Word Count : 5041

Reese

Reese sat silent for a few more moments before heading toward his father's office. There was a part of him that was angry that he had not been included in any of this, that it had been dropped like a bomb on him with everyone else. But another part of him realized why; it was because this was his fault, all of it, that's why they didn't include him. Did they know? That he'd been one of the bullies? He'd made it clear to the other students that his parents weren't to find out who did it, but they knew about Harper and Celie being bullied and abused at school. Celie's letter had laid it out, but he had tried to keep the fact that he'd been involved from his parents, they were disappointed enough in him just for the rejection.

Reese was nervous about going to his father's office now, things had changed in the past couple of months, his father and mother did not talk to him as they once had. The chatter around the dinner table was tense, his mother barely spoke to him or looked at him at all. He remembered the devastation on her face when they'd found Harper missing, how frantic she'd been to find her, and the way she'd cried when she'd read Harper's note and Celie's letter to her father. He remembered her tears in his room when she spoke of Harper's mother never forgiving her for what she let happen, he remembered her blaming herself for everything.

Luna Sophia had always been extremely fond of Harper, she'd enjoyed spending time with her in the kitchen, trying new recipes, talking with her about school, books, and cooking. She'd been Harper's mother's best friend and had immediately taken Harper under her wing when Cassie had died, Sophia had thought she'd been like a second mother to Harper. Learning Harper had been being abused right in front of her without her noticing had been heartbreaking for her, she felt like she'd failed Cassie and Harper. Reese would never forgive himself for making his mother feel that way, if he'd just stood up for Harper, none of this would ever have happened.

Reese couldn't figure out why he'd never done anything about it, why he'd participated in it, he'd always liked Harper. It didn't make sense to him and he'd spent months trying to remember his reasons for doing it, he could never come up with anything, but he knew it boiled down to one thing, or one person, rather. Charla. Charla had always hated Harper, he didn't really understand why, but she'd started the bullying and he'd never done anything to stop it because he'd wanted to get into Charla's pants and be with her. So he went along with her, let her get away with it, turned the other cheek and pretended it wasn't that bad, even though he'd known in his heart that it was that bad, and that it was wrong. Lately he'd found himself staring into the mirror wondering who the person in front of him was, how he could have done such terrible things.

Reese knocked softly on his father's office door, half wishing he wouldn't be told to come in, but he was.

"Reese." His dad said, looking up from his desk, his eyes a little hard, but his mother didn't look at him at all.

"Dad, why didn't you tell me about all this?" Reese asked sitting in the chair in front of his dad's desk, some of his anger about being kept in the dark bubbling up. "How can I take over the pack in a few weeks if I'm kept in the dark and have no idea what is going on?"

"We didn't tell you because we didn't feel you would be any help in coming up with solutions to these issues or creating these laws and rules. Considering you were one of the main perpetrators in the abuse our investigation discovered." Alpha Lucas said flatly.

Reese's stomach hit the floor and he swallowed hard; they knew.

"And as far as you being named Alpha, that is not happening for a long, long time." Alpha Lucas stated.

"What?!" Reese said, leaning forward in his chair. "What do you mean that is not happening? I'm 18, I'm supposed to take over and be appointed at the harvest moon."

"You're not fit to be an alpha, and after everything I've seen in the past few months, I'm not sure you ever will be. A true alpha protects his pack, you knew what was happening and not only did you do nothing about it, you participated in it, and now two young girls are dead." Alpha Lucas said, anger and disappointment in his eyes.

"They're not dead!" Reese said, hearing his father say his mate was dead completely took the wind out of him, he instantly forgot about being alpha. "They're not dead! I know they're not; we can't stop looking for them, I know they are out there, we just have to find them and bring them home."

"Son, they are dead." Alpha Lucas said, sorrow seeping into his eyes. "They're dead, we have to accept that."

"NO!" Reese said, his voice raised, his eyes frantic. "No, they are not dead. They're alive, they are alive, I know they are. They can't be dead; they just can't be. We haven't found any bodies; we haven't found any reason to believe they're dead. We have to keep looking for them, they're out there, they need us, we can't give up on finding them!"

"Why do you care?" Luna Sophia asked softly, finally looking at him with sorrow filled, angry eyes. "Why? Because you never cared until now, you didn't care about them when they were here, you didn't care about them when they disappeared, why are you pretending to care now?"

"Mom...I cared..." Reese started, feeling tears prick his eyes.

"You only care now because the truth has come out and you want to be named alpha." She said harshly. "That's the only reason you're pretending to care about Harper."

"Mom, I care about Harper." Reese said, his heart breaking thinking of his mate. "I always..."

"Stop pretending!" Sophia shouted at him, shocking him into silence, his mother never shouted. "You let them hurt her! You let them beat her! You let them call her names. You let them say vile things to her. You said vile things to her. You! So just stop it! Stop your lies! This whole time you've acted like a sweet little innocent lamb when you were the one doing these things! You didn't even have the courage to admit it! You've been acting for months like it was everyone else when it was really you!"

"Did you really think we wouldn't find out?" Alpha Lucas said, putting his hand over his mate's shaking one. "That you and your girlfriend," he said the word with such disgust it made Reese flinch, "would just get away with what you've been doing? Oh yes, we know who the ring leader was, we know who the main perpetrators were, we know everything."

Reese said nothing, just looking down guiltily.

"You did. You really thought your life would just go happily on and you could ignore the blood on your hands." Alpha Lucas said harshly. "Well that is not happening. Since you're my only son you might be appointed alpha if, and that's a very big if, you ever prove yourself worthy of the title, but I can promise you, that time is in the very, very distant future, and that girl," Lucas sneered, "will never be Luna of this pack. We've made sure of that!"

"If you want to keep her around, I suggest you keep a tight leash on her, if she bullies one more person, if she hurts another person, if she steps one toe out of line, I will gleefully banish her for her actions." Luna Sophia said, her eyes hard. "If it were up to me, I'd throw her out of this pack right now with only the clothes on her back. See how she does having to face the world alone, just like the girls she abused had to face the world alone."

Reese was stunned, his parents, his mother especially, had never shown such hostility toward a pack member. Sophia was absolutely serious too; he could see the hate shining in her eyes when she talked about Charla.

"I think you should go now, son." Alpha Lucas said. "I suggest you take some time to reflect on what you've done, and the consequences that others have had to suffer because of it. Maybe go check on Adam, he's obviously the only one around here who regrets his actions, you could learn a few things from him. And make sure your girlfriend" sneer, "understands how precarious her situation is. Because she's one insult away from being out on the street."

Reese sat on his bed with his head in his hands thinking of everything that happened this evening. His mate wasn't really dead was she? Wouldn't he have felt that? Wouldn't he have known if she died? Why had he rejected his mate? Why? Adam was right, how did they end up like this? Why did they think it was ok to just reject their mates? He hadn't been raised like that, his parents had taught him his whole life that his mate was the most important thing in the world, that she was a blessing from the goddess to be treasured and appreciated. But he had thrown his away, because he didn't want to break up with his slutty bitch of a girlfriend, because he didn't think Harper was cool enough, because he thought people would laugh that she was his mate.

Why had he thought that? Harper was pretty and she was a sweet girl, she would have made an amazing Luna. And she was super smart, his mom had said she'd been accepted to every medical school she'd applied for, she would have been a doctor, she wanted to be a pediatrician and take care of children. He would have had a beautiful, sweet, smart, doctor for a Luna. Now he would never have a Luna, hell he might never even be named Alpha.

Was his mate really dead? Tears welled in Reese's eyes at the thought. His mate had run away from his abuse and rejection and now she was dead. Goddess how had this happened?

He would never forget the look on her face, for as long as he lived he would never forget the pain in her beautiful aqua eyes when he rejected her. She'd flinched when he'd said the words, but she'd stood completely still and held his gaze, there was so much pain in her eyes, and the slightest sheen of tears but she'd held them back, for a split second her bottom lip had quivered just the slightest bit, but she held her head up and stood straight and dignified. Despite the laughter, the jeers, the ridicule, and then she had accepted his rejection in a calm and steady voice before turning and walking away, head still high, shoulders still squared. She'd kept her dignity, she'd shown her strength, she hadn't crumbled or cried, she hadn't acted broken or pathetic the way some females did, she accepted fate's kick in the gut with poise and grace.

He had been surprised by her reaction, he'd expected shock, he'd expected tears, he'd been expecting her to ask him not to, but she hadn't. She'd stood tall and proud and not shown the pain she felt, he was the only one who'd seen it in her eyes, to everyone else, she's shown no reaction at all. He realized now that she had been expecting it, there had been no doubt in her mind she would be rejected. That broke his heart to think of it, they'd beaten her down so much she had just assumed her mate would reject her.

"This is ridiculous!" Reese jerked slightly when his door flew open and Charla stormed in, her eyes red, fury on her face. "They can't do that! When you're alpha you can get rid of that stupid rule! We don't have to listen to them!"

Reese just laughed at her, standing up and turning to face her. His eyes moved over her slowly and he was surprised to feel nothing but disgust looking at her. She was fake and slutty looking, her clothes so tight they left nothing to the imagination, her top cut so low you could see everything, her makeup thick and too dark, her over bleached blonde hair molded and frozen.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen." Reese said, looking at her in disgust, how had he not seen all that before?

"What?!" Charla screeched. "I'm your mate, I'm the luna of this pack!"

"You're not my mate. You don't bear my mark, and you never will." Reese said coldly. "You're not luna, you never have been, and you never will be. Get it through your head."

"Baby." Charlotte pouted, trying another route to get what she wanted, he couldn't resist her pouting. "I am your mate, we're made for each other, you know that."

"No, Charla, we are not." Reese said, thinking of how hurt Callum had been, he could remember now all the times his friend had looked away, or excused himself when Charla was in the room. He even seemed to remember seeing Charla smirk at Callum a few times. Had she been rubbing the rejection in his friend's face? "We're over. Get out."

"What?!" Charla's eyes widened, panic setting in. "You don't mean that, baby, I love you, you don't mean that."

Charla came over to him and tried rubbing up against him seductively.

"Baby, come here, I'll make you feel better." Charla purred.

"Get out now." Reese said, the deadly softness in his voice should have warned her, but she took that to be him giving in and smirked.

"Baby, you know you want me, we'll work this out, and we'll fix everything once you're alpha." Charla said, reaching for his hand.

"Well that's kinda a problem." Reese said, "since I'm not going to be alpha."

"What did you say?" Charla froze.

"I said I'm not going to be alpha." Reese said, smirking at her, he was devastated by the news, but was enjoying knocking the ground out from under her. "My dad is taking the title away from me, I will not be named alpha because of the way I treated my pack members."

"What!?" Charla screeched again. "He can't do that!"

"Oh, but he can." Reese said. "And he has. I'm no longer alpha, I might be, years from now, if I can live up to my father's expectations and become the alpha he thinks I should be. But that's a big IF in his eyes, and it will take me years to redeem myself for what I've done."

"This is not fair!" Charla shouted. "How can he do that? You're the alpha!"

"No, I'm not. My father is the alpha and you should remember that." Reese said flatly. "And by the way, you should know that you're on pretty thin ice right now. They know who the head bully is, Luna said if you step one toe out of line she's going to banish you from this pack and throw you out on your ass with nothing but the clothes on your back."

Charla's mouth dropped open and her eyes were wide as saucers, making Reese laugh.

"When she throws you out you should head to Nevada, prostitution is legal there, so you'll have no trouble utilizing your only skills to make a living." Reese sneered at her. "Now get out of my house and don't come back."

He shoved her out the door and slammed it in her face.

Reese walked over to his desk and took a key out of his pocket unlocking the bottom drawer of his desk he took out an old composition notebook and opened it to a random page. There was a small drawing of a shoe and below it was written, "Life is not a fairy tale, if you lose your shoe at midnight, you're drunk, call a cab, not a pumpkin."

Reese chuckled at the line; he rubbed his finger over the writing. This is what he did now, several times a day he would come into his room and pull a notebook out of his desk and open to a random page to read one of her thoughts, or quotes. He would turn on his speaker and play a playlist of songs he'd compiled from the lyrics she'd quoted in some of her entries in her journals. He'd read them all at least three times, he wished he had more, those books were a glimpse into the head of his mate, A peek at the real her, the one she didn't share with anyone, and he was the only one who got to see it. A picture of the girl she really was had formed in his head. He knew what made her laugh, he knew what made her sad, what made her angry, and what made her cry, and he knew all these little things about her that no one but him could know. He doubted she'd left those journals there on purpose, she'd must have rushed out after the rejection to avoid everyone, she'd probably forgotten them completely and for that he was grateful, it was his only glimpse into the heart of his mate.

His dead mate. The thought sent a shot of pain through him like nothing he'd felt since the rejection, his wolf howled in agony.

She's not dead, Noah. Reese tried to soothe him. They don't know that she's dead, we're not going to stop looking until we find her.

*Why do you even pretend to care!* Noah shouted at him in anger and pain. *You abused her, you let others hurt her, you rejected her, you didn't even let me see my mate, or meet her, you just broke her human and threw her away! We'll never find her; we'll never have our mate back. We'll never have a second chance; we'll never have pups, we'll never have a home or a luna, we'll be alone forever!*

The mournful howling started again, that howling broke his already fractured heart.

"I'm sorry Noah." Reese try to apologize. "I'm so sorry I cost you your mate, I'm sorry you didn't get to meet her even once. I'm sorry for everything, Noah, I would cut off my own legs with a dull knife if that were the trick to go back in time and change it. Without a hesitating a second, because I know that Harper is the kind of mate who would have loved me whether I have legs or not. I'm sure her wolf is just as amazing as she is, but we can still find her, she's out there somewhere I know she is. We would have felt it if she died, I know we would, I didn't let go of the bond completely. I think she's still alive we just have to find her."

Callum

Callum laid on his bed staring at the ceiling wishing he could sleep, just like he did every night. His thoughts went between Harper and Charla, his sister was rejected for his mate, who rejected him for his sister's mate. How fucked up was that?

He smirked thinking of Charla. After all that, having the Luna title snatched away from her after she worked so hard and thought she had it. She deserved what happened to her, she deserved to get demoted back to nothing but the pack slut. Her never getting a second chance was just icing on the cake.

Harper had been innocent; she hadn't deserved anything that had happened to her. She was a sweet girl with a good heart who couldn't hurt a fly. He remembered how close they'd been growing up, she was only a year younger than him, they'd been best friends until a year after their parents were killed. Then he'd turned on her to be cool, to be an asshole, to be like everyone else. His own little sister, who's aqua eyes had stopped shining with happiness, who'd stopped smiling, who'd stopped talking, who'd hid bruises, while he laughed at her with everyone else.

His baby sister who was dead now.

Tears slipped down his temples thinking of her, he hadn't realized they'd stopped looking, he hadn't realized there was no hope of finding her.

There was a soft knock on his door, bringing him out of his thoughts, he sniffed the air and tensed, realizing who was outside his door.

"What is it Charla?" Callum said, opening the door to see her standing there sniffling with red eyes.

"I just wanted to talk for a few minutes, if you have a time." Charla tried smiling a sad pathetic smile, meant to get his sympathy and pull at the remaining bond.

"Actually, I don't." Callum said, eyes narrowing at her, he wasn't stupid. "Thanks for stopping by though."

"Wait!" Charla leaped forward pushing against the door as he closed it in her face. "I want to talk to you; I need to apologize."