Unreject Me

Going to the Black Woods

Kaya’s pov

“Girrrrl! You agreed to marry him?” Liana squealed as soon as she saw the ring on my finger.

“What? Let me see!” Sasha rushed to see the piece of jewellery adorning my finger.

So I said yes to him, but I did it for my son’s sake.

“Aww, that is so beautiful. It suits you perfectly well,” Lina exclaimed, her eyes glimmering with excitement.

“I agree. You're so lucky, girl,” Sasha said. “I am jealous. Andre’ is a good man and a great life partner, but he seldom gives me anything.”

“Maybe Heath can talk Andre’ into giving you a gift,” Liana suggested.

Nikita snorted. “Sorry, Sasha. I can’t believe he still hasn’t put a ring on your finger. I mean, yeah, you guys are soulmates and are marked and mated, but still.”

Sasha shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t mind being unmarried, to tell the truth. We have a bond.”

“Yeah. Heath and I don’t share that connection. So a marriage would be cool,” I said.

“Still, a gift would be nice. My brother can be clueless.”

Sasha heaved a breath. “Yeah. You can say that again. Do you know what he did last night?”

All three of us shook our heads.

“He gave me this awesome o****m using his fingers and then went to sleep. He wouldn’t let me touch his thing.”

“What the f**k? Who does that?” Liana cringed.

“That’s bad, Sasha. I am sorry to hear that,” I agreed with Liana.

“I was furious. I went to sleep angry, and I woke up angry. I mean, how could he not realise I needed his d**k after all that? We have been together for five years! When he finally realised why I was mad, he wanted to make up this morning, but I didn’t let him touch me. I just flaunted myself in front of him and left him in the room,” Sasha said with a smirk curling on her lips.

Liana and I both laughed. Sasha looked like she had a fun morning. I glanced at Nikita slantwise. She had a deep grimace etched on her face, almost as though she were disgusted.

“You look like you want to throw up, Nikita,” Liana remarked.

With her thumb and index finger raised to indicate how close she was to throwing up, Nikita said, "That is because I am this close to puking. Because, first, eww. Sasha. He is my brother, and I am least interested in knowing about his s****l life. And second, yeah. I pity you. He is an idiot.”

Sasha shrugged her shoulders. “He is my clueless mate, but I love him.”

My lips twitched into a smile. “You love him?”

She nodded her head. “Yeah. I realised after living with him for the past five years that I had fallen for that moron, even though I had assumed it was just a bond. And I believe him when he says he loves me.”

The thrill made my heart skip a beat. Perhaps I will also find a love similar to theirs. Perhaps, in due course, my heart will gravitate towards Heath.

“Why do you say so?” I asked her, pushing away my sentiments.

“It is the little things he does for me. He is kind to me, and he is there for me whenever I need him. He doesn’t force me into doing anything I am not ready for, but I think I am ready to have a pup with him now.”

“Aww, that's so cute. Have you told him yet?”

“Nah. I want to surprise him after this trip,” Sasha said, winking at us.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nikita’s painted lips curl into the tiniest smile. “Cool. I’ll get a little pup to spoil. Who knows, maybe that pup will like black as much as I do.”

Sasha smiled. “In that case, the pup will be as sweet as you are.”

A stranger would find it confusing that they connected. They had completely different interests. Nikita adored black. She even regularly wore dark makeup and dyed her brown hair a pitch-black colour with purple highlights. Sasha was a blonde who shied away from black. Nonetheless, they surely got along well.

“This is why I like this pink Barbie. She gets me,” Nikita remarked. I could have sworn she almost smiled—something she seldom did.

From the lobby, we could see the pack’s chauffeur waiting for us at the main entrance of the pack house. I looked around for my pup. He, too, had come downstairs to see me off, but his attention was drawn towards the new playground Andre’ and Sasha opened recently. I picked up my phone to call Heath.

“Hey, it’s time to leave. Where are you?” I asked him as soon as he picked it up.

“Almost there,” he said. “Hurry! Mommy is about to leave.”

In just a few moments, Andre, Heath, and Archie strode into the lobby. Archie dashed right into my arms.

“Mommy, Poppa says you have to leave now.”

“Yes, honey. I have to work, remember? Mommy has to go on a trip.”

“But I want to go with you!”

My heart ached a little as his eyes glossed over. The hardest thing to do as a mother was to leave my pup behind when I went on missions. I wish I didn't have to leave, but my work was something that little pups could not be involved in.

“I also want to be with you all the time, darling. I promise I will call you every day.”

“Pinky promise?” he asked me, gazing deeply into my eyes.

“Pinky promise.”

He threw his hands around me, burying his head in my neck. I sniffed his hair. Oh, how I was going to miss this little boy.

“Congratulations, Heath. I can’t wait for the wedding,” Sasha said, offering him a broad grin. I was glad for the change of topic, as I didn’t want to cry in front of Archie.

“Yeah, can't wait for it,” Liana chirped in.

“I agree. I wish you a happy life together,” Nikita said.

Andre’ made a face at his sister. “You never wished me a happy life.”

Nikita rolled her eyes. “That’s because you’re my brother. Why would I say that out loud?”

“I love the ring,” Liana uttered, interrupting the banter between the siblings.

“Ring?” Archie finally spoke up, wrinkling his forehead in confusion.

I showed him the diamond ring. “Look. Mommy has a beautiful ring. Do you like it?”

He nodded his head.

“Do you know what that means, arch? Your mommy is getting married.”

His confusion seemed to have increased with what Sasha told him. “Married?

“Yeah. She and your poppa are getting married because they love each other.”

Cringing internally, I studied his face, wondering if he understood what that really meant. His tiny face lit up. “I also want to get married!”

I held back my laughter. “To whom?”

Archie looked into my face, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "You mommy. I want to marry you.”

***

Explaining to him that I could not marry him took several minutes. Though I had intended to wait until he was older, I told him he would meet his soulmate. That subject seized his attention. Heath promised he would take him out for ice cream and talk about soulmates. Finally, Archie’s tears stopped when he heard about the ice cream, and we walked out of the exit, but not before giving Arch one last kiss and making a promise to be back as soon as I could.

The driver drove us out of Crystal Lake’s territory. I struck up a light conversation with the girls. It was a little consoling after leaving Archie behind. At least I had the girls to keep me company.

“It is the pack you grew up in, Kaya. How are you feeling?” Sasha asked me after some time.

I scrunched up my nose. “Not as bad as leaving Archie behind.”

She offered a smile. “Is it that hard? I wonder how I am going to deal with that once I become a mom.”

“We just have to deal with it, I guess. What we do is keeping them safe. This is for their future,” I told her.

She heaved a breath. “Does it get easier?”

Pursing my lips together, I shook my head. “Not really.”

A heavy silence fell in the car until Liana broke it.

“I don’t want kids. Maybe it is a good thing I haven’t found my mate yet,” she said. Although she hadn’t met her mate yet, she dated a couple of guys from the Crystal Lake pack. It was a normal thing among the wolves who hadn’t found their mates, because sometimes they just don’t meet their other halves. So they get into relationships, fall in love, and get married. But from what she said, I guessed she wouldn’t even do that.

“Same here,” Nikita said, agreeing with her.

“And speaking of mates, is the one who knocked you up still living in that place? Because if he is, I want to give him a piece of my mind,” Liana added, glancing in my direction.

“Just a piece of your mind? I want to kick his ass and knock his teeth off!” Nikita uttered.

I snorted. Their words amused me.

“I don’t think that would be a great idea, since we will be working with him,” I said. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw their jaws drop. Nikita was the only one who didn’t show much emotion, although she seemed to stiffen a bit.

“Work with him? Damn,” Sasha cussed.

“Yeah, he is their alpha, so...” I shrugged my shoulders. I didn’t have to complete that sentence. They would know what I meant. Sasha looked horrified.

I laughed. “Sasha, darling. You’re not the only one mated to an i***t. My ex-mate was worse.”

She cringed. “I am so counting my blessings.”

“Actually, I have a request from you girls. I do not want the past to interfere with our work. We don’t have to hold on to the past. I have moved on from him, and I bet he also has. So just let it go.”

The girls exchanged glances in silence. Since their eyes didn’t cloud, I knew they weren’t having a secret conversation via mind link. We used our mind links during emergencies and if we needed to keep a secret. With her nose scrunched up, Sasha gave a slight nod of the head.

“If you say so, Kaya.”

***

The palpitations of my heart increased as we entered the Black Woods’ turf. As we drove down the familiar streets of the pack, waves of nostalgia hit me like a tonne of bricks. It took all the strength I could muster and help from Mira to remain calm and collected. The girls, too, were super supportive. I took several breaths to calm my racing heart before stepping out of the car.

My face remained void of emotions as I faced them after five years.

“Hello, I am Alpha Theodore Smith, and this is my Beta, Ezekiel Black.”

Theo was still the same tall, dark, and handsome blue-eyed alpha, but I noticed something new on Ezekiel—a scar cutting through his right eyebrow. Maybe a severe injury he sustained during the attacks was the cause.

I let Sasha introduce us.

“I am Sasha, Luna of Crystal Lake. This is Kaya, the very talented alpha who led us on our missions,” she said, pointing at me. “She came from this pack, remember?”

I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t. Theo cleared his throat and nodded his head.

“Yeah, I remember her,” he said, locking gazes with me. My heart raced. Especially when he reached out to shake hands with me. I looked at his hand. Was I supposed to shake his hand?

“It is just a handshake. Don't worry,” Mira told me.

I begrudgingly shook his hand. When our skins touched, there were no sparks. Regardless, I got a chill down my spine. It was strange.

“Hello,” I said.

He gave a subtle nod of his head. “Hello, Kaya.”