Chapter 4

“Huh!”  I gagged as something cold hit my face. I looked down and gasped, finding myself drenched in water. 

  

I lifted my hands to wipe my dripping face and hair, but I couldn’t.  Then I felt my head lolling back as a shadow fell over me.

“Good morning,  princess.”  A rogue woman with buck teeth sneered at me. I knew she was rogue because of her particular smell.  

She looked down at me in disdain while holding an empty pail with its rim still dripping with droplets of water. I presumed the contents of which woke me up from a deep sleep. 

      

Warily, I started to sit, propping the heel of my hand on the mossy grass to support my weight.  My hands and feet were cuffed by what appeared to be Wolfsbane - a plant that caused mild to serious harm to wolves like me. 

So this is the reason for the lethargic feeling. I thought I was run over by hundreds of wolves. 

Speaking of wolves, I remembered mine and called out to her in my mind, but Maya would not answer back, making me worry. 

It was uncharacteristic of Maya to be silent in times of danger.  Or maybe, it was the Wolfsbane doing.  I wonder. 

“Maya?”  I searched for her in my mind and was greeted with cold silence, causing panic to rise on me. Then I raked my mind, trying to feel her. I sensed more than I felt her.   It was faint, but it was Maya. She must be too weakened by the Wolfsbane.  Wolfsbane is very potent and has the potential to harm or cause death when exposed to it. 

“Don’t you just sit there, Alpha’s princess!”  The rogue snarled when she saw my dazed look, breaking me out of my stupor. 

“What did you just call me?” In my foggy mind, what she called me made me frown in confusion. 

The rogue woman saw my shocked face, contempt registering on her weathered face.  “Alpha’s princess!”  She spat the words out, eyeing me in satisfaction, misinterpreting the sense of panic registered on my face. 

I shook my head, denying her claim,  I am no Alpha princess.  A princess is someone treasured and revered by her family and people, and I wasn’t one of those. 

The rogue woman hit me before dragging me to my feet and we started walking. 

“Don’t think you can fool old Beth, missy. Beth has a sharp nose and could smell you a mile back.  Your stink gives you away, you filthy daughter of a criminal!”

My breath hitched.  “What are you talking about?” I asked, ignoring the pain burning my cheeks.  

Clearly, I do not have any clue as to what she was talking about.  Aside from the burning cheeks, my head feels like it's been split in half due to a massive headache.  I could not find my balance and the way she manhandled me made me trip a lot of times on rocks or roots jutting out from the brown earth. 

“Stop acting dumb.  I know who you are!  You are the daughter of Alpha Leo and his Luna wife. I could smell their blood on you.  Your pure Alpha descent blood was so strong, anybody with a brain on his head could spot you.”

“No.  You must be mistaken. I am….” I tried to correct her, but was halted when she shouted in my face.  

“Quiet! Don’t try to deny it.  You have murderer’s blood in your filthy veins like your d*ck head father.”

My head felt heavy, as it throbbed with pain, and her voice - shrill and hoarse - was not helping as she yapped about my father being a murderer. 

She saw my blanched face and smirked.

“That’s right. Your Alpha father is a criminal.  He is a murderer who brutally killed in his own hands our Alpha’s father and his people.  Or maybe, your father kept this sordid secret from you. Didn’t want to have his image tarnished in the eyes of his beloved daughter, eh?” Her words dripped with sarcasm as she piled me with accusations against my father. 

“Don’t you worry, miss,  your father can redeem himself in your eyes because you will be our bargaining chip.  If your father will surrender, you and the rest of your family will be spared from death.  He does not have much choice.  Our group under Alpha Alaric had already demolished half of your territory and killed your people.  But your father won’t give up.  He ruthlessly kept his ground fighting us, continuing the bloodshed.  He won’t stop until every member of your pack is dead. ”

She talked one on and on, making it hard for me to follow her words. But one thing registered in my still addled brain and that is that my father’s pack had been destroyed.  

My heart constricted as I grieved about the loss of lives.  I could not see anyone doing massive damage to the place I once called home.

“You will be our secret weapon against your own father.”

At last, it dawned on me.  She had mistaken me for my sister,  Lyla who had been the apple in our father’s eyes.

She thought I was the doted daughter of our Alpha. 

I wanted to laugh out loud.  What trick of fate is this? What kind of twisted, convoluted coincidence led me to this situation? 

Me? The precious daughter of the Alpha? I bit back the snarky retort that bubbled in my head.  If only she knew who she was speaking to, she would realize what a waste it was to use me. 

Then, we reached the center of the pack territory. Even from a distance, I could smell the stinky smell of death.  Tension filled the air. 

From where I stand, I could glean out the outline of the pack house as it stood alone amidst tall trees. How ironic that it lost its proud look in the midst of this chaos. 

Then, I spotted Alpha Leo and his best warriors,  facing off against another group of wolves. I could smell their stink, making no mistake about their identity. They are Rogues.  But alas!  I could not see their faces because their heads were covered in masks. Their lithe and muscular bodies were poised for attack. 

They were in a stand-off. My Alpha father and his warriors were in a defensive position, but the Rogues seemed to outweigh them in strength.  The contrast between my father and his opponent is evident in their massive builds.  While Alpha Leo looked old, frail, and weak, the Alpha rogue was young, strong, and powerful. 

There was a tense pause in the air as they looked in our direction. 

I saw the attacking rogues pulling back when their leader looked at me, his eyes taking in my appearance.  It was then that I was reminded of my soaking dress and wet hair.  The look I got from the males was purely animalistic. I crossed my knees together, crossed my arms over my front to cover what needed to be covered. 

The lewd stares made me feel naked and vulnerable. 

Then, there was a movement in the corner of my eyes as Boris, the newly-appointed beta of our pack, the mate who rejected me stood next to my father.  Our eyes locked and I knew the exact moment he spotted me.   He moved his feet forward in my direction, but the Alpha Rogue growled.  Boris stopped and maintained his position. His eyes were trained on me, watching our approach. 

The Rogue Alpha beckoned the woman who brought me here, Beth. With a simple flick of his hand, Beth pushed me forward, I stumbled and almost fell to the ground. 

By then, I was slowly regaining strength and was able to dig my feet in the dirt to keep my balance.

“Nice save.” The Rogue Alpha whom Beth referred to earlier as the son of the late Alpha my father killed, commented when he saw my reflexive action. Then his jaw hardened, eyes went steel blue as he shifted his gaze from me to address Alpha Leo. 

“Surrender, or we will kill her!”  

Alpha Leo threw his head back and laughed uproariously.  “Can’t you find another reason to threaten me with?” He spat out in sarcasm. 

Alpha Leo’s reaction confused his opponent.  

“Why?” The Alpha Rouge peered at me, then at my father. 

“Is she not your daughter, Alpha Leo?”  He taunted, then his voice hardened.  “She will be the collateral damage for all your sins, Alpha!” Alpla Rogue’s eyes turned obsidian in anger as he bargained with my father. 

Alpha Leo’s gaze swept dispassionately on me while I quaked in fear, realizing belatedly why they brought me back here.   

I looked at his eyes, reflecting an absence of any recognition or emotion like he didn’t know me. 

“You can kill her.”  He declared carelessly.

I gulped to hold down the start of a sob. Last night, I escaped death from our Luna’s hand by dying another kind of death when Boris rejected me. 

While I was able to escape two deaths last night, I don’t think I will be able to manage to escape this time. 

The Alpha Rogue had my father’s consent to kill me. 

I closed my eyes as bitterness coursed through me at my father’s cruelty. 

What have I done to deserve this? What kind of father would want his own child dead?  I opened my mouth to diss my own father but Alpha Leo opened the mind link and communicated with me, halting me from whatever I wanted to say.

“Don’t tell them who you are.  Conceal your identity or everyone in this pack will be left for dead.”  He commanded. 

Then, another voice spoke in my head.  Boris!

“Erin, don’t tell them who you are or you will endanger yourself.”  He talked sweetly like he cared about me.  His tone and his words were far different from those he uttered last night when he rejected me. 

The concern in his voice was my undoing.  Absent-mindedly, I nod my head once in his direction to let him know that I heard him and would keep mum about me being Alpha Leo’s daughter and member of the pack. 

Then a loud shout penetrated my Boris-fogged brain, startling me from my trance as the Alpha Rogue shouted at my father’s face!

“You’re lying.  She is your daughter.”

“No.  She’s a nobody. She’s not even a member of my pack.” Alpha Leo insisted. 

His other warriors one by one nodded their agreement, including Boris. 

Then to my horror, Alpha Leo quietly drew out his bow and made a shot directly into my heart. 

I was frozen on the spot, eyes wide in disbelief. My father is going to kill me!

Shutting my eyes and praying to the goddess for my soul, I waited for the tip of the arrow to pierce my chest, but another shocking thing happened. 

I heard a collective gasp which made me curious to open my eyes. And when I did, I almost slumped to the ground in relief.  The arrow aimed was in possession of the Alpha Rogue’s palm, sparing me from death.