Rejected

Chapter 10

Tab's POV

I couldn't believe someone so small and fragile would be subjected to that kind of treatment, and from her own pack. It just didn't make sense, she hadn't done anything wrong but she was being treated as if she were a criminal, worse... a slave. I understood the pain she felt while losing her mother. I wasn't much older than she was when I too lost my mom, but I had the support of my pack, the love of my father, and I wasn't blamed for it. This poor girl grew up thinking she was the reason her mother died, thinking she deserved every beating she got, thinking that everyone in the world would be like they were. She was living in fear.

Myles' hand came out of nowhere and wacked my left bicep and when I turned to yell at him he was staring at the couch with his mouth wide open. Following his gaze I saw Kole, sitting on the coffee table in front of Alex, looking down at her. But upon further inspection I realized Kole was holding Alex's right arm, and she hadn't pulled away—actually she looked like she was holding him. My jaw dropped and my mind blanked. We had spent several minutes just trying to get her comfortable with touching our hands for a few seconds and now she's holding Kole by the forearm. Myles and I slowly walked over to the other side of the coffee table, behind Kole, and watched Alex. She was staring down at Kole's arm and his open hand, but she didn't seem nervous at all. She gently placed her left hand in his right and watched as he slowly closed his hand around hers. Her right hand twitched on his left arm as her grip tightened but Kole didn't show that he took notice. In about fifteen seconds Kole had her hand wrapped in his. Then something I don't think I've ever seen before, Kole gave a genuine smile, it was brief but it was there. He's never smiled like that, not since I've known him, sure he's given the occasional smirk or sarcastic smile that reads "I'm going to kick your ass in just a second'' but this smile was directed at Alex, and showed a side to him I don't think even he knew he still had.

"How the hell did you do that?" Myles asked quite loudly in my ear, effectively ruining the moment. I turned to him and frowned, I thought interrupting a special moment was the twins' job. How could he be so blind as to miss the smile on Kole's face and the absence of fear in Alex's eyes? As soon as he spoke up Alex stiffened and caught our gaze, but she didn't let go of Kole, instead she gripped him tighter like he was what kept her calm.

"Really Myles? You've been spending too much time with the twins." I commented as I walked towards the door. "You guys hungry?"

"I'm starving!" Myles practically yelled as he rushed to the door. Kole looked from the door to Alex with questioning eyes. She looked from Kole's eyes to the door then down at her hand, still intertwined with Kole's.

"No one else is in the house. The only people you might run into are the twins and everyone in this room." Kole told her quietly.

"Plus this would be a great time to show you around the house, get you settled in a room of your own." I added as I mentally ran through what sleeping arrangements we had. I knew the room next to Kole's was empty. Then there was the room down on the first floor, but that one was the loudest room in the house being right next to the living room. The attic was open, but there was no insolation, it wasn't finished and it was pretty secluded.

"You guys coming or what?" Myles came running back into the game room with a half-eaten brownie in his hand and chocolate on the corner of his mouth. I just laughed and followed him out the door knowing that Kole would eventually convince Alex to join us. About halfway to the kitchen Myles elbowed me in the side after looking behind us.

"Alex sure warmed up to Kole quickly... what do you think that's about?"

"I'm not sure. It could be that they share a lot of similar past pain, or it could be related to him being a Cat shifter just like her. Wolves tend to enjoy the company of other wolves, who knows maybe cats are the same." I told him and shrugged my shoulders.

"Yah, but that wouldn't explain why he's acting the way he is... he actually smiled a short time ago. There's got to be something else in play here."

"Or they're just two people who understand each other better than we do. Don't look too deep into this." I said over my shoulder while opening up the fridge and looking for something to eat. Hmm, roast beef, lettuce, tomato, mayo, and cheese; my mouth was watering just thinking about it.

"What's for lunch?" Kole's voice seemed to come out of nowhere, making me jump. Man I hate when he sneaks up on us like that.

"Damn Kole, we need to get you a bell. I hate how silent you are." I grabbed as many sandwich makings as I could and turned around to put them on the breakfast bar without looking up at him. I almost dropped everything and cursed under my breath when I did look up and came face to face with not only Kole, but also Alex. "We need to get one for you too, little missy."

"Put a bell around my neck and it will be the last thing you do." Kole threatened with a growl.

"So being inhumanly quiet is not just a Kole thing, apparently it's a Cat thing." Myles reasoned. When Kole had first started living in the pack house, no one knew he was in the room until he said something, he was so quiet. Now when he enters the room he's still silent but the energy changes, his size alone can intimidate anyone, but when he suddenly shows up out of nowhere it can give someone a heart attack.

"What's a Cat thing?" Tyler asked as he came through the doorway. The twins on the other hand could be heard from a mile away; however the sudden voice startled Alex seeing as how she jumped nearly five inches in the air and scooted closer to Kole, who in turn offered her a stem of catnip. He seemed to always have some on hand.

"Silent footsteps." Myles supplied.

"Well duh..." Tyler started

"Why do you think humans buy cat collars with little bells on them?" Zack continued.

"Yah, all Cats have silent footsteps." Tyler finished, sometimes I swear those two share a brain.

"Well, I think we need a warning system for these two." Zack jokes. Kole frowned and then started growling. We all flinched and the twin's and Myles' eyes went to the ground. My eyes however went to Alex, who didn't flinch or jump away from Kole when he growled like she did with everyone else; she just looked up at him with wide eyes.

"Hey Kole, relax dude." I said calmly, "You know we're only joking."

"I don't do jokes." Kole was deadly calm, something everyone in the house knows is worse than when my dad gets angry and starts yelling. "If you'll excuse me..." As he exited I saw Alex become more alert and stiff. Interesting.

"Dude, we were just joking... What's his deal?" Tyler asked.

"It was about us being different..." A small female voice almost whispered. All eyes turned to Alex. She stopped talking and paled, I could see her swallow around the lump in her throat. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude." Her small fragile voice came out breathy and nervous; she lowered her head and backed up to the wall.

"No go ahead, you seem to know what made him angry. Please continue..." I motioned for the guys to sit down and listen.

"Uh... well. You guys seem to think it's funny to joke about putting a bell around his neck because you can't hear his footsteps... That'd be like me saying you guys should wear flea collars because one of you scratched behind your ear..." after the last comment her eyes grew wide and she gulped again. "I mean... uh..." she breathed out.

"It's okay, it makes sense, and puts things into perspective." I told her, lowering my voice so it didn't make her anymore nervous.

"And we already know he's had a problem with feeling like part of the pack. He already feels like an outsider..." Zack said.

"And we just made it worse." Tyler said under his voice.

"Great..." I groaned and rubbed the back of my neck. "Well, nothing we can do about it right now, he's too angry to talk to anyone. We'll catch him a little later."