Once Upon A Rejection
Chapter 53

“Are you sure you are ok with this?” I asked Grayson after I was sure that we were alone.

“Of course I am sweetheart.” He replied, turning me around so I was facing him.

“I don’t understand how you are so comfortable with the idea of sharing me with another man.” I asked.

It was a question that had been playing on my mind ever since we first started discussing my second mate. He always seemed so calm about it when so many other alpha’s would be dreading me replaceing my other mate. Alpha’s were well known for being possessive and although it was not uncommon for a luna or an alpha to have two mates it normally took them a while to all accept each other.

Then there was the way he reacted to Talen touching me. He almost acted as though he was turned on by it. I could even feel his e******n pressing into my back as I comforted Talen a few moments ago.

“What is there not to like? I feel your pleasure when he is touching you, he is strong enough to protect you when I’m not there and I love the idea of what we can all do together. Besides, Talen is hot as hell.” Grayson said.

Scarlett and Jade were both purring.

“Sorry to interrupt, I am going to need to borrow Grayson for a bit.” Grayson’s dad said. He was standing by the door to the office with a concerned look on his face.

‘Just when this conversation was starting to get interesting.’ Scarlett growled.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“The council aren’t too happy that we kicked some of their members out of our pack. They want to speak to Grasyson and me about it, I have a feeling that it won’t be a happy conversation.” Grayson’s dad replied.

“What about Molly?” Grayson asked.

“I don’t think it is a good idea for her to be there. The council has very archaic ideas about a luna’s place. If Molly is on the call it will only infuriate them further.” Grayson’s dad replied.

“I don’t like it. They are the ones in the wrong here, we shouldn’t be scrambling to please them.” Grayson said, growling slightly.

“It is ok Grayson, I wanted to check on June anyway.” I said, smiling at him.

It wasn’t a complete lie. I did want to check in on June, she had a way of hiding things when something was really getting to her. She had been taking this whole werewolf and lycan thing far too well and that worried me. Although it could be the calming influence of having her mate closeby doting on her every whim, I wasn’t entirely convinced. So yes, I wanted to speak to her to make sure that she is really ok but that wasn’t everything.

I also wanted to make sure that Grayson didn’t start some kind of war on my account. Grayson was rational and very smart but only in things that didn’t involve me. The second the council members insulted me it had flipped a switch on Grayson’s mood. I could feel his anger at them coming strongly through our bond. I was surprised that he didn’t launch himself over the table at them when they insulted me right in front of him.

As much as I found his desire to stand up for me endearing, I didn’t want him to get in trouble. He needed to concentrate on smoothing things over with the rest of the council, I would just be a distraction right now.

“Ok, I will mindlink you when I am finished.” Grayson said.

He gave me a short k**s on my lips then again on my cheek before leaving the room with his dad.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and texted my friend asking her what she was doing. I was about to start tidying the glasses and things on the table when my phone buzzed. I was June telling me that she was around at my stepfather’s house if I wanted to join her.

I dropped everything and went straight around. I didn’t like thinking about Grayson getting chewed out by the council, a distraction was just what I needed.

When I arrived I was surprised to see how comfortable everyone seemed. Ezra sitting on the smaller sofa with June. Carly was sitting in the middle of the larger sofa with Leyton on one side of her and my stepfather on the other side. She looked very happy with both her current mate and ex mate holding one of her hands each.

“Hi, how is everything?.” I asked.

I was almost afraid to ask. Leyton and my stepfather seemed calm but how calm could they really be when they both wanted to claim the same woman?

“Everything is great.” Carly said.

She had a huge smile on her face and I wasn’t entirely convinced that I wanted to know why.

‘You know why.’ Scarlett said.

Oh no, I didn’t need to think about that. I was probably blushing like crazy now. It wouldn’t be so awkward if it wasn’t my stepfather, my mates brother and my ex-best friend.

‘If they can make this work then we can.’ Jade said, her voice was full of hope. Since when had she become team Talen?

“How are you getting on with both of your mates?” June asked, winking at me.

“Well I…” I started before I was interrupted by someone throwing the front door open.

Fear started to rise in my stomach. I should have insisted that they locked the door, after everything that had been going on around here it wasn’t safe to be so lax. Not that a locked door would do much to stop a lycan who really wanted to get in, maybe buy us a couple of seconds at most.

My gaze drifted over to Leyton who was now in full alert. I was about to run to the back door until I recognised Talen’s herbal scent wafting towards me through the door. Instantly my muscles started to relax and the tension in the room started to dissipate.

Talen walked casually into the room, as though he hadn’t almost caused me to have a heart attack. The second his eyes met mine a smile spread across his face.

“Hi beautiful.” He said.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I ran into Grayson on my way to meet Jimmy and he said that you were alone. He asked me to look after you while he was busy so I followed your scent here.” He said.

He walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. He leaned down and kissed my neck, making my lycan growl with desire.

“Awww, you two look so good together.” June said.

I could feel my cheeks heating up.

“It’s not like that.” I said, making Talen whimper and everyone else in the room to look at me as though I was crazy.

“What is it like then?” Leyton asked, while nuzzling Carly’s neck.

“I don’t know, I don’t want to hurt anyone.” I said.

I didn’t want to hurt Talen by rejecting him but I didn’t want Grayson to be hurt by me accepting Talen. I was so terrified of making the wrong decision that I was hurting everyone more by not making one. Why did things have to be so complicated?

“Then you, Grayson and Talen all need to accept each other. It is the only way to make everyone happy.” My step father said.

Talen leaned into me more, he kissed my neck gently nibbling on my marking spot. I felt a surge of pleasure through my body, I had to bite my l*p to stop myself from moaning out loud.

“I’m already yours, you just have to accept me.” He whispered in my ear.

He gave me a k**s on my cheek then walked over to the dining room. He took one of the chairs from the dining room table and brought it over to me. He motioned for me to sit down.

I didn’t want to sit down, I had been sitting down too much recently and my wolf and lycan were feeling antsy for some reason. I thought about asking him to sit instead but he looked pleased to be assisting his mate so I didn’t have the heart to turn him down. I sat down, I felt happiness seeping into the bond that I and Talen shared. He rested his hand on my shoulder.

“How does this whole two mate thing work?” June asked.

She was clearly puzzled, she had only recently learnt about mates so this was all a lot to take in. I was just glad someone had asked the question because it was clear that I was clueless when it came to this kind of thing.

We had classes on mate bonds and such when I was at school but it was very basic. The prudes who designed our classes would never admit that a wolf can be mated to more than one person at once.

I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t answer June’s question. We were all looking equally confused.

“How can you not know, it isn’t exactly a rare event. You must have seen a few such partnerships, surely?” Talen asked.

I knew of a couple of cases. There was a man in town who was about my stepfather’s age who had two mates. I remember all the boys at school expressing how jealous they were of him. They had a completely different reaction when one of the girls a couple of years older than me got two mates. They called her a slut and shunned her, isn’t that always the way.

I thought that hypocrisy was a werewolf thing but after spending time with humans at college it is clear that I was wrong. How many times had I heard of a girl in class getting shamed for doing things that the guys get congratulated for.

“We have but we aren’t meant to discuss it, the council don’t like to acknowledge this kind of thing.” My stepfather said.

“Ok, there are intended and unintended multiple mates. Intended multiple mates like Molly, Grayson and I tend to all be bonded together. After the mate who the bonds originates from marks their mates a bond forms between their two mates. That bond isn’t always s****l but it can be.” Talen said.

He paused briefly to k**s the top of my head.

“Unintended multiple mates usually happen when the first mate initially rejects their mate and doesn’t rescind it until after their mate meets their second chance mate. These are more volatile because there is no bond between the two mates but that doesn’t mean it is impossible to make it work.” He said.

“We will make it work.” Leyton said.

His attention was completely focused on Carly and my stepfather was nodding agreement. I wasn’t sure how this would play out but it looked as though they had their minds made up. I just had to hope this didn’t end up being a huge mistake.