Rejected His Miracle Luna (Dorothy and Ignatius)

Chapter 101 -Dorothy-

"How could he possibly be back?" Angie muttered more to herself than to any of us as she paced up and down Ignatius's study, pinching her chin between her thumb and forefinger. "It doesn't make any sense, Johan was burned. I saw to that myself."

"Are you certain it was his b*dy you burned?" Ignatius sat with his forearms propped on his knees, a deep frown cutting into his fine features as he stared at the floor.

Angie stopped in her tracks, swiveling on her heel to glare at him. "You think I'd get something like that confused?"

Ignatius raised both hands in surrender. "I'm not questioning your abilities. We just have to consider every possibility, cover all our bases. There's too much we don't know."

"It's alright, love." Far touched a hand to Angie's forearm, calming her bristing mate with gentle fingers. "Ignatius is right. We have to consider everything."

Everyone was on edge. Images of the brutal battle between the Bielke and the Tally were fresh in our minds once again. Johan's monstrous form towered over us in our collective memories. Gideon's lifeless b*dy, Geranium,

I sat beside Ignatius on the sofa, wringing my hands and bouncing my leg up and down. It felt like ants were crawling over my skin my b*dy pr ickled with nervousness and I couldn't seem to keep still. The party had been cut short after the subordinate had shown up. Nob*dy was too keen on dancing after hearing that Johan might be back.

I felt a pang of guilt for Angie and Fae, who now sat with us discussing strategies when they were supposed to be celebrating Plato stood at the door, distracting the twins with a picture book he'd pulled from the bookshelf. I had made that picture h ook myself, from the detailed drawings to the very paper. I'd wanted to give my children a piece of myself.

"How do we know this isn't an imposter?" I asked quietly

Ignatius raised an eyebrow at me, leaning his head on his knuckles, "It's possible. Some of the lesser packs have begun to speculate that the Tally were in the right. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them decided to keep the memory of him alive. Hell, they could be trying to turn him into a martyr"

"Or a terrifying legend." Angie plonked herself down beside me and Fae came to perch on her knee, leaning her head on Angie's shoulder. It never ceased to amaze me how such a flighty, light-hearted woman was able to ground Angie the way Fae did.

"It could all be baseless rumors," Fae commented, flicking a tendril of curly hair out of her eyes with a sigh. "Our enemies could be spreading them to cause panic. To sow doubt against Ignatius and the Bielke pack's victory."

"There's also the case of the vampire sightings. Ignatius clasped his fingers, staring into the distance. "We can't just ignore those. They have to be connected somehow."

I frowned at my feet. "You think the vampires have something to do with Johan's reappearance? Why?"

Ignatius got to his feet then, stretching his arms above his head. It's no coincidence that the vampires are reappearing at the same time as Johan's apparent resurrection. There has to be a link between the two. Someb*dy's playing games with us"

I leaned back on the sofa, dropping my head back to stare up at the ceiling. "So what do we do about it? How are we supposed to play along when we don't even know what this game is?"

"I don't know." Ignatius ran a hand through his hair. "We don't know enough about vampires to know whether these rumors: Juve any truth to them. Dorothy, you and I are going to need to look into this. Elliot apparently had some interactions with vamps in the past. There has to be some record of them somewhere."

I tilted my head to stare at him, "What about Johan it was barely more

Ignatius turned his gaze to Angie. "That's where your two come in

than a whisper

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Chapter 101.

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He hesitated for a moment, scratching the back of his neck, "Angie, I hate to ask. But it only makes sense that you two look into this rumor. You're the best trackers we have-" "You don't have to explain yourself," Fae cut him off gently. "Like you said, we're the best ones for the job."

She looked over at Angie who seemed just as resigned to handling the mission. "We can go on holiday after these rumors are cleared up. The Westside waterfalls aren't going anywhere." They were both putting on brave faces, but we all knew them well enough to understand that they were crushed. My guilt tripled and it was clear Ignatius didn't feel too good about it either. "No." It was Plato who spoke up from behind us. "Don't cancel your lovely little lesbian trip just because of some stu pid mutt who won't stay dead. Sorry Dorothy, I know he's your ex

"No offense taken." I muttered blankly. I had long since laid my conflicted feelings about Johan to rest. I only hoped they stayed dead and buried along with the man himself.

"But I'm serious" Plato faced Angie and Fac, a hand on his chest. "Let me handle this investigation. I'm a decent tracker and I've been involved with the Tally before. My brother might know something about this as well, his mate was ex-Tally after

“Plato, if I remember correctly, you were captured by the Tally: Ignatus sounded skeptical as he rounded on his friend. "What makes you think that won't happen again?"

Plato waved a dismissive hand at Ignatius. "The Tally are dead. That much is certain. Whoever this imposter is, he isn't Johan. And besides, nothing's even happened yet. We're getting ourselves worked up over a few rumors."

When Ignatius still didn't look convinced, Plato gestured towards Angie and Fae, "They need a break Ignatius They've been chasing down loose ends ever since the war ended. I've been a deadweight to your pack for too long now, let me finally do some good."

"He's right" I volunteered. "They need some time off. Plato can handle this."

Eventually. Ignatius relented, rubbing his tired eyes. "Alright, alright. Plato, look into the Johan situation. Report back to me with whatever you find❞

After bidding everyone goodnight, Ignatius and I took the kids upstairs and tucked them into bed. Angie and Fae left with Plato, and Angie could be heard giving Plato the rundown of every kind of tracking strategy as they went.

separate

Elias and Amelie were so exhausted from the party, they dozed off almost inmediately. The twins had their own se beds, but ever since my nightmares had begun, I allowed them to sleep in our bed instead. I wanted them close by. I needed to know they were safe. They slept soundly between Ignatius and I, and we curled around them like a protective barrier.

"Ignatius?" I whispered his name in the dim light of our bedroom, peaking at him over the tousled heads of the twins. "Are you awake?"

"I'm awake."

I reached my hand out above the twins and Ignatius reached back. Our fingers intertwined and I let out a deep sigh. "Do you really think it's Johan out there"

There was a long pause and 1 squeezed my eyes shut. When Ignatius finally answered, there was hesitation in his tone, "Whoever it is, we're going to put a stop to their antics."

"Are we going to be okay?" It was a useless question, I knew that. How could he possibly know, how could he foresee what was to come. I knew his answer would be based only on his own determination to keep his family alive.

"We're going to be just fine"

That was all I needed to hear. Even if I didn't believe it tomorrow morning, and the day after that, has words were Comforting aw 1 looked over our sleeping claldien and tightened my grip on Ignatius's hand