Rejected but Unbroken

"Get your ass up right now or I'm biting it."

I groaned, putting a hand over my head. Not that would actually help. The annoying lecture was coming from inside there. "Shut up, Jade. Let's sleep some more. I was up late training."

"And you think I don't know that? Seriously, Chloe. There's more to life than training. You need to get your ass up now, or I promise, I'm biting it."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. I'm getting a little more rest."

"Okay, Chloe, you asked for this." My vision turned golden and my wolf tore control from me, reaching around in a twist that many warriors would envy and the bitch bit my ass.

The door to my room swung open and my family paraded in, singing happy birthday at the top of their lungs.

While I still had a mouthful of ass in my mouth.

"Chloe Gabriella!" My mother lost track of the words first. "What are you doing?"

The shock threw Jade off, and I used the moment to grab control again. Stupid wolf. "Mom, you guys couldn't wait until I came downstairs?" I snapped. The rest of my family continued to sing as if my wolf hadn't just embarrassed me.

"Chloe, it's your birthday, and it's almost time for school. You can't be late. We wanted to spend some time with you before you ran off." My mother sighed at me before slipping back into the final words of the birthday song.

Just what I wanted for my nineteenth birthday. "Okay, you've sung your song. I'll be down in a minute. Let me get dressed."

"Come on, Princess," scolded my dad. He pulled up a bright pastel pink dress and held it up to himself. "Look what I got you!"

I stared at the outfit that looked like a Barbie doll puked it up. "Nice try, dad. Love you, but I'm not gonna be caught dead wearing something like that. Besides, how would I fight in it?" I rolled my eyes and pointed to the door again. "Out, please."

My family pouted, but they pushed each other through the door and they finally gave me a moment of peace. Though dad had left that hideous thing on a chair.

"Come on, Chloe. They're your family. You should be more appreciative." My wolf chuckled in my head, smirking at me.

"You want me to appreciate that thing? Fine, your furry ass can wear it, Jade. I'm sure we can tailor it for you. I'm sure you'll look good in that pink."

Jade went quiet and huffed at me. It was my turn to smirk.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get dressed." I grabbed a couple of my usual items. A nice big shirt I could move in and a pair of baggy pants that allowed me to have a full range of movement. I wouldn't be winning any modeling competitions, but who cared about that crap? I just wanted to keep my pack safe, no matter what.

"Isn't Alpha Andy and Beta Jahmal returning today?" Jade questioned.

"They are, but what does it matter? I don't care who leads the pack as long as they're competent and Alpha Dustins wouldn't put anyone in charge who couldn't cut it. Those two have been in training for two years. Do you really think they're not capable after all that? What's your aim this time, Jade?" My wolf always had some scheme she was trying to run, and I didn't think our birthday would be any different.

"I was just making conversation. Calm your tits. No wonder we haven't found our mate. Who would want a crazy woman like you?"

"I don't need one. I'm going to be the best warrior this pack has ever seen and if I find someone or not, who cares? Let's get going. We're going to be late, and I'm not getting detention on my birthday."

I raced down the stairs, jumping over the banister for the last five.

"Chloe!" Mom's screech was to be expected.

"Chloe!" My little sister parroted and ran at me, hugging my leg. "I got you a present for your birthday!" She pulled out a wilted bouquet out of her pocket. A petal fell off the poor, crushed things and fluttered to the ground.

I took them from her and sniffed with a big smile. "Thank you so much, Sapphy. I love them!" I stuck them in my shirt pocket so the little crushed heads peeped out. "See? Place of honor." I hugged the child tightly.

"Hey stop hogging her," my brother complained. He was only a couple years older than Sapphy but he acted like he was my age. "Here, Chloe. I got you something, too." He handed over a small box. "I made it in class."

I pulled the tiny cover off and smiled at the small bone-handled knife inside. "Thanks, Rudy." I hugged his shoulders. He might act grown, but he was still only half my size. "I'll be sure to keep it safe."

"Princess, where's the dress I got you?" My dad stared at me, his bottom lip quivering.

Ha! Faker. Like I was going to fall for that. "When I get back from school, it's going in the trash where it belongs, Dad. I'm not wearing that pink nightmare. Save it for Sapphy when she's older."

Dad turned his sniffling act on her. "Little Princess?" he questioned.

She turned her back on him and hugged me tighter. "No way, daddy. I want to be just like Chloe when I grow up. I'm not going to wear anything ugly like that."

He sighed and took a seat, putting his head in his hands. "Where did I go wrong?" he asked mom.

"Shush, dear. Chloe is almost a grown woman. You can't expect her to play princess with you anymore. Hurry up and get to school, Chloe. We'll have your cake when you come home."

I grabbed a piece of buttered toast and bit into it. "Talk some sense into him, mom."

Jade snorted. "That's about as likely as you wearing that dress. You know your dad is stubborn."

I smirked. "Yeah? So am I. There is no way I will ever wear that thing. Now come on, we gotta hurry up. If we're late again, we'll have to go volunteer at the dance. I will pull our fingernails out one by one before I let that happen." I swallowed my toast and crouched before taking off and racing down the road towards the school.

The school was buzzing by the time I got there. I wasn't late by like two seconds. But those two seconds counted and once more I survived by the skin of my teeth.

"You're not always going to be able to get away with that," my best friend Kale scolded me. One of these days, you're going to lose that race."

I shrugged. "Doesn't matter if it didn't happen today. I pushed through the wall of students. "Hey, where's our future Alpha and Beta? Aren't they coming back today? They're the ones late."

"They at least have a reason. You decided to train all night again, didn't you? I tried to call you to wish you happy birthday last night and you wouldn't even pick up the damn phone. Let me guess, you forgot it again."

I followed Kale to the cafeteria, and we joined the line for breakfast. A piece of toast was far from cutting it for what I needed. I bumped Kale's hip, pushing him to the side so I could grab a particularly fat sausage. He glared at me and I smirked at him, taking the chance to take a giant bite of it. "So good," I crooned.

A couple of guys behind us cracked up. "Hey, look at Chloe. She sure knows how to handle her meat, huh?"

I rolled my eyes and glanced back at them. "At least I know what to do with it, boys, unlike you all. I better see you get some protein, too. Our drills have been way too lackluster. With Alpha Andy and Beta Jahmal returning, it's up to us to show them we can handle our warriors."

"You can handle me all right," one of the guys, Sean, grinned, grabbing himself and thrusting.

I grinned at him. "Oh, yeah?" I asked with my sultriest voice. Jade already knew what I was up to, and she cackled in my head. I took the sausage and licked along the length of it. Sean watched my tongue and licked his lips, a whimper escaping him. I opened my mouth wide, sliding the tip of the meat inside and thrust it in and out a couple of times and moaned before biting down hard.

Sean yelped and grabbed himself again, but this time he didn't thrust the thing at me. "I'm sorry, Chloe!"

His friends laughed at him and I joined in. Things were just easier with the guys. We trained together all the time.

One of the popular girls rolled her eyes at me. "Seriously, Chloe?" she snapped. "You're such a slut. I wouldn't be surprised if you're not sleeping with the entire damn pack the way you carry on."

"Hey!" Kale growled, stepping up. "Cut that out, Quinn. We don't need you causing problems. What she did was teasing, you're just being a bitch."

Quinn tossed her long blond wavy locks over her shoulder. "I just know the truth of that skank. Someone who wants to be sweaty with the other warriors all the time? Puhlease. There's no other explanation."

"Quinn!" squealed one of Quinn's little posse. "They're here!"

Quinn whirled away from her. Her power bar and extra smooth smoothie forgotten. "I'm not letting him get away from me this time. Watch this, girls. I told you that before he left, he had eyes for me, and I'm going to prove it." She smirked at me. "Have fun playing in the gutter, Chloe. A gutter whore is all you'll ever be."

Kale stepped forward, but I grabbed him by the arm, and he relaxed. "You going to let her talk to you like that?"

"She can say whatever she wants, Kale. I don't need to waste any brainpower on her. I'm more worried about us being able to have a perfect training session in front of the Alpha and Beta after they've been gone so long." I grabbed another sausage and gnawed on it. "Protein," I told him, pointing to another much smaller sausage. "Get on it."

"Have you heard?" chirped one of the normal classmates nearby. She must have been talking to her friend, but her voice carried. "There's a huge party welcoming Alpha Andy and Beta Jahmal back tonight. They're inviting the entire pack. It's going to be a huge deal."

"With everyone there, maybe we'll find our mate!" the other one replied with a giggle.

I wanted to gag, but Jade would lecture me for an hour straight if I did that. She was way more concerned with finding our mate than I was. I was content being just the way I was. I was happy with my lot in life and I didn't need anything else mucking that up.

"Maybe we'll find our mate, Chloe. We are of age," Jade suggested.

"Are you going?" Kale asked, saving me from having to tell my wolf yet again I didn't want a mate. Besides, I was no Quinn. Who would want me in the first place? "I mean, of course you're going. You don't really have a choice. You're an integral part of the pack."

Oh, how I wished I could tell him the truth. "Wouldn't miss it," I agreed. The juicy sausage I had been snacking on had lost a lot of its flavor. Instead of the smokey taste from the grill, it was more like burned ashy meat dissolving in my mouth. I swallowed the dry, nasty bite and forced a smile. "We should hurry. If we take too long to eat, we'll just get in trouble for missing class."

"You're right. I'll try to talk to Alpha Andy at the party." He grinned at me. "Maybe I can get an autograph."

I rolled my eyes hard. "You're pathetic sometimes, Kale. We're going to be working with him. Why in the world would you need his autograph?"

Kale grinned back. "Do you know how many women in our class would give me a kidney for that? Believe me, it'll be worth it."

For once in my life, I hoped that school would never end. The last thing I wanted to do was have to endure a party I didn't care about. It was time that could be spent training instead. This was just going to be a waste of time.

I stared at myself in the mirror. Jade approved, but I couldn't bring myself to like it. How would I fight in something like this?

"Calm down, Chloe. It looks fine. If there was a fight, don't you think the entire pack gathered together would be able to handle it?"

I tried to ignore the little wolf voice in my head. No, this wasn't me. I tugged at the pink skirt in a vain attempt to cover my long legs, but the fabric had absolutely no give.

I would kill for a pair of shorts and a tank top. It might not be the fanciest, but it was perfect for my needs.

"Chloe," Jade lectured me again. "If you don't want to wear the blouse and a skirt, at least wear a nice dress. We might find our mate tonight."

The mate talk again. I groaned. Maybe the skirt would do. I wasn't completely comfortable in it, but it was way better than trying to wear one of those slinky monstrosities of a dress. Those damn things always were trying to force all the air out of my body.

"Chloe!" My mother's cheerful voice called from downstairs. "Your friend Kale is here!"

"We should probably not be around him tonight," Jade offered. "If our mate thinks that we're taken by another, maybe he will get upset."

I couldn't handle this mate-obsessed wolf for too much longer. We'd only been nineteen for a few hours at this point, not even a full twenty-four, and all she could think about was finding a mate to tie us down to and lock us away forever.

Seriously, who wanted that? I didn't. "Jade, drop it. We're not going to this party to find our mate. We're going to support our Alpha and Beta and to welcome them home. That's it. We just turned nineteen. I'm positive we'll have plenty of time to find a mate and settle down and be bored to death for the rest of our lives."

"Chloe, that's not what having a mate means. It's not the end of your life." Jade sighed heavily and I could feel her frowning at me. "It's the beginning of our story together. Besides, it'll be nice to have someone care about us."

"I've got Kale," I snapped back. "My best friend will always be there for me. What more could I need?"

"You'll understand eventually, Jewel." Jade huffed, then plopped down.

Maybe I'd won that one.

"Chloe!" Kale opened the door and grinned at me. He paused and scrunched his nose. "You look... pink?" he offered with a shudder.

I glared back at him. "This wasn't my idea. But Jade was throwing a damned fit if I didn't wear something with at least a skirt." I adjusted the black blouse. It clung far more than I liked, but still better than a stupid dress. At least I hadn't had to wear that frilly nightmare my dad had wanted me to.

"Yeah, I'm on your side about this one, Chloe. You look awful. But don't worry, I'm sure we'll be ignored, anyway. Well, you probably won't. You're always the life of the party."

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes at him but couldn't help but smile. "Come on, let's hurry up and get going. Jade will die if I'm late for this thing."

"What's crawled up her butt today? She's usually pretty chill." Kale offered me his arm, and I took it. "We can talk while we walk. Come on."

I couldn't argue against his logic and grabbing my stuff off the table, I dashed after him. "It's just since this morning, honestly. She thinks we're going to find our mate and be whisked away to some fairytale ending or something. It's gag-worthy."

Kale laughed. "I'm lucky Spina isn't like that. He hasn't cared about our mate yet. We'll find them when the time is right."

"You're not nineteen yet," I pointed out while sticking my tongue out at him. I frowned. The pathways were crowded. I wished we could have just taken a shortcut through the woods. None of these people would have bothered going through there. "This really is the entire damned pack."

"Yeah, they are going to be our Alpha and our Beta." Kale shrugged. "Don't know why you're so shocked.

I pushed forward and we finally squeezed into the house. I took a deep breath but the air was polluted with at least a dozen different heavy perfumes that the other women had spritzed themselves with in an attempt to get attention. Quinn was probably in one of those packs. I choked on the air and dragging Kale behind me I searched through the rooms until I found a small room with some workout equipment scattered around.

But at least there was no giggling moronic women in here. How could anyone be attracted to someone like Quinn? I sniffed the surrounding air. Something was off. I couldn't really explain it. "Hey Kale, do you smell that?"

Kale glanced around the cramped space. "The smell of sweaty males? Sure, I wouldn't really expect anything different in here."

I rolled my eyes and sniffed again. I smelled that too, but beneath it was the strangest combinations of scents. The sweet summery scent of watermelon and the spice of cinnamon.

"Mate!" Jade jerked to attention and pressed forward. If I hadn't been on my guard against her, she would have wrenched control away from me.

Instead of the joy she felt as my wolf bounded in my head, the only thing I could focus on was dread. No! I couldn't meet my mate like this! I should have worn that dress. I was going to be rejected at first sight. I wasn't mate material!

"Chloe? What's wrong?" Kale reached for me, but I slipped out of his grip.

"I'm sorry, Kale, I can't stay here. Something came up. Good luck!" I blurted before turning and pushing my way through the group still streaming into the big house. It was hard to work against the crowd, but I kept pushing and squeezing until I got through and into the fresh air.

But I didn't stop there. I ran with every drop of strength in my body for the woods and didn't stop until I was surrounded by the trees, and then only long enough for me to shift. I took control of Jade who only wanted to go back and search for our mate but I would never allow that.

With full control I ran. I didn't know where I'd end up, but I'd at least not have to face him and be rejected.

Not yet.