Runt's Revenge

Rejection

So many things happened in the space of the next few seconds. Angel cried out “MATE,” in recognition as Nea looked up in awe the giant black wolf looming over her.

She saw, out of the corner of her eye, some of the other wolves shifting. A tall, thin woman was right next to Cassie, gently asking her if she was hurt. A male wolf that had come out of the woods had shifted and was already pulling out clothes from his wolf pack, though he was eyeing her warily. The other wolves circled her, ready to spring into action if she moved, she imagined. The big black wolf, her mate and obviously the leader, also shifted and changed quickly into jeans and a t-shirt before turning to check on the little girl behind him. He had wide, strong shoulders and hair so black it almost looked blue. Nea’s chest tightened at the sight of him. She knew that her step-father had been wrong about runts! She did feel the mate pull and it was driving her crazy right now.

Another wolf, brown, with a single white paw, had slyly approached behind Nea’s mate as he dressed and passed him on her way toward Athena. She shifted as she drew near, not bothering to get dressed. She ran straight at Nea and, without warning, hurled a leg back and swung it forward with a lot of force. The little wolf felt and heard the c***k of her ribs breaking as she skidded back over the grass from the strength of the punt. The woman menacingly and purposefully picked up the branch that Cassie had dropped earlier and swung it hard at her head. This is where Nea’s training kicked in. She sprang straight up, the branch swinging under her feet, but she paid for it as she felt a sharp pain in her ribs where she had been kicked. The woman was enraged and kept swinging the branch back and forth like a baseball bat, determined to get in a hit. Nea gave Angel control as she ducked and jumped and dodged the swinging branch looking for an escape route.

“MIBAYDA!” shouted Cassie, shaking off the other woman who had been tending to her and running toward her friend.

Cassie ran under Lydia's swinging arms and threw herself in front of the little wolf’s aching body. Lydia was past reason and swung the branch, trying to get at the runt no matter what the obstacle might be. Seeing the branch swinging right for Cassie's head, Nea put her paws around Cassie’s and flipped her over, taking the brunt of the blow on her already injured shoulder and her head, while protecting Cassie underneath her as the circle of panicked wolves closed in.

“Everyone stop where you are,” commanded Zayden. And everyone on the field froze. The warriors were worried about what the runt would do to the little girl before they could separate them again, everyone except for Lydia. She was swinging the branch back high over her head, aiming for a killing blow. Zayden gripped Lydia’s shoulder, ripping the branch from her hands. Swinging her to face him, he growled in her face with a ferociousness that would make most wolves tremble before he pushed her to the ground, commanding her to stay put.

“Are you trying to get my daughter killed, Gamma,” he growled in an Alpha voice strong enough to make her whimper in submission.

“I’m sorry Alpha,” she whispered.

Nea was still stunned from the last blow that she had taken. The air seemed silent and still.

Finally the Alpha said, “We don’t want to hurt you. We just want the little girl. Please…” he pleaded, “let her go!”

She gently rolled off of the girl, linking "you okay?" 

“I think so…” she linked back. Cassie stood, ignoring her own injuries. Her hands balled up into fists while Nea curled up in a little fur ball of pain at Cassie’s feet.

“Leave Mibayda alone!” Cassie ordered firmly. “She’s my friend!”

“Cassie, sweetheart, I need you to step away from that wolf,” Zayden said calmly.

“No, Daddy, no! Please don’t hurt her!” Cassie’s bottom lip was shaking as she held back her frightened tears.

“That is her father?” Athena managed to link Angel as she tried to follow what was happening.

“And our mate,” Angel replied unnecessarily, as they were both painfully aware of the fact.

Athena was still wary, but relieved too, as the first part of her mission was seemingly completed. Cassie was back with her pack.

While Athena was musing, Janna was also linking Zayden, “Cassie could be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, Alpha, a bond created between a victim and her captor. You should humor Cassie until we can get her to safety.”

He nodded once to acknowledge the pack doctor. “Okay Cassie,” he soothed. “No one is going to hurt your... firend, unless she tries to hurt you, of course,” he said looking into Athena’s eyes so that she would hear the power and truth behind his words.

Derrek scoffed, “That is our mate. She is an angel and would never hurt our pup.”

Zayden mentally rolled his eyes, what changed his wolf's mind about the runt… it must be that tantalizing smell that he had only had hints of up until now, honey, lavender, and something else. He mentally shook himself out of thinking about it.

Cassie was shaking. “You have to promise me, daddy. Promise me that you won’t hurt Mibayda.”

“I promise sweetheart. Now, you need to go with Dr. Janna so she can examine you and clean you up.” Zayden was using the most reasonable tone he could muster.

“Yes, Daddy,” she said. And then she linked to Nea, “Don’t worry Nea, my daddy never breaks his promises.”

 “I’ll be okay, Fun-Size. You need to go with them. Be safe! I love you, kiddo.”

“I love you too, Mibayda.”

She stood up and Janna moved forward to wrap her in an emergency mylar blanket, firmly escorting her to the road where the car was still running. Cassie kept looking backwards at Nea the whole way to make sure that everyone was keeping their promise.

“Shift,” Zayden commanded the runt as the car sped away with the girl safe at last.

Nea shifted, but it was brutal because her injuries definitely hurt more in human form than in wolf form.

Zayden saw a beautiful woman in place of where the tiny wolf had been moments before. She might be small in stature, but she had perfect proportions in his mind. She was covered in blood, dirt and sweat, but he could see the outline of her sculpted face and her long red hair plaited tightly in a braid. His wolf was delighted at the first sight of her in human form. The fact that she was still naked was not lost on him. His wolf was aroused, but Zayden shook the off the feeling and, steeling his heart, he leaned over and whispered in her ear, “I, Zayden of the River’s Edge Pack, reject you, Athena of the Glacier Valley pack, as my mate and Luna.”

Nea shut her eyes and winced, expecting the gut-wrenching pain that she had always heard about feeling when someone rejected you. She waited that way for a millisecond, but still it didn’t come.

And then the crazy woman that her mate had called Gamma was up on her feet again. “Time to die, runt.” Lydia was growling and picking up the d*mn branch again.

“No,” ordered Zayden, “Back off, Gamma. Don’t make me say it again!”

“Lewis, Kelly and Kyle,” Zayden seethed, “kindly escort our “guest” to her new cell. I will be there to question her later.”

Nea didn’t even think to fight or run quite yet. She was definitely out powered at the moment. West always told her to "reassess, recover, and reset." And that was her plan.

“Angel,” she asked her wolf as they were led away, “why didn’t it hurt when he rejected us.”

“Because he did it wrong,” chuckled Angel through the physical pain that they were feeling from their fight. “He did it wrong.”