You Rejected Me. Remember?

Elijah was indeed accepted into the pack, however, he was supposed to do all the cleaning and other odd jobs for the army. He was informed that he couldn’t join the training sessions at first since they needed to evaluate him first. Instead, he was supposed to do the chores. Hence, all the chores that usually omegas who didn’t join the training handled, were passed onto Elijah.

That included cleaning the weapons and making sure that they were in good condition to use and making sure that their snacks and meals were ready on time. All of that in addition to making sure the lavatories and shower rooms in the wing of the warriors were cleaned thrice every day. In other words, he would be busy from sun-up till sundown, and he wouldn’t be able to relax until it was time to sleep. It sounded tiring. However, Elijah agreed without any hesitation. He took it as a form of rehabilitation.

He was given a little room to stay in. It was small, yet it had everything a person would need. A bed, a wardrobe and an attached toilet. He was the beta of his previous pack and came from a noble family. Although he didn’t have his parents with him as he grew up, he lived a rather wealthy life. And this little room was nothing compared to the riches he had enjoyed in the past.

He didn’t complain. As promised, he obeyed every command without a whine. Not even a little bit of hidden displeasure.

“We start our day early. The warriors will start to arrive at the grounds to start training by 5:30 in the morning. We officially start at six,” Castor informed him and left when Elijah nodded in response. He looked around. Alpha Miles had been kind enough to provide him with a stack of new clothes and other necessities.

“It’s a new chance at life, dude. Don’t mess this up,” he heard Fenris.

“I’ll try my best,” he promised. After doing his business in the bathroom and freshening up, he lay on the bed and smiled. Regardless of the hardness of the mattress, he was satisfied. It felt as though a huge burden was lifted off his shoulders. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face.

However, he was woken up within a couple of hours and when he did, he was drenched in sweat. Breathing heavily, he looked around. Without a doubt, he was overheated.

“Damn, I’m soaked,” mumbling, he walked over to the closed window and opened it. The cool night breeze made him smile. Yet, it only gave little comfort to him. Sighing, he squinted at the sky. The room wasn’t very congested. He didn’t understand why he wasn’t able to sleep. “Maybe because we are used to staying up the whole night,” Fenris mumbled in response to his unasked question.

“Yeah,” he breathed out,

He remained at the window as the soft wind cooled him down. He admired the serenity of the night. It was peaceful.

“If only my life could be just as serene…” he mumbled, loud enough for anyone nearby to hear him. However, it was the dead of the night and no one would bother to come near the servant’s quarters.

He stayed by the window for a long time until he sensed that he should go back inside. Glancing at the wall clock in the room, he nodded. It was already 5 in the morning.

“Well, we better start our day,” he told his wolf and went on his way to start his first day as an omega.

The cook reassured him that the food would be ready on time so he went into the warrior’s wing to clean the place. Time passed and soon he started to feel strange. He knew it was time for the sun to rise. Anxious, he glanced out of the little window on the east, where he could see the horizon. Beads of sweat trickled down his face. He stopped what he was doing and nervously stared at the rising red ball of fire.

Will it work? Did my apology break the curse? He wondered. It was just a matter of seconds. As soon as the sun rose completely, he would find out. He knew he was telling the truth when he begged to be pardoned the night before. However, that didn’t stop him from being antsy. He was just thankful that he was left alone in the area. All the warriors had joined the training session.

“Here goes,” he whispered and squeezed his eyes shut.

The sun rose and naturally, he waited for his body to morph into the tiny toad. Yet it never came. His heart skipped a beat as his eyes flung open. He stared at the rising sun. A wide grin spread across his face.

“It worked! It really worked!” He yelled, jumping in joy.

“Fenris?” He called his wolf.

“Yeah?”

“It worked dude! It worked!” Elijah laughed through their link.

“I know!” Fenris exclaimed. “And it is a second chance at life. Not everyone gets it. Remember that,” his wolf warned.

“Yes, yes. I will. Just….don’t remain silent if you see me do something stupid. Stop me. Take over my body if you have to. Just don’t let me blow this,” Elijah told Fenris.

“Now that you have given me the permission, I’ll take over your body whenever I like …..maybe to get back my mate,” Fenris joked.

Elija didn’t find his joke funny. His heart pained at the thought of his mate. She hated him and all because of his stupidity. Fighting against his urge to sigh, he took the cloth that had fallen from his hand

Wiping a sword, “I don’t know Fenris…..she hates me,” Elijah sadly mumbled.

“Then we will have to win her over. Are you giving up so soon?” Fenris huffed.

Elijah pursed his lips and chose to remain silent. She was a witch, and a powerful one. He had annoyed her once and now, he hesitated to face her.

“What if she does something worse?” He paused for a while. “I don’t want to give up….but….. I feel reluctant,” Elijah admitted.

“Well, we have survived and come this far. We will survive what life has in store for us,” Fenris’ replied in response.

Smiling, he nodded. He was lucky to have Fenris as his wolf. There wasn’t a doubt about that.

Amelia marched towards the weapons storage facility. She knew she would find Elijah in there. Monica had explained how the rejection works and now she was going to try it. She didn’t want to be bound by a bond, especially to someone like Elijah.

She was told that Elijah was to take care of everything related to the warriors and at the moment, she needed to see if he was still there. Or rather, if he was still in his human form. She wanted to check if he was telling the truth or not. The sun rose a short while back and if the curse had not broken, he would still turn into a toad. She wasn’t expecting him to change back. Not at least yet. She didn’t trust him, even a little bit.

She walked inside without hesitation. Her lips parted when she saw him wiping the swords one by one. She was a little surprised. So….the curse was broken? He was telling the truth the whole time? Staring at his back, she tilted her head.

And why did he have to be shirtless while wiping those weapons?

She wondered as she admired the flexing muscles on his back. Her mouth watered. He looked hot. She wouldn’t deny it. Even the sweaty back was appealing to her.

Wow, those muscles….

She found herself licking her lips. But then, she suddenly went rigid.

No! This wasn’t why she came here! Snap out of it! She scolded herself. Shaking her head, she scowled. She wasn’t going to give in. A mate bond was nothing for her to hold on to. She wanted to share her life with someone worthy. Someone caring and understanding. Someone honest and empathetic. In her opinion, someone who was supposed to be one’s soulmate wasn’t worth it, if that ‘mate’ was a douchebag.

Definitely not him! She reminded herself.

Elijah knew she was at the entrance. He heard her footsteps from a distance and his heart raced with each click of her heels. When her scent confirmed that indeed was her, his breathing hitched. She had arrived. He didn’t know why she was here. A part of him was excited, yet another part of him was anxious. He had no idea how this meeting would end. He chose to pretend that he didn’t notice her arrival and continued to do his work until she cleared her throat to gain his attention.

“Don’t you wolves have an enhanced sense of smell or is something wrong with your nose?” She snapped when he didn’t give her any attention. She crossed her arms across her chest and knitted her eyebrows together as she grimaced. She wanted to make sure that she looked annoyed. He had to know that she didn’t want him as her mate.

Elijah paused his work and slowly turned around. When her eyes fell on his well toned body, her throat tightened and the palpitations of her heart increased. His chest and his fit abs…….

No! She blinked to snap herself out of the trance she was being pulled into.

It’s just the stupid bond. I need to get rid of it!

She gritted her teeth and gulped down the lump in her throat.

Heaving a deep breath, she started to speak. “Look, I’ll be frank and go straight to the point. I don’t want a mate. I don’t want to be bound by a force. I want my life partner to be….. I don’t know how to say this …..I want him to be…. special….” She glanced at Elijah whose face was now wilted. His large eyes reflected pain and it hurt her to see him like that.

Shut up! It’s just the bond!

She reminded herself and once again she frowned.

She clenched her cold fists and released them. Inhaling deeply, she tried her best to compose herself.

This has to be done.

“This is the best for both of us. Now, I’ll reject you and you accept it. Then, we go our separate ways. That should be fine.”

Amelia’s statement made Elijah’s eyes go wide in fear.

“Mate is rejecting us?” Fenris whimpered and all Elijah could do was stare. He had anticipated something bad, however, not a rejection.

“We will go through this,” he reminded Fenris as he fought against the tears that threatened to gather in his eyes.

“Okay, here goes…” she shifted on her feet and he braced himself for the pain that was about to rip his heart apart.

“I, Amelia, reject you Elijah as my mate,” she declared and waited for the pain her wolf friends had told her about.

But….nothing happened. No pain…nothing… Elijah too was a little amazed. Happy, but surprised. So the rejection didn’t work. He thought.

She frowned.

“That’s funny. They said it should work like that,” she scrunched her nose and Elijah couldn’t help but snicker.

“It’s not funny mutt!” She sneered, glaring at him.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled and lowered his gaze. He knew he was at the lowest rank and he didn’t want to be labelled as someone who was disrespectful to a guest. He didn’t want to take any chances of falling out of Alpha Miles’ favour.

Amelia was frustrated. She wondered if she was doing something wrong.

“Elijah. You reject me. Maybe then it’ll work,” she demanded, the creases on her forehead deepening.

Elijah studied her demeanour. She was undoubtedly irritated. She doesn’t want to be with him. But they were mates. Yes, he had been a jerk in the past. But he was now trying to be a better person. He was now unsure if he deserved any happiness in life. However, he didn’t intend to reject a gift life had given him.

Gazing intently at her, Elijah shook his head.

Grimacing, “fine! I’ll figure this out!” She huffed and turned around to leave. As she walked towards the exit in haste, she ran right into one of the unmated warriors who returned from the training ground.

A little growl erupted from Elijah’s throat, making them snap their heads at him. Amelia knew that it must be jealousy. She smirked, yet walked away without a word. The wolf shrugged it away and walked towards the showers.

Sighing, Elijah slumped onto the stool beside him.

“This is going to be a long day, Fenris,” he told his wolf. “Monica may have forgiven me. But it looks like Amelia is going to give us a hard time,” he g*****d as he complained.

“I know. I don’t have a good feeling about this,” he also agreed with Elijah.