The Perfect Rejection

Chapter Thirteen - New

He shushed me gently, cradling me in his arms as he settled onto the bed. It took me a while to stop sobbing; I know Xavier was trying to soothe me, but it almost made me cry harder.

"You're safe here, I'm not going anywhere I promise," he kept whispering in my ear, smoothing down my hair.

I wanted to believe him but I knew it would just get me hurt. He'll leave or hurt me eventually. Everyone does.

"I'm sorry I left without telling you this morning. I thought it would be better to let you sleep instead of bombarding you with that kind of information."

"It scared me," I admitted, my throat raw and my voice hoarse.

His arms tightened a little and he pressed a long kiss onto my head. "That was my mistake, little wolf, it won't happen again," he said. His dipped his head down to catch my gaze. "And it's okay if you don't believe that yet."

"I'm trying," I told him. That was the truth. Every part of me screamed not to trust him but I still wanted to deep down. It was so unbelievably confusing.

"Do you want to know what happened at the meeting?" he asked.

I took a slow, deep breath, then nodded. I shifted a little in his arms so I could rest my head against his shoulder, fully exhausted now.

"Thaddeus died last night so we had an emergency meeting with the pack leaders this morning. There was a lot of arguing about who should take his place," he began.

My eyebrows bunched together. "Why?"

He sighed. "His son's naming got postponed because of your escape and they never actually got around to doing it before he died."

"So?" I didn't understand why there would be any argument. Just because Thaddeus managed to sneak his way past the rightful succession doesn't mean anyone could.

"Some of the alphas believed Derek should take his place, others wanted your brother to lead."

I swear my heart stopped. I pushed myself out of his arms, turning to face him with wide eyes. "What?"

His face was pained as he leaned against the headboard. "Your brother has true alpha blood, Derek does not. Half of the alphas wanted to see your brother take Thaddeus' place but the others thought it would be better to have Derek since he's been training to lead for much longer," he explained, his eyes nervously wandering over my face. "There was a very long debate between the alphas, but they chose Derek."

I didn't know what to say. This morning all the packs' alphas argued over who should take over my old pack: the mate that rejected me or the brother that abandoned me? Neither one deserved to lead a pack but I didn't even consider the idea that my brother might still become alpha. I swallowed hard, forcing myself to look Xavier in the eye. "Who did you choose?"

He clenched his jaw and rubbed at the back of his neck but didn't drop his gaze. "I chose your brother."

I hit him. Before I could stop myself or even realize what I was doing, I slapped him across the face, hard. And he let me.

"Roxie please I―"

"Do you have any idea what he did to me?" I snarled, sliding off the bed. I was furious. My wolf was pushing to take over as I blinked back the tears in my eyes. "Almost all of those awful scars and wounds that I came to you with are because of him." I squeezed my eyes shut, breathing deeply through my nose. He hated it when I cried.

"Roxanne―"

I interrupted him with another growl. "I trusted you and you tried to make my brother an alpha!"