Rejected His Miracle Luna (Dorothy and Ignatius)
Chapter 72

Chapter 72

-Ignatius

Finding the Tally's newest campout had been easy enough. They had grown in numbers drastically and they were much less inconspicuous because of it

We traced their movements from where Angie had captured the infected shifter and eventually stumbled upon their new camp. They were uncomfortably close to Bielke territory, nestled deep in the forest they had set up camp just south of our borders.

Staying unnoticed was where the first problem arose. My team and I had traveled with as many masking leaves as we could carry and had to repeatedly coat ourselves in the powdery substance so as to keep our scent hidden from the soldiers who

moved about the forest

We kept an eye on them from afar at first, scoping out their setup and trying to pinpoint exactly where they were performing the magic rituals.

It was just like Angie had described. Shifters loped all over the area, big and bulky and inhumanly strong. The forest reeked of the scent of decay and a cloud of smoke hung low over the area from where constant fires were kept burning.

A single white van was parked just past the tree line on an abandoned dirt road. We watched in disgust as shifters threw open the doors and dragged bodies from the interior, hauling them through the woods and dumping them inside of another dirty tent..

If that wasn't alarming enough, after a day of watching that specific tent, those same bodies walked themselves out of the canvas folds and sat down around the giant fire pits. They were most definitely not alive, no souls resided behind those glassy eyes

But they were moving all the sune, all in perfect unison as if controlled by some unseen puppet master. Tor had kept up his suspicious growling throughout the mission, his animal instincts warning the both of us that whatever was going on in front of our eyes was in no way natural and most likely dangerous

"They're not like the other shifters, Carly, one of the soldiers who accompanied us had whispered to me from our hiding place among the trees. "The others have a mind of their own, these are just dolls. Walking corpses"

"Nec romancy, most likely," I had whispered back. I had seen this phenomenon once before. Although the memories of that moment were clouded in fog and suppressed by the most primal parts of my mind. It wasn't that the corpses, most likely victims from other small packs that had been disappearing all over the country, had been brought back to life. They were merely being puppetized by a single wielder of dark magic. Most likely the same magic wielder who was feeding witch blood to the other soldiers

We were yet to discover this enigmatic leader of the Tally. Despite our constant watch, she hadn't made an appearance just

jet

"To the left, Carly warned, keeping her voice low as a beefy shifter ambled into the woods nearby. He hadn't noticed us yet but it was a little too close for comfort all the same.

"Let's go

Carly followed me as we melted away into the shadows of the forest and met up with the rest of our members. 1 had been wary of some of my companions, all handpicked by Angie herself. still unsure of who exactly we could trust, but each of them had proven their loyalty and capability over the past few days. Specifically Carly and her mate, Will.

The two of them had been able to get close enough to the camp to identify at least three authority figures of the group and had been the ones to track down the ominous white van that lay beyond the forest. Carly was a tall willowy woman v

for stealthy missions and Will, with his dark skin and black wardrobe that

Chapter 72

rivaled my own, was able to travel through the woods like a shadow, leaving no trace and making no sound.

Many a tinte I had spun around at an uncomfortable sensation on the back of my neck only to fad Will traveling directly behind me, completely unaware that I had no idea he was there Carly was the only one who seemed to be able to sense her mate no matter how steally he could be

It was those two who reported to me that same night of the woll shifter that was shackled to a post some way off, near a tent of one of the authoritarian leaders.

Curious as to why the Tally would keep one captive alive. I followed them to where they had spotted the wolf. I wondered if it could be the same captive that Angie and Far had seen being removed from the white van some werks before.

We peered through the trees and I followed Carly's pointing uger to where a single lonesome scoll was straining against the Large silver shackles latcheil around his neck. "Maybe it's just a regular woll! I suggested but Will shook his head.

"From the way it's been acting 1 highly douls it. There's emotional intelligence there. He wants to get away. And from the look of the fur around his neck. I would say he's been held captly here for a while." I looked closely at the wolf and the band of raw skin around his neck where the collar had rubbed his far away. He looked underted too, his hip bones protruded a little too noticeably and his lasts of energy were followed by moments of fatigue

ami exluustiMEL

We should tree ham. Carly whispered as we all examined the creature from afar. He could be a useful source of anfermation.

"We can't" as much as it pained me to say it. Leould see no way of going about rescuing the poor guy without alerting the Tally to an enemy presence in their camp. "They would notice bis absence and immediately be on high alert,"

"We can't just leave him there," Carly protested, raising her voor in a whisper Poor f ucker is gonna starve to death."

I pondered the situation for a moment. "Maylic if we can make a look like he got away on his own. Leave a scent fr. leading off somewhere and then mask him and bring him back to our base. Will and Carly exchanged glances and Will shrugged his broad shoulders. "It's worth a shot. How exactly do we free him

though?

Well, he's skinny, isn't he? We nick his skin, get some blood and fur on the silver collar and let them think that he got desperate and pulled himself free"

"And how exactly do you plan to get the collar off of him? We need the key"

"Simple" 1 tipped my chin towards the rustling tent where a large muscled woman emerged from. Around her neck swung a single silver key suspended on a piece of string "We just take it -Plato

Thad no idea how long I held been held captive by the odd Tally Pack. All I knew was that after being captured they had transferred me to their campout at the foot of a hill, only to shove me back into that horrific van a few days later to cart me out into the woods.

Finally. Thad found myself collard and shackled to a post outside the tent of a particularly frightening-looking woman who had uprooted an entire tree with her bare hands in order to set up her test.

1 assumed the must have been someone important considering how the others seemed to treat her with a bit of respect. Day after day at unde at my post. And me, the forest had untially been full of life and the sound of my creases rustling. an the brush was carried to my cars by the slightest breeze,

The longer the Tally rendest there, however, the deader the forest became All of the creatures left the area as if sp ooked by the Tally's unnatural energy At night the losest was deathly sale Chapter 72

The suffocating smoke of the constantly lit fires clouded the treetops and blocked out the moonlight entirely. That seemed to bother Ren the most. Ren hated confinement, small spaces. She hated being unable to see the sky.

And so we sat, day in and day out, tugging and twisting at the collar around our necks until the skin was raw and tender.

And we were hungry. So, so hungry. The Tally themselves barely seemed to eat at all, I assumed it had something to do with their inhuman bodies..

They seemed to eat only for pleasure and not for any real nutritional gain. I wished them horrible stomach aches and bad. indigestion every time I noticed one of them snacking nearby

The other shifters, however, the ones who sat around the fires day in and day out, were very clearly corpses who had no need for food at all

I was very close to becoming a corpse myself if they refused to ferd me. Wolves can last longer without food than humans can, but even in my wolf form and even with Ren's strong spirit, I could feel our strength fading away day by day.

I would do almost anything for a bite of something. I would do almost anything for freedom.

I was shaken from my thoughts by the sound of the large woman stirring in her tent. She threw open the curtain and waltzed out without casting me so much as a glance before heading towards the main camp I growled at her like I did every morning but still she paid me no mind.

I had just turned my head away to go back to my useless tugging at my chains when I heard frantic shuffling and the woman's gruff remark. "Who ar" Before a loud thump and then silence.

Spinning around I came face to face with three shifters I had never seen before, all crouching over the buff lady who now lay fat on her face on the forest floor.

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