His Rejection, page 12
“It's fine. I'm more concerned about apologizing to Nova,” he said. He smiled at Noni's apology though, letting her know that it was truly OK.
I would have to thank him for that later, I thought.
“Call her,” I said.
“Who me,” Maxon asked. We both looked at him like he was the dumbest person in the world. He couldn't possibly think that she was going to pick up for him.
“Not you, Noni. I don't think she would answer for you truthfully.” He nodded.
“Go ahead babe,” I said turning to face her.
She nodded and walked away. Nova had obviously picked up the phone on the first ring. I watched as Noni was quiet for a moment and then pleaded the case. If I knew my sister, and I did, she wouldn't care. Noni threw her hands up in frustration.
“He was tricked Nova,” she kept shouting but to avail.
“Nova stop walking and just wait for me okay.” Wait, what did she mean by wait for her? Was she going to leave too?
“Nova, I can't just leave Alex!” She was quiet for a bit more listening to Nova. I could hear her screaming through phone, screaming about her truck, which was with us.
“What the hell is Marc and Conner coming here for? Oh, Fates. They wouldn't,” she complained.
There was more yelling from Nova, and then another long pause accompanied by a sob from Noni. She hung up the phone and looked at me crying.
“Babe, what's wrong,” I asked her, walking towards her. She was backing up and shaking her head crying.
“I'm so sorry Alex.” With that she took off, making a right. My guess was that she was going back to the packhouse. I wanted to follow her, but she was too fast, and I was too numb.
I don't remember how long I was standing there staring at the spot where Noni had run from. I couldn't recall how many times Maxon had called my name or when I had fallen to my knees. All I could remember was Noni running away from me. I tried to think of a way that I could've stopped her, but no matter how many times I replayed it in my head the result was the same, her leaving me. What had I done to make her leave me?
Our mate left us, my wolf howled in pain.
Maybe she's just waiting for us at the packhouse, I told him trying to lighten his spirits.
Let's go, he replied.
A COUPLE WEEKS LATER
It's been weeks since I've seen my sister and my mate. That night that when Noni and I left to dance, I never thought that would be the last time I saw my sister and my mate. I had just gotten used to her being around again, hearing her smart remarks, hearing her laugh at my lame jokes.
Hell, Noni didn't even laugh at them, but now they are gone back to Michigan. While she was gone, I had cut everybody off except for Maxon, but now I'm rethinking that decision.
He had broken my baby sister's heart not once but twice and he had made me lose my mate. I was livid. How could he sleep with Natalie off all people? Maybe it wasn't his entire fault. We did tell her we'd be within her seeing range, but we had disappeared and by the time we came back she was gone. She had told us that if she wasn't there that meant Maxon had come and got her.
Everything was just a big mess. Maxon and I could barely run the pack. If we thought Maxon was bad before, he was worse now. He wouldn't eat, I highly doubted that he slept, and I was no better.
Juan was third in command so he had taken on the pack's responsibilities, for the time being, something that Maxon and I would regret later. I was sure of it. With a mate like Vanessa, we’d probably come back to see that everything had been changed around.
Mate, my wolf and I sighed at the same time.
I rolled over on my pillow and inhaled deeply. I hadn't washed my sheets since Noni left. Gross, I know but she didn't leave me anything to remember her by. Everything was gone, everything but her beautiful scent.
Maxon, on the other hand, had it worse. Not only had Nova taken all her old and new things, but she also made sure there wasn't a trace of her in his room. Her scent was completely cleaned out. You would've thought that he is being here was just a dream.
I was just about to take another deep inhalation when my door was kicked open. “Get up,” Juan growled.
“My door was locked for a reason.”
“I don't care get up,” he growled again.
“Why?! I don't want to,” I whined. I didn't care if I sounded like a child. I just really wanted to wallow in my pain in peace and self-pity.
“Me, Vanessa, you and Maxon are going to Michigan.” I perked up. That's where Noni is.
“For what? I don't feel like playing captain save a pack,” I said.
“Not even if it was, your mates' pack?” He was wearing a slick smile on his face. He knew he had me.
“Tell Maxon to get dressed now. And don't hesitate to tell him why. We're leaving in thirty.”
He was about to leave when I called him back. He looked at me with wondering eyes.
“What happened at that pack,” I asked. I truly didn't want to know, but I knew I needed to know. I couldn't go in blind.
“A group of human hunters and vampires came in the middle of the night and almost completely wiped out the pack. As many as two hundred were killed, twenty-something injured and two missing,” he reported.
Ah, shit.
chapter 17
Juan
The past couple of weeks have been the hardest of my life. Maxon and Alex have become unfit to lead the pack, so it goes to me, the third in command. I was making my rounds as stand-in Alpha when the phone call came. I was a bit hesitant to take it when Emery told me who it was.
I didn't know much about the situation between Nova, Maxon, Alex, and Noni, but I knew that both girls had left and gone back to their pack in Michigan. The Alpha, Marc, was the one who had placed the call.
“Hello Gamma Juan, speaking. Who's calling,” I asked.
“This is Alpha Marc. Is your Alpha around,” he wondered.
“He and the Beta are busy now. Can I help you?”
“I actually called for your packs' help. We've been attacked.” I was surprised that they were attacked. With their immense amount of Specials, I thought that other packs would be too afraid to attack them.
“How many injured?”
“Twenty-five, we were attacked by human hunters and vampires. We didn't even know it was coming until we heard the screams. They almost wiped us out,” he mumbled, probably embarrassed that as Alpha he failed to protect his pack.
“Vampires and human hunters? That's new,” I mused. I was completely shocked. Vampires and humans didn't exactly get along. Then something clicked. “What about Nova and Noni?”
“Nova was taken. She's one of the two missing. There was no scent to track. I know that Nova and your Alpha are mates for the moment, so I wanted him to come here and use his mate gifts to help find her.”
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. How the hell am I going to tell Maxon that his mate is missing, I asked myself.
Whoever had her must not have hurt her because Maxon would've felt something. So far, he and Alex have just been depressed. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, I could tell him and have him yell at him for not telling him sooner and then have him demand that we leave now at this moment when I couldn't.
Vanessa is pregnant again and I wouldn't leave her here by herself. Then there was the other hand that had me not telling him so he could get over her. I did catch the ‘his mate for the moment’ comment so there had to be something going on between them.
“Hello? Gamma Juan?”
“We'll be there. Give us a few hours,” I told him.
“Thank you.”
“Your welcome. Oh, hey Alpha Marc, you never told me what happened to Noni.” There was an awkward pause. I was waiting for him to say he was either with Nova or one of the injured.
“She's dead.”
“Fuck me,” I mumbled.
chapter 18
Nova
I watched as they carried them away, thinking one of the girls was me. I wanted to jump from out of the trees and attack, but I knew I couldn't. I knew they would all be upset that I had done that. These girls had sacrificed themselves in order to buy me time. Time to figure out why human hunters were working with vampires and to figure out why he wanted me.
Charlie, I thought, that stupid fucking Vampire.
A lot had happened after Noni and I left. Marc had confessed his feelings for me and had wanted me to choose him over Maxon, Noni was mad at me for making her leave Alex when she left on her own accord. She wasn't supposed to leave, I was mad at her for leaving my brother like that, but I couldn't be that mad at her, although she never really gave me a real reason as to why she left. She said she was doing it for me, but I didn't believe her.
The girls were in two of the humans' arms. They weren't fighting anymore; the hunters had knocked them unconscious. I didn't know who the one who was supposed to be me was, but I knew the other girl.
I had seen her around here and there, and while I didn't know her name, I knew what her sacrifice was. Her life. If they found out that this was a trick, they would come back with full force and annihilate the rest of the pack. Marc said that he and the remaining wolves would be prepared if it ever came to that, but for the time being, I was to follow to get information.
Marc had told me to only follow them in the shadows and to make sure that I wasn't caught. No matter what I couldn't be caught. I told him that I understood and that I needed him to get Alex and Maxon here. We needed the extra wolves plus we had a funeral to arrange.
Noni, my wolf whimpered.
A stray tear falling from my eyes. I couldn't believe she was dead, murdered in cold blood. If anything, I was doing all of this for her. I wanted that bitches' head on a stick. I was going to stuff it and put it on my wall after all this was over.
Hours Earlier
“Are you going to tell me why you left Alex now,” I asked her. She looked at me nervously, avoiding all eye contact.
“Could we please not talk about this? I told you why already. Just give it up,” she said sounding a little irritated. Ever since we had come back, and she had had that “meeting” with Marc she had been different. Not herself. I didn't pay any attention to it at first, but now I really was starting to think that she blamed me for her leaving Alex.
“Whatever Noni. I don't know what your problem has been with me lately, but we need to talk about this.”
“Maybe that's exactly what I don't want to do. Stop trying to make me talk about nothing,” she shouted at me.
I growled at her. This was surreal. Noni and I never argued about anything, but now that seemed to be all we did. Deep inside I really wished she would just talk to me and tell what the problem was, but I knew I was asking for a lot. She didn't even acknowledge my growl; she just walked out of the room leaving me standing there angry and hurt.
There were a few other people in the room. While they weren't staring at me, but I knew that they were waiting for my next move. I had become somewhat as I makeshift Luna. People listened and respected me.
“Are you OK, Nova,” a short brunette girl asked. I didn't know who she was, but she seemed nice enough.
“I'm fine. Just having problems right now.”
“Everything is going to be--”
She was cut off by a loud piercing scream. Everyone jumped up and immediately got ready for a fight. I sniffed the air and came across two scents that I knew well, but why they would be all the way out here.
I ran outside as fast as I could to see members of my pack being killed and burned. Dead or alive. Then there were the ones getting their lives sucked out of them by those parasitic bastards. I shifted into my wolf and began to attack followed by the wolves that were in the house.
I ran straight for the first human I set my eyes on and tackled him to the ground. We rolled around for a bit, scratching and hitting each other until I saw an opening for his throat and ripped it out. I did the same with four other humans and two vampires. I was going on to my third when I was stopped by a blonde wolf about a size and a half smaller than me. Conner.
Nova, Conner called.
What?
Marc needs you now, he said. I could hear the urgency in his voice and gave him my full undivided attention.
What's happening, I asked.
Just come with me.
He was way too calm about the whole situation; we were at war with the human hunters and the Vampires. I wish I had been paying attention to him and Marc because if I had been, I would’ve seen all the trouble coming.
I started to follow him until I heard a familiar voice shout out, “There she is Charlie. The pure white wolf.” I growled once I heard Natalie's voice.
This bitch just doesn't give up, my wolf thought.
Tell me about it.
Charlie? It’s that fucking Vampire, but why is he here, I asked myself.
The pale guy from the party. The creepy one, my wolf asked.
Yeah. But why here, I asked again.
Remember what Noni said.
I was quick to say no but almost instantly all the events from the previous weeks came rushing back to me. Me seeing Maxon again for the first time in months, our close encounters at mating, the fight with Natalie, the party, Noni warning me about Charlie, Maxon leaving, creepy Charlie and then me seeing Maxon and Natalie together. Seeing her now pissed me off more. I wanted her blood for having sex with my mate.
Natalie was heading my way when Noni jumped in her way. They began to fight and at first, Noni was on top. She kept Natalie on the ground from most of the fight until a vampire hit her from behind, causing her to be a little more than disoriented at the time. Natalie took that as an opening and began returning the blows that Noni had inflicted on her. I wanted to run over there so bad and kick Natalie's ass again, but Conner was holding me back.
Conner let go! She's going to kill Noni, I growled. He obviously didn't care because he kept his jaws locked on some excess skin that was around my neck and continued to pull me.
I can't. Marc's orders were to get you and bring you to him. They are here for you Nova, he stated grimly.
What?
They have all been looking for you, he said.
I looked back, Noni and Natalie were still fighting. It only took a couple of seconds for her attention to be dragged away from Natalie to something in the near distance. Natalie took and used the distraction to her advantage, snapping Noni's neck like it was a twig. I let out a sad howl and cried. Natalie looked up and smiled at me. I built up the most fearsome growl I could and then let it loose. She looked scared for only a moment before she regained her composure and called for her friends and pointed to me.
Bring it on bitch, my wolf growled. I just closed my eyes and concentrated. I could feel the energy flowing through me, and it was all angry, and it was all directed towards Natalie.
You could hear a rumbling coming from the ground. I was pissed beyond belief and by the Fates, I swore I was going to kill her. Bits and pieces of the ground were ripping from the ground and the closer Natalie and her people got to the force I had built, the quicker she would die in the most painful of ways. I’d make Natalie suffer while her people died quickly. They were just doing what was ordered of them. They didn’t exactly know who they were fucking with.
I opened my eyes and looked at Natalie. She and her people had stopped and were now looking utterly terrified. I ripped free of Conner’s hold and tried to go to her, but sadly even though I was the strongest Special, Conner was faster than I was. Even when I growled at him using Maxon’s entire Alpha tone and mine, but it still didn’t work.
Nova, we need to go. We don’t have time for you to seek revenge. Come on. NOW, Conner shouted at me, willing me to move. I finally gave in and sprinted the way that Marc was.
I’d kill Natalie and mourn Noni later, I thought.
No sooner than a minute later Marc and a few others came into view. They were huddled around Marc and they were going over a game plan that he said that was a sure-fire way to get them to leave. We just give them what they want.
Everyone was going on about me sacrificing myself for the pack and me not giving them what they wanted. At this point, I didn't care. My best friend was dead, and my mate was a cheater. If I did give myself up, I wanted to kill Natalie first. I barked to get everyone to shut up so I could say my peace.
I'll do it, I said.
Nova-
Marc, I'll do it. I have nothing left anyway so just let me do this. Please, I begged, cutting him off.
NO! My wolf and I looked at him in shock. He never used his Alpha tone with us and frankly, we didn't like it.
I will do what I want anyway Marc, I said through clenched teeth.
We have a plan, he said.
Another Unknown
I woke up in a dark room, chained to a table. How did I know? My arms and wrists were burning, and my head was spinning. There had to be Silver or Wolfs' Bane on these chains. I tried to move my head around and instantly regretted it, the sudden movement caused my head to pound.
Whatever they used to knock us out worked like a charm. I struggled against the chain but to no avail. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears, and I was completely terrified. The things I do for this pack, I thought, but then I took it back. I wasn't doing this for the pack.
“Well well. Long time no see Nova,” a voice said.
It was coming from over an intercom. It was still dark in the room so I couldn't see where the voice was coming from. There was also more than one speaker so I couldn't exactly pinpoint which direction the voice had originated from.
“Who's there,” I asked letting the fear leak into my voice.
“It's your old friend, Charlie. I told you you'd regret what happened the last time we met.”
Fuck, I thought, who's Charlie? And since when did Nova hang with vampires or humans? I didn't know what was going on, but Nova had gotten herself into some real deep shit.
