You Rejected Me. Remember?

“What the hell is he doing here?” Monica linked her wolf and looked away because the mere sight of her abuser was making it hard for her to contain her anger.

“Maybe he wants to talk to Amelia. He just said that he wants to redeem himself. His mate has cursed him….you know?” Asena pointed out, making Monica breathe out.

“And did he have to come here, now? He could speak with his mate whenever and wherever he wanted. Why did he have to come where I could see him?” Monica was frustrated.

“I know. If he truly wants to redeem, he can do it where we don’t have to deal with him,” Asena agreed with her.

Monica continued to pretend that she was interested in the fire that was burning in front of her as Miles looked around. Although Celeste wasn’t familiar with the newcomer, she understood that he must be someone who wasn’t very welcome as Philip quickly stood in front of her, protectively, covering her and Monica from the newcomer’s sight. Cade too stepped close to Monica and snaked his arm around her waist.

Amelia instantly understood why Elijah was saying that he wanted to redeem. She squinted into the distance, wondering if he was alone. She had cursed two of them. So it surprised her to see that only Elijah was here to earn Monica’s forgiveness. Her gaze fell on Elijah, who had his eyes lowered and hands raised to beg as he knelt in front of the Alpha. He looked so pathetic. Rolling her eyes she scoffed.

“Just saying that you want to change won’t help you, jerk. The curse won’t break by words that have no meaning in it,” she sneered at him.

Miles frowned at Amelia. “What do you mean?” He asked.

“You have heard about the curse. The only way they could break it is by earning Monica’s apology. And they’d have to mean it. Just mere words won’t help them even a bit,” Amelia told him, her lips stretching in a smirk as she glanced at Elijah. She thought she saw a tear rolling down and dripping from his chin. Yet, she chose to ignore it and walked away from him.

Her heart thudded uncomfortably as she walked away. The mate bond was affecting her, however, she was determined to make him pay for what he had done in the past.

Monica couldn’t believe her ears. With her eyebrows furrowed, she stared at Amelia who was coming towards her.

“What?” She whispered. “He is here to see me?” She breathed out.

Nodding her head, “don’t worry. He won’t be able to hurt you here,” Amelia mumbled in response.

“I’m not worried about him hurting me. I just don’t want to see him!” She responded in a hushed whisper.

“So, you want to speak with Monica?” Miles raised an eyebrow as he looked at the wolf who was kneeling in front of him.

Elijah nodded. He didn’t expect Amelia to be present in the Dark Howl pack. The presence of his mate made it a hundred times harder and more embarrassing for him. Nonetheless, he was going to face the consequences of his actions, regardless of how hard it was.

Miles glanced at Monica who was grimacing. Her lips were pursed and her forehead was wrinkled. She kept scowling at the fire as she fiddled with the hem of her shirt. Undoubtedly, she was anxious. Or perhaps frustrated. She didn’t look as though she was ready to face Elijah.

“I don’t think she is ready for you yet,” he mumbled when he saw how disgruntled Monica was.

“Please…. I’ll do anything…. I’m even ready to be her slave and do anything she orders me to. I will not ask any questions. I will not hesitate to obey her. She….. I…. I was wrong…..” his voice started to quiver.

“I was wrong to believe what I was told. I should have questioned them and used my brain to think. I easily believed what the society told me,” he desperately glanced at Monica.

“I also was young…..and I believed that my elders were right. But now I have realised the truth. Baron….. I ….. I….. can’t…..” he trailed off. He couldn’t find the courage to say it out loud. He couldn’t say that he had learnt what Baron had done to her mother. He didn’t know if Monica knew or not. All he knew was that he was utterly wrong to believe in Baron.

Elijah covered his face with his hands. He was ashamed of himself. His throat tightened, making it hard for him to speak. Admitting his mistakes was something he never thought he would do, yet here he was.

“I’m sorry,” he gasped. A moment of silence passed by. Miles started to feel sorry for the young wolf. He reminded him of his younger self. The situation was different, and it wasn’t his place to forgive him. It was Monica’s. So he remained silent, waiting for Monica to say something. He glanced at her once again and then at Calli who nodded at Miles.

“Say, something Monica. It’s your choice,” she told her.

Monica gulped. She looked at Elijah who’s tears were now streaming down his cheeks. He looked as though he was sorry. And he was right. He too was young, however, it was hard for her to accept his actions. She could understand that he was young and could be easily manipulated, yet, he didn’t have to be part of the abuse.

“If his apology is sincere, the curse will break. If not, nothing will happen,” she heard Asena mumble in her head.

Looking away from her former abuser, “do you think we should forgive him….just like that?” Monica asked her wolf.

“Do you want to deal with him? If we don’t accept his apology, chances are that he will come back and keep trying. Why don’t we just let him go? If he wasn’t apologising for real, he will turn into a toad tomorrow morning. If he truly is sorry, the curse will break….. I’d rather just forgive him since he asked for it and let him go. I want to live my life in peace. Why should we hold on to the past?” Asena counselled.

Sighing, Monica nodded in agreement. Her wolf was right. There was no need of holding onto something that would weigh her down. She wanted to live a happy life with her mate. What had happened in the Red Wings pack was now long gone.

Heaving in a deep breath, she glanced at Elijah. She closed her eyes.

“I forgive you,” her declaration surprised everyone.

“I forgive you because you have apologized. I don’t want to hold onto the past, and I’m not cruel enough to want to get revenge from someone who is trying to redeem himself. If your apology is sincere, we’ll know in the morning. Just….. just stay away from me. I have forgiven you, but I seriously am not ready to deal with you,” she said and turned towards her mate. She buried her face in his shirt and inhaled. His scent calmed her racing heart.

“Thank you…. thank you so much,” Elijah was overjoyed. Although no one in the pack ground trusted him, he knew that his apology was sincere and that it was enough to break the curse. Now, changing for the better was what was left on his to do list.

“Now, there is one thing I need to know,” Miles spoke, looking at Elijah, who was now wiping his face, obviously delighted that he was pardoned.

“How did you sneak past the guards? I have increased the number of patrols in the woods and at the perimeters and it baffles me that they didn’t detect your presence on our territory,” Miles asked him, frowning.

“Oh, that? If you rub wolfsbane on your skin, it will cancel out your scent. It will cause irritation and if you don’t wash it off soon, it might give you blisters, but no one will be able to detect your scent. That’s how I made sure no one would be able to sniff me out ……well, I was almost caught once and that was when I was a bit too careless….” He nervously glanced at Monica and Cade. “Anyway, I used the wolfsbane to help mask my scent and laid low… ummm…it wasn’t hard since I wasn’t in this form during the day,” smiling sheepishly, Elijah explained.

“Interesting…” he smirked and glanced at Nolan and Castor. “Do you think that wolves can grow immune to it if we use it in mild amounts? I mean, is it possible to train the skin of our warriors so that they can tolerate it to some extent?” He tilted his head as he inquired.

“Maybe….it could be experimented on. It might be useful during wars or attacks….” Elijah looked up.

“Uh …. Alpha…. May I join your pack? I am not going back to the Red Wings pack. If you don’t want to take me in, I’ll live as a lone wolf in the woods…..” Elijah humbly spoke.

Grinning, “do you think we should take him in? He is talented and knowledgeable,” Miles asked his friends via mindlink.

“Will it bother Monica?” Castor linked back.

“Let’s discuss?” Nolan responded. All three of them gathered around Monica, who still had her face buried in Cade’s chest.

“Monica, would you mind if we take Elijah in our pack? He will be under strict supervision and will be exiled at the first sign of deception,” Miles spoke, making Monica glance at them.

Sighing, “Well….. it’s your pack, alpha. I won’t mind if he doesn’t bother me. I don’t want to do anything with him,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders.

Smiling at her answer, Miles nodded his head in satisfaction.

Amelia wasn’t satisfied. Furrowing her eyebrows, she leaned towards Monica.

“You forgave him? Just like that?” She mumbled. Monica glanced at the young witch, who was staring at her in disbelief. She let out a chuckle and frowned.

“Amelia…..I … I don’t have the energy to deal with him. He has asked for forgiveness and as you have stated, the curse will break only if he was being sincere. So…” she shrugged her shoulders.

The witch rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You are too kind, wolf girl. Well, I’m not. I don’t care about the mate bond. I refuse to forgive him. I’ve seen what he did to you….it is unforgivable…..well…. That alpha is the worst but Elijah was his sidekick,” Amelia grumbled under her breath.

“Same here. He does have a point. He is young and was easily manipulated by his elders. But some of it was because he too was rotten. Like when he stabbed me in the woods….” Philip chimed in. Monica snapped her head towards him.

“He was the one who stabbed you with the silver blade?” She asked and Philip nodded in response.

“He must have wanted to make sure that I die,” he told them. Miles exchanged glances with Nolan and Castor.

“That’s messed up, then. I’ll put him in the lowest ranks of the pack. Let’s see how he takes it,” Miles stated and walked away with Nolan and Castor.

“Damn that stupid wolf! If only you weren’t already mated, I would have dated you just to get on his nerves,” Amelia told Philip and Celeste glared at her. Her eyes started to turn red. Chuckling, Amelia raised her hands in peace.

“I’m not touching your man, girl. He is yours. Maybe I’ll get someone else to make him jealous,” she smirked.

“Why don’t you just reject him?” Monica suggested.

Amelia blinked. “Reject…..him?” She asked.

“Yeah. Mates can accept or reject each other. It will be painful, but if you don’t want him, you should reject him. You have a reason good enough to do so,” Monica explained.

“Interesting,” Amelia shifted on her feet and faced Monica. “Tell me more about this…. rejection,” she said, giving her full attention to Monica.