Once Upon A Rejection

Molly Morgan’s POV

I woke up before the sun came up but there was no way I was leaving this bed, it was far too comfy. I was laying with my head on Grayson’s chest while Talen was holding me close from behind. A few weeks ago I wouldn’t have thought I would ever be with my mate but now I was sandwiched between two of them.

I closed my eyes and savoured the feeling of warmth and safety that I felt around them. I knew that it wouldn’t be long before we all had to get up and face the day. There would be so much to do after the chaos of last night so I wanted this moment to last as long as possible.

I could feel Talen starting to stir behind me, he wrapped his arms tighter around my waist and g*****d. He breathed in my scent deeply as though he was suddenly aware of my presence. He pressed his lips against my neck as he held me in his arms.

“If you don’t stop wriggling then I am going to have to claim you right now honey.” He said.

His voice was husky but I couldn’t tell if that was through desire or tiredness. His e******n pressing into the small of my back however made me think that it was the first option. I leaned backwards into him to let him know that I welcomed his advances.

“Anyone would think that you wanted my teeth in your neck.” Talen growled.

“Maybe I do.” I replied.

I had made the decision to accept him so what was the point of delaying the inevitable. I would be going into heat soon, it was probably best if we marked each other before then. Otherwise his lycan would be the one doing the marking and they weren’t exactly known for being gentle.

“As much as I’d like to take you up on that offer, you deserve better and I owe you a date.” He said before kissing my neck again.

“Grayson, are you in there?” Ezra called through the bedroom door.

Grayson growled.

“Alpha Ward wants all three of you in his office as soon as possible.” Ezra continued.

“We will be there in an hour.” Grayson said, flashing me a flirty grin.

“I don’t think that is what he had in mind.” Ezra relied, sounding hesitant.

“Fine, we will be there in a few minutes.” Grayson said.

There was an air of anxiousness as we got ready. It had only been a few hours since the attack on our pack but goddess knows what had happened since then.

If I hadn’t been so shaken up by the attack we would have probably been up all night getting to the bottom of this. If anything bad has happened to the pack then it is all my fault and I am not sure how I would live with that knowledge.

I could hear the muffled sounds of people talking through the door as we walked up. I could tell not only that their voices were raised but also that they were stressed. I could hear the tension in their voices even at this distance.

The moment we opened the door to Grayson’s dad’s office all of the voices suddenly fell silent. All of the high ranking members of the pack were here as well as a few other members of the pack who were involved in security. There were papers on the table in front of them, maps, photos and reports from other packs from the little I could see of them. They were all arranged in groups in folders, dozens of them.

I sat down at the table between Talen and Grayson. I took hold of both of their hands, I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to enjoy how this conversation was going to go. Why couldn’t I have some good news for once?

“What is going on?” Grayson asked, his face full of concern.

“We are trying to work that out now but I will tell you what we already know.” Grayson’s dad said.

“After the red haired woman was killed most of the lycans in town scattered. The ones who stayed were dealt with. I had all the lycans who ran followed but we lost them in the forest. We should have been faster than them, I don’t know how they got away.” Rich said.

“My aunt might have been crazy but she was also well trained. She will have had them laying down false tracks for weeks. Even your best trackers wouldn’t have been able to find them if they didn’t want you to.” Talen said.

“We still have one of them in custody though?” Grayson asked.

His dad nodded his head in agreement.

“Not that we have been able to get him to say anything yet.” He said.

“Do you think they are still in the area?” I asked.

“No, protocol would dictate that they have to check in with their superiors. It is a shame that we couldn’t follow them, we might have been able to work out who is behind this whole thing.” Jimmy said.

I felt relief flood through my body. The last few weeks had been so stressful, knowing that there was someone following me everywhere who wanted me dead was an awful experience. It felt good to know that at least for a short time I wouldn’t need to be constantly watching my back.

“There must be some way that we can find out who is behind this rather than waiting for them to come after us again.” Grayson asked, I could feel his frustration through our bond.

“We have been speaking to the other packs that Talen mentioned and our allied packs. A few of these packs have had their own issues with lycans, they are sending us all the information they have. Hopefully between us we can work something out.” Grayson’s dad said.

“This is what we have so far.” My stepfather said, pushing a pile of files towards us.

I started flicking through the files. There was a lot of information in the files but none of it was particularly useful. There were lots of pictures of the lycans who were attacking or hanging around the other packs. There were maps of the lycans movements but none of them went more than a few miles away from the pack borders.

There was information from more packs here than Talen had mentioned. I wondered if these packs also had lycan hybrids hidden in them. I had never heard about lycan hybrids before I turned out to be one. I thought that meant that we were very rare but now I am not so sure. Maybe there were a lot more of us but we were just secretive and well hidden.

We must have spent an hour or more looking through the files before I started getting bored of reading reports that were almost identical from pack after pack. I glanced around the table, everyone looked to be equally bored and frustrated.

“This isn’t getting us anywhere.” I complained. I couldn’t take it anymore, we were getting nowhere.

“I don’t know what else we can do.” Grayson’s dad replied.

I know why he was lost, we were a peaceful pack. We have had a few disagreements with other packs over the years but those were always resolved by diplomacy rather than by fighting.

The last time we had resorted to violence was at the time when Grayson’s great great granddad was alpha. Everyone in our pack still learned strategy and how to fight but it was more about fitness and history than anything else. We weren’t ready for this kind of fight.

“We need more information.” Grayson said.

“We do and I can’t get that here. I need to see someone, a friend.” Talen said.

“You’re leaving?” I asked, my voice was shrill.

“Yes, I will leave first thing in the morning.” He replied, as though my world wasn’t ending.

“Fine.” I said.

I stood up from the table and walked out of the room. I might be letting my emotions get the better of me but didn’t want to listen to anymore of this. Why did he pursue me so hard if he wanted to leave at the earliest opportunity? What hurts me the most is that I fell for it. I thought that he actually wanted to be with me. Turns out that I should have known better.

I went straight back to my room and closed the door behind me before collapsing onto the bed in tears. I felt betrayed, this was almost worse than being rejected. At least then I know exactly where I stood. This was just so confusing.

‘You are overreacting. He isn’t trying to get rid of us.’ Scarlett said.

“Molly?”

I could hear Talen calling my name through the door but I didn’t want to talk to him. I ignored him and buried my head deeper into the pillow.

“Please talk to me.” Talen said.

I heard the door click as he closed the door behind himself. I turned around so that my back was facing toward the door, I wouldn’t let him see my tears. I didn’t want him to know he could hurt me.

The bed dipped as he sat down next to me. His arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me close. I could feel him pressed up against mine and I could feel his warm breath on the back of my neck.

“It isn’t what you think honey. I would much rather stay here with you but I need to keep you safe. I wish there was another way but I have to speak to my contact.” He said, he kissed my neck gently.

“Can’t you just call them?” I asked.

“The second he knows it is me or anyone linked to me he will hang up.” He said.

“Why?” I asked.

I was suspicious. What would make his contact not want to speak to him so badly, what had he done?

“We sort of dated for a short while but it was never serious.” He said.

My whole body tensed up. He was going to see his ex while I stayed here. That wasn’t good. Talen must have noticed how tense I was because he started pulling me closer and kissing my neck almost frantically.

“I have to go but I would rather I had your mark on my neck when I did. I want him to know that I am yours.” He said.

His voice was husky as he spoke to me. Hearing that possessive edge to his voice made my heart flutter. I wanted that too, I wanted everyone to know he was mine.

“I am taking you out tonight for that date that we missed and then I would like you to mark me if you think I am worthy.” He said.