Awakening (2 book series)
Awakening – Rejected Mate Chapter 39

I close my eyes as the tears begin to fall silently down my cheeks, warm unwelcome rivulets of remembrance. The pain returning once more, and I can't stop myself. My heart filling up and straining to contain it as my mind is swamped with images I don't want to relive, and I shudder as I push them away, inhaling heavily as my shoulders start to tremble with the effort of not falling apart. The horrors of how I last saw them all, trying so hard to invade my brain and cut me down all over again.

I nestle back into Colton as his arm comes up around my body and across my neck as he cuddles me. His comfort, because he can feel my pain, my body trembling as I cry, squeezing my eyes shut to gain control. His touch is what I need more than anything and I stay here in the darkness of my own doing, listening and silently weeping while held tight in his comforting embrace.

"We think it was a test, for this device we found in the orphanage." Juan carries on and my eyes rip open at his words, shoving my despair aside as I squirm, wriggling out of Colton's hug to see what everyone is craning necks to look at. Catching a gap as ones on front move sideways to look where I am.

He holds up a small perfectly square black box, an antenna sticking up at the top but a complete lack of buttons and dials of any sort, that looks harmless. Small and compact, no more than a tissue box in size, with another wire sticking out from the rear about a foot long and doesn't seem to attach to anything to power it. It doesn't look real, more like something a child could make with card and glue and some black paint and I blink at it, stupefied, glaring furiously, and hating that something so insignificant, destroyed my life. "They chose our weakest and our most secluded and walked right in, depositing this in the center of the first-floor kitchen. We think they wanted to test its effectiveness and still have a fighting chance should it fail. It didn't.... we've only one survivor left from the home and only because of the fast actions of our pack. We managed to take down many of their kind, but a few escaped and will be reporting on their success for sure."

There's a murmur and uneasiness as people glance around at one another in scared question, and I catch the whisper of my name on the hushes wave of sound. The mix of both relief that my survival ensured their own Santo alpha, but also the bitter ones, calling me a reject and querying how I was the one who managed to live.

I catch the low, body vibrating, internal growl from Colton as his protective instinct kicks in at hearing my name and a couple of nearby Santos glance this way, eyes widening in surprise and they instantly stare down at their feet, turning meekly submissive in a flash. Faces darkening with fear and shame at being caught by him of all people. Realizing he's right here, among them, and not down there with his immediate family. I turn away to block them out and stare down at the front instead, mentally blanking them all, because this has always been my life and I'm not that bothered by their remarks.

I catch sight of his grandmother in the shadows when they settle down, a woman who barely shows face but is lingering nearby. Unsurprisingly, there's no sign of Luna Santo, Colton's mother. She's been absent from view since the wars and rumor has it, she locks herself up in her room on the main floor upstairs and never leaves. No one has seen her in years, and if it weren't for Colton's memories of her in my head, I wouldn't even remember what she looked like.

Some say she was scarred horribly by the battles, both mentally, and physically, and is too ashamed to come out and face her people. Meeting one of the few things in the world which can leave unhealable damage on a wolf, and her mental state has crumbled with the trauma. Only I now know from being inside his head there's some truth to the stories, and there's only a vague blurry visual of Colton being told she's cared for, away from the mountain, because the war broke her.

Those around us turn silent as Juan breaks through the thick atmosphere once again, drawing me away from my train of thought and disrupting my searching of the past for answers to her lack of appearance.

"Testing weapons can only mean we're heading for a war with an enemy we thought we long ago vanquished. They're working on a strategy, and this is just the beginning. There have been stories, rumors, but nothing concrete for many months, although this is now our proof. Civilization as we know it is about to change drastically. We must protect the packs and join with those from other lands, prepare for what is coming. We must unite and finally be ruled by one leader, one voice, to work as one, under my guidance as alpha, if we are to survive a second war like the last."

I shiver as his words begin to hit home, my brain scrambling to fathom something as huge an undertaking as that. We're a dozen packs in one state, but worldwide there are thousands, hundreds of thousands, and most still do not live in peace with the others of their kind. Rivalries exist, and some are still at war with one another, even now with the history of the wars behind us. A common enemy may change that, but there's a lot to do before that can happen.

Packs are destined to want to rule over one another, fight for dominance, forge the hierarchy, and our mountain is not normal when it comes to living in close proximity. It was a necessity, as we recovered from the war of before, our people shattered by loss, so we were more pliable in accepting another pack as our leader. Most of our own alphas never came back to dispute the claim to rule us.

Santo's idea, that he will become the only leader and unite us all seems ridiculous, given the vast amount of us in this world he will need to unite. I'm sure there are other pack leaders out there who believe themselves far superior to him. Other dominants with way more ability, and gifts, and it's not in an alphas nature to yield without a fight.

I shiver, my body trembling with all that is dawning on me, how terrifying our future now looks and Colton firms his hold on me, reassuring me as best he can. Trying to keep me calm and be that rock I never knew I needed before I found his touch. I exhale heavily, submerging myself in his body heat and try to bring myself peace.

"We need to put measures in place to protect our mountain from another attack; effective immediately. Allocations of groups, with leaders, will be assigned to those who haven't already had so. We are the reigning pack in Radstone, and they'll all be looking to us now, to lead, and protect them. Training will begin at first light for all old enough to fight, so all of you eat. Sleep. We've already sent small details to walk the perimeters and each of the villages has been ordered to do the same. We'll have guards outside at every hour, keeping watch, and we'll revise a system to improve on all of this, set up drills with how to react should an alarm be raised. This coming few weeks, we'll be moving all surrounding packs into the south side of the mountain, here among our people, for their own safety. We have much to do, there will be upheaval, and chaos, but we must keep our heads. This was a first offensive, and we do not know when they intend to return."

The silence becomes unbearable when his last words fall in the air around us, and the gravity of our situation sits heavy on us all. Some of these men and women are survivors from the first war against the vampires and already paid their dues, but most of us were just children, or young enough to stay behind. We lost so many, and although or numbers have recouped over the years, we're not living in readiness for a fight. We've had relative peace for years, and I have no idea how the hell we're going to get through this. Bringing us all to one place to live in each other's pockets, here in the Santo land is going to be madness. We're spread far around the skirts of the mountains and high in number. There are not enough homes to accommodate bringing us all together at this one shaded side, under their command and watchful eye. Not to mention the children, their schools, and their animals on the outer farms. This is insanity.

I feel sick to my stomach, knowing that everything I knew before, my idea of empty living, was in fact the best years of my sad existence. Now we're dawning on a new age, and I'm wishing with all my heart that I could back to being that unworthy reject, in a house full of unwanteds, in the shadowy side of our peaceful mountain.

If I could back I would. I would never complain again, never crave a different life, because what we have coming, couldn't be any worse.