Once Upon A Rejection
Part 2 Chapter 23

Talen Bancroft’s POV

Waking up in my mate’s arms was the best feeling in the world. It was hard to believe that we were on the eve of battle and potentially war. I guess part of that was denial on my part. I have been at the heart of plenty of conflicts so I should have known ages ago exactly where this was heading. I should have also known that there would be no way out of this without violence.

In the past that wouldn’t have bothered me. I wouldn’t have been looking for a way to solve this with diplomacy, I would have killed them all. The difference this time was Molly, I wanted to protect her. The idea of her being in the middle of some kind of fight made me feel sick.

I wish there was some way of making her stay here where it was safe but I knew her better than that. She wasn’t the type of luna to sit back and let others do the fighting for her. She had the heart of a warrior even if she didn’t have the right training yet.

I made sure to hold Molly extra tight on our way down to breakfast. Kissing her a few times on the short walk from our room to the dining room. Grayson must have been feeling the same way because he was clinging onto Molly just as tightly at her other side. Part of me wanted to stop the whole thing, take Molly and Grayson back to our room and stay there all day. I didn’t want to waste a second with her and I didn’t want to share her attention with anyone other than Grayson.

“You are late.” My father said as we walked into the dinning room. He was looking at his watch and shaking his head in a disapproving manner. There weren’t many people left in the dining room. Just my father, Grayson’s father, Molly’s brother and Molly’s friends.

“We had a bit of a late night.” I replied as I sat down at the table beside him. He let out a huff of frustration. We had come down half an hour late for breakfast and yet he was acting as though it was some great act of defiance on my part. I know he had never liked it when I broke our usual schedule, he said it was improper for someone in my position, but this was ridiculous. I never had the nerve to stand up to him about this or anything else before but that was going to change.

“You two seem to be getting on well,” Molly interjected. She was looking over at Ellie and her new mate. She was trying to diffuse the tension that was already starting to build in the room by my father’s presence. My father scowled at me, he wanted to say more but he wasn’t going to bring it back up in front of Molly.

He liked her and he liked to see me happily mated. He would never admit this to me of course but I could see it in his eyes. He wanted her to see him in a positive way, which was probably a new feeling for him. He didn’t usually care if people liked him.

“Yes, he finished work a few hours ago and we have been talking ever since.” Ellie replied. She had the same look in her eyes as I got when I was around Molly. She was already in love with him, it was unmistakable. Hayden would be so heartbroken.

‘Good,’ Jax growled. Hayden’s action’s had upset Molly and as far as my lycan was concerned, he deserved to die.

Ellie’s new mate seemed particularly clingy. It was unusual for a non-ranked werewolf to get this attached to their mate so quickly. It wasn’t impossible but it usually only happened if they didn’t have many people in their life to look out for them. I watched with interest as he fed her pieces of fruit while looking lovingly into her eyes.

‘What is his story?’ I asked Grayson over mindlink. Maybe it was my father’s paranoia rubbing off on me but I needed to know what was going on. I didn’t like puzzles that I couldn’t solve, they made me uncomfortable.

‘He had a mate before. I don’t know the full story but she was human and she died before they could complete the bond.’ Grayson replied.

My heart ached at Grayson’s words, I don’t know what I would do if I lost Molly. I think my heart just broke in two even thinking about it so there is no way I could go on living without her. I couldn’t let that happen, I had to protect her. That means I had to replace some way of stopping her from playing any part in this battle.

I would love to be able to just tell her to stay behind and have her listen to me but I knew that would never work. Maybe if I could get Grayson on side then I could come up with some way of keeping her safe. Surely he feels just as strongly as I do about this, just as driven to keep her safe.

Molly was eating her breakfast, stopping every so often to speak to her friends. Ellie was too busy talking to her mate to listen to anyone else so Molly was talking to June and Ezra. Grayson was holding on to our mate tightly as she laughed at some joke her brother told. I couldn’t feel his emotions but I didn’t need to. He was just as worried about losing her as I was.

“I don’t think I can make it to the exam today,” Molly told her friends, nibbling on her l*p nervously.

“Why not? You have worked too hard this year to give up now.” June replied. Her eyes looked over to Grayson and I, pleading us to say something to change Molly’s mind. Grayson was trying to get Molly’s attention, I think he was trying to change her mind over mindlink. This was my chance. As Molly was explaining to her friends why she couldn’t go to the exam I opened up a mindlink with Grayson.

‘We need to keep her out of the fight tonight,’ I told him. His eyes shot over in my direction. I could see the shock and confusion on his face as he observed me.

‘We need to keep her out of the fight tonight,’ I told him. His eyes shot over in my direction. I could see the shock and confusion on his face as he observed me.

‘She’s not going to like that. She isn’t going to like the idea of her mates going into a dangerous situation without her.’ Grayson replied. June was trying to convince Molly that she had no place in the fight. I wanted to agree with her but that would give away my position, I had to play this smart. I kept my mouth shut and continued my conversation with Grayson.

‘You’re not coming either. You are going to keep her safe, as far as possible away from the fighting.’ I told him. Grayson tried to reply but I cut off his mindlink. I wasn’t taking any chances with Molly’s life and I wasn’t going to give him a chance to talk me out of my plan. I stroked Molly’s cheek to bring her attention to me.

“Grayson can take you to your exam. I can arrange everything here to be ready to set off when you return,” I said. Molly smiled at me, I could feel her happiness flowing through the bond that we shared together. I could see Grayson scowling at me out of the corner of my eye but he didn’t say anything.

Molly leaned forward to k**s my cheek but I quickly turned around and captured her lips with my own. The shock of my lips meeting hers caused her to inhale sharply but she quickly relaxed into our k**s. Her tongue darted into my mouth. She kissed me for a few moments longer before pulling away from me, breathing heavily.

“I should probably get ready,” she exclaimed. Her voice held a mixture of excitement and desire. I couldn’t wait for all of this to be over so I could properly get to know her without interruptions. She wouldn’t leave our room for a week.

She drained what was left of her coffee cup then ran out of the dining room. There was something about seeing my mate running away from me that made my lycan highly aroused. He wanted desperately to give chase, it was almost too tempting for me to resist. I was just about to get to my feet and follow her when my father took hold of my arm to stop me.

Jax growled in frustration.

“We can’t wait for her to get back, we wouldn’t make it in time to meet the other packs and plan the attack.” My father told me. He had a look in his eyes that was even more stern than usual. I nodded my head in agreement.

“I know, we leave in two hours. Grayson will keep her away from the fight. He will protect her and the pack while the rest of us fight.” Grayson didn’t look too happy to take orders from me but he didn’t object. Right now my main objective was to keep them safe. I could beg for forgiveness later.