Once Rejected, Thrice Accepted

Chapter 2 Sometimes the unknown isn’t as pretty as you think.

The pain was instant sending painful cramps that felt like someone was stabbing me over and over all over my body. Moonlight felt distant and in just as much pain. I had my eyes closed but from the pain coming from Eric I knew he was feeling some of the pain, too. As soon as he accepted the rejection we would only have to deal with light cramps for a few days.

“You b***h!” Kenny growled.

He shoved me to the ground, putting his foot on my face and told me to stay like a good little doggy. He was a douchebag and was going to run this pack into the ground. It is time to get the hell out of here asap.

Eric kneeled down and smiled at me. “I, Eric Crimson, future beta of Bloodlust growlers reject Gemma Grimhide as my future mate.”

Another burst of pain ran through me but I knew if I stayed here they would make the pain physical. So when Eric fell from the pain I used the lack of eyes on me to shove Kenny’s foot off of me and run as fast as I could. Only a few followed but I was faster. With all my bullies everywhere in the pack including home I learned to be fast as everything I needed to do in order to survive. Now I just had to hope I was faster than the news of the rejection or my mother would be waiting to teach me another lesson.

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I shoved the door open as quickly and silently as possible but my mother, Sylvia, was already waiting with a smirk on her face. s**t. I hadn’t healed from earlier and now that I didn’t have a mate to save me she could kill me if she wanted.

‘I will help as much as I can. You have to let me this time.’ Moonlight whispered. I knew she was right but that didn’t mean I liked it.

“What do we have here?” Mom said before ripping my backpack off of me. “I had a phone call from a distraught Luna about you rejecting the future Beta. Why would you do that? He didn’t do anything to you.” Her smile got even bigger.

Distraught Luna my ass. She has hated me since the day mom told her all sorts of lies about me and how I mistreat my family. How I was the most disrespectful child she had ever seen and all she wanted was for me to love her. The Luna made sure the whole pack knew about my so-called behavior and it went downhill from there. I was only five.

“Sorry, Mom. He said he didn’t want me.” I kept my head bowed and my voice low.

She grabbed my hair and yanked my head back with a snap. “Lies don’t get you anywhere here. We all knew whoever your mate was would reject you. You are nothing and will never be anything.”

I kept my eyes straight ahead and waited. If I flinched or tried to run it would only be worse on me.

“Get downstairs. Your brother is finished setting up.” She threw me to the floor. “Crawl to the door first. I want to know you understand what you did wrong.”

‘If we are still here next time I am shifting and tearing her face off.’ Moonlight whispered. I knew she was serious.

I crawled toward the door going at my mother’s slow pace holding in every ounce of pain and shame. It would only make her happy and might even push her to do worse. I could hear my father in his office so I knew he heard everything that had been going on but like usual he didn’t do anything. He never physically hurt me but he didn’t care enough to stop her and to me that was worse.

Mother shoved me down the stairs where I landed in front of a glee filled Dennis with an injector in his hand. Oh boy, it was going to be one of those nights. Wolfsbane so no wolf involvement and they would be taking their time while monologuing just how good they had it. One day I would be paying them back for this.

He injected me with double the amount they normally do. The pain and affects were instant. I no longer felt Moonlight and my fear really set in. She wouldn’t be able to take any of the pain and the full force of the rejection pain was seconds away from hitting me full force. Tonight, was the night I was going to die by my family’s hands. With that thought I finally decided to get a backbone and go out with a bang.

“Is this how you get your rocks off, you sick freak?” I taunted my brother as he chained my hands in silver above my head with my feet barely touching the ground. “What a pathetic excuse for a man.”

“Shut up.” He growled as he finished his task. He stepped a few steps back to stand next to mom and smirked at me. “At least my mate will want me when I find her.”

I laughed as I tried to hide any signs of the pain. “Eric? He is going be part of the reason this pack falls when he and Kenny take over. You will be one of the first to die since you only know how to hit tied up girls.”

He growled but mom cut him off. “Enough. You can make her scream and beg in just a minute.”

“Yes, Momma.” He replied. What a suck up.

“Now, first I need to pass on my regard from Eric and his family.” She launched herself at me and started hitting me everywhere. “Next p*****t for being a stain on our families name and for being a waste of space that I had to give birth to.”

“You…a…” I sputtered wincing as each hit landed. “You…are…a…cowar…d.”

“Take that back.” Dennis yelled at me clenching his fists.

Mom stepped back, out of breath, and blood staining her fists. “Dennis, your turn before we add a surprise to our regular schedule.”

He barely waited for her to finish her sentence before he was in front of me punching me over and over in the same spot on the same leg. He wanted me to feel every hit as the spot got even more tender as his hits kept on. Damn, it was getting harder not to give in and just scream.

Dennis switched tactics and broke my ankle making it harder to hold myself up and off the silver in the chains. He laughed and stepped back. It was time for seconds for mother dearest.

“Now time to add some more wolfsbane mixed with a mystery ingredient.” She pulled a bottle out of her pocket and opened the top. “This will make you scream putting the cherry on top of this pain sundae.”

She emptied the whole the whole bottle on my chest finally pulling that scream from me. I yelled, kicked, lost my ability to breath, and started seeing black spots in my vision. I could barely hear them laughing at me. I almost missed a new voice yelling out.

“Sylvia?” The new voice was male and held more power than our family had. “What are you doing….What the hell is this?” His voice got louder and angrier.

Mom gasped in shock. “Honey, what are you doing back here? We haven’t seen you in so many years.”

“Nineteen to be exact.” He sounded stiff and uncomfortable talking with her. I already liked him. “Why do you have this girl here? What have you done to her?”

“Just ignore her. Say hi to your brother, Dennis.” She ordered shakily.

Brother? Dennis had a brother? Does that mean he is my brother but if so, I haven’t ever heard of him before.

“I don’t want to repeat myself. Who is she?” He growled out his warning.

“Our pathetic excuse for a sister.” Dennis sneered. “Want to take some of your anger out on her? She is used to it.”

I heard nothing but a thud and a whine. It sounded like Dennis but all I could see was black spots when my eyes were opened so I kept them shut. I had to stay awake or I would be writing my own death sentence.

I felt an arm go around my wait and my burned chest rub against something or someone pulling another scream out of me. He shushed me and worked my chains off with his free hand. I landed against him like my body was jelly. The pain was excruciating.

“Th..Th…” I tried to say my thanks for passing out but the darkness called me to it faster than I thought it would.