Once Upon A Rejection

I ran over to Ezra while Grayson did a quick check of the room. Ezra stirred as soon as I touched him. He turned over and g*****d in pain. There was a small trickle of b***d on his forehead but the wound hand already healed.

“What happened?” I asked.

“June told me that she was going to pack for our trip. When she came out of the closet she was holding a baseball bat. She hit me over the head, twice.” Ezra said.

Ezra got to his feet, he was shaky at first but he was looking better by the second.

“I have to go after her.” He said.

“We need to get this room sorted before the sun comes up so you will have to go alone.” Grayson said.

“Be careful, if you see that woman run, don’t try to go after her.” I said.

Ezra nodded his head before leaving the room. I didn’t like the idea of him being out there alone after the events of this evening but Grayson was right. We didn’t have much time left. Maybe we could help Ezra if we got this room sorted quickly enough.

Grayson did most of the heavy lifting and disposal while I stayed in the room to deal with the b***d. It was stubborn and nothing I did seemed to get rid of the stain. I tried all the cleaning products that were in the closet multiple times but the best I could do was to change the colour from red to a light pink colour.

I guess I would just have to hope that people at the college assumed it was wine rather than b***d. When Grayson got back we finished tidying up the room. We packed a few bags for June, placing them on the bed. We were ready to go.

“Should I call Ezra?” I asked

“Maybe message him, he might be hunting.” Grayson said.

I cringed. I knew what he meant but I couldn’t help but hate how it sounded. He was trying to hunt down my best friend so he could abduct her.

I know that she isn’t safe here. Even if she moved rooms I couldn’t guarantee that this woman wouldn’t go after her but I didn’t like this. It just felt wrong.

I messaged Ezra and he messaged me back almost instantly. He had found June running through the nearby forest in tears. He had managed to get her to calm down a bit and he was trying to talk some sense into her. It sounded as though that was not going too well. How well could it really go when you are trying to tell someone that you want to abduct someone ‘for their own good’.

“You should speak to them. I can take you there before I go to the hotel to collect our stuff.” Grayson suggested.

“Do you think that is a good idea?” I asked.

“I think Ezra is probably not thinking very rationally at the moment so talking to her alone might do more harm than good.” He said.

‘You can’t leave him alone, what if that woman is just waiting for a chance to get to your mate.’ Jade said.

‘She might have something there. If she wants to hurt you then that would be the perfect way to do it.’ Scarlett said.

“No, I don’t want you to go to the hotel alone. We should get our stuff and find Ezra together.” I said. I made it clear from my tone that nothing he could say would make me change my mind.

He must have seen the concern in my eyes when he looked at me because he agreed without a single word of protest. We put the bags we had packed for June in the back of the car then drove over to the hotel. It didn’t take long for us to pack but by the time we had checked out it was already light out.

We had to drive slower than I would like to get back to the campus and back to Ezra. We didn’t want to draw attention to ourselves. The whole way back I was worrying about him and June. Hopefully that woman hasn’t found them and hopefully they haven’t killed each other.

We parked up at the edge of the forest a short distance outside of the campus grounds. We followed Ezra’s directions to where he had found June. We could have just followed our ears instead. We could hear their argument almost as soon as we exited the car.

“Don’t come near me Ezra or I will hit you again and this time I swear you won’t get up again.” June shouted.

“Stop swinging that bat, I am not going to hurt you.” Ezra said.

They were just coming into view. I could see June, she was holding a bat out infront of her. Every time Ezra took even one step towards her she started swinging the bat at him. Ezra didn’t seem to be scared of June but he was smart enough not to get too close to her.

“June, be careful with that. You could take someone’s eye out.” Grayson said, trying to break the tension.

“You need to stay away from me too. The lot of you are freaks and I am not going to let you take me.” June shouted.

Grayson moved forward. I saw his muscles tense up. I could tell he was getting ready to grab hold of the bat but I knew that was probably the worst thing he could do. It would only prove to June how dangerous we are. I put my hand on his arm.

‘I think we need to talk her down.’ I said.

“June we don’t want to hurt you and we are not going to keep you as a prisoner.” I said.

“It’s true. We just want to make sure you are safe for the next week or so until term is over.” Grayson said.

“How can that be true? You want to take me out of school.” June asked.

“I will take you and Molly back for exams but it is too dangerous to stay here for long.” Grayson said.

June lowered the bat a little bit. She was still cautious but she wasn’t as panicked as she was a few moments earlier.

“How do I know I can trust you?” June asked.

“You don’t need to trust us. Trust Molly.” Ezra said. I could hear the desperation in his voice.

“I promise that I won’t let anybody hurt you if you come with us.” I said.

She looked at each one of us in turn. She looked as though she was trying to weigh each of us up. She didn’t want to come with us but we weren’t giving her much of a choice. I felt guilty about that. I hoped that we were doing the right thing.

“I will go with you but I am keeping this.” She said, pointing to the bat in her other hand.

“Of course.” Ezra agreed.

The trip back to the pack felt as though it was never ending. Ezra took June back in his own car. I worried for the whole journey, I kept looking out of the back window to make sure that they were still following us. If they momentarily left our sight I would panic until I could see them again.

I don’t know what I thought might happen to them. If I was more worried about them being intercepted by the woman with red hair or June hitting Ezra with the bat while he was driving. I was so relieved when we pulled up outside Grayson’s house and they were both in one piece.

“Grayson lives here.” June said. She was clearly in awe of his house.

“Yes it is nice isn’t it?” I said.

“Very much so, I see why you want to marry him now.” June said, I knew she was joking but I still felt a little hurt by her words.

We showed June to the room where she would be staying for the next few days or weeks. Once she was settled in Grayson mindlined his dad and agreed to meet him in his office in a few moments time.

We headed straight there. We let ourselves in and waited for him to arrive. I sat down at the table while Grayson stood behind me and massaged my shoulders. Now that I was sitting down I realised how exhausted I was. It was late morning now, I hadn’t slept at all last night and it had been an eventful night.

“You two look like you have been through hell.” Grayson’s dad said as he walked into his office.

I laughed. That was one word for it.

Grayson told his dad all about the events of last night. He handed him the letter and dagger that the woman left in mine and June’s room. He listened to our story patiently without interruption. Occasionally nodding or shaking his head.

“There is one good thing that will come from this.” His father said. Grayson and I looked at him, shocked.

“At least the council can’t deny how serious this is anymore.” He clarified.

I nodded in agreement. She had threatened the pack, it would be impossible to suggest that she didn’t wish to cause us harm. They would be forced to take action.

“I will contact them right away.” He said.

Grayson spoke to his father for a while longer before we excused ourselves and went to our room. We were both very tired. We barely had enough energy to undress ourselves before collapsing into bed together and falling into a deep sleep.