Rejecting my mate

9. Making a new friend

Melissa’s POV

I had no idea why I had said all of that, but it had felt good to talk to people who saw me and were friendly, and when Fang arrived, I didn’t want them to think me weak, I wanted them to understand my situation. After Hunter interrupted, I could see all the visitors were on edge, it was never a good idea to have so many alphas in a tense situation like that. As soon as I had a chance I got away.

I returned to the kitchen and, even if no one looked at me, I could feel they weren't happy with my actions. Most of them were under the same situation, but instead of trying to fight for a change, they just accepted their situation and tried to endure as much as they could. I got it, for some of them leaving meant leaving their families behind, in some cases their children, but I was free, there was nothing holding me back. I knew that everything would be better once I got away from that place. It was kind of sad that I was leaving the place where my ancestors had ruled for so long, but once Hunter had taken over, everything good about the place had vanished, and no one had done anything to stop it, so they deserved what they were getting.

I needed to get out of there, I could already feel the animosity of the people around me, and I knew they were going to retaliate if given the chance.

"That was pretty stupid," I heard one of the Alpha's w****s saying behind me, "but what could we expect, you are your mother’s child after all. She was pretty stupid too, she could have gone away and saved her life, she ended up leaving you alone with Hunter anyway, her 'sacrifice' was for nothing."

"Shut up, you don’t deserve to talk about my mother,” I told her.

"I never understood why she stayed behind, especially with the price she was paying," she kept going, ignoring me, "knowing she was the cause for her mate's death, and knowing that nothing she does would shake Hunter's interest in her."

"It wasn't my mother's fault that my father died," I denied. My mother loved to talk about him, and never did she even suggested she felt any guilt about his death.

"But it was, Hunter would have never challenged your father if it wasn't for her. Didn't you know they were friends? They grew up together, but ended in different packs. Hunter moved to take over his True Mate's pack after her father retired, and your mother joined your father's pack when they found out they were True Mates. But you know that after the war, many lives were lost, including Hunter's True Mate. He slept with every available woman in his former pack, but he wasn't satisfied, until he remembered your mother, and convinced himself that she was the only one for him, so he came for her, he killed your father and tried to claim your mother, but she refused him, something he never understood or fully accepted. And now that she is gone, you are the closest substitute available, so forget about him letting you go away. Unless you find your True Mate, and even that's debatable, since Hunter may end up killing him to be able to hold on to you a little longer."

"He can't," I said, my anger burning again, "once I renounce him as my Alpha, I will be out of his control. If he thinks I will be with him after he killed both of my parents, he is even crazier than I thought."

“Oh, how naïve you are, girl, you can’t escape what’s coming for you,” she said mockingly, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. I wanted to hit her, but there were too many people around, so instead I ran out of the Pack House and went looking for Paul.

I had visited him a couple of times since I had been relocated to the Pack House, and he had been worried about me every time I had to go back.  There was nothing he could do, I had no idea why he has been allowed to stay in the Pack, why he hadn't been exiled, or killed, but I was grateful for that.  As I was getting close, he got outside his house to greet me. 

"Are you okay?  Why are you crying?" he asked, I hadn't even noticed the tears. 

"I had a fight with the brats, and I may have said some things in front of the visitors that the others didn't approve.  Then, one of Hunter's w****s said some stuff about my mom that was just too much for me, I had to get away."

"Do you think they will come looking for you?" 

"Without a doubt," I replied. 

"Then we should move, this is the first place they are going to search."  

I followed him deeper into the woods.  I wanted to shift and run, but I was so used to hide my wolf from others that didn't want to risk Hunter's enforcers running into me in wolf form.

"I knew that Hunter was obsessed with mom, and that she was one of his favorite targets," I started, breaking the silence, "but Eddy said that he had come here looking for her, and that he killed my father to get to mom."

"I don't know the whole story, but yes, your mother and Hunter grew in the same pack, but they left to different places when they found their True Mates.  She was surprised but happy to get in touch with an old friend when Hunter arrived, but he immediately challenged your father and tried to claim your mom.  Most of your father's enforcers died that night, and I barely survived.  I don't know what he was thinking, only know what happened."

It was even worse than I ever thought, and it made me even madder about the whole situation.

"I can't wait to get away from this place!"

"Just a couple of days and we will be free."

"I'm just sad that mom won't be with us."

"But this is what your mother wanted, and she will be happy knowing that you managed to get away."

We started going over our plans.  It was sad, because my mom had worked on most of those, and now she wouldn't be there with us.  A couple of hours later I heard a noise coming from the woods, and both Paul and I got ready to fight if necessary, but it was the woman with the visitors that came out. 

"Hello, fancy meeting you here."

"Who is she?"  Paul asked me.

"She is one of Fang's guests," I replied, which earned a growl from Paul.

"Hey, calm down, I'm here as a friend.  Look, my brother and I can see you are an alpha, and the whole mess in the Pack House left us a little worried.  I just want to make sure you are fine."

"I am, or I will be in a couple of days when I leave this place."

"Well, if you don't find your mate tomorrow, you are welcome to come to our pack to look for him.  I know that most packs would be willing to have you, since alpha females are not common, and they almost exclusively mate with alphas.  Most packs will invite you expecting you to be the True Mate of one of the heirs, or even a young alpha."

"I'm not sure if I find that reassuring or scary," I said. 

"Well, I'm really hoping you turn out to be my brother's True Mate, but if not, we will help you find him.  My brother, and even my dad are big beasts, but they have hearts as big as their tempers and I'm sure they will do whatever they can to help you."

"Who is your father?" Paul asked. 

"Alpha Blade, from the Northern territories."

"He is one of the alphas who turned their backs to your family," Paul told me, "when I asked for help, they said that the change of leadership had been legal, and left you and your mother to fend for yourselves.  They didn't help when we needed it the most, I'm not sure we can trust them to help now."

"My father would never turn his back to someone in need!" Rachel said, angry that someone would accuse her father of not helping.

"I know that people turned a blind eye to what happened here, but at least Rage looked genuinely angry in my behalf, let's hope we don't need their help, and if we do, we will decide what to do then."

"You're right, let's not borrow problems before we need to.  And speaking of problems, they must be looking for you."

"Let's go back together," Rachel suggested, "if anyone tries to bother you, we will tell them you were with me, they won't be able to say anything against that, I'm an honored guest and that has some perks.  And, is true you are sleeping in the kitchen?"

"Yes," Paul already knew about it, so I didn't have to worry about what he would think, "since my mom's funeral I have been sleeping there."

"Well, tonight you will sleep with me, my room is huge and the bed is wide enough for the both of us.  And if someone tries to protest, well, I will come up with something, and I'm sure my brother will back me up, and if he does that, then the rest of our group will too.  You will be safe. 

It had been so long since I had a friend, that I didn't remember what it felt like, but as I walked back to the Pack House next to Rachel, I started thinking that maybe it felt like this.