Chapter Three

Roxie could barely register what just happened. There was another mate. That same smell, the smell that reminded her of earthy tones and spices wrapped up into one yummy package. Unfortunately for her, the smell came when her highschool bullies had decided to gang up on her. Maddie and Taylor specifically had heard the rumors that James had rejected her, and the sideways glances he shot her somehow set them off. They had decided to take turns kicking and beating her into submission. Her white knight came for her then. The smell of him was beyond intoxicating, and he commanded a powerful and dominating pressence. The way he threw those girls was beyond startling, but beyond that. She knew that she had to look out for herself, and what he did wasn't actually helping her case. 

You rejected our mate! How could you do that to us?

Vera didn't seem pleased. The last thirty minutes replayed in her head like a picture show and the true realization hit her. Shit. It didn't matter, she probably rejected the dude before he could reject her. Might as well get it over with, she thought to herself. Roxie pushed all the negative thoughts away, and headed towards her next class. Her stomach and her ribs hurt like hell, but it wouldn't take long for her to heal. She already had her wolf, and all that shifter blood was good for healing broken bones and topical wounds. She was no stranger to physical pain.

She wondered about the guy that had came to her rescue. She'd never seen him before, she didn't know who he was, and more than that, that dark angry expression on his face as he confronted her bullies made her somewhat fearful of him deep inside. What if that anger had been directed at her instead? Would he too shove her down, or injure her in some way? It was a lot to think about. It didn't matter, she still had a plan in place. She would be finished with school in just a little over a week now. She would pack what little belongings she had and go rogue, just long enough to get herself in with another pack and be far away from this little shit show. 

After school had ended, Roxie veered off from the normal path that everyone else took. She needed to avoid those awful girls at any cost. She took a scenic route home, stepping through the small pathways in the wooded areas until she came up on the backside of her house. Her father would still be at work, luckily. Her father was tolerable during his sober hours but the second he hit the bottle... He became a force of mean drunkeness that she didn't want to be around. She wasn't hit so very often, which she was lucky for but the emotional and threats of assault were neverending.

He did get violent at times, but she supposed that had something to do with her small stature, and the fact that her mom had left because of her. He hadn't forgiven her for that. She understood that coming out wrong was probably her fault, carrying a child isn't easy, and if she had somehow made her mother sick to begin with, then everything happening after was entirely her fault. It was her own burden to bear. 

Roxie slipped inside her house through the back door. Her father wouldn't be home from work until a few hours later. She set her stuff down in her room and went back downstairs. She took out the kitchen trash and set a new trashbag in. She drug the tall trashcan into the living room and went to work on collecting all the empty bottles and cleaning up the living room before he got home. She ended up taking out another bag of trash between the living room and the kitchen and worked on vacuming the carpet and mopping the kitchen and bathroom floors on the first floor and by the time her father came walking in from work, she was already mid way through cooking dinner. She decided on making an alfredo bake with garlic knots from scratch. Her father really liked it, and she was in the middle of prepping a side salad when he stumbled into his chair. 

"Hey! Rox. Get daddy a beer would you? What's for dinner?" She heard him call from the living room. She set down her knife and walked to the fridge and pulled out a long necked beer bottle she grabbed the bottle opener from the drawer and headed into the living room. "Alfredo bake, garlic bread, and salad." She said absently as she popped the beer and handed it to him. She almost got away with simply heading into the kitchen when he grabbed her wrist. "You're a good kid, too bad you were given a short hand." He said with a sigh. "You ended up with a worthless pop like me. You deserved better, I wish your mama could've understood that."

Roxie sighed and slipped her hand from his and touched her hand to her father's head and ruffled his hair. "It's alright. We're okay, and I don't think you're worthless. You just need to drink less before you kill over." She said. Her old man laughed in response. "I was rejected by my own wife, it hurts to think about. You ever been rejected? It's like having your heart ripped from your chest." He said. Roxie sighed. "Yes. I found my mate, and then he rejected me." She said in response. 

"Go get yourself a beer then. You deserve it." Roxie scoffed and shook her head. "No, it's alright. I have to finish dinner, it'll be ready soon." Roxie headed back to the kitchen to finish dinner. When all the food was finished she set the table and prepared two plates of food. She poured herself a glass of sweet tea, and placed a fresh beer for her father at the dinner table. She called out to her father and sat at the table and began eating her food.

"This is good, kid. Anyway I did have something to tell you. The man your mom left us for has finally killed over, Alpha in the next town over. She still hasn't shown her face, but that kid of his is supposed to take over. Good riddance to the fucker, but if your mama shows up here, try to be nice." Roxie dropped her fork when she heard that news and she sucked in a deep breath. She hadn't seen her mother since she was around five years old. Would her mother actually show back up now? It was hard to believe.