Rejected Wolf by Rae Foxx

6

“It’s time,”Ruth said and gave me the longest hug on record that night. The moon hung high in the sky, full and luminescent. I hoped it stayed that way, lighting my journey. “I know you’ve made up your mind, but you always have a place here with me if you change your mind. Good luck.”

I turned, thinking we were both walking to the same place, first shifts were usually attended by all pack members, but she had stopped. The sadness in her eyes told me everything I needed to know. “You’re not coming?”

Shaking her head, she looked up, denying her tears to flow. “Not tonight. I’ll be seeing you, Lizzie. Follow your heart.”

It almost broke me, the way she talked. It was like a forever goodbye. I took a step toward her, almost second-guessing myself before I turned, giving myself a silent promise that I would see Ruth again someday.

I walked alone to the gathering yard outside the Alpha’s house, and the large stretch of bare dirt that sat between the house and the forest. The grounds were full of pack members, all of them tucked against the trees, leaving those of us who would participate in our first shift in the center. All of those bastards that had tormented me all my life stood together, grinning like the smug bastards they were.

As I walked over to where the others stood, they moved away and snickered like I stunk or had a penis drawn on my face. They could laugh all they fucking wanted. Tonight, when I was gone from this, I would be the one laughing because I would never have to look at their arrogant faces again.

“Gather round, everyone,” The Alpha boomed as he and his beta walked to the center of the clearing, directly before where I and the others stood. “Those of you who are here for your first shift, please step forward.”

Even without the whole ‘perfectly executed escape plan’ this was nerve-wracking. Yeah, I’d seen the process hundreds of times but had never gone through it myself and my stomach was tying itself in knots.

Hutch came to stand next to me and laughed darkly as he stared past me. It was almost as though he couldn’t see me. Or chose not to. Which was more likely.

The Alpha was going on and on about the privilege of being who we were, and that Fate had gifted us this duality for our good, but I couldn’t focus on that anymore. Hutch was acting… weird. He, Veronica, and Eli had moved closer to me while everyone moved away.

Yeah, this couldn’t end well.

“I thought it would be appropriate, me standing here,” Hutch said, leaning down to whisper in my ear. “Show everyone just how powerful I am when I shift next to your weak, skinny, ass. Don’t you agree?”

“Sure do,” I said, smiling as though I agreed with every fucked-up word that crossed his lips, even though part of me was secretly hoping I would be twice as big and my wolf would knock him down with her almighty paw.

Not going to happen, plus it would put a damper on me getting out of here.

My lack of argument seemed to perplex him. I gave him a side glance and noticed his dark brown eyebrows were bunched down over the top of his nose. He’d expected me to kick up a fuss and I would, just not in the way any of these fuckers expected.

“Under the light of this beautiful moon,” The Alpha’s voice rose over the crowd, and we turned, Hutch still looking beautifully perplexed. “Let’s rid yourselves of the clothes that bind us and unleash the beasts within.”

This was the part I was least looking forward to. As expected, the second I began to shed my shirt, the catcalls behind me started, the whooping and hollering mixed with comments on my ugly back and stringy hair. I just ignored them; I knew they were full of shit anyway. Thanks to my years of hard labor cleaning up after this filthy pack I was far from the ‘puss nugget’ I heard one or two claim. In fact, I even caught Hutch taking a second glance when I stripped off my shirt.

Take a good hard look, mother fucker.

After we were all bare, the Alpha stepped before us, his eyes both hard and eager as he stared down the line.

“Now, shift,” he called out and as one each of the pups in a line began to seize and convulse.

I gasped as my back twisted, my bones aching as I felt the rise of another presence inside me. It was like there had been something buried deep in the depths of me, and the Alpha was pulling it out. I had known it had been revealed. Every bone inside my body broke. Muscles stretched and tore, accommodating the new shape in skeletal structure. Hands and feet turned to paws and my gums bled with the new canines that took over. I was on all fours on the ground next to Hutch when a blast of heat pummeled into me, nearly barreling me over.

He is ours. We are his. Fate has joined us.

There were some gasps from behind me and from the Alpha. They knew. All of them fucking knew that Hutch was my mate.

And so did he. He stood in place, staring at me. Shit. He didn’t look happy.

I shifted my focus to the woods. The bag. The freedom. The life. The running. All of it alit in my mind but my wolf was having none of it. She wanted to be here with him, with Hutch, the man who despised my existence.

All she wanted in this life was him.

Everyone in the pack stood still. The Alpha crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Hutch as though he expected some kind of response to the revelation.

Hutch looked at me before stumbling away like his paws were made of concrete. He walked over to Veronica’s wolf, her platinum blonde wolf, and licked her muzzle. He sidled up to her caressing her fur with his own as he stared at me. Glared at me.

I was right here, his fated mate, and he was choosing her over me.

My heart shattered, both my wolf heart and my human one. He had denied me, denied our mating right there in front of everyone.

It was the ultimate betrayal.

My lungs seized up and refused to breathe. My wolf howled, trying like hell to make Hutch see her, make him change his mind while the Alpha and the others laughed heartily. They had always found entertainment in my despair and pain, but this was another level.

There was a sanctity among shifters. Mates were sacred. Fate knew what she was doing. We only had one mate in this life and mine had chosen to turn from me, reject me in front of the entire pack. Humiliate the one person he was born to cherish.

My heart beat so loudly that the thoughts of running and freedom became hazy and diluted.

No, this was exactly the reason I couldn’t stay. My life here was a recipe made of pain and rage and agony. His rejection was the pinch of salt that pulled the entire thing together.

And yet, I couldn’t fucking make myself walk away.