Rejected, Then Reborn
Chapter 57

“Un—unbelievable.”

“Is it though?” Lacy shot right back at him, her anger still shining very much in her eyes.

Reed did not even know he had said the words out loud… hell, he didn’t even care, for in that moment, all he was desperately trying to do was figure out how it had all happened.

The mind cleanse hadn’t even been a f*****g month!

And she already had her memories back.

Wait, did she have all her memories back?

“Ex—exactly what do you remember, Lacy?” He asked, noting how she took her sweet time getting round to answering him.

She stood up lackadaisically, looking into the skies thoughtfully, “Oh let’s see… I remember stumbling into the dark forest, I remember being found by Lucius and his men, marrying him, being betrayed and then rejected by him… I remember the Goddess arrangement; I remember finding you and thinking you were my second chance at getting it right… I remember how horrible you had been to me,” There seemed to be this weird haze of darkness forming in her that the Alpha King couldn’t help but notice, but the irony of the entire situation was not lost on him.

So, in short, she remembered all of it.

Reed felt the familiar guilt claw through his stomach and wedge itself in his throat.

“You want to know what I remember the most though?” She asked with a wicked smirk as she closed the distance between them, “I remember that you started to become better, that you saw the error in your ways, though you still couldn’t find it in you to give in to the special bond that bound us to each other. You want to know the funny thing? Despite being hurt by it, I had agreed to your every term and condition, which is why I truly do not understand what you’re doing here, Your Eminence.” She smiled sadly, the feeling of anger, and the weird darkness that manifested itself in her eyes vanishing at her sudden change of emotion, “Do you want to see me so completely shattered that you would not grant me the respite of forgetting about you and everything else that has happened in your fantastical world?” She asked, “Am I not entitled to finding my own happiness here among my own people? Or must you come along to ruin even that for me?”

For the first time in his life, Alpha King Reed was truly speechless.

“Look Lacy, I— I have been a fool.” He admitted, “One who thought about his wolf and his duty to his people and decided to choose it all above his own happiness, but Lacy, I instantly knew once the cleanse worked that I had made the biggest mistake of my life. But I had stubbornly gone along with it, because you had looked so peaceful, and calm and innocent… but most importantly, because you no longer had the pain of your ex-husband’s betrayal in your heart, and also because you had no recollection of how vile I had been towards you. It was a fresh start for you… and it seemed just right.”

“What do you want from me, Reed?” This time there was no point hiding her defiance of his authority.

“Un—unbelievable.”

“Is it though?” Lacy shot right back at him, her anger still shining very much in her eyes.

Here, in her house, she was her own person… her own queen.

This was her territory, and in that moment, he was there… at her mercy. Her eyes told him all of this.

“I want you back, Lacy…” He admitted to her, his stormy blue eyes shining with all the emotion he had kept suppressed for so long, trying to deny himself because he didn’t think he was worthy. “I was a fool for thinking that I could just look over this thing between us… but I see now that I cannot be without you. I love you Lacy… I probably have since the first day I met you out there in the woods…”

Wow.

She really didn’t know what to say, having prepared herself for a fight… the open confession absolutely threw her off guard.

“Oh Reed…” Lacy trailed off.

She had really not been expecting the heartfelt confession. And he had been the first to say the L word too. “I—I really don’t know what to say…”

“Just say you’ll come back home with me, Lacy…” He begged passionately.

“It’s not that easy, Reed. You really hurt me,”

“And I will spend every lifetime I have trying to make it up to you, Lacy… give me a chance to show you, please.” He swore passionately, his dark curls falling in his face, making Lacy’s fingers itch to sweep them off with her hands.

A powerful lyken king stood before her, begging for a chance to be with her.

As if that wasn’t enough, he dropped to his knees, reaching for her waist and holding tight, not wanting to let go. “It goes against my very being to submit to someone, Lacy… but when it comes to you, I am really not above groveling and begging to get you to be with me, hell… the old me would have flung you across my shoulder and stormed off to my kingdom, using force to get you to accept me once again… to love me again despite all my flaws…” He saw the horrified look in Lacy’s eyes and laughed softly, “…but I won’t do that, Lacy. Can’t you see? You have made me a better man, and the funny thing is that it took just your mere presence to bring about this change.”

For a man of very few words, he really seemed to be on fire, and his every word tugged at her heartstrings.

Saying yes shouldn’t be difficult at all.

But it was.

“Lacy…”

“Reed, had this happened before you brought me back to my family… trust me, I would have said yes in a heartbeat… but now? I’ve reconnected with them; I’ve seen them in a new light. They’ve changed, Reed… and all for the better, and I’m loving my stay here with them.” She confessed softly, her heart breaking when he sunk on his haunches. His hands leaving her waist to rub his face in grief. He was silent for a while, and Lacy let him have the moment to process everything.

When he finally looked up at her, his gaze was resolute, his strong cheekbones set in determination, “If this is where you want to stay Lacy, then I will stay here with you.”

“Wait, wh—what?!”

“I will renounce my family, I will renounce my people, I will even renounce my wolf,” The Alpha King heard Ace whimper softly in his head, and his heart broke, a stray tear falling from his left eye even as he continued, “because I know that my world as I know it would be meaningless if I don’t have you in it.”

“Oh Reed,” Lacy dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around him, full on sobbing. “You idiot… I can never let you do that to your people?” Tears of joy mixed with tears of sorrow ran down her face… joy at how perfect it felt to be in his strong arms, sorrow at how once again, they seemed to be placed in a precarious situation.

Want to know a little secret?

She would renounce her family in a heartbeat to be with this infuriating mate the Moon Goddess had granted her, but she was scared to take that jump with him.

Because you see the Alpha King was unpredictable as f**k.

He had tried several times to fight that which was fated after all. What was to say that he wasn’t going to renounce his sudden decision to be with her?

She needed to be absolutely sure that he was in this like he claimed.

She sighed deeply, “Give me a little time to think things through first. There’s something I need to tell you… but I still need to figure it out.”

“Very well.” He nodded in understanding, planting a soft k**s on her forehead when he wanted nothing more than to claim her lips. He planted another, and then another, and then another, and Lacy pushed him away, an amused laugh bubbling from inside her.

He stood up and helped her to her feet. “Is your headache gone?”

“Yeah… it has. I’ll be perfectly fine on my own.” She smiled warmly at him.

She really should have seen all the signs when he had come knocking on her door… how he seemed to find every little way to be near her. Even now… she was subtly telling him that he could leave her… but he still clung stubbornly to her hand, quite oblivious to her silent suggestions.

“Reed?”

Was this how she had been with him?

She couldn’t fully sense the bond between them like she used to, but everything seemed to have intensified for him. His love was practically screaming for all who cared to hear, it was hilarious, just as it was endearing.

“Reed.” She tried again, a small bubble of laughter escaping her lips. “I want to go to bed.”

“Right, right.” The Alpha King smirked, shaking his head slightly to clear his slightly dazed head.

What in f**k’s name was happening to him?

He didn’t know, but he’d be damned if he didn’t say that he liked it.

If he had known that this was how sweet fated love could be, he would have run towards it a long time ago, instead of away from it like he had been doing.