Once Upon A Rejection

Grayson Ward’s POV

This was a dangerous situation. As I walked into the middle of the group of werewolves my brother had assembled, I glanced at them anxiously. They were nothing like rogues, some of them didn’t even seem to act like werewolves. There was one group in particular that looked as though they came straight from office jobs in the city. They kept a little away from the others and didn’t seem to want to interact with anyone outside their group. It made me wonder if they were ashamed of what they were.

“Thank-you all for coming here.” I addressed the group. The majority of the group looked at me with cautious interest but there were some among the group who seemed less than thrilled to be here.

“What are we doing here? I don’t usually come into the middle of a field for fun.” One of the men in office wear replied. He was looking down at the mud coating his expensive shoes in disgust. I wasn’t going to apologise for our choice of rendezvous point, he knew where he was coming so he should have dressed more appropriately. Besides, it was the weekend, why was he dressed like he had come straight from the office anyway?

“We need your help. Lycans have taken members of my pack and others hostage and we need you to help us get them back.” Leyton said. He had a commanding personality that I hadn’t noticed before. He would have made a good alpha, maybe he still would one day.

“Why should we help you? You were one of the ones who was helping the council to destroy us.” Somebody deep within the crowd shouted. Molly cringed and gripped Talen and I tighter. I didn’t like being here anymore than she did but she wasn’t as used to hiding her emotions in front of a crowd as I was.

I had a lot of practice when it came to hiding my emotions. It was a skill I had used often before Molly had left for college, I had to hide my love for her every day. It was by far the hardest thing that I had ever done but my father always told me that it would make me a better alpha. Maybe he was right but I would never admit that to his face.

“I did as they bid me to but I never agreed with their rules. Now that I have left their service I promise I will do everything I can to help you.” Leyton told them.

“You’re not the first person to promise us such things.” One of them replied, causing mumbles of agreement to spread through the group.

“I know that but our pack prides itself on being fair and keeping our word.” Leyton replied. He tried to hide the desperation in his voice but he didn’t do a very good job of it.

“As though any pack would admit to being a pack of liars.” Someone replied. A good portion of the group started laughing, while others started talking amongst themselves.

“You are only being nice to us because you want something from us. The moment you get what you want you will stab us in the back.” One person said.

“You remember what happened the last time we trusted one of them,” someone else growled.

There was a lot of anger passing through the crowd. They weren’t even bothering to voice their descent to us directly now, they were too busy complaining amongst themselves. Some of them looked as though they were eager for a fight while others had given up completely and were walking away from the rest of the group. I had to take charge of this situation before things got completely out of hand.

“We have our own reasons to hate the council and we are not afraid of going against them. If you stand with us now then we will stand with you against the council.” I used as much authority in my voice as I could muster, given the current circumstances.

My words weren’t enough to halt those who had decided to leave but at least they were enough to stop a fight from breaking out. Those who remained all slowly turned their attention towards me.

“Tell us what you want from us alpha. We will tell you if your terms are reasonable.” One of the unofficial alpha growled, looking in my general direction. Leyton stepped forward once more, he still seemed to be a little shaken but much less so than a few minutes earlier.

“We need a distraction to help us get into their stronghold. My plan is for a few of you to pose as pack representatives wishing to trade a prisoner for their pack members.” Leyton started before Talen grabbed his throat, cutting him off.

“This is your plan wolf? You want to use my mate as bait?” He shouted, he was so angry that he was having to actively fight his shift. Inside I was just as angry as he was, I was just better at hiding it. If this really was my brother’s master plan then he was going to regret opening his mouth later. Bran was growling in my head, he wanted to be let out so he could show Leyton what happened to those who put our mate in danger.

“No. I was planning to use you as bait.” Leyton blurted out, while trying in vain to remove Talen’s claws from his neck. Talen grunted before reluctantly letting him drop to the ground and walking back to stand by Molly’s side. She wrapped her arm around him and whispered comforting words to him as Leyton pulled himself off the floor and dusted himself down.

“As I was saying. While they are busy negotiating with you at the front, the rest of us will sneak in and release the prisoners, killing all the lycans we see along the way.” Leyton told us.

“It could work but we will need to have a reasonable idea of the layout of the palace.” I replied.

“I can help you with that.” Jimmy replied, stepping forward from somewhere in the crowd.

“What will I be doing?” Molly asked.

“You will be at home, where you will be safe.” I replied. She didn’t like my answer, she stomped over to me and pointed her finger at me.

“I am stronger than most of the people here and you want to leave me at home like some kind of defenceless puppy.” She growled. Her eyes were glowing at me, as she pressed her finger into my chest. I know I shouldn’t like seeing her like this but I couldn’t deny that I was really turned on by her fire.

Molly was right when she told me that she was strong. I had first hand experience of how strong she was and she gave me the bruises to prove it. Her strength didn’t matter though, I would never risk her safety by letting her come with me to something like this. She may be strong but she was untrained and her hybrid status made her a target. My wolf wouldn’t be able to concentrate on anything other than her safety, I would probably end up getting myself killed.

“No, you are not defenceless but I am not willing to have you anywhere near the man who wants you dead. He has gone to a lot of trouble to get to you, I am not going to serve you up on a silver platter.” I replied. Molly’s jaw tensed, she wanted to fight against me and part of me wanted that too. Her fight was coming back piece by piece and I loved seeing her like this.

‘I hope she obeys us, otherwise you might f**k her right here,’ Bran complained.

“Fine I will sit this fight out but after this is over you will continue to train me. I don’t want to be left behind ever again.” I took her in my arms and pulled her close to my body.

“If this is what you want then how can I deny you?” I replied. I am sure that a few of the werewolves around me would be sniggering at me for letting my mate boss me around, not that I cared.

After Talen and I kissed Molly farewell she got in one of the cars with her brother and they drove back towards our pack. I was so relieved to see her leave. I would do what I had to do to keep her safe, then I would be back in her arms again.

‘Maybe when we get back home she can boss you around some more, as you seem to enjoy it so much.’ My wolf said, giggling at me. He wouldn’t be laughing while I was making her scream my name in pleasure.

“Are we going to stand around here all day or are we going to kill some lycans?” My brother called out, getting cheers from much of the crowd.