Once Upon A Rejection

Grayson Ward’s POV

After we left Talen with one of the unofficial packs, we took the scenic route to the palace. We couldn’t risk them seeing us on our approach. We suspected that we had vastly greater numbers than Dustin did but we couldn’t be sure, besides it was never a good idea to underestimate lycans. They were much stronger than us and they healed faster than we did too. Even if our werewolves outnumbered them ten to one, it still wasn’t guaranteed that we would prevail.

That was why we came up with this plan. The palace was huge, it had more rooms than I could count and many more than they could effectively patrol. Their forces would be stretched thin which meant we should be able to sneak around, picking them off one by one until we could free the prisoners.

Once we were inside the palace we would split up into smaller groups, each with specific areas to search. I would be in a group with my brother, a couple of warriors and Talen’s friend, Jimmy. We would be searching the rooms on the topmost floor at the left hand side of the building.

Breaching the perimeter was easier than I thought it would be. The wall was so degraded that at some points it was little more than rubble. We used one of these such places and walked straight in, once inside we used the overgrown gardens to approach the palace without being spotted. Now we just had to wait until Talen created his distraction, then we would start our search.

For the next few minutes felt like hours as we hid along the walls of the palace, waiting for Talen’s word. When he finally opened a mindlink with me to let me know that the lycans had taken the bait, I was relieved. I signalled the others then led them all into the palace through the basement entrance that Jimmy had told us about.

‘I can’t wait to get home. I am going to screw you and Molly so hard that you will be begging me for mercy.’ Talen told me over mindlink, as I started to ascend the stairs.

‘What the heck?’ I replied. We had agreed to keep mindlink open so that we could share information about the attack, not for him to torment me.

‘These lycans are taking their time to walk down the gardens. I need a distraction. So tell me, what would you do if you and I were alone right now?’ He asked.

I growled in frustration. We were just about to approach the top of the stairs. I needed to be able to concentrate, this was a really bad time for him to be distracting me. I tried to close down our mindlink but Talen didn’t want that. He pushed my link open, nudging me to answer his question.

‘Do you really want to have an e******n when they finally reach you?’ I replied.

‘Are you worried someone will see?’

‘Can you take this seriously for one moment.’ I replied. I turned the corner to find two lycans patrolling down the corridor, shock filled their faces when they noticed us.

Grayson Ward’s POV

After we left Talen with one of the unofficial packs, we took the scenic route to the palace. We couldn’t risk them seeing us on our approach. We suspected that we had vastly greater numbers than Dustin did but we couldn’t be sure, besides it was never a good idea to underestimate lycans. They were much stronger than us and they healed faster than we did too. Even if our werewolves outnumbered them ten to one, it still wasn’t guaranteed that we would prevail.

‘I don’t know what you are talking about. This is very serious, I need to know what underwear you are wearing.’ Talen replied just as I lunged after the lycans.

Leyton and I took down one of them while Jimmy made short work of ripping the other one to pieces. Once we were done with them we placed them in one of the empty rooms nearby. It was probably a futile gesture, even without the bodies it was obvious what had happened here. There was b***d all over the floor, its unmistakable scent filled the air around us. Any lycan who walked down here would know what had happened in seconds. We needed to move quicker if we didn’t want to get caught.

Leyton, Jimmy and I moved down the corridor checking for enemies as we went while the warriors checked each of the rooms. I could hear Talen trying to persuade his welcome party that he was there to surrender, while we progressed. We killed one more group of lycans before we reached the last room of the corridor.

One of the warriors went to open the door but I put my hand on their shoulder to stop them. I could hear multiple heartbeats coming from within the room. There was enough for this to be where they were keeping the prisoners but I was apprehensive, something didn’t feel right.

Pushing my way to the front of the group, I opened the door. The room beyond was different to the others that we had seen. All the other rooms had been completely empty and long since abandoned. This room however was a great deal larger and filled with beds, on each bed there was a werewolf who was drugged and bound in silver.

“Well I wasn’t expecting this, it is a pleasant surprise.” The voice was coming from behind me. When I turned around I came face to face with four lycans. The one who had spoken to me was standing slightly further forward than the other three and he was dressed in a way that told me he outranked the others.

‘s**t, oh s**t. Attack now.’ I shouted at Talen over our mindlink.

“How is this pleasant? I am going to kill you.” I replied to the man I presumed to be Dustin.

He smirked at me.

“Do you really think that a bunch of werewolves and a single lycan can kill me?” He replied, the amusement clear in his voice. That annoyed me more than I would like to admit. As an alpha I was used to always being the strongest person in the room. It didn’t feel good to have my strength questioned so openly.

‘We will prove him wrong.’ Bran growled in my mind. He was determined but maybe that was part of Dustin’s plan. To make us angry so that we would do something reckless. It would be better if we could delay this fight until our backup arrived.

“You are more of an i***t than I gave you credit for. I will tell you exactly how this is going to play out.” Dustin replied, taking a couple of steps towards me. I took a step back and got myself ready to shift, not that it would do me much good. Dustin was right, at the moment we didn’t stand much of a chance against them.

“I’m not going to kill you, not right away anyway. I will capture you and keep you alive so that you can watch me torture and kill both of your mates.”

I growled. Dustin looked at me for a moment then burst out laughing. The lycans behind him shifted anxiously. They weren’t comfortable with Dustin taking time to antagonise us but even they didn’t know how close our backup was.

Talen was shouting at me through mindlink, telling me that he was making his way up the stairs and closing in on our location. The other werewolves and lycans had cleared the other corridors and were also making their way towards us but Talen had asked them to hold back. He wanted to be the one who killed Dustin.

“You’re not going to kill me and you’re not going to kill anyone else either.”

Just as the last words left my mouth Talen burst into the room. He was in his lycan form but I knew instantly that it was him. He was followed quickly by many lycans and werewolves, who fanned out into the room and attacked Dustin’s entourage.

“You have led to the death of so many people, just because you wanted something that didn’t belong to you. I should kill you slowly and painfully for what you did but I would rather get back to my mate.” Talen growled before rushing forward.

Dustin didn’t have much time to react or shift before Talen reached him. Dustin tried to lash out but Talen was too fast, he dodged out of the way of Dustin’s claws before raking his own claws across Dustin’s chest. Dustin staggered backwards as b***d started to colour the front of his shirt.

“You will pay for that.” Dustin growled.

Talen and Dustin circled each other. It would have been easy for the rest of us to step in and kill Dustin but we didn’t, Talen needed revenge after Dustin’s actions cost his father’s life. After they circled each other a few times Dustin went to attack Talen, his claws wildly slashing at anything they could reach.

It seemed as though Talen was a more experienced fighter than Dustin. He was not only able to avoid taking much damage from Dustin’s wild attacks but he also managed to inflict plenty of damage himself. This time when Dustin staggered backwards he fell down to the floor.

“Maybe instead of making ridiculous plans, you should have spent some more time learning how to fight.” Talen growled, before finally slitting his throat.

He watched for a few seconds to make sure that Dustin was really dead before turning his attention towards me. He crossed the room towards me, wrapped his arms around me and kissed me passionately.