Rejecting, Your Broken Promises
Chapter 25

Percy’s POV

Ever Green Pack

I have never heard such agony and pain in a scream before. I could tell that Peyton was terrified and in pain before I was fully awake. I knew she was having a nightmare and I was already sitting up and about to get out of bed when I heard the pounding on my door. Dawson sat up immediately and we got to the door together, as he was on the couch, and it was closer to the door.

Elena was looking panicked, and I looked across to where the screams were coming from and ran across the hallway. I entered Peyton’s room and I saw that they had set it up like a sleepover with the mattresses on the floor. I could hear Sloan speaking to Peyton gently and trying to comfort her, but she was not waking up at all. Sloan had tears running down her face because she felt so bad for Peyton, and I sat down next to Peyton on the mattress and then picked her up into my arms, holding her to me.

Peyton’s screams started to slow down, but not completely stop. I knew she could feel me here with her, but whatever memory she was dealing with was truly a bad one. She was shaking, and the screaming finally slowed down, but she was not awake. She was still in the clutches of her nightmare, and I was almost crying myself from the pain that I could feel coming from her, and from hearing her begging people for help. I don’t know who hurt her like this, but I will gladly kill whoever it was to release her from having this ever happen again. I just held her and placed my lips next to her ear and spoke to her.

“I am here, baby. I won’t let anyone else hurt you. I love you, please wake up. I am so sorry you got hurt, Peyton. Open your eyes, baby, you are OK. You are here at Ever Green with me. You are safe, no one will hurt you here. I will protect you with my own life, I swear it”, I told her and just kept holding her close until she calmed down and stilled in my arms. I saw her open her eyes and then smile at me.

She heard me speaking to her and it helped to calm her down. She had a tear on her lashes and in her eyes and it broke my heart to see how much pain she was in. She seemed embarrassed about my family being there at the door, but I whispered in her ear, “They didn’t know if you needed help or not. They came here to save you too. See, look at mom and Heath, they are both armed. We haven’t taken care of all your problems yet, and they are not going to let anything happen to you either. I swear princess.”

She sat fully up and apologized to the group, and everyone went to their separate rooms. Except for Dawson and I. We were going to be staying right here with them. I kept Peyton pulled to my chest and laid down with her on the mattress, with one arm wrapped around her. Dawson did the same with Sloan, and although Elena g*****d like she was frustrated, she set up the couch cushions on the floor near us and made herself a bed. I know she was terrified of what had happened. I knew she would have tried to wake her first, and when that didn’t work, she came to get me. I smiled at Elena over Peyton’s shoulder, and she smiled back and then turned her back on all of us to go back to sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, I felt so rested, even with the incident during the night. I could stay here all day, but I know that it is 7 am, and we needed to get going. I took a deep breath and buried my nose into Peyton’s neck and was greeted with a cute laugh from her. I didn’t know if she was awake or not before I did that, but I wanted to wake up like this every single day of my life. I start a little daydream of our children coming into our room and getting into bed with us, and what they will look like. I am smiling at the thought when Peyton turns to me, and smiles and I thank the Goddess again for my beautiful mate.

“What are you smiling about Percy?” Peyton asks me quietly, as Dawson, Sloan, and Elena are still not awake yet.

“I was just thinking about us sleeping in, and our children coming into our room to get into our bed with us. It made me smile. I hope our daughters are as beautiful as their mother is”, I told her, and then nuzzled into her neck again, brushing her marking spot and making her giggle again.

“I don’t know about that. I think you are very attractive and would love for our children to look like you”, Peyton told me, and I gave her a smile. She is not mad at me anymore, since she is willing to have my pups.

“I don’t know about that. I think you are very attractive and would love for our children to look like you”, Peyton told me, and I gave her a smile. She is not mad at me anymore, since she is willing to have my pups.

“Go ahead and start getting ready, baby. I will meet you for breakfast downstairs. Or I can walk you down if you want me to”, I told Peyton, and she nodded in agreement. Peyton gets up and heads to her bag to get her clothes ready, and I tapped Dawson on his shoulder to wake him up.

“Dawson, time to get up man, we need to get ready so we can take the girls to breakfast,” I told him, and he turned to look at me with a glare.

“I have been awake, Percy. I have just been lying here, enjoying being able to hold my mate. Plus, you and Peyton need to learn how to whisper. You two are not good at it at all” Dawson said, and Sloan giggled. Dawson pulled her closer in his arms, now that he knew she was awake, and he sniffed her neck too. I am happy for Dawson. I know the joy of finding your mate and am glad he was able to rescue her from the situations she was dealing with. I have only heard a little about it, but I was glad for him and Sloan to have found each other. She is a nice girl from what I have seen, and I know my family already loves her.

“Well, my mate is taking a shower, so we need to get out of here, and go get ready ourselves. I don’t want you hanging out in here with my mate in the shower, any more than you would want me hanging out in here with yours in the shower”, I told him, and I heard a growling sound from Dawson. I hit him in the back this time and said, “Let’s go.”

Dawson k****s Sloan, before getting up to follow me out of the room. I knew he was coming because he saw my point, so I walked out knowing that he would be behind me shortly. We got to sleep in today. Our day usually starts in the office at 530, right after breakfast. I think it was because they all saw the episode last night and were giving us time with our mates. Both had been mistreated, but I would say that Peyton got the worse part of the deal. We both got ready quickly and were standing outside the door to escort them to breakfast.

We headed down the stairs following Elena, whose hair was still wet from the shower, but she does that almost every day. Elena is a beautiful girl, but she is just like mom. She wears makeup for big events, like when she is wearing an evening gown. But usually, she does a ponytail, or braid if she is going to be sparring and then tucks it into a bun. Usually, pulling or tugging on hair is a girl’s thing, so she doesn’t always do it when fighting a guy. A few of them have been mad at getting bested by a girl and will use any tool against her to try to beat her, but Elena is really good at sparring. I think she would give me and Dawson a run for our money too, even being Alphas.

As expected, mom and dad, and Heath and Von, had already eaten but were sitting there with coffees waiting for us. I already knew Heath had come up to his office and finished the paperwork he had already. He was just that efficient. I also know that they won’t push, but they want to know what happened last night. Heath and Von gave Peyton the biggest smiles and Von motioned for her to come and sit next to her. Von and Heath knew her as a child and they already loved her. She had just met mom and dad, but I could tell that they loved her already too.

We grabbed our food and went to sit at the table. Elena, Sloan, and Dawson were across the table from us, as we sat by Heath and Von. Nothing was said while we ate, but we all knew that we would be talking after that, and I was right.

“Peyton, I would like to talk to you about last night, if you are OK with it,” mom asked her, and Peyton gave her a nod. Mom then explained about her life growing up in Red River, and what all she had had to deal with there. I could see Peyton’s surprise and then upset at all mom had to deal with, and then the horrible cherry on top, what mom had to deal with her ex-boyfriend, Jack. It was never easy hearing the story, but I knew where mom was going with this. Peyton cried at all mom went through because she had such a big heart, forgetting that she herself had dealt with a horrible amount of pain and torture herself.

“I am not mentioning this to get you upset honey, or for you to feel bad for me. I am totally past all of that pain now, but what helped me get past it, was the therapy that Von and Heath got for me. I dealt with my trauma in therapy, and I also learned how to protect, and defend, myself in case it ever happened again. I would not ever force you to do it if you really don’t want to, but I think it could help you, at least with night terrors. It really helped me get past mine. I would be glad to train you myself, with Elena, as we will be here for a week. You should also know that as my daughter-in-law you are always welcome at B***d Rose, and I will be helping Sloan train as well. It is up to you, but it is how I overcame the things that I have dealt with myself”, my mom said.

I can tell that Peyton is really thinking about it, I can see that she is still scared about it when she nods her head and says, “I want to learn. I don’t like being scared. I have been scared for too long, and that stops now. I would also like to speak to the therapist you spoke with if they are still here in the pack.” Heath and Von nodded at her and Heath said, “Yes, he is still local here, and about to turn over his practice to his son, but I know he would be glad to help you in any way that he could.”

“OK, I am all in. I would like to get past this too. It was like I was there last night, it was so real, I felt like I was going through it again. I want to be able to keep this from happening to me so much. I want to be able to protect myself if someone tries to hurt me again, Goddess forbid. I would love to be able to put all of my trauma behind me and flourish. So, yes, thank you for the offer. I would be glad to train and glad to go to therapy”, Peyton tells us, and I am so proud of her. She is already so much stronger than she realizes that she is. I reached out and took her hand in mine and gave it a little squeeze.

“I would like to train as well if it is OK for me to join in. I was never allowed to train, even before my grandmother passed. My mother always thought that I would be too powerful if I knew how to fight, especially if I learned how to use magic. I used to have a lot of fun with my grandmother before losing her, but I can barely remember her right now”, Sloan said quietly, and Dawson was nodding and already volunteering to teach her before she finished talking.

“Dawson, I know you want to help your mate in any way you can, but they both have had to deal with a lot of abuse in the last several years, and they may feel more comfortable with women helping them at the start of it. At least in them getting their form and stances correct before they learn what they excel at. Give us a few days, and then you and Percy can both help them. I have Heath and Tanner here if they need any additional help, as well as the guys on the elite team. They are all mated, so stop with the growling boys. With you guys being their mates, they won’t be able to concentrate on learning with you there. I am sorry boys. You can teach them too, but it will be at a later time. We need to take this seriously, as I am quite sure that Alpha Jasper will be finding out that the girl he was after is not quite as dead as he believed she was. I bet he will be showing up, and I bet it will be before this week is out. We need to start training, and we need to start it today” mom said, and everything she said made perfect sense, but I still wanted to train with her.

Mom is right though, people talk, and I am sure Alpha Jasper will want to come and get her, even if we are one of the strongest packs around. I will back off because if mom is right, he will be coming here soon. I turned to Dawson and asked him to train with me. I need to be in peak condition too, because if he is planning on taking my mate. I will fight him to the death for her. I will not allow that sick Alpha to ever get his hands on her.