Once Upon A Rejection
Part 2 Chapter 9

Grayson Ward’s POV

I had a great lunch with Molly but it was over far too quickly. It felt like only a few minutes before we had finished eating and were on our way back to the house. I wish that I could put off going back but my dad needed me.

“I am so full,” Molly said.

“I think that might be something to do with the second burger,” I replied.

When she told me that she was going to order two meals I thought she was joking but apparently not. I was even more impressed that she managed to eat both of them. Her appetite had been slowly growing over the last few days as she got closer to her heat.

I don’t think she realises how close she is to going into heat, I can’t help but notice though. She smells absolutely delicious and everytime I get close to her Bran starts begging me to let him take over. He was so insistent and the more I denied him the worse he got.

“At least I’m not hungry anymore,” She said.

I could tell she was feeling a little frustrated by her constant hunger. I wanted to help her but there was nothing I could do other than keep feeding her. It was only natural for her to feel like this but she was probably feeling it more intensely than most werewolves because of having two mates.

When we got home we headed straight to my dad’s office. I hadn’t heard from him since I told him to have people watch Finn and I was eager to see if he had learnt anything. What I hadn’t expected was for Finn and his mates to be sitting at the table in my dad’s office with their hands tied behind their backs in silver handcuffs.

My dad was standing across the table from him, he was leaning forward over the table. The veins on his neck were standing up in the way that they do when he is moments away from losing his temper. I had only seen him like this on a handful of occasions. He wasn’t the kind of man who lost his temper easily but that only made it more terrifying when he did.

“Tell me who you were calling,” my dad shouted.

He was pointing to a phone that was lying unlocked on the table between them. It was opened to the call history page and I could see a lot of calls from this phone to a contact he had named Boss.

I couldn’t see very far back into the call history but it looks like the calls were twice a day at the same times each day with the exception of today. The last call that he placed was shortly after he left us at the cafe and whoever he had tried to call hadn’t picked up.

“I’m not telling you anything,” Finn said. He sounded defiant but I could see the fear in his eyes.

“You will tell us everything. Maybe not today or tomorrow but eventually you will,” My dad said. He was leaning over the desk so far that his face was only inches away from Finn’s face.

“We can’t wait that long,” I objected.

There was meant to be a meeting at the end of the week. I don’t know how many other packs had been invited and how many of those might have believed Finn’s story but I was worried. Whoever had sent him might have been using him as a way to get to other hybrids. Getting them all in one place so they can kill them all at once.

We needed to know who was behind this and what the plan was. We also needed to know who else Finn had spoken to. We had to find some way of stopping this. We couldn’t let all those people die.

My panic levels were starting to rise as I thought of all the terrible things that could happen. It was only my extensive training that kept my heart rate steady and my appearance calm. I glanced over at Molly, she was standing a little bit behind me. She didn’t seem to be aware of my inner turmoil because she was already deep in thought, that was good.

‘What would you have me do? He won’t speak of his own free will,’ my dad said over mindlink.

He was referring to our pack’s rules on treating prisoners. Some packs would do literally whatever it took to get a prisoner to talk but our pack wasn’t like that. My family thought that relying on such methods was needless and barbaric.

When my dad took over as alpha one of the first things he did was to outlaw such practices but it was still a fight against our instincts. I could feel Bran urging me to show our strength or threaten Finn. I blocked him out, I didn’t need his aggression clouding my judgement.

My dad was right, the only thing we could do was wait for Finn to talk while we continued with our own investigation. We hadn’t managed to find anything ourselves yet but it was only a matter of time and we still had days ahead of us.

“Maybe we should just call the number,” Molly said, moving to stand beside me.

Sometimes Molly thought more like a human than a werewolf. Werewolves solve most of their problems through claws and strength. We try our best to integrate with humans but our wolves and our instincts are so strong that we struggle to do anything other than come at our problems straight on.

Spending time away from the pack seems to have helped Molly to think about things differently. That seemed to be a real asset at times like this where clear thinking was needed. As I looked at her I could feel mine and my wolf’s pride growing, she would make a great luna.

She reached out towards the phone on the table and as she did so fear in Finn’s eyes became terror.

“No you can’t do that,” He said, his voice shrill. He tried to reach for his phone but with his hands bound behind him there was nothing he could do.

“Why not?” Molly asked, hovering her hand just above the phone.

“He will kill all of them, that is why.” Finn shouted.

I didn’t like the way he was talking to my mate, I wanted to make him show her the respect that she deserved but I decided to let it go for now. Molly was in charge right now.

“If you don’t want me to hit the redial button then I suggest you tell us everything,” Molly said, looking Finn straight in the eyes. Her assertiveness was sexy, my mind was wandering to images of her using that tone to boss me around.

‘Yes please,’ Bran said.

Finn shifted in his seat weighing up his options. It didn’t take him long to work out just how limited those options were. I could see the exact moment that Finn realised that he was going to have to tell Molly exactly what she wanted to know. His eyes dropped to the table in front of him and his shoulders slumped as though a heavy weight was suddenly placed on them.

“Him as the other lycans, they have my pack on lockdown. If I don’t do as they say then they will kill them all,” He said.

“We will free them but to do that you need to tell us everything,” Molly said, sitting down opposite him.

“They showed up a few months ago. They came in the middle of the night and we were completely unprepared. They took our pack in minutes. Once they had control that is when things started to get worse,” Finn said.

Molly nodded her head, encouraging him to continue.

“They killed the alpha and beta along with their families. They put me in charge of the pack but they kept my family in the cells under the alpha’s house. They have had me going to packs to tell them about this meeting ever since. I know it is a trap but what can I do, I have to protect my pack,” he continued.

“We will need a list of all the packs you spoke to,” my dad said.

“If they find out they will kill everyone,” Finn said, his voice shaking although I couldn’t tell if it was through fear or sadness.

“We will sort that, I am not letting those lycans take any more lives,” Molly growled.

“Well if you really plan on doing this you need to watch out for their leader. He showed up last week and he is worse than the rest of them put together. Not only is he stronger and faster than the others but he also enjoys inflicting pain on those around him,” Finn said.

His whole body shuddered as though he suddenly remembered something repulsive. Whoever this guy was, I was looking forward to taking him down.