Chapter 80

Angie

Ididn’t get very far before the Tally shifters were on me. I was knocked to the ground and winded when one of them rammed into my back. Turning in the dirt I hissed and clawed at the eyes of the shifter that had floored me.

He howled in anger when my desperate claws dug into his eyes and I scrambled out from under him and back to my feet. The other shifters had surrounded me, forming a tight circle and closing in fast.

Johan spoke to me as he passed the gathering of monsters. “It was nice knowing you, little shifter. But I’m afraid I won’t be alde to see you off”

“Johant” I shrieked my fury at him as he gave me a small cheery wave and contorted into his large wolf form. “Don’t hurt her” I was wailing, crying. Both fear and fury churned in my chest as I watched the brawny wolf disappear into the woods.

Please don’t hurt her

L

Itimol my attention back to the shifters around me and cried out in frustration as the yellowed eyes locked onto me and they all prepared in strike. Where was Fae! Where was my team? It couldn’t end like this. I had promised Ignatius I would protect Dorothy. I promiseil Far I would stay alive.

It seemed hopeless, and a part of me wanted to drop to my knees and give up right then and there. I felt my energy waning javi swayed on my feet. The surrounding shifters nipped and snarled as they swarmed around me like predators taunting their prey.

They could all come at the at once and I wouldn’t stand a chance. But they didn’t do that. They were enjoying watching me suffer, breaking down from the inside out at the direness of my situation.

I let out an angry so b and then a scream when another row of sharp teeth brushed at my shoulder. The shifter responsible danced away from me again with manic glee. I turned in circles trying to keep my eye on as many of the moving bodies as I could at the same time, but my courage was failing me.

They became a blur of movement and gnashing teeth as they danced around me like a game of ring-around-the-rose-tree

gone wrong

And all the while, Johan got closer and closer to Dorothy.

“You can’t give up now,” my wolf growled in my chest. “We’ve come too far to give up now.”

I didn’t want to back down but I couldn’t see a way out of this one

“You promised you would protect her. You have to get through this. For all of them.”

I had no time to respond before the shifters pounced. I was caught in a mass of fur and writhing bodies that were trying to tear me apart.

With a loud howl and one final scrap of determination, my wolf form burst forth and I snarled at the monstrous creatures.

I wasn’t going down without a fight. I bit and tore, clawed, and swiped. I ignored the pain that shot through my b*dy when teeth latched onto me and tore myself away over and over again

I was tiring fast, but I would not relent. I would fight tooth and mail to the bitter end. I owed it to them. To Dorothy, Ignatius, Gideon, and my soldiers. And to Fae. She would never forgive me for leaving before her.

I held my own for a while, but the shifters moved quickly, darting back and forth like a pack of wild dogs instead of wolves.

I thought it was finally over, when my back legs were swiped out from under me and I tell, immediately swarmed by the shifters and their claws. I fought and howded as I tried to get to my feet, but the flurry of assault kept me down for good.

With my b*dy weakening and my breathing elevated. I looked past the twisted legs of the shifters across the opened field. I could ser glimpses of sky, dirt, then sky again as I was pushed and pulled ansul by sharp-clawed hands and fanged jaws.

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Chapter 80

Somewhere in the distance, I could hear my name being called and I chalked it up to my imagination. Surely people hear the voices of those they love when they’re on the brink of death?

The voices grew louder and my eyes flew open when they became clearer. Suddenly, the shifters surrounding me were pulled away, one by one, and the sound of clashing teeth and heavy bodies rang out across the field

My vision was blurred and dark spots danced across my eyes like tv static. I struggled to pull myself up from where I had fallen to see my soldiers, my team, scraping it out with the ferocious Tally shifters.

“Angie” Far threw off the assailant who was attempting to snap at her and ran to my side, dropping to her knees and inspecting the damage dealt to my weakened b*dy. “F u ck. Angie im sorry we took so long! I’m so sorry”

The howling that began around us was deafening, as the Tally shifters were speared with the dozens of iron blades we had made over the past few days. One by one they were taken down, screaming and wailing as they rolled in the dirt and the blackened skin around their wounds began to spread.

It was like they had caught alight and were desperate to quell the flames but there was no fire to be seen.

Fae tried to help me to my feet but I was in pretty bad shape by then. “Come on. Angie, you’ve got to get up!”

She wrapped her arms around my furry n*eck and tried to lift me to no avail. Slowly and painfully, I shifted back and Fae was able to drag me to my feet and out of the way of the brutal battle going down in the open field.

My limp b*dy left a trail of blood behind me as we went. One of my arms was completely numb and the other was clearly broken. I couldn’t recall exactly when it had happened amidst the skirmish.

Dazed and fading fast. 1 looked around me at the shifters who collided with one another in battle. Despite our lesser numbers, the Bielke had the upper hand in this fight. The iron blades that our members wielded were enough to take down every Tally shifter despite their size and strength,

The trick, however, was getting close enough to take a stab at their flesh. I watched with hooded lids as one of our own was thrown across the dirt by a shifter they had been attempting to take down.

“The flares,” Fae huffed as she dragged me along. “Where are they

“In the car,” I muttered weakly. “I brought them from Dorothy’s place – oh g od. Dorothy!” 1 twisted in her arms.

As the fog in my head cleared my initial panic returned. “We have to get to D orothy! Johan’s on his way there right now. She’s all alone there!”

“Johan is here?” Fae sounded as panicked as I felt. We made it to the car and she wrenched the backseat door open, dumping me on the leather seats and reaching for the flare gun.

“He’s got an army waiting at the ready to the south of us” I said burriedly. “We don’t have much time. We need to warn everyone to be ready”

“So red then,” Fae said as she snapped the gun into action and lifted it to the sky. She pressed her raised arm against one car and put her hand over the other as she fired the red flare into the waning evening light.

It shot into the sky with a bang and flashed brightly, high enough for everyone within Bielke territory to see.

The war had begun.

-Jolun-

I ran through the woods at an even pace at first I didn’t want to burn through my newly replenished b*dy too quickly and I much preferred to conserve my energy for the coming battle.

I was ready for bloodshed after all. I wanted Ignatius to come home to hnd no one left. Not a single member of his precious park And not his mate. Not alive at least

The mere thought of Dorothy had ine quickening my pace. I was so close to victory, so close to fully getting my say in the

Chapter 80

matter. Righting the wrong punishing those responsible for all of my suffering.

Dorothy’s blood sang to me. I could sense it even from afar. 1 beinded through the forest in an almost cuphoric state, the thought of my mate driving me to push myself further, faster.

As I ran. I played the scene out over and over again in my head. The revenge I had pictured so many times since my rebirth with the Tally. I would taunt her at first, of course, make her alert and on edge but never reveal myself.

Let her sense my presence and smell my scent. Hear my claws scraping outside her front door. Rile her up until she was terrified, until she called out for Ignatius

Ignatius who was at the moment far away, slinking around Tally territory like he thought he knew what he was doing. Like he thought he was some kind of hero. Some Alpha. I would take everything from him, just as he had done to me. I would rip him of his title as Alpha.

There can be no Alpha without a pack to govern, only a lonely nemad as good as dead. I would take that which he loved dearly. I would let him bear witness to the lifeless b*dy of his mate and watch him break before my eyes. But not before I had drained her of her blood, ted off her fear, and forced an apology from those soft tender l*ps.

It was a glorious thought and Julianna howled along with me as we sped through the trees in a flash. Every single moment of pain that had ever occurred because of her ran through my head at once. I remembered the weak, feeble shifter I used to be.

The boy who couldn’t stand up to his own girlfriend. The boy who could never look his father in the eye. The ticking of that cursed clock grew louder in my head as it did every time I revisited these thonights:

So loud that it was like a boom of thunder that rocked through my skull. Rather than fear the memories, however, this I let them fuel me as I continued my rampage through the trees.

I slowed my pace only when I reached the familiar forest area that surrounded the mansion on the cliffs. Tense with enthralled anticipation. I stalked along the perimeter, testing the air and making sure the coast was clear. It was just as I h anticipated. The shifter named Angie was the only one lunging fround to protect Dorothy. And now Angie was gone.

The only scent present in the air was that of Dorothy herself. I inhaled deeply and let her hush scent fill my head and envelope me even from some distance away from the house. I was almost giddy with excitement.

I could not have asked for a more perfect opportunity. 1 skirted quietly all the way up to the front door of the house which hung slightly asar. moving slightly in the breeze and creaking as it did so.

But something was wrong. Dorothy’s scent was present, there was no doubt about that. It was a fresh scent as though she had only very recently passed through the door. I had to calm myself down before I was able to pinpoint exactly what was bothering me. It was her presence. I could no longer feel her presence.

Enraged and unwilling to believe. I shifted on the spot and kicked open the door to the house with a roar. There was no one

to be seen inside.

“No. It can’t be

I tore through the house, room by room, following the fresh scent of my mate. But the house was empty. Awarm cup of coffer still stood at the kitchen sink, tendrils of steam curled lazily into the air from the hot, milky liquid. But my mate was nowhere to be found.

was furious. I had been cheated of my moment. My perfect revenge. I raged and hollered loud enough to make the windows shake in their frames, knocking things to the floor and slamming my beefy fists into the drywall. It broke through with a loud cr ack and I did it again and again. Pounding with both my fists until there was a decent-sized hole pummeled

into the wall

How dare she. How dare she deny me my moment I swiped the steaming cup of coffee to the floor and howled.

“She must be nearby,” Julianna insisted. “She has to be. She couldn’t have gotten far.”

I stared down at the hot lead that trickled across the floor She was right. Her scent was still tresh. She had to be close.

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Chapter 80

I followed her scent to the front door and out into the garden, tracking her sporadic movements in confusion. “Where are you going little dine?”

As I stalked the property, I envisioned all the ways I was going to torment her. It was less than what she deserved. It was mercy even, I could be worse.

I contemplated keeping her around until after the war so that she could see the aftermath. So that I could force her to take in the consequences of her actions. This was all her fault. She was the one who started it all. She was the one who was going to pay.

All of a sudden I came to an abrupt halt and sniffed the air in confusion. Her scent cut off randomly at the edge of the forest.. I paused and circled the area once again but it was true. I couldn’t track her scent any further. I tried to keep my cool but my eyebrow twitched and I couldn’t help but keep up a low growl as 1 grew more and more frustrated.

Then my eye caught the small plant that was growing nearby. I recognized the leaves, I had used them myself once.

“That sly little b itch”

She had masked her scent with the leaves from the plant. My patience wilted and I snapped. With a loud howl of warning. I crashed into the forest, running blindly as I tried to locate my mate.

“Dorothy? Borothy! Where are you?” My tone went from chiding to angry to coaxing as my anger grew. She would not one- up me. She would not escape me. I wouldn’t allow it,

I turned in circles, scanning the foliage for a flash of red hair. The forest stared back at me, silent and undisclosing,

I used to replace solace in the forest. I used to feel at peace amongst the tall trees and the gnarled roots. Now, nature seemed hostile towards me. Small creatures ran from my scent and it was as if the trees themselves leaned away from me as I passed, repelled by what I had become.

I brushed those thoughts aside. That was merely the cost of change. Violence is necessary for rebirth. Revenge would be sweeter than any trickling natural stream. I would stain the soil with blood and the forest would have no choice but to soak it up and herald me as the superior being

“Dorothy!” It was a command this time, but still, I heard no reply. Then, all of a sudden, through the trees I heard the distance revving of an engine. “No!”

I followed the sound, running myself ragged even with my powerful b*dy until I broke free of the tree line onto the road beyond. I was just in time to see a beaten up van speeding off. gunning it as fast as the engine could manage. Through the back window, I caught a glimpse of those brilliant red locks.

Dorothy, my mate, turned to look at me. Her green eyes were cold and condoning. Her jaw was set and she held my gaze as the car disappeared in a cloud of dust.

I screamed with rage and my voice echoed around the silent road and the woods beyond and bounced back at me.

With no other choice, I turned my mind inward, reaching out m entally to awaken my second in command. “It’s time. Ready the troops,” I hissed when he noticed me in his head. “We attack now”

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