Chapter five

Bella's POV

The guards refused to let me enter the rogue encampments again. This was going to be the tenth time this evening.

"The Lord asked you to leave. Didn't you hear him when he told you that at the free plains?" one had snapped at me, his voice edged with irritation and something darker, but I didn’t care.

Not even about his threats to have my skin smoked and eaten by him and his men on patrol. The way he said it like he wanted me to picture it, to feel fear crawl under my skin and force me to run.

But I was past fear.

I was ready to stand here as long as it took, so far Draven would notice me and come out. Even if it meant becoming a shadow at his gates. Even if it meant being nothing more than a nuisance they couldn’t ignore.

As far as the guards would be on patrol tonight, I was also ready to spend the night here with them. I wasn’t leaving.

Not when I knew who Ronan was.

He never stopped until he got whatever he wanted. He never took no for an answer, not from enemies, not from allies and certainly not from me.

 And being an alpha of such a big pack as Moonstone pack, I knew that he would still be out in the woods, waiting and watching. Patient like a predator that knew its prey had nowhere else to go.

Waiting for me to fall into his trap.

By then, all my efforts to escape this night were going to be a waste. Every step I had taken, every risk, every desperate breath—I would be dragged right back to him.

Draven had been helped by my late parents. I didn’t want to believe that he would turn me away. Not like this. Not when I had nowhere left to run.

"Such a stubborn girl. How long does she plan to stand there for?"

"I pity her. Her clothes look so torn and tattered. Don’t you think the Lord should help? I heard she's the daughter of the omegas who had saved us then at the border," another voice whispered, laced with reluctant sympathy.

I said nothing but merely stood, my feet rooted to the earth as if the ground itself had claimed me, and only kept my head ahead, hiding behind the tall grasses at the entrance of the encampment.

My cloth was torn in some parts, hanging loosely over my skin, and I didn’t want them to notice how I was desperately trying to cover it. My fingers tightened around the fabric again and again, pulling, adjusting and yet still failing. I knew how men would behave in the presence of a she-wolf… let alone rogues who had no rules or restraint.

"Ronan won't go easy on me if he catches me again. Neither will his men. I can only stay here before finding another plan to survive with. I…."

I began immediately I saw Draven walking towards the gate, my voice breaking under the weight of everything I had been holding in. A guard seemed to have gone to inform him that I was still at the gates. Still here. Still refusing to leave.

"We can't accept you, Bella. Find somewhere else. Another pack. Anything other than here."

He snapped before I could even finish, his words cutting through me sharper than any blade, turning to leave once more as he had told me away—and this would be like the fifth time. The fifth time he had looked at me and looked away.

"But Ronnan… You helped me before and…."

My voice followed him, desperately, reaching for something that was already slipping away.

"I only helped you because it was necessary. Not because I wanted to involve myself with Ronan or the Moonstone pack! Who knows what war he'd wage on my rogues when he finds out you're with me!?. I've avoided him and his pack for decades! I do not want to incur risk on my rogues by saving you"

He hadn't finished talking when an arrow flew towards him. It cut through the air with a sharp whistle,  precise and meant to kill.

He had caught it neatly with his hand from his rear. Effortless. Like he had expected it. Like danger was something he lived with so often, it no longer startled him.

I rushed back, my heart slamming violently against my chest, hiding myself behind a tower at the back of the guards fortress. My breath came out shallow as I pressed my back against the cold stone, peeking just enough to see without being seen.

Masked men suddenly rushed towards where Draven was as he was alone and unarmed, his men still far from him.

They moved like shadows breaking out of the dark.

They rushed to attack, shifting into their wolf forms as they tried pouncing on him and tearing him apart, claws slashing, fangs bared—but they hadn’t been able to know when Draven’s guttural howl made many pause.

He was a black wolf. If he shifted, with or without arms, even alone, he was bound to finish all the men alone.

They were merely brown wolves. A black wolf was more powerful. A black wolf belonged to an alpha.

They hadn’t been able to get close when he shifted midway, his massive form erupting with force, catching one of the masked men who were about shifting with his paws.

The man landed on the wall with a sickening crash, not even having the time to defend himself as the impact of the pain settled deep into his bones.

A broken sound escaped him before he slumped.

The remaining men turned and began to escape just as they had come. Not expecting that Draven would be the one they would meet at the rogue entrance.

Not expecting to face an alpha.

Draven was an alpha… so it was no wonder they were all scared of him. Scared of approaching or even trying to start a fight with him despite being large in their numbers. Fear spread faster than blood.

Some of Draven’s men had reached the gates by now, their footsteps pounding against the ground, while the guards who had been on duty had begun to give the men a chase—rage fueling their movements.

Before Draven’s mind link—as I saw his eye changing—stopped them.

One sharp command.

And they froze.

One rushed towards the one injured and had been unable to escape, unmasking him and tearing off parts of his clothes as a crescent moon sigil mark was on the nape of his neck.

My breath hitched.

He was from Moonstone pack.

There was no need asking where he came from nor who sent him as it was too obvious. The message had been delivered loud and clear.

Ronan.

I kept observing from where I was hiding, my fingers digging into the stone as Draven’s men bound his hands, turning to lead him away and into their territory.

Captured and helpless.

Just like I would be if I fell back into Ronan’s hands.

But before the gate could be locked, before the moment could pass like every other time, I ran out of where I had been hiding as the fight broke out, my feet moving before fear could stop me, stopping Draven before he could close the gates.

"Are you going to let this wrong slide again like you've always done in the past?"

I whispered, my voice low but sharp, watching as my words settled slowly into him.

And Draven’s face contorted into a very familiar expression.

Rage.