stand up for myself.

“You can’t date anyone, particularly a human. You have a mate.” Ezra said.

“Loads of people date before they meet their mate.” I said dismissively. I picked up my bag and tried to walk past him.

“Just because other people do it doesnt mean it is right.” Ezra said as he blocked my path.

“Are you seriously telling me that you haven’t kissed or dated anyone?” I asked even though I already knew the answer.

“That’s different.” He said.

“Why is that? Is it because you are a man and I am a woman?” I shouted. I was starting to lose my temper. I was sick of them dictating what I could do and I was sick of their double standards.

“It’s not that at all. You know how possessive a…. Male werewolves are.” He shouted.

“Do you not think that females can be possessive too. Or are we just meant to shut up and accept it?” I said.

“That’s not what I mean. Dad, aren’t you going to say anything?” Ezra said, turning towards my stepfather.

“If you are seeing that boy you need to leave him immediately. Ezra’s reaction is nothing compared to how your mate would react to seeing you in the arms of another man.” My stepfather said. He held my gaze for a few moments before walking out of my room.

‘He is right, you know. If you don’t want Dominic to get hurt you should stop seeing him and focus on finding our mate.’ Jade said.

“Let’s just go ok?” I said. I felt as though the wind had been knocked out of my sails and I didn’t know what to say anymore.

“Just think about what we said.” Ezra replied as we walked out of my room together.