Chapter Three

"Do you think they are rogues?" George the captain of the elite warriors asked his subordinate.

"I don't know sir. I can't smell them. But they are definitely rogues. I caught one of them, he had their signature sickly wolf but had a triangle branded on their left side of their body near their ribs."

George suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned around facing the nineteen-year-old Sam who joined the team recently "Did you say they had a triangle branding on their left side?" He asked with uncertainty.

"Yes sir. I can't be mistaken, they were about thirty or so." George nodded his head, his eyes shining with confidence.

"Did you manage to catch any of them?" George continued walking, his combat boots raising a cloud of dust in its wake.

"Sir we are still trying to hold them back. They seem intent on getting something. More like they are looking for something."

"Are you crazy?! They are still at the border fighting their way in and you couldn't mindlink me about it?" George shouted at Sam making the poor soldier shudder in fear.

George was a man of great power and might. Six feet tall with large arms of rippling muscles. He joined the army when he was fourteen surprising everyone when he passed the test of joining the elite warriors. 

Since then, he never failed to amaze everyone with his capabilities that people grew tired of multiple surprises from him.

"I, sir I thought…" Sam was caught short as he watched George shift into his wolf form, running towards the pack's border.

Sam also followed suit, turning into a light grey wolf.

On getting to the pack border, George found out Sam was right about the rogues.

They were the triangle wolfs or so they called themselves. He had always wondered the reason the branding on their left side left a scar. As a werewolf, their healing abilities were top-notch. But these rogues had a permanent scar. 

He watched for a moment the battle between the rogues and his men. His men were doing a good job of keeping the rogues away. But what he didn't fail to notice was, the rogues had gotten stronger.

The rogues had a knack for going against his pack members but the warriors didn't fail to eliminate them each time.

But now, they were quite matched in terms of strength and agility. Like they had tampered with themselves.

But that's impossible. He shook the thought out of his head. There's no way they have the means and resources to do so.

The rogues began to retreat when they saw they couldn't breach the warrior's formation. 

George hurried towards a rogue who was within reach aiming for his heart. He swung his arms in one fluid motion but the rogue surprised him by going out of the way and running away, not daring to fight back.

"Stand back! Let them go. I have a feeling they'll be back." George told his warriors who were giving some of the rogues a hot chase.

They made their way back, turning into their human form, fully clothed. Their clothes were made of the best durable material. So when they turned into their Wolf form, the materials don't shred.

George looked at his claws which were stained in blood. The wolf wasn't so lucky as George had torn a part of his flesh away. 

'He won't last.' George thought, a sinister smile on his face. Some warriors shuddered when they saw the smile. They knew it wasn't a good one. 

"Everyone return to your homes and instruct the night shifts to take over. I can see you are tired." He boomed after he had turned into his human form.

"Yes sir!" They chorused with beaming smiles on their tired faces. After all, It's not every day they get to take a day off.

The warriors dispersed leaving only him in the area.

"Get the warriors who work the night shift today to take over right now. There's been a battle." He mindlinked his second in command.

"Got that sir." His second-in-command replied through the link within seconds.

After cutting off the link, George put his hands to his nose inhaling the smell of the blood which had belonged to the rogue. It smelled nothing like a rogue but different. It was slippery and dark, he observed. Something was amiss.

"Beta Aiden, you'd better come see this. I'm at the border right now. We were attacked by some rogues." He mindlinked the beta.

After a few seconds, the beta replied. "Don't tell me you still can't take care of a few rogues?" Beta Aiden joked through the link.

"That's not it. The rogues, they seem different. I can't explain it over the link. It's better you come see for yourself." George replied in a serious tone.

"Alright, I'll be there in a jiffy. Give me a few minutes." With that, the link was cut off.

***********

"Why can't I smell them?" Aiden looked at the blood on the ground which covered a lot of leaves on the forest floor. 

The rogue had lost a lot of blood, giving the Beta a better chance of examining the blood. 

"I don't know sir. Do you think they did…"

"No, that's not possible." George was caught short by Aiden. He knew what was on George's mind.

All his playfulness was gone, leaving him with a serious look that made him one of the most feared men in the pack.

He can be a little playful at times but when it came down to matters relating to the safety of the pack, he never messes around. And that was one of his best traits.

Aiden bent down sniffing the area, trying to get a whisp of something that will confirm his suspicion but he was met with something odd. 

George stood closely behind Aiden, watching him without uttering a word. He knew what was on George's mind but George was in denial. He couldn't blame him. He too could hardly believe it.

The silence of the forest was broken by warriors, trailing in one after another to take on the shift. 

Some were talking excitedly about what had happened a few minutes ago. Who wouldn't? The rogues had gotten stronger by a wide margin. The news had gotten to them faster than George would like to admit.

"We'd better inform the alpha." Aiden said with a gruff voice.