The Rejection (Luna of the Pack Series) Read online

  I, however stood by awkwardly, while being ignored and glared at by my best friend. I tried smiling at her, but Natasha seemed to think the dark floor was more interesting than starting a conversation with me. My heart hurt that she was still mad at me. This was actually the longest we’ve gone without talking and it's really depressing.

  I miss my best friend.

  At the same time, I also want to forcibly pry her freaking hands off of my mate and break her nose in such a way that it shatters into tiny pieces and gets shoved into her brain. My wolf is ready to finish what we started, and with the electricity that I felt when Julien touched me, I can't blame her either.

  Now, while I'm sitting back up in the shadows of the VIP lounge, I can feel my wolf stirring with agitation. We, my wolf and I, were picking up challenging vibes from Natasha. I had noticed that even while I was up here, Julien would try to direct them to an area that was in my blind spot. He was definitely feeling uncomfortable dancing with Natasha, trying to make it seem like everything was fine between them.

  Yet no matter how much steering away he would do, she would always find a way to bring him back into my line of sight. I had hoped that it was just my imagination, but the more times it happened, the more I was convinced. Natasha knew about us.

  She must had smelled my scent on him or his clothes, something that hinted that we did more than talk. Julien had mentioned that she wouldn't leave him alone while he was getting ready. That had to be it.

  I didn't keep my focus on them while they were on the dance floor. I smile as I catch looks from my brother who is having a blast working the room with the other she-wolves. The waitress approaches me and hands me the pineapple ginger mojito I had ordered. However, after taking two sips, it starts to taste funny. I take a quick whiff and I don't smell anything but the sweet syrup and alcohol. It doesn't smell like someone put something in it, but I can never be too sure.

  But once the nausea starts to kick in, I decide it would be in my best interest to get myself somewhere safe, just in case I took enough of whatever was in my drink that would cause me to be incapacitated. I take an inconspicuous look around the VIP lounge and try to note if there was anyone that had a keen interest in my whereabouts.

  A headache starts to form as I make my way quickly to Lincoln. He's in the middle of a conversation with two other wolves on the lower level, at the booths that lined the east wing of the dance floor. The power that radiates from both of them tells me that one is an alpha while the other is a beta.

  I wait patiently for all three to acknowledge me, but the pain in my abdomen is starting to become unbearable. Just as I think I'm about to cry out from the pain, Lincoln turns towards me.

  "Ahh, gentlemen, this is my sister I was telling you about! Alpha Thorne and Beta Henry, this is Kairi."

  "Happy birthday, Kairi," Alpha Thorne raises his glass to me and I graciously bow while hiding the wince from the motion. I'm not sure, however, I hid it extremely well because when I raise myself back up, Alpha Thorne looks like he's carefully studying me. It was a bit uncomfortable under his scrutiny, and I desperately just wanted to hide away while I already didn't feel good.

  "Thank you. I'm sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to borrow the keys to your office Linc." I relax a little while watching Lincoln pull the set of keys from his pocket.

  "Everything okay?" He asks as soon as they're in my hand. Lincoln's watching me cautiously as I clutch the metal in my hand tightly.

  "Yeah," I pass it of nonchalantly. "Just got a bit of a headache. I'm gonna lay my head down for a little on your desk." I don't give him a chance to respond, just turn on my heels and try to quickly make my way back through this crowd or partygoers, until I can find sanctuary in my brother's office. The nausea is definitely not settling well in my stomach and I can feel the bile rising up, searching for an exit.

  I feel hot and sweaty with anticipation, almost like my body knows that I'm getting closer to safety and is just anxious to expel the acidic contents from my stomach. I close my lips tightly as a make it to the door. I start to place the key into the lock but notice there's no tension to the knob.

  Lincoln wouldn't have left this unlocked. I want to open the door slowly and catch whoever broke in there in the act, but I desperately need to get to the bathroom in his office; who cared about a burglar. I push the door open, more like tear the door open seemingly off the hinges. But the sight that welcomed me is enough to eject entirety of the contents in my stomach on the two people who were in the throes of passion.

  Natasha shrieks like a banshee, the only enjoyment I'd be able to take away from this moment, as she's covered in pineapple flavored acidic puke. Funny how those things taste good going down, but coming back up, it's nowhere near as good. She held her arms out to the side, not wanting to touch anything or even believe that she was just threw up on.

  I can feel my tears practically carve a river down my face. It all began to make sense to me now. I now know that the discomfort that I was experiencing before, wasn't due someone slipping pharmaceuticals into my drink. No, my former best friend was spreading her legs for my traitorous mate.

  I wipe my disgusting mouth and move inside the office, closing the door behind me. I can't look at either of them as I walk past the couple and stand behind the heavy desk in the office. My brother always kept a bottle of mouthwash at his desk, why he didn't keep it in the bathroom that was attached to the office, I had no clue. I dig it out from the bottom drawer, take a swig, and swish. When I'm ready to spit, I can't help but be petty and spit the mouthwash on Natasha.

  "You two didn't need to stop on account of me." My heart breaks a little when I see Julien slowly slip out of her. A spot that I was in just a few hours ago. The tears, I'm so over with, and wipe them off with a tissue from Lincoln's desk.

  "You knew he was my mate, how?" I ask coldly with the alpha command burning through the question. Natasha is standing naked on top of her puke covered dress, and her skin is also slick with my foul sick. She tries to cover herself from me as much as possible, but all she manages to do is smear it all over her. She's still whimpering behind Julien, who I refuse to acknowledge, even though I can feel his eyes bearing into me. I'm glad he hasn't moved to speak to me because if he even opened up his mouth, my wolf was ready to take control and exact vengeance on my behalf.

  "While he was in the shower, I snuck in the room. I could smell your scent and the arousal of both of you on his clothes." Natasha is such a pathetic wolf cowering against the wall under my stare. I would love to know how she expected to act as the Beta Female in the pack.

  "That only says that we were close to one another and that yes we were both aroused with each other. Doesn't mean that we were mates. Just horny." Yes, we may have had sex, but the bond was incomplete. There was no marking, so our scents hadn't intermingled as one yet.

  "When I saw you two greet each other," she whined. "I saw the lingering stares. But I didn't put two and two together until you went to the VIP lounge. He kept looking for you and he wasn't his usual touchy self.

  Part of me was happy that Julien wasn't the one to tell her that we were mates. I wasn't sure why since the betrayal still cut deep. He obviously knew we were mates, and she was smart enough to figure it out. The betrayal hurt me from the two people I was supposed to be able to trust the most; outside of my brother.

  I force myself to look at their relationship from their point of view, even though it sickens me. They used to flirt more than I would study, at least whenever I saw them around each other. Then about two years ago, their flirtations turned into an exclusive relationship. One that was not physical until six months ago. There was some history between them. I understood it perfectly. Maybe the conversation turned physical because it was a discussion that was too emotional for them to handle on their own.

  Either me or my brother should have sat Natasha down alongside Julien and explained that he found his mate. It couldn't have been easy for Julien to break off their commitment
to each other after they'd be together for so long. I walk closer to them. Ready to forgive them since once my mark is on Julien, him straying to another she–wolf would be too unthinkable for him or his wolf. The hurt is still there, and we'll probably never reach the level of camaraderie again, but I know we can move past their indiscretion and remain at least civil on my behalf.

  I glance at Julien for the first time since entering the office. He's covered in as much vomit as Natasha, if not more. It was like even through the shock of the century, my body was able to distinguish that Julien deserved to receive more of it than Natasha. Sure, she knew about us being mates; but other than breaking the imaginary 'girl code,' she wasn't the one that was promised to me. Julien however, knew that I was the one for him and yet he continued to betray me. I could forgive, but could I forget?

  My eyes narrow as I notice something is different about him. My heart is racing when I catch the scent of their lingering arousal and realize there's only one scent between the two of them. My eyes are drawn to his neck where I see a mark that I didn't place there. Deep breaths and hard swallows can't keep me from looking back at Natasha.

  Knowing what I am looking for, Natasha flips her hair back to reveal the mark that Julien, my mate, no, my former mate left during their moment of passion. I think I am going to be nauseous all over again. There is no going back from this. Realizing the few moments of elation that I had earlier were all just lies was too heartbreaking to bear. The silent tears kept coming but I can't look at anyone in the face.

  Julien reaches out for me, but I refuse to be comforted or whatever he thinks he wants to do, by him.

  "Don't," I pull back from him before his skin can burn mine. The mate bond that we shared earlier is already fading, the pull is hardly there anymore. But the sparks from skin to skin contact will always remain. And I can't feel that right now. We will forever be broken because he was weak. "You are not my mate anymore. Comfort your whore."

  I storm away towards the door and without looking back, I let my heartbreak again as I remember the moment why I was sick in the first place. "And clean this up." My alpha command slips in. I don't even care that I pull rank on the both of them. They're nothing to me.

  The door slams behind me, and I wipe my tears. I determine in my heart right there that I was going to allow myself one day, just twenty-four hours to cry and feel sad for myself. But come Sunday morning, I will get back to work.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  There isn't a whole lot of light that trickles into my bedroom when I wake up on Sunday. One look at my alarm clock and I can see why since it is only four in the morning. I turn over in my bed so that I'm laying on my back and staring at the ceiling. Friday night was rough on me, but Saturday was harder.

  Luckily for me on Friday, after discovering the betrayal of my best friend and mate, I bumped into one of the pack members who was calling it a night. She didn't say anything about how I must have looked awful, for which I was grateful for, but she did offer me a ride home. I mind-linked my brother to let him know I was fine and going home. I felt bad for skipping out on the rest of the party but there was no way I could be the happy social wolf everyone would expect me to be.

  I had woken up Saturday morning with a slight headache, but I knew it wasn't due to the alcohol that I drank the night before. It was definitely a combination of crying myself to sleep and my room being saturated with his scent between the oil diffuser and his presence in my room the day before. I needed to cleanse my room.

  I washed out my diffuser and swapped out the oils that I had used and added drops of lemon, orange, bergamot, and geranium oils. I needed something that would blend together to lift my mood and help balance my emotions. Just to help clear the air in my room, I also lit a candle that reminded me of sunshine at the beach. As soon as I had all of the windows opened to let some fresh spring air in, I automatically felt like I could breathe again.

  Not once did I leave the comfort of my room yesterday. I didn't care that I was hiding, leaving it to some of the den mothers to bring food up to my room. I just wanted nothing to do with running into Julien or Natasha. Several times throughout the day, I caught hints of Julien's scent outside of my door. He knocked a couple of times but realized that I didn't want to speak to him. Natasha made no attempts. Some of the pack members were buzzing through the mind-link about my two traitors marking each other. Of course, they didn't know that Julien and Natasha were traitors, just my heart knew. The pack only knew that they weren't mates, and they were being defiant to the Moon Goddess' gift. The pack was also not surprised at Lincoln's anger with his beta nor the punishment that was handed to them: the newly mated pair couldn't cohabitate in the pack house or at her place for thirty days. Mates already can't stand to be separated under the worse restrictions, but a newly mated pair, could very well fall apart if they are not together for long.

  I couldn't care less how they fared.

  But today is a new day.

  Today, I am going to head into my office for a little bit and pretend like I didn't breakdown yesterday. I'm glad that it's as early as it is. It's less likely that I'll run into anyone on my way to the office.

  Secluding myself wasn't the right way to mourn, if that's what I should call it. I just needed a moment to myself to lick my wounds. Wolves are extremely social creatures, and I know I could have gone to my brother to help me through it. But I'm also part human, and that side of me needed time before I could acknowledge that I was gifted with a selfish prick of a mate. Time that validated that there was nothing wrong with me, I did nothing wrong in this scenario. I trusted the wrong people for too long.

  I knew that Natasha had some unspoken, unresolved resentment that I was the offspring of an alpha pair. She abhorred the fact that throughout our entire fake friendship, she could not have a place in the mansion on the territory that was the pack house. She, like all of the wolves that were not of any ranking, lived in smaller houses that were on the same land. And by no means were these houses shacks, they were the average three to five-bedroom colonial houses that were distributed throughout for wolves to live in. There were some wolves that decided they wanted to live closer to town and that was also their choice since Lincoln was technically the owner of the towns that surrounded us, thanks to a blind trust ownership that our ancestors set up a long time ago. We were a thriving community that allowed for everyone to pull their weight, whether it was through agriculture, commerce, or education throughout. For some reason, that always bothered Natasha.

  But we had so many good times together I never once considered that she would have any type of resentment towards me personally. How else can I explain that she knew that Julien and I were mates, and yet still marked him? In my eyes what she did was unforgivable. They're both unforgivable.

  Even though I'm in the shower, I don't want to think about how betrayed I felt by Julien. My mate, the one who is supposed to cherish me above all others, turned out to be a dud. I would love to ask the Goddess why she thought I deserved him; better yet, why she thought he deserved me? No, thinking about it, would make me cry. But just because I can hide my tears beneath the relaxing hot spray, did not mean I wanted to open up the waterworks again.

  No, I was done crying over the two of them.

  I cut the shower off and wrapped myself in a white towel. I loved the layout of my bedroom because my closet was attached to my bathroom, and I could walk right in and decide what clothes to wear without stepping back into my bedroom. At the island that was in the middle of the closet, I picked the rose scented lotion that complimented and enhanced my natural scent of roses and pine.

  I didn’t normally head into the office on a Sunday, in fact my brother practically insisted that we didn't work on the weekends. He preferred that Saturday was set aside for intensive training, that went side by side with the training everyone received during the week. Sunday was typically our day of rest and leisure. Having the same alpha abilities as my brother, skipping yesterday's training won't se
t me back. However, yesterday was my leisure day, if it was to be called that, and there was no way I wanted another one. I needed something to do, and so, I made the decision to go into the office for a few hours.

  I was sure there was something I could take care of.

  I choose a pair of jeans and a dark gray sleeveless cowl neck top, and after slinking into some underwear, I dress and head downstairs. The kitchen is empty for the most part, only one of the pack mothers is in there leaving a bowl of cut up pieces of fruit and a huge plate of ham steaks. I'm not particularly interested in food in general, but I can never turn down fruit salad. I quickly dish out a bowl of fruit and make my way to the office.

  The moment I unlock the door and slip in, I immediately lock it up tight. I don't wish to be found or disturbed, by anyone. Thirty minutes later, after peaceful silence, I hear a knock at my door.

  "Kai, open up. I know you're in there." I sigh in relief when I hear Lincoln's voice through the door. I'm nowhere near ready to speak to, or even look at Julien or Natasha. And I definitely didn't want the first time I spoke to either of them to be alone. Nor did I want them to talk to me together. I'm not quite sure what Julien expected to happen, but it was clear by the smirk that Natasha kept on her face, that she got exactly what she wanted. I sigh just thinking about what could possibly drive someone to want to betray their best friend. Tuh! Were we ever really friends to begin with?