Once Upon A Rejection
Part 2 Chapter 26

Talen Bancroft’s POV

It was a cold night, not the kind of night where you wanted to be standing in the middle of the forest for hours on end but that was exactly what we were doing. My father had gone into the town with a small group of his and alpha Ward’s best fighters. Their job was to secure the hostages while the rest of us surrounded the town and prepared for the attack.

I was watching my father’s progress from my vantage point near the top of a large spruce tree. They had already made it past the patrols around the perimeter and they were heading into the outskirts of town. From here I could see that there were no lights in town other than street lights and a few lights right in the centre of town.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Leyton said. He had climbed the tree beside me. He was looking over towards the town and shaking his head, there was a concerned look on his face. Taking another glance over the town in front of us I couldn’t see what was causing him concern. It was quiet but that wasn’t really unusual given the hour, was it?

“What were you expecting?” I asked, trying to keep the sarcastic tone out of my voice. I was interested in his insight even though I found it difficult for me to accept it. I was used to being to one giving out orders and I wasn’t used to anyone questioning me. That kind of blind acceptance can make you feel as though you know better than everyone else after a while. Maybe I needed someone like him in my life, someone who wasn’t afraid to tell me I was wrong.

“I thought they would have more patrols on the border and I don’t see anyone inside the town at all. It is too easy, almost as though they invited us in.” He replied.

Shit.

He’s right. If they wanted to keep us out they would have more patrols, they certainly had the numbers for it. They must be expecting us, why else would this be so easy? I tried to open a mindlink with my father but I couldn’t get through. In fact I couldn’t reach anyone in his party or anywhere else.

I couldn’t even contact Molly or Grayson, it was like someone had taken away our ability to mindlink completely. That could only mean one thing, a witch had cast a spell on the area. They were not only expecting us, we were right in the middle of a trap.

For once in my life I wasn’t sure what to do. I wanted to go in after them but doing so could be enough to spring the trap and get all of us killed. I watched the scene unfold trying to look for any signs of the trap they were clearly walking into. Everything looked so normal, so peaceful.

My father’s group crept forward slowly towards the centre of town. They were only a few metres away from the town hall. It was one of only a few buildings in town with lights on and it was the building that Finn had told us would be holding the hostages. They were creeping slowly along the edge of the street, staying in the shadows and moving almost silently.

“We have to do something.” The stress was clear in Leyton’s voice as he gripped the trunk of the tree tightly. I half expected that he was going to jump out of the tree and run after them but luckily he seemed just as conflicted as I was. His muscles twitched as he watched the fighters get closer and closer to their target.

“What can we do without bringing more attention to them?” I asked. My father was just about to reach the building. He was less than five metres away from the entrance, completely focused on the task ahead of him.

Taking a few more steps forward he reached out his hand towards the door. I couldn’t see if his hand actually touched the door because as he got closer there was a brilliant flash of light and an almost deafening boom. Fire and debris exploded out of the building with such force that I was thrown out of the tree towards the forest floor. As I hit the floor the world around me faded into darkness.

I don’t know how long I was unconscious for but when I came around again the first thing I noticed was the sounds of screaming and fighting not far away from where I was laid. My head throbbed as I tried to open my eyes.

“What do we do about him, do we kill him?” Someone nearby asked and somehow I knew instinctively they were talking about me. Staggering to my feet I glanced around me, my vision was blurry but I could just about make out the two lycans standing in front of me. I couldn’t be certain but I think one of them was Vincent’s brother Vaughn and the other was their father.

“No, we got what we wanted, we have killed all the half-breeds. Now we need to get out of here before any more lycans get hurt.” Vaughn’s father growled. I staggered forward, my claws and fangs extended as I crossed the distance between me and them.

“I’m not going to let you get away with this,” I shouted. It would probably sound more intimidating if I wasn’t staggering around like some drunk. Vaughn burst out laughing at my attempts to chase them down. His father slapped the bag of his head then dragged him away into the forest.

I tried to take off after him but I didn’t get more than a few metres before I fell to my knees and threw up on the ground in front of me. What the heck was wrong with me? My vision was still blurry and my head felt as though it was about to crack open at any second.

‘You have a concussion. Stay still for one moment while I heal you. Looking after you is a full time job.’ Jax complained. Closing my eyes and remaining as still as possible I allowed my lycan to heal me. I felt so helpless as I waited, my thoughts slowly becoming clearer. The sounds of my allies’ screams echoing around me while I was unable to do anything to help them.

‘Now, go.’ Jax growled. Without wasting a second I shifted into my lycan form and ran off into the forest. The wind flew through my fur as I searched for something to kill, or at least seriously injure. Jax felt the need to taste my enemies b***d, our earlier injury had left him feeling weak and he wanted to do something to demonstrate his strength.

Most of the lycans had already fled the scene like the cowards they clearly are. The few that were left were already being taken care of by my father’s forces or the many werewolves that had come with us. The losses were heavy on both sides however, I could see so many dead lycan’s and werewolves and yet I hadn’t covered much ground.

I was going to make Vaughn and the rest of his family pay for what they did and it was going to be anything other than a slow death. They were going to suffer, I was going to see to that. Running around the perimeter I looked for clues which would tell me which direction they had fled in. Sniffing the air I could smell faint traces of their scent but there was also the one scent I was hoping I wouldn’t smell tonight: that of my mate.

I tracked her scent, running faster than I ever have in my life before, faster than I thought possible. I ran until I reached the edge of the forest. Vincent was standing a few metres away holding Molly’s unconscious body in his arms and his brother was dead at his feet.

She didn’t seem badly injured. There were a few cuts and bruises but they were already healing. It didn’t matter that she was going to be fine, Vincent was going to die for laying a hand on her.

“Place her gently on the floor or I swear your father won’t even recognize your body once I am through with you.” I snarled at him.

“I promise this isn’t what it looks like.” Vincent begged as he placed her gently on the floor in front of him.