Once Upon A Rejection
Part 2 Chapter 12

Talen Bancroft’s POV

“Are you coming down for breakfast?” Molly asked.

Her cheeks were still flushed after what we did in the shower together a few minutes ago. She always looked beautiful but her after s*x glow made her look perfect.

It was almost a shame to let her out of this room at all. If I didn’t have things to do before we left today I would have locked the door and made it worth her while to miss breakfast. As things stood, the only person missing breakfast was me.

“I am afraid I am going to have to miss breakfast today. I need to speak to the prisoner before we leave,” I replied.

“You only have an hour,” Grayson seemed concerned.

I know he didn’t want me to talk to the prisoners without him. He didn’t trust Finn was telling us everything he knew. He thought we were being manipulated and he didn’t want to miss anything that might lead us to the truth.

“I will be ready on time, don’t worry,” I smiled at them both to defuse the tension.

“You better be or else I will have to punish you,” Molly’s tone was seductive and it sent my heart racing.

‘I think we might need to be a little late,’ Jax said.

I didn’t say anything, I watched Molly walk out of the room with Grayson. I was dying to know more about this punishment thing. I know that I should be focusing on what I would ask the prisoner but I couldn’t make myself think of anything other than Molly.

‘We have hours in the car with her to ask her all about what she is going to do to us. Now you need to focus on asking the hybrid questions and making us late,’ Jax insisted.

Focus was exactly what I needed right now. I had a bad feeling about what was going on and if I didn’t get this sorted out then Molly could be in serious danger. I had to defuse this whole situation or at least replace a way of keeping Molly out of it.

The Ward pack’s dungeons were nothing like my father’s. There were only a handful of cells and they actually looked pretty cosy despite the silver coated bars. There were even pillows and a blanket on the bed.

Finn was sitting on the bed between his two mates looking completely demoralised. I had thought that Grayson was exaggerating when he described Finn’s mates as barbies, it seemed he wasn’t. Even though they had been locked in a cell for almost an entire day they were still wearing makeup and didn’t have a hair out of place.

When Finn noticed me walking into the room his back straightened and his heart rate spiked. It was a reflex-like reaction which indicated recognition. He tried to hide it by slouching over again but it was too late. He recognised me and I knew it.

“You must be Talen. What are you doing here, did you come here to gloat?” Finn asked, the bitterness in his voice abundantly clear.

“I came here to get the truth from you and unlike Grayson I don’t ask nicely,” I replied.

I had heard about the Ward pack and their rules long before I even knew I would be coming here. It was honourable and I had a great deal of respect for their morals but the sad fact is that sometimes at war, morals hold you back.

I wasn’t proud of some of the things that I had done in my past but there was no denying the results. I had never had to stoop as low as physically touching a prisoner but manipulation and coercion were both commonly used weapons in my arsonal.

“I have already told them everything I know,” Finn objected.

“You recognised me by sight so I am guessing you know my reputation. I would advise you not to test me,” I replied, taking a couple of steps closer to the bars.

“I know nothing of your reputation,” Finn objected.

“You did recognise me though,” I said.

My voice had taken on that cool edge that it had when I was addressing a prisoner. It was the reason I was so good at manipulating them. My cold, emotionless tone made my target think that I lacked a conscience and I would stop at nothing to get the truth from them. They never seemed to be able to see through my act.

“The lycan told me,” Finn replied.

“Which lycan?” I asked.

“He never told me his name, he only let me call him master or boss. He showed up about a week ago and since then things went from bad to worse at my pack. He told me that I might cross paths with you. He described you in great detail, I don’t know what you did to him but he hates you with a passion,” Finn answered. He was starting to get a little shaken and that made me feel nervous.

There weren’t many of our kind left who could make a hybrid quake in fear just by their mere presence and I knew each of them well. That meant that they also knew me equally well, this didn’t help my odds of avoiding a conflict. They would know my prefered strategies and be able to predict my moves.

‘Pull yourself together human before you embarrass us,’ Jax growled.

“Describe him to me,” I said.

“He is a couple of inches shorter than you. He has short, dark hair and dark brown eyes. He is a lot more muscular than you are and he likes to dress in tight white t-shirts and jeans,” Finn responded.

That description was more than a little bit familiar. I didn’t want to believe that it was true. It couldn’t be him could it? Why would he suddenly have such hate for hybrids? He had never shown any inclination to hate hybrids in the past so why would he suddenly change his mind?

“Are you sure you didn’t hear anyone else call him by his name?” I asked.

“I didn’t really spend a lot of time around the guy. He is intimidating and I tried to get away from him as quickly as I could. If I had to take a guess I would say it started with a V, something like Van,” Finn replied.

“Could it be Vincent or Vinny?” I asked.

“I don’t know, I guess so,” he replied.

I felt like my world was falling apart right in front of my eyes. I had known all along that Vincent could be spiteful but this was far beyond anything I would have imagined. He was planning to kill all hybrids just because my mate happened to be one. That was so ridiculous that I just couldn’t imagine why he would do something so extreme.

Now that I knew it was him it left me in an even worse position. He knew me better than anyone else, both personally and in battle. Any plan that I could come up with he would be able to predict and come up with a plan to counter it.

“You said he spoke of me, what did he say?” I asked, letting my insecurities momentarily get the better of me.

“He told me that you like to think of yourself as a strong and powerful lycan but it is all fake,” He looked away, there was something else that he wasn’t telling me.

“What else?” I growled.

“He said that you and your father are nothing but cowards who hide in your castle when you should be looking after your people. I think he and his friends blame you for the rise in hybrid numbers and they seem to blame the rise in hybrids for the reduction in lycans. They have a lot of hate and they seem to be directing that hate at your family. Hybrids like me and Molly are just collateral damage,” Finn said.

There was anger in his eyes as he spoke to me. It was brave considering his situation but his anger was accurate. My father was in charge of one of the largest houses, it was his job to look after the interests of all the lycans in the region.

Instead my father spent his time fortifying his defences. I don’t know if there was anything my father could have done to fix our dwindling numbers but there were plenty of things he could have done.

He could have made sure that hatred wasn’t taking root in our people for a start. Even so, I couldn’t lay all the blame on him. I should have noticed that some of the lycans were hiding things from me and I should never have let myself get involved with someone like Vincent.

My lycan growled in agreement. He never wanted me to be with anyone who wasn’t my mate and he hated Vincent for keeping me away from my mate for so long. He would enjoy killing Vincent but I was still struggling to believe that he was capable of something like this.

I was deep in thought when I left the dungeons, thinking over all of my shortcomings. There was still time for me to join Molly and Grayson for breakfast but I didn’t want to bring down the mood so I took a walk.