Rejected, Then Reborn
Chapter 56

Reed seriously wanted nothing more than to tell his mate everything… to tell her who she really was to him, and how and why she was in her current predicament in the first place… but he had had to bid his time.

And now he had f****d it all up.

Look, he had panicked, okay?

Yeah, now that he was thinking about it, perhaps he had been too rash.

But you see, perhaps that wasn’t such a bad thing.

Synn had told him to be very careful with what he said in her presence after all, and he had been fully prepared to do just that, filling her up with the truth in little bits so she didn’t get too overwhelmed, but then she had gotten that sudden headache, and then all his plans had gone down the drain in his over concern for her health and safety.

Up until this very moment, the Alpha King had no idea that he could lie that well, but boy… had he laid it on thick.

But now wasn’t the time to think of this… he had much more important things on his mind, like his mate’s weird headaches.

“So, Lacy, how often do you get the headache you had a while ago?” He asked.

“Uhm… once in a while, but about that… that’s actually one of the reasons why I asked you to stay with us, it’s not really that much of a problem, you know? I think it has to do with my memory loss.”

“Lacy, I really don’t have to stay here to help you with that? I told you that I was very much okay with staying at my hotel… it’s not so far from here, and I can just drive by to see you every day instead… I’m at the Lincoln City Hotel, I’m pretty sure you know it?”

Lacy’s eyes widened in a pleasant surprise, “You’re staying at the Lincoln City Hotel? Wait a minute, just how rich are you guys exactly?”

Reed was puzzled at her question, but he humored her nonetheless, “Quite okay, I guess.” He admitted modestly.

“So, why did you guys feed me on all of those lies then?”

“I thought we cleared that up already… let’s leave that for a while and get back to you… you were telling me about your headache—”

“Now’s not the time, Reed… we’ll talk about this later, I promise. Anyway… you’re staying here because we had a deal, and you can’t go back on it now. As a matter of fact, Ramona’s getting a room ready for you as we speak, and I’ve been told she even found you a few things that’d make you comfortable for the night. Tomorrow, we could get someone to go for the rest of your stuff from the hotel you’re in.”

“Do I have a say in this?” He shot at her resignedly, secretly enjoying how free she was with him.

It seemed as though the fact that she had no idea he was of royal b***d had really made her less conscious… he rather liked it.

“No, you don’t.” She smirked at him, right before her face turned serious again. “Anyway… you mentioned that your mother’s a herbalist, right?” Lacy asked, trying not to think once again about how the man before her looked nothing like the old hag she remembered.

“Yeah, why?”

How could she tell him that she desperately needed to speak to her without making him suspicious?

You know, there really was a fine line between seeing things and being crazy, and for all the confirmation she may have gotten, the human girl found that she did not exactly have full confidence in her nouvelle abilities. She needed expert confirmation. “I want to talk to her in private. Do you think you can arrange that for me?”

“Why would you want to talk to her?”

Reed seriously wanted nothing more than to tell his mate everything… to tell her who she really was to him, and how and why she was in her current predicament in the first place… but he had had to bid his time.

“I–I just have a few questions pertaining to my memory loss… one that I’m not sure an actual doctor can help with, and one that is quite shameful to talk about with you,” Lacy managed to get a blush to coat her cheeks. Well, who knew she could be such a good actress?

“It’s going to be hard—”

“It doesn’t matter, you can take me to her instead then.”

Reed blinked at her, “Your parents are not going to mind you going right back into the very same forest you got missing in?”

“They don’t have to know?” She mumbled softly, knowing very well that he was right. She was just going to put him and his family in trouble if she tried it, and so she just had to let that go.

Thankfully, Ramona came in at the right time, “The room is prepared for the strange guest, Miss,” she said, not bothering to hide her dislike as she looked Reed right in the eyes, completely unfazed by his domineering presence.

See those strong people Reed had been thinking about?

She was totally one of those. The ones who didn’t cower before anyone even when they had nothing.

“Thank you, Ramona… please you may leave now.” Lacy barely shot the woman a glance, because she knew that if she did, she would find nothing but judgment in them… judgment for inviting someone of the opposite s*x to spend the night in her house.

Even though they wouldn’t be staying in the same room, Ramona didn’t care? She was one of those overly religious people who followed the rules to the latter.

Lacy had introduced Reed to her nanny as her friend, and she had played it off cleverly too, so he was in no way associated with her memory loss fiasco, just like she had promised.

“Would you like to turn in for the night?” Lacy asked the handsome man as he leaned in his chair, looking over the yonder at something. He seemed pretty worse for wear even in his resplendent clothes, and something about seeing him weary like that tucked at her heartstrings.

She was attracted to him.

The question now was why?

It was certainly too soon to be this drawn to a person.

Hell, they had only met and interacted two times, but it did not feel that way to Lacy at all… it almost felt like she was meeting a kindred spirit, a dear friend all over again. The emotion confused Lacy greatly. She tried to cast her mind back to the first time she met him, and then the headache came back with a raging vengeance.

“Lacy?”

“I’ll be fine, I’ll be fine… I’m just tired.” She cut him right off, willing her headache to go away, smiling painfully at him even as it began to ebb bit by bit.

“Whew… that was a big one,” She smiled tightly as she stood up, clenching her hands tightly so she didn’t reach for her temples. “Today has been a busy day… I just need to get some rest, that’s all. We’ll certainly talk tomorrow.”

“Lemme help you to your room.” He said in a tone that brooded no room for argument. At first, Lacy had thought he’d allow her lean into him, but the handsome hunk scooped her up bridal style, “Where’s your room?”

“Up—up left.” She managed to stutter

He led her up the stairs and into her room and did not stop until he had her safely tucked in her bed. Her dress was simple, and lovely, and really not made for sleeping, but more for her sake than his, he did not bother to ask her what she wanted to do about it. He could sense a sudden shift in the air… and if he didn’t leave now, he was going to do something he’d certainly regret.

Something that involved naked bodies and creamy skin.

“Do you have medicine you take for these things?”

Why in f**k’s name was he torturing himself like so?

“Don’t worry, Reed… you’ve done enough already; I can take it from here.”

He didn’t believe her, and he looked like he desperately wanted to protest, but then something made his eyes widen briefly, and then he had dashed out of her room like his a*s was on fire with a promise to come check up on her in the morning, leaving Lacy totally confused.

***

His room was two doors away from hers.

But that was the last thing on the Alpha King’s mind.

He had wanted nothing more than to spend the night with her and make sure she was doing okay, but he had felt Ace stir in his head, and he had known instantly that he had to leave before the beast did something stupid.

The Alpha King had stripped out of his clothes and jumped right into the shower and taken a quick bath, and then he had quickly dried up and then pulled one of the shots Synn had given him to use to keep Ace subdued and in a barely conscious state.

Next, he had smeared the lotion she had given him to mask his scent, and it was only when those two things had been done that he sighed in relief.

That was so close.

What did he do now?

As he changed into a white t-shirt and dark sweatpants, he wondered briefly if he could go back to check on his mate.

It wasn’t that late, right?

Somehow, her nanny’s judgmental look appeared in his mind.

He was only going to check up on her… and he totally had all of his emotions, and his lyken wolf under control.

But what if she was asleep?

Reed didn’t really want to disturb her then.

Honestly speaking, he was really worried about her. She wasn’t supposed to get any sort of side effect from the mind cleanse. These headaches were not normal, and he was going to talk to Synn about it. Plus, he couldn’t help but feel that she was hiding something from him as well.

He desperately wanted to know what it was.

For about ten minutes, Reed was sitting at the edge of his bed, still contemplating whether to go see her when thankfully, a scream made the decision for him.

The Alpha King dashed straight to his mate’s room, forgetting about manners for a bit, only to see that Ramona and two other servants had beaten him to it, but for some reason they stayed back from the girl who sat cross-legged on her bed, her head bent as though she were meditating.

When she lifted her head, gone was the pain, gone was every emotion, she seemed… blank.

She blinked once, twice, and then the blank look was gone only to be replaced with what looked like subdued anger.

“I’m sorry I scared you all.” She apologized to all of them, her eyes never leaving his. “Ramona, can you all please leave… I want to have a word with Reed.”

The older woman opened her mouth to protest, but then changed her mind last minute and asked the two servants to follow her.

Lacy waited a few minutes after the door had closed, and then she turned her attention to the man in front of her.

“For someone who seemed so hellbent on letting me go, it’s quite a surprise to see you standing here before me, Your Eminence.”