The Failed Rejection
Chapter 5

It was moving day for Penelope. When Lili found out she of course decided to make it a whole big thing. Lili said day one would be a girls day packing up and getting everything organized. Then day two would be the day the men came to do the heavy lifting. Penelope didn’t argue, especially when she found out that Nat and Svetlana were coming.

The door bell rang and she opened it to replace the three people she was waiting for. Natasha gave her a bone crushing hug. While Nat was Lili’s friend originally, they had become close over the years.

“Goddess I missed you girl.”

“I missed you too? How’s studying at the coven?” She asked as the two separated. Penelope gave Svetlana and Lili a hug.

“It’s ok,” Nat said with no enthusiasm.

“Are they still teasing you?” Lili asked.

“A little, hey where’s Callum. I haven’t seen him in forever I want to squeeze his chubby cheeks.” Nat said and followed it up with a pinching motion. The girls laughed,

“He stayed back in the back with Killian and Jackson. They will be coming tomorrow to help move all the big stuff we pack up.”

“Do you still need me to do another suppressant spell?” Svetlana asked. Lili looked conflicted,

“How about you spend some time with him and tell me what you think he needs.” Svetlana nodded,

“That works too honey. Don’t stress sweetie, you are an amazing mom.” Lili smiled.

“All right. Let’s pack up my s**t!” Everyone giggled and appreciated the break in the serious talks. They started first on her bedroom, while Penelope went to work on her school work. She wasn’t keeping all of it so she had to go through it herself.

“Have you decided where you are going to medical school yet sweetie?” Svetlana asked while boxing up some clothes.

“No, not yet.”

“Penelope, you have my permission to go.” Liliana said from the doorway. She had just come back from taking a load of boxes to the door.

“What do you mean?” She asked pretending to be dumb. Lili just rolled her eyes,

“You have wanted to go to that school in Pennsylvania for years.” Lili was right the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania was one of the top medical schools in the county. I believe it was ranked ninth, it beat out Yale in the standings. It was an honor just to be accepted. However, Penelope didn’t want to be to far from her family.

“You might need me,” Penelope said, Lili soften at that. Lili pulled her onto the bed.

“Penelope you are my big sister, I will always need you. But this is something you have always dreamed of. I can’t let you give it up for me, or Callum.” Penelope let out a shaker nod.

“Okay, I’ll email them now.”

“Good, I’m so proud of you!” Penelope couldn’t help but smile.

After another hour of work, Svetlana just suddenly walked into the room.

“I’m done, let’s go get our mani’s and pedi’s.”

“But we don’t have an appointment,” Lili pointed out.

“Says who?” Svetlana said with a mischievous little smile. The three girls squealed and quickly agreed. The thing to remember about Svetlana was even though she was Natasha’s mother and a three hundred year old witch. She did not look to be a day over twenty-eight, if that.

After piling into Svetlana’s car they drove to a high end salon and the receptionist greeted them warmly.

“Svetlana, I can’t afford a place like this,” Penelope commented feeling a little ashamed.

“Don’t worry sweetheart it’s my treat, for you graduating school.” She said as they were sat down together in a long row of chairs. The tech’s came and filled the water below them to the temperature of their liking and turned on water jets. It was very soothing.

“So Penelope how are things going with your mate?” Ugh hitting her with the hard questions.

“He’s leaving,” she said shortly. That made Lili sit up,

“You mean that bastard accepted your rejection, after everything I did for him!” Lili huffed. Penelope laughed,

“No Lili, he’s literally leaving. He’s doing Doctors Without Borders. He will be gone for about eighteen months.”

“Oh, when will he be leaving?” Lili asked.

“In a couple of weeks.”

“Do you know where he’s going?” Natasha asked.

“Yes, but I don’t think I’m supposed to let anyone know. He told me he was wrong for pushing the mate bond on me, and that this was something he always wanted to do. So he felt it was the right time to do it.”

“That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.” Penelope wasn’t so sure about that, but she did appreciate what he was doing.

“What about you Liliana?” Lili looked at her bewildered.

“You are finally back in our pack where Killian has pined over you since you have left.” Liliana rolled her eyes,

“He did not.”

“Liliana Jackson filled me in after the rogue attack and you left. He risked war for you and Callum.” Liliana bulled up at that,

“Well he never told me that. He knew where I was for a year, and he let me believe he never cared about me. So I moved on, I fell in love with Nathan. But it seems like I’m just supposed to be alone.”

“Don’t say that.” Svetlana said.

“What happened, you never told me,” Natasha asked.

“Or me,” Penelope put in. One day Lili just texted me saying it was over with her and Nathan and that she was living with Jackson now.

“Well everything was fine, we were on cloud nine, until I replace him in the living room hugging his supposedly dead mate!”

“What?!” All three of them scream at once.

“Yeah apparently she left him and instead of just saying that he told his whole pack that she died in a rogue attack. Hell we took Jocelyn to see her grave! To grief, to move on, and understand!” Lili took a deep breath.

“But then he says that she is ready to come back and be her ‘mother’” Lili started crying at that.

“That bastard,” Svetlana said, Penelope wasn’t sure what the big deal was, but apparently it was a big one. Penelope knew Jocelyn was really sick when she was an infant. She needed Lili to breastfeed her cause she couldn’t digest formula. It was rare, but it did happen, especially with shifter babies.

“He’s going to regret letting her back in his life.” Natasha said.

“I know he is, I could tell the moment I saw her she had evil intentions. But Nathan’s a man, I’m just worried about my little girl.” The tech’s had came back and the stopped talking about such heavy topics. They moved on to lighter ones, like what Natasha was studying at the witchcraft academy.

“So how much longer do you have to study?” She asked Natasha.

“At this particular academy? About ten years. Then there are several different routes I can take. Im leaning toward replaceing a wizard or witch to take me on as an apprentice.”

“Wow that’s crazy long time to study,” Lili said and Penelope agreed. They were headed back to the apartment after getting some pizza’s to eat. They weren’t worried about humans listening in.

“Well witches have a long life expectancy. We can live up to three or four centuries.”

“Wow, that’s crazy!” Penelope said.

They came back to her apartment and finished up some little things but decided to watch some movies.

“I miss my baby.” Lili said and Penelope laughed.

“You mean Callum or his father?” Lili threw a pillow at her and said,

“Callum, I’ve never been away from him this long before.” Penelope sobered at that.

“Why don’t you call him,” she suggested.

“I think I will. I’ll also head out and get some snacks. I’m hungry and you have nothing here.”

“Okay babe, see you in a little bit.”

It was about an hour later, and Liliana still hadn’t came back when Penelope started to get worried. She shot Lili a quick text.

Me: hey u ok?

Penelope hadn’t heard anything back for about five minutes when she sent another one.

Me: Lili please text me back, I’m getting worried.

Penelope wasn’t the only one who noticed.

“Hey where’s Lili?” Nat asked.

“I don’t know, I sent her a few texts and I’m getting worried.” She finally felt her phone buzz.

Lili: hey sorry to worry u I was driving. I decided to go home tonight. See u soon

Penelope thought that was a bit odd since she was going to come back tomorrow to help move her. However, she did say she was missing Callum.

Me: ok give Callum k****s for me, see you tomorrow.

Lili: see u tomorrow

Penelope put her phone away and updated the girls. They thought it was slightly odd but didn’t mention it either. The love Lili had for her son was like none anyone had seen.

Penelope nodded off with the other girls watching supernatural.