Rejecting, Your Broken Promises
Chapter 95

Peyton’s POV

Dark Savage pack

I am nervous, but I already know that I just don’t need to eat or drink anything that Cassidy gives me. I had seen her earlier in the kitchen when we passed through to go to the meeting room, and she seemed nice. I smiled at her, and she gave me a real smile back. You can tell that she takes pride in her kitchen and the garden area. It is immaculate and the food that she was cooking smelled amazing. No one else in the pack was sick except for Stephanie, and Jasper, so she probably has a stash somewhere here in the kitchen that she uses to poison their specific meals. The kitchen is huge, the pantry alone is 12×12, and it is full. The kitchen is about 35 feet long and at least 22 feet wide, and she has homey touches all through it. You can tell the love that she has for this kitchen and her pack in how thoughtful she was in planning it. I know what Gabi suspected, but none of us know what her story is, and it is my job to strike up a conversation with her, to see if we can find out why she did what she did.

She made the kitchen her own, and the details in it, and the layout of it, showed me that she was a bright and thoughtful person. She knew what it took to get large meals made and out there to be served while they were still hot for the pack members that ate here. Clearly, she is a planner, and I was truly impressed with what she has done here in this kitchen. I know that I am going to have to talk to her and befriend her, and I feel terrible at having to deceive her, but she has killed two innocent women. They didn’t do anything to her, they never knew who she was to Jasper, that was all him. The Luna’s didn’t do anything wrong to deserve what they got. It was my job to come in here after the meeting and strike up a conversation with her. The three cameras that had been set up here were not noticeable at all. The tech had come in this morning from my dad’s pack, and he was used to having to get this type of thing set up for him when they go in to do investigations at other packs. Dad is a firm believer in cameras. They don’t blink, they don’t take sides, they just show you what happened. Now they can be edited, but the recording and time stamp will always show what happened from start to finish and show any evidence of tampering on it. The kitchen smelled delicious filled with the scent of roasting chicken. There were pans in all of the oven’s cooking and they had obviously been put in before the women had gone to the meeting.

The meeting had let out about 10 minutes ago, and it was 3 pm now. They were all hard at work in the kitchen, and there were two long islands in the kitchen, They had seating on one side and were 6 feet wide, so there was a ledge for stools to be slid under on the other side. There were large stovetops on each one, with 6 burners on each of them, and a sink on the other end of the island. They also had 3 ovens built into the wall for baking and cooking dinner, and then two full stoves with a prep area between them for extra burners and ovens as this was a pretty big pack, and getting meals out while they were still warm was tough. It takes planning to be successful at this, and I would know since I spent most of my time helping out in the kitchen at B***d Claw. The ladies here had a plan of attack and were clearly well-oiled machines in their actions. They were moving about and not in each other’s way as they moved around the kitchen. They had a large commercial refrigerator on one wall filled with drinks and a second one that was filled with the food that they were going to be cooking that was near the stove tops and ovens. I see a large industrial freezer that was built into another corner, and it was 10×10.

I go grab water with Percy and he gives me a heated k**s before he goes to exit the kitchen with his bottle of water. He is worried for me, but I know if I need him he will be here quickly. They have a third island, that is a lot smaller with a marble top on it, and I know that is where they will make their pie crusts, biscuits, and other pastries as the dough doesn’t stick to the marble. I see that they are using plastic utensils to keep from damaging them when they make their cuts in the dough. The other counters are all granite and have a nice pattern to them as well, they aren’t an exact match but complement each other well. I sat there watching them working as a team together and I felt bad because I wasn’t helping. I help at Ever Green, and after about 10 minutes went to ask Cassidy if I could help. I see her looking at me, sizing me up, and then saying, “Sure, what can you do?”

“Whatever you need to be done. I worked in the kitchen at B***d Claw for the last 6 and a half years before I ran away” I told her, and I see surprise light in her eyes, before leading me to the island. I see a cutting board and a knife sitting there beside a large pile of potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions. I can see the two ladies working on pie crusts on the marble table and cutting out uniform sections to be made into crusts. “Chicken pot pie tonight?” I asked her, and she grinned at me and walked away knowing that I knew what I needed to do for her. I went over and washed my hands before sitting down and starting to cut up the vegetables. By helping them with cutting up the vegetables, it freed up one of the other ladies to go and start rolling out the dough in the area between the ladies still mixing up another batch of batter and getting them set into the 9×13 pans. I kept chopping and putting it into a huge bowl that Cassidy had placed next to me until I was complete. The door had opened and closed several times, but I stayed focused on my task. I was happy to help, I enjoyed spending time with other women especially with them being so nice to me. These ladies realized that although I may be a ranked wolf now, I hadn’t been my whole life, and was able to work alongside them shoulder to shoulder.

I got done and went and took my board and knife to the sink and then went ahead and started loading up the dishwasher on the wall. They had four of them total, one on each long island, and two of them on the long wall. I started loading the two on the wall, as people were still working and cooking on the long island. It was just common sense, but they appreciated the help I was giving them. They nodded at me when I got done, and one of them motioned to the area under the sink where I was still standing so I could load the tablet and start the wash cycle. I looked at Cassidy who had a faint smile on her face to see if I needed to do anything else and she shook her head no for right now. I took up my water and took a sip and watched them continue to work. Cassidy was very impressive and moved from area to area, checking on the other ladies, and helping them if they fell behind. The vegetables that I had done were already boiling and now in the creamy mixture, ready for the chicken to be added. The chickens were being deboned by two women now. Two of the other ladies were chopping up the chicken for the mixture. They worked down the line as they got things ready for the pot pies to go into the oven. Cassidy impresses me, and I was glad she allowed me to help them.

She sits down next to me drinking her own water, and said, “We will be icing the desert if you want to help later, it is just 4 o’clock.” They are actually ahead of time, I guess because I freed up one of the team members to be able for them to get ahead. “So, you said worked in the kitchen at B***d Claw. You don’t strike me as an Omega though” Cassidy tells me, and I can’t help but wince at the reminder.

“Yes, when the Luna of B***d Claw was killed, I was blamed for it, even though I had no part in it. I was demoted from warrior to basically the pack slave. I was picked on and abused for years because of it. I finally left after finding out that the Alpha’s son, Timothy, was my mate. He rejected me calling me weak and unworthy, but I wasn’t. He just had someone that he was going to make his chosen mate. He knew that I was his mate after he turned 18, and he left me there, to continue to be abused. It got worse, and I was almost killed, he left me there knowing what would happen to me, even letting his chosen mate make my life even worse than it was. I accepted his rejected and left that night. It had already been planned out, thankfully, so I didn’t have to see his face anymore. He actually thought that I would take him back, after what he knowingly did to me. He cheated on me numerous times, and his chosen mate was a spiteful, nasty she-wolf. Thankfully, I got a second chance mate, Percy. I love him very much. Funny story, Stephanie was at his pack and was trying everything she could to be his Luna. It was an unpleasant surprise to see her here. She is not a good person” I told her.

I watched Cassidy’s expression change several times while I told her my story. She could hear the pain, and anger in my voice as I relayed what had happened to me at B***d Claw. She felt bad for me, and she seemed like she felt a connection with me from it. I could see tears shining in her eyes from hearing what I told her, and it hit me. Alpha Jasper was her mate, and she has had to deal with the same thing that I did, but for much longer than I did. I reached out and held her hand. I felt the need to comfort her. I know why she did what she did, and I am not condoning it, but I feel her pain as she fights to keep the tears from escaping her eyes. She loses the fight and immediately pulls away from me and exits the kitchen. She comes back a few minutes later with her eyes red and goes back to work with her back toward me.

One of the other ladies who had heard what I had told Cassidy sits down next to me and tells me of her rejection. What is it with men not accepting of the mate bond, especially with Omegas? What does our rank have to do with who we are as a person, it infuriates me. Why can’t people be glad that they have someone who loves them, for them? That will love and accept them wholeheartedly. We speak for a little while and Cassidy come to us 15 minutes later with a big bowl of cream cheese icing for us to use to put on the cakes that she had made earlier today. Desserts are usually cooked after lunch is done, especially if we are having cakes for dessert. It gives them time to cool off before they are frosted, and the cakes being so fresh, makes them taste even better. I start frosting with the Omega I was talking to, and her name is Aubrey. She is a sweet girl with large brown eyes and long brown hair pulled into a ponytail. I can tell that she is a gentle soul, and my heart breaks for her. She also turned 20 last month, just like me, and is still waiting on someone who will love her forever. She was rejected a few months after her 18th birthday. I was glad she had accepted it, because from what she was saying he is a warrior here, and not tied down to one woman. She would have been in a lot of pain if she hadn’t accepted it.

We get the cake that we were working on done, and then Cassidy smoothly puts the next ones down for us to frost. We worked together well and get all eight of them frosted, they were three-layer cakes and they looked beautiful under the domed glass over them. Cassidy had cut them into 16 pieces each, as these were large cakes, and most wolves don’t have a sweet tooth, but an occasional treat is good. Cassidy then brings over a single layer that they had made, and my eyes lit up. I wanted to try the cake, I had never seen one of them before. We iced it and Cassidy cuts it into 8 slices for us and lets us try it. I know that she could have done something to it, but I have seen the love and care she has for her team, and she wouldn’t poison them, plus she got a piece too. I gave a m**n at the taste of it. It is moist and delicious, and I looked over at Cassidy in surprise. “What kind of cake is this? It is delicious. I would love the recipe” I tell her. She blushes at the compliment, and she goes over to get the recipe for me.

“It is a Hummingbird cake. My grandmother in Mississippi made it when I was little before we came here to California with my dad. I like it too, it is very moist, and who doesn’t love a good cream cheese frosting?” she tells me with her eyes sparkling with pride as she lets me get a picture of the recipe and the instructions on how to cook it on the back of it.

“I am so going to make this when I get back to Ever Green. Thank you for sharing it with me. I have to say that your hand is in everything in this kitchen. It is so thoughtfully laid out, for the work to get done, without tripping over anyone. I also liked how you had your herbs growing in containers on the patio outside. You have made the perfect kitchen and I am so impressed by you Cassidy” I told her in complete honesty.

The door opens and my dad puts his head into the room, “Peyton, can you come here for a minute? I need to speak with you.” Well crap, I forgot why I was here, and it wasn’t to become besties with Cassidy. I know what he is going to say, and it also did something else. Cassidy and Aubrey had both stiffened up when he appeared in the doorway. Everyone knew who he was, and he made people fearful. “OK dad,” I tell him and get off the stool. I can see the confusion on their faces, and I tell them that I will be right back before I exit the kitchen. I can hear them talking before the door swings shut behind me and I followed dad back to the meeting room.

“I already know what you are going to say dad, but I like her. I know that her story is the same as mine, well minus the Alpha King being her dad. I was trying to build a bond, I guess because I feel bad about tricking her. But I will get it straight now. She probably wants to kill me anyway after she thought that I had lied to her about my story. I will go back and give them the whole story, and I am quite sure when she realizes who I am, she might want to kill me herself. I am sure the whole pack knew his plans to take me. I have got it, I won’t fail you” I told him, and he sighed before speaking again.

“You haven’t failed me. We were just worried about you because you ate something she cooked. It is the families of those girls who died that we are trying to help now. Giving them closure and an explanation of why their daughter died. We can’t bring them back, but we can punish their killer. They didn’t deserve what happened to them, and you can’t let your guard down. We are all worried about you Peyton” my father told me, and I can tell that he is worried about me.

“She didn’t make the cakes, Aubrey told me she did. I watched her make the frosting and it was fine too. Nothing funny put in it. Plus no one else is sick here, and she clearly loves her team of Omegas. She will not hurt them, or the pack. She is just punishing people who she believes deserve it. I will get this done dad, I won’t drink or eat anything from now on” I told him, and he k****s the top of my head.

Percy walks up and gives me a k**s, and Jerry who was walking by me stopped and backed up to take a sniff off me. Percy gives a growl of warning at him, and Jerry backs up and puts his hands up. “It is not her, but she had a delicious smell on her. Maybe my mate is here. I would like to go into the kitchen after this is over to see if I can find her” Jerry told the group. He had sniffed my left side, and I had only been around Cassidy and Aubrey. I nod to him, we will get that done after we take care of this problem first. I set my shoulders and head back into a far different situation than it had been earlier.