Caleb

I squat next to Conrad as we watch the Green River Pack territory. Lately, the feral rogues have been attacking packs around Romania. It started with a small pack, in the South-East, near the Black Sea, and slowly moved to the West. I usually don’t care about what feral rogues do, but they are too close to my territory, to my pack. As a rogue myself—a silver rogue, not a feral one—I have worked hard to secure some land in Baciu Forest and build a pack. Another pack lives within the forest, but my territory is warded, and they can’t enter. I would have liked to have my pack elsewhere, but as a rogue, I have no say in how territories are distributed. I am lucky I was allowed to the land the Elders have given me. Not without paying a large sum of money and granting them many favors—favors that I am still regretting and the rest of the werewolves don’t know about. But at least I am the Alpha of my pack, and I get to lead them without any interference from the Elders.

“Any signs of them?” I ask Conrad.

Without taking his left eye from the border—the right one he lost a few years back during a fight with some vampires—Corand says, “Not yet. Are you sure the feral rogues are going to attack this pack?”

“Unless Tatiana is making us waste our time.” My right thigh starts to ache. The injury I received ten years ago from liquid silver hadn’t healed properly, and it still bothers me, but I learned to live with the pain. I shift my weight on my good leg. “Tatiana is rarely wrong,” I let Conrad know.

“I don’t trust her,” Conrad mumbles.

Conrad rarely trusts anyone. His past taught him to be wary.

The bush rustles to my right, and a moment later, Kain and Conon squat next to me. I don’t like Kain, but he is Conrad’s friend, so I tolerate him in the pack. And he is also a good fighter when he is not taking photos of everything.

“Jeremy and Hogar are patrolling on the other side of the border. Ten warriors are with them,” Conon lets me know.

Conon is my Beta, and Jeremy and Hogar have just finished their training as Enforcers.

“Good,” I say.

“What’s the plan?” Kain asks.

Raven, my wolf, growls inside my head. He dislikes Kain more than I do. “Kill the feral rogues, collect our money for each pelt we take to the Elders, and have a beer or two back at the pack,” I tell the vampire.

“I don’t like beer, but I might have a bag of blood left in my freezer. Maybe Tatiana will make her famous cookies for when we return home. I am starving,” Kain says.

“Maybe,” I say. Being around vampires makes my blood boil, but I have to remind myself Kain is not my enemy.

“Tatiana is making cookies?” Conon butts in. “If she would be a few decades younger, I would marry her.”

I snort, “I don’t think she is ready to have kids.”

Conon narrows his eyes. “What do you mean?”

The left corner of my mouth twitches up. “That you need to grow up.”

Conrad and Kain laugh. Conon mumbles something under his breath.

I keep surveying the territory ahead of me, not wanting to be taken by surprise by the feral rogues. Their new leader, Mircea, is one of the cruelest werewolves in Europe. I shift my weight once more. My wound is a reminder of it.

The wind blows, carrying the scent of feral rogues to me. I sniff the air trying to determine how far they were from us, when I catch another scent coming from the same direction.

Cosasi vampires.

The hair on the back of my neck stands. Why are the Cosasi vampires with the feral rogues? I thought Mircea hated them as much as I did. The last time the feral rogues allied with the Cosasi vampires was a thousand years ago, during Queen Sera’s reign—the last Diamond Real Queen. Since then, the feral wolves have mostly kept to themselves. From time to time, they will attack packs and steal food and other things. Sometimes they would take pups as well.

“They are close,” I let the other know.

“Finally,” Kain says as he claps my shoulder.

I look at Kain’s hand for a moment before I grab it and flip him to the ground. “What did I tell you about touching me?” I growl as I put my knee on his chest and push the tip of my ashwood dagger at the base of his neck.

Kain’s throat bobs, fear flashing in his eyes.

“Caleb, let him go,” Conrad says. “Kain did nothing to you.”

I look into Kain’s blue eyes—it must be the only thing stopping me from killing him, that he is not a Cosasi vampire but a Dacian one.

While the Cosasi and the Dacian vampires have the same ancestors, the Dacian vampires are at least decent, not like the Cosasi, that love to destroy lives.

‘Kill him,’ Raven snarls.

I would love nothing more than to free the world from another vampire, but Kain has proved that he is not a piece of shit like all the other vampires I have met.

‘Maybe next time,’ I let Raven know, and he retreats to the back of my mind. He is angry.

“Go and tell Jeremy and Hogar that the feral rogues will be here in less than ten minutes. Cosasi vampires are with them,” I tell Kain before I have a chance to change my mind and stick my dagger in his neck.

I let Kain go and get between Conon and Conrad.

“Are you okay?” Conon asks.

I am tempted to lie, but I shake my head, letting him know that I am not well. “Barely slept last night. Nightmare.”

“Why didn’t you ask Hector for more drugs?” Conrad wants to know.

I exhale softly. “Hector has a lot on his plate with the new members. Besides, a few sleepless nights won’t kill me.”

Conon looks at me sympathetically. I hate when he does that like he is pitying me. “Do you want me to call Andrew?”

I inhale sharply. Could this day get any worse? “We broke up,” I say between gritted teeth.

Both Conon and Conrad seemed surprised by this.

“When?” Conon asks.

“This morning,” I reply.

“That explains why I saw him crying in the kitchen while Blade was comforting him.”

“But you were the perfect match,” Conrad says.

“He wasn’t my mate,” I shrug, trying to hide my pain.

Conon narrows his eyes. “Don’t tell me he found his mate.”

Damn. Conon knows me so well.

I nod. “Last night.”

“Who?” Conrad asks.

“Mitch,” I say, annoyed. “Are you done with the interrogation questions?”

Conon gapes at me. “You’re fucking with me, right?”

Conrad stares at me. “Who’s Mitch?”

I sigh. Who the hell needs enemies when I have friends like these? “My partner from two years ago. He came to the to ask Conon and me to help him with something when he met Andrew. Long story short, they are mates. I broke up with Andrew because I knew he would not since he had feeling for me.”

“Son of a bitch!” Conon mutters. “Why haven’t you told me anything?”

“Because it doesn’t concern you,” I let him know. Conon seems hurt by my statement. “Look, I know you are worried about me, but I am fine. As for Andrew and Mitch, I am happy for them. Mitch is a good male and an excellent Beta, and he will make Andrew happy.”

“What about you?” Conrad asks.

I frown, not understanding Conrad’s question. “What about me?”

“When will you be happy?”

Tatiana, Conon, and Conrad are the only ones who know about my past and what I have done.

‘And Mircea,’ Raven reminds me.

I don’t worry about Mircea. He is the last person to open his mouth and talk about the past. Not when our pasts are entwined.

“I don’t deserve happiness,” I say. While I love Andrew, he is better off without me.

“Bullshit,” Conon scoffs.

The scent of the feral rogues and the Cosasi vampires grows stronger, and I prepare to shift and let Raven take over. We take our clothes off while keeping our eyes on the forest.

“One day, you will find your mate,” Conrad says before his wolf, Pau, takes over.

“The entire Black Ruby Rogue Pack will cheer for you as you take your mate to the Ritual Stones and mark him,” Conon says before shifting into his wolf.

I gave up on the idea of having a family a long time ago. Besides, what do I know about raising my family when my own parents are scum? Nah, I am better of alone.

‘I want our mate. I dream of running with him under the Full Moon,’ Raven says.

I pop my neck. ‘The Moon Goddess will never bless us with a mate,’ I say as the feral rogues step into the clearing.

I let Raven take over. Shifting is always painful, but it is over in a few seconds.