6. A Formal Rejection
A Formal Rejection
Jasper
“H ey Jas,” Si’s voice was warm over the line. I handed Angelica over her breakfast and moved from the small kitchen through to the living room to take the call in peace.
“Hey, Si, how you been?” I tried to put my frustration at his silence the past few days aside and focus on him.
Shuffling around on the seat, I tried to get comfortable, hoping that I’d get a decent conversation out of Silas.
We hadn’t spoken since he’d announced Rincoln’s death.
I missed having him by my side. So you say , my fox said sniffily.
You hardly thought about him . Guilt, hot and heavy, weighed down my stomach.
“The council has been in an uproar since they announced the new leadership, so I’ve been dealing with that and, uh, the Rincoln stuff.”
“Leadership? What stuff?” None of what he was saying made sense, and there was a strange distance between us.
“You don’t know?”
“Clearly.” My tone was a little sharp, my irritation seeping through.
“I thought your son would have said.”
“I didn’t see him for long. He had a call from the—“
“The council. Congratulations, you are the papa of the first male omega to take a seat on the council!” Silas, to his credit, sounded genuinely happy for us. Another guy that was better than I deserved. I couldn’t help but cling to him, though.
I nearly dropped my phone. “What?” I screeched. Getting up, I looked around the corner to see that Angelica had headphones on and was watching something on her phone as she shoveled food into her mouth.
Silas hissed in a breath. He always complained when my voice got too high. “There’s been a shakeup. Females, betas, and omegas are all taking seats on the council.”
We lapsed into silence for a moment as I took in the monumental news. I flopped back down on the couch, picked up a cushion, and hugged it to me. “How?”
“Well,” he began, and I could almost picture him rubbing a hand over the back of his neck sheepishly.
“We found out that several of the alpha council leaders had been helping Rincoln. Their own packs were guilty of breaking laws and he was blackmailing them, so they had evidence to finally remove them.”
So, that’s what was happening! That was a massive shakeup of the shifter’s ruling body.
Nothing like this had happened before. “So we’ve stripped them of their positions.
Councilman Ford has put together a task force to weed out any supporters.
He’s also the one leading the charge on changes to how the council is made up, you see?
There are four seats for betas, half to be for females, then another four for omegas, with Kade taking the one male omega position. ”
“Um, wow!” I was utterly floored by this change. My son was on the shifter council!
“Yeah, I mean, I know I’m young,” Silas was just a few years older than Kade at twenty-nine, “but I never understood why the other designations didn’t get a say in how we are all governed.”
“You had the benefit of growing up under Ford as your alpha. Not everyone sees it the same as you.” Silas was a true shifter idealist, which is why he’d been assigned to me in the first place. He valued betas and omegas alike. A fierce protector of those who weren’t physically strong like him.
“I know. Ford says that we are in for a long road.” It was kinda sweet how Silas idol worshiped Councilman Ford. I’d met the man a few times, so I got it. I had a lot of respect for Ford and his ideology. Not if it put my son in danger, though.
“Will Kade be safe?” My children were my first concern. At least they should be. It was why I wasn’t chasing my mate down despite the pull I felt to the man. I knew nothing of his character and I had someone. Yeah, that was the reason. My fox snuffed at me in annoyance.
“Of course. Ford said that Kade won’t be traveling often. He will do most of his work at the compound.”
Relief flowed through me, unbunching my shoulders and making me sigh.
“Jas?”
“Yeah, Si.”
“I don’t want us to end.”
“Me neither.” I heard him blow out a breath. “What’s your plans?”
It was my turn to exhale loudly. “They’ve fired me.”
“What?”
“You knew Cortez had it out for me. He took the first chance he had to get rid of me. I need to be near my son, Si. We were apart too long, and he’s so different now. They’ve offered me a job here. Angel and I have Kade’s house to live in.”
“So, Sweetwater, huh?”
“Yeah, would you consider at least visiting to see if you might like it here? I miss having you with me. It’s strange being here alone, aside from Angelica.”
“For you? Yeah. Sorry I wasn’t there for you with the Rincoln thing. I panicked and thought it automatically ended us, but then you’ve been calling, and it gave me hope, y’know?”
“I like what we have, Silas.”
“Me too. Look, I have to get back to work. I’ll call later if I can, okay?”
“Sure, remember my heat isn’t far off.”
“I know. You still want me for it?”
“Yeah. Speak to you soon, okay?”
We ended the call, and I went to check on Angelica.
I’d made some purchases to make the space more ours and a little more kid friendly, but there was nothing for us to do until we went to the compound later in the week to have dinner with the omegas and see the school Blake wanted me to work at.
Now that I’d spoken to Silas, maybe I could get him to ship some of my Angel’s toys and things so she could make the room more her own.
I was in the middle of sending him a text as a knock came at the door. I sent it quickly and forgot to check who was there before pulling the door open. If Trey had been with me, I’d have been in a world of trouble.
My heart stalled when I realized Dakota was on the other side of the door. “Um —“
“Don’t close the door on me. We need to talk.”
Maybe half an hour later, we were settled in a couple of chairs in the backyard.
Dakota had brought a trampoline with him and made quick work of putting it together with some minor help from me.
Angelica was bouncing high and shouting for her new favorite to watch her as she performed tricks.
He didn’t take his warm dark chocolate eyes from her little form, smiling and flashing a blinding white smile when she flipped and landed on her feet.
“Look at you go!” He praised her, making something warm in my stomach.
I wanted the praise to be directed at me.
Ugh . I needed to stop that line of thought.
I had Silas and was perfectly happy with him.
Dakota was a complication to an already overloaded life. I needed to focus on my kids and getting my life in order. Making a proper home, getting a job, repairing the damage with Kade and Blake, all had to come before I dealt with the mess of an unwanted mate.
Not unwanted , my fox reminded me. No, he wasn’t unwanted.
Just unknown and I couldn’t cope with all the things coming at me.
In days I’d lost the threat over my head, returned to my son’s side to thoroughly mess all that up, lost my job, and been separated from my boyfriend for who knew how long.
I had nothing here. No friends. No support.
I missed Grady and Trey keeping me steady.
Karina and her warm hugs and gentle advice.
I felt adrift and didn’t just want to cling to a stranger of a mate.
That could launch me from a bad situation into something worse.
“Now that she’s occupied,” Dakota said in a low voice, the rumble sending tingles up my spine, “what are we going to do about this bond?” I wanted to lean into him. To draw his presence into me, to remember every detail of how he sounded and looked when he was away again.
“Do? What is there to do about it?” It was torture to speak so cooly to him, but necessary.
This was all for him. He’d be better off without me.
I was a mess. “I have someone, Dakota, and I’m not about to give him up for a stranger.
There’s too much going on for me to deal with.
Plus, the father of my kids was killed just a few days ago.
I may not have loved him anymore, but I still grieve what he was.
” That was a bald faced lie. I’d done my therapy and mourned Rincoln years ago.
It was an excuse to keep him at a distance.
His posture stiffened with my words, and I felt an immediate urge to soothe him.
My fox was desperately urging me to ignore Silas in favor of Dakota, but that wasn’t fair to either of them.
I’d just told Silas that I wanted what we had.
That wasn’t a lie. I was torn. Silas represented safety and comfort.
Dakota was a dark unknown. Too dangerous to follow.
“I see. Does this mean that you are going to make a formal rejection?”
“A formal rejection?” I echoed. The words landed heavily, creating flashes in my head. Almost visions of chaos and pain. My senses told me that this wasn’t the path we needed to follow, even without a full picture.
“You’ll have to make it on the full moon with witnesses.” He explained with some difficulty, like the words were sticking in his throat. My heart ached in sympathy. This was an awful situation.
“I don’t understand.” I’d never heard of a formal rejection, just knew that we couldn’t do it. Something terrible would happen if we did. I needed to know what it was so I couldn’t accidentally do it and cause a tragedy.
His tone turned brusque. “If you don’t want to ever explore our mate bond, you can formally reject me in front of your alpha and pack, or just witnesses on the full moon before we all shift.”
Taking a moment to digest the news, I took a breath. “Dakota… I–.”
He closed his eyes, a brief flash of heartbreaking sadness flitted over his stunning face. “I need to know because there needs to be a plan.”
“A plan?”
Dakota blew out a breath. “If you reject me, my bear could… take over. Go on a rampage. We would need to alert Blake, since he’s my alpha. My bear would cede control to him.”