Rejection Trials

Rejection is Impossible

Belvedere was looking around for something with his eyes. When our eyes meet, his eyes seem to focus on me like some kind of lens. I realize he can smell me. Which is impossible. One of the perks of the curse is that I have no scent of my own. I only pick up the surrounding smells, so I always blend in. This cannot be happening, I think, as I see him tilt his stupid pretty head to the side.

To hell with the social rules of approaching the alpha heir. To hell with everyone staring at me stomping up to the group of popular kids. To hell with his beautiful puppy eyes and soft lips. To hell with this being his 16th birthday, and to hell with Belvedere being my mate. I shouldn’t even be able to scent my mate until we are both 16. I stopped suddenly in front of the sublime boy. I pointed directly into his face.

“I Syrus Barghest, child of who knows, and of no pack exactly, reject you Belvedere Canisson, son of Alpha Felix Canisson and princess Luna lady Diana Canisson, of the Death Falls Pack.” I was about to fall over to catch my breath. That is quite long and there are too many words.

I look into Belvedere’s warm honey eyes for any reaction. He merely slaps my hand away from his face. This made everyone roar into laughter. Of course, no one is going to believe I am his mate, and he will never admit that. Great. That means he won’t say the damn lines back. It had been years since people had openly laughed and mocked me.

I stormed away. It wasn't like I was going to cry or beg. I was just agitated, and bad things tend to happen when my emotions go haywire. I have to make my way to class, history class, and that means the history of werewolves. That means I can ask the teacher if I can force this rejection through, because I do not want to wait for him to decide. It’s not like I can just ask my wolf either. Despite shifting young I have never heard or even felt my wolf spirit. I also have never been able to control my shifting. This was all too much for my brain to compute and to focus on the collapse of ancient wolfen empires.

After class, I asked the teacher for a moment. Her whole posture stiffened when I called her name. Which is ridiculous because she could also kick my ass. I mean, I am not even allowed to train like everyone else.

“Mrs. Green, I was curious if there was a way to reject your mate without them participating?” I asked, watching her face go through multiple emotions in succession. She is trying to figure out why I am asking this, probably. “Well, I was wondering if I ever had a mate they would want to reject me and I want to know if they would do it without the decency of telling me first.”

Again Mrs. Green just blinks and her lip twitches slightly. I didn’t think the subject of me possibly having a mate was that revolting.

“Rejecting your mate is impossible,” she said curtly.

“That can’t be true. I read about it all the time in books. "You just say I reject you, and then they say it back and then boom mate bond severed.” I rambled as Mrs. Green sighed heavily.

“Books aren’t real life Syrus. There is no known way to sever a mate bond. You can say it for sure but that will do nothing to the bond itself. You must go now.” She hurried me out of the room.

How am I supposed to be convinced by the words of a woman who is happily mated. I spend my free period in the library to no avail. These books are so censored. Seems like they are written for small children, not teenagers. Everything on mates sounds like fictional fairy tale nonsense.

I spent the two days of my weekend in the pack library. Unfortunately, there is no forbidden section I can sneak into for ancient tomes. Just me, a man breathing loudly enough that I am concerned he may have apnea, and Mrs. Beaty the librarian. When I returned to the pack house, the buzz of gossip was still at an all-time high, which is very unusual as it tends to die down quickly and move on. The looks were enough to keep me from eating in the main dining hall. I heard the elders meeting with the current pack leaders. I focus on my hearing to not stick my head directly onto the wall.

“People are demanding an official council review of Syrus”, one voice said. Oh, juicy I thought. Every time I did anything it seemed people wanted me “reviewed” or “punished”. It never goes anywhere as Alpha Felix always squashes it, not wanting to deal with petty issues.

“To claim such a thing publicly creates doubt in people’s hearts about their future alpha.” Another went on. Doubt in people’s hearts almost made me snort and give away my position.

“Spreading lies and openly slandering the alpha is a crime and should be seen as a serious matter.” She heard the rumbling low voice of Alpha Felix. Wait, is he serious? He has never once entertained these silly issues.

“You’ll have to do it yourself alpha no one else is strong enough to contain that hellish dog.” The first voice said. Rude. I am not that strong. My looks are just too much for you to handle you old toad.

“I will bring up the matter of possible exile at the hearing”, Luna’s voice chimed in. That one hurt considering I apparently helped save her life. Of course, I just led them to her body. That counts for something.

Realizing their conversation was ending, I quickly left the area. I rushed down the stairs to my little den. I put my belongings in a bag I stole along with the clothes they left inside. Backpacks were always lying around with extra clothes, so I can take the whole bag, right? The thought of a werewolf coming back and realizing they have no clothes to change into and going naked amuses me.

It's times like these it would be nice to communicate with my wolf. To have someone to confide in and give me some direction. I have never been good with direction. How could Belvedere be my mate? How could I even scent my mate out if I am not even 16? I shouldn't even have a mate as I don't have a wolf. Just like I shouldn't be able to shift. Even if I couldn't make myself shift, it still happened that the pack was attacked. Nothing in my life ever makes sense. What I need to do now is focus on my escape.

Having no scent meant getting through the border patrol was a piece of cake. I never officially joined the Death Falls Pack so the alpha wouldn’t feel me leaving the pack either. Not sure why I care since they will not look for me, but I am prepared. Crossing over the pack border brought a throbbing ache to my entire being. The damn mate bond was trying to pull me back to a person who is undeserving. I remember all the shoves, all the curses, all the hits, and all the terrible things that my mate has done and said. This would give me the strength to keep pushing forward.