Once Upon A Rejection

Talen Bancroft’s POV

I knew there was something shady about the council’s arrival from the moment they showed up. I had hoped that I was wrong, that I was just being overly cautious because I didn’t like them being so close to my mates. As it turns out, I should have paid more attention to my instincts.

When one of their assistants told us what they wanted to achieve here, it took all my strength not to follow them so I could rip their damn throats out. Unfortunately that might just give them exactly what they wanted.

If a group of council members was killed within our pack then the rest of them would have us arrested and put on trial for their murder. Then they would probably use our imprisonment to find some way of getting rid of us. They were nothing if not predictable.

“Why would they want to kill us?” Molly asked. Sometimes it was cute how innocent she was. Of course she wouldn’t have any idea how far the council would go to maintain their dominance, her mind didn’t work like that. Fortunately for her, I was around and I could make sure she never had to learn how evil people could really be.

“It’s obvious isn’t it? They want to make an example out of us so that nobody will go against them.” I growled.

I could feel my anger levels rising, making my whole body heat up and tingle as my lycan begged to be let loose. Molly recognised the change in my emotions and slipped her arm around my waist. She held my body close as she attempted to comfort me with her scent. Even so, my anger was enough to make everyone else from the pack walk away from us.

“We didn’t go against them, we just disagreed with them.” Molly objected, trying to hide the worry in her voice.

“To them that would be the same thing. They are weak and they can’t risk anyone standing up to them.” I growled. Molly’s fear was making my lycan’s aggression worse, he felt a powerful need to protect his mate from the council members who wanted to hurt her.

“They aren’t just weak, they are also paranoid. They are so worried about losing their power over the werewolf community that they won’t risk letting people speak up against them.” Leyton paused for a second to check that nobody was listening to our conversation before continuing.

“I believe that Ben is correct. They will want to make an example out of you in case anyone else thinks about speaking out against them.” He concluded, and he would know. He had spent months living with the council when he was trying to convince them that he was worthy of becoming an alpha. He had probably seen them do this type of thing over and over again while he stayed with them.

Come to think of it, his experience of dealing with them might prove useful. He would know the kind of tactics they are likely to use and that might give us the edge when it came to outsmarting them. Maybe with his help we could even stay one step ahead of them.

“We need to work out what their plans are. We are going to need your help with this.” I told Leyton. A grin spread slowly across his face as he considered my suggestion.

“I was worried you would never ask.” He replied, his joy was clear in his voice. I had suspected for a while that more had happened to him during his time with the council than he had admitted to us. Maybe that was the reason he was looking at me as though I had given him the most spectacular present. Half of me was happy for his eager support but the other half of me was worried about him.

“You can’t do this. It is too dangerous.” Carly shouted as she ran over to where we were standing.

It looked as though she was standing behind one of the nearby buildings. Close enough to hear what we were saying but not close enough for us to smell her or sense her presence. From the look on her face it was clear that she didn’t approve of our plan to involve Leyton. Molly’s step father was walking slowly behind her, when I looked in his direction he shrugged his shoulders.

She ran the last few metres without slowing down and threw herself into his arms. Leyton staggered back slightly as he adjusted to the sudden impact of her slamming against him.

“I know you are worried about me, my love. But you don’t need to be.” Leyton told her while running his fingers along her cheek. He leaned forward and tried to press his lips against hers but she pulled away at the last moment. There was the faint flicker of a smile before the sadness took over and tears started forming in her eyes.

“You know better than anyone how vindictive they can be. If they work out what you are doing then they will kill you.” Thomas wrapped his arms around her from behind, so she was sandwiched between their bodies. Seeing them comforting their mate made me want to get closer to Molly.

“That is exactly why we should be trying to stop them. We can’t let them destroy this pack, it would put every one of us in danger.” He spoke in a soothing tone while trying to calm his mate down. Grayson, Molly and I kept quiet in the background, I was sure that anything we would say would only make things worse.

“I know that but can’t someone else do it?” Carly pleaded.

Leyton didn’t answer her question, he just gave her a look that made it clear that there was nobody else. Even with her being shielded by her mates, I could see the pain in Carly’s eyes and she came to the same realisation. Our best chance to save ourselves and the pack was to let Leyton do this.

“But I think I might be pregnant.” Carly told him, tears starting to run down her face. Both of Carly’s mates took turns kissing her and letting her know how excited they were as we watched.

Jax grumbled in my mind. He was more than a little jealous of them right now, he had hoped that Molly would get pregnant after her heat. I had tried to explain to him about birth control but he didn’t seem to understand the concept. He wanted to have a huge family and the sooner we got started, the easier it would be for him to achieve that goal. It was lucky that I had full control over him because I didn’t want him coming on too strong and making Molly worry.

“It is now even more important that we deal with the council. We can’t let our child grow up fearing them as we have.” Leyton had a look of determination in his eyes as he spoke that sent chills down my spine. I had gotten to know him pretty well over the last few months and I had never seen him like this before.

Carly started sobbing uncontrollably as it dawned on her that she wasn’t going to be able to change his mind. She buried her face into Leyton’s chest and clutched onto him tightly. As though she thought she would be able to keep him with her and stop him from taking on the council.

“I know you are scared but I have done things like this before and I will be very careful.” Leyton told Carly in a soothing manner. After a few more minutes of gentle coaxing she reluctantly agreed to allow him to go through with his plan.

“How can we help you?” Molly asked.

“You can’t. They will be suspicious of everything you do, you need to stay away from me. You need to focus all your energy on keeping the council members happy and distracted.” Thomas said. He was so worried about Molly that he was almost shouting at her, she flinched at the harshness of his voice but she nodded her head in agreement.

“We should get going before they start suspecting that something is wrong.” Grayson said, shortly before he and Molly started walking back towards the house.

I stayed behind for a while trying to get Leyton to share some of his plans with me, hoping that I could think of some way to help him. However, he refused to tell me anything. Even when I tried to use my authoritative tone with him, he didn’t cave. I guess he was used to people trying to boss him around from his time with the council because he didn’t even flinch. He just continued to tell me to stay away from him until he had completed his mission.

In the end I gave up fighting him and went in search of my mates. There was no use trying to get any more information from him. He was taking his task very seriously, he was even starting to talk differently. Losing some of his fun loving nature as he focused on the colossal task ahead of him. That was just one more reason to look forward to the council leaving our pack and going somewhere very far away.