Rejected His Miracle Luna Fated Her Second Chance Alpha by Paprika
Chapter 62

Chapter 62

-Dorothy-

It was horrific. It was a deer, or at least it had been once. But everything about the creature was twisted and deformed like it had been sculpted out of dough and its shape changed over time. The antlers stood haphazardly on its misshaped head and protruded in odd angles, pointing in every direction

Sharp, elongated teeth protruded from the creature’s mouth in Eyers like evil-looking needles in a pincushion. Bits of raw meat from some poor unsuspecting forest dweller hung from the deer’s jaws in blo ody tendrils like red floss.

It didn’t move like a deer either. The creature’s gait was slow and stilted like its hones were never meant to bend that way. I stiffed a shrick as the creature stepped into the light of the clearing and I could see the monstrosity with full clarity.

It was only a few feet away from us when I felt Ignatius move over me, his skin rippled as he prepared to shift and gray fur grew on his b*dy.

“When I leap, you run. Okay?”

“I’m not leaving you.”

I was terrified and my b*dy was itching to scramble away from the gruesome creature but I would not leave my mate behind.

“Go ddam mit. Dorothy. You need to get out of here,”

The creature paused and raised its large head, a head that looked too big to be supported by its bent n*eck. Bits of fur had rubbed off in places and rough, rotting skin could be seen on the bald patches all over the deer’s b*dy.

I swallowed my fear, my dry throat burning as I did so. Im not leaving you.”

It was clear to Ignatius that I wouldn’t budge on the topic and his frustration could be felt through our mind-link “Fine,” he said inside of my head, stifling his anger and fear. “Fine, but the second I go for this monster, you get out of the way, okay? If it looks like I can’t take it down then I want you to leave.”

“Win this fight,” I answered him. “Because I’m not leaving

He let out an aggrieved growl. He didn’t manage more than that before the deer moved. Way faster than I could have anticipated. It darted towards us with lightning speed, inhuman speeds, and its jaw unhinged as its teeth sought out a target

Ignatius pushed me into the floor as he leaped over me, shifting in the air and meeting the creature’s sh caggy jaws with teeth of his own. I watched, frozen on the ground as the gray wolf collided with the monstrous deer.

It was bigger than Tor, much bigger, but he managed to snag the creature’s throat and tear a chunk from its flesh before the being could snap its own teeth down on his head.

I scrambled backward through the clearing as the two creatures grappled. Snarls and whines and the snapping of jaws filled the clearing and sp ooked every small creature for a mile around us. The deer keened, a disquieting, bone-chilling sound, as Tor went for its spindly legs..

The gray wolf was taking great care to avoid the monster’s teeth. And that seemed to take a great seal of effort as the being able to inuke its head unnaturally in every direction, following the wolf as he snapped and tore at the deer’s deformed

Eventually, for snapped his jaws shut on the creature’s hind leg and in threw back its head to release an unearthly siren wail. Trovered my hands over myran as I tried to get to my feet and the trees around is swished as binds took flight to escape

the awful d

With a sharp twist of his head, for managed to snap the creatunes leg and the deer numbled to the side Its snaking head still fought to sink long needle darp teeth into the gray wall but for danced around the creature, biting and howling in furious. vehement

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Chapter 62

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After some time, the creatures thrashing and wailing banshee call began to subside. The b*dy of the deer was beginning to look more like a gnarled clump of meat than a living being and it moved its limbs weakly, kicking at the ground and dragging its heavy head along the dirt as it foamed at the mouth

Its antlers dug up the soil as the creature bucked its head, releasing one final ear-piercing shriek before its head and n*eck Thumped to the ground and it lay still.

Tor howled in victory and I stared in horror at the remaining carnage.

“What is that thing?” I was frozen to the spot while Ignatius reverted back to his human form. “What was that thing?”

Ignatius looked up at me with strained relief etched into his features. His clothes were torn and his bare chest was streaked with the creature’s blood.

Steam rose from the dark crimson liquid like the blood was boiling on his skin. He wiped at the liquid with what was left of his shirt but the crimson was stained on his skin like tiger stripes.

“Not Deer. Nob*dy really knows for sure where they came from!

“Not Deer? As in not a deer? What kind of name is that?” I was trying to be lighthearted, to prove that the encounter hadn’t phased me. But my voice shook and I wrapped my arms around myself and my stomach in unease.

Itentatively stepped closer to stand beside Ignatius and we both gazed down at the shredded b*dy of the creature that looked like a deer but most definitely was not

Ignatius had not held back. The creature’s n*eck was bent at an impossible angle and the bones of its legs had broken through

Blood pooled around the corpse and matted with its short fur, seeping into the surrounding soil and turning the ground. around it black like the earth had opened its mouth to swallow up the fallen creature,

Its one visible eye remained wide open and empty, a glassy black orb that absorbed the sunlight that shone down on it.

Ignatius kept his eyes on the so-called Not Deer as he continued, Tve never heard of one in this area. At least not for a very long time. They roam the forests to the East most of the time.

“Barely anyone has seen one and those who do rarely come back alive. It’s possible Johan is sending them this way t weaken us before launching a full-scale attack.

A bite from a Not Deer is a fate worse than death.” he trailed off, sliding an arm around me and pulling me close to him like he needed to make sure that I was real and very much alive.

His mouth set in a grim line as he stared down at the creature. “I never thought I would see one again.”

He ignored my questioning stare and continued.

Some people think that they’re witches who attempted to replicate our shifting abilities. Decades ago, they sought to wield the power of the shifters for themselves, but their spells went wrong and trapped them in this form. Their minds were mangled over the years until eventually, they were neither human nor animal anymore.”

I shifted on my feet, feeling uncomfortably vulnerable in the open clearing, even with Ignatius” arms around me, “If Johan is sending them, what do we do about it?”

Before he could answer me, the glassy eye of the fallen creature rolled in its socket to gaze at us. Ignatius started beside me. sp ooked by the swiveling orb that rotated from me to him and back again. I felt sick to my stomach. Everything about this: creature felt wrong, unnatural.

Without taking his eyes off of the creature, Ignatius reached around me and pulled the iron blade from Rita that I always kept on my person, from where it was concealed in my back pocket.

Kneeling, he drove the knife deep into the inky black pool of the Not Deer’s eye. A shiver ran over the creature’s mangled b*dy and then it lay motionless. A trickle of blood, so dark it was almost black with the oozing texture of thick treacle.

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Chapter 62

trailed slowly out of the wound.

“Let’s get out

of here. Ignatius gripped my forearm and turned to leave. “I’ll have some of the guards burn the b*dy”

“My knife..”I protested.

“Leave it. It’s tainted now, It’ll only bring you bad luck.”

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I pulled my arm away from him and reached down to grab the hilt. “Rita can cleanse it, she’s done it before after I used it on the Tally shifter. It’s valuable to me.”

I lifted the blade from the creature’s skull and it came out with a suctioning force and a sickening pop. I wiped it on the grass before sliding it back into its sheath in my pocket.

Still gawking at the corpse I let Ignatius lead me out of the clearing and back through the woods towards the manor.

Later, I watched several Bielke members set the b*dy ablaze on a pyre, the Not Deer wrapped in a tarp. The smoke was black, and suffocating and I could have sworn I saw something move under the greasy tarp before the flames devoured the pyre entirely.

Ignatius had been less than talkative since the encounter, but he hovered around me for the rest of the day and late into the evening, tonching me from time to time as if in a dream and relying on me to bring him back to reality.

All through the night. I reassured him over and over again that was still there, that I wasn’t going anywhere. That night it was my turn to comfort my mate who awoke from nightmares he couldn’t speak of

All I could do when he reached for me in a cold sweat was wrap my arms around him as he buried his head in my chest and wept.

That night I dreamed of the Not Deer. I was standing in a clearing under the light of the moon. I felt safe, at first, bathed in that silver glow. Through the dark of the woods before me, something was stirring.

Awkward antlers on a mutilated face, the Not Deer nirmed to look at me, an iron blade in its left eye.

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10:58 Fri, Jan 26 G