Rejected His Miracle Luna, Fated Her Second Chance Alpha novel Chapter 3

~Dorothy~

It was a long while before my wailing petered out into quiet sobs. I leaned into Johan who had his arms around me, stroking my hair and cradling my shaking frame. I inhaled against his neck and clutched the fabric of his shirt with trembling hands.

“Please, don’t reject me yet. Not today.”

My voice was hoarse, a little more than a whisper as I clung to him, “Let me at least have today, even if it’s fake.”

I couldn’t fathom a rejection so monumental. Not here, alone on campus where everyone could witness the aftermath. And not today - it was too much to bear.

Johan was silent for a moment, rocking me gently as he thought it over.

“Alright. Not today.”

He squeezed my shoulders tightly before releasing me and standing up, “I should get going. Again, I’m so sorry.”

He reached out as if to touch my hair, but drew his hand away abruptly, shoving it into his pocket instead. Turning with jerky movements, Johan left the garden and disappeared into the bustling corridor without another word.

I stared after him, motionless and empty. My inner-wolf cried in anguish deep inside of my chest. I felt numb, my tears used up, and what little hope I had left was shattered entirely.

A part of me wanted to scream and cry for Johan to come back. To beg him to stay. But I was exhausted, and the small voice in the back of my mind was whispering that I shouldn’t have expected anything else. That I would never be wanted. That I would never belong.

Heaving myself off the bench, I left the garden on legs that felt like lead. The thought of more classes after what had just happened was unbearable. I slipped out of the college instead and headed towards the woods just outside of campus. Going home wasn’t an option either.

Although Anita would be understanding, her sympathetic smile would only make me feel worse. In that moment, I just wanted to be alone. I scuffed my sneaker on the tarmac and inhaled the fresh scent of the woods before me. Pine and Engelwood, just like him. I pushed the thought from my mind.

Before I could make it to the woods, however, I heard multiple sets of footsteps catching up behind me and turned to see five of Mavis’s crew heading my way. Why now?

I contemplated running, but among the group, I’d spotted Lana, who, with her long slender limbs and athletic abilities had always managed to run me down before.

I didn’t see this time going any differently. Instead, I slowed my pace and let them catch up with me, forming a half-circle between their prey and the forest. I folded my arms and prepared to defend myself.

“Hello, gingersnap, what has you running out here with your tail between your legs?” Claudia, the speaker in question, donned a malicious fake smile while she blinked at me.

“Well hello Claudia, why don’t you mind your own business for once?” I sneered back, “Doesn’t Mavis need her guard dogs today?”

I hoped they couldn’t hear the tremble in my voice. Hoped they wouldn’t notice my puffy eyes and tear-streaked face.

Hatred flashed in Claudia’s eyes and she prodded my chest with one perfectly manicured nail, “I heard somebody found her mate today,” she said in a sing-song voice and poked me again, harder this time.

I smacked her hand away. “That’s got nothing to do with any of you.”

Cladia retracted her clawed hand and coked her head to the side. “Oh, but it does. I heard you were getting quite cozy with Johan over in the gardens earlier. And Alissa said she even saw the two of you leave the bathroom together. Didn’t you Alissa?”

She looked over at the bottle blonde to her left who shrugged and nodded vaguely like the entire conversation disinterested her.

“It’s not what you think, he doesn’t even want -” My words came out jumbled and I cut myself off, unable to voice the painful truth.

Claudia made no effort to conceal the joy this torment brought her. A cold grin settled across her face. “He doesn’t want you.”

With that, I decided I had had enough. I pushed past the tall girl and made for the canopy of the forest. Claudia clearly wasn’t letting me go that easily though and she gripped my shirt at the shoulder, yanking me backward and sending me to the ground before I could steady myself.

Claudia was strong. Inhumanly strong. She was using the strength of her inner-wolf and she was all the more dangerous for it.

I landed on my back and immediately tried to scramble to my feet only for Claudia to deliver a sharp kick to my stomach with her pointed boot. I buckled, winded, and collapsed to my knees. I had no time to gasp for air before Lana delivered another kick to my side, and sent me sprawling on the tarmac again.

Claudia reached down, grabbing my hair, and yanked my head up to face the girls. “We couldn’t care less about you or who you decide to pine over. But you got a little too close to Mavis’s man and we can’t allow that.”

With that, she slammed my head against the ground causing stars to explode across my vision and blood to pour from both my nose and a nasty new gash in my brow. The girls continued their assault, taunting and jeering while I curled up on my side in an attempt to protect myself.

I could barely think straight, my mind was foggy and I cried out at every jab and kick that hit its mark. It felt like they were aiming to kill. I had endured their torment time and time again but this time they weren’t holding back.

The attack went on for what felt like forever when suddenly, through the fog I heard a new voice speak up.

“What the fuck is going on here?”

A voice so low and dangerous. A voice like ice.

The girls halted their attack and a new scent washed over me - overpowering and intoxicating, it was a musky rose with the echo of a sea breeze. I couldn’t see this new stranger from my fetal position on the ground but I could sense him with every fiber of my being.

The hair on my neck rose and my heart slowed into deep rhythmic beats that reverberated through my entire body.