THE ROGUES

ADAIRA

~

I should have known that something was wrong the second I saw smoke as we approached my old pack. I pointed it out to Raed but he kissed my cheek and told me to calm down and stop letting my nerves stop us from doing this.

“Relax, babe. Shifters have festivals all the time, maybe they’re roasting the kills of the last hunt.” He said to me.

As we got closer, my second clue was the lack of patrol at the pack boundary. Even Raed’s brow creased with a tinge of worry but he still tried to reassure me.

“Maybe they were invited to the feast as well? I don’t know what your pack security protocols are like.” He said.

“There’s always supposed to be guards at the boundary, no matter what festival is going on. They usually do one hour rotations on special occasions so each of them gets to enjoy themself, and the border would still be guarded. Except Tyler changed things around here when he took over, it’s so unusual for them all to be gone at the same time.” I replied.

That was when we heard an ear- splitting scream. I was running before I even realised that I was moving, Raed was right beside me. We didn’t shift to wolf form yet, we needed to first access the situation then we would know if our wolves are needed.

“Watch out!” Raed said and I dodged as a rogue wolf leapt forward in my direction, two went after Raed. We finished them off and advanced forward but more rogues attacked us. Raed and I exchanged a look, we didn’t need to speak, our training was enough to know that it was time to fight in wolf form. Immediately I shifted, the rogues around us paused. It was obvious that they had never seen a white wolf before.

We used their surprise against them, before they realised what was happening, we had each taken out two of theirs. The next few minutes were a blur of fangs, claws and fur. Raed and I were strong fighters, but the rogues outnumbered us.

As we fought, we were getting closer to the pack square and I could see the level of destruction that had been done to Brookstone. Even if I had left here under less than savoury circumstances, they were still my pack and it angered me so much to see it in shambles. The smoke was coming from some of the houses that were still burning, it was obvious that the main fight had already happened.

Bodies of wolves, both rogues and Brookstone pack warriors littered everywhere, and I wondered if there was any point fighting. I contemplated telling Raed that we should make a run for it because the rogues may have already killed all the members of the Brookstone pack. If there was no one to protect then there was no reason to fight. But then I remembered the scream I had heard, it wasn’t from a rogue. Someone, or some people were still alive.

When we got to the pack square, I saw where the rogues held the Brookstone pack members hostage. Cells had been built in the square and the pack members were locked in. The rogues that were guarding the cells joined the others to fight us.

“Adaira!” I turned as my mum yelled my name in warning.

That was both a blessing and a mistake. I was already weak, and one of my hind legs had been bitten into by a rogue before I killed it. I was losing blood from my wounds faster than they were healing. As I turned, I avoided the wolf that had leapt and was going for my neck, but that gave the one by my side leverage to knock me over. As that wolf’s head hit my side, I rolled for several seconds before my body lost momentum and stopped. I was pounced on by several rogues and I didn’t have the strength to fight anymore so I just closed my eyes and awaited my death.

Suddenly, all the rogues paused and from the way their eyes glazed over, I knew they were receiving instructions from their Alpha through mindlink. I turned and saw that Raed was in a similar condition as mine, he was still standing, but he was severely wounded and surrounded by way too many rogues. We weren’t members of the same pack and we weren’t mated yet so I couldn’t mindlink him to tell him that I love him one last time before we were both killed.

The wolf closest to me shifted to his human form, and if I had any more energy left, I would have been surprised. In fact, everything about this was surprising and would have been unbelievable if I didn’t see it with my own eyes. Rogue wolves were shifters that had lost touch with their human side. It was the human side of shifters that kept the wolf side sane and under control, the pack bond stabilises that control. That was why shifters lived in packs, so the connection to each other kept us all strong.

An Alpha stabilises the pack bonds and tethers each of us together. That was why Alphas needed to be strong to keep everyone in line. But rogues have lost connection to their human side and therefore could not bond with an Alpha or move as a pack. Yet, somehow this Alpha not only bonded with wolves, he made them a pack. I would have been awed if he wasn’t using his power and strength for mass destruction. I didn’t even get a chance to fight with the bastard when I was at full strength, why wasn’t he even here?

“Alpha Gavrael says not to kill you, white wolf. He says he has been waiting for you. You are to be cleaned and dressed to await his arrival at sundown. Your companion will join the others in their cages but you will have a separate cell. If you resist, your companion will be killed.” The rogue that was in human form said to me but I was already losing consciousness.

I blinked once and then everything went black.