‘I, Hudson Shadow of the Shadow Rock pack, reject you, Quinn Redwood as my mate and Luna.’
‘You can’t reject me, the Moon Goddess doesn’t make mistakes’
‘Well, she did this time’
‘Are you sure? You want to break our bond?’
Hudson’s eyes snapped open, his eyes widening as he stared at the she wolf in front of him. ‘What the fuck!’ he yelled, balling his fists. ‘This can’t be happening!’ Staring up at the sky, he waved his fist angrily, ‘what the hell do you want from me? I didn’t sleep with anyone! I did exactly what you wanted and I’m here again!’
Quinn took a step back, eyeing him uncertainly, ‘who are you shouting at?’ she hissed, before glancing around them, ‘I didn’t ask you not to sleep with anyone, Hell, I only just met you! Whom you slept with before is none of my business!’
The Alpha pulled at his hair in frustration, ‘No, you don’t understand, you are not supposed to be here, I’m not supposed to be here!’ he growled.
Quinn’s shoulders tensed as she glared at him, ‘I have every right to be here, this is an open school for werewolves, and I was accepted by the principal. You have no right to tell me whether I can or can’t study here!’ She took a menacing step toward him, pointing her finger at him, ‘you already rejected me Alpha’ she spat derisively, ‘so you don’t get to tell me anything. You have decided that you are not my mate, and you are definitely not MY Alpha so your opinion means nothing!’
Turning on her heel, the she wolf stormed away from him without a backward glance. Blinking in surprise, Hudson shook his head before turning around and running back into the school and down the corridor. Skidding to a stop outside his classroom, he glanced through the window, spotting Garrett who was lounging in a chair at the back looking bored.
Slamming open the door, he ignored the shrieks of shock from the students and the yell from the teacher, staring at Garrett who raised an eyebrow.
Jerking his head toward the door, the Alpha spun around and marched back out, Garrett joining him a few seconds later.
‘You could have just mind linked me rather than scaring the shit out of everyone’ he offered conversationally as the pair wove their way through the school and outside to the fields.
Growling out his annoyance, Hudson cut across the grass, heading for the seating on the side of the football pitch. Climbing the stairs two at a time, he didn’t stop until he was at the very top where her dropped himself into one of the seats heavily.
‘As much as I enjoy a good workout, is there any reason you have me doing warm ups on these stairs?’ Garrett asked as he sat down next to him, lifting his feet to rest them over the back of the seats in front.
‘Your idea didn’t work’ The Alpha snapped angrily, ‘I did what you said and I’m still back here!’
Garrett nodded, ‘OK, sorry about that’ he replied, ‘but just to be clear, which idea are we talking about? I have a lot of ideas.’
Hudson huffed, ‘the idea not to sleep with anyone else and skip the party so there wasn’t a war’ he retorted.
The beta nodded sagely for a second before raising an eyebrow and shaking his head instead, ‘nope, not a clue what we are going on about’ he said with a shrug.
The Alpha sighed, rolling his eyes to the sky, ‘of course you have no idea, it hasn’t happened yet to you’ he muttered.
A glance to his right told him that his best friend was staring at him in concern, ‘you OK Alpha?’ he asked quietly, ‘do you need to see the nurse?’
Hudson barked out a laugh, ‘when our own pack doctor couldn’t help me, I doubt the school nurse can’ he replied bitterly.
Garrett turned to face him, ‘Huds, are you OK?’ he asked carefully.
The Alpha shook his head, ‘nope, and I’m about to tell you why, and it will sound crazy but you will believe me.’
Taking a deep breath, he launched into the story of how his life was repeating the same six days over and over again, when he reached the part of rejecting his mate, the Alpha held up a hand as Garrett was about to jump to his feet in anger.
‘Save it, you already got angry with me last time, punched me in the face’ he grumbled, rubbing at his jaw as if he could still feel the sting.
‘Should have kicked your ass’ the beta growled as he settled back into his chair, though his posture was somewhat stiff.
‘So, the war always happens because she felt the pain of your betrayal’ he queried as Hudson nodded glumly, ‘so don’t sleep with anyone and that should stop the war’ Garrett continued.
‘That was your idea last time’ Hudson huffed, ‘and yes it stopped the war but I still came right back here to just after my rejection.’
His best friend scratched his chin as he thought, ‘maybe you should get her to accept the rejection’ he reasoned, ‘if you are not tethered by the bond there is no reason to relive the same time period.
Hudson nodded, ‘yeah, that sounds good, I’ll try that’ he agreed, jumping up to his feet.
‘Where are you going?’ Garrett asked scrambling up beside him.
‘To find Quinn, she ran off about an hour ago, I need to find her and get her to accept the rejection.
Bounding down the stairs two at a time, the Alpha found his way halted when Garrett’s hand landed on his arm.
Spinning around to face him, he was met with a fist to the stomach, doubling him over.
‘What the fuck was that for?’ he shouted, rubbing at the spot where his Beta’s fist had connected with his body.
‘That was for rejecting my Luna’ his friend replied sternly, ‘now go and find her.’
Deciding not to argue over the term Garrett used, he sprinted across the field toward the school. Once inside, he started to scour the classrooms as he passed, looking for the familiar red hair of his mate.
After finding each classroom devoid of the she wolf, he turned his attention to the school gym, growling in annoyance when it was empty. Stomping back through the corridors, he passed a set of stairs that led up to the library. On a whim, he turned left and climbed the steps, stepping out onto the mezzanine and making his way to the glass door that was the entrance to the school library.
Pushing open the door, he walked inside, wincing as the door slammed shut behind him.
‘Shh’ the librarian scolded, glaring at him from her seat behind the desk.
Holding up a hand in apology, Hudson tiptoed across the carpet toward the shelves and disappeared between them, searching for the petite she wolf.
Reaching the end of the second aisle, he stumbled across one of the baseball team dry humping one of the she wolves from a neighbouring pack as the pairs tongues wrestled for dominance.
Sliding past without disturbing them, he rounded the corner to find a small seating area tucked around the corner that had a table a four chairs. Sitting quietly was Quinn, her attention solely on the book that was in her hands, her nose scrunched up cutely over whatever was written.
Stealing his resolve, Hudson walked toward her and pulled out the chair on the other side of the table. Quinn didn’t even move, her eyes flicking across the page as she let out a cute giggle over something in the story.
Taking a seat, the Alpha cleared his throat awkwardly, startling the girl in front of him.
Snapping her attention to him, her surprised face turned to one of distaste when she focused on him. ‘What do you want?’ she asked, her tone indifferent as if his presence didn’t affect her at all.
Hudson swallowed, thrown off by her blatant disregard for the mate bond between them. He had rejected her and still felt the pull even if the sparks were gone if he was to touch her, with her bond still intact, she should be desperate to be near him in anyway. ‘I uh . . wanted to talk to you’ he said somewhat lamely.
Quinn snorted as she rolled her eyes, ‘why’ she demanded, ‘need to accuse me of something else do you? Or maybe you are here to try and run me out of the school again’ she offered derisively.
Hudson cringed under the force of her sarcasm, ‘no’ he growled, ‘I wasn’t . . I didn’t . .’ Taking a deep breath he tried to calm himself, no easy feat when Harvey was jumping around in his head, happy to have his mate’s attention. ‘I wasn’t trying to run you out of the school, I was just surprised to find myself where I was and it came out like I was talking to you’ he sighed.
Quinn raised an eyebrow, ‘so if you weren’t talking to me, who were you talking too? Because as far as I could see, we were the only two people there’ she replied accusingly.
The Alpha scrubbed his face with his hand, ‘I was shouting at the Goddess’ he mumbled, ‘she’s not really been on my side recently.’
The she wolf let out a laugh, the sound rolling around them making the werewolf want to say something, anything funny to get her to make the sound again. ‘I’m not surprised she isn’t on your side, you did just reject the person she picked for you out of the entire world’ she scoffed.
Hudson nodded, ‘yeah, I uh . . that’s what I wanted to talk to you about’ he admitted.
Quinn stilled, closing her book and placing it on the desk in front of her as she gave him her full attention. ‘You want to talk about your rejection?’ she asked slowly.
Hudson nodded, ‘I think, maybe the Goddess, she might be angry with me because . . what I’m trying to say is, I think it’s best for you if . . . I feel it would be a good idea if you accepted my rejection’ he finally managed to spit out.
The she wolf sat across from him, her face devoid of emotions.
‘You want me to accept your rejection so that the Goddess will forgive you?’ she surmised as her eyes narrowed.
The werewolf gave her a weak smile as he nodded, ‘yes?’ he replied though it came out as more of a question.
Quinn nodded slowly before standing up and grabbing her bag that had been on the floor by her chair, sweeping her book off the desk before heading toward the exit.
Scrambling to his feet, Hudson followed her, shoving past the two teenagers that were still making out, ignoring their shouts of protest as he chased after his mate.
‘Wait!’ he yelled, catching her up and reaching out to grab her arm.
‘Shh!’ the librarian hissed for a second time, glaring at him again as Quinn pulled her arm away from him.
As they stepped out of the library, he reached for her again, ‘please Quinn’ he begged, ‘please just talk to me.’
Quinn turned to face him, ‘why?’ she asked, ‘you want me to accept your rejection that you made because of some damn rank which you think might have pissed off our moon Goddess.’ She squared her shoulders, wrapping her arms around her book and holding it to her chest as she growled angrily. ‘I think you have a damn nerve asking me for a favour Hudson Shadow’ she snarled, ‘and just in case you are too stupid to realise what my walking away meant, the answer is No, I do not accept your rejection.’
Hudson grabbed her arm again to stop her walking away, ‘why?’ he asked desperately, ‘why won’t you accept?’
Quinn smiled up at him as she carefully peeling his fingers from her skin, ‘because you don’t get to tell me what to do, you are not my Alpha, I am not your mate.’ Readjusting the strap of her bag she added, ‘and to be honest, I’m pissed, so I don’t see why I should release you so you can go look for a second chance mate. I see this as my service to all she wolves in the vicinity, as long as you are connected to me, no other poor girl has to suffer the misfortune of being mated to your arrogant ass.’
Lifting one hand up, she waved her fingers at him cheekily before turning and walking away again, leaving the Alpha once more, standing alone.