Rejecting, Your Broken Promises
Chapter 39

Percy’s POV

Ever Green Pack

My mate is overly kind, why in the hell would she even try to save Alpha James’ life? I saw how he treated her. He was furious when we entered the meeting hall, and she was on the floor holding her face. She had been slapped down to the floor, and yet he was angry with her. I can see a little of where Peyton is coming from with this, but as far as I am concerned, he deserves to die. I don’t want her going back there as I already know that Timothy will be doing his best to try to get her back, not even aware that it is far too late for him now.

FLASHBACK

I came out of the shower and get ready for the town hall meeting that I had called earlier today. Since we had time, the women wanted to go to the mall to grab dresses, not formal ones, just ones to look nice for the pack for this announcement, and we accompanied them. My family already knew what I was going to do, but Peyton didn’t, and they helped her get a cute little black dress. Heath told Sebastian so their family could dress up a little as well.

Heath started the meeting by making an announcement telling the non-pack members that due to the incident the other day, the protocols for joining the pack had changed and the time frame was now cut in half. You had two weeks with which to decide if you were going to join. Additionally, they were told that they will also have to go through a more rigorous process in which they will get a wristband to show that they were in the process of joining the pack. Anyone who was not a pack member or did not have the wristband would immediately be taken to the cells to be questioned. Heath was not going to take any chances of a spy being able to infiltrate our pack again. I have to say I fully agree with the new procedures. Times have changed since they were implemented over 20 years ago, and not for the better.

Heath introduced me, and I stood and headed to the podium. I hear some of the female pack members start murmuring in the crowd. This was the problem that Payton was facing, and it was going to be shut down tonight. She was never going to feel like she wasn’t important to me again. I hear a catcall from a bolder she-wolf, and I snapped, it is going to stop right this minute.

“I’m having a problem and issue in this pack, and we need to get it sorted right now. Almost two weeks ago, when my mate came to the pack with me, she was not welcomed properly. It was my fault, my mistake because when I met my mate, every other woman disappeared in my eyes. You see, I have never cared about anyone else as I care for Peyton. She is my everything, and I messed up. I didn’t wait to find her and then got involved with a hateful woman who just wanted the title. She was a horrible person and tried to embarrass my poor little mate with my actions. I am telling you all, here and now, that unless you have a pack problem that requires my personal attention do not approach me in a flirty manner. I am not available anymore. I will greet you all every day because as my pack members, you are valuable to me. But I will have to tell you, and the mated wolves in here will understand this, none of you matter more to me than my mate. I love my Goddess-given mate, Peyton will always be my everything. I would die for her, and just so we can be totally clear on this one part. I will banish you from the pack for touching me in an unacceptable manner or trying to come on to me. It will not work and if you cause my mate one moment of doubt between us, I WILL banish you from Ever Green. Several of you have really stepped up to take over Stephanie’s place after she left, knowing that I already had my mate here. You have overstepped and even knowing you were not my mate, still tried. I have told you in one on one conversations, and now I am telling the whole pack. If you cause my mate even a moment’s pain, you will not like the outcome, at all” I tell them and see Peyton looking up at me shocked.

“Oh, and just in case you missed them, I would like to introduce our esteemed visitors here with us on the front row. I would like the whole pack to be welcoming to them. We have Timothy and Lilibeth Ash, and their niece, Moira Ash, who are kind enough to be here to help in some specialized training. We also have Alpha King, Sebastian Hunt, his lovely Luna Queen, Deanna Hunt, their sons Christian Hunt and Bryson Hunt, and Christian’s mate Amanda Edmonson. They are my mate’s family, and I want them to get the utmost respect while they are here” I tell them, and the noise level went up with all the whispering in the room. I did it deliberately so that even if the bolder she-wolves think about trying me on this, they now know that with my mate belonging to the Royal family, they can hang it up for good now. The punishment couldn’t be dodged. They would be dealt with harshly. I can feel that we are all on the same page now and smiled down at my mate sitting between her family and mine. I motion for her to come up and she shakes her head in the negative. I go down the stairs to get her and come back up to the stage again with her hand in mine.

I lead her back up the steps and when we stop at the podium, I k**s her palm, and she gives a delicious shiver. I love how she reacts to me. I look back out at our pack members, and I feel Heath and Von walk up to us from where they had been seated in their chairs on the stage. Heath next to me, and Von next to Peyton. I call out for all of them to hear me, “This is my mate, Peyton Hunt, soon to be Peyton Wright if she so chooses to marry me”, and I dropped to one knee next to her. Peyton had been gazing out at the crowd and trying to keep a brave face, but when it sunk in what I had just said she glanced over and then down to me as I was on my knee next to her and holding up a brilliant ring, that was catching the light and shining its light for all to see in the room. A collective gasp sounded from the crowd, and I waited as what felt like minutes passed by, waiting on her response. Peyton’s eyes filled with tears, and she started nodding at me and then hugging my neck.

I stand up and I feel prouder than I ever have, as my mate and fiancé is beaming a huge smile up at me. I take the moment to lean down and give her an intense k**s to seal the deal. I straighten up and gave a huge grin to all the pack members present and the cheers raise to the roof. There were a couple of she-wolves that were clearly mad about it, but they will just have to get over it. Peyton grins at the pack too and she gives a real smile to them, instead of the tight one that she had been giving out. I hug her into my side and lean down to take a calming deep breath of her scent. She is my happy place. I could live anywhere, as long as she was by my side. We told everyone that they were free to go, and then spent the next hour getting well-wishes from 95% of the pack. Some are on patrol, and some are in their assigned work spots, so they couldn’t come to this I didn’t make it mandatory, as I knew word would get around. The whole Hunt family was very happy to see that we were engaged. Not everyone does it, but I wanted to claim Peyton as mine to the world in every possible way. Sebastian and Deanna were also married, as were my parents. It is just an extra step to bind us together.

That night Peyton marked me back. She no longer had doubts about me, as she could feel my emotions in the bond. She knew I loved only her and was willing to complete our marking. We needed it for me to feel safe about her returning back to the B***d Claw pack. I need to know that she is OK, through our bond. I remember the feeling of her teeth piercing my skin and the feeling of pleasure as we completed the marking end of our bond. I cannot wait for us to complete the whole process now as I feel all of her emotions pouring into me. I want to get this little trip over with soon, so we can complete the whole process Her happiness at us both being marked, and belonging to each other. She knew I was still being patient with her about the mating end of it, but I know it will be happing soon. I see the blush hit her cheeks as she feels what I was just thinking. My mate is so sweet, and I can’t wait to see how sweet she really is.

FLASHBACK ENDS

I had been nervous while we had been at the mall, I had my brother and father help me when I picked the ring out, I had found out then that Dawson had already bought a ring for Sloan, and he was just waiting on the perfect moment to ask her. He is nervous, but they are perfect for each other and haven’t had the bumps in the road that Peyton and I have had. I am really glad that we were engaged as if the marks weren’t enough, we have that extra level tying us together. I will make definitely sure that Timothy knows that he can give it up when it concerns Peyton.

He has still been blowing up my phone. When I stopped answering his threatening texts about staying away from her, and not looking for her, he just got another phone. He continues on with his threats, clowning, and acting stupid because he is trapped inside his pack and couldn’t leave to be able to hunt for her. I knew he had heard I had claimed her in front of my pack because a new number popped up on my cell phone with a string of curses at me claiming I kidnapped and stole his mate. I haven’t responded back to him. He is crazy. He rejected her, or I would have never have even known that she was my mate. That is because he is an i***t. He always has been. He likes to cut corners and takes the easy way out every single time.

Peyton is right about some of the things she has said, Timothy is not ready to take over that pack, and it is up to her on saying her piece to the werewolf council. She did have a point about him being at the weakest point in his life after losing his beloved Luna, and we are known to lose it over that kind of loss. Sometimes the bond is so strong that you can die of sadness, or the broken heart that you now have over it. Peyton is special, she was abused very badly, and yet she has empathy for the man who did it. She knew that he was doing it because of Fallon. Her therapy has helped her work through several things, and she is trying to give him grace. I won’t be, and I know her family will accept it as well, but they are not 100% on board either. Yes, he was mired in grief, but that still doesn’t excuse his actions. He should get some kind of punishment.

“I already know that she will be going there, she will accept his apology with grace. If we enter the pack for her to see Fallon, or her father to go ahead while we are there and carry out the sentence, or sentences, I already know what is going to happen. Timothy is going to try and get my angel baby away from me. That will not be happening. I seriously will kill him if he oversteps. Damn the consequences, she is mine now, and I am going to keep trying before we get there even to make sure that we are not just marked, but fully mated when we show up.

I am leaving nothing to chance, it might kill me to lose her, and he is not a good person. He had his chance, he knew she was his, and what did he do? He left her behind to continue to be abused. I have heard some of what she went through, I am thinking that she played down a lot of it, as I was furious hearing it. Heath had told me about her medical files and how big they were. I am quite sure that is the reason for the guilty verdict so quickly. They went over the evidence, and it was overwhelming. I am also going to reach out to Jason and Liz Farmer, at the Black Night pack. My grandmother, Von, came from that pack. Her father was the Alpha there for many years. Neither she nor Liz wanted to run it. Jason ended up being Liz’s second chance mate, and he took over Black Night and then assigned his own Beta as his replacement. Former Alpha, Wells Black, and former Luna, Vera Black, still live there when they are not traveling together, seeing the world.

They are family and their oldest son, Carson, is 19 and set to take over the pack in the next year and a half. Carson is on the lookout for his mate, and he is a very well-trained fighter. Jason is one hell of a fighter and had been training Carson to fight since he was 5 years old. Their pack is one of the very largest in the area, and they have worked with us and my parents pack, numerous times. It is one of the richest packs around too, as Alpha Black was a genius at business. They also work well with the Red River pack, which is run by Luna Liz’s firstborn child Derek Stryker. I am very good friends with both Carson and Gage, who is Derek’s son, who is also 19. Gage will be taking over Red River when he finds his mate as well. I will be reaching out to them both, as I can’t leave any of this to chance. I know they have about 500 total members in their smaller-sized pack, and I plan to show up with about 450 men to make sure if she wants to do this, it will be fine, but there won’t be any shenanigans going on while we are there. I can guarantee that. I wouldn’t put it past him to try to take her while we are there.

I rub my thumb on the top of her hand that I am holding and get back to listening to her. I already hear all this and needed to make plans for keeping my mate safe. Whatever needs to be done, I will do it. Her safety is my number one priority, and I will make sure that my plans will have all the i’s dotted, and t’s crossed before I let her get anywhere near that a*****e again. I don’t trust him, and I know he is making plans too, as he knows that she has a soft heart too. Too bad for him, this will end up just like Alpha Training for him. I won’t be beaten by Timothy, he will be losing to me again.

I smile and sit back in my chair and heard Councilman Miller say, “You have put a lot of thought into this Peyton. But we have looked over all your medical records. He did a lot of damage to you on too many occasions to mention. How can you be OK with allowing him to live, knowing what all he did to you? Don’t you want him punished?”

“He is punishing himself much more than I ever could. He knows now that he injured me on all those occasions because, in his grief, he was easily led. I have heard that he is giving the person responsible the very same punishments that he gave me. He is also not eating, he may not make it too much further anyway. But I don’t want his death on my head. Now that I have a mate myself, I know if anything happened to Percy, I would potentially be in the very same boat that he was. Who hasn’t been wronged, or had a loved one hurt, where they haven’t had the same vengeful thoughts? I cannot blame him for trying to punish who he honestly thought was responsible for the loss of his beloved Luna. I think any one of us would have felt the same way. Plus, I am a healer, the Goddess knew this and had me protected the whole time. I will never tell you that it didn’t hurt, because it was literally like I was living in hell, but I can tell you that I do understand why he did what he did” I told them, and I see two of the men start nodding in response to what I said.

“We will discuss it, Peyton. You have a rare gift of a level of compassion that very few have. You put yourself into his position and were able to give him more grace than I think I would have honestly been able to. We will all discuss it, but your compassionate argument for Alpha James, has been noted, and we will all be discussing it again. We will all think about it this weekend, and then give you our answer by Monday afternoon. I can tell you if any of our rulings were to be overturned, it will be this one. Percy, you are a lucky man. Your mate is a jewel, you need to take great care of her” Councilman Miller said before wishing us all goodbye and dropping the call. Now we will all wait to hear what their decision will be for Alpha James.