Once Upon A Rejection
Chapter 8

As I looked into Grayson’s eyes it felt as though the rest of the room dropped away. I know that we were in a room surrounded by other people but at this moment it felt as though we were alone together. He started walking towards me with a goofy looking grin on his face.

He looked just as I remember him. He was wearing a similar suit to my stepfather and half brother. Black jacket, trousers and waistcoat with a dark teal shirt and silver coloured tie. His long dark hair seemed neater than he usually wore it but other than that he was the same devastatingly handsome man that I remembered.

He stopped walking when he was just inches away from me and reached out his hand. He ran his fingers over the back of my hand. I felt the tingling sensation spreading over my hand where he touched me, it felt nice.

“I missed you so much.” Grayson said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Those five words were enough to break the spell that he seemed to have put on me. The last time I had seen him I had confessed to him how unhappy I was here and yet he had still tried to make his dad keep me here.

He was acting as though we were friends. The truth was we had never been friends, we had spoken on occasions but never socially. I am not sure if he would even bother to talk to me at all tonight if it wasn’t for the fact that we were mates.

I could hear the people around happily gossiping about how the pack had a new luna. Everyone was so excited, I could hear them speculating about when the luna ceremony would be and when we would start a family together. I could feel my anger rising, nobody cared about what I wanted and they had all of these expectations of me.

Grayson was running his fingers over my hand. He was still looking at me with that stupid grin on his face while he looked at me. He looked as though he was waiting for me to say something and he looked slightly concerned.

“I need a few moments.” I said, pulling my hand away from him.

I walked away from him without looking back. A few people tried to stop me so that they could congratulate me as I walked but I just kept going.

‘Stop running away from our mate.’ Jade complained.

I headed upstairs, there had to be a bathroom somewhere that I could hide in. I just needed some space to think where the whole pack wasn’t staring at me.

‘What is there to think about? He is our mate and he is perfect for us, go back down there and mark him.’ Jade whined.

If he was so perfect for us then why was it that he always seems to hurt me?

“Are you looking for a bathroom?”

I turned around. Grayson was following me. I told him to give me a few moments and he fricking followed me.

“Why are you here? I said I needed some time.” I complained.

“Let me help you. I can show you where the bathroom is.” Grayson said. He tried to take hold of my hand but I took a step backwards.

“What’s wrong?” He asked. His face was a mixture of panic and pain.

“This is all too much. You don’t even like me but now because the moon goddess decided to pair us we are stuck together forever.” I said.

‘I know what you are thinking but don’t you dare do it. Scarlett, tell her.’ Jade said.

‘What do I care, it’s not like he is my mate.’ Scarlett said. Her voice was the most indifferent I have ever heard it.

Wait, what?

“I have always loved you .” Grayson claimed.

“Oh, you loved me so much that you didn’t want me to be your beta and you didn’t want me to go to university.” I said, mocking him.

“Well, yeah.” He said. He was looking at me as though I was missing something incredibly obvious but I couldn’t work it out.

“That makes absolutely no sense.” I felt exasperated.

“If you come with me I will explain everything.” He said. He tried to take my hand but I moved it out of his way.

“It is a little too late for that. You have had literally years to explain things to me but you let me think there was something wrong with me.” I said. I was upset and angry.

“I Molly Morgan, reject you alpha Grayson Ward as my mate.” I said.

I felt the pain radiating through my chest the moment the words left my mouth. I looked at Grayson, he was leaning against the wall and clutching his chest. He looked so hurt that I actually wanted to comfort him.

“What is going on?” My stepfather shouted.

I turned around to see my stepfather approaching me with alpha Ward. My stepfather looked so angry whereas alpha Ward looked sad.

“Come with me to my office.” Alpha Ward said.

We followed him down the corridor in silence until we reached his office. Alpha Ward sat down at his desk while me and Grayson sat opposite him. I could see my stepfather in my peripheral vision. If looks could kill then I wouldn’t just be dead I would be utterly destroyed right about now.

“Molly, you rejected my son. Is that right?” Alpha Ward asked. I nodded my head. This was a pretty embarrassing situation, was he going to make me justify my decision?

“Grayson, do you accept her rejection?” He asked.

“No. I love her and I want her to give me a chance. I will do anything.” Grayson said, his voice cracking slightly with emotion.

Jade whimpered. I don’t think she was talking to me at the moment but I could feel her pain.

“Molly, you need to take your rejection back right this instant.” My stepfather shouted.

“Thomas, you need to calm down before I throw you out of my office.” Alpha Ward warned.

My stepfather instantly stopped talking but he certainly didn’t look in the least bit calm. Alpha Ward looked thoughtful for a few moments before he spoke again.

“I can’t order you to rescind your rejection of my son but you signed a contract with this pack. A clause in that contract was that you would perform any duties that this pack requires of you.” He said.

I did not like where this was going. They weren’t seriously going to tell me that I had to accept him for the good of the pack. If that is what they were going to say maybe I needed to rethink the whole not becoming a rogue thing.

“Whether you fall for my son or not, I need to hand this pack over to the new alpha and luna as soon as possible. You will need to drop out of school immediately to start training.” Alpha Ward said.

I was in shock. Did they really think it was ok to order me to drop out of college like this?

“She only has a couple of weeks left of the year. Can she complete the year if she comes back on weekends to learn her new duties.” Grayson asked.

Alpha Ward looked at me and Grayson for a few moments. I could tell he was trying to work something out. I felt anxious as I watched him, it felt as though there was a lot riding on the answer to this question. A lot more than just a year of college, it was a glimpse into my future.

“I don’t see any problem with that. We will get everything set up to start your training first thing on Saturday morning.” Alpha Ward eventually replied.

“Now we should go back to the party before people start to think that there is something wrong.” He continued as he got to his feet and started walking to the door quickly followed by my stepfather.

“I hope you don’t mind me speaking for you but I didn’t want you to give up on your education. It will be hard work but you are smart enough to be a luna while still getting your degree.” Grayson said.

I nodded my head in agreement. He was talking as though he really cared for me but I wasn’t sure how much of what he was saying was just because he knew it was what I would want to hear.

“We should probably go.” I said.

I stood up and started walking towards the door. Grayson hurried to catch up with me and slipped his hand into mine. I could have taken my hand away but I didn’t want the whole pack to know what was going on between us so I let him hold me.

I glanced over at him as she descended the stairs towards the party. He had that same goofy grin that he had when I walked into the party and even though our bond was damaged I could sense his happiness. He was acting as though I hadn’t just rejected him.

“You seem confused.” He said.

“I don’t get why you are so happy.” I replied.

“As long as you’re near me I still have a chance to prove myself to you. What is there not to be happy about?” He said. I couldn’t help wondering how I got paired with such an incredibly cheesy mate.

I walked through the party with Grayson by my side. Our progress was very slow because everyone wanted to have a conversation with us. I had never realised there were so many people in this pack before, it seemed to be never ending.

Grayson started talking to one of his old school friends. Her name was Kay. She was short with long brown hair and she was heavily pregnant.

“I can’t believe you are pregnant again Kay. You only met your mate a few years ago and you are already expecting your third.” Grayson said.

“Oh don’t worry this will be you in a couple of years.” Kay’s mate Ben said. He had one arm around his mate while he was carrying their youngest child in the other. The oldest child was holding onto his mothers hand while looking at Grayson in awe.

“We will see.” Grayson said, there was a slight hint of a blush on his cheeks. Kay and Ben laughed.

“There she is.” Said the voice of someone that I hadn’t spoken to in years.

I turned my body so that I was fully facing Grayson in the hope that she would get the hint and leave me alone. Apparently everything was destined to go against me tonight. I felt her tap on my shoulder. It was useless to try ignoring her any longer, I may as well get this over with.

“Carly.” I said as I spun around to face her.

She was standing there smiling at me with her best friend Gemma. The two of them had been my best friends all the way through school. That was until I lost my position and they started to pretend that I had dropped off the face of the planet.

“It’s been such a long time since we spoke. I’ve missed you so much.” Carly gushed.

“Really.” I said, trying to keep a little of the sarcasm out of my voice.

“Of course silly.” Carly said. She was still using the same exaggerated cute voice that she used to put on ever since we started highschool.

“Why did you have to turn into such a rocket scientist and leave us?” Gemma said. So that was the excuse they were going to make for stopping talking to me. How ridiculous.

“I am studying bioinformatics.” I said.

“What?” Carly asked.

“You said I was a rocket scientist but I am not. I study biology.” I said.

“See, smart.” Carly said in her super cute voice. Carly liked to give the impression of being a bit of an airhead but secretly she was much smarter than me or anyone else I knew.

I got where I did through hard work and not having any kind of social life but Carly was a literal genius. The type who could stay out partying till 3am the night before a 9am test and still get the highest score in the class

“You know, we should totally go for coffee together some time.” Carly suggested. Gemma was standing next to her nodding her head enthusiastically.

“We will see, I might be a bit busy for the next few months.” I replied.

I was glad that I didn’t have to make up some kind of excuse for not wanting to see either of them. Between college work and luna training, there wasn’t going to be much time for fun over the next few weeks.

“Oh come on I am sure you can fit us in, it will be just like old times.” Gemma pleaded.

“I don’t think so.” I said.

“I am sorry, she will be spending most of her spare time with me.” Grayson said, putting his arm around my waist. I decided to play along, it was a good way to get out of this conversation.

“Awwww.” Gemma and Carly said together.

“Anyway, We should get some rest. We have a busy day tomorrow.” Grayson said.

“Rest, yeah right.” Carly said giggling. I blushed, which probably just made it look as though what they were saying was true.

I followed Grayson upstairs. He took me to the guest bedroom next to his room. At some point during the evening someone had brought my bags over. They were waiting for me on the bed.

I locked the door, changed into my pyjamas and wrapped myself up in bed. Either this bed was extremely comfortable or I was very tired because the moment I laid down I could feel myself drifting off to sleep.