Octavia The Rejected Mate

Chapter 3

Octavia's POV

Knock! Knock!

“Octavia?” Uncle Joe’s voice calls out, seeping through the wooden door, laced with concern. But I’m not sure I want to face anybody now, still mourning my rejection from the other day, it’s difficult to come to terms with reality. My chest tightens, and I pull the blanket over my head as if it could shield me from the world crumbling around me.

Silence stretches, then his voice again, softer and meant for someone else, “she’s been like this since yesterday. Poor child!”

“Can I see her?” Eudorah’s voice sends a jolt through me. How can she be here after everything that happened yesterday? My mind analyses the situation but I get up from my bed to open the door to her.

“Hey! How’re you doing?” she asks with a concerned voice.

“You mean how am I holding up to my rejection?” I retorted and she grumbles to my diss question.

“Well I’ll survive,” I answer my own question.

“Okay, that’s em… good to know,” she stamers. “You know I never knew Tyler would pick me as his mate, it was so shocking.”

I raise my eyebrows to look at Eudorah frantically, “yet you accepted his offer.”

“I thought it would be disrespectful to say no to the Alpha’s offer, plus my mum and others wanted me to accept Tyler’s offer.”

As she spoke I couldn’t help but loose my cool and let out my frustrations. “Eudorah freaking stop! Please freaking stop! You’ve always had eyes for Tyler. Probably you’ve been spreading your legs for him behind my back ever since I introduced him to you,” I lashed out on her.

“That’s so rude and untrue, Octavia I’ve been a good friend to you ever since we were kids, I can never do anything to hurt you.”

“Oh really! Yet you came here to gloat, to rub it in my face that Tyler chose you as his mate,” my words are venomous, spilling out before I can stop them. “Betrayal suits you,” I added.

“Octavia no!” her voice was tight with pain, “that’s not why I’m here.”

A tear trails down my cheek and I wipe it away. “Like you care or know how I feel.” Eudorah stands there, her ginger hair a fiery halo in the dim light.

“Octavia, I…”

“Did you sleep with him?” The question hangs between us, heavy and accusing. Her eyes widen, shock etched on her usually composed face.

“Of course not! Eudorah clenched her hands into fists at her sides. “Octavia please, what happened is not my fault, neither is it yours.”

“Isn’t it?” I pressed on relentlessly. “You’ve always wanted to be the Alpha female, now you got your wish.”

“Your pain is making you blind,” she says.

“Blind?” My shout rattles the walls, and I can feel Uncle Joe’s concern rising from below, his heavy steps pausing on the staircase.

“You think I’m blind to your treachery?”

“Well it’s not my fault you can’t shift into a wolf at eighteen.” Her words slice through me, sharp and unexpected. My retort dies in my throat as I stand there motionless. Eudorah’s eyes are wide, perhaps realizing the gravity of what she just said, my inability to shift—my deepest shame.

“Sorry,” she mutters, more to herself than to me, as she storms past my frozen form. She slams the door with a force that makes the windows shudder, leaving me alone with the echo of her words.

“Sorry about the noise, Uncle Joe,” I hear her say through the wall.

***

The next day, my spirit is pumped. I'm ready to go to work, I can’t allow the past to hold me back. I began my morning routine after taking my bath. I hastily laced up my shoes, my face tight as I buttoned up my white packet shirt, and my shoes thudded heavily on the floor as I walked downstairs.

“Uncle Joe, I’m leaving for work,” I notified him, knowing he’s probably preparing his morning coffee.

“Alright, stay strong and have a nice day at work,” he gave his usual response. It was very common for Uncle Joe to give me fatherly advice and motivation. I’ve been having it rough these past few days, but Uncle Joe was always there for me.

As I crossed the road, getting over the traffic I was almost at primetime publishing, a small publishing house where I worked. Suddenly I heard a squeak sound from behind me as a red mustang drove and parked right across me, blocking my way. I coughed as the dust from its tyres got into my nose.

It was Tyler’s mustang. What’s he doing blocking my way, I thought. He comes out of his car with two other guys, Belotti and Beta Ryan. I should expect that they were patrolling the towns as Alpha and his crew would do, but obviously they were here for me.

He stood right in front of me with Beta Ryan and Belotti by his sides. I stiffen my arm against my armbag.

“You’re going to work?” he asked and I replied with a nod.

“Good you’re putting on white because I’m about to teach you the lesson of your life,” he says with a frantic face, he’s serious I can see it.

“I’m sorry, what have I done wrong?” I asked.

“You Octavia, a freaking nobody, a wolfless member of this pack, had the guts to humiliate Eudorah, the soon-to-be Luna and my girlfriend.

Beta Ryan added, “this is a direct disrespect of the Alpha and the Bucha family, if her mum hadn’t told us, we wouldn’t…”

“That’s enough.” Tyler cut his Beta off.

I tried to explain sharply, “It’s not what you think Tyler, I was…”

“Shut the freak up Apola!” he cuts me off too and begins to take short strides towards me, my palms begin to get sweaty and my heart pounded against my chest. If I try to run his guys will get me before I can take a third step, especially Belotti, he was a mafian with blood on his hands, he did all of Tyler’s dirty works without asking questions.

Tyler grabbed my left arm, “I’ve heard all the terrible things you said to her, even calling her a boyfriend snatcher.” I swear to the moongod Octavia, if not for the feelings I’ve had for you in the past, I’ll leave you with scars all over your face, you’ll forever regret the day you met me. I began to struggle to free myself as his grip got tighter, but he shoved me into the gutter. I fell flat on my face, my cloth was completely stained and my leg was heavily bruised. He then spat in my face and called me an apola—meaning a latent wolf, while his companions laughed at me.

I got up and cried as I contemplated going back home, but if I didn’t show up for work today, Mr. Clement would fire me. I cleaned myself up and branched to the nearest clothing store to get some new clothes. I got to work late, Mr. Clement wasn’t pleased and didn’t care why I was late.

After long hours of work and an occasional fifteen minute break, my workday was over. As I walked back home I contemplated what had happened in the morning.

A loud horn and a buzzing sound from a siren startled me again, anxiety and fear gripped me. Fortunately, this time it wasn’t Tyler, it was the town’s sheriff, Mr. Brooks.

“Octavia Easton,” he called my full name, “how’re you doing, why are you trekking?”

“Mr. Brooks, I’m fine and broke,” I chuckled as if it was anything funny, “that’s why I’m trekking.”

“Fair enough, why don’t you hop in, I can drop you off at your house.”

“Thanks, that’s so nice of you,” I replied.

In the car I noticed Mr. Brooks badge of honour, he hung it over the dashboard. He saw me looking at it and began to tell me without me asking, “the mayor awarded me that,” he said, “redwood town has enjoyed a prime level of peace and orderliness since I became sheriff.”

“I don’t know if you can still remember when the majority of the townsfolk believed that werewolves were real, this was a long time ago during an era called the wolf panic,” he jested and laughed out loud.

“People believe in strange myths,” I replied.

“Crazy, it’s just crazy,” he continued to laugh at the idea of werewolves being real.

This wasn’t surprising, as we’ve kept our identity secret from the humans for centuries, despite living amongst them, but I’d expect the sheriff to be smarter than this.

***

Getting home, Uncle Joe welcomed me, asking how my day was. I gave him a gist of how terrible my day was with Tyler humiliating me and making me get to work late.

But I couldn’t shake off the knowledge that some of the townsfolk knew we were real, I bet Uncle Joe can still remember what happened during the wolf panic, so I asked him.

“Some townfolks saw werewolves devouring a woman and her child, the whole town was in panic. But I assure you, we weren’t responsible for the murder, some rogue wolves infiltrated the town and they were responsible for the attack, luckily we drove them out of redwood and the midlands, but the townsfolk believed it was the sheriff who ended the wolf killings so the town awarded the sheriff for doing nothing.”

Since then we’ve created a strong alliance of werewolf packs in the midlands to protect us all from the rogue wolves. The alliance was held in the Wolfs Den led by the Alpha king.

“I met Sheriff Brooks, he told me that news was spreading of werewolf attacks in neighbouring towns, something about wolves coming back for revenge. They spelled blood on the walls of the mayor of fangashire’s office.”