Once Upon A Rejection
Part 2 Chapter 29

Talen Bancroft’s POV

My hands were coated in the traitor’s b***d, I rubbed it down the legs of my already ruined jeans. I didn’t have time to worry about such trivial things as my appearance right now. Ezra was taking his sister to a nearby pack to recover. Now that I knew she would be safe it was time for me to take down the rest of these lycans.

Grayson had sent messages to his pack to gather information about our situation but replies were coming in very slowly and I wasn’t the most patient lycan. It was strange to have to rely on human means of communication. It was so inefficient compared to mindlink and I was already sick of it. We needed to replace that witch as soon as possible so we could force her to remove whatever spell she had cast on this area.

“I can’t wait here any longer. I am going into town to see what is left.” I complained. I couldn’t wait for news about my father any longer. I didn’t even know if he had survived the explosion and the uncertainty was eating me up inside.

Without giving Grayson a chance to object I started running through the forest towards the centre of town. The sound of werewolves and lycans in pain echoed through the forest. Jax whimpered in my head as I continued running, without even so much as slowing down.

I wanted to stop and help those who were injured more than anything but I knew that I needed to continue. Most of our forces were around the edge of the territory so help couldn’t be too far away. It was what was going on in the centre that worried me more. If my father and his forces had survived the explosion then they could be surrounded by hostile lycans. I couldn’t wait any longer, I had to know what was happening.

After a few minutes of running the forest started to thin out. Through the thinner undergrowth I could see the bodies of tens of lycans and werewolves. The smell of b***d was so overwhelming that I could taste it in the back of my throat as I ran. Grayson was only a few steps behind me, still in his human form and I could hear him cursing under his breath.

When we reached the town centre I was shocked, it didn’t even look like the same town that I had observed just a few minutes earlier. Many of the buildings had been damaged in the explosion and fire was now spreading quickly through the buildings that remained. Unlike in the forest, there were no bodies of signs of fighting here, only fine and damaged buildings.

Slowing my pace down to a walk I headed towards the place where I had last seen my father. Grayson came up alongside me panting heavily. He might be faster than me when he was in his wolf form but when we were both in human form I was much faster than he was. Maybe the guy needed to do some more cardio. When we got out of this I would put him through some of the drills my father used to make me do every morning.

“Where are we heading?” Grayson asked between deep breaths. His eyes were darting between the buildings looking for any sign of danger.

“There is a large building in the centre of town, or at least there used to be.” I replied. My father was directly in front of that building when it blew up. Was it possible for my father to survive that kind of explosion, even with his lycan healing. The thought of losing my own father on this trip hadn’t occurred to me before. Maybe it should have but he was a strong fighter and even better strategist. I had learnt to trust his instinct and I didn’t think anyone would ever get the better of him in a fight.

A few more streets passed us by, each one getting progressively more damaged by the explosion. My hopes of replaceing anyone alive were waning rapidly. In the distance I could see a body laid on the floor, I sprinted the next few hundred metres between me and the body. I wasn’t my father but I recognised the lycan as part of the group that went with him.

Kneeling down beside the body of the fallen lycan, I assessed his condition and checked for any signs of life. He looked as though he had died instantly in the explosion. His limbs were all broken and sticking out at odd angles and the back of his head was caved in. My heart started beating faster and a cold chill went down my spine as I observed the destruction in front of me. My father was standing a lot closer to the blast than this lycan was.

“Come on.” Grayson took hold of my arm and pulled me to my feet before overthinking and panic could completely take over my mind. Without saying another word he put one arm around my back and led me further into the centre of town.

Looking further down the street I could see other bodies lying in the street, partially obscured by smoke. At least one of them was alive because there was the sound of coughing in the distance. Grayson’s body tensed as he heard the noise, he let go of me and started sprinting towards the sound.

As I moved closer I realised that the man who Grayson was attending to was Molly’s step father. He was alive but he was in a really bad state. He had deep cuts in his body which didn’t seem to be healing and as a result he was losing a lot of b***d. He was coughing due to smoke inhalation and every time he coughed his face contorted in agony.

“Those fuckers laced their bomb with silver, he’s not healing properly.” Grayson growled.

“Get him out of here, I will search for more survivors.” I shouted over the sounds of Thomas’ current coughing fit. I continued to check on the bodies surrounding me while Grayson picked up Thomas and started running back towards the forest. Everyone around me was dead but I couldn’t see my father anywhere.

My search was starting to get frantic and I was starting to lose all hope of ever replaceing my father when I saw him. More than half of his body was covered by wood and debris from the surrounding buildings. I knelt down beside him and checked desperately for any sign of life but deep down I already knew the truth. My father was dead. Tears of pain filled my eyes as the fires around me continued to rage on.

Grayson Ward’s POV

Once we were out of the smoke Thomas drifted into an unsettled sleep. I was worried about him. His injuries were severe and with the silver in his system suppressing his healing, he was in deep trouble. He needed to get to a hospital.

Without being able to shift into my wolf form my speed was limited. Even so, my panic and the adrenaline in my body made the run back through the forest feel short. I made my way through the forest until I reached the area where the cars were parked, a few miles outside of Finn’s pack’s territory.

One of the werewolves from a nearby pack helped me to get him into the back of a car. He was already taking a couple of other injured werewolves to the hospital in their pack. It seems as though the lycan’s had been using silver coated weapons all night and there were lots of serious injuries.

“Do you want to come with us to the hospital?” The werewolf asked as he was getting into the car. For a split second I was tempted to take him up on his offer so I could check on Molly but I knew it was wrong for me to leave now. Some of my pack could still be out here, what kind of alpha would I be if I left them out here to suffer?

“Not just yet. Do you know what happened to alpha Ward?” I asked. He shook his head and I could tell from the look on his face that he didn’t even know who I was talking about. I know we are a small pack but my wolf felt like his response was a personal insult. I had to keep him from pushing his way forward as I watched the werewolf get into the car and drive away.

Once he was out of sight and my wolf had calmed down a bit I took out my phone and checked for messages. A few people had sent updates but there was still no word on what had happened to my dad. Feeling restless I decided to circle to pack in search for any sign of him.

I spent the next few hours running around the pack, helping everyone that I could and killing any lycans that crossed my path. After a while Talen and my brother joined me and we searched the forest together. Even so, we found no trace of my dad in the town or the surrounding forest.

We cleared the area by mid morning and decided to join everyone else at the nearby pack and hope that somehow my dad had made it there already.