Rejected by the Alpha

Chapter 8 - Aftermath

There it was. The matter of punishment. It was inevitable given what had happened.

First, I had done as he had asked and told him everything that had occurred with the Rogues. When I had finished, he looked troubled.

"What is it?" I asked him gently.

"I f*****g told you not to stray near the borders," Archer said, his rage renewed somehow by what I had told him. His eyes raised to meet mine from his seat at his desk, "You do not want Cole to refer to you as interesting even if it might have been what saved your life this time."

"Is that his name? Cole?"

"Yes but don't ever say his name again"

"He had an Alpha tone. How is that possible?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

"He is head of the Rogues," Archer replied.

"I suspected that," I said, "But still, he shouldn't have Alpha blood should he?"

"How the hell should I know?" Archer said making it clear that he wouldn't discuss it further.

"What about the body?" I asked instead. "I mindlinked some of my people to deal with it and I asked some of my warriors to try and chase any trail they may have left." Archer suddenly pushed up onto his feet. "But now, we have the matter of your punishment Lena," he announced and I hated the way I melted when he said my name.

"I can take a beating," I said.

"I have no doubt," Archer replied, "but that's not your punishment. It's something worse, " his tone was teasing.

Worse? What could be worse? Burning? Drowning? Death? Torture?

"You will assist my Luna as her servant girl for a week and support her with her birthday celebrations," He said answering my unspoken question. I felt my eyes go wide as he smirked at me. It actually was worse. To have to subjugate myself to that vile woman, the same one who had stolen my rightful place as luna of this pack. It was unbareable.

" You will also train with me," Archer continued after having taken in my expression and seeming to revel in it. I met his gaze once again and all amusement had left his expression as he said, "I need to know what you're capable of. Your strengths and weaknesses. I need to know where you fit within my pack."

I bowed my head to show I understood but inside, I was cursing him. I hated him so much.

"One more thing," he said and I raised my eyes to him once again, "why have you not gone back to your home?"

It surprised me that he had paid any attention to where I had stayed. Though with things on high alert perhaps it shouldn't have surprised me.

"I imagine it will be in disrepair," I replied lazily which was only part of the truth.

"You should visit it," he told me, "You might be surprised. Now, you best go. Your friend will be worried about you. We will meet tomorrow first thing for training and then you will attend Natalia for the rest of the day."

"Yes Alpha Archer," I replied, gritting my teeth as I left. I knew that in some ways I had been let off easy but it didn't feel that way.

Later, I sat with Rayn and I shared what had happened.

"Girl, I honestly thought you'd be dead. Like I didn't even know about the Rogues but just purely after directly disobeying Archer like that"

This made me curious. "What kind of punishments has he dealt out before?" I asked.

"It rarely happens but he's dealt out a beating when he's had to. He's put people in the dungeons, hung them by their arms. Things like that. He's never gone as severe as his father but he doesn't usually hand out personal training sessions with himself and having to be handmaiden to his luna. That's child play. Some would even see the training sessions as a reward."

I sighed, "it's torture for me and he knows it" Internally I thought about how just being around him was torture, fighting the mate bond and the intolerable attraction I felt towards him.

Rayn shrugged and began tidying away the dinner plates.

I looked up at her, "Rayn" I said.

"Yeah?" She asked, looking over her shoulder at me as she sat dishes in the sink.

"I think I want to visit my old house. Will you come with me?"

"Sure," She answered. "We'll go tonight."

The house was eerily quiet when we reached it in the dark. It was hard to recognise it. I still had my key and it turned in the lock without issue. I never thought I would be back here. I was quiet as I entered the doorway, almost as though I was worried about waking someone.... But there was no one to wake up. I had a torch because I had expected the electricity to be cut but the lights above my head suddenly spring to life throwing light onto the room. I turned to find that Rayn had switched on the light switch. She shrugged, "Figured it was worth a try. The Alpha must have kept it connected to the pack's grid"

Suddenly Archers comment about it being in better repair than I thought made sense. The house was a little dusty but it was intact and it wasn't cold. The heating had been on a timer to turn on during the winter months at a low level to prevent the pipes freezing. I was touched. Someone... Possibly Archer or his father.... Had looked after my family home. The next thing I felt was grief. My Dad's favourite blanket still sat over his favourite chair that had a dent from where he sat. There were pencil marks on the wall from where my mother had measured our heights and the taller marks where my Dad had taken over. There was the same creaky floorboard that I used to hear every day in all the years I lived there. And there, next to the sink was the pancake mix from where my Dad had made me pancakes and had forgotten to put it away. I suddenly started crying and it was like I couldn't stop. I crawled into my Dad's chair and pulled the blanket over me. Even after all this time, it still had his scent. I was still sobbing as Rayn walked over to me and bent in front of me. "Do you want me to give you some time?" she asked and I nodded between sobs. "I'll be outside if you need me."

I nodded again and after she left, I cried harder. Grief poured out of me and I realised that I hadn't fully allowed myself to grieve. I had ran and I had kept running. But here I was, facing the fact head on that even if I came home, my Dad wouldn't be there to greet me.

After some time, I was just exhausted and felt I was too tired to cry anymore. I was thankful for that because I hated crying and in fact, this was the first time I had cried in a very long time.

I got up from the chair but I pulled the blanket with me. I wrapped it around my shoulders and went to meet Rayn outside, turning off the lights as I went.

"I think that's enough for now," I told her.

"Okay. You can stay with me as long as you want," she replied.

"I appreciate that, thanks" I told her.

And with that, we returned to her home.

I struggled to sleep that night with the memories of my old home so I was up early the next morning and decided to go a walk before meeting Archer. I was standing on the wooden bridge watching the fish in the stream below when I was interrupted by a tap on my shoulder. I turned to a grinning Sebastian.

"Hey Lena," he said.

"Aw hey Sebastian," I replied with a smile.

He looked down at the ground suddenly sheepish. "So... We never got a chance to properly catch up after you saw me with Jessica"

"Yeah I won't lie. It was a bit of a shock though I don't know why it should be. I just didn't realise you had someone."

His eyes snapped back to mine, "Well I don't not really." He sighed, "It's just a story I need to tell from start to finish. I was going to find you after your training but then I heard what happened and honestly... I didn't know if I'd see you again."

"Yeah... I guess that's another story. Do you want to find somewhere to chat? Do you have time?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I just dropped Jessica off at school. I have part time pack duties but they don't start for another couple of hours."

"You're not training?" I asked him.

"No. I'm exempt from the extra training because I won't be going to war due to Jessica."

"Oh," I replied.

"Come here," he said and he pulled me down the side of the bridge. He took me through the trees to a section I'd never seen before. There was a willow tree sheltering a bench that sat beside the river. We sat down and watched the river. A family of ducks glided past us, each duckling following after one another clumsily.

"This is beautiful," I said.

"it's where I come to think," he replied.

I turned towards him, making it clear that he had my full attention. "Tell me your story then," I commanded.