41

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
ROWAN’S POV
I have been looking at the door Asher and Astrid walked into for over five minutes now.
What exactly are they talking about?
As the days go by, so does my brother gets whipped by Astrid. Why exactly will he come over here so early in the morning just to check on her?
He has warned Aryra and I not to tell her anything about his feelings for her, but his actions towards her are going to sell him. With the way he keeps behaving around her, Sooner or later, Astrid will realize that he has feelings for her.
He is such a love sick puppy.
I get alarmed when I see Astrid rushing out of the room, crying. She runs past her mates in the field and towards the woods. Without warning, I take on my heels after her, hoping that she doesn’t shapeshift. She is one badass female Alpha andI can hardly keep up with her speed when she’s in wolf form.
As I race after her, I can’t help but wonder what Asher did to make her cry.
Did he kiss her?
That moron!
Of course he did!
He took her off guard and now she is crying.
What exactly am I going to do with that brother of mine?
I stop when she stops running. She turns and looks at me and my heart clenches in pain when I see her face completely drenched in tears.
“What are you doing here?”
“I thought you might need Someone to talk to.” I say with a careless shrug.
“Don’t you worry about me, I will be fine” She says as she walks over to a nearby rock and sits on it. I walk over to true rock and take a seat by her side.
I pull out a handkerchief from my pocket and hand it over to her.
“Thank you” She thanks as she sniffles tears and then uses it to wipe her tears.
When my mum was still alive, she always advised me to carry an extra handkerchief with me because I never know when I would meet a damsel in distress.
I’m sure she is proud of me right now.
“I’d like to know what happened”
“It’s nothing for you to be bothered about, Rowan. It’s quite stupid”
“I still want to hear it. Did my brother kiss you?” I ask out of nowhere and she snaps her head and looks at me in utter shock.
Eyes and mouth wide open.
“Why would you even ask that?” She asks in horror.
“Why not? Things like that get girls very emotional” I explain further and she just keeps staring at me like I have lost my mind. “Don’t look at me like that, I’m not crazy”
“Of course you are crazy! Why would you even think that I’m crying because Alpha Asher kissed me? That could never happen?”
“Why not? I mean, you are the most gorgeous girl on the planet… don’t tell Arya I said that” I caution and she chuckles in amusement. “My brother like gorgeous ladies”
“Rowan just stop okay, I’m not crying because Alpha Asher kissed me. Jeez, that’s just absurd!”
If only she knew.
“Then tell me why, else I’ll keep assuming and mind you my assumptions will only get worse!”
“Well…” She plays with her fingers and I chuckle at how innocent she looks doing that. There is a chunk of her beautiful hair hung behind her left ear, exposing her perfectly sculpted jawline.
Just from her side view, anyone can tell that she is such a gorgeous lady and my brother has every right to fall in love with her.
Her sweet personality just makes her even more attractive and right now, I kinda hate the fact that she’s older than I am.
I hope there are more girls like her out there and I hope I get to meet one one day.
“Astrid was in my room this morning and she was mean to me as usual. Arya showed up and stood up for me and later on went and told Alpha Asher all about it. Now he’s furious about the fact that I didn’t defend myself. I also spoke very rudely to him and now I’m scared” She explains, still playing with my fingers.
I put my left hand on her back and gently rub it, hoping it comforts her a bit.
She must be going through a lot right now.
“Freya is a bitch for bullying you, Arya is a snitch for telling on you and Asher is an insensitive prick for demanding so much from you despite all what you’ve been through in the past. I’d advise you to forget about them”
“I just can’t. I mean, Alpha Asher was right, I need to know how to defend myself. People won’t always be there to defend me” She cries.
“And you also know you can’t just learn that overnight. You have to take things step by step, that’s why we are training”
“I just don’t want to disappoint him”
“Trust me Astrid, you are not disappointing Asher in any way. You have no idea how much you make him proud. I’m very certain he only said those things because he was furious. Don’t let his words get to you”
“I just want to be like you guys. Bold, free, happy. Is that too much to ask for?”
“No, it’s not. But like I said, we are going to take things step by step. I will be by your side every step of the way. I promise!” I say softly and I freeze when she gently rests her head on my shoulder and wipes off the tears in her eyes.
I need to talk with Asher right away.
He needs to apologize to her and also learn to take it easy on her.
Astrid is not a weakling, all she needs is a bit more time to pull herself together.
*************************
I gave Astrid the day off once we got back from the woods. She looked so down and I immediately understood she wouldn’t be focused on training for the rest of the day. She needed to go home and have a good rest so she can set her mind at ease.
For me, I’m on my way to my brother’s office to talk some sense into that thick skull of his.
I know he has never been in love before and right now his emotions are all over the place.
He loves Astrid very much and the thought of someone bullying her enrages him. He wants her to be strong, to be able to defend herself against anyone trying to bully her. That is exactly how every Alpha wants his woman to be because she is a future Luna, but he has to take it easy with Astrid.
She has been oppressed for the better part of her life and even though she has escaped that hell hole, her greatest oppressor still lives under the same roof as she does. She’s still trying to adapt to that and he needs to understand that.
No one likes to be bullied, Astrid doesn’t like to be bullied by Freya, she badly wants to defend herself, but as it seems, she still needs some time to build her confidence before she will be able to do so. We all have to be patient with her whether we like it or not.
“I’m not in the mood to talk Rowan” He fires the moment I get into his office, but I ignore him and walk over to his table. I take the seat opposite him and take a whole lot of minutes to scrutinize him.
“And why are you looking at me like that?”
“It’s not cool to make a lady cry, you always tell me that”
“If you think I’m proud of what I did, then you are wrong”
“So what do you intend to do about it?”
“Apologize… I guess. This whole situation is frustrating…”
“There is nothing frustrating about this situation. Just tell her you are sorry and find a way to shut that fiance of yours, because if I get involved in this whole issue, it’s going to get nasty.”
“I don’t even want to think about Freya right now. She is nothing but a pain in my ass, I can’t wait to get rid of her”
“And how exactly are you going to do that?”
“I don’t know yet, but I know with time, I’m going to figure something out. This can’t be more than me”
“Then that will be cool. Bro, I know right now, you are no better from a love-sick puppy. You hate the fact that Astrid is being bullied, it makes you furious, but you really don’t have to take it out on her. Remember she has been through a lot in the past. She needs time to adjust”
“I just realized that and that’s why I feel so guilty for talking to her the way I did back there”
“It’s no big deal, just have a heart to heart talk with her this evening and apologize. She’s definitely going to hear you out and get it off her mind”
“I’m going to apologize to her, but we are definitely not going to have any heart to hear talk. The last thing I want to do is make her understand what goes on in my heart every time I’m in her presence”
I just laugh and shake my head as I rise from my seat.
As much as I would love to sit here and listen to him talk poetry, I can’t afford to miss training.
“Good luck with everything”
I say as I exit the office.
I have played my part. Right now, it’s left for him to do his own part and I can only hope that he doesn’t screw things up.
But I know he won’t.
By the way, Freya and I will be having a not very friendly conversation later today.