The Rejection Contract

The Sacrifice

Alisha was completely screwed. She hadn’t even been back a whole day and she knew she was screwed. How the hell did she manage to find her mate mere moments after agreeing to marry a whole different person? The odds of finding her mate were honestly one in a million, let alone finding hers this early. Most wolves end up finding their mates much later in life – anywhere between their mid to late twenties and fifties which is still considered pretty young for most werewolves since they tend to age considerably slower than humans once they have their first shift – some even have to travel to annual balls just to meet them while others don’t even bother searching for their mates deeming the journey too daunting or pointless (especially if they’ve already found someone else that their interested in) and end up settling for some other poor soul and others become desperate enough to seek underhanded supernatural assistance to find their mates. Alisha just had to find her mate now, at the worst possible time.  Why?

As she looked up, Alisha couldn’t help but grimace at the sight of the girl before her. The girl stared back at her passed a curtain of ruby red hair that was tangled with twigs and leaves. Alisha almost found it funny that the girl’s eyes reminded her of the forest that she was desperately searching for solace in mere moments ago; her large green eyes were just as rich, just as deep and dark as the familiar forest and they drew her in. Alisha couldn’t look away. She realized, somewhere at the back of her mind, that perhaps her staring wasn’t appropriate and it was weird but she couldn’t help it.

Now, Alisha had heard a lot of fairytale stories about this wild collision of sparks that happened when mates meet, she had heard the stories of older mated wolves who described their first encounters with each other fondly, painting them as these magical mystical moments of instant attraction. As a child, Alisha often wondered how meeting her mate would be, she had fantasied about it for as long as she could remember – now that it was here, Alisha felt none of the feelings she thought she would feel when meeting her mate; there was an explosion of sparks, yes, but there was no instant rush of euphoria accompanying it, no bold declarations of undying affection for one another, hell, there was barely any acknowledgement of the mate bond to one another beyond the expression of scattered shock spotted on both of their faces.

If anything, Alisha only felt one emotion bubbling up to the surface – unadulterated rage. It took a moment for her to fully understand or process where the hell it was coming from and why she felt this was but it made sense the longer she stared at the girl. The girl was pretty but in this moment, she looked awful; her porcelain skin was patched in large bruises, her plump pink lips were split and her scent was tainted. Alisha had vaguely registered the vanilla scent before she crash landed into the girl but now her scent invaded her senses; it was sweet but it had a veiled iciness to it that warned people away – and it was muddled with the scent of dirt and copper, of earth and blood.

Mate hurt.

Alisha could feel her face growing hot as her blood bubbled beneath the surface. The girl wasn’t just hurt, she was horribly injured, even by werewolf standards. Usually, the sight of a wolf a bit battered and bruised wasn’t something that particularly bothered Alisha, as sparring was a past time was common enough among wolves that most of the time, it wasn’t an issue but from the overpowering scent of the girl’s blood she could tell that the girl took a harsher beating than most wolves and whoever was responsible for it was doing it out of malicious intent – Alisha could tell; she caught wisps of the faint peppery scent mangled with malevolence that clung to the girl and a low growl escaped her lips.

‘Damn Alisha, sorry. It was an accident, relax.’ Carina said, her tone laced in mild annoyance and exasperation. Alisha snapped out of her growing rage induced daze, her eyes refocusing on her sister. Carina probably thought that her wolf was insulted by the fall but in actuality, she was insulted by the idea that there was someone out there that had set out to hurt her mate and had clearly won from the look of things. She needed to calm down, she didn’t even know this girl and getting worked up about this was unnecessary, especially here, she couldn’t afford to make a scene here.

Alisha took a deep breath.

‘Thanks for the help.’ Alisha said, her playful sarcasm accompanied by a roll of her eyes as she pushed herself to her feet. Carina rushed to the aid of the redhead. Alisha didn’t mind it, the girl looked like she probably needed more help anyway.

‘You’re welcome.’ Carina said, adopting the same playfully sardonic tone as she hastily led the redhead upstairs. The girl had decidedly chosen not to look at Alisha again, her eyes flying everywhere except back to her as she turned to follow Carina, a slight limp in her step that sent a spike of anger through Alisha once she noticed it. Who the hell did that to her? Alisha fought the urge to pull the girl back and demand a name, instead, she settled on biting back a growl, her eyes following the girl whose expression betrayed nothing but her scent was now tainted by the bitter faint traces of fear as she turned the corner. Only then did Alisha notice, she caught her reflection in one of the glass picture frames that hung by the staircase and saw how her eyes had changed colour, now spotting a deep crimson red. s**t.

Alisha sighed, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself which was harder to do when the scent of her mate still lingered in the air, drawing her in even though it was still slightly tainted by her fear. Out…she needed to get out of here, go somewhere else. Where would she go? She knew she wasn’t supposed to be seen by any of the pack members before her father reintroduced her to the pack but Alisha didn’t want to go back upstairs to her room, afraid that she may just be tempted to follow the girl’s scent and make a pit-stop by Carina’s room where she disappeared to on her way up. Damn. There weren’t many good hiding places when all the pack members were summoned to the pack house, she was bound to run into more people if she dallied around much longer (it’s honestly been a miracle that nobody else ran into her downstairs). The only place she could really go to was her room. s**t.

Alisha groaned quietly.

This was supposed to be her night but any and all energy she might have had for the evening was slowly seeping out of her. Screw it. Alisha took a deep breath and held it, making her way up the stairs, refusing to even catch a whiff of that delicious vanilla scent as she passed Carina’s door, eyes glued ahead, pointedly choosing not to so much as glance at it. Once she made it to the safety of her room and locked her door, she released a sigh of relief and sunk heavily into her bed.

This was turning out to be one of the worst evenings of her life and it had barely begun.

What the hell was she supposed to do? Alisha had just agreed to marry a complete stranger in order to save her pack but she had also just found her mate. Should she tell her father that she didn’t want in on the marriage anymore? A part of her wanted to but a larger part of her knew that she couldn’t. Why would she even bother? She knew how her father felt when it came to pack matters and she knew that he wholly expected her, as the future Alpha of his pack, to remain loyal to her duties as an Alpha. It was highly unlikely that her father would ever accept anything less than that and if her father could hear her thoughts, she was certain that he would see her consideration for breaking this oath to him more than enough grounds to make good on the threat he had promised on the night of the incident.

Even though her father claimed that she had the freedom to choose against marrying a complete stranger, she knew it wasn’t much of a choice but an ultimatum; sacrifice her pack or make the ultimate sacrifice for her pack and Alisha couldn’t shake the sick feeling that this was probably her father’s way of ensuring that she had indeed changed, that she was loyal to the pack and to the pack alone. Alisha couldn’t tell him. Even if she did, she knew it wouldn’t change anything, she had the sneaking suspicion that even if she did tell him that she found her mate, he wouldn’t believe her and if he did, he would still wholeheartedly remind her that her duty to the pack comes second to nothing else – not even her mate.

Her mate. Wow. That’s a phrase she never thought she’d be using this early in her life. Alisha actually felt guilty referring to the little redhead like that, or perhaps disgusting was a better word; how could she readily lay claim to someone she doesn’t even know? Much less, laying claim to a person she wasn’t even sure she could have or be with given her predicament. It made her feel grimy. Still…it wasn’t entirely wrong, was it? Alisha, much like her mate, belonged to a total stranger anyway because she had no idea to whom she was supposed to be betrothed to. Then again, being betrothed to someone isn’t the same as being bound to someone through a mate bond because being betrothed was much more bearable, hell, she didn’t even have to like the person she was betrothed to, she just had to tolerate them. Being mated, however, was a completely different story.

Alisha had heard the stories. The pull of the mate bond was inescapable. On their own, wolves cannot resist the pull of the mate bond and more often than not, most wolves end up mated if they are lucky enough to find that their mate is someone that they are compatible with. Those who aren’t as lucky fall anywhere between the two big C’s: contraction or corruption. Those that chose contraction have to sign a waiver with a witch who would be willing to use their magic to inhibit the pull of the mate bond by binding it, the bond would still be present but the wolves won’t feel any significant pull towards each other and it will be as though the bond never even existed. Then there are those that become corrupted by the mate bond, driven mad by the pull of the bond and unable to satisfy it for whatever reason, they go rogue. As a rogue, they continue their existence in their wolf form and refuse to shift back, letting their more animalistic nature take charge and consume them until they can’t change back into their human form and completely lose touch with it. Most of the time, those rogues are banished from their packs because they become a danger to their pack, themselves and they wreak havoc elsewhere - a lot of them usually end up dead.

Alisha knew that she couldn’t ignore the pull of the mate bond and she didn’t want to resort to the turning to the two big C’s. At the very least, Alisha didn’t want to dismiss her mate right away, perhaps it was just the pull of the mate bond talking but there was a small part of her that wanted to actually wanted to get to know her mate. If everything she were told about mates were true, Alisha wanted to know what made this girl her mate because nine times out of ten, the mate you receive is supposed to be highly compatible with you in every sense of the word. Alisha couldn’t help but wonder, why her? What on earth made this little redhead so special?

 ‘Alisha? Honey?’ Alisha jumped at the sound of her mum’s voice; she had been so caught up in her own thoughts she hadn’t even noticed the knocking on the door.

‘Yeah ma?’ Alisha called.

‘Please open the door, the ceremony is about to start.’ Alisha heard her mum say.

Alisha sighed, running her fingers over her face before opening the door for her.

‘Oh, honey. What’s wrong?’ Alisha’s mum asked.

‘Nothing ma.’ Alisha lied. Her mum cupped her face in her hands and her dark brows furrowed in concern.

‘You cannot lie to me my child.’ Her mum said. Her mum was always one to fuss and worry but she was rarely ever wrong.

‘I…I guess I’m just tired and a little nervous.’ Alisha said with a slight shrug. She wasn’t lying either. She was weary and anxious, her head hurt at the jumble of thoughts that swirled about. She didn’t have a clue on how to reconcile them. Alisha couldn’t tell her father about her mate, neither could she abandon the promise that she made to save her pack but she wasn’t exactly jumping at the thought of rejecting her mate, or worse, losing her sanity to the pull of the mate bond and eventually dying from it. Alisha didn’t have a single f*****g clue of what she should do.

‘Aw, that’s okay.’ Her mum said. ‘Is it the ceremony?’ She asked. No, it wasn’t that but Alisha simply gave a slight nod at that. What was she supposed to do? Tell her mum the truth? No. She couldn’t. Even if she wanted to, Alisha knew her mum probably could not fully understand her even if she wanted to, as a human, she really couldn’t fully understand pack politics and how heavily they played into a werewolf’s life. Besides, Alisha knew she couldn’t break her mum’s heart like that.

‘Don’t worry. I know they’ll love you.’ Her mum said, smiling reassuringly.

‘How can you be so sure?’ Alisha asked.

‘I’m your mum, I’m always right.’ Her mum teased. ‘And, you are a brilliant girl, Alisha. You may not always know what to do now but I do know that you always find a way.’  

‘What if I mess up ma?’ Alisha asked.

‘Then you mess up.’ She said, playfully pinching her cheeks. ‘You mess up and you learn and you grow.’ She added, gently massaging her pinched cheeks.

‘Okay ma.’ Alisha smiled.

Alisha followed her mum’s lead, making her way downstairs, joining her siblings and father. No sooner had she arrived, had her father stepped out to a tumultuous applause, his voice thundering as he called the pack to attention. Alisha tuned out of most of her father’s introductory speech, her father knew how to entertain; he spoke with a vigor that inspired confidence, with a calm that settled over the whole pack and blanketed them in assurance. Someday, Alisha knew that she would be standing where he was, introducing her family and giving speeches to her pack and that thought alone brought a smile to her face – above all else, she was an Alpha and she alone will get the honour of leading her own pack into a new era of greatness.

‘In this life, as you all know, there comes a time when we will be called upon to make a sacrifice.’ Alisha’s ears prickled at that. ‘Often times, we see sacrifice as a painful thing, we see it as a loss but a necessary evil that must be fulfilled in order to gain another thing in return, and sometimes, we focus too intently on the loss, on the pain of the loss and become so consumed by our grief that we forget to celebrate the valuable things we gain in the process.’ He said.

Alisha fought the frown that was twitching at the corner of her lips as she felt something in her stomach lurch at her father’s words, somehow instinctively knowing that her father was speaking directly to her as he continued:

‘A year ago, I was faced with the same difficult decision that saw my eldest depart from the home to undergo intensive training for the sole purpose of improving herself for the betterment of those who will soon be under her care and protection.’ He said. ‘Members of the Lunoir pack, as my daughter stands here today I am reminded of some wise words my mother shared with me, she said: ‘a good Alpha is one who seeks to serve their pack but a great Alpha is one who not only serves but strives to improve the pack’. There are a lot of good Alpha’s out there, that is true, but here at the Lunoir pack, we had a great Alpha. My daughter, Alisha, was willing to sacrifice a year of her life and dedicate it to becoming a great Alpha. It was a sacrifice that had to be done. Alisha is still an Alpha-in-training here at home but I have no doubt in my mind that she will lead this pack in to a new age of preeminence.’

There was another tumultuous applause that followed and Alisha smiled, clapping along with the rest of the crowd as she resisted the urge to scoff at her father. He spoke as though the decision was forced upon him, as though he was only a passive participant in the decision making process knowing damn well that it wasn’t a decision that was forced on him by someone else’s hand but one he made in a quick and harsh moment of judgement after the incident; she suspects that he shipped her away to that torture camp for a year for the sole purpose of ensuring that she falls in line because Alisha knew that what she had done did not, in any way, warrant the punishment she received from him. Alisha didn’t know what was worse, the fact that he was lying about the reason she went to the camp in the first place or that he was framing his own decision to send her away as one she had opted for out of her own volition, that he was painting it as some sort of noble act and that she was going to be expected to live up to this image.

‘Now, please join me in welcoming my eldest daughter, my pride and joy and the future Alpha of the Lunoir pack, Alisha Guillaume.’