Chapter 4: Chapter 4

When Austin walked away from the room. She could swear time stopped for a few minutes, then restarted just to taunt her. Her wolf was whimpering inside, the cry tearing into her soul so much that she could no longer stand straight. Her back arced first, before her legs turned to jelly and she fell into the sofa beside her Father in an instant.

This was not how it was supposed to be, she kept on chanting in her mind. It definitely could not be how it was supposed to be.

She did not have enough details on the mating process, neither had she ever watched it unfold in real time. She’d only heard stories, read books, and that was enough for her to know that this was not how it was meant to go. Heck, there was supposed to be some sappy fairytale moment. But, how could she have expected that in her present situation? Maybe she and her wolf were more foolish than they seemed.

Sure, she’d been silly to shout out that she was his mate. Sure, she was a total stranger he had never seen until tonight. But, didn’t he feel that? That yearning? That feeling that everything good that the future could ever offer her (or him, or both of them as one) was standing right in front of her in the form of a hot, hot Alpha and right in front of him in whatever way he must have viewed her.

Now, poof! It was all gone in an instant, along with him and those golden eyes.

She’d held in all the fear and anger and frustration she’d felt from the moment the Oddies attacked her pack. She’d held it all in like the daughter of her Father, the one and only Alpha Hogwash. But, now, she was not only heartbroken, but her wolf was, too. Her mate had just rejected her. And he’d not just done it, but done it in front of an audience -- his beta.

Tears rolled down her cheeks. A few streaks that could have gone unnoticed. She could as well pretend there was something in her eyes and she wasn’t crying. But, as she heard her Father groaning beside her on the sofa, the thought of staying strong dissolved and she bent her head to her laps and cried. Her tears soaked her clothes, but she didn’t care. As long as her ugly-crying face was hidden from sight, it was better. This stranger that was still in the room, standing awkwardly at the edge, was making her very uncomfortable. But, she could not possibly ask the Beta of the pack, the first person who had even agreed to help her, to get the hell out of the room and give her the privacy to mourn the loss of what she’d not had to begin with -- her mate.

Guilt mixed into the sadness, as she realized that the intensity of her pain was coloured with the rejection, and less with the fact that her Father was dying, even much more less with the fact that her pack had been compromised and she could not do anything about that.

James cleared his throat after a while. Her sobs had reduced to randomly spaced out sniffs then.

“Are you --” he started.

“Give me a second.”

Slowly, she wiped her face with the edge of her shirt and tried to even out her unruly hair with her hands. Her hair was not to be tamed, so she left it. Then, somewhat happy with the outcome, she turned to face James.

“Yes?”

James was not the only one at the corner now. Instead, he was joined by another man, huge and tall, in a lab coat. The lab coat looked like it was two sizes too small for the man, but he wore it, anyway, like a prized possession.

She looked at James, then at the man pointedly. “Yes?”

James shook his head, as if just coming out of a reverie. “Oh, yes. He’s the pack’s doctor. He’ll check up on your Dad.”

With that, the man moved towards Elance very fast and extended his hand towards her. She looked at it for a long time before she shook it hesitantly. “I’m Jack. And, like he said, I’m the pack’s doctor. I’m certified, don’t worry.”

“Oh. That’s fine. As long as you can treat my Dad, I don’t care about certification.”

He pulled her Father up gently and switched on a torchlight he’d gotten from one of the pockets of his labcoat. He took way too long to examine her Father’s messy looking hand that she wondered how she held her breath and did not pass out from lack of oxygen.

He turned to face her grimly when he was done. “It doesn’t look good. But, your Father has approximately 70% rate of survival.”

Her eyes widened. “70%? What do you mean by 70%”

“That’s an approximation. It’s much lower, but I don’t want you going bonkers because of mere figures.”

“So, in plain terms what does this mean?”

“It means that I will try my best to treat your Father and stop the possibility of the poison spreading to his internal organs. This will cause more damage. You see, whatever touched him works just like silver or like wolf’s bane on werewolves. It’s preventing his system from fighting back. It’s preventing him from healing fast. Hence, what we have to do is to prevent this poison from spreading and hope to the moon goddess that it hasn’t already spread more than his arm.”

“Then be fast a --”

Before Elance could complete her statement, Jack stood up and nodded at James. In a few minutes, they had lifted him carefully. A guard from behind the door joined the two men because of her Dad’s hefty frame and they took him to the guest room with Elance trailing behind, carrying the weight of everything the night had brought to her.

***

There were a few things Austin could not tolerate, and El, or whatever she’d called herself, had managed to do two of those things.

One: she’d come to his pack unannounced.

Two: she’d spoken without being asked to.

Who the heck did she think she was? Some spoilt brat, maybe. Didn’t she know the basic rules of trespassing into someone’s pack? She was lucky he was not one to turn away a dying person or else he would have made an example of her, puppy grey eyes or not. He walked towards the edge of his pack, to the part the border guards hardly stayed in due to the density of the forest and the traps -- traps he’d set up himself. This was his favourite spot to come out and vent. The stillness and oneness with nature at the same time gave him the atmosphere he needed to scream or yell at his will. Oh, and there were rather wonderful tree barks to punch and branches to pull at.

He loved it here. He could pour out all his feelings here. All the feelings he had to suppress during the day in front of his pack members.

“Who the hell is she?” he yelled at the tree in front of him.

He paced the length between the tree and another tree that was less luscious than the one that was to be his companion for the night.

“Who the hell is she?” he yelled again.

This pacing. This yelling. It was to distract himself from this thing, this pounding in his chest. This feeling in his head. His wolf -- his wolf was always ruining his cold exterior, this perfect persona he’d built over the years. It was ironic because his wolf was supposed to protect him, to be in-tune with him. But, no, at the sight of some woman in his home -- n uninvited woman, to be precise -- his wolf had perked up and begun to dance.

I am your mate.

The look in her eyes as she’d uttered those words. The conviction.

Then the pain as he’d looked at her derisively and rejected her.

“I have no mate! I only have my pack!”

He kicked at the tree till his legs began to ache. Then he fell on the grass and looked up at the moon. Maybe the moon goddess was having a field day. Maybe she’d set this all up to mock him, the self-sufficient alpha of rogues. The alpha who’d come from nothing and built everything. Rogues that were the bane of the werewolf society, he’d taken them all and given them a name, given them a home and called it THE DARK MOON PACK. Fitting.

“I don’t want a mate,” he whispered.

Nothing.

“I don’t fucking need a mate!” he yelled. Louder this time, he was sure the other guards nearby could hear him. He stood up now and dusted himself, ready to go back to the pack and take on his usual persona -- the persona he was already so used to.

He looked up at the moon once more and said, “You hear me? I, Austin Vlance, I don’t need a mate. I have myself and I have my pack, and that is all that matters.”

With that, he walked towards the pack residential area.

***

As Alpha Austin walked off, the bushes swayed. Not to the wind’s rhythm or to any other natural element, no. Someone had followed him all the way from his residence as he’d stormed off and listened to every word he’d said, every kick he’d made and every punch. Someone had heard his rants and there was no saying what this person would do with all these information.