Rejection and Redeemed

Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

F ran had managed to secure the lodge next to Jacob’s. He pulled his car around to sit outside his lodge and walked inside, sinking onto the sofa. He cursed the fact that he didn’t have any clothes to change into. In his mad dash last night he hadn’t even thought about packing clothes or any of his essentials. He could always call Robbie and ask him to bring some things for him, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to talk to anyone from his family at the moment. He knew he would have to at some point, but ... he sighed and stopped that line of thinking. He had never been shy in talking to his family, and to be honest, he needed them now more than ever.

He was just about to pick up his phone and finally check his messages when there was a knock at the door. His heart jumped for the moment, thinking that Jacob was coming to talk to him, but then he snorted to himself. Like Jacob would want to come and talk to him.

He walked to the door and opened it, surprised to see Robbie, Finn, and his father standing there. If he had been thinking clearly he would have smelt them before he opened the door.

“Fran,” Finn said happily, pushing Robbie and Frank out of the way and pulling him into a hug.

“Hey,” Fran said, happy and shocked. Suddenly he was the focus of a group hug, with Frank and Robbie joining in.

“Hey, Cuz.”

“Franny,” Frank said, pulling back. “Your roots still need doing.”

Fran pulled out of the group hug. “If you’re here, I hope you brought hair dye with you.”

“Brought you clothes and essentials as well,” Finn informed him.

“I was going to ring later and tell you where I was,” he confessed.

“Sure you were, that’s why you’ve ignored every call and message that’s been sent to you since you ran out of the castle,” Frank told him.

“I wouldn’t exactly call it running.”

“You left a trail of fire behind you as you ran out, Fran,” Finn said.

Fran huffed. “Fine, I did run out. How did you find me?”

“It wasn’t hard. We knew Jacob would have to stay in a non-pack area, and this was the first one we thought of,” Frank said. “I take it Jacob is the wolf I smelt in the lodge next door.”

“He is,” Fran confirmed, walking into the kitchen area and putting the kettle on. “Who wants coffee?”

Robbie put the bag he brought for Fran down and walked to Fran, touching his shoulder. “I take it things aren’t going well.”

Fran sighed and his shoulders slumped. “Well, the fact that he hasn’t even asked my name should tell you something. All he knows is that I’m a Pullman. When he found that out, he threw me out.”

“Idiot,” Finn said. “I’ll go and talk to him.”

Robbie turned and looked at him. “I’m not sure that’s wise.”

“If he tries to kiss me again, I’ll punch him in the face,” Finn said, turning round and walking out before anyone could say anything else. Being mated to Robbie and having his love, plus finally shifting into his white wolf, had given Fintan the confidence he never had before.

“You can go with him if you want,” Fran said to his cousin.

Robbie shook his head. “Nope, he can look after himself.”

“He can,” Frank agreed with him before walking into the little kitchen and taking over making coffee.

Robbie drew Fran to the table and made him sit down. “Oh Fran, what can we do?”

Fran gave a humourless laugh. “There’s nothing you can do. Jacob is an outcast and filled with anger, some of it rightly directed at Cresswell. You know, I always dreamed about finding my mate, but in all my dreams never once was my mate an outcast who was in love with someone else.”

Frank walked over with the coffees and handed them out before sitting down, opposite his son. “Berni’s been in talks with Cresswell to get the outcast order rescinded. If Cresswell doesn’t agree, Berni will go over his head and talk to the Council himself. You know they never say no to him.”

Fran felt a kennel of hope blossom in his chest. He had no doubt that his uncle would get the outcast order overturned, and as soon as that was done, Jacob could hopefully relax a bit.

Finn knocked on Jacob’s door and waited for the man to open it. Jacob flung the door open growling out, “What?” He paused and looked shocked, before smiling widely. “Fintan, come on in.”

Finn stood there for a moment and looked at him. “I’ll come in, but if you try and kiss me, I’ll punch you in the face,” he warned.

The smile fell off Jacob’s face but he moved out of the way, letting Finn in, before closing the door behind him.

“So you’re being an arse to Fran, why?” Finn demanded.

“Fran?” Jacob queried.

Finn’s eyes got an angry look in them. “Yes, Fran, your mate. Francis Pullman, senior nurse at the Pullman Hospital and one of my best friends. I can’t believe you haven’t even taken the time to learn his name after he spent hours searching for you, to make sure you were okay,” Finn all but spat out, walking over to lean on the dining room table. “As soon as he found out you had been kicked out and was an outcast, he ran out of the castle straight away. We only put together that he was your mate after we realised that he’d been sad since coming back from the Bishop pack.”

Jacob snorted. “I’d be sad as well if I was to be mated to me.”

“That’s not the reason, idiot. No one wants to be mated to someone who has feelings for someone else.”

“Who said I was going to mate him? Why would I want to mate a Pullman when it was a Pullman who caused all my problems?” Jacob spat out.

“A Pullman, really? Was it a Pullman who got you to break your mating with me?” Finn asked him angrily.

“No, but it was a Pullman who took you from me, killed my father and took everything away from me.”

“You threw me away, remember? I was a shifter who couldn’t shift and you didn’t want me. You can’t blame a Pullman for that. As for your father, he lost a fight. Alpha Pullman won his pack, that is pack law — something you should also know.”

“I didn’t want to ‘throw you away,’ as you call it. When I discovered you were my mate, I was stunned, yes, but then happy that I got a mate. It was my father who told me to say the words to break the bond and told me I had to do it in a crowded location to humiliate you.”

“And you couldn’t have thought for yourself? You couldn’t have told me in private? How did you suddenly find out I was your mate, anyway?”

“I was nineteen the other day. It was on my birthday I smelt the amazing scent of chocolate and oranges and followed it until I found it was connected to you. I told my father I found my mate and he was so happy and said it was a cause for celebration until he found out it was you. Then his happiness turned to anger and he forced me to say the words to you.”

“Forced?” Finn asked him. He was about to scoff, but something about Jacob’s tone stopped him. He gentled his voice. “Did he force you to do a lot of stuff you didn’t want to?”

“Some. He said that was what made a strong Alpha,” Jacob replied with a shoulder shrug.

Finn sighed. “Alpha Pullman is the strongest Alpha in the country, probably the world, and he doesn’t throw his weight around. He simply asks and people help. I hate to say this, but your father’s brand of Alpha was wrong.”

Jacob’s eyes flashed angrily before he slumped. “It doesn’t matter anyway, your precious Alpha Pullman won’t let me be an Alpha or have my own pack. Not that I could now, anyway, with being an outcast.”

“You attacked Cresswell,” Finn pointed out, with a raised brow.

Jacob nodded. “I did. His behaviour from the beginning was rude and I finally had enough and hit him round the head with a frying pan. We both then shifted and fought. Needless to say, I didn't win.”

Finn grinned. “A frying pan?”

“It was the closest thing to hand. It was a spur of the moment thing, I hadn’t thought it through. Cresswell was suddenly in the kitchen looking for something to eat and the frying pan was just there. I know it was a stupid thing to do, but what did I have to lose? I’d already lost everything.”

“Yeah, but now you’ve been labelled an outcast and lone wolf. Alpha Pullman is in talks with Cresswell to get him to overturn the outcast order.”

Jacob snorted. “I doubt he’ll do that.”

“You’d be surprised what Berni can do. Just have a little faith.”

“Yeah, because that always works out so well for me.”

“Did Fran find you last night or this morning?” Finn asked, sitting down on one of the table chairs.

Jacob sat opposite him. “Last night. It didn’t end well, but then he spent the night outside in his wolf form watching over me,” he said, remembering the blue tuffs on the wolf. His look softened a little.

“That was nice of him.”

Jacob rubbed his forehead. “Yeah, then I kicked him out when I found out he was a Pullman.”

“That was a crap thing to do.”

“What, I'm supposed to suddenly like Pullmans?” Jacob demanded.

Finn shook his head. “You need to get over your snit with the Pullmans and as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, I’ll get right on that,” Jason said with a fake smile.

Finn stood up and gave him a serious stare. “You’re an arse, Jacob Bishop. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up alone and bitter.” And before Jacob could say anything, Finn walked out of the lodge slamming the door behind him, and stomping over to Fran’s lodge.