The Rejection Contract

Nostalgia

Mate.

Mate.

Mate.

The word had echoed in her head incessantly, like the mad mumblings of some long forgotten spirit demanding to be heard and Alisha was two seconds away from ripping right through her own skull, yanking it out and tossing it as far as she possibly could. Sadly, she knew she couldn’t do so because she voice in her head was her own, it was her wolf baying unrepentantly at the thought of the beautiful red head she had met the evening before – at the thought of her mate.

Alisha groaned into her pillow.

The beeping of her alarm clock only prompting her to raise her head and glare at her phone that was plugged into the charger beside her. It wasn’t a rare sight for Alisha Guillaume to look so frazzled and disheveled but it was a rare site for her to be this frazzled over another person, the one person her mind wouldn’t let her forget and she hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep since the events of the previous night – it showed; her blankets were scattered over her bed and floor from her rather futile attempts at repositioning herself to find comfort and sleep, her hair was tangled and frayed with her bonnet lost somewhere in the mass of sheets and her body dangled off the bed in total despair, the weight of fatigue heavy in her bones as she propped herself up to lazily shut off the alarm and toss it back to its original position.

Alisha stumbled out of bed and to her shower, hoping to wash away the memory of the night before but she couldn’t, not amount of coconut conditioner and vanilla shampoo could erase the image of Hayley from her mind – if anything, it only seemed to force the image to the center of her mind and she couldn’t ignore it. Alisha wished she could focus on the image of Hayley’s adorable polite smile, on the way her plump pink lips twitched when she was trying not to smile or flush but all Alisha could remember her anger; she could remember the way Hayley face went blank, her brows knitted in disbelief when Alisha admitted to staging the little accident, she remembers how quickly her eyes narrowed, darkening with fury as her fists curled, jaw clenched as though she was biting back the urge to fight Alisha in that very moment. Alisha remembers the way her heart dropped to her stomach at Hayley menacing glare and when Hayley turned to leave with a definitive door slam, Alisha knew that she had f****d up.

It wasn’t that Alisha wanted to hurt Hayley or make her upset. If anything, she was just trying to get some time alone with her mate to talk to her which as something that she really couldn’t do without drawing attention to herself; she doesn’t know how many wolves would truly care about her personal business but didn’t want to find out and showing too much interest in a complete stranger seemed like a surefire way to grab the attention of any prying eyes. Whether or not Alisha was attracted to someone, crushing on someone or dating someone really shouldn’t be a topic of interest – especially at her age – but she also knew that a large part of the nosiness comes from pack members wanting to know who their future Luna or Lune could be.

Alisha could understand their desire even if she didn’t like it. If she wasn’t an Alpha, she would want to know who her Alpha’s Luna or Lune would be too. Unlike other mate pairings, the pairing of the Betas and Alphas play a primary role in pack politics regardless of what pack the wolf may be coming from – these mate pairings in particular have the potential to make or break a pack. There are some packs that are so adverse to the idea of an outsider being mated to their Alphas and Betas that they often try and keep the mating within the pack and there are other packs that are the polar opposite and frown upon this practice, letting people find their mates wherever they may be and are extremely accommodating and welcoming to the outsiders but most packs nowadays tend to have a balance of both, like the Lunoir pack. The Lunoir pack is famous for its rather liberal policy on mates (their current Alpha is mated to a human after all) but like all wolf packs, they are bound to laws which dictate that outsiders must take the Kiss of the Crimson Moon before being fully accepted into any pack and recognized within the werewolf community.

That aside, however, Alisha also knew that pack politics can be particularly influential and whether she liked it or not, they were going to play a significant role in her own personal life as well, just as it was now with her agreement to her betrothal. In the past, Alpha-Alpha, Alpha-Beta and Beta-Beta pairings were preferred largely due to the fact that those positions almost always ensure that each the packs will incur a generous prize, the kind that all wolves seek – land. Long ago, more land meant more space and freedom to hunt which had the added benefit of new wolves being recruited into the pack due to the excess food and living space, and larger packs were often much stronger and often set out conquering larger territories for themselves to accommodate their rising numbers; the largest packs in modern day immersed a large portion of their wealth this way over hundreds of years. Present day and not much has changed since then, sure the werewolf community has modernized quite a bit, much like the rest of the supernatural community, they have set up elaborate and efficient systems in place to mitigate the unnecessary spill of blood or risk of exposure to the human world in their quest, the bottom line still remains – wolves are bound to their land, just like witches are bound to their magic and vampires are bound to blood.

Whatever the case may be, Alisha knew that she really couldn’t afford to give so much as an inclination of any form of interest to any individual beyond what was considered standard flirting or casual dating (and even then, she was certain she would be hounded by gossip), she knew she didn’t exactly trust herself to not be so obvious around her mate and the only thing she could think of in that moment was making a scene. An accident seemed like an easy, natural way to be able to get some alone time with her mate without making it so obvious or suspicious in any way and it worked – kind of. It did grant her an audience with Hayley but it ended with Hayley storming off away from her, extremely furious, without giving Alisha a chance to explain why she had done what she did.

There was a part of Alisha that pulled taught with annoyance but it was shadowed with something else; she knew that Hayley had every right to be mad at her (and she imagines that she would be just as angry if she was in Hayley’s position) but she could have at least given Alisha a chance to explain, right? Still, she could sense the shadow just as sure as she could taste the slimy feeling that accompanied it, it lingered in her mouth as the guilt slid down her throat – for a moment there Alisha felt like her father. Although she didn’t lie directly, the thought that what she had done to Hayley could easily count as one made her feel…gross. What she had done to Hayley was wrong and she knew she ought to apologize for it and explain herself to Hayley and she would, first thing in the morning when she spots her in school.

Alisha sighed, drying, oiling and braiding her hair once she stepped out of the shower, her conscious temporarily pacified as she went to her closet, smiling fondly at the logo of her school uniform. Never thought there would be a day when Alisha Guillaume would be happy to see this ugly ensemble again but here she was, grinning at the plain white button up shirt, black tie with the school logo, black pants and black leather shoes. She was relieved to be able to wear this uniform again, it sure as hell had more variety than what they offered at Alpha Camp; they had black skirts and pants, long and short sleeved white button ups, pressed black silk ascots and ties with the school logo at the bottom and long sleeved black sweaters and sweater vests and gym wear was whatever sporty attire the student could afford so long as it was decent and grey in colour while Alpha Camp uniform only ever consisted of black long and short sleeved thermal wear because they believed in always being prepared for combat.

It would be Alisha’s first day back at the American School for the Supernatural, or A.S.S, as the students fondly called it but they weren’t the only ones who referred to it that way. The humans and the human children in particular, always had a field day when it came to taunting any of the students they found that went to A.S.S simply because they believed it was an elitist school busting at the seams with privileged, pompous kids which couldn’t be further from the truth. It was a regular school, or as regular as a school could possibly be with a student body that consisted of all sorts of supernatural creatures and as Alisha slipped on her uniform, she couldn’t stop grinning at the thought of returning back there. A part of her almost couldn’t believe it, Alisha was as giddy as she was as a toddler on her first day of school and a part of her worried for her sanity at this realization…but then again…when she’d been stuck at Alpha Camp for a year, sitting through double Human History lessons without any break so maybe she had really lost her marbles back there.

‘Alisha! Hurry up! We’re gonna be late!’ Carina whined on the other side of the door.

‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m almost done!’ Alisha waved, quickly tossing a few pens and notebooks in her backpack.

‘Almost?’ Carina gasped aghast. ‘You know I’m on the MDA of the WDC and junior captain of the SSC. I can’t be late.’

Alisha rolled her eyes, stepping out her room and running right into a red faced Carina.

‘You can’t be up barking this early in the morning. It’s only seven thirty.’ Alisha said.

‘Exactly. That gives you thirty minutes to eat your breakfast, pack you break and brush your teeth before we have to leave the house to pick up Collin and Ella – which is a five minute drive from here – and then drive off to school which is about fifteen minute drive.’ Carina said.

‘And we would still have ten minutes left.’ Alisha countered.

‘That extra ten minutes is for traffic, or annoying older sisters who love to spend their time doing nothing particularly important.’ Carina retorted with a dramatic flip of her hair.

Alisha rolled her eyes again because she knew that Carina was only acting like this because she wanted to harass the new students to join all the school clubs and teams she’s a part of, plucking out all of the raw new talent in the school before the other clubs and teams had the chance to. It’s not like Alisha could complain though, Carina had a keen eye for spotting talent and the same competitive streak as her own which comes in handy since they happen to share the same interest in sports and she always ends up picking some of the best players for each of the various school teams. Still, Carina could also be a compete pain in the ass to deal with sometimes.

Once she was downstairs, Alisha greeted her father, her mum and the rest of her siblings before nearly gorging herself on breakfast; it had been one year since she had anything but day old bread and burnt bacon or pasty porridge and black tea for breakfast and she was having the time of her life stuffing herself full of waffles, fruit and fruit juice instead. Man she missed this, she missed sitting at the table bickering with her siblings over how many waffles each person was allowed to have, she missed the banter that never seemed to cease as they recounted memories from before Alisha had left and filled her in on some of the more parent-friendly adventures they could share while subtly hinting at the revealing the racier ones once they were out of earshot. They piled into the car before they made their way to Beta Hans house, picking up Ella and Collin.

The ride to school was among the many things Alisha had missed as well. When Ella and Collin stepped into the car, the conversation became even more animated with Carina, Collin and Alisha carrying the conversation chirpily and Ella chiming every now and then with a passive remark or correction that often led to all of them laughing or with one of them facing a slight burn to their ego.

‘I heard that there were a huge number of vampires transferring to this year.’ Carina said.

‘No. I don’t think so. I heard that they were Sirens.’ Collin added.

‘You’re saying the same thing. Sirens are a type of vampire, Idiot.’ Ella said, her tone sounding bored. Alisha laughed. Man, she had really missed this.

‘Is it true though? Are they?’ Carina asked again, her tone amused by what Ella had said but still curious. Ella had sat beside Alisha in the passenger seat and Alisha could see her shrug from her periphery.

‘Well, I don’t know for sure but I heard the rumours.’ Ella said.

‘I heard that more witches were coming to town too.’ Carina added. Ella shrugged.

‘Again, I don’t know for certain but I did hear that may be a possibility this year too.’ Ella said.

There was a slight pause as they all pondered over the idea. Although vampires, werewolves and witches all get along fairly well in recent times, due to well-placed treaties, sanctions and interactions with one another, there is no denying that they’ve all had a rather rough history with each other. Any other day, Alisha would’ve cheered at the idea of a wave of new students in the school, her mantra of ‘the more the merrier’ ringing true as she welcomed them but knowing what she knows, she couldn’t even feign excitement at the thought.

A new wave of students could mean the resources of the land would be drained dry in a span of a year; the witches would want to practice their magic but in order to do so they must connect with and collect items from nature itself which means they’ll be more witches in the woods using its magic; wolves are bound to their land through blood and magic, the forest is their home and it is impossible for wolves to survive long without being tied to its magic; and vampires need to hunt and feed which they can do under the proper edicts established in the treaties and sanctions but Alisha couldn’t help but wonder how long until they run out of ethically sourced blood to feed on. It was an admittedly dicey situation and Alisha couldn’t help but hear her father’s voice echo through her head:

‘…the problem is that our resources are spread very thin.’

Alisha knew that she had to put her pack first above all things which is why she couldn’t exactly be overjoyed by this news because that meant that her pack was bound to suffer…unless she found another way to secure the necessary resources which she did, she just didn’t like it. Anyway, it wasn’t about what she wanted but what she needed to do in order to keep her pack afloat.

‘Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see then, huh?’ Alisha shrugged, puncturing through the silence as she settled her tone on casual indifference as she drove on.

It didn’t take long before they arrived on the school grounds and Alisha couldn’t stop grinning as they approached the building. The familiar stone fortress still stood as proud and tall as Alisha remembered it, worn with age that gave it character. The thick curved pilasters and lintels still looked as strong as they day they were forged, holding the sturdy stone structure in place. The hemispherical domes seemed to gleam welcomingly and the marble statues of the revered founders of A.S.S sat proudly in the semicircular arches, seemingly smiling at Alisha, as passed the aedicule that still boasted the school crest like a badge of honour. Everything was as she remembered it but Alisha didn’t know what else to expect – it had been this way for centuries, its Renaissance inspired roots evident in its complex architecture and intricate designs.

There were students spread out all over the school, some sat comfortably on the grass basking in the sun, others were hurdled in groups chatting away by the hedges of the trimmed white rose bushes and others were making their way into the main school building. If any unassuming human was to stumbled into A.S.S, they wouldn’t have been able to suspect a thing; probably wouldn’t even bat an eye until they noticed students hovering fifty feet in the air racing on brooms and flying carpets, they wouldn’t bat an eye until they noticed the way some of the students seemed to zip from one place to another faster than they could even blink and they wouldn’t bat an eye until they noticed how some of the students mimicked rather animalistic behaviors as though it was simply second nature to them. It was almost bizarre how easily the supernatural community could blend into the human community with little effort.

With a few exceptions, there are many supernatural creatures that could pass for human. Sure, there were some distinguishing characteristics such as werewolves with their higher than average muscle mass, vampires with their sharper than average canines and witches with their strangely hypnotic eyes but most of these characteristics are pretty superficial in nature and could be easily explained away by genetics because most of their otherworldly features rarely stood out until they channeled their supernatural side – passed the obvious anomalies that were displayed on the safety of the school grounds, to the naked human eye, these students looked no different from their own.

Alisha pulled into the parking lot, grinning passed the tinted windows of her car as she did so when she noticed quite a few familiar faces turn and stare as she pulled into the parking space. She would be lying if she said she didn’t miss this because Alisha generally enjoyed the recognition that came with her Alpha title, it admittedly came with certain privileges, however, she still felt a twinge of dread because she also knew that those certain privileges also came with a ridiculous amount of responsibility which meant that she was either going to get a warm welcome or be treated with detached reverence. It wasn’t uncommon for young Alphas to go to Alpha Camp, some wolves might even deem it honorable but others see it as a place incompetent young Alphas are sent to toughen up and learn what it means to be a true Alpha. As far as Alisha knows, the only other person who knows the real reason for her going to Alpha Camp was her father since he ordered it but Alisha couldn’t shake the lingering doubt that someone else might also know and if they did, they might tell and she might be faced with the horrifying fall from favour with her peers.

‘Damn, we haven’t even been here for two minutes and people are already gawking at us.’ Carina said, her tone obviously pleased.

‘They’re not concerned with us. It’s you.’ Ella said, turning her attention to Alisha. ‘They can smell an Alpha in the car with us.’

Alisha shrugged, feigning nonchalance as she shut off her car.

‘Duh, even I knew that.’ Collin said amused.

‘Shut up.’ Carina said dismissively. Alisha could almost feel her rolling her eyes as she picked up her backpack and stepped out of the car, Collin and Ella following after her. Alisha took a deep breath before following after them. It wasn’t such a big deal. Alisha only had one real problem and it smelled like vanilla. This was nothing. It was just school and they were just people. No biggie.

Thankfully, Alisha was right. She really didn’t have anything to worry about as students and staff alike welcomed her with warmth, or greeted her with playful quips about her sudden disappearance from school. Alisha greeted old acquaintances and caught up with old friends who filled her in on all of the things she had missed at A.S.S. Her former coach clapped cheerily at the sight of her, letting Alisha know that she had bemoaned her, the loss of one of her star player. She ran into her old homeroom teacher who commended Alisha for her decision to go to Alpha Camp:

‘It’s a very mature decision to make for someone your age. Such an honorable sacrifice.’ She crowed.

Alisha was not one to race to homeroom but on this occasion, she found herself relatively early to class. Once she caught a whiff of that vanilla scent, Alisha found herself pacing towards it, her group of friend following close by her until they found themselves in the room where the vanilla scent was strongest and it was in her homeroom. Hayley sat at the furthest corner, her head turned and facing the window, face shrouded by a curtain of familiar red hair. Only one thought managed to echo in Alisha’s head as she stared at Hayley:

Mate.

Mate.

Mate.