Rejecting my mate

7. In the Pack House

Melissa’s POV

My birthday had come and gone. I had managed to escape for a couple of hours to celebrate with Paul, but then I had to go back. There was a lot of work to do around the Pack House, besides the w****s and the brats being spoiled and messy, people from other packs had been arriving. I could see some of them were paying attention to me, despite my efforts to keep my head down and out of the way.  It was a weird kind of attention, it was like they were seeing me, not just another maid, but me as a person.  It was a weird and kind of a funny feeling, and I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. 

The last group to arrive had everyone in a frenzy. From their smell I could tell that at least three of them were alphas, and they were all young, about Fang’s age, with only one female in the group. Everyone was making a big fuss about them, it seemed they were important people. I couldn't help but notice that Fang was among the visitors, talking to them as if they were old friends, because maybe they were. Fang had been visiting other packs, looking for his mate, so maybe he had met them there. I had planned on asking one of them to let me go back to their pack with him, but if they were on friendly terms with Fang, maybe they weren't a good option.

A feast to celebrate the visitors had everyone busy, I had to help with cooking and preparing the tables for them. It was so important that some of the brats were helping. I didn’t have any time to rest, while taking care everything went smoothly for them. On the plus side, they were all so busy that no one really paid attention to me, and even the brats had been holding back, which was good since sleeping on the floor had my body aching everywhere.

The next day I was still considering my options, I was going to leave the pack, soon, and I needed to decide if it was worth to risk it and ask one of them if I could go with them to one of their packs. At the end it was them who made the first approach.

"Are you mated?" one of them asked.

"Not yet, I just turned eighteen a few days ago, this will be my first Full Moon ceremony." I answered, a little unsure of his intentions, but I wasn't getting bad vibes from him. 

"Then I'm glad we are here. I'm Ax, we came here for the ceremony,” he introduced himself, “we want to find our mates, I'm hoping I will get lucky with you," he said, making me blush. That was something I hadn't considered, I was so sure that my mate couldn't be in the pack, that I hadn't realized what the visitor's arrival could mean to me, I could be meeting my True Mate soon, one of them could be mine.

"Maybe she is my mate," another said, "my name is Rick, but people call me Rage," it was weird, he always looked so calm, why would people call him Rage? Just because he was huge?

In the short time I had observed them, they all had seemed so nice. I couldn't understand what their relationship with Fang was, they appeared to be decent people, at least by wolf standards, Fang was anything but nice.

"Your first ceremony as a grown up, you must be so excited!" said the only female in the group. She was always close to Rage, and at first I thought they could be mates, but if Rage was still looking, then she couldn't be his. Maybe siblings?

"It will be my first ceremony, period. I had never been in one," I said.

"How can that be possible?" another guy asked. "Everyone in the pack has to participate."

"My mom couldn't participate, and she didn't want me to go alone,” I explained.

"Was she a human?" Ax asked.

"Not initially, but she lost her wolf, so she kind of became one," just thinking about it made me mad, I was still grieving her death, but I couldn’t forget that Hunter was to blame for her death.

"Is she going to be in the ceremony with you? Or do you have anyone to go with you?" asked the woman. "No one should go through her coming of age ceremony alone."

"She died a few days ago..."

"How awful. I'm so sorry," the woman said, pulling me into a hug. "Well, maybe you will find your mate tonight, that will definitely help."

"I don't think my mate is going to be here, unless it's one of you," I said to the group.

"You look like a nice girl," another one said, "What’s your name? I'm John. I have been looking for my mate for a while now, not sure if I'm going to find her, but in the time I've been traveling, I learned that it’s equally important to make friends. Would you like to be friends with me?"  I wasn't sure if he was flirting with me or just being nice, I wasn't used to people treating me so nicely. 

"My name is Melissa, and I would love to! Maybe I can visit your pack next, since we are going to be friends. I will be leaving the pack tomorrow and have no idea where to go."

"Why would you want to leave your pack?" the female asked.

"Like you, I want to go looking for my mate, I'm all alone and don't want to be."

"Usually are the males that go looking for their mates," Rage said, "my sister is one of the few exceptions, just because she travels with me."

"I will be leaving this place tomorrow, no matter what. It would be nice to have a destination or a plan. I can’t wait to leave this awful place, but it would be nice to have somewhere to go to."

"You ungrateful mutt," Fang said from behind me, I had been so happy talking to them that I forgot to check where the brats were. "After everything the Pack has done to you. After everything my father did for you and you can’t wait to leave?  You owe us your loyalty!"