Chapter 53
-Dorothy-
“There is no way in hell I am staying behind for this!”
I had said these words about a dozen times in the past few minutes with my voice rising slightly with every repetition.
Ignatius paced up and down our bedroom, ruffling his hair in frustration. “Dorothy, for the last time. It’s too dangerous, okay? What if things go bad? What if it’s not as peaceful as we’re planning for it to be? What if you get hurt, or worse?”
We had been arguing for the past few minutes after Ignatius had made it clear that he intended to leave me behind during their mission
“I’m not that fragile.” I folded my arms stubbornly and glared at him. “I can fight too. I can help. Besides, leaving me behind is like opening the door for Johan and giving him a personal invitation to come after me
“That’s why I’m leaving guards behind!”
“So he can tear them apart as he did to Geranium?” My shrill voice echoed around the room. Ignatius winced at my words.
I knew I went too far with that one. The news of Geranium’s death was still fresh in all of our minds, it was a wound that we didn’t have the luxury of time to heal yet. My heart had hurt for the kind, silent giant and I knew Ignatius’ did too Geranium had been his friend.
I’m sorry, I backtracked quickly. Tm sorry that was harsh. I just don’t want to risk more people getting hurt because of me. I feel guilty enough already.”
Ignatius didn’t answer me, sitting down on the end of the bed in defeat. I hated that I was contributing to his burdens. I wanted to prove that I could help and that I would be able to take care of myself.
I approached him hesitantly, and Ignatius parted his knees to allow me to stand in front of him with our noses almost touching. With me standing up and him sitting down, we were finally the same height level and I could look straight into his eyes without craning my neck.
I relaxed my arms on his shoulders and tried to ignore the hear that this close proximity brought to my core. The combination of excitement, anxiety, and our earlier arguing seemed to be a perfect recipe to get me going even at the worst possible moment.
“You said it yourself, I’m going to be the new Luna. And a Laina can’t stay behind while her people do all the dirty work. You want the Bielke to be a pack that stands together, fights together You can’t have that unity without your Luna by your side.”
Ignatius touched his nose to mine and then rested his forehead on my shoulder. “I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you, I can’t do it again.”
I stroked his soft hair and stared off aimlessly as I spoke, “Nothing bad is going to happen to me. We have a whole army of strong young shifters on our side. The elders would be stu pid to put up a fight. They have to realize eventually that their
time is over.”
Ignatius sighed in defeat. “Okay, you have a point. You can come with us. The new generation will love you for it”
Before I could smile Ignatius grabbed my face in his hands and forced me to look deep into his eyes. “But no dying, okay? And you stay behind me at
“Can do,” I said with squished cheeks. “No dying, I promise.”
“Good”
Ignatius pulled me into a kas s and I climbed onto his lap. He lay down on his back and allowed me to straddle him as the k*ss deepened. Before things could get steamier though, Ignatius held my shoulders at arm’s length and bit his lip, looking me up and down.
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Chapter 53
“Not now, Save that for after,we’ve won.”
I pouted for a moment before rolled off of him and the two of us headed back downstairs to address the
completely dark out at that point. The moon was high in the sky and dozens of stars twi nkled down at us. It was a crisp clear night and the air was rife with tense anticipations.
Angie, Fae, and Gideon greeted us from the bottom of the stairs. Far was meant to be resting but the stubborn subordinate had insisted that she be present for the overthrowing of the elders,
“You can’t go off and make history without me,” had been her firm answer to Angie’s exasperation
1 could understand where she was coming from. This was a monumental night and regardless of the outcome the Bielke Tack would never be the same again.
Ignatius nodded to the three shifters before raising his voice to catch the attention of the h oards of young shiften fooding our house
His voice boomed around the mansion and the excited chatter slowed down as everyone turned their gaze towards my
mate.
“Will you stand with me tonight?”
A roar of support rose from the crowd and Ignatius couldn’t help but smile a little despite his attempts to maintain a cool exterior. He was excited and nervous just like the rest of us.
“Let’s take back our pack. Tonight we reclaim the Bielke name.
The cheers that followed were deafening.
Rita had called moments earlier to let us know that the elders had been summoned and were in place at the council hill I was time to make an appearance.
We drove down in Gideon’s van and a swarm of other cars followed us. Some shifters chose instead to cut through the forest. in wolf form, the excitement of it all driving them to bound effortlessly through the trees.
I caught glimpses of some of them from the window of the van and the otherwise quiet night was punctuated with dozens of wolves howling in unison.
We reached the councilor hall in record time and congregated outside in preparation. Ignatius kept my hand firmly gripped around mine, keeping me close to his side as he shouldered his way through the crowd to the door of the great hall.
The door was opened by Rita who must have heard the commotion going on outside.
“Quickly,” she said, hurrying Ignatius through the door. “They have already begun to suspect foul play”
The rest of the shifters poured in after us and we stormed the hall, squeezing down the corridor to the elder council’s meeting room. With one deep breath, Ignatius threw the door open.
They must have heard us coming – considering the w hoops and howls and shouting, it was pretty obvious that they had some of the council members were already standing up, their chairs have fallen back behind them as if they jumped to their feet in a hurry.
“Good evening,” Ignatius said over the roar of stampeding feet and chattering. “I’m glad you could make it. There are a lot of things we would like to discuss.
“For starters, this is no longer your other and we no longer look to you for guidance. The elder council as a whole has been dismissed by us, the Bielke people. You have until sunrise to leave this territory.”
Even the young and excited shifters fell silent at his words. Everyone waited with bated breath to see how the council would react to such a bold statement. I looked around the room. There were ten of them in total, all of them in their mid-thirties
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Chapter 53
or higher.
They may have had hair streaked with silver and wrinkles carving sharp lines in their faces but they still looked powerful. They had earned their place on the council board for a reason and by the looks on some of their faces, they were not ready to give it up that easily.
One of the elder members, a short stocky man folded his arms and glared at Ignatius. “What is the meaning of this boy? Where is Ell?”
“Elliot will be dealt with in his own time, Ignatius answered calmly. “As of now, I declare myself as the new Alpha of this pack. Anyone who disagrees with this can fight me himself.”
They exchanged glances for a moment, noting the dozens of young shifters waiting behind Ignatius and me. One by one they all stepped back from the long oval table and nodded to Ignatius,
The short angry man was the last to budge. His angry eyes bore into mine as if I was the source of all of his problems.
Eventually, though, he stepped back, shaking his head, and mumbled gruffly, “So be it. But be warned young Alpha, this will be the end of the Bielke Pack. Your enemies will see you as vulnerable without your elders to guide you.”
Ignatius jutted out his chin and fixed the man with a steely gaze. “Your guidance is what has led us to the problem we have now. It is because of your generation that we are low on allies and our enemies are in high supply.
“Your ways were flawed and you sought for short term gain over long term peace. The Bielke is now free to thrive without you.”
This seemed to infuriate the man but he held his tongue and pushed past Ignatius. The crowd parted quietly as the elders exited the room and walked down the hall
Some like the angry man glared at the young shifters around them with a fierce expression of defiance. Others hung their heads in defeat and some even seemed supportive of this new passing of the mantle.
Things seemed to be going according to plan and the tense atmosphere lightened slightly when it seemed the elders would not be putting up much of a fight. Everything changed, however, when we got to the entrance of the great hall to see Ellior standing outside.
His eyes blazed with anger and he was growling with a deep voice full of malice. He looked directly at Ignatius who paused in the doorway behind the retreating council members.
“Ignatius,” it was both Elliot and his wolf speaking. The gruff voice sent my heart racing and I clutched tightly to Ignatius. “Just what do you think you’re doing?”
Ignatius showed no fear though. He regarded his father calmly as everyone around us held their breath. Elliot’s Alpha tendencies must have sensed the uprising. He was a force to be reckoned with in this state and Ignatius was challenging him. head-on
Ignatius let go of my hand as he spoke, walking down the stairs slowly to stand before his father. “This is my pack now These are my people. I am the new Alpha and it’s time for you to leave.”
He was inches away from Elliot when he finished speaking. Ignatius was almost a whole head taller than his father and, even though he was slimmer than Elliot and more finely built, it was clear who the stronger shifter was at that moment.
Ignathis had told me that never before had he won a fight against his father – and there had been many – but tonight, it seemed that the new young Alpha was brimming with new power and sense of purpose.
Elliot seemed to sense this too and he looked at his son as if he was seeing him for the first time. His incredulous expression. was quickly replaced with burning rage as Elliot stared into the eyes of his son.
Ignatius dodged just in time as his father dragged a long-clawed hand through the air where his face had been.
Cries of anger rose from the crowds but Ignatius hissed for everyone to stay back. This was a fight between father and son only, and neither wanted anyone getting in the way. This would determine the Alpha of the Bielke Pack.
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Chapter 53
The two shifters donned their wolf forms, Ignatius’ gray coat contrasting starkly with Elliots’s deep brown. They tore at one another, locked in combat, and the sounds of snarling and tearing flesh pierced the quiet night air.
The crowds around me began shouting and howling, egging on their soon-to-be leader. Some of the elders had already shank away to begin their retreat. Others watched from the sidelines with cold eyes. The winner of this fight would determine their fate.
I struggled to keep my footing as the crowds of shifters rushed around me. I couldn’t see past the dozens of bustling shoulders and it took every bit of my strength to avoid getting tram pled. I could see neither Fae nor Angle anywhere nearby although I was certain they were somewhere in the crowd searching for me.
I needed to see what was going on. I needed to see my mate. But pushing forwards was not an option, there was no way I would manage to squeeze through the excited crowd.
Instead. I chose to push back towards the steps of the great hall. If I could get there I would be out of the crowd and hopefully able to view the fight from a higher vantage point
After narrowly avoiding falling on my face and under the boots of vivacious shifters. I managed to reach the stairs. I leaper up to the doorway and looked down at the scene before me.
The only light came from the dim orange glow of a nearby streetlight and the yellow lamps on the outer walls of the hall. The moon was hidden behind powdery dark clouds,
My heart leaped to my throat when I heard Tor howl in pain. I craned my neck over the crowd to see Elliot’s large wolf closing its jaws down on the gray wolf’s throat. I screamed for ray mate but my voice was lost over the howling crowd.
Ignatius must have heard me though because I saw his eyes lift to look straight at me before rolling out from under his father as the brown wolf’s teeth tore his skin.
I saw Angie as well on the edge of the crowd, she was looking around urgently-looking for me Our eyes met for a second and I saw her mouth open in shock, she was calling my name but I couldn’t hear it
I felt something cool and sharp press against the skin of my neck before an arm wrapped around me from behind.
“Don’t move. I’ll slice your throat if you try to fight”
I froze instantly. I couldn’t see the person behind me nor could I recognize his scent. There was however a scent that I was vaguely familiar with. A girl appeared out of nowhere and stood at my shoulder, the same girl who had cornered me at college weeks before. The girl I had almost killed.
“Hello again, little witch,” she hissed into my ear. I could see Angle fighting to get to me through the masses. “Don’t try anything st upid. Dameon over here won’t hesitate to kill you if you try to use your powers on him”
I was too shocked to speak. My fingers itched to reach for the iron blade at my thigh but there was no way I would reach it in time before the man holding onto me sliced my throat
With the blade of the knife pressing into my neck. I had no chose but to let them drag me away into the shadows of the
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