Rejected by the Alpha

Chapter 23 - reunions and reconciliations

I left Archers side and ran towards the familiar face. Duke grinned when he saw me and captured me in a bear hug.

"I never thought you'd be so excited to see me," Duke said with a chuckle. He was a large broad man

"Yeah well neither did I," I replied.

"Has this place softened you?" he asked and I playfully hit him in response but hard enough for him to feel my strength.

"No, don't be getting any ideas. How are things back at Crescent Moon?"

Dukes cheerful face dropped a little and my heartrate began to beat erratically with worry. "The Alpha is unwell," he told me.

I felt like the blood had drained from my face. "How unwell?" I asked.

"It's cancer. His Alpha healing has helped in places but it's spreading quite rapidly."

I felt frustrated. Here I had found a second father figure in life and he was being stolen from me too. "And the Luna?"

Duke shrugged, "As well as can be expected."

"Ill need to ask for leave to go and see him. Any good news?"

Duke gave me the brightest grin I have ever seen on his face. "My mate is in this pack. I can smell her but I haven't found her yet"

"Aw that IS good news. At least there was a silverlining in having to call you guys in. Its been a crazy couple of days."

"Yeah... Ive heard whispers about your luna..." Duke said and I rolled my eyes in response.

"That's a... That's a long story Duke."

"If you need me to give her a good beating you know where I am," he told me.

I chuckled, "I'll keep that in mind thank you. You haven't mentioned her so I'm hoping that's a good sign but how is my Aunt? "

"Oh as far as I know, she's doing fine. I think I saw her planting a new rose bush the other day."

I smiled thinking about her and the garden she tends to like a mother to her child. That was just what I would imagine her doing or dancing around her living room.

In that moment, it felt as though the adrenaline left my system and the emotional burden of what had happened fell on me. I became suddenly hyperaware of the suffering in the room, in the injuries and the losses. Thankfully, we hadn't lost too many of our pack but any loss felt like too much. The news about Alpha Kyro simply deepened these feelings. The reminder of home also left me feeling a little untethered as I was no longer sure where I belonged. I excused myself from Duke to get a breath of fresh air. I made my way to the balcony where Sebastian and I had kissed. I stood looking over the pack territory, noticing the smoke rising from where the bridge once stood. The hairs rose on the back of my neck as a figure approached me from behind. It wasn't Archer as I would recognise his scent immediately.

I turned to face the figure and immediately my body was on the alert. It was Edward and my body's response was automatic as this was my first time alone with him since the incident in his room. I tried to control my breathing. He saved you, I reminded myself but Moonlight's hackles and thus, my own, remained raised

He casually approached me with two bubble glasses of amber liquid. He wore a soft, friendly smile. "I didn't know you were General at your old pack," he said.

I couldn't help the grin that formed on my face, "One of the best," I replied.

"After me of course," was his retort and I felt my grin turn into a smirk.

I shrugged, "If you want to tell yourself that." In my head, I tried to remind myself that I didn't want to start a fight. I decided to try and offer a gesture of peace. "I appreciate you saving me from drowning," I told him.

He smiled, "You're welcome. Perhaps this can allow us to start afresh. I'm sorry for what has happened between us in the past and it won't happen again."

Moonlight huffed in my mind, He's damn right it won't. We won't allow it to and neither will Archer.

Sebastian would defend us too, I reminded her.

Moonlight flattened her ears in my mind and nodded. She had grown a lot fonder of Archer recently and it was becoming more evident when she spoke about him.

Returning to this moment with Edward, I decided to accept his apology, such as it was, as best as I could.

"I appreciate that Edward. I can forgive the bullying; we were pups after all but don't know if I can forgive what happened in your room. It's not something that's easy to start afresh from. I just hope you learn from it and never do it again to anyone."

"Of course," Edward replied with a grunt. He picked up the glasses of amber liquid and offered one to me. "Shall we?" he asked and I took the glass from his hand.

"Cheers to a successful victory and to... Starting if not from afresh then from a better place," he said taking a drink.

"Cheers," I responded and took a sip of the liquid. It smelled and tasted like Brandy. I wasn't sure if I liked brandy. There was a strange note of flavour in it.

"Well I better go back in," I said to Edward. I actually would have enjoyed a few more moments on the balcony but I felt I wanted to be out of his company at this point. Edward stopped me as I tried to go back in. "Wait, Lena. I was wondering if we could go over our different approaches as a general sometime," he said.

"Eh sure Edward," I replied. "But not right now okay? It's been a hectic day." I placed a hand on his shoulder and went to walk by him. He blocked my path. At this point, I was becoming irritated. "Move, Edwa-," I said but my words fell away towards the end as I began to feel dizzy and sick. It was like a heavy fog had flooded my brain. I realised with dread that I had lost Moonlight to the fog. I couldn't sense her. I knew I had to call for help but I couldn't focus enough to do it. Vaguely, I could hear Edward muttering reassurances at me. "You're okay, you're okay"

I felt the cold stone of the balcony at the back of my legs. The sensation woke my brain up enough for me to panic that Edward was going to sexually assault me in a much more thorough way. Shortly later however I discovered that this was not what he had planned for me.

I heard him whisper in my ear, "You won't die. Not yet."

Then I felt a sharp push against my chest and the world suddenly twisted. The starry night sky was above me and I was falling, flying backwards, my hair stretched out in front of me.

In the seconds before I hit the ground I had the realisation of what had happened.

The bastard had pushed me.

Then there was just pain and blackness