Rejected, Then Reborn
Chapter 41

Lacy stared at the old wrinkly woman currently muttering incantations before her, and instantly, a shiver of disgust and fear gripped her heart and chilled her bones.

This was the Hex?!

Anaya had practically summed up how things would go down, and she had also mentioned that some hex was going to be wiping her memories. Lacy did not know why, but for some reason, she had instantly assumed that the Hex would be a machine of sorts.

She had been horribly wrong if the sight before her was anything to go by.

“Greetings, Your Eminence,” The old hag rasped, revealing a mouth that would have been toothless save for the three decaying stumps of teeth. She really was hideous. With about five huge warts littered across her face, and wrinkled, gnarly hands, with long talons for fingernails, and a mundane choice of dark clothing to complete the outfit, it was really a wonder to Lacy that the woman had so easily been granted audience to the Alpha King.

“Greetings Synn Gloom, Mother of Thorns. This is the human we spoke about.” Reed said, shooting a glance at Lacy, the only one he had managed so far since she and Anaya and that other nurse, Simone had made it out of the Silver Gate.

Yes, the Alpha King had it all carefully planned.

They were going to hold the mind cleansing ritual out there so that as soon as it was done, a guide would immediately escort her back to the human world. Lacy would see nothing of the castle, nor the people she had come to know and cherish. It would just be her and the dark woods and a supposed good Samaritan who would just show her the way back home.

Seemed like a full proof plan, right?

Well, if it did, why did Reed want to completely damn it to Hades then? Why did he want to say f**k it and scoop her up into his chambers, holding her hostage and sweetly punishing her with his c**k and his mouth for even suggesting a desire to leave him?

Why did he want to get on his knees and shamefully plead for her to stay even though he couldn’t exactly give her what she wanted?

Why, oh why did he for once want to be a completely selfish bastard?

“May I proceed, Your Eminence?” The Hex thankfully snapped him out of his thoughts.

“By all means.”

Reed watched as the wrinkly old woman tugged at Lacy’s hand, his jaw unintentionally clenching as she led his mate—yes, she was his mate, you’d best believe that after almost a month of trying to convince himself otherwise, he accepted it as nothing but the weird truth now—to a chair that had been brought out there specifically for that purpose.

If the girl was scared, she did not show it, and the Alpha King felt his heart well with pride at her almost regal comportment. There was no denying that she would have made a wonderful Luna Queen, but alas, it was not meant to be.

“Dear child, you will start to feel drowsy all of a sudden,” The old Hex, Synn Gloom started, staring right into Lacy’s eyes, her dark orbs gradually turning white.

Lacy tried to look away, but she found that she couldn’t, there seemed to be something in the Mother of Thorn’s eyes that held her captive, unable to watch anything else.

In those last moments, Lacy’s life in the last few years began to flash before her eyes, from the heartfelt goodbyes she had shared with her colleagues from the hospital, to the fake ones she had received from the princess’s friends, to the heartfelt one she had shared with the two wonderful ladies the B***d Moon Clan had given her. Already, Anaya and Simone seemed to have hit it off, and she was from one of the Eta Ranks! Lacy was glad that at least her one wish for her friend had already started manifesting right before her eyes. Lacy’s mind drifted to all her time with her fated mate, the Alpha king— the good, the bad, the ugly, the scary… she thought about Xavier Mendoza, and how he had saved her once and how he was here now even though he didn’t need to be.

The rest were a blur… the dark woods, Lucius and his mistress, the feel of being murdered each time, her jump into what she had assumed to be death but had only turned out to be freedom, the Moon Goddess’s voice…

And then her eyes shut, sleep wrapping her in a warm embrace.

Xavier held on to the Alpha King at the first sign of distress at his seeing the human girl so vulnerable under the magic of the Hex. His heart instantly went out to his friend. Not having been in such a position before, he could only imagine what the King was going through, and even the thought of it hurt.

“E ara mai outou i te hoê haamataraa apî, e horoihia te mau haamana’oraa atoa o to outou tau i roto i te ao hau a’e i te natura mai te one i te pae tahatai, o te ore e haamana’o – faahou – hia.” The Hex started loudly, her arms lifted up to the skies, her voice surprisingly strong and clear even though she was very old, “E nehenehe te mau haamaramaramaraa e haapeapea ia outou i roto i ta outou mau moemoeâ e i roto i ta outou mau moemoeâ riaria, tera râ, e ore roa te reira ia ara ana’e outou, ma te moe roa mai te hupe i te mau taime matamua. A taoto i ta ‘ u tamarii, a taoto, e ia ara mai oe, e riro te mau mea atoa mai ta ‘ u i parau.”

Reed understood everything the Hex had said. “You will wake up to a new beginning, all memories of your time in the supernatural world will be washed away like sand at the seashore, gone to no longer be remembered. Flashes may haunt you in your dreams and in your nightmares, but they will be gone when you wake, disappearing like dew at the first licks of morn. Sleep my child, sleep, and when you wake, everything will be as I have declared.”

He for one hoped with all his heart that the incantation came to pass, for he wanted nothing but happiness for the woman he was letting go of. The pain he had caused her was enough, she deserved to be able to forget so she could heal. Reed told himself that it was for the best. She deserved to flourish among her own kind, she had been betrayed enough as it was, and Lykens were not innocent creatures either.

All of these thoughts disappeared to the back of his mind the moment she started stirring. “Your Eminence?” The old Hex shot him a probing look, one that the Alpha King understood very well,

That the time he was dreading was here.

They needed to leave before she woke up, but they also had to check how she was doing before they left. “We can be in the guard room while we observe?” The Healer Supreme suggested.

So that was exactly what they did.

With its comfortably huge space and glass tinted windows that were just right for seeing and hearing things happening outside without being seen or heard in return, it seemed like the perfect spot.

Tears dropped from the Lyken Princess’s eyes, and she subtly tried to wipe it off, not wanting anyone to see just how much the change was already affecting her even though it still hadn’t been one hundred percent confirmed yet.

She stood there, watching painfully as Lacy thrashed in the seat like she was having a nightmare of some kind, and then she suddenly felt a hand in hers, her gaze lifting up to stare into the good doctor’s hazel ones. “Everything will be fine, Naya… you’ll see,” He promised with a small smile.

Overwhelmed, the Lyken princess leaned into him, resting her head on his burly chest. It felt right.

It felt just right.

“I hope so, Xavi,” Another tear dropped down her face, “I really hope so.”

Every head in the room turned to the glass windows when they heard the soft m**n that came out of the human girl’s mouth.

She was fully awake!

“f**k, my head hurts so bad,” They all heard her mutter as she rubbed her eyes sleepily.

“Lacy, child, how are you feeling?” The Mother of Thorns asked, a scrutinizing look on her face as she carefully assessed the girl, who only jumped in fright at the sight of the ugly face before her, her fear actually causing her to tip her chair over and fall to the ground as she scrambled backwards, her voice shaky as she warily muttered the words, “Who—who are you? Where am I?”

Before anyone could stop him, the Alpha King was dashing out of the room and towards her, almost growling at Synn Gloom who was only going to help the girl up.

He helped her to her feet, a slight blush of regret coating his cheeks at how he had blown their cover, but it didn’t matter anyway, he told himself that he could improvise. “Hi, so sorry about that… don’t mind my mother here, how are you feeling?”

Lacy looked up into the man’s light blue eyes and felt a sense of calm engulf her. She didn’t know him, but she felt… safe with him.

But that was his mother?

Lacy didn’t mean any offence, but she was the ugliest woman she had ever seen. His father must have had very impressive dominating genes if the by product holding on to her in that moment was any indication.

“I’m good, I guess… I was—I was with my camping team, I think I must have drifted away from them and gotten lost in the process,” She explained, looking over at the subdued man standing a few feet away from them. The handsome man followed her gaze, “Oh, that’s just my younger brother, Ash… he’ll help you out of the forest… I’m afraid I have to take my mum back home.” The man she was yet to be introduced to told her with a wry smile.

With those words, his arms left her, a certain chill replacing his warmth as he went over to the old woman, wrapped his hands around her and began to walk off.

“Wait!”

Mother and son both turned to stare at her, something akin to fear flashing in their eyes for a brief moment as they waited to hear what she wanted to say. “I—you never told me your name?”

The dark curly haired man seemed confused for a hot minute, but it was quickly gone, “Oh… I’m uh, it’s Rannulfus.”

“Oh.” Lacy’s face fell for a brief moment before she rapidly recovered, a bright smile appearing on her face, “Nice to meet you, Rannulfus, I’m Lacy.”

The Rannulfus guy shot her a full-on grin, “I know.”

And then he and his ugly mother were gone.

His younger brother, Ash cleared his throat to call her attention back to him, and Lacy turned, a light blush covering her cheeks at having been caught so blatantly staring… but the young man thankfully didn’t say a word about it, he only smiled warmly at her and said, “Come on Lacy, let’s get you home.”