Chapter Nine: A Little Taste of Rejection.

Rendall heaved a sigh of satisfaction as he walked with two dead antelopes on his shoulders. He could have hunted for more but Alecto had infuriated him by scolding him for not leaving earlier. Hello seethed in anger as he remembered how Alecto had driven him out of Helia's room and out of the house.

Well, two antelopes were more than enough for the old man, he thought to himself and smiled as he saw Alecto's house from where he stood.

Rendall dropped the games in front of the house when he got there. The door was opened and he could see Alecto and Helia drinking tea and discussing heartily. 

"I'm back," he announced as he walked into the house but neither Alecto nor Helia spared him a glance.

"So my father loved chicken as much as I do when he was younger?" Helia asked Alecto, ignoring Rendall.

"Yes and then he was nicknamed ‘the chicken Alpha’. Oh, my days! Then, at night, all the werelions will gather and everyone will display how fiercely they shifted. Of course, your father was fiercer but instead of getting praised, he'd be called his nickname which will make him get infuriated."

Alecto and Helia roared in laughter. Rendall snorted. They were bonding but here he was, standing and they were both oblivious to his presence.

"Now," Alecto continued with a faint smile. "Leander is finally the Alpha and no one dares to call him that name."

"Drink," Helia said and held out her cup to him as the universal signal of the word ‘cheers’. Alecto picked up his cup of tea and did the same. The both of them brought the cups to their mouth and began to gulp down their content.

There was another cup of tea on the table. Rendall was thirsty and famished and he assumed that the tea in the tray was his so he stretched his hands to take it but before he could, Alecto emptied the cup of tea in his hands, dropped the cup, and snatched the cup of tea in the tray. He gulped down it content at a go, dropped the empty cup back where it was, and belched in satisfaction.

Rendall was annoyed at the man's action but he maintained a poker face and took back his hands.

Alecto smirked.

Rendall looked at Helia whose empty cup stood on the tray too but she seemed oblivious to what Alecto had done. She glanced at Rendall with a straight face.

"You're back already," she said dryly, filling the silence that was becoming awkward. Rendall parted his lips in disbelief. Did she just notice him? He had walked in moments ago and had even announced his arrival but she had just noticed him.

Rendall just stared blankly at her, giving her silence as an answer.

"Don't just stand there," Helia said, frowning. "Sit. I and Alecto have been waiting for your return for like forever. He wanted to provide some of the answers we need but we had to wait for you."

"Clear the table," Alecto demanded as Rendall pulled a chair away from the table so he could sit on it. His glance moved from Helia to Alecto and then back to Helia. He wondered who Alecto was talking to. Helia glanced at him for a while and then the glance moved slowly to Alecto whose face was as blank as death.

Helia shrugged and reached for the tray of empty teacups on the table. 

"Not you little lioness," Alecto said, reached out to her hands, and stopped her. "We have to round up our conversation."

Alecto turned to a confused Rendall and scowled at him. "I was talking to you."

"Me?" Rendall could not believe his ears. The old man and Helia had messed up the table and this old man expected him to clean it up for them. He was an Alpha to-be. He was the one to give commands and make demands. It should not be the other way around. He was the one that should be intimidating. Nobody had the right to intimidate him. But, here he was, receiving commands from and being intimidated by an old man. Alecto was asking him, Rendall, the heir to Wulfe, the great kingdom of werewolves to do the work of a servant.

"Clear the table," Alecto demanded once again. His voice was more stern.

"But---" He paused and frowned when he saw that both Alecto and Helia had shot him a glare.

"Don't you see what is going on?" Rendall asked and stared at Helia in disbelief. He was expecting her to be on his side this time around but she chose to side with the old man instead. Helia scowled at him and looked from the tray of empty teacups on the table to the direction of the kitchen in a bid to tell him to do what Alecto had asked him to do.

Rendall looked from Helia to Alecto, glaring at them as he did so. Begrudgingly, he snatched the tray from the table and matched angrily to the kitchen.

Alecto had a smug smile on his face as Rendall returned from the kitchen, sulking. Rendall scowled at him without minding how he would react.

"Ah!" Alecto exclaimed in satisfaction in a bid to annoy Rendall the more. "Everything is in order now." 

Rendall walked over to the table and sat on his chair. He was seething with anger. 

"Can I have everyone's undivided attention?"

Alecto stared at him as he spoke and Rendall rolled his eyes as he realized that Alecto was referring to only him.

"Why is he immune to Nyx's curse?" Helia asked Alecto curiously. Things were becoming awkward and Helia felt the need to ease things a little. Rendall who was initially slouching on his chair sat up straight. He also wanted to know why unlike the other werecreatures under Nyx's curse, he could shift at will.

"He was born for a special purpose. We all will be doomed if he doesn't fulfill this purpose," Alecto began to answer her question in a flat tone. "This purpose is more than just breaking Nyx's curse. In fact, Nyx's curse serves as an avenue to fulfill this purpose. I hate to admit it but Rendall is---" Alecto paused to look at Rendall. He eyed him for a while before he continued talking, "special and special people have special gifts. Just bear it in mind that everything that had happened from the birth of the both of you to Nyx's curse to the both of you coming here was pre-destined so that a certain loophole can be fixed."

Rendall looked confused. Alecto studied him and shuddered In disgust.

"I wonder why this wolf was chosen," Alecto scoffed.

"Does it mean that looking for a way to break Nyx's curse is not what I should be doing but something else?" Rendall asked, ignoring Alecto's rude remark.

"You both should begin to prepare. You both would have to go to the human world soon. That will be the starting point. When it's time, I'll say what you are to do there. I'm beginning to get bored of this conversation so let's end it for now. We'd continue later," Alecto said with an air of finality. Rendall clenched his fists. He had asked a question that required a simple answer but Alecto had chosen to ignore him.

"Okay," Rendall said, agreeing to what he had said despite how annoyed he was. He needed answers and to get them, he had to tolerate Alecto.

"I thought I was the special one." Helia frowned as she remembered how Alecto and her Dad used to brag about how special she was.

"Little lioness," Alecto called out gently with a warm smile. "You're special. A special breed from a special lineage."

Alecto turned to Rendall. His warm smile was replaced with a frown. "Prepare the meat you had hunted."

Rendall gritted his teeth. His wolf, Conri had been threatening to take over so he could teach the old man a lesson or two but Rendall needed Alecto. Without protesting, he left the house to do what Alecto had asked him to do.

"It is sad to know that he is your mate," Alecto said to Helia after Rendall had left.

Her eyes widened. She wondered how he knew. Helia was not as surprised as she should bed. Alecto knew almost everything after all.

"I can reject him. It isn't sad." 

"It'll be painful. And, rejecting one's true mate is not very easy too."

"I crossed paths with him so I can help him break Nyx's curse, right? After I help him, I can reject him as my mate and let him fulfill whatever purpose he has, right?"

Alecto smirked.

"Some questions are better left unanswered. Sometimes, it's better to find answers by ourselves."

She found it hard to decipher Alecto's words. She was only sure of one thing.

"I will definitely reject Rendall as my mate when the time comes," Helia said to Alecto but Alecto was not the only one who had heard these words.

Rendall who was standing outside behind the wooden door heard her and his heart sank. He looked at the chicken he was holding. He had decided to catch one and prepare it for her since he had heard her talking about how she liked chicken.

The first drop of tears he had ever had since his childhood dropped from his eyes and he threw the chicken into the bush behind Alecto's house.