Page 9 of Rejected By Blood (Mated in Silence 2)

“Alpha, my mate has done an exemplary job of protecting herself all this time but of course, I would give my life protecting her. We will be fine. I’m sure the man is mistaken.”

The older man behind the desk seemed okay with that. Of course he was because Dean said so.

Not caring if they were settled with the decision or not, I stomped out of there.

They’d made me the outcast, and I intended to stay that way.

Chapter Nine

Jillian

The day after the meeting with the Alpha, I went to visit with Magda. Shifters aged slowly, but once they reached their final years, things moved quickly. I wasn’t sure about her witch half, since I didn’t know any others. When I met my friend, she seemed like any other adult in the pack, albeit with more wrinkles and her hair was salt-and-pepper waves at the time. The pepper was gone now, leaving only salt behind, plaited in a single braid that went to her waist.

And her straight posture had been replaced with a bit of a hunch. That was likely because she had to lean on a stick to go anywhere. She’d done so much to help me, and now I wanted to repay the favor.

Since my friend and mentor didn’t leave her home anymore, at least no farther than her little yard, I stopped by every day to see what she needed and, I’ll admit it, for a hug. Sometimes I was a little jealous that I wasn’t part witch like her, but she told me that she’d shared most of what she knew with me anyway and being a generational witch wasn’t all that.

I did suspect she was saying that to make me feel good.

Dean had gone into town with some of the other men to pick up some things for the farm, and I was busy processing some herbs I’d gathered in the forest, so when he kissed me and asked me my plans, I’d waved at the piles of greenery around me and the drying racks I was assembling for the first time this year.

Lately, I hadn’t been going anywhere without him, but as I was pounding a combination of herbs for a salve, I heard a piteous cry and the pestle dropped into the mortar.Magda!She lived close but not close enough to hear and, knowing only a true crisis could have occurred, I stripped my clothes off as I ran out the door.

Even in wolf form it took far too long to get there. My friend’s cries were still with me. She was in pain. I was going to rip the arms and legs off whoever was harming her.

The gate was torn from Magda’s fence, and her front door was open wide… Bounding inside, I stopped and looked around. The place was a disaster, all her neat jars and boxes and racks of medicines and spell ingredients tossed around. Not a things was untouched. I didn’t see a sign of the intruder or intruders who had done this, so I was wavering on what to do next when I heard a moan from a corner. I shifted quickly back to two-legged. I was going to need hands to dig her out of the mess, and my wolf was on full alert for a quick change if anyone returned to cause more harm. In fact, she was snarling, growling and pacing inside me so that I could barely think.

Please stop. We have to help Magda.

I will shred their flesh from their bones for what they have done.

In fear that my wolf knew more than I did, that Magda was horribly injured, maybe even on the verge of death, I did not worry about finding anything to cover my nakedness before tossing things aside, calling.Dearest, where are you? Help me find you, please.I had never communicated with her or anyone in human form, but I had no other way to try.

“Here, by the stove…” Had she heard my thoughts? Or just reacted to my presence. Her weak voice did not reassure me in any way but it did point me in the right direction. I had to wade through broken furniture and to my horror the stove was still burning. How easily could this mess catch if only one spark from the open stove door fell to the floor. Dried herbs and grasses were tinder.

I managed to get across the floor and closed the stove before I dug down to find my friend. My every instinct wanted to dig her out first, but if a fire started, we would both be lost. Scanning the debris, I spotted one of her feet, bare and so vulnerable...Magda, I’m here. Try not to move, I’ll get to you.

She didn’t answer that time and I had to use every bit of self-control to move things methodically aside instead of flinging them madly as I wished to do. If I did not exercise care, I could injure her worse.

Finally, after what felt an eternity, I lifted a shawl to find her smiling up at me. Her eyes in their folds and wrinkles twinkled. Only Magda could look so positive while still half buried under her destroyed belongings. But at least her expression made me think she wasn’t in terrible pain. Then she sobered. “I’m glad to see you, I won’t lie, but it’s not safe for you to be here.”

I cleared some baskets and things away and the small table that had pinned her legs and eased her to sit up. I tried to keep her from standing, worried she might hurt herself worse.

“Don’t be silly, child. I’m perfectly fine. If you’ll assist me to my feet, we can start cleaning up this mess.”

Only Magda.

Fortunately, before I could argue, the doorway filled with pack members, led by the alpha with my mate at his side. The alpha brushed past the rest and stomped to my side. “What happened here? We were halfway back from town when Dean went crazy demanding we pull over and save you.”

They hadn’t shifted to get here faster?

Before I could ask, Dean was there, handing me one of Magda’s cloaks. “Here, mate, put this on. We were not far away where the highway borders the lands. Why aren’t you home?”

My wolf must have called to his. When we were in wolf form or now? I didn’t know if it worked like that, but it didn’t really matter.

I shrugged. Since I had no way to write, he’d have to wait for details until we got home.

With so many people there, they had the place set to rights quickly, Magda in her comfortable and blessedly unbroken chair by the fire protesting all the fuss. The pack members carried off the broken items and I mourned the loss of so much of her herbs and things. Many would not be replaceable until fall. But I was very happy my friend was not badly injured. The alpha demanded she move to the compound but she brushed aside his concerns.

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