Once Upon A Rejection

Molly Morgan’s POV

The one thing that was worse than having to put up with a bunch of council members, was having to put up with them while pretending to be their idea of a perfect luna. I had spent the last just over twenty four hours pretending to be somebody that I wasn’t and I was thoroughly exhausted.

“There you are my dear.” I recognised the voice instantly. It was one of the council members, one who seemed to have taken a particular liking to me.He didn’t show any interest at all in speaking to me yesterday when I was dressed in my normal clothes but today was a completely different matter.

June had suggested that I should dress like their perfect idea of a luna rather than just acting the part. At the time she was probably under the impression that the perfect luna would dress conservatively. Unfortunately she had no idea how true that was. Human and werewolf culture had a very different idea of what the perfect wife of a leader should look like.

The council thought that women were nothing more than pretty objects. In their minds a luna’s role was to keep an alpha happy physically and mentally. As such a luna should hide her body from everyone other than her mate while still looking elegant and feminine. I didn’t have clothes like that in my wardrobe so Talen had to take me shopping last night while Grayson entertained our new guests. I hated every minute of it.

Normally I wouldn’t have complained too much about going shopping with a practically unlimited budget but this trip was different. I didn’t think that I was going to be wearing any of the clothes that I bought last night after the council left our pack. It was such a waste.

“Alpha Lancaster, such a pleasant surprise.” My voice was so sickly, sweet that it even made me feel nauseous.

“I was wondering if you would do me the honour of escorting me to dinner, I seem to have forgotten where the dining room is.” He replied.

He didn’t wait for me to answer his question, instead he took hold of my arm and signalled for me to lead the way. My whole being was repulsed by the presumptuous way he was touching me but I had little choice other than to comply with his request. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what the consequences would be if I made one of the council members fall over and break his h*p. But it wasn’t worth taking the risk.

“You look incredibly beautiful this evening, if I was a younger man then your alpha might have a fight on his hands for your affection.”

“Alpha Lancaster! You can’t talk to me like that, I am happily mated.” I replied.

This was all starting to wear a little thin. How much of this kind of behaviour was I meant to endure? Surely even the council members couldn’t expect me to put up with this level of sleaziness. There had to be a point where I was justified in telling them to go screw themselves.

‘Please remind me why we can’t just kill all of the council members.’ Talen asked over our joint mind link.

‘Killing them seems a little extreme, maybe we could just maim them a little bit.’ Grayson suggested.

Their conversation was succeeding in distracting me from my own anger at Alpha Lancaster. They had managed to calm me down enough so that I was able to accept his half hearted attempt at an apology and lead him into the dining room.

When we arrived all the other council members were already seated at the head table along with Grayson’s parents. June and Erza were seated at a different table a little distance away from the main table. Leyton, Thomas and Carly were sitting with them, talking quietly amongst themselves. I hadn’t heard anything from any of them since the council had arrived. I knew they were keeping their distance because of Leyton’s plan but I still didn’t like them being so distant.

Alpha Lancaster pulled out a seat at the table for me and waited patiently for me to accept, as though I had any other choice. It wasn’t until I sat down that I realised he had sat me between himself and another one of the council members, effectively separating me from my mates. If that wasn’t bad enough I noticed something strange about the people around the table.

Most of the council members had come here alone but there were a couple of them who brought a much younger mate with them. Second chance mates weren’t unheard of and having a much younger mate sometimes happened. However, it seemed unlikely that the only two council members here who had second chance mates would both have mates who were that much younger than them.

The other women were dressed in a similar fashion to me but they looked as though they had been doing it a lot longer than I had. Their hair, nails and make-up were immaculate. Unlike mine, compared to them I probably looked as though I had been dressed by a child. Their gaze on me made me feel uncomfortable and self conscious. I felt as though they were judging me but that was probably just my own feelings of inadequacy because it was difficult to miss the sadness in their eyes.

“So you are the luna of this pack?” One of the women asked. I opened my mouth to speak but Alpha Lancaster quickly interrupted.

“She just became the luna here a few months ago.” He told them as he smiled at me. There was a look in his eyes that made it seem as though he was proud of me but for what I couldn’t say. This whole situation was confusing and frustrating. I wanted nothing more than to go back to my normal life, and change back into my jeans and t-shirt because this dress was far too tight and restrictive.

“My name is Fiona, I was the luna of the former Jefferson pack. It is lovely to meet you.” She told me.

I vaguely remembered hearing something about the Jefferson pack. They were involved in some kind of scandal a couple of years back but I never used to pay attention to that kind of gossip so I never listened to any of the details. I do remember that the alpha had to be replaced after the scandal though.

Fiona was clearly trying to tell me something. Maybe if I had paid more attention at the time then I would have a greater understanding of what it was. Even with the small amount of information that I did have, I felt uncomfortable about the whole situation. It was hard to believe that Fiona wanted to be mated to the people who had made her old mate give up his position. Come to think of it, what had happened to her previous mate?

You couldn’t break your bond to someone that easily. You could bond to other people in addition to your true mate but that bond would never be as strong as the bond to your true mate. You would always crave them more than your chosen second mate. It didn’t make sense to take a second mate unless of course your first mate was killed.

I shuddered, my b***d suddenly turning ice cold. He killed her mate and took her as his own, probably even marked her against her will. Now they were planning to do the same thing to me. So much for Alpha Lancaster’s advances being sleazy but ultimately harmless. He was a monster.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” I forced myself to speak, hoping that nobody around the table noticed the terror in my voice. I might have done a good job because nobody around the table seemed to react to it but I couldn’t hide my fears from my own mates. They could feel my emotions through our bond and they were both trying to open a mindlink with me. I had to block them out, I couldn’t deal with them while I was trying not to have a panic attack at the table.

“What rank were your parents?” One of the council members asked.

Of course they would want to check up on my history to see if I was good enough to be forcefully mated to one of them. There was no point lying to them in the hopes of deterring their attention. They probably already knew everything about me, they just wanted me to say it so they could judge me openly.

“My mom was a beta and my dad was the head of one of the lycan houses.” I replied.

“Very interesting. Your children will be very strong.”

He was talking directly to alpha Lancaster. He wasn’t even looking at me anymore, which was probably a good thing because that way he couldn’t see the panic spreading over my face. I shifted in my seat, awkwardly pulling at the collar of this ridiculous dress as I tried to get enough air so that I didn’t pass out.

I could feel the eyes of everyone around the table on me but I didn’t care, I had to get out of here before I passed out or threw up. At this point it was either going to be one or the other, I just wasn’t sure which one would come first.

Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse I felt alpha Lancaster’s arm wrap around my waist and pull me tight against his body.

“I know that she has a lot to learn about being a luna but I am willing to teach her.” He said.

‘I might not be able to do anything right now but don’t worry I will make him pay for touching us.’ Scarlett growled inside my mind.