Once Upon A Rejection

Talen Bancroft’s POV

The werewolves formed a line in front of us, as though they were preparing for a fight. That would be a mistake on their part, we outnumbered them, they would be dead before they even had a chance to call for reinforcements. The only reason they weren’t dead already was because I didn’t want to start another war. I would not make the first aggressive move, but I had no qualms about making the second.

“If you don’t hand them over then we will be forced to kill you.” Luna Davies continued causing every lycan in earshot to burst out laughing. Has nobody in this pack ever met a lycan before?

“You are more than welcome to try,” Jimmy replied. He was laughing so hard that he was breathless and his face was turning slightly pink.

“We have reinforcements on the way,” luna Davies responded, her tone a little defensive. She should be, she was way out of her depth.

“There aren’t enough wolves in this pack to make it a fair fight.” Jimmy was enjoying this far too much. When we got back home we were going to have to have a talk, this guy needed to get a social life or something.

The two lines were posturing, preparing for the impending fight. As far as both sides were concerned, it was the inevitable conclusion but I was an eternal optimist. I was going to make one last try for a diplomatic solution before killing half of the pack. Luna Davies flinched as I took a couple of steps towards her and the rest of her pack.

“I don’t want to wipe your pack out of existence but if you continue on this route that is the only possible ending. I am not going to let you kill me or put my mate at risk.” I told them, just as their reinforcements were starting to arrive. Some of the pack looked uncertain, glancing around them as though they were looking for a way out.

“I will give you one last chance to walk away. Anyone who walks away now, will get to live to see tomorrow.” I said.

A few of the werewolves from the Davies pack took me up on my offer. They walked away, back towards the pack with their heads hanging low. Right now they were probably feeling ashamed of themselves but I am sure it would be a different story tomorrow. When they are the only fighters left behind to defend a much smaller Davies pack. They might even end up being the reason that the pack manages to survive.

Luna Davies was watching them walk away, so she didn’t notice her gamma stalking up behind her. He picked her up and carried her around us towards her house, nodding at me in acknowledgment as he passed.

Once they were safely inside the house, with the door closed behind them everyone’s attention shifted back to me. The werewolves in the front started to shift into their wolf form. The wolves behind were a little slower to shift, a mark of their hesitance. They were lower ranked warriors, they knew they stood no chance against us.

When the first group of wolves had completed their shift they ran towards us, snarling. We intercepted them and snapped their necks easily. The wolves behind watched with wide eyed horror, but that didn’t stop them from pressing the attack. Within a few minutes we had completely decimated the pack. Hundreds of wolves had died in a matter of minutes, this pack would never be the same again.

Looking at the dead bodies of so many wolves made me sad but also filled me with fear. The peace between werewolves and lycans wasn’t exactly stable, and I didn’t want to be the catalyst that started a new war.

“We should probably get out of here before the other packs decide to attack us too.” Jimmy told me, as he pulled me away by my arm. Turning to face him, I nodded my head in agreement. My non-verbal response acted like a starting pistol, all the lycans around me stopped what they were doing and headed towards the cars that were waiting nearby.

They packed into the cars as only a well trained group of soldiers would, my father would be proud of that. By the time that I slipped into the car beside Jimmy, most of the other lycan were already in their cars and ready to go. Jimmy placed his hand on my shoulder.

“I know you are worried about the repercussions but there was nothing more you could do to stop them. Nobody will blame you for what happened here,” he told me.

“Thanks man,” I replied, trying to make my voice seem happier than I actually felt.

“Let’s get you back to your mate,” Jimmy replied, smiling at me briefly before starting the car.

As we drove my mind wandered back to my mate, I wondered what she would think about what happened here today. I hoped that she wouldn’t be too upset with me, I hated the idea of disappointing her. Maybe once we got Grayson’s father back I could take her and Grayson away for a romantic getaway. Spend some quality time with them both.

‘I think a passionate getaway sounds more fun,’ Jax said. That was just because he was a pervert though. With him everything came down to s*x, or at least it seemed that way ever since Molly came into our lives.

‘Hey it’s not my fault that our mate is so delicious. I just want to tie her up and feast on her all day,’ he purred. With a g***n, I blocked him out of my head. As nice as his suggestion sounded, I didn’t need that kind of thing in my head right now. It wasn’t exactly conducive to me thinking clearly.

The car in front of us started to slow down, gradually coming to a stop. Jimmy swore under his breath and reached for the car door. Placing my hand on his shoulder, I stopped him and got out of the car in his stead.

Jimmy meant well but he wasn’t the most serious lycan and sometimes that could get him into trouble. Particularly if the situation needed diplomacy, which I had a feeling was exactly what was going to be needed here. My anxiety levels started to rise the moment I left the car. I was sure that after we left, word of our fight would have spread through the remaining werewolves like wildfire. If my suspicions were right, this was probably some kind of fallout from that.

The moment the first car in our convoy came into view, my worst fears were realised. Just ahead of the car there were representatives from a few of the nearby packs and they looked well and truly pissed off. The lycans from the earlier cars were doing their best to placate them but it didn’t look as though they were making much progress. The werewolves were snarling and most of them had their fangs and claws extended.

“What is going on here?” I shouted, drawing everyone’s attention towards me.

“You are a bunch of murderers. You betrayed us and killed over a hundred of this pack’s strongest warriors. I don’t know why you did it but you have to pay for your crimes.” One of the wolves growled.

“Did they also tell you that they planned to hand me over to our enemies so they could kill me and my mate? That I gave them a warning and a chance to walk away before things escalated?” I asked. I already knew the answer but I wondered if they would admit their own ignorance to me.

“Is that true?” One of the wolves behind asked, looking concerned.

“Does it matter?” The wolf in front was still snarling but I could see doubt in his eyes. They wanted us to be the bad guys in this situation and they hadn’t factored in any conclusion where that wasn’t the case.

“It’s true, you can call the packs luna or gamma if you don’t believe us.” Jimmy was walking up behind me as he spoke.

It was a risky move, to encourage them to get confirmation like this. Luna Davies was probably feeling ashamed of herself for agreeing to the plan in the first place. Would she admit to causing the death of her pack members, or would she lie knowing that it would probably lead to more deaths?

We waited with baited breath as one of the werewolves near the back of the group called someone on their mobile phone. The lycans around me slowly moved, preparing to defend themselves if this situation escalated. It felt as though the werewolf had been on the phone for hours by the time she hung up, even though I knew that in reality it was probably only a couple of minutes.

“Luna Davies corroborated their story.” She told the others.

“I don’t care, I say we kill them anyway.” The werewolf at the front of the group replied.

‘Ugh, I hate that wolf. Can we kill him, please?’ Jax asked, causing me to roll my eyes. Did he really think that he could get away with something like that? Particularly if we are going to be crowned as the lycan king soon.

‘No, but your face was priceless,’ Jax laughed at me.

Meanwhile the werewolves had decided that they weren’t going to risk a fight with us after learning the truth. They slowly disbursed, heading back towards the pack. The werewolf at the front of the group was the last to leave, he snarled at us one last time before he finally gave up and walked away.

“We need to leave before they change their mind,” Jimmy said. I couldn’t agree more.