Page 2 of Rejection and Redeemed
But how could he go and claim someone else when Fintan had his heart? It had taken him a week to figure out that he actually loved Fintan, but now what was he supposed to do? He couldn’t just turn his feelings off.
A knock on the door interrupted his musings. “Yes,” he called out.
“Jake, there’s a man downstairs, who says he’s the council-appointed Alpha.”
Jacob jumped up and yanked open the door, looking at his best friend Joe. “Where is he?”
Joe looked nervous. “In the Alpha’s office.”
“Crap,” Jacob said. “Let me throw some clothes on and I’ll go down and see him and find out what he’s doing.” He started to turn away.
Joe caught his arm. “Jake, this man isn’t your father. His Alpha power is strong, don’t go in like a bull in a china shop, all angry.”
“What, so I’m supposed to be happy with a stranger going through my father’s things?”
“No, but you’re filled with anger and rage at the moment, Jake, just be careful.”
Jacob nodded and went into the bathroom to get himself washed before he grabbed his jeans and a clean shirt and threw them on. He slammed his feet into his trainers and rushed downstairs, heading straight for his father’s office. Walking through the door, he saw the new Alpha sitting in his father’s chair.
Jacob clenched his fists, his anger began to rise. “It would have been nicer and showed you had manners if you had waited for me to show you into my house and my father’s office, rather than coming in and helping yourself to whatever,” Jacob growled, the words of his friend already forgotten.
The man looked up and Jacob got his first look at the pack’s new Alpha. He wasn’t impressed.
“Manners?” the Alpha scoffed. “This is now my home, my pack, my office, I have no need of manners here.”
“No, this is my house, my father’s office. These are his papers, they have nothing to do with the pack, therefore they have nothing to do with you,” Jacob said, angrily.
The man stood up. He towered over Jacob, and Jacob could feel his Alpha power. It did indeed surpass his father’s Alpha power.
The man leant on the desk, looking at Jacob without any emotion showing on his face. “You must be Jacob Bishop. I can understand that you will find this a hard process,” he said in a kinder voice. “But this is now my pack. This was the pack house and therefore falls to me, as the new alpha to live here. Everything I’ve read on these papers pertains to the pack, therefore they all belong to me. I will, of course, let you come and take any mementoes you like out of this room, out of the house in fact. I’m sure there’s a lot of things in here that belong to you and your family.”
“Try everything,” Jacob ground out. “My father built this house with his own money, my mother inherited the furnitureand brought everything in it. They didn’t use pack money for any of it.”
The Alpha looked at him. “We shall see. I’ll go through all the finances in time and see if that’s true. In the meantime, you can stay here until my family arrives and takes over the house.”
“It’s my damn house,” he shouted. “You can’t just come in here and take things over like you own the place.”
The Alpha stood up straighter and looked at Jacob. Jacob could see he was keeping a reign on his power.
“According to the Council, yes I can,” he sighed. “Look, we got off on the wrong foot. How about we start again? I’m Alpha Romsey Cresswell. I really do understand that this might be a difficult time for you with your father dying only yesterday, but the council wanted a new Alpha in place as soon as possible.”
“I was due to take over this pack when my father stood down. I don’t see why I can’t take it over now that he’s dead,” Jacob said, trying to calm down. This was to be his pack, he was due to be the next Alpha, not some council-appointed nobody.
Cresswell sighed. “From what I understand, you’re only just nineteen. That’s too young to be an Alpha. The council has been watching this pack for a while and already had serious concerns about its leadership and the things that were happening here.”
Jacob was confused. “What things? This pack was being run like a normal pack. I should know, my father was teaching me how to run it.”
“Jacob, let’s sit down and we can talk about this for a minute. You can probably help me fill in the blanks.”
Jacob looked at Cresswell for a moment and decided he wanted to know what Romsey knew, so he walked further into the room and sat down. Romsey resumed his seat at the desk, which made Jacob’s eyes flash with anger.
“Settle down,” Cresswell commanded, pushing out some of his alpha power to Jacob.
Jacob glared at him but didn’t say anything.
“Now, tell me about my pack,” Cresswell said to him.
Jacob growled.
