Chapter 30
Chapter 30
The sky outside was dark by the time I heard Ignatius’s car pull up in the driveway. I was lolling around
on the couch when he stopped up the porch. and swung the door open. He noticed me immediately
and bolted over to sweep me up in his arms.
“Hi,” he mumbled into my neck and I fluttered my fingers over his cheek. “Sorry I’m so late.”
“Hi.” I pulled him in for a k*ss and all of the problems that arose that day. suddenly felt a little easier to
handle.
He put me down gently and pulled off his shirt. I would never get used to the sight of his unblemished
bare chest. I stared for a moment before. blushing slightly. “Well, today has been… eventful.”
Ignatius puffed up his cheeks and exhaled loudly as he sank down onto the sofa himself. “That’s one
way to put it,” he smiled mirthlessly. “Welcome to the Bielke Pack. You’re gonna love it here.”
I waved away his sarcasm and climbed onto his lap. “Angie said something strange earlier. She said
that Johan stills wants me. How does everyone know about what happened anyway?”
Ignatius stared at me for a moment, biting his lip like he was
contemplating whether or not to tell me something. I presumed it was important and was determined to
press him for it. “What did your father say to you?”
I co cked my head to the side when he kept quiet and frowned. “Ignatius, you need to tell me what’s
going on. How else am I supposed to get your people to like me?”
“Johan has gone rogue.”
He blurted it out so fast I needed a moment to register what he’d just
“What do you mean he’s gone rogue? He abandoned the pack?”
“More than that.”
Said.
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Ignatius closed his eyes and leaned his head back. Staring at his bare neck the primal part of me
wanted to leave my own mark there too.
I pushed these thoughts from my mind and focussed on what he had said. “What happened? What has
Johan done?”
His answer was so faint I had to lean in closer to hear him. I was suddenly aware of his trembling
hands gripping my thighs. “Johan… They think he killed his father – They know he did. It looks like he’s
gone after Mavis.
too.”
I felt the blood rush from my face and my head felt light like I was going to topple over.
“He wouldn’t have. Johan would never…
I trailed off. It was entirely possible. Both rejecting his mate and losing his partner couldn’t have been
easy for a Beta like Johan. Beta’s needed. companionship, partners. Johan had also lost his closest
friend in the mix.
A rejection can kill you if your wolf isn’t strong enough. A rejection can drive you to kill too it would
seem.
Ignatius opened one eye to look at me. “It’s not your fault.”
He already knew where my mind was heading that guilt was crashing down on my shoulders like a
heavy weight. His words were appreciated. but they did nothing to quell the voice in my head that cried
out once. again that I brought suffering to everyone I interacted with.
Ignatius took my face in his hands and pressed his forehead to mine. “It’s not. Your. Fault.”
My eyes blurred with tears and I bit my lip to keep it from contorting in grief. “Is that why everyone here
hates me?”
Ignatius wrapped his arms around me. “They don’t hate you. If anything this is my fault. The Khall are
blaming the Bielke for turning one of their own into a monster. I suspect Claudia and friends have been
spinning
rumors too.”
Jan 20
I clung to him tightly. “Does this mean I have to go back?”
“What? No, of course not, Dorothy.”
Ignatius stroked my back, talking in a low voice at my ear, “You’re my mate. I’m not sending you back
there. It wouldn’t help anyway, Johan is already on the loose.”
He played with my hair while I sniffed back so bs. “We’ll figure it out. Right now though, all you need to
worry about is getting familiar with your new home. Aside from Angie’s escapades-“I heard the scowl in
his voice as he said that. “Aside from Angie, did you like the hot springs?”
I nodded. “They’re beautiful. I like it down there.”
“Well, how about we go there together?”
“Now?”
“Let me make up for my people’s terrible introduction.”
Ignatius carried me on his back down the forest pathway. I in turn held the swinging lantern in front of
us as we traveled.
Ignatius didn’t need it to see but he insisted we bring it anyway. The forest was quiet as I clung to his
shoulders and watched the yellow circles of light bounce and warble as the lantern swung
We made it down to the hot springs a lot faster than we would have if I had been traveling on foot
beside Ignatius. It was somehow even more beautiful at night. Moonlight reflected off the hazy pools
and the light of the lantern glinted in the seashells that lined the area.
Ignatius heard my small gasp of amazement and chuckled. “Maybe tomorrow we can go down to the
sea. The Bielke may be a rowdy, stuck- up bunch but we do have some beautiful little spots around
here.”
He let me down off his back and I dipped my fingers into the water. It was still warm as ever. I sniffed
the air. “What exactly are you going to do about Angie?”
Ignatius pulled his jeans off and stepped closer to lift my shirt over my
G.
head. “Pull out her fingernails one by one, maybe. Boil her alive. Feed her to the sharks at Howler’s
Point.”
I frowned at him with my arms in the air as he removed my shirt.
“I’m serious.”
The cold air hardened my nipples and I shivered on the spot.
“So am I.”
He untied the strings on my skirt to pull it down along with my underwear and smirked when my frown
deepened. “Maybe not boil her alive then. I don’t know yet, I’ll have to go pay her a visit tomorrow.”
I was n*ked in front of him and stepped closer to steal what little warmth he could offer. “You won’t hurt
her though, right?”
“I’ll think about it.”
With that, he scooped me up and chucked me into the closest pool before I could even yelp out my
alarm. I landed with a splash and the warm water closed in around me like a blanket. When I surfaced,
Ignatius jumped right in next to me, sending a wall of water crashing over my head.
I coughed and spluttered as his head broke the surface next to me. I clawed my way to him and
wrapped my legs around his waist, touching, my nose to his.
“A ss hole.”
His smile was broad and full of mischief. He dunked me under the water and when I came up
complaining, pressed his lips to mine. Ignatius was tall enough to be able to stand on the sand below,
but my own legs were too short and stayed firmly curled around his hips.
I melted in his arms. I flushed hotter than the water around us when I felt the tip of his member against
my already oversensitive core.
Ignatius nipped my bottom lip as I ground against him. My small breasts dipped in and out of the water
as I kept up the motion the looping transition from cold air to warm water only heightened my sensitivity ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .
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further.
My wet hair trailed behind me in the pool. Ignatius teased himself at my entrance and my movements
grew more sporadic. I bit down on his shoulder when he gripped my hips and pushed into me. Steamed
wisped around the both of us as we kept up a slow, deep motion that set my nerve endings on fire.
My moans were loud and rippled around the springs along with the water that we got churning. This
was slower than our earlier session – more sensual. Ignatius pushed his aching member deep inside of
me, rolling his hips to build me to the precipice of an org asm.
I felt my b*dy shudder in enthrallment as Ignatius trailed his tongue up my neck, over his mark, and
along my jawline. Tasting and delighting in the effect it was having on me. The water could have begun
to boil around. us for all I knew, my b*dy was on fire and I was desperate for release.
Ignatius too seemed to be getting close himself. Rather than his usual method of prolonging my release
drawing it out for as long as he could before I begged for it – Ignatius himself was coming undone.
He picked up the pace and I whined my neediness out loud when he pulled my head back with a fist in
my wet hair.
Our breathless moans echoed around the clearing and moonlight glinted. off of Ignatius’s smooth damp
skin. I gave one final cry as he drove his member into me one last time – deep and intensely and I
forced my hips. down harder.
My pushing became a slow grinding and I squeezed my legs around Ignatius as I felt him release
inside of me, milking every last drop.
When we had both recovered from the tingling pri ckles of electricity that swept over us, Ignatius
pressed his lips to my damp forehead. Water dripped from his hair and lashes as he looked down at
me. I had never seen anyone look at me the way Ignatius did. Like he loved me like I alone was
enough.
I stared back at him, my chest still heaving after the experience. I twined. my fingers in his hair and let
my legs float down from his hips, swirling
the sand beneath us. The small waterfall behind us threw jets of steam over our heads. |
Ignatius was the first to speak. “I love you. No matter what happens, I want you to know that I regret
none of this. No matter what anyone says, and no matter what happens to me. You have to know that I
have never
doubted you not for the smallest instant.”
–
I did not understand the true magnitude of his words at that moment. But I trusted him all the same.
“I love you too. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
After a little more time splashing around in the hot springs, Ignatius helped me step out and wrapped a
towel around me. He somehow managed to carry both me, the lantern, and all of our discarded clothes
in his arms all the way back up to the cottage.
I went to bed that night in my new home. My mate lay behind me with his arms curled around me like
he would never let go. I listened to the slow rhythm of his breathing and the peaceful silence of the
large house.
Our hair was still damp and our skin cool to the touch. But my heart wast warm and fuller unlike ever
before. I closed my eyes that night, fully prepared to face whatever tomorrow could possibly throw at
me.
I was back in the woods. It was just as dark as before, only this time no moonlight was present to guide
me. I could see her up in the dark sky, thin and curved like a silver blade about to slice a hole in the
night.
The woods ahead of me were an inky black, a monster all of its own, waiting to swallow me whole.
There was a pungent stench of decay in the air. It clogged up my senses and choked me like a physical
fist around my throat. I don’t know why I pressed on ahead but I did, I had to.
As I walked, I heard the pestilent buzzing of flies and the scuttling of other small creatures roaming
around in the dirt. Even more disconcerting was the low breathy rasping of an unknown creature.
I looked all around me as I walked but aside from the vague outlines of gnarled trees, I could see
nothing at all. The being was nearby though, I
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heard a grating growl and the crunch of something breaking between large jaws.
After what felt like cons of walking alone through the dark I tripped over something wet on the ground at
my feet. I scrambled for anything to catch myself on but my fingers brushed empty air and I tumbled
into the dirt, scraping my skin on rocks and jagged branches that littered the ground.
Unable to see a thing and crawling to my knees, I was disorientated and trying to swallow the rising
panic in my chest. I could feel a scream building but I knew the creature was nearby and my shriek
would be a siren call to a being lusting for blood.
In my groveling on the ground, I sought to feel out the thing I had tripped over in the first place.
Eventually, my blind fingers touched something cold and soft. My hand came away sticky and I sniffed
at the substance. coating my fingers. Rust and ammonia – blood.
I tentatively glided my hands along the mound in front of me. I felt a hip, an arm, a shoulder. My fingers
brushed hair and released the undeniable. scent of expensive conditioner and a familiar fragrance. The
image of Mavis flashed in my mind..
Suddenly, a cold, stiff hand gripped my arm. The b*dy in front of me wheezed and chuffed, nails digging
into my skin, as I fought to get away.
I couldn’t help myself then. My fear and panic bubbled over. I opened my mouth and screamed.