Rejected Wolf by Rae Foxx

4

The one solacein my life was working outside. Most people didn’t like picking weeds under the hot sun, getting dirt under their nails. I did. At least this was real dirt from the Earth and not someone else’s bodily fluids under my nails. The flowers protected the vegetables from pests and worms and gave the world beauty at the same time. They gave no single fuck if I was born an Alpha or born a loser. They grew all the same as long as I plucked the life-sucking weeds from around them and gave them the water they thirsted for.

They actually thrived from me bearing my soul to them. They never nodded or sighed, signaling that I was talking too much.

I didn’t even care if that made me certifiably insane. The tomato plants were my best friends and there was no convincing me of it otherwise.

With a snort at myself and my situation, I scooted along, now humming to the fresh-smelling tomato plants while picking their nemeses from their territory.

“Snail. I hereby banish you from the territory of To-ma-Tah. Be gone!” I held the snail before me and gave some dramatic flair of my hands before I threw the mother fucker over the garden wall. “May the birds pluck the slime from your--”

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I heard the Alpha’s voice and turned around so fast that I nearly toppled headfirst into the lettuce beds behind me.

Oh shit.

No one could insight panic like he did. Everyone else were pains in the asses, sure. But he was… he was… My arm was throbbing just seeing him standing there.

“Alpha, I’m… uh… taking care of my garden.” My voice was shaking, so were the plants as he charged over to us. I wasn’t even sure he noticed I was kneeling in the middle of a garden.

He kicked a tomato plant as he stormed over to me, breaking it in half. I swear I could almost hear it cry. “You don’t get to have a garden if the work at my house is done. And judging by the filth you left behind, that job isn’t done. Thank the Gods, I found out before we had guests. Veronica and her parents are coming over tonight. Now get your ass up to my house and finish your jobs.”

He grabbed the top of my head and lifted me to his height, suspending me by my hair. Kicking my legs, I grabbed onto his hands in an attempt to lessen some of the pain that was exploding over my skull in tiny pinpricks. Before I could even grab his hand, he let go, leaving me to fall into a heap on the ground.

I didn’t want to know how much hair he had just pulled from my head, the few brown strands that were weaved between his fingers were ominous enough.

“Stand up, you pathetic bitch.”

I forced myself up on shaky legs. I hated how weak he made me feel. He made me feel like how everyone else treated me. Pathetic.

I stood there, shaking, as I stared at his leather shoes. At his hand that he lifted to run down the side of my scarred and twisted arm.

“One lick for not finishing your job.” My entire body seized up as he said that, as he swung his other arm forward and exposed an iron rod, one that he enjoyed using on me. My arm still throbbed and ached from his last ‘punishment’.

“Just fucking get it over with!” I ground out with a clenched jaw, digging my toe into the dirt as I finally lifted my head to look at him. It was the only form of defiance I had, and I would use it.

He grabbed my arm, spinning me around so that I couldn’t escape him. It was him behind me, my arm held out as he lifted the rod.

“This is what happens when you don’t finish your work properly. There is no room for weakness or weak links in this pack.” He leaned down to whisper in my ear, his hardness pressed against my ass, as his chapped lips grazed my earlobe. I almost dry-heaved and would’ve if I didn’t think it would make him give me two licks for my insolence.

The rod came down right in the middle of my forearm and I ground my teeth together, determined not to scream or show any sign of pain.

“Next time,” he chuckled into my ear as my lunch rose in my throat. “Next time I will use it on a much more sensitive part of you and then if you’re lucky, once you’ve shifted, I will show you how I really like to use this.”

The pain was nothing compared to the absolute disgust I felt all over me. Not the dirty condoms or the vomit blanketed carpets or even the shit-filled toilets were filthier than him. His voice penetrated my skin and delved so deeply that my marrow shook with the nastiness of it all.

“Now, back to work!”

I got down on my knees and pretended to keep on weeding until he was out of sight.

It’s just me and you, wolf. Whenever you decide to come out, on the day of the moon, we’re out of here. Get ready. I don’t care how long or how far we have to run; we aren’t spending one more hour than necessary in this hell hole.

I walked inside, intending to wash off the welt, even some tepid water would be a reprieve from the burning and throbbing of where his punishment had met my skin.

“What in the world?” Ruth stopped kneading bread for us to rush over, wiping her hands on her apron.

“I didn’t finish cleaning up the Alpha’s house this morning. I accidentally walked in on Hutch and his chosen mate.” I stopped there, really not wanting to explain anymore.

She scoffed and put some water on my welt. Nope. I was wrong. Not touching it was better.

“Chosen mates. What a bunch of cow shit. There’s no such thing. No wonder you ran out. I wouldn’t be scarred for life if I saw that boy's flabby ass rut into a gal.”

I swallowed, forcing myself not to correct her that his ass was nowhere near flabby. I wasn’t sure I could get the words out anyway seeing as I was once again filled with the images of said ass rocking against Veronica.

Fuck.

“There’s more,” I said and explained everything else from Hutch at school to the Alpha and his wandering hard-on while he was hitting me.

“Gods above and below, that man is the devil himself,” she gasped hand to her chest as she turned and busied herself with the sink full of dishes, talking to herself as she always did. “So he knows you’re going to shift next week. I’ve been suspecting. Your scent has changed.”

“What exactly does that mean?” I asked, pulling her attention. She jumped so high that bubbles went everywhere.

She smiled at me, pushing some of the hair that had escaped from her bun back with soapy hands. “It means I can scent more hormones on you. That’s all. Your hormones spike when the shift is about to happen. It’s a good thing.”

Hell yeah, it was a good thing. It meant I was getting the fuck out of here. But I wasn’t going to let her know that. She was the one good thing about this place, and it would break her heart when I left.

“You are stronger than you know, Lizzy,” Ruth rambled as she went back to the dishes. “They don’t know what to do with someone with the will of yours. So they try to beat it out of you, wear you down. But you won’t be shaken.”

I snorted. “Are you sure? I’m pretty damned shaken right now.”

A soft smile rose on her face. “Just keep up that bravery. Once you shift, you are going to be the one to shake things up.”

She had no idea how true that was.

I just wasn’t going to be doing it here.