Once Upon A Rejection

“Hurry up.” Ezra complained.

We were eating breakfast in the hotel. There was plenty of time before my classes were due to start. Grayson and I wanted to enjoy a relaxed breakfast together but Ezra was stressing out big time. He was really struggling after spending the night away from June. He wanted to see her to check that she was ok and set his mind at ease.

“You need to relax.” I said.

I look around anxiously. Ezra was so stressed out, I was worried about him drawing too much attention to us. He was acting erratically and I was sure that somebody was going to call the police if he kept this up.

He wasn’t able to sit still even for a minute, his legs bouncing under the table and he kept fiddling with his coffee cup. Every so often he would down what was left in his cup and pour himself some more coffee.

“I don’t think you need any more of that.” I said, taking the cup away from him. The last thing he needed in this state was more caffeine. I certainly didn’t want to have to take him to the hospital for caffeine poisoning.

“What you need is meditation.” Grayson said.

“What good is that going to do? She could be hurt, she could be dead.” Ezra said, his voice was a few octaves higher from the stress.

Thankfully however, he managed to keep the volume of his voice low. A quick look around the room confirmed that nobody was paying too much attention to us.

“She will be fine, you just need something which helps you to keep calm.” Grayson said.

He slipped his arms around my waist and smiled at me. I felt a pang of guilt. I hate to think how difficult it must have been for Grayson when I left the pack. He had to put up with months of not being able to see or talk to me, it must have been hell.

What made me feel even worse was the fact that I had been completely oblivious to what I was doing to him. Maybe if I hadn’t been so convinced that he was my enemy then I wouldn’t have felt the need to escape.

“Fine, I will learn how to do meditation but right now can we just go?” Ezra complained.

“Let’s go.” I said. I was sick of listening to him, maybe he would be less of a pain when we got on campus.

I finished off my coffee then picked up my coat and bag. Grayson and I followed Ezra out of the hotel. We were about half way to the car when Grayson’s phone rang.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

He took his phone out of his pocket and looked at the screen. I could see in my peripheral vision that the call was coming from his father. He sighed and answered the call.

“Is everything ok?” He asked immediately. There was a clear edge of anxiety to Grayson’s voice.

“Yes. Everything is fine but I thought you should know that I heard back from the council about our lycan problem.” His father said. He sounded tense so I knew that it couldn’t be good news.

“What did they say?” Grayson said.

“They said that there wasn’t sufficient evidence that the lycans harboured any ill will towards our pack.” His father said.

“That’s bullshit.” Grayson shouted, causing everyone in the parking lot to turn around to look at him.

I had never heard Grayson annoyed before but he was now. His eyes had changed colour, a clear indicator that his wolf was now in control. Other than the change in eye colour his outward demeanour looked almost the same.

I would probably think he was fine if I couldn’t feel the change in his emotions through our bond. Through our bond I could feel his anger and his stress increasing by the second. I put my hand on his arm to comfort him.

“I know but there is nothing I can do about it.” His father said. He sounded exasperated, I got the feeling that it had been a long morning for him.

“What will it take for them to get involved?” Grayson asked.

“They said that until the lycans come onto our territory or attack a pack member they won’t do anything.” His father said.

“I can’t believe this, they will wait until someone gets injured or killed before they do anything about these monsters.” Grayson said with a growl.

“I know but all we can do is increase our defences and hope they don’t decide to attack.” His father said.

Grayson murmured in agreement.

They spoke for a short while longer about the security measures that Rich was taking before Grayson hung up. I looked over at Ezra, panic was etched across his face.

“You should go to check on June, we have something else we need to do.” Grayson said.

Ezra didn’t hesitate, he wasn’t going to give Grayson a chance to change his mind. He jumped in his car and sped off. I rolled my eyes at his behaviour.

We got in the car straight after Ezra had left but his car was nowhere to be seen once we left the car park. I am sure that he must have broken the speed limit to disappear so quickly. He was overreacting, June wasn’t in any real danger. There was more risk of him getting into an accident after driving down the road at over 100mph.

Grayson drove us to campus, straight towards Dominic’s dormitory room. I was filled with a sense of dread. Grayson didn’t trust himself to talk to Dominic on his own but I really didn’t want to be here. There was no way that this wasn’t going to be incredibly awkward.

‘Well, you shouldn’t have gotten involved with someone who wasn’t your mate. You idiot.’ Jade grumbled.

I sighed, maybe she was right.

‘There is no “maybe” about it. You should have shown more restraint.’ Scarlett said. That was a bit rich coming from her.

‘Yeah but I am a lycan. You are the human, you are meant to be the responsible one.’ Scarlett complained.

Grayson knocked on the door to Dominic’s room. I listened closely, I could hear Dominic moving around inside. It sounded as though he was moving things around inside the room. Grayson knocked again.

“Oh for f***s sake.” Dominic cursed.

He opened the door. He looked at me and Grayson and scowled.

“You.” He said.

He rolled his eyes and went back into his room. He left the door open but started moving around his room as though we weren’t even there. He had a large suitcase open on his bed that was half filled with clothes and belongings. He was packing, why was he packing?

“Going somewhere?” I asked.

“What is it to you?” He replied. He shot a look in my direction.

I was about to reply but I honestly didn’t know what to say. I was worried that he was leaving because of me. I know that I had hurt him but I thought it would be ridiculous for him to drop out over me. There had to be more to this.

“I know that this is awkward but I wanted to ask you some questions about your friends.” Grayson said, saving me from embarrassing myself further.

“What do you want to know about them?” Dominic said, doing very little to hide his annoyed tone.

“You have known Justin for a while, is he trustworthy?” Grayson asked.

Dominic paused what he was doing for a moment then started packing again.

“He is a loyal friend and I have never known him to act improperly.” Dominic said.

“Does he have ties to any packs that you know of?” Grayson asked.

Dominic stopped packing and walked over to Grayson. He looked at him with interest.

“You are thinking of taking him in aren’t you?” Dominic said. He looked surprised.

“To answer your question, he has no ties to any pack. Most packs would kill him rather than talk to him. He mostly keeps away from all other packs.” Dominic said. He looked down, deep in thought.

“Justin will be so happy to finally be accepted. At least I don’t have to worry about him now.” He said. He sounded sad.

“Are you in some kind of trouble?” I asked.

I may not be involved with him anymore but I was still worried about his behaviour. We were friends way before we became lovers and I didn’t like the thought of something bad happening to him.

He turned his attention towards me then back to Grayson. He seemed reluctant to say anything but eventually he opened his mouth.

“My family has gone missing.” He said.

I felt my b***d run cold. I didn’t know much about his past but from what I did know this was probably not something as simple as an unannounced holiday.

“Do you think they are in danger?” I asked.

“I don’t know but I need to investigate what happened.” He said.

“Is there anything we can help with?” Grayson asked. I could feel his reluctance through our bond but I appreciated that he made the offer.

“No, this is something I need to do by myself.” He said.

“I understand, we will leave you to it.” Grayson said.

He took hold of my arm and led me out of the room. Once we made it out of the building, he pushed me against the wall of the building and kissed my lips and neck passionately.

“You’re mine.” He whispered in my ear.

“All yours.” I said, wishing I could melt into his embrace.