Page 17 of Rejection on the Full Moon

"Is there a punishment for surrendering?" Christian asks, each word being punctuated with a gasp as he tries his best to catch his breath. I wanted to let out a small growl at Christian for wanting to quit. What if this pack was being attacked? Would he quit and surrender then? Disappointment fills me as I look down at Christian and sigh. He and I will have to talk later about his attitude.

“We will not quit. Amberle is helping us to become stronger, so we will keep going until she says so.” Dominic’s strong voice rings clear, silencing many cries of exhaustion and complaints. I couldn’t help but admire Dominic. Even with everyone exhausted, somehow, Dominic brought out their fighting spirit. Maybe there is still hope for this pack to get back into the best shape with an Alpha like Dominic leading them. Smiling, I decided to end the training here while I carefully stand and stretch before jumping off the branch. Mid-fall, I shift back into human form, landing quietly behind Dominic and using the scarf and my hair to hide as much as my body from the group.

You all did better than I expected.” I start, watching Dominic jump in surprise and turn towards me in a defensive stance. I catch a few of his wolves holding back snickers at their flustered Alpha while Dominic straightens and stands, his hand scratching the back of his neck while a blush creeps along his face. Christian, though, is full out howling with laughter before being quieted by a growl from Dominic, leading to me rolling my eyes.

“Like I said, you did well, but you all ultimately lost. We need to work on your stamina and endurance. I want you all to run at least five kilometres a day around the training ground before going off to do your duties. On training day, it will be a ten-kilometre run before doing this exercise again.” I look into each and every wolf’s eyes and see a spark of determination ignite within them. Their fighting spirit is something I never saw back in Forest Paw, but it made me proud knowing that I evoked it in them. Finally, my eyes meet Dominic’s, and something flickers behind his dark green orbs, but it is gone before I can decipher it. I turn away to look at the pink-tipped wolf and Miles. I had a feeling that these two would be great assets, and I planned to work with them one-on-one, especially since I felt strongly about Miles being the Head Hunter.

A shirt is thrust towards me, breaking me from my train of thoughts and making me turn to see Dominic shirtless. My eyes flicker to his toned body, still as well-defined as when I first saw him. I gingerly take his shirt from him with a small thanks. Quickly covering myself with the large shirt, I let the scarf loosely hang around my neck while the group begins to head back to the pack house. I use this moment to take a deep breath, inhaling Dominic’s scent and allowing it to settle around me.

“Hey, Fire Foot.” I turn to the sound of a familiar voice, seeing the pink-tipped wolf coming to walk beside me.

“You can call me Amberle,” I reply back, smiling at her. I really liked this wolf and felt good about her. She could be an excellent second to me, my partner-in-crime, when training the Trackers and coming up with new ways to train—and slightly torture—them.

“I’m Avery. You’re amazing.” I couldn’t help but laugh at the energetic Tracker as she bounces beside me. Even though I could tell that little pink-tipped hair wolf is tired from the training, that didn’t stop her from being excited and prattling on like a pup. Avery begins to fill me in on how the Trackers used to be trained and what exercises they had to do in the past. It was a good foundation and explained why these Trackers had skills to begin with, but also gave me more of an idea of how to train them. Since the Hunters are also being trained by me as well, I needed to learn their past training schedule in order to make a proper training regime. The goal is to fully bring out the peak potential of the Blood Moon pack.

“Dominic must really like you.” Miles comes up on the other side of me, cutting off Avery’s rant about wanting to learn how to travel through the trees. I turn to look at the wolf with a green Mohawk.

“Why do you say that?” I ask, wondering what he meant.

“About two-and-a-half years ago, he met his mate. She rejected him because he was the Alpha of this pack and didn’t want to be with a quote-unquote ‘Bloodthirsty monster’. Before he could prove to her that he wasn’t, his father watched her run away with a rogue who was banished from our pack. As Dominic chased after them to talk it out, three Soulless attacked and mauled both the mate who rejected him and the traitor until you couldn’t even recognize them.” Miles explains. My heart wrenches at Dominic’s past, and I turn to look at him. I watched as a group of wolves joke around with Dominic, a smile on his face and laughter drifting over to the three of us. It explained why Dominic allowed me to cry in his embrace yesterday.

“In all honesty, that bitch deserved to die, Dom’s mate or not. She had a habit of harming pack members who stood in her way and had a high and mighty attitude. Dominic thought he could change her when he found out they were mates, but Christian and the majority of the pack were against her.” Avery’s voice is laced with hatred as she scoffs at the mention of Dominic’s so-called mate. I understood how she felt about dealing with someone with a high and mightier attitude—I did grow up with Mia wanting to make my life hell, after all. Avery and Miles soon change the subject while my thoughts drifted to their Alpha. Dominic had this air about him that sent butterflies through me, so I couldn’t understand how someone could reject him. Hell, I understood why Leo rejected me, even though we were once best friends. But from what I could tell, Dominic’s mate grew up in this pack. She had to have known what Dominic is like.

“Penny for your thoughts?” A deep voice asks as I feel someone poke my cheek. My head swivels to see Dominic peering down at me, a gentle smile on his face.

“The Canadian government stopped making pennies years ago. I’ll take a nice, fat lump of cash, though.” I retort, bumping my shoulder into his playfully.

“Well, that will come later when you make your final decision on staying or not,” Dominic replies, winking at me as he wraps his arm around my shoulders. I couldn’t help but blush, as no wolf has ever been this intimate with me other than my friends, not since my parents’ death. I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear nervously, not bothering to remove his arm. Frankly, I liked how it felt, his arms wrapped around me.

“So, what are you thinking about so deeply here, Fire?” Dominic asks. I could feel his eyes on me, and it takes everything in me not to shy away.

“Plenty of things are on my mind, but I think I found your new Head Hunter and an Assistant Tracker for me right now,” I answer. I decide to shelf the mystery surrounding Dominic and his own rejected past. When the time is right, I have a feeling that he would go into more detail about it since being rejected is such a hard subject for the rejected to talk about. The pack house comes into view finally, and the wolves cheer as many rush inside. The smell of a hearty meal reaches me from the open doors and windows, causing my stomach to growl.

“How about we grab some food, and Christian, you and I can go to my office to discuss who you want to have as your partners-in-crime for torturing us?” Dominic chuckles, giving me a flirty smile as we head into the large building and straight into the dining room. I couldn`t help but smile as well. For once, I felt like I was home again.

Chapter 12 - Worst Nightmare Comes to Life

"H.T. Amber." A voice calls out to me as I step out of my Mustang, the cold winter air nipping at any exposed skin not covered by my winter gear. I turn around to catch a Tracker jogging her way towards me, her warm breath fogging in the winter air and blonde ponytail bouncing up and down.

"Hi Lease, want to give me a hand with these?" I close the driver-side door and make my way to the back seat, revealing boxes upon boxes from my store’s bakery, my logo proudly showing.

"Sure, as long as I get some to snack on some too!" I chuckle when Lease’s stomach growls to punctuate her statement. I bend over to pick up a few cake boxes and hand them to her. These were some treats that I had made in advance for the pack while at my store. Business has boomed incredibly in the last year and a half after agreeing to Dominic’s request. Today has been busy, and all I wanted was to go home and sleep, but first, I have to make my usual appearance at the pack house. Lease and I take our boxes of goodies and make our way into the pack house, greeting the wolves passing by.

It has been a year and a half since my first day training the wolves of the Blood Moon pack, something I felt grateful for doing. I had gone home after talking to Christian and Dominic about who would make an incredible Head Hunter and great Assistant Tracker, as well as Head Tracker, if I decided not to take the offer. Dominic reminded me to think about the offer of joining this pack and knew right away what my answer would be. I remember calling Dominic late at night, surprised to learn he was still awake at the time and informed him that after the month of training is over, I would join his pack. On the first of August, I became the Head Tracker of Blood Moon and never regretted my decision.

Lease and I chat about the training she has been doing, a smile on my face at the young eighteen-year-old wolf. I had a feeling that Avery was looking for more one-on-one training in case something happens and either Avery or I can’t train the wolves for some reason. One thing is for sure, Lease is a talented Tracker, and having her in our ranks as another trainer and top Tracker will improve our pack’s strength significantly. After setting the boxes down on the counter in the kitchen, I take out a Tupperware container and proceed to take out some treats I know Lease personally enjoys. I hand her the full container once I’m done, and the she-wolf bounds away with her stash of baked goods. I couldn’t help but chuckle at her enthusiasm, even though we’re pretty close in age.

Familiar steps on the hardwood floor catch my attention, and a soft smile plays at my lips. Seconds later, Dominic rounds the corner and enters the kitchen, his head tilting back as he takes in a deep breath. His wavy, silver-blue hair is slicked back and damp, probably from a fresh shower, and his ice-blue eyes wink at me.

“I smell… cheesecake. Did you bring enough to share?” He asks playfully, taking long, slow strides towards me. Inwardly, I curse and turn to search the pile of boxes, seeing the one box that must have been mistakenly carried in—containing my cheesecake. With a glare, I hold the box filled with my treasure away from Dominic, unwilling to share with him the one treat I have to hide away from the Alpha with a better nose than any Tracker I’ve trained.

“This is mine, Dominic,” I warn, slowly edging around the kitchen island to put more space and an obstacle between us. Dominic continues his advance with a smirk, his eyes darting between the box in my hand and my eyes.

"Give me the box, Amberle." Dominic’s voice is authoritative as he relies on his Alpha command to order me about. But the thing is, both of us hold Alpha blood in our bodies, even if mine is slightly diluted with Beta blood.

“No, Dominic.” I retort calmly, watching his muscles tense. Somehow, I’m the only one able to refuse his Alpha command. I know this challenges his authority, but being able to voice my concerns with this pack and not having to cower before an Alpha made a small part of me prideful—that, and the pack got a kick out of me annoying Dominic every time I refuse his command, brushing his words, laced with the power of Alpha blood like a piece of lint, off my shoulders. I continue to back away, using my skills and silent footwork to position myself, ready to run. Dominic soon joins me on the other side of the kitchen island, a gleam in his eyes as if victory for the prize of the coveted cheesecake with white chocolate drizzle is in his grasp. He makes his final move, lunging into the air in my direction. I run towards him, falling to the ground and sliding under his airborne form. The sounds of the pantry door splintering alert me to Dominic’s position, but I refuse to look back. Looking back would get you caught.

Rushing to my feet, I hurriedly grab a fork from the dish-drying rack and scurry out of the kitchen and into the hallway. I had a feeling that if I raced off towards my house, Dominic would be there waiting to capture me and eat my cheesecake. The only other option is the stronghold we call his office on the second floor. Being the place where we store documents for our pack, Dominic’s office is reinforced to bear the brunt of an attack or storm. It is the safest place I can lock myself in and be able to enjoy the creamy treat on my own.

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