You Rejected Me. Remember?

Elijah spent a few minutes at the river bank to discuss the matter with Fenris. He was glad that he had his wolf with him.

“But first we need to get some sort of confirmation about it. I could be wrong….I mean….I hope I’m wrong,” Elijah sighed. “The problem is, Baron will not tell me anything. He is scary and hard to communicate with.”

“So trick him into telling him about Monica’s mom. We all know she is dead now. But maybe she slept with him. If that’s the case, then he could have fathered her. He is the alpha, so it could…” Fenris replied.

“I swear that I have a feeling that she recognised me. That look on her face….she looked like she might murder me….she hated me. There is no question about it,” Fenris added.

Elijah felt his heart race. He understood what Fenris meant. Her menacing glare was enough to make him dread meeting her again. The look in her angry eyes was clear proof of her deep aversion towards him. Attempting to calm his racing heart, he inhaled a deep breath.

“Or maybe you can use one of the were-wine bottles in the kitchen of the packhouse. After everyone left, people seldom use it.”

“Were-wine? And try to get him drunk enough so that he would blurt the truth out?” Elijah placed his right hand on the silt and clutched a fistful of dirt in his palm.

“Yeah. And maybe add a few drops of truth serum into it,” Fenris smirked.

Elijah’s eyes widened as his lips crooked upwards.

“Truth serum…where can we get that?” He asked.

“I think there might be some in the infirmary. Or perhaps in the cabinet Baron keeps special solvents and medicines which he uses against criminals…. You know…to torture them.”

Elijah nodded to show that he understood. Baron had kept a wide range of solvents including different kinds of poison to use to torture the lawbreakers. During their golden days, Baron had trusted Elijah enough to show him everything.

“Just check. Its name is Amytal Sodium,” Fenris told him.

“How do you know all of this?” Elijah frowned.

“We were taught that in school, duh,” Fenris stated, rolling his eyes. “You forgot. I guess wolves have a better memory,” he added.

“Whatever,” Elijah mumbled, getting up from the riverbank. “We should hurry up. We have a lot of work to do….ready?” He asked Fenris who nodded in agreement.

Elijah shifted into his wolf and dashed through the unclaimed part of the forest. He sprinted until he reached the deserted Red Wings pack. His heart ached at the sight. The parks and the households that were once lively were now completely silent. It was still not too late at night, and the residents of the pack would have been still awake. However, now, pin-drop silence was what he heard. The deserted houses and eerie silence made it seem like an abandoned, haunted town. Those warriors who remained were now rogues and lived on their own. They did come back to use the empty houses as a shelter, however, since the Queen had announced that the Red Wings pack was no longer a pack under her kingdom, no one cared what happened to the buildings on the ground.

He gulped. He was part of the reason for the downfall of his pack. He shouldn’t have taken Baron’s side. But it was a bit too late now. The damage was done and it cannot be denied. Sighing, he entered the packhouse and shifted back to his human form. He first went to his room so that he could take a bath, which was overdue, and wear a fresh set of clothes.

Thinking about what he would say to Baron, he walked towards the alpha quarters where Baron had locked himself in. He stopped by the alpha office, to search through the cabinet. A little smile curved his lips when he went through the familiar collection of bottles. Bottles of various kinds of poison were lined up. Some of them were so intense that they could kill a wolf with a single drop. Others caused excruciating pain, resulting in death. Some of them caused a slow death. His eyes rested on one little bottle at the end of the shelf.

Amytal.

It was labelled. The corners of his lips were crooked. So Baron did have it in his collection. Elijah did not give much attention to what Baron had in his cabinet. He used to simply follow his orders without a question. He used to be a lot like a puppet or a charged robot who didn’t have any emotions.

Regretful about his life choices, he sighed and took the bottle of truth serum. He stood up to leave. He knew Baron most probably wouldn’t be easy to approach. He didn’t take morphing into a toad very well. He hid himself during the day and when night fell, he took as much as food he could into his quarters and locked himself in there.

Elijah tried to talk on the first day, however, it was in vain. Sighing in exasperation, he walked towards the kitchen so that he could prepare the were-wine for his alpha.

“Let’s just hope he will agree to have a drink with me,” he mumbled to himself.

“Well, here goes,” he sighed and walked towards the alpha quarters with a racing heart. He was anxious. After taking a couple of breaths to calm himself down, he knocked on the door.

“Go away! Leave me the f**k alone!” Baron bellowed, making Elijah wince.

Sucking in a breath, “alpha…it has been almost a week. Come on, let’s have a drink,” Elijah suggested, silently hoping that it would work. Silence followed. Elijah waited for a while, hoping that Baron would say something. However, as minutes ticked by, he started to feel despondent.

“Maybe I should leave and focus on trying to beg for forgiveness from Monica myself,” he told Fenris who nodded in agreement.

Just as he was about to leave, Baron opened the door. Elijah was shocked to see his state. His bad eye was still patched, yet his normally well-groomed hair was dishevelled and it smelt like Baron hadn’t taken a bath in ages.

Trying not to gag, Elijah forced a smile. “Uh …alpha, a drink?” He suggested, lifting the bottle.

Nodding his head, Baron stepped outside. Elijah was glad that Baron didn’t choose to invite him into his room. From what he saw, he knew the room’s condition was worse than ever.

They went to the table placed at the balcony which was a short walk away from the alpha’s room.

“Perhaps, a drink or two will help,” Elijah spoke, trying to lighten the mood.

Scoffing, “a drink or two? No! A whole bottle will do. I can’t believe that your mate had the nerve of cursing us like that! I mean….what the f**k was she thinking?” He growled.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Elijah bit his inner cheeks to prevent himself from saying anything against Baron. If he wanted to squeeze out information from him, he would have to be civil, regardless of how hard it was to hear him curse his mate.

“You should have shown her where she belonged. You should have marked her on the spot. Maybe then, she wouldn’t dare curse us like this!” Baron grumbled.

Clenching his jaws, Elijah offered the bottle to Baron.

“Maybe you should take the whole bottle. Perhaps, it would help you calm your nerves a bit,” he said, trying his best to control the rising anger.

“Gladly,” Baron mumbled, grabbing the bottle of were-wine laced with truth serum.

Elijah watched gleefully as he gulped it down. It was a good thing that Amytal was odourless and colourless. Baron wouldn’t be able to detect its presence, despite being an alpha.

Baron slammed the glass bottle on the table and grinned at Elijah. Signs of being drunk could already be seen on his face.

Offering a friendly smile Elijah placed his forearms on the table and leaned forward.

“So do you miss the ladies?” He asked, carefully.

Baron started to laugh. The sound of his laughter was the only sound besides the rustling of the leaves. There was something sinister about his laugh and Elijah started to feel scared. However, when Baron glanced at him, Elijah knew that it was the effect of the wine he had offered.

“Ladies?” Baron chuckled through his hiccups. “Damn yes! But what can I do during the day? I am a f*****g toad who sleeps the whole time! And when night comes, Warg doesn’t want to cooperate with me. His depression has gone from bad to worse. He is still talking about his Luna! Damn it!” He cursed, clenching his fists in a tight ball.

Pursing his lips Elijah thought of a way to introduce Monica’s mother to the topic. “Well, Luna Norah was special. But you had several women in your life, didn’t you? My question is, how did you do it? I’m still young, and I need to learn,” Elijah acted irritated as he spoke. “You know my mate has left me. But as a man I have needs,” he stated and waited for the older man to say something.

Baron leaned forward in his drunk state and stared into his eyes.

“Good thing ……you realised this,” he hiccuped. “But where are the ladies now? Huh? Gone!” He exclaimed.

“We can find them. Perhaps there are rogue females out there. I just need to know your tips.” Elijah shrugged, wondering if he was doing it right.

Chuckling through his hiccups, Baron started to drink the remainder of the wine in the bottle.

“Some of them are sluts, and they would come to sleep with you with a snap of your fingers,” snickering, he mumbled. “Others are a bit hard to get….” He trailed off. “Sometimes if I want to bang one, I force them to.”

Elijah couldn’t believe his ears. He wondered if Monica’s mother was a slut, as the whole pack labelled her, or if she was forced to sleep with the alpha.

“But did you see her live as a slut? Or did you simply believe what the society told you?” He heard Fenris in his head.

He sat silently, thinking about it, only to realise that he had been living his life as a blind puppet the whole time. Monica’s mom was labelled as a w***e, however, as he grew up, he never saw her speak to a male. She barely went out of the hut they lived in. He remembered that she lived a secluded life. If she was a slut as society had called her, she would have lived like one.

His curiosity increased and Fenris kept nudging in his mind to ask Baron about Clara, Monica’s mother.

“Clara, the whore…..” he trailed off. He couldn’t form a complete sentence. He was too overwhelmed with emotions.

“Clara?” Baron sniggered. “That little bitch….” He hiccuped. She almost ruined my perfect reputation. She almost succeeded in proving that I had r***d her. That slut!” Baron growled in anger.

Elijah froze. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. However, he knew it was the time of the truth.

“But why?” He managed to croak, despite the tightness of his throat.

“She was a maid in the packhouse… one of the prettiest. Her …her mate rejected her without claiming her, so she wanted to take the day off and came to ask for permission from me,” he smirked as he glanced at Elijah.

“She was rejected. And I only tried to make her feel better. But she wouldn’t agree. She kept trying to fight me off her,” he laughed. “But I am an alpha. What would an omega do against me?”

Elijah didn’t realise that he had his jaws clenched. Every muscle in his body stiffened as he grabbed the side of his seat. His knuckles were going white with the force he held onto it.

“So the a*****e r***d her,” Fenris growled in his mind.

Baron wasn’t worth it and he was stupid to believe that his alpha was right. Shaking in anger he stood up from the seat and walked away from the drunk alpha.

“I have wasted eighteen years of my life!” Elijah exclaimed to his wolf.

“Let’s kill him!” Came the response and Elijah glanced at Baron who now had his head resting on his arm.

Snarling at him, Elijah shook his head.

“Let him live his pathetic life. He will turn into a toad when the sun rises and with that attitude, he will never get cured. I want to focus on becoming a better person. And hopefully, earn her forgiveness. I have learnt my lesson the hard way, Fenris. I’ll try my best to be pardoned by her. But if I fail by the time two months pass, you are free to reject me and leave. Maybe then, you will be blessed with another human who wouldn’t mess things up,” Elijah firmly told his wolf, feeling deeply remorseful about how he had lived.

“I ain’t going anywhere. I like this new attitude of yours. I’m sure you will somehow do it.” Fenris replied after a little while, making Elijah’s lips curve in a sad smile.