Chapter 340: Refusal

Rebecca’s POV

​"You’ve got to be kidding me!" I spat, slamming my hand down on the wooden surface of my mother’s desk. The force of my blow sent a visible ripple of Fae energy through the room, making the papers on her desk flutter violently into the air.

​My mother didn’t even flinch. She simply sat back in her armchair, crossed her arms over her chest, and looked at me with that annoyingly calm Alpha expression. "Calm down, Rebecca."

​"Calm down?" I echoed, my voice rising. My jaw was clenched so tightly my teeth ached. "Kaden rejected me?"

​"You weren’t the only one rejected, darling," Mother replied calmly. "They received over a hundred submissions from packs all across the realm and selected only forty warriors. It may not be personal. They know the exact combination of abilities they need for this mission."

​"No, Mother." I pointed at the rejection letter lying innocently on her desk. "It is personal. It is completely, one hundred percent personal."

​I started pacing across her office, my anger growing with every step. Laura was restless inside me too, clearly just as unhappy about the decision. "The man needs people who can find a way through Dark Fire. I can teleport long distances. I can manipulate Fae energy. I have strength far beyond that of a normal wolf, and I can use force without even touching someone. You’re telling me they looked at all of that and decided I wasn’t useful enough?"

​"Rebecca..."

​"No, don’t ’Rebecca’ me." I turned sharply toward her. "There is no way this wasn’t Kaden’s decision. He saw my name on that list and crossed it off because of our history. He doesn’t want me in his territory. That’s what this is about."

​Mother sighed. "And if it is?"

​I stopped.

​"What?"

​"If Kaden personally removed your name, can you really be surprised?" she asked. "You spent three years making it very clear that you wanted nothing to do with him. You avoided places where you knew he would be. You never contacted him. Perhaps he believes he’s respecting the distance you wanted."

​For a moment, I had absolutely nothing to say to that.

​I hated when my mother made sense while I was angry. It was extremely inconvenient.

​"That was before this," I finally said.

​"Before what?"

​"Before Stephanie was taken."

​The room immediately became quieter.

​I looked down at the rejection letter again, and suddenly my anger wasn’t the only thing I could feel. Fear was right there beneath it.

​Stephanie was still trapped inside Plant Pack. I had no idea where they were keeping her. I didn’t know if she was hurt, hungry, scared, or whether the tiger shifters had already done something to her. Every hour that passed was another hour she remained behind that Dark Fire.

​Three years ago, I had wanted nothing to do with Kaden or his territory. Even a few days ago, the thought of willingly walking back into his pack house would have sounded ridiculous.

​But this wasn’t about our past anymore.

​This was about Stephanie.

​She had stayed beside me through some of the worst moments of my life, and now she needed me.

​I wasn’t going to sit safely in Stone Pack simply because Kaden didn’t want to deal with the awkwardness of seeing me again.

​I looked back at my mother, my mind completely made up. "Mother, I’ll be back," I said before she even had the chance to open her mouth and stop me.

​Without waiting for her response, I closed my eyes and pictured the exact layout of the Alpha King’s private study. Having spent time in that mansion years ago, the memory of his office was still clear in my mind. I let my Fae power wrap around me and pulled.

​The Stone Pack office vanished, and a split second later, the air shifted. The familiar scent of dark cedar, rain, and old leather filled my lungs as my feet landed softly on the thick rug directly in front of the massive mahogany desk in Kaden’s study.

​Kaden was sitting behind his desk, leaning back in his leather chair with a phone pressed to his ear. The second the air rippled and I appeared out of nowhere, he froze. His dark green eyes widened as they locked onto mine, and for a brief second, the composure completely fell from his face.

​"Let me call you back," he said into the phone before ending the call without waiting for a response and placing the device face down on his desk.

​We stared at each other in silence.

​Three years. It had been three whole years since I had seen Kaden in person, and damn, he had changed a lot. In a very, very good way too, which was honestly a little annoying considering I had come here to argue with him.

​His shoulders were broader than I remembered, his jaw sharper, and his black hair had grown longer. The tattoos covering his arms were still there, disappearing beneath the sleeves of his shirt, but there was something different about the way he carried himself now. He had always been powerful, but the man sitting in front of me seemed calmer and more controlled. He looked every bit the Alpha King.

​And judging by the brief way his eyes moved over me before returning to my face, I was guessing he had noticed a few changes too.

​Neither of us said anything, and the longer the silence stretched, the more awkward it became. Well, this was going wonderfully.

​I swallowed the lump in my throat, straightened my posture, and cleared my throat. "Alpha Kaden, we need to talk."

​Whatever surprise had been on his face disappeared almost immediately. His expression hardened as he leaned forward and rested his forearms on the desk.

​"This should be the first and last time you invade my privacy like this, Miss Rebecca. If you wish to speak with me, you can teleport to the main gate and inform my guards that you want to see me. You do not teleport directly into my private study."

​I furrowed my brows at him. Seriously? Miss Rebecca? He was sitting there acting as if we were complete strangers meeting for the first time. Fine. If Alpha Kaden wanted formal, I could do formal.

​Folding my arms across my chest, I glared at him. "Why did you reject me?"

​Kaden didn’t flinch. Instead, he picked up a thick folder from his desk, opened it, and casually began scanning the pages as if my sudden appearance had already become the least interesting thing happening in his day. "Because your abilities do not fit the tactical requirements of our unit."

​I stared at him for several seconds before scoffing. "Really? You’re actually going with that excuse?"

​His eyes lifted briefly from the file. "It’s not an excuse."

​"Then tell me, who else on that list of forty can teleport long distances?" I waited for an answer, but he said nothing. "Exactly. I can teleport across kingdoms. I have raw Fae energy manipulation, strength that far exceeds a normal wolf, and powerful force projection. You have warriors who can turn invisible for thirty seconds and people who can read minds, but you’re seriously telling me my abilities don’t fit?"

​"You have exceptional gifts," Kaden replied calmly, returning his attention to the file. "But as I said, they do not match what we are looking for in this specific unit. The decision is final."

​My temper flared immediately, and Laura snarled inside my head, clearly just as irritated as I was. "No, it isn’t."

​That finally made him look at me again.

​I closed the remaining distance between us and slammed both hands flat on his desk, leaning forward until there was barely any space between us. "Listen to me very carefully. Left to me, I wouldn’t be anywhere near you or your territory. I built a life far away from this place, and I was perfectly happy keeping it that way."

​Something changed slightly in his expression, but I continued before he could say anything. "But my best friend is trapped inside Plant Pack. Stephanie was captured by those tiger shifters, and I don’t know if she’s hurt. I don’t know what they’re doing to her. I don’t even know where they’re keeping her. She was there for me when almost nobody else was. She stayed beside me through some of the worst moments of my life. She’s not just my friend anymore, Kaden. She’s my sister, and I’m not going to sit safely in Stone Pack while she’s trapped behind Dark Fire when I have abilities that might help get her out."

​Kaden finally placed the file down. "Rebecca..."

​"No. You don’t get to make this decision for me simply because you don’t want me in your territory."

​His face hardened. "You don’t know why I made my decision."

​"Oh, please." I scoffed. "You and I both know this has nothing to do with my abilities."

​"You’re assuming."

​"And you’re lying."

​His eyes narrowed at that, but I didn’t care. I straightened slightly, keeping both hands planted firmly on his desk as I held his gaze. "You don’t have to speak to me during training unless it’s necessary. You don’t have to look at me. We don’t have to talk about what happened between us three years ago because I didn’t come here to reopen any of it. This isn’t about you, Kaden. It’s about Stephanie and every other person trapped inside those territories."

​For several seconds, neither of us spoke. Kaden stared at me with an expression I couldn’t read, while I refused to look away. Then I finally pushed myself away from his desk and lifted my chin.

​"So, Alpha Kaden, I refuse your rejection. Tomorrow night, I am arriving here with the rest of the selected candidates."

​"Rebecca."

​"Try to stop me."

​His chair pushed backward as he started to rise, but I didn’t give him the chance to say another word. I focused on my mother’s office and pulled on my Fae power. The last thing I saw was Kaden standing behind his desk, staring straight at me.

​Then the study vanished.