Rejecting, Your Broken Promises
Chapter 82

Heath’s POV

Rogue Camp

That little piece of s**t, I knew the second Percy saw the gun in Terry’s hand because his whole demeanor changed. I went ahead and stepped out of my hiding spot because Terry trained at Ever Green. He would know exactly what they meant. I contacted Hudson to take the shot if Terry so much as lifted that gun up, I wanted Terry to know that he was surrounded and to make the smart choice. Gabi is toying with him, but she had to as she needed him to fight her as she had an end game, and she needed to get him there. What Terry didn’t know was that he was a dead man the minute he decided to fight her. He deserved it though. There was a reason I didn’t want him in my pack. I had already had to confront him myself for trying to bully one of our Omegas for s*x, as she had refused him. He had gotten aggressive with her, and had grabbed her arm and pulled her back when I rounded the corner and stopped him. He had not realized that I was there around the corner at the time when he had approached her. He didn’t know how much of their conversation I had heard, so I knew that he had completely lied to me about the whole thing. What I had heard, and the story he gave me, were entirely two different things. After that, I knew he could not be trusted, but he had just arrived and may not have been aware of the rules of the pack. So I let him know the rules, and then warned him to follow them all, or the next time he would be banished from the pack. I also had my Gamma Caden keep an eye out for Terry, and who he was around, after that. I would not allow Terry to try to bully anyone else for s*x, I will not allow my pack members to be assaulted or hurt in their own pack. It is my job to protect them and keep them safe, I will not let someone stay here and cause problems. I will keep my pack members safe.

I had already made my decision to not wait for his three weeks to be up, I was going to ask him to leave my pack. The second incident had happened just last night, I was going to deal with it this morning as it had just been reported to me right before I got the call from Elena. This was an emergency and we had to leave quickly. I told Caden to make sure to keep a better eye out on Terry, and if he approached anyone else, to just get with Beta Eli and a few warriors and kick him out of the pack. I knew that Terry was going to cause a problem and not leave quietly. I also had his schedule changed for him to work the grave shift patrols, with two of my trusted warriors, so he wouldn’t be in contact with people. He would be sleeping during the day, and then he would have witnesses to him in the dining hall as well. I will not allow any of my pack members to be abused or bullied. That was also a reminder of behavior that Gabi had to deal with, and I will never allow it to happen at Ever Green. I have seen the fallout from that kind of abuse, and I won’t allow innocent people to be victimized. We have an elite team because we go and help train others who can’t fight for themselves. We then train them to be able to defend themselves, to be safe and protected. Not for my own pack to suffer in their own pack. I have spent my life protecting wolves that couldn’t protect themselves. There would never be an instance where I will let that jerk hurt any one of my pack members. I am just glad that my members know that I will listen to them and that they can come to me anytime if they need help. I do not judge people by their rank, I never have, and I never will. Terry is a wolf with some big issues, and Gabi is about to put him out of his misery.

This has been a very long day, and I will be glad when it is over. We have driven a lot, but I won’t let my being tired take my focus off this group. Yes, Gabi had the upper hand, I trained her myself, but you never know how a fight was going to turn out. This guy has a real problem and issues with women, and I am glad that we won’t have to worry about him again. Gabi starts taunting him again, and we could all tell that he was going to go and attack that kid. That poor kid has been through the wringer, and I already know he wouldn’t be here if he weren’t desperate. It breaks my heart to see him in this state, he has clearly suffered in his life, and it is bringing out the protective instincts in all of us. We both remember what she suffered back at Red River so many years ago. It stays with you, and I will do my best to take as many of these men, and boys, back to our pack with us tomorrow. I know that Gabi and Tanner will take several of them too. We will help them, take care of them, and train them to be stronger and more confident. Because when you can help someone, you should help, it is my duty as an Alpha to do that.

I realize after that last taunt that she is getting his attention back on her, and off of that teenager. I was proud of Percy for going to stand in front of him. That sent two messages, the first was that Percy trusted the teenager, or he wouldn’t have turned his back on him. That helps to build respect between them. The second was that it was a message to Terry that he would have to go through Percy to get to the kid. Anyone with eyes would know that that wasn’t going to be happening. These guys were not very well trained, but I can see potential in them. Everyone has potential, some people just don’t have good enough vision to be able to recognize it in others. I have been training my elite team for well over 20 years now. I know raw talent when I see it. The leader here has it, and the young man who laughed and drew Terry’s attention has it too. Yes, he is weak right now, but with care and guidance, he is going to flourish. This is a young group but with training, they would do well in a pack, some of them may even make the elite team. That teenager who laughed will be a very big guy when he finally gets food on a regular basis. He will fill out well, and I see great things for him, in the future.

I hear cheering and I get out of my thoughts, I have never allowed myself to lose focus, especially during a fight. But this group of rogues, are not traditional rogues, they were clearly just young men who needed help, and a safe place to stay and ended up here. None of them has been aggressive, other than Terry. None of them tried to get a better vantage point on us or try to get a weapon on us. I see Christian across from us and he is behind the group too, but they have been so focused on the fight that they never realized that there is another circle of men around the one that they formed to watch the fight. I am sure that they will be stunned, and a little surprised at being surrounded when the fight is over, but Gabi is not even winded, she will go right into interviews after this. I can’t keep the smile of pride off of my face. Von and I may not have created her, but she is OUR child. No one will love her more than us. She is so important to us, and we couldn’t love her, or her family more. She has given us grandchildren, and they will one day give us great-grandchildren. That was never something that Von and I could have even dreamed that we could ever have. My daughter Gabi is a force to be reckoned with, and I could not be more proud of her.

I see Terry phase back into his human body, and now I watch carefully. I know who he is. He is a predator, and an opportunist, he lost, and to a woman. He is going to try something, as his pride won’t allow him to take this kind of hit. I hear Percy’s voice in my head warning us all, and I know that he is telling Hudson, and Jamie as they are still in their trees and waiting for this to be over. If they need to, they will take the shot and finish this, but I know Gabi had this. I saw her slide her knife out of her boot before he decided to admit defeat. She is already expecting him to jump on her when she gets up from the ground. She will not be caught unaware by his plans, she fully expects him to retaliate against her, and she is waiting for him to show his hand.

As soon as she hopped up from the ground, he is up and almost as fast as Gabi as he came flying at her. I see her knife come straight out at him in her hand, and he literally runs right into it, as he goes to attack her after he had already admitted defeat. His face has a surprised look on it, he clearly didn’t expect her to be aware of what he was about to do. His underestimating her cost him his life, and his face has a stunned look on it, as realization sets in on him. His momentum caused him to land on her and push her back down to the ground along with him. Gabi tried to twist her body so she was turned to the side, to get the least amount of b***d on her. This was a direct hit to his heart, and the knife drives in even further into him when his chest hits the ground. She slipped it in about 2 inches to the left of his breastbone and hit his heart dead center. He was dead before he even realized it was over, he takes a last few gasping breaths before he stilled. The fight was over, and Terry lost.

The rogues all looked down at Gabi still on the ground in surprise. How did this little woman defeat one of the two strongest members of their rogue pack? I could see them trying to figure out what exactly had just happened, as they are all stunned. I am trying to fight off a grin as Tanner and I step forward. Tanner helps Gabi up and I take the opportunity to tell the rogues, “Now that Terry has been dealt with, we will need you to line up and speak with Gabi one on one. Half of you can go to pack your stuff up, while the others speak to Gabi. The ones who have already been questioned can go pack while she interviews the second half of the group. This won’t take long, and there are only a few questions. You will either go with Gabi and Tanner to B***d Rose or with Percy and me, back to Ever Green. You will be taken care of, and allowed to train there, and you will be evaluated there to see where your talents lie. You do not have to fear coming with us, or Gabi questioning you. If you have a preference for a specific pack, you can also mention that to her, and we will take it into account. If you are approved to join our packs, it will be quick, we will have the ceremony this coming weekend at Ever Green. You do not have to worry about your treatment anymore, you will be one of us and a full member of the pack you go to. Just answer the questions truthfully, or you will not be going with either pack. We will not take anyone who has an agenda or wants to cause problems, just answer the questions asked, and know that the questions asked of each of you, will not all be the same. This will go quickly, so after Gabi is done, you need to be ready to leave here with us.”

I was glad to see that all the men went quickly to go and form a line, and then several disappointed men that made up the end of it decided to go and get packed like they were told to. Most came back quickly with just a small shopping bag with them, and it wasn’t even the duffle that Gabi had when she came to my pack. They had all packed quickly and got back in line. I noticed that the line was actually going quicker than I anticipated. Tanner and Percy were keeping track of who went where and stood on either side flanking Gabi while she spoke to the men, as anticipated, all of them were going to be coming with us. I saw that the leader of the group, who I had been wanting to speak to, had not gotten in line to be interviewed. I don’t know what the problem is so I decided to go speak to him myself, one on one, to see if I could get him to come to Ever Green. I could feel the strength in him, I could also tell that he was a good man. I walked up to him and shook his hand, and introduced myself to him, but I was pretty sure he knew who I was. We both stood there quietly for a minute before I spoke, “Jerry, are you not going to go answer the questions? Or are you waiting for your men to complete their questions before you go to do yours?”

“You will not want me, so I will just find a place to go after my men get picked for their packs,” Jerry told me, and I looked at him in surprise.

“Why would you assume that we didn’t want you? You only need to go and answer the questions truthfully, and we can wait until she is complete, I will call Gabi over here when she is done. I can feel your strength, and I would love to have you in my pack. I am a good judge of character, and I can tell that you will be a great addition to my pack Jerry” I told him, and I wonder why he would think that we wouldn’t want him. I am sure it is probably not a great story, but he has good character, and everyone has made a mistake that they are not proud of in their lives.

“I didn’t want to waste your time on me because I already know you will not be able to accept me. I was Beta at the River Walk pack. The Alpha there will take issue with you if you were to take me in. I don’t want to cause you additional problems at your pack for trying to help me. I really do appreciate it, but I cannot do that to you or your pack” Jerry tells me and now I am more interested. I know that Alpha, I also know that he is a jerk, and I do not have a treaty with him due to that fact. Alpha Jared Anderson is a real piece of work. He does not believe in true mates, he believes in chosen mates, and he only does that to try to make his pack stronger. But because he rejected his mate due to her not being a ranked wolf, and just a warrior, that was never going to happen. He has 3 daughters, and he has been trying to choose their mates, so he can have a strong male to be able to take over his pack for him. I believe I already know where this is going and asked him to stay there for a minute while I go wait for Gabi to get done with the last 2 men from this group. When she gets done, I speak to her for a minute and have her come over to speak with just me and Jerry. I know his story is not one he is going to want to share just yet, and I want to respect that, but I believe that I already know what happened in my head, and I still want him as a member of my pack, which I just relayed to Gabi.

I only wanted two of these men for definite, the leader, and the gangly youth that had laughed during the fight. I saw him standing there quietly with his bag in his hand standing right next to Percy. He had a proud look on his face, so I already know that he had chosen to stay with Percy after Percy defended him. That may have been the first time that he had been defended in his life, and I know that he will be one of our most loyal members because of that. We would never have to worry about that young man. I focused back on Jerry who seemed almost embarrassed at what he knew was coming. I could feel his nerves, and awkwardness at knowing what is about to happen here. I can tell that now that Gabi is standing before him, his panic is rising up, greater than before. It seems like he is even more uncomfortable now than he just was, and I wonder how bad his story is. I doubt I could have misjudged him this much. I know that he is a good man, and a trustworthy man. I will hear him out on this. I am positive that I want him at Ever Green.