Once Upon A Rejection
Part 2 Chapter 18

Talen Bancroft’s POV

I drove back to my new pack as quickly as I could. It still felt strange to think of this place as my pack and my home but that is exactly what it was now. I would still take over from my father when the time came but I couldn’t even imagine living anywhere but my pack. The other lycans could choose to move here with me or stay in the old town with my father but this was where I belonged.

It was early evening when I finally pulled up in front of the hospital. Grayson must have made people aware of my arrival because as soon as I pulled up a group of doctors and nurses came running out of the building. They quickly removed Ellie from the car and placed her on a stretcher. They started to check her over while they were wheeling her into the hospital.

Once they had taken her into the hospital I opened the boot of the car. Hayden sat up instantly and looked at me, his eyes were filled with unshed tears and he looked as though he had been dragged through hell backwards. His pain was all his own doing, I didn’t feel sorry for him in the slightest.

“Is she ok?” He asked, his voice was rough with emotion. He might have been crying for the whole journey here. Good, he deserved to be in pain over what he did to her. That gave me an idea.

“I’m not sure. The doctor seemed really concerned when he saw her. I think she might have taken a turn for the worse.” I replied, trying my best not to smirk at him.

Hayden looked away but I could see the tears falling from his eyes. His shoulders were slouched forward and he looked as though he had completely given up. I didn’t know Hayden very well but I knew his family and seeing him like this was a huge shock.

Then again this whole thing was a huge shock. Vincent’s family was one of the strongest lycan families under my father’s leadership. They were strong and proud, a few years ago my father had worried that they would challenge his leadership. There was no denying that they had the strength and the numbers to do so. I am sure that the only thing that stopped them was their fondness for tradition.

Even though they disagreed with my father on pretty much everything that he did I never thought they would go against his wishes. Tradition dictated that the leaders of each house were chosen many, many years ago by the moon goddess herself. To go against them was meant to be as bad as questioning the moon goddess herself, I never thought that a traditional family such as theirs would go against the moon goddess’ wishes.

Perhaps that was because I had been blinded by my relationship with Vencent. I couldn’t help wondering how deep their betrayal went. Was it just the emergence of high ranking hybrids that had pushed them over the edge or had they been quietly defying our rule for years.

Hayden sobbed loudly pulling me out of my thoughts. I guess I had tormented him enough, I should probably tell him the truth now.

‘Nope, let him suffer,’ Jax argued.

“She’s not doing as badly as I made out,” I whispered.

“Can I see her?” He asked, he looked up at me, with hope filling his eyes.

“Only if you tell me everything that you know?” I asked him.

“Yes,” he replied without even a second’s hesitation. I pulled him out of the boot of the vehicle roughly and helped him to get to his feet. Hours of being stuck in the same position without access to his lycan had taken its toll on his body and he was visibly stiff.

He took a few moments to stretch out his muscles before straightening his posture and looking down at himself. He started using his shoulders to rub away the tears from his face. I guess that he wanted to make sure he looked presentable in case his mate woke up. I don’t know why he was bothering, if she did wake up I am pretty sure his appearance would be the last thing he needed to worry about.

I took hold of Hayden’s arm and pushed him in front of him towards the hospital. On the way to Ellie’s hospital room Hayden told me all about their plans for the hybrids. We had already worked out most of it but there were a few things that surprised even me. It was a lot of information to take in and I needed time to process it and work out a plan.

When we got into the room Hayden stopped walking and looked at his new mate in horror. Ellie was hooked up to machines, she looked so small and fragile. The doctors and nurses that had examined her had already vacated the room.

“Is she going to be ok?” He asked.

“I don’t know but the doctors will do everything they can,” I replied.

“I can help,” he suggested.

He didn’t deserve to hold her, he deserved to be thrown in the dungeons and spend the next few days worrying if he will ever be allowed to see daylight again. He was right though, having him nearby would make her recover faster and having him holding her would be even better for her.

“Fine, get into the bed with her,” I hope that I wasn’t going to regret this decision later.

I untied his wrists momentarily then tied them again in front of him. Once I was finished he silently got into the bed beside her. He turned her face towards him and gently stroked her cheeks as he kissed her forehead.

“Sleep soundly baby, you will feel better soon,” he told her.

Ellie’s breathing became deeper and she let out a contented sigh. She seemed so happy to have him by her side but it was going to be a different story once she finally woke up. That was going to be one hell of a fight, I hope I didn’t have to miss it.

While Hayden was busy snuggling up to his new mate I mindlinked my father. I told him about what happened and arranged for people to watch Hayden at all times. As much as I didn’t think he would do anything to endanger his mate, like trying to escape (with or without her) I wasn’t going to put my faith in that.

Molly, Grayson, Ezra and June came into the room a few hours later. Molly tried to go over to the hospital bed but I wrapped my arms around my waist and pulled her towards me. She smelled absolutely amazing, I buried my face into her neck, kissing her repeatedly as I breathed in her scent.

“I hate being away from you. Can we not do that ever again?” I asked.

“Deal,” she replied. She leaned back into my arms. I wanted nothing more than to carry her out of here and make her scream my name while I pleasured her. It had been too long since I had felt her skin against mine. She shuddered as I ran my teeth over her neck.

“How is Ellie?” June asked.

“She seems to be doing better than before but there really is no way of knowing until she wakes up.” I replied.

The doctors had been in a few times over the last few hours but they never stayed very long. They checked her vitals and then quickly excused themselves. I have a feeling that they weren’t entirely comfortable being alone in a room with a couple of lycans yet.

Lycans and werewolves have a difficult history and it wasn’t one that was easy to forgive. I had seen the way people in the pack looked at me over the last few days. I could understand why they were nervous and I was willing to bear with them until they were ready to accept me.

“Hayden, you probably shouldn’t be so close to her,” Molly said.

“She is my mate,” Hayden growled.

“Fine, stay there but don’t blame me when she wakes up and breaks your nose,” Molly replied.

“We should probably talk about what Hayden told you,” Grayson suggested.

I nodded in agreement. I kept my arms around Molly as we all turned towards the door. As we did so the machines behind us started beeping erratically. Doctors and nurses came running into the room, there were so many of them it felt as though they were being swept to the side of the room by a tsunami.

Hayden removed himself from the bed and moved back towards the wall to give them space. He had a haunted look on his face. He knew exactly what this meant, just as everyone here did. The change was putting too much stress on her body.

“Goddess, if you save her I will do anything you want.” Hayden whispered.