Chapter 24
-Dorothy-
Saying goodbye to Anita had been much harder than I had expected. For all of our unfamiliarity, I
realized that I would miss the early mornings spent together sipping coffee and eating dinner over the
kitchen sink while Anita winged about her co-workers.
We pulled up to my foster mother’s home after Ignatius bought us breakfast.
I had insisted on settling for a coffee but Ignatius was determined to splurge on his new mate. We sat
at the tiny breakfast cafe while the bewildered waitress brought te after te of pancakes and bacon
rolls and a whole jug of orange juice.
Her eyes grew to the size of saucers as we left and Ignatius ced a tip in her hands big enough to
pay for three meals over.
I had never before seen my cold new lover smile as much as he had that morning. The creased
dimples in his cheeks had me grinning back at him. To anyone watching us, we probably looked
ridiculous..
I could tell he enjoyed seeing me sitting there with his mark on my neck for the world to see. I found
that I quite liked it too.
Anita had opened the door for us before we even made it up the steps of the porch, having heard us
purr to a halt in Ignatius’s car. She looked back and forth between the two of us, noting the mark on my
neck, before pulling me into a tight embrace.
The contact was unfamiliar and the affection unpracticed but I appreciated it all the same and hugged
her back. Of all the caretakers I had been passed to, Anita was the closest thing I had to a mother.
She beckoned us inside and insisted that we sit in the tiny living room that very rarely saw guests. I sat
down opposite Anita, next to Ignatius. My legs were jittery and Iced my fingers with his long ones as I
exined to Anita that I intended on leaving.
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It took a lot of exining to catch Anita up on the events of the past few days. I glossed over steamier
topics like the matter of my heat and Ignatius’s assistance in the matter, as well as sadder aspects like
the sheer magnitude of Johan’s betrayal.
Anita’s eyes glinted with anger when I told her of Mavis and her friend’s actions. She shook her head
and sighed, “Never did like those girls. They always smelled like trouble. And expensive cologne.”
Anita was sad to see me go, but she told me that she was happy for me. She had looked sternly at
Ignatius and told him to remember her warning from thest time they had spoken. Ignatius solemnly
promised that he would.
Anita had spoken harshly but the corner of her mouth was curling into a smile. I looked back and forth
between the two to gain some
understanding as to what she meant but neither seemed willing to include
me.
Ignatius followed behind me as I made bedroom.
y way to what had been my
Together, we worked to pack up what little personal belongings I had. Passing from one home to
another, It had been difficult to hold on too much. Nothing had ever felt truly mine.
This hadn’t stopped me, however, from h oarding copious amounts of various sticks and rocks and
leaves that I had picked up because I thought they looked pretty.
I folded small piles of clothes into Ignatius’s own suitcase – which had been mostly empty considering
the man was terrible at packing essentials. while Ignatius carefully peeled all of the scotch tape and
paper from the walls. He stacked each detailed drawing in a neat pile on the dresser, taking care not to
rip the paper.
He removed a particrly detailed drawing of a seaside town I had seen in a magazine once. The
scene was colored in shades of grey and blue, the ocean in the background rose up like a watery wall
of crashing waves and. spitting foam. Ignatius had stared at it for some time before asking if he
could keep it. I told him, of course, he could and he folded it tight and slipped it into his chest pocket
with a satisfied grin.
I shoved my books and other misceneous items into a small box and scooped my stick collection up
to tie together with a piece of twine. Ignatius didn’t question why I was determined to lug a pile of twigs
halfway across the country with me and it made me love him all the for it.
e more
My collections were useless items, but they were pretty and they were mine.I had salvaged them over
eighteen years of being alone and lonely and desperate to build something of my own. Ignatius eyed
me as I stacked interesting rocks and broken chunks of porcin into another bag,
“Something tells me you’re going to love living by the ocean. Our home is. going to be overrun with
seashells in no time.”
‘Our’ home.
His words put a joyful ache in my chest like someone was squeezing my heart tight enough to burst.
When we were done packing up the rest of the room, Ignatius helped me pack the rest of my clothes,
smirking at me as he dumped a fistful of skimpyce underwear into the suitcase.
“It’s like you were waiting for me.”
“Shut up. I bought those so I could sit in my room by myself and look pretty.”
This cracked him up. “Well, I’m sure they’ll still be put to good use in the future.”
And just like that, the short chapter of my life in this room was over.
After a tearful goodbye with Anita and her promising to call asionally, we sped off again – heading
out of town towards the open road.
I gazed out the window as we drove, bidding goodbye to the forest and the
streets I had known all my life. I would miss Anita, and the woods that I had so often taken refuge in,
but other than that, I had no love for this town this territory.
As we zoomed down the busiest street in the area, I caught sight of a distinctly blonde figure sitting at
the outside bar on the corner. She was surrounded by a group of girls who seemed to be consoling her
in between taking sips ofrge neon green c ocktails.
My eyes locked with Mavis as we passed and I was grateful for the distance between us. Her eyes
spoke of pure hatred and resentment.
I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes. I had never fit in here.
anyway.
Maybe, introduced into this new pack by Ignatius, maybe now things would be different.
-Johan-
Her scent had been easy to track. After all, I knew it so well by then.
I had stopped at her house first. She wasn’t home by the time I had arrived but that didn’t matter. I
inhaled deeply, filling my lungs and taking in her
scent.
I followed after it, a trail so faint that anyone unfamiliar with her distinct smell would lose track of it
amongst the throng of other jostling scents in town central. Finally, I found her. I watched her from
across the street. She was surrounded by her armada of beautifulpanions.
‘Her ser vants, Julianna hissed.
I hushed them, concentrating on Mavis as she sipped her sickly-green. drink. The street was busy that
day, the buzz of traffic made my skin crawl and I yearned to return to the stillness of the woods.
After a short while, Mavis stood up and excused herself from the group. I watched her head inside and
order another drink. I stared at my old partner as she ran her hand up the arm of the man at the bar,
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10:42/ Fri, Jan 26 G
Even so, a part of me wished I could cross the street and bury my face in her locks once more. A part
of me wanted to go back to before I had felt the mating call.
“Do you think she ever really loved me?” I asked Julianna.
I was a stone figure on the side of the road. I was out of ce in this bustling, chaotic world that moved
too quickly for me. This world with its rules and morality, status, and hierarchy was not my world
anymore.
‘No, Julianna said coldly. ‘No, she did not.”
I stepped away from the sidewalk and slipped across the street. My ws were already elongated and
sharp by the time I entered the bar.
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