Unreject Me

Like All Good Things...

Kaya’s pov

1 year later.

I completed the special training and was appointed the leader of the special group Alpha Karl formed. According to him, I was the perfect candidate to lead the mission to bring an end to Siver Claw’s vicious escapades. I guess, without my knowledge, the desire for revenge was flowing through my veins.

I remembered how I felt when I was the only one breathing in the pack house. My family’s corpses surrounded me. Though I was in shock, I saw it all and knew what had happened. A promising day came to an end with death. They killed everyone. It was a bloodbath. I was too young to understand why. All I knew was that they had killed my family, and that I was left alone. As I relived the events of that fateful day, my lips gradually pressed together into a sombre line.

It was a sweet revenge. Especially since my hatred towards them had been maturing for so long. What was better than giving them a taste of their own medicine? I hated it when they begged for mercy, though. It only angered me. It reminded me of my mother pleading with them to spare her. She was the luna of the pack, and her words fell on deaf ears. Why then should I have sympathy for them? They were monsters unworthy of mercy.

I wiped the blood from my face and peered around the Silver Claw pack's opulent grand room. Dead wolves were strewn all over the floor in both their human and wolf forms. Some of them lay in pools of blood, while others were mutilated beyond recognition. We had warned them several times and given them enough time to stop creating chaos in the neighbourhood.

They persisted. In fact, they planned an attack on the Crystal Lake pack despite being one of the strongest wolf packs in the forest. My heart soared with immense satisfaction as I looked around. Some of them had their last scream frozen on their faces. It was a surprisingly pleasant sight.

My eyes trailed towards the exquisite furniture and other artworks in the pack house, which I was sure they had stolen from another pack. I wasn’t interested in getting what belonged to the Golden Crescent back. I had gotten what I wanted, and that was justice.

“Kaya, a few of the renegades escaped, but we killed their alpha and beta. This is the alpha’s head,” Nikita said, raising a severed head.

“Was decapitating him really necessary?” I asked her, raising a brow.

“He was trying to run away, and I swung my sword at him,” she said in her defence. “Besides, he had it coming. How many innocent wolves did he murder? The rascal deserved it.”

Of course the fucker deserved it.

I looked at his miserable face. Had I met him alive, I would have probably crushed him to death. He didn’t deserve an easy end. I would have made him feel the agony of all the wolves he had killed in the past.

My gaze lingered on his ugly face for too long. Even in death, he appeared to be cursed. There wasn’t any sign of being at peace with him. My lips curled into a sneer as I looked away. Pity was the last thing I would feel for him. After all, he was the one who orchestrated my pack’s m******e.

“Take that thing away. I don’t want to see it.”

I diverted my attention towards Liana, who was marching in through the main door.

"Kaya, the majority of the millitants have been killed. But some managed to get away. The local pack members are gathered on the open ground in front of the pack house,” she said.

Mercenaries escaping wasn’t great news, but at least we had won this round. “How many of them are there?”

“50 pups who haven’t shifted and around a hundred mature wolves.”

I gave a nod and strode toward the door. I knew some of them would support their late alpha, despite him being the menacing asshole who invaded and stole from other packs. Thus, my intention was not to coerce them into submission.

I went to the front porch, where Sasha, Andre, and Heath were waiting for me, and scanned through the crowd. Some of them were fearful, probably unsure of how I would treat them. Some wolves just appeared exhausted. Wolves, too young or too old to fight, made up the majority of the crowd. They were mostly female wolves.

"I can claim this pack if I want to. Your alpha is dead," I stated, observing their response with great care. Some of them flinched as I spoke. Was it because of my aura? Or maybe the fear of becoming a slave or dying the way their alpha did. My attention was drawn to a small girl who had big brown eyes. She appeared to be around my age when I became an orphan. My lips parted as I gazed at the little pups of various ages. I had not felt a twinge of sympathy in my heart since I began this mission until I saw their ample eyes begging me for mercy.

I sighed. “But I won’t do that. You are all free to leave or join another pack, but from this day on, the Silver Claw pack doesn’t exist.”

They exchanged glances. The apparent tension on their faces vanished.

"Alpha Karl has instructed us to let you know that any wolf who is prepared to submit and acknowledge him as their alpha is welcome to join his pack. So if any of you are wondering where to start, I think Crystal Lake is a good place.”

They murmured among themselves. I glanced at Sasha and gave her a nod of my head.

“Okay, those who would like to join our pack, come over here,” she said, stepping to one side.

I observed the group dispersing. I was happy that the majority of adults with puppies desired to join us, even though some of them were hesitant or determined not to go to Crystal Lake. The cute little brown-eyed girl who had earlier drawn my attention turned to look at me, a small smile curling around her thin lips. I returned her smile. She brought back memories of the day I escaped the murderers and ended up lost in the forest by myself until I ran into Alpha Byron. That was the beginning of the many humiliating years I had to spend in the Black Woods. Maybe that helped mould me into the person I grew into. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone else.

My lips curled into a tiny smile when I saw her holding hands with a female—perhaps her mother—who was joining the Crystal Lake pack. At least this pup had a brighter life than me.

***

4 years later

After declaring Andre' and Sasha to be the new alpha and luna of the Crystal Lake pack, Alpha Karl announced his retirement. As a group, we still stick together, acting like the peacekeepers of the forest. Archie grew into an active little pup. I had all the time in the world to devote myself to him now that the Silver Claw pack was gone.

As for my love life, Heath and I didn’t get into a serious relationship. Yeah, we fooled around and spent a couple of passionate nights together. But that was just s*x with no strings. Funny, I had learned to have s*x for fun over the years. I made my disinterest in a relationship very apparent to him. Despite this, he continued to look after Archie and support me when I needed it.

However, I stopped seeing him after he lost his cool one night. He demanded that I agree to be his chosen mate. It was strange, as I hadn’t seen him like that in the past. Being a trained alpha female, I managed to escape him that night unharmed. I kept the ordeal a secret from the others. I didn’t want to be the reason our friendship was ruined.

When he apologised later, I was glad I didn’t tell anyone. I believed he probably exploded at a moment of weakness. Although I accepted his apology, I was done seeing him or allowing my son to spend his day with him. If spending time with my son and I was giving him a reason to believe we belonged to him, I wanted that to end. He wasn’t entitled to anything. We were never fated together, nor was he the father of my child. After months of pestering, he stopped, much to my relief.

Even though we did not have much work as a team, our group remained active. We ignored insignificant internal conflicts within the packs, but we intervened when something significant was occurring. Especially if it could disrupt the peace. The surviving wolf packs lived in harmony and respected one another's limits after the dissolution of the Silver Claw and the demise of their violent leaders. Thus, in addition to helping any other pack that reached out, Sasha gave us the task of training their warriors.

Life was wonderful, but as with all good things, it was short lived.

Most of the time, rogue attacks did not really cause any problems. The wolf packs had everything they needed to take care of lone wolves. However, after 4 years of blissful peace, the number of attacks on the packs alarmingly increased. It was baffling because the attacks were so well organised, almost as though someone had orchestrated them. Rogues were wild wolves who didn’t bend their heads to anyone, so these attacks raised suspicion.

Could it be the work of the militants who escaped four years ago? Were they making a comeback?

The similarity between Silver Claw's style and these rogues struck me as the most concerning thing. Someone who knew about them could have had a hand in the attacks. One positive aspect was that the attacks lacked the viciousness of the Silver Claws. I knew, however, that we could not ignore it. Thus, we gathered. Heath, being part of the group, was also there. I didn’t think much about it, as I believed we were all responsible adults.

Weeks went by. We informed all the packs to keep us updated with any new information about the rogues and their whereabouts. There were a few reasons why our group got together every few days. Heath dropped by my house one day with some important messages from a pack. I was barely able to peer at the papers when my toddler screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Poppa!”

I winced. Being a five-year-old, Archie couldn’t hold back his excitement when he saw his Poppa - a nickname he wouldn’t stop calling Heath since he started blabbering gibberish. I found it cute at the time, and after I stopped seeing him, I kind of hoped Archie would just forget.

I was wrong. My emotions ran wild as I watched as he ran into Heath’s arms, who quickly enveloped him in a bear hug.

“Hey, little man. I missed you,” he said, grinning from ear to ear.

“Where did you go, Poppa? Mommy said you left,” Archie asked.

Guilt washed over me. Little did I think I was depriving my son of his Poppa’s love by pushing Heath away from our lives.