Rejected by the Alpha

Chapter 6 - Training the runt

The next day I woke up feeling like I hadn't slept at all. Moonlight groaned in my head as I made my way into Rayns kitchen for coffee. Her kitchen was rustic and smelled like pancakes. Sure enough there was a plate of pancakes with a note beside it that said: Gone out for an early run. Left a plate of pancakes for you and there's coffee in the pot. Love Rayn.

I felt my throat choke up a little as I looked at the pancakes and remembered my family traditions. It really was thoughtful of Rayn. She was trying her best to make me feel at home.

I grabbed one of the pancakes and poured the coffee into a portable cup, deciding to make the most of the day and get out into the fresh morning air.

The pack village felt different today. In the soft morning light, it gently hummed as people began to wake, shops and the packschool were opening and people were making their way to work. As I walked I found myself at a bridge, a bridge that was completely unchanged from when I was last here. It was wooden and so I was surprised it had even held up. The bridge crossed a river which bordered the forest. The river was deep and wide. Beneath my feet, the wood almost seemed to vibrate with the sound of the rushing water below. Then there was the noise of a giggling child and subsequently the thump of small feet on the wood. I turned just as the girl with silver hair ran past me.... Before being pulled back into the arms of a tall lean man with hair that matched hers. I realised it was Sebastian. "Stop running away you little rascal. You could hurt yourself. We need to get you to school."

He looked up at me with an apologetic smile and I could see the moment recognition dawned on him. We caught eyes and time seemed to slow.

"But Daaaad, I don't want to go to school!" the girl said, cutting through whatever moment we had been sharing, bringing time quickly back up to speed. Slowly I realised that the girl was Sebastians daughter.

"No one wants to go to school Jessica but it's important"

Jessica had no response so just pouted in complaint.

Sebastian looked back at me, "The older she gets the more she talks back"

"That tends to be how it goes," I replied, still a little shocked at the revelation that Sebastian was a Dad. The bridge might not have changed but he certainly has. At least in this way. It was a reminder of just how much the people I had known before might have gone through in my absence.

"I've got to go," Sebastian said, "But it would be nice to catch up with you some more. Maybe I can tell you about how this wee one came to be."

I smiled, "Yeah I'd like that. I'm staying with Rayn if you ever need to find me."

"Awesome, catch you later" Sebastian replied and with a brilliant smile he turned and began herding his daughter to school.

The training centre was a modest building with a large gym hall and a wooden observers balcony on the upper level. My trainers squeaked on the freshly waxed floors as I made me way to the small group of people standing in a circle. I noticed Angel amongst them and as I caught her eye, she smiled and gave me a small wave. In the centre was a bulky brute of a man with dark hair and eyes. It was his mocking glare that I recognised. My main bully. Edward.

"Ah well if it isn't miss runaway come to join us" he said

"You know I don't have a choice in the matter"

"And yet you're still late."

I rolled my eyes, "And what? You're not the Alpha"

"Maybe not but things have changed since you were last here. I'm Archer's General and so I lead the training. You're not getting away from it under my watch girlie."

I sighed. "Fine," I said and groaned internally. We're going to have to play weak and take his taunts, I said to Moonlight. She howled in protest, But I want to rip that smug smile off his face, she replied.

So do I, I told her but this is the quickest way for us to get back home. I was taken aback by the sudden memory of Archer slamming his fist on the table and telling me that this was my home. But I don't believe that home is where you came from, home is where you feel safe and loved. The only person that makes me feel that way is Rayn. Sebastian has also been pleasant to talk to but my sense of comfort is still with my mother's pack. With that thought and definition of home in my mind I went on to lose all of my matches. Quite deliberately. Then Edward stepped forward himself to fight me. Throughout all my fights he had been heckling me in just the way I expected him to thought he had also offered pointers, ones I already knew and had deliberately chosen not to do. I couldn't help but think as I lazily fought across from him that this was my chance. I could beat him up in the way I always have imagined doing. But of course... I couldn't. So I let him land another kick that sent me flying across the training room floor.

Edward came to stand close to me after I had picked myself off the ground for the tenth time today. I knew how to take a hit and I was barely injured but I made sure to move slowly, unsteadily at times. "You're as pathetic as you always were" Edward told me. He was close enough that as he spoke, his spit hit my face. I closed my eyes. In the next moment, I heard a loud slap and my cheek stung. That i***t had slapped me. I clenched my jaw. He would have paid for that if I wasn't so desperately trying to play weak.

"Edward". A voice cut across the room. It came from above us. "In combat only". It was Archer and he had apparently been watching from the balcony above us. I was surprised I hadn't noticed him sooner but I was glad. I wanted him to decide there was no reason to keep me and to send me home. Natalia was beside him, wearing a pink sports bra and neon green hot pants. "Can I fight the runt?" she asked Edward. I bristled at the word runt. It was a derogatory term for a werewolf who was weak, the 'runt of the litter" as they say.

Edward snickers, "Of course my Luna, you may fight the runt."

Natalia smirked and made her way down from the balcony. Moonlight was growling in my mind as she approached. Tell me we aren't going to let her best us, Moonlight pleaded.

We have to, I replied.

Moonlight whined in my head in response.

Natalia looked me up and down as she stood across from me. "I'll show you why I'm a better Luna than you ever would have been," she said which caused another growl from Moonlight.

I gritted my teeth and took a fighters pose to show I was ready. She charged at me and I noticed that she was not actually a bad fighter. I defended myself lazily and took a few hits as I had intended to. It was taking every ounce of self control I had not to fight in the way I wanted to. I let her knock me to the ground hoping that it would end the fight.

She stood over me, smug as ever. "Pathetic," she said, "This is exactly why Archer rejected you and chose me"

Moonlight growled in my mind, can't we hit her at least once?

Natalia continued her verbal attack, "it's actually lucky that your mother isn't around to see how weak her daughter is"

I glared at her and without really thinking about it, I swung round and kicked the feet out from underneath her. She got up looking surprised and I charged at her again. Natalia was truly a good fighter but it didn't take too long before I had her pinned. Her shock probably worked in my favor. I glared down at her, "Don't you dare talk to me about my parents," I told her. Her eyes moved past me to look at the balcony and it was in that moment that I remembered that Archer was watching... And I'd just shown him that I could fight. In fact, I'd just knocked down his Luna.

Natalia's got back onto her feet looking furious. 'Best out of three?" she asked, desperate to prove she was stronger than me.

"I'm done" I announced and turned to walk out of the room. Edward stopped me by grabbing my hand. "I decide when you're done runt," he told me. In the moment all the moments from the past came back to me, the times he tripped me, pushed me, called me names... I felt a hot rage build within me like lava and like a volcano, I was going to explode. I ripped my wrist out from his grasp," If you touch me again, you'll pay for it" I told him darkly. Predictably, with bravado, he reached out and pushed his index finger against my forehead. With each word, he poked my head with his finger. "I. Decide. When. You. Are. Done. Runt."

Before he could poke my head for the final word, I slammed my head forward and collided with his face, smashing his nose. In his shock, I fell to the floor, catching his feet in a lock with my legs and twisted causing him to fall face first to the floor as I regained an upright position. "We're done," I told him and turned to walk away once again.

Then the alphas voice cut through the air from the balcony.

"Lena, stay. I want to talk to you," Archer said.

I turned and gave a polite nod, "Alpha Archer apologies but I don't feel in the right mindset to talk right now."

"It wasn't a request," he said, the alpha command tone evident in his voice.

I knew that most wolves would not be able to ignore that command tone... But I wasn't most wolves.

"I can politely decline an order just the same as a request," I informed him. "And if I'm offending you with that, feel free to send me home"

I turned and walked through the door before he had the chance to say anything else. I knew he would be on my tail so I changed into Moonlight and we ran. We ran from Archer for the second time in our lives.