Rejected Mate

Chapter 52

(unedited)

Izzy

  The day was bright and inappropriately cheerful as she left the Alpha house for the last time. The sun had risen, but was still low enough in the sky to give the light the particular clarity that came with morning, and Izzy stared at the beauty surrounding her as if seeing it for the first time.
  The nikau palms and manuka were growing wild, and encroaching on what had once been a more English style of garden, but the camellias and roses blended with the native bush surprisingly well. The rambling roses had been neglected for a long time, and become so overgrown that they had created impassable hedges between the trees, their thorns protecting the trunks from possums and people who might have the intent to harm them. In return, the trees gave the roses support to grow taller, climb higher, in their quest to reach the sun. It was a symbiotic relationship which harmed neither. 

  Izzy turned her own face to the sun, and breathed deep of the scent of the roses and wildflowers brave enough to grow beneath the canopy. It was difficult to thrive in the shade, but life will always find a way.

  Clouds slid across the sun ominously, and the air shifted with the light. When the light breeze brushed through the leaves of the the tallest of the trees, it sounded like waves, as if there was a wide ocean waiting for her on the other side of the forest.

A piwakawaka dipped and spun around her, its squeaking chatter demanding, interrogative, as it stared at her inquisitively. The fantail was a small, agile bird, with a round body, and wide fan for a tail, which made it possible for it to perform daring aerial acrobatics. Its small face was cute and full of character, and it was notoriously friendly as well as fearless. The fact that it was also known as the messenger of death in Maori legend seemed appropriate, as it accompanied her during her walk down the 'green mile'. And the overgrown floor beneath her feet was green, the fresh spring grass so vibrant the color was almost neon.

  She had expected to be taken to the big old walnut tree, because it was where pack members were usually punished, but they went past it and headed for the wood shed instead.

  Was it because she wasn't Pack that she didn't get executed at the grand old giant? Or because she was a halfbreed?
  Even in such small details, the contempt Hammer felt for her was obvious.

  But what about Aroha? She was pure as they came, didn't she deserve the walnut tree? Or was Hammer just so sure of Rocks choice that he couldn't be bothered to pretend otherwise?

  Where was Rock, anyway? He hadn't come back to the house last night. She'd waited, sleepless, in her little coffin bed, but the only sounds were of the wolves patrolling, circling the house at regular intervals.

  She had nearly asked the two pure girls to look the other way while she slipped out, into the trees... but Granite had told them that he wasn't the only juvenile nearby. Apparently all the Warriors were strung along the perimeter, and the juveniles were guarding both the Pack house and the Alpha house.

  It almost seemed like they were expecting an escape, not just from Izzy, but someone else in the Pack as well. 
  But they mustn't know who, or else they would have detained them already.

  It was a curious mystery to ponder, if she had had the time, but it didn't help her situation at all, since the increased security made any escape impossible.

  Izzy wished the walk could have lasted forever, but finally they reached their destination. Everyone was gathered in front of the woodshed, the slaves at the front, and the Warriors and juveniles behind them, hemming them in.
  The Delta forced her into a brisk pace, his grip on her upper arm tightening when she would have pulled back.
  The huddle of people seemed smaller than she expected. Had the Pack diminished in the few days she'd been imprisoned, or was it just that she was seeing them all with new eyes? The pures were taller and stronger than her, but maybe they weren't actually as powerful and dominant as she imagined them. Ironic that she finally saw them as the small, and mean people they actually were, just as they were about to put her to death.

  She searched the hunched slaves for Chastity, and found her standing to the side, slightly overshadowed by the corrugated iron shed. The girl scratched her nose when she caught Izzy's eye, and she assumed it was supposed to be a sign of some sort. What information she was trying to impart was anybodies guess.
  She ran her eyes over Chastity's body, appreciative of how tall and thin she was. It meant that the standard woolen skirt hand-me-down was too large in the waist, necessitating a sash to hold it up in place of a belt. She always wrapped a scarf around her waist, and today it was a black woolen one, that was wide enough to be a cummerbund.
   Izzy's phone was concealed beneath it, ready to record when the time came.

  That was the purpose of the pures visit to her prison, not to save her, but to get her phone.

  Chastity wanted to record the execution.

  She'd told Izzy it was so she could bring Hammer to justice, and Izzy was vengeful enough to hope the girl was telling the truth, but even if Chastity just used it to blackmail him, as she suspected was more likely to be the case, at least it would make him uncomfortable for a while. 

  Whatever her plan, it obviously meant a great deal to her if she was willing to risk everything for it.
  Packs were the Alphas responsibility, and while the adults were left to their own devices for the most part, they were still subject to human law. On the other hand, all children; human, Were, or halfbred, were under the guardianship of the government until they turned eighteen. Their health care and schooling were paid for in full, and even their living costs were subsidized, and the government took a much greater interest if something happened to them.
  Even though she'd reached voting age, it could be argued that Izzy was still a minor, since she was still at school, and executing a child would have much more impact on the government, and a jury, if it ever went to Court.
  This execution was an event that could have Hammer imprisoned and the Pack disbursed if the human authorities ever found out.
  Carrying a phone to it would be considered treason in Hammers eyes, Izzy had no doubt of that, so Chastity must have a very serious reason for taking the risk... or she was much more stupid than Izzy ever realized.

  There was a rustle as everyone turned in sync, responding to the heavy Alpha presence as Hammer arrived.
  Rock was with him, following a step behind, and Izzy was relieved to see that he didn't sport any obvious new injuries. In fact, he appeared healthier than ever.
  She studied him, noting that the bruising was gone, and his frame was filling out again. He almost looked like he was back to his old self, right down to the cold grey eyes sweeping the crowd, and her, with complete indifference.

  Her pulse started to race, not with fear, but from the clear rejection in his expression.

  How could he turn his emotions off like that, and look at her as if she were less than nothing?

  Izzy's heart sank into her stomach, making her feel nauseous. She thought that she'd prepared herself for this moment, and could face her death, if not with equanimity, then at least a degree of dignity. But she hadn't realized until now, how much Rocks affection mattered to her.
  She'd believed it was a terrible, difficult decision for him, and that he would choose Aroha over her, not because he didn't love her, but because he loved his mother more.
  What she hadn't expected, was to find out that he wouldn't care for her at all.

  Now that he was near, she could sense him through the mate bond, but there were no rogue emotions to reassure her, there was nothing but cold indifference coming from him.

  Hammer stood before his assembled minions, and his happy smirk was fearful to see.

  "I've an announcement to make." He turned, and nodded at Rock to come forward. "I've blood bonded this male."

  Izzy caught her breath, and stared in shock. 

  Blood bonding was reserved for mates, and those closest to the Alpha, but Hammer didn't usually accord his Warriors such an intimacy.

  Had Hammer finally taken Rock? Surely she would have felt it? Shouldn't she have sensed the new intruder in their bond? But she'd felt nothing from Rock last night.

  "Rock, Hammers son, has been elevated..."

  Izzy was sure she wasn't the only one holding her breath waiting for the end of the sentence.

  "Not only is he a Warrior, he is now my Beta!"

  All of Rocks dreams had finally come to fruition.

  Izzy's heart broke for him.