Page 2 of Welcome Home: When Shifters Unite!
“Stop! Nothing you can say will make what you have all done right. You have stolen a fated mate, which the Moon Goddess chose for me, and you gave my mate to another. You will all payfor this because the Moon Goddess will punish you all.” Before I can say more my Moma steps up beside Papa.
“Adira…”
“Don’t worry about me, Moma, you have never done so since the day Joliee was born, so why start now? I need you both to fetch Travis to the office, where I can reject him and he can reject me. I don’t want to risk the bond not being broken. I have felt the betrayal pains your precious daughter has caused me, and one day I know she will pay for what she has done. You all will.”
Moma’s mouth is opening and closing like a fish out of water, but she closes it, knowing nothing she can say will make this right. “I will fetch him.”
Turning, I walk to Papa’s office and step inside, stopping in front of his desk, but turning with my back to it so I can watch Travis walk in and reject him quickly. My time here is done. I’ll not stay in a pack that treats members and bonds as they have.
Travis walks into the office and looks at me with a blank face. I don’t wait for any bullshit to be said, so I blurt out my piece.
“I, Adira Stormwalker, reject you future Alpha Travis Blackbird of the Blackbird Pack.” I’m surprised how firmly and clearly I say it until I realize that Blue has said it along with me, making it doubly sure that Cloud, Travis’ wolf knows we will never take the rejection back.
Travis rubs his heart and closes his eyes a moment, and just before he can return the rejection that is needed, Joliee, my parents and Alpha Benedict step into the office. Joliee throws her arms around Travis, but I notice Travis doesn’t react to her at all.
“I, future Alpha Travis Blackbird of the Blackbird Pack, accept your rejection, Adira Stormwalker.”
I feel nothing, and that is a blessing. But it also tells me something because Travis has bent slightly in pain with the rejection, but I’m feeling no pain this time. Closing my eyes, I speak quickly to Blue.
“Blue, why are we not feeling pain at his acceptance, yet he is feeling it?”
Watching Blue in my mind, she is sitting with her head on one side, trying to work out this puzzle, I’m sure.
‘Parents, not ours. We are not a Stormwalker.’
Now, that would explain a lot about why Joliee was treated as special, and why I was always wrong when it came to any disruption between us. But why was I with them if I was not theirs?
Opening my eyes, I look at who I’d thought of as my Papa. “Who am I? Why was I told I was your daughter? Where did I come from?”
I notice Moma cringe but she says nothing. She looks at Papa and then at Joliee. It’s something I never realized before, but she always looks at them both before she speaks to me.
Holding up my hand to stop them all before they tell me bullshit, I turn and look my Papa in the eye. “Answer me. At least be honest for once in your life.”
“You were handed to Alpha Benedict when you were around a year old. You had come from the Strongbow Pack lands. The Blue River Pack decimated the Strongbow Pack after a dispute over the border. Alpha Benedict couldn’t put you out. He askedif any pack member would rear you and we agreed.” Papa looks embarrassed, and now I’m sure there is more to come.
I lift an eyebrow and wait, and seeing I intend he finish; he continues, “We have been given the financial backing to bring you up, and extra for doing it. But, we…”
“No need to say more. I was a job. You accrued an income and now that job has ended. You made sure your ‘real’ daughter,” said with air quotes, “became the Luna, even by taking my mate. Well, I’m glad, because I wouldn’t want a family like you, and I wouldn’t want a mate like him.”
I turn to look at Alpha Benedict, who so far hasn’t spoken a word. He doesn’t look interested enough to say anything, but I’ll say what I have to.
“I thank you Alpha Benedict for taking me into the pack up to this time. I will, however, move along and not slur your pack name any longer. It explains why I was treated differently, by my family and the pack. It’s a shame that nobody had the guts to tell me before the Luna camp fiasco.”
‘I’m ready, Adira. We do this together.’
That is exactly what we do. Blue’s voice can be heard along with my own. “I, Adira Strongbow, reject future Alpha Travis Blackbird as my mate. I’m just saying that to be sure you are rejected. I also reject the Stormwalker family as my family and reject Alpha Benedict Blackbird as my Alpha and the Blackbird Pack as my pack. From this moment forward, I live as a rogue.”
The gasps from everyone as I make the last rejection, I ignore, and I breathe through the pain the pack bond breaking brings. The pack howls when they feel the loss of a pack member, but I don’t return it. I don’t acknowledge any of it.
Stepping past everyone, I grasp the handle of my suitcase where it is still sitting at the side of the front door and walk outside the house. Starting the walk to Goddess knows where, but stop walking when I hear Joliee speak.
“You’re a loser, and will always be a loser. I have your family and your mate, and you have nothing.”
Turning, I allow Blue to come to the surface. My eyes turn blue, and it’s the deepest color that shines beyond any that they’ve seen before. I’ve always kept it hidden because I’ve never seen a pack member's eyes shine like Blue’s.
Alpha Benedict rushes forward and reaches for me, but I step back and glare, with Blue growling fiercely, warning him not to touch us.
“You can’t leave. You have…”
