Rejection

Chapter 46 - Healing

---Kyle's POV---

Watching Max struggle to find his words wasn't easy. I had initially thought that seeing him squirm would give me some form of satisfaction at his suffering. Instead I was filled with apathy, and anger at their prejudice that had led to all this.

At least I could tell that he was making a genuine effort to try and explain his reasoning and that of the pack.

No matter how twisted it may be.

"Everything I can come up with all just sound like excuses." Max started after a long moment of silence. "The pack had always been harrowed by rogues in the past and had very little experience with nomadic wolves."

A huff escaped my throat, making Max look up so I shrugged. "I know. After everything that happened, I came across a few Nomads. Second I mentioned your pack, they told me that any decent Nomad avoids it like the plague, because you lot don't discriminate between Rogue or Nomad."

He paled but accepted the brutal reality that other people already knew just how twisted his pack was. Hell, the stories I heard hadn't been pretty and I myself was an excellent example of what happened if you set one toe in their pack without being a member.

"After the Luna found out the truth about... you know, the pack fell apart." Max swallowed thickly, shaking his head. "We've all proven that we didn't want to listen to the born Alpha, just because she was female. She had been right all along, and the pack had turned their backs on her."

I nodded, feeling at least some sympathy for the Luna. She had been completely innocent in all this and, from what I had found out later, had even tried to find out what happened to me.

She had always been the calmer, more calculative one in the Alpha Pair. Wanted to get all her ducks in a row before she acted, to learn all the facts before she lashed out for ungrounded reasons.

It was probably one of the reasons why I had such a good bond with her. She had been one of the few who had treated me like Kyle, and not a former rogue.

Not that she'd be able to find a single trace of me near the pack after I was cast out. No, the second I had enough strength flowing through my body, I had slowly drug myself away from their territory.

Just to make sure that nobody was going to pop out to finish the job. Maybe if I had lingered, the Luna would've found me, would've heard the truth from my own mouth.

Then again, nothing would've changed. There was no way I would return to a pack that had brutalized me to the point where I nearly died. There was no love lost between me and Max' pack.

Even now, I wouldn't willingly set a single toe within their territory. Not that it meant anything, seeing how the pack split apart after the truth was revealed, but still.

There were no bonds left between us, between myself and any of the pack. Eviscerated from their side with brutal efficiency and now they learned it was completely unfounded.

"Past Alphas had major issues with the local rogues, to the point where there had been several attempts on past Luna's lives." Max explained slowly, shoulders hunched as he fidgeted with his fingers.

I nodded, being told as much by the Luna herself. "It's one of the reasons why your Alpha was so vicious towards Rogues." I stated, recalling the harrowing stories of the past leaders.

Of Rogues who had tried to kidnap the Luna, or the Alpha pairs' offspring. Not for ransom or to use as a bargaining chip, no. Simply so they could defile and slay the rulers of the pack with a vindication that had lasted generations.