Rejected, Then Reborn
Chapter 55

“Rannulfus!”

For some reason, Reed… who had never really been nervous in his life suddenly felt the annoying emotion well up in his tummy at the girl’s mention of his fake alias.

He had seriously not expected her to be the first person to come to the door given the sheer elegance of the house, but someway somehow, she had surprised him once again like she always did.

So, she was from a wealthy family.

Suddenly all her strong will made sense, because while it was possible that one could be born with it, without wealth, Reed was sure that strong will seldom manifested when one was not quite well to do.

“Oh my god, this is such a pleasant surprise, I– what are you doing here?”

He had no idea how to answer her question, and his f*****g stomach just wouldn’t stop knotting itself over and over with something as trivial as nerves.

You know, whenever Reed imagined himself getting this bundle of nerves, he had always thought that it would be during a valiant battle at least… or— or perhaps on his deathbed, when his body was weak and the salvation of his soul seemed bleak. Hey… he had committed a lot of atrocities in his hay day, and chances were, he’d commit a few more before his final day came, so it was only fair that he be slightly worried.

But here he was instead, wasting the only time that he would have allowed himself to feel this thing over a woman who was supposed to be his mate.

“Uh, Ash showed me where you live, and I was in the neighborhood, so I decided to pass by and see how you were doing.” He managed to reply.

She looked absolutely breathtaking.

Honestly speaking, it was taking everything within him not to swing her over his shoulder like a bloody caveman and take her to his kingdom, rightfully proclaiming her its queen… and he probably would have if it hadn’t been for the fact that he was sure that his beastly half would not cooperate.

Ace had been totally livid when he had heard Reed tell Synn Gloom about his absurd plan.

Apparently, he had missed his human half’s conversation with his former betrothed, taking a well-deserved nap and all, but he was just shaking his fur out when he heard the Alpha King call out Synn’s name, and instantly, he had been curious, because he had thought Reed was trying to come up with a way to close the portal and keep their territory and their Clan safe and sound, but no.

The i***t was going to bring back the puny human.

His reaction had been instant, his wrath destructive, for he had seized control so abruptly that Reed hadn’t seen it coming to prevent it, and in his fury, he had almost destroyed everything in Synn Gloom’s spice shop/cottage before she had been able to get the sleeping potion into him.

Currently, he was still subdued, but aware enough to see his other half talking to the girl who was supposed to be their mate, and this time, he had to admit… the sight of her didn’t repulse him as much, though he was still pissed.

Lacy on the other hand was breathy with excitement.

So much so that she had ran past Ramona like she was the newly appointed stewardess and made a dash for the door, for she desperately wanted to see if her supposed ‘vision’ had turned out to be true.

TURNED OUT IT HAD!

So, she could see visions of the future.

And apparently, all she had to do was just think of the person.

Could she see visions of the past?

How far into the future could she really go?

She had to analyse that later, seeing as she had a sexy man before her to analyse.

There he stood before her, dressed in a semi formal ensemble, a white dress linen shirt opened a few buttons with the arms rolled to his elbows, tucked into snug fitting dark slacks, the look finally completed with black Felix Chu shoes for men.

Lacy’s eyebrow unintentionally lifted at the sight of the expensive shoe adorning his feet.

Wasn’t he supposed to be a watchman?

How could he afford those?

“Rannulfus!”

For some reason, Reed… who had never really been nervous in his life suddenly felt the annoying emotion well up in his tummy at the girl’s mention of his fake alias.

She knew it was an expensive brand because her father couldn’t have enough of them, but she could barely stay focused on that weird information. No, his bronze-like sculpted face with curly hair as dark as hers seemed much more interesting to look at, and she didn’t know why, but she felt even more drawn to him than when she had woken up scared and confused upon seeing his mother’s horrifying face and he had come to console her.

“I see,” she said in response to his statement. She could barely recall exactly what he had said if you asked her, but she felt the need to say something to break the silence, and she just hoped that ‘I see’ was good enough to cut it. “Uhm, would you… would you like to come inside for tea, coffee?” She asked, finding that she didn’t want him gone just yet.

“Tea would be lovely, Lacy… thanks.” He said.

And so, the human girl stepped back slightly and opened the door wide enough to let him through, she caught a whiff of his fragrant scent, and it surprised her greatly when another pang of sharp pain shot through to her head,

“Ow!” She cried out, reaching out to grasp her temples. Her friend Rannulfus was by her side in a minute, “Are you okay, Lacy?”

“Yeah, yeah,” She tried to breathe through the pain which was thankfully subsiding, “I’ll be fine. Come in, come in.”

She led him to her parents’ large hall which they used for receiving visitors, and then she rang a bell for some warm tea to be brought to him even as they both sat in comfortable silence.

Ramona was the one who brought the tea, and Lacy chuckled silently at the old woman’s attempt to be subtle. She knew the woman just wanted to see who had gotten her to go open the door like some excited teenager, and she for one didn’t mind.

Thankfully the old woman got her eyeful of him and left immediately after serving him his warm beverage.

Lacy waited until her nanny was completely out of earshot, and then she turned to face the man, “Who are you really, Rannulfus?” Her tone was serious, all traces of warmth gone from her eyes and from her face.

Her question took Reed aback for a moment… actually made him really panic. “What do you mean who am I? Of course, I’m Rannulfus… I was the one who saw you and brought you home for my mother to nurse you back to health.”

“You told me you were a watchman.” She deadpanned.

“And?” The Alpha King really couldn’t see where she was going with this.

“And nothing screams security guard, or watchman as you call it about you at all.” The human girl narrowed her eyes.

To her surprise though, her savior only chuckled in amusement, “A compliment coming from a woman as beautiful as yourself? I’ll take it.”

But Lacy was not smiling, even though for some reason, her heart fluttered softly at the airy sound that left his lips. “Look, Rannulfus… you chose the wrong time to come and search for me,” She started, “Because my parents have tried looking for where you live in the forest, all to no avail, and now… you’re here. They believe that you and your brother, Ash have tempered with my memory, and so you’re actually a wanted man, but I’m pretty sure you know this already.”

If she wanted him to be afraid of her words, then it really wasn’t working… or perhaps, it was working and he was hiding it real well. She couldn’t really tell.

“It’s kind of ironic that you’d drag people who have done nothing but save your life into a police case, don’t you think?” He leaned forward in his chair and placed his elbows on his knees, something about the stance making Lacy feel intimidated, “Anyway… I had initially decided not to tell you about it, because I didn’t really want to put my mum in danger and all—”

“In danger? Woah, woah… slow down, Rannulfus, what at all do you think the police would do to her—”

“No, no… hear me out.” And so, with those words, he explained a little bit of what had happened to her, “My mom is a herbalist. When we found you, she tried everything she possibly could to wake you, but she couldn’t, and so she had to resort to some ancient spells her own mother had left behind for her. It seemed to have worked, but we had no idea you didn’t remember anything until you had mentioned the date, and that had gotten us thinking, but by then you were long gone, and we couldn’t really risk coming back to check on you.”

“So why are you here now?”

“I—I just couldn’t live with the guilt anymore.” He lied passionately, “I really needed to make sure that you were okay.”

When he was done, he said… “Look Lacy, I know this is a lot to swallow, and that you probably don’t believe me… but it is the truth, and I’ll be grateful if you could keep it secret so my mother still continues to stay hidden. Because you’ve seen her, and with what she practices, a lot of people have deemed her a witch. Our place in the forest is actually our only source of refuge, so she does her best to keep it well hidden.”

He sighed deeply, his own ability to lie so skillfully surprising him to the bone, and making him feel completely disgusted with himself at the same time. “Look, if you feel the need to turn me over to the authorities…. Anything you like, you can do it, but please… just spare my family.”

Lacy sat mulling it all over.

He really wasn’t lying when he said it was a lot to swallow.

But now, the question was, should she believe a single word coming out of his mouth?

Could she?

She didn’t know.

“Is Rannulfus even your given name?”

“No.” He admitted ashamedly, causing Lacy to sigh in relief.

The man had honestly never looked like a Rannulfus to her, and Lacy was afraid he never would. “What is it then?”

Even though it felt thrilling speaking to the man before her like this—this condescendingly, Lacy just couldn’t shake off the foreboding that she was doing it all wrong.

Something about him just screamed, I’m really powerful, but I’m just letting you have this moment, and Lacy found it a little bit unsettling.

“It’s… Reed.”

Reed.

Lacy tasted the name on her tongue. It seemed a billion times better than Rannulfus. It seemed to have been made just for him, she… she liked it.

“You know what, Reed?”

He shook his head lazily, a proud, slightly relaxed, slightly amused glint in his eyes, as she got ready to pronounce her judgment.

This time she faltered slightly and had to take a deep breath to find her center. “I really have a feeling that you’re lying to me,” She told him point blank, “Or even if you’re not lying… I feel as though you’re still not telling me everything there is to tell, the funny thing is that I cannot even hold that against you, because despite all of it, you’re here. And so, I have a proposition for you, Reed.”

“Go on, Lacy… what is it?”

“You will be given a space to stay here, and you will keep me company, telling me all I need to know that you still haven’t told me one at a time, until there’s nothing left to say anymore… and in return… I will not tell my parents about who you really are in their ongoing police investigation. How does that sound?”

Hilarious.

Did she know he could destroy all of them with a swipe of his paws and vanish without a trace, and that it would all be blamed on a wild animal?

And she was inviting him to stay in her house!

A mere stranger like him.

Her recklessness seriously did not sit well with him, but he couldn’t be any more glad at the turn of events honestly… for he thought at the very least, he’d have to spend his time here in the human world in some boring hotel while he waited for his mate to gradually come around… but instead, he was going to be with her.

Perhaps the Moon Goddess desperately wanted him to make things right after all.

Nodding reverently even though he was doing a small dance of elation on the inside, he coolly said, “Very well, you have yourself a deal.”