Once Upon A Rejection
Part 2 Chapter 14

the door to the coffee shop and my worst fears were realised. The new boyfriend, the one that conveniently showed up while Molly and Grayson were away was a lycan. Moreover he was a lycan that I recognised by scent.

I hadn’t seen Hayden in years, ever since I started dating Vincent. He was there at the first ever family dinner I went to with Vincent and he warned me off getting too involved.

I didn’t know how he felt about hybrids but I had to admit that the timing was suspicious. Molly was gone for less than a week and in that time her friend had started dating a lycan who was related to the lycan who were trying to kill all the hybrids. If there wasn’t something wrong with this situation then it was one heck of a coincidence.

When Hayden noticed me he flashed me a huge, almost genuine looking smile. He stood up from his seat and crossed the distance between us. He embraced me warmly for a few moments before sitting back down beside Ellie.

“Talen, this is such a nice surprise,” Hayden said.

I looked over to Grayson and Molly, I could tell that they were mindlinking each other. I could feel Molly’s tension through our bond together but I had no way to read Grayson yet. Our bond wasn’t strong enough at the moment for me to feel his emotions. I just had to trust that he understood how serious this situation was.

I guided Molly to the table and seated her between Grayson and myself before turning to face Hayden. I couldn’t believe that he was sitting in front of me trying to play this off as a coincidence. Did he take me for that much of a fool?

I put my hand on top of Molly’s and intertwined our fingers. It made me feel better just to hold her hand but what I really wanted was to wrap her in my arms and take her somewhere safe.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you here either,” I responded.

Hayden laughed and wrapped his arm around Ellie. He was trying to goad us into some kind of response. I knew his games and I wasn’t going to give him what he wanted but Molly was replaceing this more difficult.

She gripped my hand tighter, I could feel concern for her friend was taking over her rational thought. I let go of her hand and wrapped my arm around her shoulders to comfort her.

“Talking about things that are surprising. I never expected you to replace your mate,” Hayden said.

Now it was my turn to look anxious. Everyone at the table glanced at Ellie immediately but strangely she didn’t seem surprised at all.

“You don’t need to panic, Hayden told me all about what you are.” She looked at him and smiled.

Her gaze was gentile and filled with love. There wasn’t the fear that usually came when humans found out about our kind. I had no doubt that he had spun her a pretty fairytale about her being his mate to make her so compliant.

Maybe she even was his mate but I didn’t believe that. I was almost certain that he was just using her to get to us and that made me beyond angry.

He knows our rules as well as I do, he knows that the penalty for a human who replaces out our secret is death. He also knows that my father takes our rules very seriously, many packs would let that rule slide but my father has himself enforced it on a number of occasions.

Ellie seemed to be getting anxious due to the silence around the table. She glanced at each of us in turn but everyone of us was shocked into silence.

“They are just shocked that you are my mate, don’t worry,” Hayden kissed the top of her head. If he was going to play at being the doting mate then I was going to have to call his bluff and hope I didn’t break the human’s heart too badly in the process.

“Why haven’t you marked her yet?” I asked. Lowering my voice so as not to draw too much attention from the nearby humans.

Taking a cue from the tension at the table, Ezra took his mate away. He made some excuse about ordering coffee for us and practically dragged her away from the table. Part of me wanted to do the same for Molly but that wouldn’t be protecting her. She would only be more vulnerable in the future.

‘Molly, go help June and Ezra. I don’t want you anywhere near this man,’ I mindlinked her.

‘Not a chance. If he is that dangerous then I don’t want to leave you and Grayson with him.’

I could hear her defiance even over mind link. This woman was going to be the death of me. I had only known her for a few days and yet she had somehow become the most important thing in my life already.

I wouldn’t change the way I felt about her for anything but having someone so important so close to danger made me weak. It distracted me and that was the last thing I needed right now. I needed her to be far away from Hayden but failing that I would settle for her to be at the other side of the room from him.

‘Please,’ I said, letting some of my desperation infiltrate my voice.

“I should probably help my brother, I am not sure I can trust him to get three coffee orders correct,” Molly said before hurriedly getting to her feet and heading over to the other side of the room.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

“I would love to but I want to give her time to adjust,” Hayden said.

“She seems fine to me. Do you think you are ready?” Grayson asked Ellie, following my lead.

Ellie’s whole face lit up. It felt cruel to lead her on like this but she needed to see what Hayden was really like. It was much better she saw it here rather than when they were alone together. I don’t know what his plans were but I am going to hazard a guess it wasn’t for her to have a long and happy life.

“I’m ready, can we do it tonight?” Ellie turned towards Hayden and smiled at him. She was holding his hands and looking at him hopefully.

She was talking a little too loud and people from the next table were glancing over and eyeing us strangely. I guess to them this must have sounded like a very different conversation.

“I am not sure it is a good idea to rush into it. You might regret it,” Hayden said.

He had turned his body towards Ellie but he glanced over his shoulder in my direction. He wasn’t happy with my interference in his plan. I was more than happy to ruin his plans, if only I actually knew what they were.

There was one thing I was now sure of though. She wasn’t his mate. If she really was his mate and she was so eager to be marked he wouldn’t have been fighting her on it. The drive to mark your mate is so strong, it is almost impossible to resist.

“I would never regret being with you,” Ellie cooed.

One of the people sitting at the next table tutted. She turned to her friends and complained about our behaviour to them. A few seconds later they were all walking towards the door. They didn’t even take the time to pack their stuff into their bags or put their coats on. They just picked everything up and scurried out of the cafe.

“What is going on?” Molly asked.

She sat down at the table between Grayson and I, placing our coffees in front of us. I didn’t like her being here, I was filled with the compulsion to pick her up and carry her out of here. The only thing stopping me was the risk it posed to her human friends.

I felt trapped by this situation and that was probably why Hayden was doing this. My anxiety was growing quickly, I needed to replace a way to get us all out of this safely.

“Hayden is going to do that thing that you guys do to belong to each other,” Ellie squealed. At least there was nobody nearby that could hear us anymore.

“Maybe we should talk about this later,” Hayden responded. His face had turned white.

Ellie nodded her head enthusiastically. She was too naive to pick up on Hayden’s discomfort but I wasn’t going to leave her in a vulnerable position.

“We were hoping that you would spend some time catching up with us tonight. I want to get to know Molly’s friends.” I pouted slightly to make my point.

“We will have to do it some other time. Tonight I am getting bitten.” Ellie said.

Hayden’s heart rate picked up, Ellie was making him nervous. That would be funny if this situation wasn’t so dangerous for her. She seemed so adamant that she wanted to be marked by him tonight. What can I do now?