Chapter 10
Derek’s POV
TRIGGER WARNING
I get home and my mom has almost the whole pack out there waiting for me to welcome me home, and to welcome my mate as well. Piper enjoyed the welcome to my pack and was quite happy with her reception. She didn’t notice the death glares that Heather and her group were giving her. I am going to have to deal with Heather first, I see, as I cannot have her telling Piper that she thought that she was going to be my Luna. She actually believed it. I told all the girls that it was my line. I used it because it worked, every single time.
We had a great lunch, and it was delicious, and it was nice to see everyone again. Well except for Jack and Heather, it was not good to see them, and I would be taking care of both of them soon, and Piper and I headed upstairs. Some of the Omegas had already taken our luggage up to our room. We had a shower together and I took the opportunity to help reduce my stress level by having a quickie in the shower. I promised her a more thorough version tonight, but I knew I needed to get going, and I could let her have a quick nap while I was out and taking care of business.
I couldn’t find jack yet, but I did finally find Heather and her minions as they came back into the packhouse from the patio area, and I asked to speak to Heather alone. She gave a smug smile at them like I had finally come to my senses, but that wasn’t it. I needed to alpha command her to leave Piper alone. I cannot have Heather, who was the most possessive of all the girls in the pack that I had slept with, that she needed to lay off. The other girls knew they had best leave me alone already. I led her up to the Alpha office so we could speak and shut the door, locking it behind us.
“I knew you would come to your senses Derek,” Heather said as she put her arms around my shoulders and rubbed her body up against mine.
“No, Heather, you’re misunderstanding me. I will never be with you. I am taking Piper as my mate, and it is a done deal. The paperwork has been signed and I will mate her. We have a treaty and a contract, I will not break it”, I told Heather.
“Are you fucking kidding me, Derek? I have done everything that you have asked me to. I love you and want to be with you. Why would you do this to me?” Heather cried out in frustration. She doesn’t love me, she never has, it has always been about the title for her.
“You love me? Right, you know nothing about love, you just want to be Luna. You are a horrible power-hungry bitch who likes to hurt people. Stop kidding yourself, we both know you never loved me. We enjoyed each other, but neither of us “loved” the other. You don’t know the first thing about love.”, I told her and started to turn to walk away from her.
“I am going to tell Piper about you promising to make me Luna. That we have been together for the last 2 years and that I love you. If I can’t have you, I am going to make life hard on you”, Heather told me, and I am surprised by how vile she is, especially when talking to me.
“I am glad you reminded me, Heather. I forbid you to speak to Piper about us sleeping together, or me telling you that you could be Luna. You will only speak kindly to her and be obedient to both mine and her instructions that we give you. You will not harass her, or offend her, by speaking about us to Piper, ever” I told her with authority in my voice. I could feel the power radiating from me as I spoke to her and commanded her to and I saw her expression change from defiance, to accepting my instructions.
“OK, Derek, I will follow both your and Piper’s instructions,” Heather told me, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I know the other girls wouldn’t say anything, as it was just Heather who always tried to push the line. My dad won’t listen to her father as we have a treaty and an agreement between the packs. Plus, he wants this to happen. He wants me to be with a higher-ranking she-wolf. We haven’t had a lot of rogue problems, but the Lowell’s over at the River Bed pack have been lately. They've gotten small attacks by rogues where they test the perimeters and caused some damage to some of the buildings. They keep an eye out for when the patrols change, and they are getting bolder. Alpha Lowell had called me and told me last month that they had received two letters in the mail in the last month. The Rogues had heard about the engagement of Piper and me, and they warned if we combined our packs that they would attack until they brought both packs to their knees.
I wasn’t worried, they were bluffing, and nothing had happened yet. I really didn’t think that they would do anything. We haven’t been attacked by Rogues in like ten years, neither had the River Bed pack, until the small acts started lately. Although we had received the warning, we didn’t put a lot of merit into the threat. No lives had been lost, and it seemed like it was just malicious mischief that could have been done by teens in the River Bed pack.
I was heading back to my room when I saw my mom hurrying past me to the stairs and heading down. Ten seconds later, I see Justin pass me running and told me, “Come on” as he passes me and then passes mom on the stairs, pouring on speed as he hit the main floor. I didn’t know what was going on, but I started hurrying behind them to see what had happened. I heard yelling and a fight going on at the laundry room door, where two of the warriors were fighting with Justin and Percy Emerson at the door. I suddenly hear screaming from inside the room and realize that Jack had got Gabi again and she is scared to death with her terrified screams. I ran to the door, but it was locked from the inside. I am so scared I don’t know what to do.
I started yelling out instructions to Jack through the door, “Jack Walker, this is Derek Stryker and I command you to stop and unlock this door. Right now. Leave Gabi alone and do not harm her. Unlock this door right now, I will condemn you to death if you do not follow my instructions”. I realized the fighting behind me stopped suddenly when I threatened Jack with death, and his cohorts decided that it wasn’t worth their lives to continue trying to run interference for him. I waited twenty seconds and the door was still not unlocked, so I yelled out again, “Jack, open this door right now. I will not warn you again. Open this door, or today will be the last day you draw a breath”, I told him and waited. Ten seconds later, the lock turns, and the door opens. I see Jack standing there with his pants half off, but his underwear still in place, and Gabi on the folding table crying in relief. I told Justin to allow Jack to get his pants on and take him and the other two to a cell, and that I would deal with them later. I stepped into the room with Percy, my mom and we headed to the table to check on Gabi. I swear to the Goddess if he raped her, I would kill all three of them. I don’t care if I end up losing three warriors or not. I don’t want people like that in my pack anyway. I am so glad I was here as she would have been raped if I weren’t able to get here in time, as the door was locked from the inside, and Justin and Percy would not have been able to get to her to save her. I had Alpha commanded him twice to get him to unlock it, which meant he really didn’t want to stop what he had been doing, his intent had been to rape Gabi, and I am filled with fury. I grab a sheet from one of the carts scattered around the room to take to Gabi to help cover her. I see the torn leggings on the floor, and her torn hoodie and underclothes scattered around, and I see red. Gabi is grabbing her father and crying on his shoulder as I hand the sheet to my mother to cover Gabi.
I stepped behind her father and thought maybe I should head out of the room when I saw Gabi look up as if she sensed me and looked me dead in the eye. I feel the connection between us is like a physical thing between us and I take a step back in shock. I never realized that it would be that strong. Gabi’s looking at me like I hung the moon and I see the tears hanging from her long lashes, but she is not crying anymore. It was too late. I never should have entered the room, but I wanted to check on her and make sure that she was alright. My cock twitches to life as she continues to look at me and mom turns her head to look at me like she realizes what is happening. I have to shut this down. I can’t let it go any further along as it will just hurt us both more.
“I, Derek Chase Stryker, reject you, Gabrielle Emerson, as my Goddess-given mate. I have a chosen mate now and I will not accept you as being my mate. You are only an Omega and therefore not strong enough to lead this pack with me. You don’t have a wolf and you are weak. You cannot fight and have no value to me as a mate. I don’t need you or love you, Gabi, you just need to accept my rejection”, I told her.
My mother gasps and I heard another gasp from the door and realized that her mother had just walked into the room. Her father is furious, and I guess I deserve it. She just almost got raped and I am rejecting her right after it. I am a complete jerk, and I can hang my wish of me and Gabi being together now, as she won't want anything to do with me now. I just didn’t want to string her along or prolong her pain, so I thought that this was best. I waited to hear her response, and I saw that she had passed out. Laying back in her father’s arms. She can’t accept the rejection because the pain she was in literally knocked her out.
“Derek, you are more like your father than I ever knew. He swore to me that Piper was your mate and that you had found her at school. But that was a lie, wasn’t it, as I have seen mates find each other several times and your mate was Gabi, not Piper. Then you have the gall to reject her right after that horrible man tried for the second time in as many days to rape her. I don’t care what your father wants, or that your greed to grow the packlands is so great that you would break this poor innocent girl’s heart to do it, but the cost was too high. One day you and your father will learn that the Goddess knows best. She always puts the right people together for a reason, for love, or to prepare them for their second chance mate. She rarely rewards the one who breaks their mate’s heart. Gabi cannot accept your rejection right now. She needs to go home. I cannot believe that I am going to say this, as I love you, you are my son and I love you more than anything, but I hope that you get what is coming to you for doing this. It was your choice to make, and I know you already knew who your mate was all this time. Yet you treated her horribly. You allowed others to treat her horribly. People think I don’t pay attention around here, but I do. I saw this poor innocent girl being abused and mistreated and when I took it to your father for action, he didn’t care or do anything about it, or command them to stop it. You had better tell your father what happened. I am too angry to speak with him right now. He had better do something to Jack this time, Derek, or I swear to the Goddess, I will leave him. I have had enough. Claire, Percy, could you two follow me for a minute, I need to speak with you both” Luna Elizabeth finishes talking and walks away, leaving me standing there in shock.