Chapter 61


    -Dorothy-


    After Rita had left, Ignatius and I took a walk through the woods. My head was still spinning from


    everything I had learned from the older woman. From my aunt. It was still odd to think about. I had a


    living rtive and she was right down the road, she had been by my side all along.


    The forest was quiet and cool. Sunlight shone through the branches and left dappled spots of light over


    the ground. I walked with Ignatius hand in mine, swinging our arms loosely as we trod the overgrown


    pathway.


    “How do you feel about all of this? Ignathus asked after a while. I could sense his hesitation, his


    unease. He wasn’t sure how to approach the topic but he wanted to be there to support me


    nheless.


    I tipped my shoulders. “Confused. Relieved. There’s quite a vast concoction of emotions running


    through my head right


    now


    Ignatius sucked in his bottom lip and nodded. “It’s a lot to take in I knew Rita hadn’t always been a part


    of the Bielke Pack. But it had never urred to me to ask where she hade from before she joined


    us


    1 gingerly stepped over arge tree root that protruded from the dirt over the path. I had gotten


    substantially better at making my way through the woods now that my shifter abilities were finally


    I no longer tripped over every rough surface and I didn’t bump into as many sharp corners when


    making my way to the bathroom at night. Training definitely helped, even with the little things.


    “I can understand why she wouldn’t have wanted to tell me the truth. I don’t hold anything against her.”


    “Then what’s got you so stuck inside your own head right now?


    I smiled slightly. My mate knew me too well. He could read the littlest details in my movements that


    alluded to my me ntal state like it was a secondnguage. From the slightest tension in my shoulders to


    the way tugged at my hair.


    It was something we had learned over time, being so intertwined as we were. We moved around each


    other effortlessly like the cogs of some delicately intricate machine. We could converse without opening


    our minds or our mouths. We were two entities that revolved around each other in our own personal


    sr system.


    “It’s what she said about my parents. About how my father died, how my mother gave me thest of


    her life,” I said softly. “And the reason my pack was targetted.”


    “Your mother did what she did to keep you alive. Don’t tarnish that gift by feeling guilty for it.


    We entered a clearing in the forest. It was a spot that Ignatius and I visited often grass had sprung from


    the small circle of ground that was exposed to the sky. The trees bowed and swayed around as we sat


    down.


    “It just feels like everywhere I go, disaster follows. My pack, my original pack, was wiped out entirely


    because of me and my supposed gift. How can I just forget that? My mother gave thest of her life to


    prolong mine. How many people have had to


    die for me?”


    Ignatius put a hand on my shoulder as Iy my head down on hisp. “There’s nothing you could have


    done to prevent any of that You were a kid.


    “You didn’t cause any of the carnage that happened around you by choice, your father fulfilled his duty


    to protect you and your mother dad what any mother would do. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same


    for our kid if it came to that”


    My hand instinctively went to my stomach as he spoke. It was true. I knew that Our child was barely


    even formed yet and already I was determined to protect them with my life. All the same, I couldn’t


    swallow the guilt I felt be my parent’s sacrifice, for the hardships Itata had endured, and for the fate of


    my pack


    It killed ane to think that I was helpless na change the circumstatices of my own existence. Even by


    living a somewhat quiet life as an invisible usiividual, trouble seemed to fall on anyone who walked


    beside me.


    !


    J


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    “What do I do now! What do I do with everything that I’ve learned? My pack is still gone, my parents are


    still dead. Why am I alone all over agguin?”


    Ignatius leaned down to k*ss me and I melted in his arms, letting his soft caress carry me away. “You’re


    not alone, Dorothy. Not even close.”


    Ignatius stroked my hair, his low voice in my ear as we huddled in the clearing. “Don’t let the guilt of


    your past stop you from forging your own future. Use the sacrifice of your parents and what happened


    to your pack to fuel you. Build a better life for your own family, and a better fate for your new pack. We


    aren’t here to repeat history, we’re going to rewrite it”


    “That’s not a bad way to look at it. I guess.”


    Ignatius muzzled my neck, nipping at my skin and I couldn’t help butugh. He put both forefingers in


    each corner of my mouth and pulled it into a smile. “It’s a great way to look at it.”


    I groaned in exasperation and turned my head away, but his words hadforted me slightly. Iy in


    hisp and looked off into the woods, trying to suppress the giggles Ignatius had got bubbling up inside


    of me.


    Suddenly my b*dy stiffened and I gripped his hand. “Ignatius What is that?”


    I had been so distracted by my mate I hadn’t even picked up its scent until right then. A putrid odor of


    rot and decay. In the shadows of the trees in front of us, there were two ssy eyes gazing back at me.


    “What’s what?” Ignatius asked, still in the mood to be yful, but his tone changed to one of immediate


    alert as the scent made it to his nose too. His head snapped up to re into the woods and a low


    warning growl started to rumble from his throat, “Dorothy, don’t move.”


    The creature stepped closer, the shape of it was almost disconcerted in the dark of the forest beyond


    the small clearing. Aside from what looked to be antlers, only its eyes could be made out, ssy and


    ck where the dappled sunlight nced


    off of them


    The eyes dropped to a lower level and I heard the distinct thump of hooves hitting the dirt as if the


    creature had been walking on two legs and had then dropped down to four


    “Ignatius.” I tried to keep my voice lower than a whisper but terror was strangling my throat and


    straining my vocals. “Ignatius, what is that thing?”


    Every nerve in my b*dy screamed for me to get out of there, to run as fast as my legs could carry me.


    My hand went back to my belly and Ignatius hissed a warning when my b*dy itched to get up and flee.


    “Don’t move, Dorothy!” It was a whisperedmand, the Alpha in him was talking and even he


    sounded mortified. “They love a moving target.”


    Shivers wracked through my b*dy as the forest around the creature began to rustle. Thousands of


    crawling insects rushed into the clearing, fleeing from the eyes in the forest,


    ck beetles and roaches, centipedes, and other oddities I couldn’t name all slithered and scuttled


    past us and dispersed into the foliage at our backs. The creature had stepped closer and then paused,


    unnaturally still as those nk eyes watched us from the shadows.


    Ignatius slowly edged me off of hisp, taking care to keep my head from hitting the ground. He began


    moving in tiny increments to get to his knees, keeping a hand on my shoulder to still me as I propped


    myself up on my elbow.


    “Dorothy, he spoke through our mind-link, and the opened curtain allowed me to feel his overwhelming


    panic and fear. He had seen something like this before.


    He was fighting a nightmare that he had long since left behind. “I’m going to shift and meet it head-on.


    As soon as I do I want you to run back to the house as fast as you can. Can you do that?”


    Im not going to leave you behind!”


    My arguing was interrupted by a sound from the creature, goosebumps broke out on my skin and every


    hair on my b*dy.


    10:58 Fri, Jan 26 G


    stood at full attention. My heart thumped loudly in my chest and my throat ached to release the scream


    that began to build the second I heard that unnatural sound.


    “Oroce.” A sound like nails on a chalkboard. Like a parrot copying a new word. A spine-chilling failure


    at imitation, “D-d- orace Don-L. Mo-ove.”


    The sound of it clicked in my ears and my b*dy was shaking in anticipation, desperately waiting for the


    Ignatius’ nails dug into my shoulder as he willed me to stay where I was. To be still. But I couldn’t be


    still. This creature was mimicking my mate, and my deepest of natural instincts was urging me to run


    All rights ? N?velDrama.Org.


    for my life and the life of my child.


    “Dorothy, Ignatius hissed again when he sensed what I was about to do. “Don’t move. Not yet.”


    “We have to let it get closer, Ignatius whispered in my mind. “I can’t afford for it to lock onto get its


    attentionpletely. You’ll never outrun it if ites after you. You have to trust me.”


    I stared into those dark orbs that floated behind the tree line like ghostly globes. “I trust you.”


    you


    first if you run. I have to


    I steeled my nerves and waited, forcing the grating sound out of my head when the creature once again


    attempted to lure me closer with its ghastly pantomime impersonations. “D-d-corp-thee. Dor-ro-thee


    When the creature came to understand that it would not draw us any closer, it began to move towards


    us, Ignatius crouched over me. preparing his b*dy to shift and lurch forwards at the same time.


    I could hear the heavy padding of hooves as the monster approached. When its head cut through the


    shadows and into the sunlight I sucked in a sharp breath, all of my muscles tensing at once as my own


    b*dy prepared itself to shift


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