Chapter 121
Chapter 121
ongside Dorothy. I was on high alert. When I found her in that burning home, I thought I had arrived too
late. deathly pale and streaked with blood. I was close to tears by the time she opened her eyes.
Ange had wasted my am forcing me to choose between the victory of my soldiers and the safety of my
mate. From the ok in Dorothy seves the moment she was back on her feet. I knew the decision had
already been made for
Wat my mase as my back, the battle before me was even more brutal. I knew that she was capable of
fending for herself, God knows she had proved it after cutting off that vampire’s head.
Buldn’t help keeping an eve on her, my fears heightened at how vulnerable she looked.
That no when what had spurred her to butcher that vampire the way she had. From the state of the
corpse and the blood that cammed Dengthy’s clothes 1 could engine the kind of rage she had
unleashed
Bushy “What happened back at the Belle pack? And why was ber mind so closed to me now?
alk about it. There was no moment to catch our breath, let alone discuss the widening chasm between
us. Dorothy tought valiantly, going out of her way to protect me despite my exasperated protests.
edn’t have bothered. I had taken it as coincidence at first, but it was quickly becoming apparent that
these
· bratant to hurt me.
While they had no qualms attacking the Stonespoke shutters and our own Bielke soldiers, they did their
best to avoid They only fought back when their life was on the line, when I got in the way of the
vuldnt explai
couldnt understand it. But for sonte stratige reason, the vampires wanted me alive.
deep in the chest of a menstivus vampire, hacking off its shrieking head a moment later when Dorothy
gripped my hissing urgently
on top of the hill
locked up in contusion squinting to see the silhouetted figure that stood on the incline overlooking the
battle. The first glow of dawn was apparent on the horizon. It turned the sky a murky lavender as the
cloak of night retreated, taking the
“What fresh fucking hell is this?” I was rooted to the spot, stricken at the sight of my old friend. The
dead man walking.
Johan stood atop the hill, a legion of cloaked shifters at his back
-Dorothy-
The moment johan appeared on that hilltop, I thought we were done for. We had barely survived the
last battle with the Tally and Johan himself had done everything in his power to guarantee me a painful
death.
man on the hillside, something felt wrong. I expected to feel real terror at seeing Johan again in the
flesh, and the tear was there alright
But this was not the man I had grappled with in the woods that terrible night. Nor was this the charming,
sweet boy I had
He wore Joban tave donned the same shaggy golden hair. But something was missing
arped
form, Johan had had a presence that overpowered me. His scent that had once been so sweet and
putreted and turned toul as nature itself rejected what he had become.
Fr. Jan 26
But this figure had none of that. This was a puppet, a prop. This was not Johan. It couldn’t be.
The cloaked shifters poured down the hillside toward us and I ching to Ignatius, preparing my b*dy for a
final fight and praying that Plato would keep my children safe. When I had k*ssed them goodbye before
leaving. I knew that I might never
come back.
But the reality of that thought was only just setting in, and I steeled myself against the incoming This content belongs to Nô/velDra/ma.Org .
onslaught. I would be fighting for more than just myself.
But instead of attacking our people like we expected, the cloaked shifters seemed to be targeting the
vampires instead. They careered onto the scene, some human, some wolf, and surrounded the
vampires,
In an impossible sequence of events, I watched with my mouth agape as the cloak shifters corralled the
vampires back. towards the woods, until one by one, they began to retreat.
I tugged at Ignatius’s sleeve. “Something’s not right. Why are they suddenly running away? They still
outnumber us three tot
My mate was an immovable rock, watching the unbelievable victory with narrowed eyes, a hand laid in
front of me as if to protect me from our new apparent allies.
“Stay close, he murmured, following the fake Johan with his eyes. “You’re right. This feels too easy.”
“Johan” loped past us, only meters away, and I sucked in a sharp breath. His gaze brushed over me for
a moment, but there was no recognition in his eyes. That was all the confirmation I needed
Johan had been a man desperate to take revenge on the world that had shaped him. In his own
destructive way, he had
finally taken control of his life when he decided to drink Moirah’s potent poison.
But he had always, always been driven to hunt me down. He had carried that vendetta to his grave.
“It’s not him,” I said to Ignatius, stating it with a confidence that came from my very soul. The
resemblance is uncariny. But it has to be a vampire using some kind of illusion.”
This wasn’t the man who had died in front of me. Johan was gone.
That though brought the slightest bit of comfort. At least we had a better idea of what we were dealing
with. Although that didn’t answer the question of why he and his board of dedicated shifters had
decided to help us with this tight.
Nor did it explain why that fight had ended so abruptly, with no bloodshed whatsoever. Were the Bielke
trily too brutal? Or was there something else at play?
Just as quickly as the new army had appeared, they dispersed into the woods, leaving behind a silent
town in their wake.
The sudden silence was deafening and the Bielke soldiers stood aimless and confused. One by one, all
eyes turned to Ignatius, searching for an explanation for what had just occurred.
I too looked up at my mate, at the tightness around his eyes and his set jaw. There would be no
explanation from Ignatius. he didn’t have the answers we were looking for, One thing was clear though.
This battle had taken a startling new turn.
Daybreak had brought with it an insidious new threat. A threat in the form of an unexpected savior.