Rejected Mates

Chapter 18

How was your first day with us? Melinda felt the alpha ask her through the mind-link, just seconds after she had returned to her apartment, after her meeting with Kira.

It was fine, thank you, sir, she replied. It had actually been a really nice day. Cleaning wasn't her favorite thing in the world, but she had made a friend, something she hadn't had in a very long time, she got to exercise her wolf and found out that she was going to be paid for the work she did. She had gone from feeling like a prisoner to feeling liberated from life under Adam's influence, and she felt pretty good.

What did you do today? Jared asked, even though he already knew the answer. He was stalling. He had planned to have the same conversation he had with everyone when they first arrived. The conversation about why they were there, and what they had to say for themselves. But he was having a hard time bringing himself to ask those questions.

After my work shift, I went for a run with one of the girls I met, Nancy, Melinda replied.

What did you think of the territory? Jared asked.

It's beautiful, I had a really nice time exploring, Melinda gushed.

Jared took pride in the pack lands. It hadn't been him for very long, but he was appreciative of the care the previous pack had taken in ensuring so much of the land was wild and uncultivated. It was a perfect place for wolves to roam. He appreciated it when others took notice.

Jared and Melinda continued their conversation, blissfully unaware of how long they were actually talking. It was after 9 PM when Jared happened to glance at a clock and realized that he had been talking to Mel for over two hours, and still hadn't had the conversation with her that should have been the first thing he discussed. But, it was late and he told himself he would follow up with her the following day.

I need to attend to a few things before the end of the night, he finally said in order to end the conversation.

Yes, sir, Melinda replied, noting the time and suddenly feeling very self-conscious about having talked the alpha's ear off for so long. She didn't know why, but he had been very easy to talk to and she had really enjoyed their conversation.

Goodnight Jared said to her, before cutting off the mind-link without waiting for a reply. He was annoyed with himself. Not only had he not had the conversation with her that needed to happen, but he had chatted for hours like a teenager. He chided himself for not following through on his objective and committed to having the conversation first thing in the morning.

But when the morning came, other duties pushed aside his plans, and by the time he had a break in his schedule, Melinda was in the middle of her work shift, and he knew that wouldn't be the appropriate time for the conversation he intended to have with her.

Melinda had a hard time focusing on her work, as her thoughts continued to return to the alpha. She enjoyed their conversation, but she also couldn't fight a sense of trepidation at the thought. It had been so easy talking to the alpha, unlike with every other man in her past. It had been work to maintain a conversation with co-workers and classmates, even bordering on tedious, as it had with Garret. But this was different, and Melida didn't know why. She told herself it was because they hadn't met in person, and that space had kept the interaction from becoming like all the others.

"Everything okay?" Nancy asked her as the two sat down to lunch.

"Yeah, just a little distracted," Melinda replied. "I talked to the alpha last night, and I'm not sure how the conversation went," Melinda began to confide in Nancy.

"Don't worry about it," Nancy jumped in before Melinda could continue. "He has a lengthy conversation with everyone when they first get here. If you're not in the cells, you're fine."

Melinda wasn't sure how that remark made her feel. She felt relieved that everyone had long talks with the alpha, but at the same time, it gave her a strange pang of jealousy, to think that her conversation with the alpha was just routine for him. It had meant so much more to her than that, and she struggled with that knowledge.

"I still haven't actually met him yet," Melinda said, her curiosity about the alpha dictating her thoughts.

"He's so good-looking," Nancy said, but then glanced around to make sure nobody else had heard her say that. "But you didn't hear it from me," she continued in a whisper. "He's super traditional about the mate bond. Rumors are that he had a mate, but something happened to her, nobody knows what. Only mates are allowed to have any kind of relationship in here, but humans are fair game," Nancy said with a wink.

"What do you mean?" Melinda asked.

"Alpha holds the mate bond sacred, nobody crosses that line. But, humans don't have mates, so it doesn't bother him at all if anyone wants to have a relationship with them, as long as they don't already have their mate. In fact, I've heard he sleeps with different humans all the time. He doesn't bring them here, of course, but Jimmy, that guy over there in the blue, can come and go as he pleases, he doesn't have to have supervised excursions like most of us. Anyway, he was at a bar one time and saw the alpha with some red-head. They definitely did the dirty."

Melinda shuddered at Nancy's gossip, feeling a little ill at the thought of anyone having such a cavalier approach to intimacy. Granted, her own brief encounters were fraught with pain and disgust. She honestly had no idea what a healthy relationship should feel like.

"Does the alpha ever interact, in person?" Melinda asked, wondering why she had never seen the alpha.

"Yeah, he comes and goes. I guess he's real busy," Nancy said. "He was here at dinner just the other day, and he's here for lunch a lot. I know when I was in the cells, I saw a lot of him. I think he spends a lot of time with the trouble-makers."

Melinda wondered a little at Nancy's last statement, about the alpha spending time with the trouble-makers, and she wondered if that's why their conversation the prior evening had lasted so long. She could help but wonder if was concerned that she was going to be a troublemaker. She didn't want to be seen in that light. She definitely didn't want to end up in the cells.

After their shift, Nancy showed Melinda around the main pack house. Melinda had seen a large portion of it the prior day when she was cleaning, but there were several levels and many rooms she hadn't seen yet. The top floors were the residence floors, where the alpha and beta lived. Nobody was allowed up there. The ground level was primarily offices, a kitchen that was seldom used once the cafeteria had been built, a library, and some media rooms set up with computers, TVs, and other various options for digital entertainment.

There was a large basement that was mostly empty, and Nancy filled Melinda in on that space being the shelter room. It had been built with the building and something like a bomb shelter in case the pack was ever attacked. Nancy was pretty sure it was mostly a storage room, and nobody really had a reason to be down there.

After the brief tour, Nancy decided to stay in the media room. She had some things she needed to get done for one of the classes she was taking and wanted to get her assignments submitted before dinner. Melinda decided to go for a walk and ended up strolling through the rose garden she had seen the first day she had arrived, located just past the women's dorms. She was smelling the roses, when she felt the alpha in her mind.