Chapter 37: Reject me, Alpha!

Book Two: Hating My Mate

Wolfgang

“Reject me! I’d rather be a wolf without a pack than become your stupid luna,” Aurora stood before us, tears still running down her face, her eyes filled with hatred and determination.

“Lady Aurora, think this through. If you are to be marked as a rogue, you’d lose the protection only a pack can offer,” one of the elders said.

“Oh, you mean the kind of protection I was supposed to have when the rogues attacked the hospital?” she scoffed. “Yeah, I think I’m better off alone.”

“Aurora…the elders are right. If you leave the village, you’ll be exposed. Most packs around the area know that you are our luna. You’d be targeted right away,” Max intervened.

She turned to face me. “So what, then? Now you go out and shout to the world that I’m your mate? After all the threats and warnings you gave me about it?!”

“No, Aurora, I…” I started to come up with some excuse, but Elder Leto beat me to it.

“No, Lady Aurora. It—”

She cut him off. “Stop calling me ‘lady’ already! I’m not your Luna and I’m never going to be!” she growled.

“It was Tallulah, Aurora,” Max said, catching her attention. “Once Alpha Wolfgang told everyone that you two had imprinted, and that he marked you, Tallulah left the pack offended.”

Max continued. “We had asked the Blue Moon Pack to aid us in your rescue, but they refused, breaking all ties with us.”

“We are sure, by now, that they’ve sent word of the broken treaty, and about the alpha’s true mate,” Elder Asher said.

Aurora stood there, like meek prey before her predators. She was trembling nonstop, and tears kept falling from her eyes, which were glued to the floor.

~“Go to her kid. She needs comforting.”~ Cronnos spoke within my mind, and I took a tentative step forward.

“Aurora… What I did, I have no way of asking for forgiveness. I mistreated you in every way possible, and for that I’m sorry…” I said.

She stood still, as if her mind was trying to process everything we had told her.

“But please, consider not leaving, Aurora. Stay here where we can keep you safe. Where ~I~ can keep you safe.”

She snapped her head up and glared at me. “The only safe place for me is away from you, alpha! So reject me and mark me as a rogue, NOW!” she shouted.

The room fell silent for a moment.

“Very well…” I said.

“Alpha Wolfgang! You can’t possibly be thinking of doing that!” Elder Radolf said.

“Are you out of your mind? She’ll be a deer in the headlights for all the other packs!” Elder Asher protested, but I held my hand up to silence them all.

“Aurora Craton, I, Alpha Wolfgang…will not reject you. I proclaim you Luna of the Blood Rose Pack of the North.”

“You can’t do that!” she shouted. She charged at me, banging my chest with her feeble hands.

I stood there with my hands clasped behind my back, even though my body ached to hold her in my arms.

Max came by her side and restrained her, pulling her away and sitting her on the bed.

“I can and I just did. If your safety requires these drastic measures, then so be it.” I turned my attention to Max.

“She is forbidden to leave this village. Any movement she makes should be reported to me. Understood, beta?” I spoke with all the authority my name carried.

Max sat there, staring me down.

“I asked if you understood, Beta Maximus?!” I growled at him.

“…Yes, sir.”

I turned to face Aurora once more, who was crying into Max’s chest, clutching into his shirt for dear life.

It pained me to be the cause of all her tears, and not her comforter. I turned to face the three elders who stood behind me.

“Let’s go,” I said, then marched out the door.

They all mumbled a quiet ‘yes, sir’ before following close behind me.

~“Hey kid. Don’t you think that you overdid it a bit?”~ Cronnos asked me.

~“I did what I had to do. If I had let her go, she’d be killed.”~

~I understand that, kid but this is our mate we are talking about. You hurt her, and broke her heart,”~ he replied.

~You don’t think I know that already?!~ I snapped at him.

“You should be thinking of ways to win her back, instead of locking her up in this village forever,”~ Cronnos said.

In my mind he laid there, his front paws stretched out before him, and crossed one over the other.

I sighed. ~”I know that, you old bag of fleas. I just need to figure out how to win her.”~

~”Well, do it quick, kid. Or we’ll both lose our mates, and I’ll bite your ass off if I lose my Rhea.”~

I chuckled at his threat.

~”Don’t worry old man. We won’t lose them. I’ll do everything in my power to right the wrong I’ve done to her, and win her back.”~

Aurora

“You should eat something,” Max pleaded with me one more time. Since Wolfgang and the elders had visited this morning, I hadn’t been able to rest, or eat anything.

“I’m not hungry,” I replied.

“C’mon, Rory. Remember, you’re recovering. You gotta eat, to replenish your health,” Max pleaded.

“I’ll try later. For now all I want to do is sleep,” I said.

I rolled over on the bed and gave him my back. “I don’t wanna be rude but…could you go? I wanna be alone for a bit.”

“Um…yeah, sure.” I could feel the hesitance in his voice. “I’ll be right outside if you need me, okay?”

“Yeah,” I answered, trying to not let my voice crack. Or else he’d never leave.

I heard the chair he was sitting on screech as he got up. Moments later, the door closed.

I turned and looked over my shoulder, just to be sure. Once I realized that I was completely alone, I let the waterworks fall freely once more.

~”Rhea? Are you there?”~ I asked my wolf.

She had gone quiet since my discussion with Wolfgang and the elders earlier. I could see her lying down, giving me her back.

~”Rhea…”~ I tried once more, and she finally stood and looked at me.

~”Rhea, I’m sorry I put you through this. I know you love Cronnos, and apparently he loves you back…but what Wolfgang put me through…I can’t do it. I can’t forgive him that easily.”~

Rhea sighed, then she stood and walked over to me and laid her head on my shoulder, her wet nose caressing my cheek.

~“I know, and I understand. It hurts to be separated from Cronnos, but I know it is not your fault. Like I said before. I’m here with you a hundred percent and I’ll support every decision you make.”~ Rhea said.

She stood there, with her tongue hanging, a wide smile on her face.

~“Thank you.’ I smiled at my wolf. ~”How are you feeling?”~ I asked her.

She’d had to endure wolfsbane when I’d been poisoned, and nearly died when she aided me in the fight against Klaus.

~“I’m much better now. The wolfsbane is almost out of our system,”~ she said, wagging her tail.

~“I still don’t understand. Where did I get exposed to the wolfsbane?”~ I pondered.

~“I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but I’m almost sure that it was Tallulah,” Rhea said with a growl.~

~“Why would you jump to that conclusion?”~ I asked her.

~“Think about it. I first started feeling sick after the dinner she invited us to,” she said.~

It all made sense.

~“This is so twisted. Why do I have to put up with all of this? And for what? For a mate that doesn’t give a damn about me.”~

I brought my knees up to my chest and buried my face in them.

~“It’s alright, Aurora. We’ll get through all of this. As I said before, whatever you choose to do, I’ll be there with you,”~ Rhea assured me.

~“Thanks, Rhea.”~