Rejected Wolf by Rae Foxx

5

The duffle bagin my hands became heavier the longer I carried the damned thing even though it was practically empty. Let’s face it, I had a minimalist wardrobe but not by choice. It’s not like some huge paycheck came with my job. I had been given the hand me downs from the pack my whole life, and none of them had ever been any good.

I guess now it worked in my favor.

The plan in my head, the one I’d worked on all week, had been solidified. Repeating my plan all week had been what had gotten me through after the arm-splitting whipping I’d gotten. I had kept my mouth shut and my head down, I did my chores and everyone else left me the fuck alone.

There was a first time for everything, I supposed.

And now it was here, the wait was over. The first shift would be tonight. I’d never been so excited for anything in my entire pathetic fucking life, but then again, who gets excited about cleaning and doing the Alpha’s laundry. I mean, someone may get off on scrubbing the skip marks out of the Alpha’s boxer briefs but not this girl.

I found a spot underneath a grouping of Helm trees where, from the pristine nature of the ground, it was clear no one ever came. The leaves were undisturbed and the whole area smelled crisp and clean, as though a wolf or any other animal had never bothered with this piece of land.

It was peaceful. Beautiful. I might have just run away and stayed there if I knew the Alpha wouldn’t have tracked me down.

I tip-toed around the trees, hoping for a hole or empty spot where I could stash my bag so it would be ready for me. Almost immediately, I found that one of the trees had a hollowed-out center down by the roots. It was on the opposite side from the one facing the pack lands. Crouching, I stuffed my bag into it and pushed some leaves around it on the off chance someone might come along and spot it.

Didn’t matter. Either way, bag or not, clothes or not, I was getting the fuck away from these people and this God-forsaken life.

I wiped my hands together, satisfied with my work before intending to go back to the pup house. For the next twelve or so hours, my only job was to act like everything in the world was fucking normal. It would be nice to get through it without extra scars or another beating, but if I got one, had to endure the Alpha’s wrath one more time, I would consider it my fucking farewell.

“So, are we going to do this or not?” I heard one of the Betas, Eli, whisper-scream through the trees. So much for this being an out-of-the-way spot.

I crouched in place behind a wide oak tree and held my breath. When I heard no answer, I peeked around the girth of the trunk to see Hutch, Veronica, Eli, and some girl who was hanging onto Eli like she was a leech, and he was providing all the blood she needed.

Hutch kicked at some leaves and nodded. “That’s why we came here.”

Veronica had a hairband in her mouth while she finger-combed her long blonde hair into a messy bun at the top of her head. I’d once heard her claim that messy buns looked sexy to men like she had just gotten out of bed.

I guess she liked the freshly fucked look, either that or she needed it to keep Hutch’s attention.

I’d rather shave off my head than fix my hair in a way to keep that asshole’s attention.

“Do you submit to your future Alpha and Beta?” Hutch asked, turning toward Veronica and the girl who was looking more and more eager as she looked Hutch up and down. She even shifted closer to Eli like she was trying to move into him. Maybe she was. I was sure if I tried to smell that far I would scent her arousal.

“Yes!” They both responded. Veronica licking her lips as she looked from the bulge in Hutch’s pants, to the equally throbbing mound in Eli’s.

Shit.

How in the world did I get so cursed as to stumble into Hutch’s sexcapades twice in a week? I needed to go, to run back to my room and wash my eyes out with bleach. Yet, I couldn’t make myself move. I was frozen. Trapped as I stood in the shadows of the forest and watched Hutch and Eli approach the new girl. They both looked hungry, and she looked even more eager as they stripped her.

Seams ripped, buttons popped and in seconds they had her bare.

“Gorgeous,” Hutch whispered, running a fingertip over the perk of her nipple. She shivered and leaned in, clearly expecting a kiss or some kind of foreplay.

Instead, Eli grabbed her hips, his hand against her back as he bent her over. Her ass was buried against Eli’s now exposed cock, her face inches from where Hutch unsheathed the long length of himself.

His cock twitched, something inside of me jumping at the same time as I listened to the girl gasp as Eli entered her, Hutch taking the opportunity to bury himself in her mouth.

Veronica grinned as the two men gripped her, filling her and fucking her in tandem thrusts. I should be grossed out right about now, but I was still trapped in that same stupor of before, watching the long length of Hutch’s cock move over her lips.

I wanted that.

I wanted to fill his cock against my tongue.

I wanted to taste…

What the hell was wrong with me?

I needed to get out of here. I stepped back, leaves and twigs crunching underneath my feet. Hutch turned, still thrusting against the girl as both he and Eli moved faster.

I didn’t wait to see if he stared me down again. I didn’t wait to hear his climax.

I turned and ran.

Instead of obsessing over what I’d just seen in the forest, I went through my plan point by point even though it was the simplest plan known to mankind. Once I shifted, once my new wolf form took over my human one and made herself known, I would bolt for the woods as though the devil himself were on my heels. Because he would be. I would pick up my bag and head out past the pack borders and run until I had nothing left in me.

Even if I died out there, running from them, it would be better than a semblance of life here.

“Lizzie!” Ruth’s voice called over to me as I approached the pup house. I turned to see her looking concerned, her fists balled and resting on top of her ample hips.

“What? Did something happen?”

She rolled her eyes. “No, I just got up to make your breakfast, and you were gone. I thought maybe you had been given extra chores. But then I remembered that it’s your shift day. Tonight is the night. Tonight is the night all of this changes.”

Our eyes met and I knew that she knew. She probably didn’t know the details, since I’d just finalized them in my head, in the night, but she knew something was up. She always seemed to know when something was going on with me and this was no exception.

A sadness draped over me; she was my only regret of leaving this place. The only one I would miss. This woman had taken care of me for as long as I could remember.

“Ruth, I need to talk to you.”

She nodded and waved me inside where a plate sat on the table, waiting for me. Whether or not she’d noticed that all my things were gone, she didn’t say. Certainly, she noticed if she’d tried to wake me up.

“Go on. Spit it out. Eat while you talk.” The chair scratched against the dirt floor we lived on. She sat and leaned her head on her palm.

Gods, how could I tell her this and break her heart. It was likely I would never see her again in this life.

“I’m leaving tonight. Once I shift, I will run until I’m far away. I can’t take this anymore. I’m done, Ruth. I’m battered and broken and terrified all the time. I won’t live like that. It’s no life at all.”

She sucked in a breath through her nose as tears welled in her deep gray eyes. “You can’t do that, Lizzie. You were meant for more here. Your parents wouldn’t want that for you.”

“What?” I was up, on my feet, every bit of shifter energy on high alert. No one ever mentioned my parents, it wasn’t allowed. Well, besides to say that they were traitorous assholes. “What do you know about my parents?”

“I knew your parents,” she whispered, leaning in close, so close that our noses almost touched. “I knew what they were. You are meant for so much more, Lizzie. Your shift will reveal your fate.”

“What? Why haven’t you said anything before?” I was angry. Years we could have been having secret conversations about them. She could have told me things. Hell, she could have told me anything. I had been so young when everything went down that I didn’t even know what they looked like.

She shook her head. “You know I can’t talk about that. But please, know that you can’t go through with this. It’s not the way things should be.”

Even without the conspiratorial glint in her eyes, I knew that what she was trying to say was big. I sure as hell wasn’t going to let this go.

I grabbed her hand in mine. “Tell me about them. Anything. Please.”

“I’m sorry Lizzy.” She shook her head again, stepping back as her hand slid from mine. “They wouldn’t want this for you. That’s the last thing I will say.”

So much for getting answers.