Chapter 33


    -Dorothy-


    New Year’s Eve rolled around faster than I could have anticipated. It felt like only days earlier that I had


    first set eyes on Ignatius. Time had passed in the blink of an eye and now we were seeing the new


    year in together.


    No more news had been heard about Johan’s whereabouts, nor the elusive Tally Pack. Despite our


    best efforts, no one could gather any more information on their supposed ns. The Tally, I learned,


    was a small, sly group who lived on the outskirts of the forests to the South..


    What theycked in numbers, Ignatius told me, they made up for being cu nning and were not


    adversaries you wanted to be the target of ever.


    For the most part, they kept to themselves, buttely, they had been expanding their reach, conquering


    smaller and weaker packs until Ignatius’s father had chased them back to their own turf.


    They had every reason to target the Bielke Pack. But Ignatius suspected they did not yet have the


    numbers,


    Aside from the shadow of that threat, life with Ignatius had been sunny as ever. I was growing


    ustomed to my new pack and I was registered to start at my new college in the new year.


    I was beyond nervous to be back in the halls of some overcrowded establishment, especially now that


    everyone had seen my


    but I decided that was a problem to bother over in the new year only.


    Ignatius decided it was time to officially announce our union to the pack. News of my presence had


    already been passed around thanks to both Angie’s dishonorable actions as well as my own


    interactions with members of the Bielke Pack


    Some people, like Geranium. Rita, and a few others seemed to like me quite a lot. Others, like Elliot


    and some of the elders. were still apprehensive of my presence among them.


    People were already aware of my living with Ignatius but he was insistent on making a formal


    announcement of the fact. He wanted everyone to know his soon-to-be Luna. He mentioned this to me


    while I had been sshing around in the freestanding bath one night.


    I had taken a liking to luxurious bubble baths on nights when Ignatius workedte at the councilors


    office with the other elders of the pack. He woulde home to find me half-dozing in soapy water and


    bubbles spilling all over the floor.


    Sometimes I took things a step further and lit up some candles to add to the rxed atmosphere.


    Ignatius couldn’t understand my bathtub addiction when we had hot springs right next door but I liked


    my quiet evenings in the morous bathroom.


    “They have to know that this, what we have, is serious,” he said, frothing at the mouth while he brushed


    his teeth. “I want them to love you like I do.


    I scooped handfuls of foam and ced them on my head, shaping them to look like devil’s horns. “You


    can’t force people to love me. Especially now that my name is so controversial”


    The Khall Pack had indeed taken to ming me for the incident with Johan. News of my evil


    seductress antics had spread like wildfire and suddenly I was heralded as a kind of femme fatale who


    drove my mates insane. Everyone expected Ignatius to be the next one to spa nk


    I didn’t mind my new hot-button reputation. Rather to be feared as a kind of viin than perceived as


    weak. Ignatius himself was amused at the idea of me turning him into some kind of mad man someday.


    All the same though, he wasn’t too happy with people spreading rumors. He didn’t believe I should


    have taken any of the me at all-even if it was for the good of the pack.


    Ignatius spat into the pale blue ceramic of the bathroom sink and ambled over to join me in the frothy


    water.


    The waterline nove when he lowered hunsell in and sshed over the edges when I moved to lean


    back against him. “Don’t


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    10:45 Fri, Jan 26.


    say that. Those rumors are idiotic and they’lle to understand that soon enough. Besides, a new


    years party could be a good way to do someworking.”


    “Networking?”


    “We need allies from other packs. If the Tally do eventually decide to strike, we need people on our


    side.”


    “Ah, makes sense.”


    I fell silent, neither of us wanted to think of, let alone mention Johan’s name.


    News of Mavis’s b*dy being found had also spread quickly. Apparently, Ezra, the Khall tracker had


    her with him like he couldn’t ept that she was gone.


    It made me sick to my stomach thinking about it. It was hard to believe the gentle Beta I had once


    believed that I loved could be capable of such gruesome actions.


    1 banished the morbid imagery from my mind and leaned my head back on Ignatius’s shoulder.


    So this anno


    announcement. How do you n on doing it?


    Ignatius nibbled at my car and rolled the hardened bud of my nipple between his fingers.


    Well, the new year is approaching. I was thinking we could do something here – set up downstairs and


    let people mingle. The best way to gain allies is to give them alcohol and entertain their ramblings


    So, like a new years party!”


    “Yes. So you’ll finally have a chance to wear one of your new evening dresses,”


    I tilted my head to give him full ess to my neck, shivering when his teeth grazed along my skin. “Are


    you going to invite Angie”


    Ignatius paused his sensual exploring. “Her grandfather is part of the council. We don’t really have a


    choice – it would also look suspicious to have the leader of our forces absent. We can’t appear divided”


    I slid further down in hisp, blowing bubbles in the water before looking up at him. “I guess so. Il try to


    be civil then.


    “Things still not going well on that front?”


    I snorted, rolling my eyes at the thought of Angie and I ever managing actual friendship. I had tried,


    time and time again, to prove to Ang that I meant no harm.


    More so than just for Ignatius’s sake, I wanted to seed with Angie where I had failed with Mavis. I


    wanted to be seen as an equal.


    Angie, however, was having none of it and when she wasn’t threatening my demise outright, she was


    looking over the top of my head like I didn’t even exist. It was frustrating to say the least


    Unlike Mavis or udia and the other girls from my previous pack, Angie had a few redeeming


    N?velDrama.Org owns ? this.


    qualities. If she wasn’t so set in her conviction that I was a threat to her people and her friend, she


    might make for an avidpanion. A girl could


    Another individual who seemed set on driving me from the pack was Ignatius’s own father, Elliot. Elliot


    was never outright rude to me, but he wasn’t weing either. He too, treated me like my voice was


    nothing more than the annoying buzzing of a mosquito not to ruin his day.


    This never faded to enrage Ignatis, and we had already brokerine bedpost and the leg of a sofa in the


    passionately fierce S** that always followed his outbursts when we got home


    Along with has vicious side though, Ignatiiv’s soft side became ujore and more apparent the longer I


    lived with him


    FM, Jan 26


    The same man who bared-his fangs at anyone who so much as looked at me wrong, also dedicated


    hours u patiently tending to the falcon he’d taken into his care.


    upon hours of


    I had been more than a little surprised toe home one day after a visit to Rita’s home, to find my


    mate sitting on the floor surrounded by feathers and stroking an angry-looking bird that was perched on


    his wrist.


    Both Ignatius and his new friend had looked up at my arrival and we spent the rest of the day fawning


    over the falcon that had chosen our home as his new nest. Apparently, he had been injured and upon


    learning that we weren’t out to hurt him, decided that he liked us quite a lot.


    Ignatius signed off his approval on my suggestion of the name Anemis and thus our small family grew.


    While I was never particrly pleased to find the remains of various rats and smaller birds strewn


    across the carpets from time to time, I was fond of the fierce linle bird all the same.


    Ignatius turned me around to face him in therge bathtub. He pulled me onto hisp and secured me


    with a k*ss. More bathwater was spilled in the events that followed.


    A few dayster I was gasping in awe at the sight before me. The downstairs area of ourrge house


    had been converted into the perfect setting for a high-ss party. The furniture had been moved and a


    table full of wine sses stood in the corner.


    Each ss was delicately stacked atop one another to form a pyramid and I was afraid to breathe near


    it in case I caused it to copse. tters and boards of expensive-looking food lined one long table and


    a punch bowl the size our own bathtub stood atop another


    I looked down at the fruity pink liquid and back at Ignatius who stood at the top of the stairs. He was


    grinning down at me.. fiddling with a tie at his throat. I had never seen him in a suit before and it took


    my breath away. I stood gawking at him for


    while before hurrying back up the stairs.


    “You look..


    I cast a nce down at the waitrons who had volunteered for the event. They were darting around the


    floor, straightening table cloths and shining sses.


    Ignatius raised an eyebrow. “I look..? Ufortable in this suit? Yes. I am.”


    “You look hot


    I walked over to him and tightened the the around his neck, folding it inside his suit jacket and letting


    my hands linger on his


    chest


    “I suppose I should get ready too.”


    He pressed his lips to my forehead and headed down the stairs. Might be a good idea. People will be


    arriving soon.” He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and called back up to me as I made my way back


    to our bedroom. “Wear the red one! It


    entuates your as s.”


    I rolled my eyes so far back I almost caught a glimpse of the inside of my skull in the process.


    I was nervous for that evening. Not only would I he socializing with dozens of unfamiliar faces, but I


    would also have eyes on me the whole time. People were waiting for me to slip up and 1 couldn’t allow


    myself to do that.


    I threw open my newly stocked wardrobe and flipped through dresses one at a time. I wasn’t sure I was


    bold enough to don the red dress that Ignatius loved so much. But then again, if there was ever a time


    to make a striking impression – this was it.


    I slipped the silky fabric over my head and let my hair down as well. It cascaded over my shoulders in


    waves. With both the color of my hair and the fabric of the dressbined, I looked like I was on fire.


    I may as well have been, my nerves had my knees shaking and an incessant ringing was sounding in


    my ears.


    I forced myself to concentrate on the task at hand – that being getting ready and scratched around my


    drawers in search of the single stick of red lipstick that owned.


    10:45 Fri, Jan 26 G


    After carefully applying that and flicking some mascara on myshes I studied my reflection in the


    mirror. I felt like a child ying dress up, not an adult ready to charm her guests.


    It would have to do though. I heard amotion at the door and someone’s booming voice greeting


    Ignatius warmly. I took onest nce at my reflection. “Don’t f uck this up.”


    I leaned forwards, feeling ridiculous and frantic as I pointed a finger at my reflection,


    “Do. Not, F uck this up


    With that. I turned on my heel and rushed out of the room towards the stairs.


    Don’t f uck this up?


    A girl can dream.