Once Upon A Rejection

Grayson Ward’s POV

Talen’s father had left so much documentation that it was going to take weeks, or maybe even months to go through it all. We were doing our best but it was slow progress and we didn’t have much time left. We couldn’t afford to let the council do more damage than they already had.

We had managed to travel far enough away that we were out of the council’s reach. But being this far away meant it was also difficult for us to keep tabs on what they were doing. Leyton was in communication with us regularly via mindlink, it still wasn’t the same as actually being there. They could be doing all kinds of things to our pack and I wasn’t able to do anything to stop it. The only thing I could do was try to get the other lycans to accept Molly as quickly as possible so we could take back our pack.

We had our first meeting with influential members of the lycan world tomorrow. Three of them were coming here, it was meant to be a relaxed meeting over lunch but I knew better than to trust that. Just like the council they would be judging our everymove, hoping to find something to fault us on.

We didn’t want to give them that opportunity. I had spent the day getting everything ready for their arrival while Molly and Talen had spent the day continuing to decipher the records that Talen’s father left us. They weren’t going to be able to learn everything but we hoped that what they had learnt so far would be enough to give the illusion of confidence.

It was a long shot and we knew it, but we were desperate. Running a pack as well as the whole lycan kingdom was impractical, but I would be damned if I would let the council destroy the pack I grew up in.

I made my way up to our office. The house was much bigger than our house back at our pack but in some ways that was good. It meant I had more time to think, and right now I needed to plan what I was going to say to convince my mates to take a few hours of rest.

When I walked into the room Molly was slumped over the table snoring softly while Talen sat beside her. He was hunched over in his seat staring at the tiny laptop screen, he looked as though he was losing his own battle to stay awake.

It took him a little while to notice that I had entered the room but when he did, he almost jumped out of the seat. Even that wasn’t enough to wake Molly from her slumber, I guess she really needed the rest. We had all been working much too hard.

“What are you doing here?” Talen grumbled. He was tired and his voice was a little husky, it always turned me on when he sounded like this. I ran my fingers through my hair and broke eye contact with him, there would be plenty of time for that later.

“I thought you would be happy to see me.” I replied feigning shock.

“That’s not what I meant. I just thought you would be busy getting the house ready for tomorrow.”

“I have made all the arrangements I could but now I need to look after my mates.”

“Look after us, how?”

Talen winked at me.

I could tell exactly what he was thinking, mostly because I was thinking the same thing. I would be fulfilling his fantasies later but it wasn’t the only thing I had planned for us. I had arranged for a whole evening of relaxation for the three of us. I just had to convince them to take some time off.

“I have plenty of relaxation and pampering planned to get us relaxed and ready to deal with the lycans.”

“A whole evening of pampering, when can we start?” Molly asked. I hadn’t realised that she had woken up yet, I was glad that she was on board with my plan though.

“Now.”

I put my arms around her waist and lifted her to her feet. Before she had a chance to complain, I picked her up and carried her out of the room in my arms. Once she realised I wasn’t planning to let me go she tried to wriggle out of my embrace. She didn’t stand a chance, I was holding her tightly and I wasn’t going to let her go anywhere.

“I can walk, you know.” Molly objected. Talen was following a few steps behind us, laughing to himself. I think that he was enjoying me taking charge, the thought made me smile.

“I know you can walk, but you are royalty so you shouldn’t have to. Besides, I like carrying you.” I told her.

“Ok, but only because you like it.” She conceded.

I think that she secretly liked it too because she didn’t complain again for the rest of the journey to the restaurant. She leaned her head against my shoulder and told me about what she discovered in the files. Talen walked beside us, he was quiet but he seemed content just to walk beside us.

A few of the lycans who walked past gave us strange looks but that didn’t bother me. I’ve had enough of doing things to please others. If they didn’t like me treating my mate like the queen that she was, then that was their problem not mine.

“This wasn’t what I had in mind when you said you were going to pamper us.” Talen said once it was clear where we were heading, his voice was filled with amusement.

“This is only the beginning. But a day of indulgence isn’t complete without cake and I have it on good authority that this place has the best cake in town.”

I glanced over to Talen who nodded his head in agreement. It was comforting to know that I was doing at least one thing right. Since getting run out of our pack by the council I had been feeling lost. As though my whole sense of purpose had suddenly been ripped out. I had never realised how important being an alpha was to my personality until now.

“Do they have chocolate cake?” Molly asked, jumping out of my arms and running towards the door with a huge smile on her face. She ran into the restaurant without even looking back to see if we were still following her.

“It’s nice to see her happy again isn’t it? Is that why you planned all of this?”

I nodded my head in agreement before walking away from him. Tomorrow was going to be hard but it was going to be nothing compared to the chaos that would ensue over the next few weeks. I wanted us to have some quality time together tonight as it might be our last chance for a while.

By the time Talen and I joined Molly at the table she was already looking at the menu. Her eyes were darting over the page eagerly and her eyebrows were bunched together.

“What’s wrong, are you having trouble working out what you want?” Talen asked as he sat down beside her and put his arm around her waist.

“Everything sounds so nice, can we order a few different options and share?”

Her eyes were lit up with excitement. I would give her anything she wanted just to keep that smile on her face. It was a shame that there wasn’t enough room for me to sit beside her because I wanted to k**s her so badly.

“I can do better than that. How about we order one of everything.”

Molly’s mouth dropped open in shock. That probably had something to do with the fact that there were twenty three different options on the menu. When I said that I was intending to spoil them tonight I really meant it. I couldn’t wait until they worked out what else I had planned from them later.

I had originally planned on taking them to a spa for a massage. But to my surprise there wasn’t anywhere that offered such treatments within the village and the nearest city was much too far away for a day trip.

I had to adapt and that meant putting the planning skills that my mother taught me to use. While I was making arrangements for our guests I also spent a bit of time constructing a surprise for my mates a short distance away from the house.

“If this is your idea of taking us out for food, then I can’t wait to see what else you have planned.” Talen said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

The first of our deserts were already being brought over to the table and they were causing a bit of a stir in the restaurant. Many of them were talking about our actions as though we were doing something obscene. I glanced around the room, hoping to catch a glimpse of who was talking about us. Talen noticed my actions and shook his head.

“Don’t worry about them, they are just jealous that they haven’t managed to find their mate yet.”

I knew that he was probably right but that didn’t make it any better. Many lycans were already against the idea of having royalty again, the last thing we needed was to give them more reasons to dislike us.

Perhaps if I stayed out of sight tomorrow we would stand more of a change at winning them over. I would have to adjust a few of my plans but it would be possible as long as I woke up early enough.

‘You know there is nothing you could do to please them.’ My wolf growled. I had no clue what he was talking about.

‘The chances are they have already made up their mind on who they want to lead. Meeting you is just so they can construct a justification for that decision.’ He clarified.

I rolled my eyes. I wanted him to be wrong, but my wolf had always been able to see the darkness in people much better than I had. He had been the one who noticed Molly change after her mother died. I hadn’t listened to his concerns then and it had almost cost me her love. I wasn’t going to make that mistake again.