Rejected His Miracle Luna, Fated Her Second Chance Alpha novel Chapter 6

~Ignatius~

My brief visit to Johan’s neighborhood hadn’t ended up very brief at all. I had only meant to stop by the college for a few minutes to catch up with my old friend.

However, the moment I noticed the small crew of girls heading towards a solitary figure on the outskirts of the college campus, I knew something bad was about to go down.

Spotting Claudia, Mavis’s top watchdog, amongst them only confirmed my suspicions. Claudia was ruthless and whoever she was after now was not in for a good time.

I had already started towards the group when they began their beatdown. Breaking into a run, I could just make out a small figure curled on the ground and a shock of fiery red hair. Dorothy, I would come to learn, was her name.

Carrying her in my arms, I found myself enveloped in her scent. The smell of fresh air and gentle rain - floral and enticing. I wasn’t sure why Claudia and her gang had chosen this particular slip of a girl as their newest victim but I was enraged at their brutality all the same.

If I hadn’t had Dorothy in my arms I would have tracked them down and broken more than just a few of their manicured nails. Then again, considering the fragile allyship between their pack and ours, It wouldn’t look very good for the son of the Northern pack leader to launch an attack on a few Southerner girls.

Gaging from Dorothy’s nonchalant reaction to the ordeal, it was clear that she bore the brunt of their bullying quite often. Often enough to get used to it. And then there was Johan, I had never seen him act so strange as he had, standing there in the parking lot.

We had been fast friends for years. But around this girl, he had been on edge and angry - prepared to fight. We had fought often as children, even as young teens. But this Johan was different, territorial, and on edge.

It wasn’t long after that when I learned why. Dorothy was his true mate. Thinking about it afterward, his possessive, primal attitude should have been a clear sign of that fact. He clearly wanted her. And his inner-wolf must have been seething at another man handling his mate. An Alpha at that.

I had felt a pang of guilt at my own actions after Dorothy revealed the truth to me. I hadn’t intended to upset my friend or take what his inner-wolf demanded was his.

But with that being said, Dorothy was hurt and in need of assistance, and - in that volatile state - Johan would have been no help in the situation at best and a danger to Dorothy at worst.

Furthermore, I was astonished at his rejection of Dorothy, albeit not an official one. I had met Mavis on multiple occasions and while I could admit she was pretty, the venom in her eyes was clear as day to me.

I couldn’t fathom rejecting one’s true mate for a woman so potently cruel. My heart ached for Dorothy. I had only known her for a few hours at most but I had been rocked by the urge to protect her from the moment I laid eyes on her brilliant red hair and caught her faint scent on the breeze.

To lose a mate was an indescribable pain. I had felt it myself once. Unlike Dorothy, I hadn’t been rejected, but a stormy night and a fatal car accident had snatched them away from me. There is no pain quite like that of losing what you love the most.

The memory of that affliction was locked away in the furthermost corners of my mind - only to be carefully opened and examined over and over again in the quiet confines of my own bedroom in the dead of night.

While I couldn’t entirely understand Dorothy’s pain, I could empathize. Watching her tears fall freely as she lay on the bed in that clinic, I fought the overwhelming urge to take her in my arms again.

It hurt to see her so clearly suffering. I wanted nothing more than to fix what was broken and witness a smile - a real smile - as I was sure it would be a beautiful one. Dorothy, however, was not mine to embrace. I was little more than a stranger to her.

All the same, it was difficult to keep my distance and I reached for her small, slender hand. Dorothy refused to look at me for a moment, keeping her eyes trained to the fan on the ceiling and denying my sympathies with a tight-lipped frown. Her fingers, however, closed around mine and she gripped my hand tightly.

We stayed like that for a good long while, comforted by quiet company, before the healer returned with a handful of what looked like powdery sticks and a vile of inky black liquid. Dorothy tried to get up and I propped a hand on her back, easing her into a sitting position.

She gave me a small smile in response and blinked away the tears that had been building on her long, light lashes.

“Now then,” the old bat huffed.

“Take this three times a day.”

She held the vile to Dorothy’s face.

Dorothy grimaced at the black liquid sloshing inside the glass, “No more than one teaspoon, or you’ll knock yourself out for hours. And this-” She held up the powdery sticks and snapped them in half under Dorothy’s nose.

A shimmer of gray and brown powder burst from the sticks and Dorothy choked and spluttered as she inhaled it, “What - what was that!” she gasped hoarsely, bringing a hand to her chest.

“Sugersnap Thyme. Helps with pain.”

The healer waved the sticks around a little more before tucking them away again, “It might make you a little drowsy and disorientated so I suggest you have your young, seaweed-smelling friend take you home.”

She looked pointedly at me over her glasses and I nodded in response, “Yes, Ma’am.”

“Uh-Uh,” Dorothy piped up in protest, “not home. I don’t wanna go home.”

Her words slurred a little at the end as the old bat’s magic sticks seemed to be taking effect. She lolled forwards and I rushed to catch her, scooping her up and holding her against my chest.