Chapter 19


    Ignatius-


    When I ha


    first set out on that frosty garden path with Dorothy, I had no intention of pilling my deepest burdens in


    the dark. I had merely an inkling of an idea. I recalled a mall clearing in the forest nearby that I had


    discovered on one of many quiet walks hrough the slow mornings.


    thought it would be perfect for someone who had undergone so much tragedy and haos over just two


    days. The cool air and stillness of the clearing had always calmed ne. I hoped it would do the same for


    her.


    The sudden music was a perfect touch that I, unfortunately, could take no credit for. That was all thanks


    to Mrs. Weatherdowne, the owner of the blue vi itself. She lived just down the road and had chosen


    that specific moment to crank up the old record. yer and bless us with Tchaikovsky.


    Waltzing in the woods with Dorothy in my arms, I felt something inside of me – something that hady


    dead for a long time suddenly spark back to life. It was a small me and it was a weak one. But it was


    there.


    Tor sensed the magnitude of the situation, the importance of the scene ying out, and graced me with


    his respectful silence as we danced.


    I don’t know why I broke down in the dark afterward, with Dorothy still perched on my back. It felt as if,


    along with the new life that was blooming inside my chest, came a tidal wave of emotions that I had


    never fully put to rest. Carrying her then, shivering in my arms, I realized that I wanted to.


    I wanted to be better, to do better. Both for her and my entire future pack. I would never truly forgive


    myself for what I did to ire. Her death would weigh heavy on my chest for the rest of my life.


    But the least I could do was use that grief to fuel me. To push me to be a better leader, better lover, and


    better friend. No amount of atonement would ever bring her back. But Dorothy was here. She was alive


    and breathing. I vowed to never again sacrifice another life for the sake of my own personal growth. I


    would not make the same mistake twice.


    It was this vow, this promise to myself that allowed me to keep my cool when waiting in the kitchen.


    Dorothy had opened her mind to me and I could hear the conversation between her and Johan with


    perfect rity.


    I wanted to rage, to lurch at him with all of my strength, and knock him to the floor. A part of me thought


    him weak, the kind of weak that begged for sympathy. But I didn’t feel sympathetic. Johan had chosen


    his fate when he rejected Dorothy. To go back on


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    his word now, after causing so much pain, was pathetic.


    Then again, I thought to myself as I cleared my head and breathed deeply, how could we have


    expected anything else? Mavis had a hold over Johan before the two of us had even be friends.


    When you have spent so much of your short life living around someone else, are you even your own


    person anymore? Are you anyone at all without the partner you’ve molded yourself around?


    I had seen the hollow space in his eyes, the empty cavity in his chest that Mavis used to upy.


    Without her. Johan was lost, listless. And I couldn’t me him for that. Mavis had possessed him, b*dy,


    mind, and soul.


    And now she had abandoned her husk of a partner for someone else. Someone who wanted her


    because of the intense pull of the mating call. Johan had wanted her even without that instinctual drive.


    With this understanding in mind, I continued to listen to them speak, still fearing slightly for Dorothy’s


    safety in the presence of a man who had lost everything. The kettle sat, long since abandoned on the


    kitchen counter. The water was slowly turning cold once more.


    I had settled myself.


    the breakfast nook in the corner when I heard Johan’s tone change. He was pleading with Dorothy,


    begging like a madman. He was all over the ce,ing undone before her eyes and I could feel it. I


    stood up and put my hand on the doorknob, pausing when Dorothy asked me to wait.


    I wanted to trust that she could handle this. I ‘did’ trust her. It was Johan I was skeptical of at that


    moment. People are capable of anything when they think they have nothing left to lose. It was only


    when his voice rose that I probed Dorothy’s mind again, insisting that I intervene. Johan was shouting


    at her, at the world.


    His finalment had pushed too far. I men tally apologized to Dorothy for not being able to take it any


    longer and kicked open the door, fully ready to knock Johan off his feet. I wasn’t prepared, however, for


    the sudden appearance of Mavis at exactly the same time.


    I saw her eyes scan the room, switching from Johan, to me, to Dorothy in the blink of an eye. Her


    expression soured when her eyes fell on Dorothy and I thought that maybe I’d have tw


    rogue werewolves on my hands by the time this was over.


    Mavis was the first to speak, breaking the sudden silence that had descended upon our little


    unintentional gathering.


    “You ba st ard.”


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    Her scathing words were directed at Johan, who stared at her like a deer caught in headlights. “You


    came running straight back to her. I knew you wanted her. You disgust


    me.”


    She swiveled her head to look at Dorothy, poised like a cobra waiting to strike. “And you. You just can’t


    help yourself. Picking at my scraps because you can’t get anyone else.”


    Dorothy stepped away from Johan and towards me. “What are you doing here, Mavis? And who’s your


    friend?”


    I cast my eyes to the tall man who had entered behind Mavis. His hair was wilder than mine and


    Johan’sbined, and he was looking around the room in bewilderment.


    “to,” he said, unsure of what exactly the situation was that he’d found himself in. “I’m Mavis’s ma-”


    “He’s my mate,” Mavis interrupted him. I could see that she took pleasure in how the words made


    Johan wince. “As I was so kindly exining to Johan before he bolted off my porch like a wounded


    animal.”


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    She red at Johan. “I knew you’de here. Even after Ignatius has stolen your darling little Dorothy,


    you stille running for your friend.”


    Johan seemed frozen on the spot, his ws still sharped and ready to tear.


    “Mavis,” Dorothy warned her, edging away from Johan and slipping her hand in mine. “Leave him


    alone.”


    Mavis continued like she hadn’t heard Dorothy, approaching Johan like a parent scolding a child, “I was


    going to choose you. But you just had to run away, didn’t you? Back to Dorothy. Because all this time


    you wanted her instead of me. You blew chance, Johan. This is all your fault.”


    I knew she was lying. I could smell her scent all over


    your


    said; Mavis had already made her choice. This was her revenge, her coverup. She was


    her b*dy. It was like Johan has


    pinning it on Johan to case her own guilt..


    bod behind her. I could smell his scent ravaged all ward-looking stranger who


    Dorothy caught this too. “Get out Mavis, If you’re done with Johan you have no reason to stay any


    longer.”


    The stranger ced a tentative hand on Mavis’s shoulder. “Maybe we should leave…”


    I could see this only riled Johan up more. It was one thing knowing that your partner had chosen


    another, it was another thing to see the exchange in person.


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    The stranger – to – could sense the tension in the air. He wasn’t oblivious to Johan’s eyes fixed on


    him the source, Johan seemed to think, of all his problems.


    Mavis wrenched herself away from the gentle hand and stepped close to Johan, grabbing his shirt.


    “Say something. Say something, you pathetic waste of potential.”


    “Enough, Mavis!” My voice boomed around the tiny living room. Dorothy started beside me and moved


    her hand to grip my arm. I bared my teeth at Mavis. “I think it’s time for you two to leave.”


    to seemed like he didn’t want any trouble. He threw an apologetic nce in my direction as he


    tugged at Mavis, coaxing her away from Johan. “Mavis, love. Come on, let’s go.”


    But Mavis would not go. She was angry and determined to squeeze every ounce of life out of Johan


    before she left. She didn’t want him. But she wanted himpletely incapacitated without her.


    Johan was a statue, a stone wall. He wasn’t defending himself. This was an opportunity Mavis could


    not allow herself to miss.


    Suddenly, Mavis’s earlier remarks seemed to register in to’s mind. He kept his grip on her arm. “You


    were going to choose him?”


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    Mavis paused and turned to look at him and then swept her gaze back to Johan. “What? No, I just – ”


    She knew she’d been caught out. To admit that she’d been lying would be to let Johan off the h ook, to


    deny it would mean she’d lied to her so-called true mate. For the first time ever, I watched Mavis with


    her sharp tongue and quick wit, falter.


    to stepped back, looking at her as if he was seeing her for the first time. “Back there, you told me


    that you wanted me. That you’d been waiting for me. You said you and Johan were over for good.”


    “I – to, I just-”


    “You lied.”


    to rubbed his eyes like he was struggling to make sense of it. “You lied. Why? To get me to sleep


    with you? You said you’d ended things with this guy.”


    He gestured to Johan before taking a few more steps back towards the door.


    I knew I should intervene. Dorothy was pric king at my mind, urging me to step in before another


    altercation broke out. But I was watching the downfall of Mavis. The fall from grace that had been a


    long timeing.


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    I knew Dorothy, despite her need to put a stop to things, was just as curious to watch the implosion


    going down before our eyes. I peeped into her mind. She was enjoying it.


    Mavis was looking back and forth between her lovers like a caged animal. She needed a vice,


    someone toy the me on. Anyone but herself. Her eyes settled on Dorothy.


    “Everything was fine until you stepped into the picture,” she seethed, her shoulders. hunched forwards


    like she was going to shift. “You ruined everything.”


    Dorothy shook her head. “No, Mavis I don’t think I did. I shouldn’t have stopped Johan from rejecting


    me. That was wrong and for that I am sorry.”


    She directed thosest words at Johan before continuing. “But Johan did what you asked him to Mavis.


    He rejected me for you. You are the one who failed him. You were unfaithful. This is on you.”


    I watched the hackles rise on Mavis’s shoulders as her face contorted into a vicious snarl. “Lana was


    right. Right from the beginning. I should have just let them kill you when they had the chance.”


    Without realizing it, Mavis had revealed her true nature to her mate, and to, who had been so


    passive until then, was appalled.


    “Who are you?” he asked her, but from the tone of his voice, he already had his answer. He saw the


    snare trap he had begun to enter and chose to escape before it was toote. Before he ended up just


    like Johan.


    “I don’t think I want this, Mavis.”


    She turned to him, still in the limbo between forms – neither wolf nor girl.


    “What did


    you say?”


    I put my arms around Dorothy at the deep, ferocious tone of Mavis’s scratchy voice. to took another


    step back. He seemed nervous and out of his depth but his voice was firm. “I don’t want this, Mavis. I


    don’t want you.”


    He looked me dead in the eye and a glimmer of understanding and mutual respect passed between us.


    “I’m sorry,” he said directly to me and then looked at Johan. “I’m so sorry.”


    He understood Johan’s pain, his anger. His apology ran deeper than just making up for what he’d done


    with Mavis. He was apologizing for the wreckage that his true mate had


    left in her wake.


    With that, he cast onest look of remorse at Mavis and left.


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    Mavis followed after him without another word to any of us. She was clearly shaken at to’s sudden


    change of heart. I don’t think it had ever urred to her that she could find herself at the receiving end


    of a devastating rejection.


    She left the door wide open behind her and the cold winter air chilled us all. Johan seemed to awake


    from his hypnosis and took one lumbering step forward and then another.


    “Mavis…” I had never heard his voice so small, so broken. “Mavis,e back.”


    I left Dorothy’s side and put a hand to his chest. “She’s gone, Johan. You have to let her go. I think


    “The sigh that escaped me was one of remorse and sympathy for my old friend. “I think this is for the


    best.”


    Johan looked past me, towards Dorothy.


    “There’s nothing left. I have nothing.”


    He pushed past me and walked out of the door. His final words, spoken over his shoulder made me


    understand that this may be thest time I would ever see my dear friend. It made me realize that


    Johan was no longer my friend at all.


    “You won.”


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    -Ignatius-


    Both Dorothy and I stood motionless, r