The Failed Rejection
Chapter 48

Holden pov

Holden walked down to the dungeon to see his mate, a riot of emotions filling him. Yes before he was eighteen and found his mate he had lost his virginity to Penelope and wanted to make her his chosen mate. Penelope told him that while she cared about him that she would be leaving that pack to peruse her dream of becoming a doctor.

Holden was hurt as he was truly in love with Penelope, as Luna Liliana always says the moon Goddess has a reason for everything. He was mated to Kara and while it wasn’t an instant love connection, he did fall in love with her. Penelope as well as Lili left the pack and things were great for him and Kara for a time. Killian named him the new Gamma, and Holden has been determined to live up to the role.

Life was perfect, he fell madly in love with his mate. They even had a child together, a little girl. Nova was the love of his life, she was two years old now, almost three.

Everything was perfect, except Kara didn’t want to do her duties. Kara hated the fact that he loved anyone before her. Holden couldn’t bring up the fact that she was no virgin when they had met herself. Kara was insanely jealous of Penelope and Liliana by extension. Especially when Lili became the acting Luna as it was the Gamma’s job to protect the Luna. There honestly hadn’t been much of an issue as Lili took care of herself for the first few years. However, with the Luna’s pregnancy Lili has started to want to rely on Kara for help around the pack. It was perfectly understandable, and within Kara’s expectations of the gamma female. Kara, however, didn’t want to do any of them.

Holden had even heard Kara bad mouth Liliana with her friends. He had put a stop to it right away, and he was labeled the bad guy. He repeatedly tried to explain that the love he felt for Penelope was nothing compared to what the two of them shared. That Penelope was a distant memory and Kara was his present and future. Kara would simply fly off the handle and lock herself in Nova’s room any time Penelope was brought up or she was in the pack.

Now this fight with the Luna in front of the pack, Holden didn’t know what to do. Kara was clearly in the wrong and he didn’t know what to do about it. He suggested counciling and they went to one session where Kara blamed him for all of their problems. When the therapists said ‘that isn’t what we do here,’ Kara left. Holden has continued to go when he had the time, which ended up being once a month. Holden took pride in becoming the gamma instead of being just a warrior, but he didn’t want to loose his mate.

Holden came to the cell and saw his mate for the first and his wolf cried out in pain. Kara looked absolutely deranged, she was pacing the cell as well as talking to herself. When Kara saw him she ran to the front of the cells and threw her hands in between the bars and reached for him. Holden allowed for his mate to touch him, hoping the mate bond would help her.

“How could you let that b***h do this to me?” Kara asked him.

“Kara, how could you disrespect the Luna in front of the pack? You know how protective the alpha is,” Holden stated equally upset with her, he loved his mate but she was down here for a reason.

“This is because you are in love with both of those damn Braxton sisters. How long have you been f*****g them both?!” Kara screamed at him. Holden was blown away by her accusations, he had never cheated on Kara since he found out she was his mate. Hell the alpha would have killed him if he looked at Lili the wrong way, childhood friends or not.

“Kara that’s insane! Your my mate you would have felt the betrayal pains,” Holden pointed out but it was like she didn’t hear him. Kara let go of him and paced back and forth of the cell.

“You know what you can have them both! I Kara Rodriguez reject you Holden Walker as my mate!” Kara screamed at him. Holden fell on his knees in pain. Holden left the cells barely able to walk.

He must of passed out as when he woke, Holden was in the hospital surrounded by the Alpha and several medical professionals. The alpha sat there watching with worry on his face while everyone messed around.

“Well the test results came back inconclusive. Any idea what brought this on gamma?” The doctor asked him and Holden just shook his head. The doctor nodded his head and looked at something on the clipboard in front of him.

“Well you are free to go whenever you are ready.” The doctor and nurses filed out, but Killian stayed in the room.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” Killian asked and Holden shook his head negative. Killian sighed,

“Holden even though I am a tough alpha you are my friend; you, me and Seth played together since we were in diapers. While I have my family now you are still my brother and always will be,” Killian told him and Holden couldn’t stop the facade from breaking.

“She rejected me.”

.

Jackson pov

“So who is the new rogue king?” Braxton asked the room. Alpha Killian was in the room but he left after his gamma called him via mindlink.

“We don’t know, it could be anyone,” Nathan commented.

“My gut is telling me it is some one related to the old rogue king,” Liliana commented.

“You don’t know that,” Penelope whispered and Nathan rubbed his mates back.

“What is it?” Braxton asked the new shifters feeling out of the loop. The door silently opened and Barb walked in. That was odd, Barb rarely came to the packhouse. Barb must of found out about Penelope’s mate and wanted to meet him.

“The last self-proclaimed rogue king was my father,” Liliana stated shocking the bearshifters.

“But that means-“ Brax said looking between the two sisters and Penelope gave him a tight smile.

“Yeah, we are only half-sisters.” The poor bear shifter continued to put his foot in his mouth but he couldn’t seem to stop talking. Jackson felt sorry for the young cub.

“You two look so much alike though.”

“That’s because they take after me,” Barb told him.

“It was Olivia who looked like their father,” the entire room winced in pain at that memory. Jackson only hoped that Penelope told her mate about Olivia. Jackson watched Dash open his mouth and his eyes quickly glazed over. Then his mouth quickly shut.

“”His name was Rafael Ortegeaz and he was Alpha of the Blue Pines Pack in Wisconsin,” Jackson stated. The whole room looked at him in shock.

“How do you know this?” Lili asked him.

“Since the attack I’ve seen how you and your mother…” Jackson broke off looking torn. “How this whole pack was affected by this man and I just knew it wasn’t over. The threat wasn’t gone…you felt it too didn’t you Liliana?” Jackson asked and she nodded.

“I just had this crushing feeling that wouldn’t go away, so I started searching. Looking for months. Then I finally found it, his last name. Ortegeaz. There I was able to replace his pack, it took so long because his pack wiped him from all genealogy records, tax’s, records of any kind he was wiped away. They used some kind of witchcraft.”

“How were you able to replace him in the first place?” Braxton asked. He laughed,

“Hard work. I searched all the pack records, and came up with nothing. It was over twenty years ago, before social media so it wasn’t as simple as googling him.” He laughed, “though I did try that. It wasn’t until Brad came home with those books Lili that gave me an idea. The alphas used send their kids to the council for training. It’s not done as often as much as our training facility on our packs are much better. However, twenty or thirty years ago it was all the rage.”

“I went for two years after high school,” Liam cut in. “I still sent Killian there to a training program every summer.” Jackson nodded,

“And at the end what do they do?” Jackson asked and Liam was confused for a moment. The lightbulb after a moment went off,

“They take photos!” Liam cried out, “they take photos and label them with the pack.” Jackson nodded, but Lili interrupted,

“When did you go to the council?”

“How did you even get in?” Brad asked him.

“I went after I dropped Penelope off at med school, and Alpha Brooks let me in.”

“What did you replace out?” Penelope asked. Jackson sighed remembering his frustrations,

“Well it took me eight hours combing through pictures just to replace a picture of him. Thankfully he was the only Alpha with the name Rafael to come through the alpha training program otherwise I’d have been screwed.”

“What happened?” Nathan asked.

“Well like I said I’m assuming witchcraft. Every time I called someone at the pack no one knew a Rafael Ortegeaz.”

“Maybe it was shame?” Lili suggested but Jackson shook his head no.

“It wasn’t until I got into the pack that I knew for sure. The current alpha was a young kid so I knew he couldn’t help me. The alpha referred me to an elder, and I knew the second I saw this elder it was the rogue king’s brother.” Jackson sighed remembering the frustrating conversation.

“What happened?” Penelope asked him.

“I’m not proud of it, but after the man’s adamant refusal that he never heard of or knew a man named Rafael Ortegeaz my wolf just lost it.” Jackson’s wolf growled just thinking about the disrespect. “I threatened to come back with his daughter, you Lili, and Luka Volkov to remove the spell that he had cast on the pack.”

“Did he cave?” Lili asked and Jackson nodded.

“The second I mentioned Volkov the man went white and he told me everything.” Jackson took a deep breath. “Alpha Rafael’s descent into madness starts where it always does, he lost his mate and child. They died in childbirth,” Jackson looked at Braxon who gripped Penelope’s hand tightly. “His brother doesn’t know how Raphael got involved with witches in rogues, but he became obsessed with power.”

“Why?” Liliana asked with such innocent and Jackson smiled at his daughter.

“In the beginning Raphael truly believed that if he got enough power, he would be able to get his family back.”

“But the power corrupted him,” Penelope stated.

“That monster is dead now! I killed him!” Barb shouted.

“That’s why I think it’s one of his other children,” Lili stated.

“The brother said he didn’t have any family except him,” Jackson told her but Lili was shaking her head frantically.

“Jackson, my mother wasn’t his only victim.” Lili said and the reality hit them all, except maybe the bearshifters who didn’t know the full story.

“Those poor woman,” Barb stated as she started crying. The rogue king made it clear that Barb wasn’t the only victim of him trying to replace the woman who would give him the child to give him ultimate power.

“How many kids does that man have?” Nathan asked.

“There’s no way to tell, he terrorized his pack for ten years before his brother managed to escaped and call the werewolf council. The council responded but Rafael had friends on the council so he and several of his warriors left before they came.”

“What about the spell?” Brad asked.

“When they did come the council had never seen anything like it. The woman were in cages, forced to mate with Rafael. If they found their mate Rafael would force rejections or kill the men.” Jackson sighed recalling the horror of the report he saw. “The council was so horrified that they offered them to change their memories, and they happily agreed. The only one who refused was Rafael’s brother Michael. The council agreed stating some one at the pack had to remember the horror.”

“So he terrorized his own pack for ten years and then us for 10 years? That’s a twenty year window of that man possibly having children!” Lili screamed out.

“Lili calm down, we will figure this out,” Nathan told her.

“He could have had five hundred kids!”

“No, I’m going to say at the most thirty,” Penelope gave an educated guess.

“Why do you say thirty?” Lili asked.

“If he was human than yes Rafael could potentially have five hundred kids, but no he was a werewolf. Werewolf are notoriously less fertile when sleeping with anyone not their mate.” Penelope gave a look to their mother as if to give an apology. “The child will also only be older than you Lili as mom and Rafael were second chance mates. Once Rafael got his mate pregnant he can’t get anyone else pregnant.” Penelope pointed out and it was clear that everyone forgot that tidbit of information, himself included.

“Penelope has some good points, I say we focus on replaceing any women who may have escaped before the brother got to the council,” Nathan suggested.

“Sounds like a plan,” Jackson stated. Time to get this threat eliminated.