Chapter 9
Chapter 9
-Dorothy-
I woke up to excruciating pain that shot through my b*dy like pulses of electricity. I couldn’t remember
what I’d been doing or where I was but my limbs ached like I’d taken a beating.
Moaning at the agony I opened my eyes to see the rusty fan of the clinic from earlier, still turning slowly,
above my head. I jolted upright and cringed at the pain it brought
ΠΕ
“Don’t move so much, you’ll only feel worse.”
I looked to my left and saw Ignatius sitting next to me, clasping my hand with a look of concern in his
eyes. I snat ched my hand away on impulse and immediately regretted it when I looked past him and
saw Johan and Mavis.standing in the doorway.
I could do with the comfort of that cold hand while Mavis’s eyes were staring daggers at me from
across the room. Johan on the other hand had seemed to have calmed down. some and gazed at me
solemnly.
“What happened, why am I here? Why are they here?” I murmured to Ignatius whilst keeping my eyes
on Mavis and her scowl. If looks could kill…
“You um, you climbed out the window?” Ignatius answered, “I found you down the road, passed out in
the middle of the street. Dorothy, where were you trying to go?”
I closed my eyes and flopped onto my back again. “I don’t remember leaving, It’s all a bit of a blur. I
remember you though.” I pointed vaguely in the direction of Mavis and then dropped my arm to my
side. “We were… talking.”
While I didn’t think Johan was aware of just how controlling his girlfriend was, it didn’t seem like a good
time to be calling anyone out on being a bi tch.
“Dorothy, you’re not doing too good right now. The healer was in here earlier, she said. there’s nothing
more she can do right now.”
It pained me to hear the concern in Ignatius’s voice as he spoke, “You can’t go jumping out of windows
and running away on your own. You need to break this bond -” He stopped and glanced back at Johan
who tightly folded his arms. “You need to sort this
out now.”
“Now that you’re awake,” Johan spoke up, approaching the bedside opposite Ignatius, “I think we need
to talk in private.”
Ignatius opened his mouth to protest but I motioned for him to wait. “It’s okay. I’ll be
fine. Just give us a minute.”
He looked at me intently like he wanted to say something but instead, he gave a small nod and stood
up to leave, “I’ll be right outside if you need me.”
“Mavis, I need you to go too,” Johan said quietly.
Mavis stared him down for a moment before turning on her heel and leaving too. “I’ll be heading to your
place. Don’t leave me waiting too long.” She waved a hand over her shoulder. “Later Gingersnap. Hope
the rejection isn’t too painful,” she commented over her shoulder as she left.
“Sorry about that,” Johan said gently as he sat down next to me, “she’s just a little hurt by the whole
thing between us. It’s me she should be directing her anger at, not you.”
I shrugged his comment aside, unsure of how to act around Johan now that I knew where we stood,
“It’s okay. I’m used to it.”
He frowned as he contemplated the implications of my comment and then sighed and shook his head.
“Anyway. I’m sorry about yesterday. Couldn’t have been the greatest birthday all things considered.”
“Yesterday?” I turned to look out the window and saw the pale gray haze of the early morning outside.
The sun had yet to make a proper appearance and there was a slight drizzle of rain spattering against
the glass. “Just how long have I been out for exactly?”
Johan ran his hands over his face, he looked exhausted. “Quite a few hours. We were waiting for you
to wake up so that I could so that we could…” he hesitated, unable to say the words we both knew had
to be spoken eventually.
“Anyway, we were waiting for you to wake up, only when I went looking for Mavis she told me you’d left
the villa. She said you climbed out the window when you heard us arguing. Ignatius found you
collapsed in the street and then we rushed you here.”
I was frustrated with myself and my weak b*dy. The amount of time I’d spent passed out or asleep for
the past few hours was ridiculous. I was still in pain and it seemed to be getting worse, there was a
burn that was building in my b*dy like a fever that wouldn’t break..
I sat up
and wrapped my arms around myself. I couldn’t bring myself to look at Johan, I was afraid of what I’d
see in those deep hazel eyes.
“So, now what?” I asked softly, fixing my eyes on the creases in the sheets before me. “What do we
do?” I didn’t want him to say it. Despite all of the pain and fatigue, I wasn’t ready to let him go.
Johan was silent. He seemed just as worn out as I was.
“I guess we have to put an end to this break the bond.”
I nodded slowly, “I guess so.”
–
Johan took my hand and I forced myself to look him in the eye. The wolves within us both mine and his
yearned to be closer. The burning flames in my veins ran hotter and goosebumps broke out on my skin.
“Dorothy.”
Johan hesitated before wrenching his hands away and jumping to his feet.
“I can’t. I can’t do it! I’m sorry.” He haunched over himself like a man in agony as I reached for him. “I’m
sorry,” he whispered before running for the door.
He was stopped in his tracks, however, by Ignatius who suddenly appeared in front of him.
“Johan.”
His voice was cold now and he blocked Johan’s path with a stiff arm across the doorframe. “You have
to make a decision. Now.”
His grip on the frame was so tight I could see his knuckles turning white and the veins in his arms
pulsating.
Johan tried to push past him but Ignatius pushed back, softly enough to seem passive but hi
jaw was tight. “Don’t be a coward! You can’t leave her like this.” This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.
“This has nothing to do with you,” Johan snapped, “don’t make this your problem.” Ignatius let his cool
slip and alarm bells went off in my head, I could sense an all-out fight incoming if someone didn’t come
between them.
“You made this my problem when you showed up on my doorstep in a rage.”
Johan flinched at the force of his words. “You have to put an end to this. Look at what it’s doing to
Dorothy. Look at what it’s done to you!”
“You don’t understand how it feels.” Johan raised his voice and I watched as his hands clenched into
fists. “You’ve never had to reject a mate.”
Something dark flashed in Ignatius’s eyes. Something dangerous and cold. “I’ve lost my mate. You
know that. You think I don’t know how this feels?”
Johan hesitated but refused to stand down as Ignatius continued, “I know exactly how it feels to lose a
mate. But Dorothy isn’t something for you to possess. She’s a person. You’re letting someone else
suffer for your indecision. You’re letting yourself be weak.”
Those final words seemed to send Johan over the edge and he rolled his shoulders like he was ready
to throw punches. Ignatius seemed to welcome the challenge and stood. ready.
“Don’t fight,” I tried to interject, but my voice was quiet and lost on the two boys and their heightened
frustration, “Please don’t fight.”
It was like I hadn’t spoken. Johan and Ignatius kept at their arguing, both looking more beast than boy
at every passing moment.
I tried to get up tenfold and
o stand between them, but the pain in my b*dy had grow I gripped my forearms in agony. I didn’t know
what was happening to me but it very clearly wasn’t anything good.
I grit my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut. It felt like my b*dy was being enveloped in flames. Sweat
broke out on my brow and my breathing grew heavy as I drew in long shaky breaths. What was more
worrying still was the growing heat between my legs.
I squeezed them together and dug my nails into my skin. My back started arching on the bed and I
writhed, desperate to escape my b*dy. I wondered if this was the Heat the healer had warned me
about.
If it was, I finally understood what she meant about things getting a lot worse. It couldn’t have come at
a worse possible time. I glanced at the two boys arguing. The scent of them was overpowering and that
along with their loud arguing was driving me into a frenzy.