Rejected Mates

Chapter 28

Jared tortured himself over the next few hours, trying to decide what to do about Mel. He felt it was only right to let her make the decision for herself on whether to stay or go. But that would mean he would have to speak to her about it, the thought of which made him ill. He wanted to see her, wanted her to know who he was, but he was afraid of what would come of that.

He decided that it shouldn't take place on pack territory. If she chose to leave, he would accept the rejection she began so many years ago. He would reject her in return and set her free. If that happened, Jared knew that he would need time and space away from everyone. He didn't want to risk his pack, by trying to work through his personal issues in their proximity. For any of that to happen, he would need to talk to Colt and fill him in on what was going on. Something else he wasn't looking forward to doing.

"Colt, I need to talk to you about something," Jared said when the beta had entered the office at the alpha's bidding.

"Sure, what's going on?" Colt asked, a little concerned at the intensity of Jared's tone.

"Kira might need to be part of this conversation, is she around?" Jared asked.

"No, she's heading into town for a shopping trip with a couple of the ladies."

"Which ones, who's going?" Jared asked, feeling a little frantic.

"Uh, should be Kira, Nancy, Mel, Angie, and Grace," Colt replied in surprise. "We talked about it yesterday, you approved it."

"Send to extra guards for security," Jared demanded. "I'm not taking any chances>:

"Okay, do you think that's really necessary?" Colt asked.

"Just do it, after the incident with Morris, I just want to make sure everyone's safe."

"Alright, I'll send Trevor and Mike," Colt replied, and then spent the next couple of minutes communicating with the necessary people to implement the added security for the women's excursion that was preparing to leave the territory.

"Ok, they're all squared away. Did you want to talk now, or wait until they get back and Kira can be part of the conversation?"

"We'll talk now," Jared replied with a sigh but didn't continue to speak.

"Sir?" Colt encouraged.

"When I was eighteen, and neither my brother nor I had met our mates, we started visiting the nearby packs, to see if we could find them. I found my mate at the second pack we visited."

"What?" Colt demanded in shock. "You have a mate? You know who she is?" Colt asked, trying to wrap his mind around what Jared was telling him. They had met at The Werewolf Council. Jared had always talked about how sacred the mate bond was but had never said anything to anyone about having ever found his mate.

"She rejected me on the spot," Jared said, avoiding eye contact, feeling the wave of humiliation wash over him. "She wanted to be mated to my brother, and when she realized that it was me she was mated to, she didn't hesitate to reject me without a second thought."

"Jared, I'm so sorry," Colt replied in an empathetic whisper.

"It destroyed me, and I took off. Don't even know what happened at the time. I didn't care. I just left and headed straight to The Werewolf Council and enlisted. But I never accepted the rejection or rejected her back. I've been tied to her this entire time."

"Wow," Colt breathed out, unable to form any other words.

"I should have ended it that day. I should have released her from our bond and been done with it, but I couldn't bring myself to follow through. It's been torture."

"What happened to her, why are you telling me this now?" Colt asked, trying to piece everything together.

"She's here, it seems the Moon Goddess had seen fit to punish me. It's Mel, she's my mate."

"No way!" Colt exclaimed. "How is that possible? How did you not know, how did she not know? Doesn't she recognize you? How have you two managed to keep this a secret?"

Colt's questions were spilling out faster than he could formulate his thoughts.

"She doesn't know it's me," Jared spoke softly, almost sheepishly.

"How?"

"I've been avoiding her. Every conversation we've had has been through the mind-link. She doesn't know I'm me," Jared replied.

"That's why you haven't been going to the cafeteria and spending so much time in here," it wasn't a question, but more of a realization from Colt.

"Well, now what?" Colt asked.

"Alpha Adam wants her back, and I'm going to let her go if that's what she wants," Jared replied.

"Are you going to tell her the truth? Allow her to make an informed decision?"

"Yes," Jared replied, wincing at the thought. "But not here, I can't do it here. If she chooses to leave, I'll reject her and sever the bond, and let her go. But I can't do that and stay here."

Colt sighed, feeling the weight of what his alpha was going through. He couldn't even imagine the depth of pain and turmoil that Jared was going through.

"So, what's the plan?" he asked.

"I just want to get this over with. We'll do it tomorrow afternoon, at the park on the east side of town, by the duck pond. It's closed off while they're reseeding the area, so we should have the place to ourselves. Kira can bring her to meet me, and if Mel wants to go back to Adam, Kira can take her. I'll need you to stay here, so you can run things while I'm gone."

"You're just giving up?" Colt asked, feeling that someone who spoke so reverently about the mate bond shouldn't be so willing to give up on it.

"You have no idea what I've been through," Jared said, trying to stifle a snarl. "It has been fucking hell! The last six years have been hell, and since she's been here, it's been magnified a thousand-fold. I could feel her, any time I touched someone else, I could feel Mel. It was pain, but it was a connection. I could also feel when someone else touched her," Jared said, choking back the tears that stung at the back of his eyes.

"You mean, this whole time?" Colt asked.

"I don't know if it was every time, or to what extent. But there were definitely times I could feel that she was with someone else. And when Morris attacked her, it was debilitating!"

Colt sighed, he didn't have an answer. It was something he'd never known anyone else to have happen to them. He'd heard of rejections, but to his knowledge, it was a double-sided thing, and then it was done. The wolves went their separate ways, and that was it. He'd never heard of a one-sided rejection, that allowed the mate bond to linger and fester. He couldn't help but wonder if Jared's plan would work.

"I'll let Kira know, when they get back tonight," Colt finally said, not knowing what else to say.

"Thank you, Colt," Jared said. "We'll plan to meet there during dinner. Kira and Mel can leave first, and I'll go to the cafeteria once they're gone. I'll want to say a few things to the pack about taking some time off. Then I'll meet Mel at the pond."

"Are you sure that's what you want to do?" Colt asked. "She's here, your mate is here. You can just tell her the truth. You are still her mate, or she's yours, or something. There's obviously still a bond. Don't you want to keep her here?"

"I want her here more than anything I've ever wanted," Jared said, heaving an emotional sigh. "But only if that's what she wants. She didn't want me before, and I have no reason to believe she'll want me now. If she wants to go, I'm going to let her."