Chapter 6

“You’re sentencing me to death?” I asked, not sure if he even heard me as I had lost my voice.

“You’re a rogue. If I had let you stay for any longer without doing anything, I would be dead by now because you were sent to kill me. You don’t walk into a pack and try to kill the alpha of the pack without facing the consequences.”

“That was before I knew you were my mate. You killed my brother. You took my best friend away. You deserve to die more than I do because your attack on us was unprovoked.” I knew my words were not helping me. If anything, he would only get angrier.

With a scoff, Darius shook his head. “You don’t understand anything, do you? For every single rogue that’s roaming out there, there’s one more person in danger. Your kind killed my parents.”

I stayed silent. I was not going to exchange more words with him. It wouldn’t go anywhere.

“When do you plan to execute me?” I asked after a moment of silence.

He looked at me with slightly raised brows as if he was shocked at my acceptance of the situation. If he was expecting me to beg for my life, he was sorely mistaken.

I would know if he was going to spare my life or not. He was not. His hatred for rogues was far more powerful than anything about him, as far as I could tell.

“If you’re going to make it a public execution, please don’t make the other rogues watch. The ones you have in your custody, I mean. They’ve been through enough. Watching me die in front of them without the power to do anything would kill them,” I said, which only caused his brows to crease further.

“Your execution won’t be happening anytime soon. It’s an auspicious time right now the festival of the red moon will be held soon, and my pack is hosting it. I wouldn’t want any more rogue blood cursing my soil.”

I chuckled bitterly at how the most of his problem was a festival. Something we didn’t have the privilege to even think about.

“I care about my people as much as you care about yours, but we’re on opposing sides here. I don’t want them to witness a public execution before a celebration. After the festival, we can talk about you.”

I stayed silent. There was nothing to say.

“You will be watched every single minute of the day. Don’t you ever think of escaping this room. Forget about the festival, you’ll be killed immediately.”

There was a tone in his voice that let me know the last thing he was doing was bluffing.

He turned around and finally walked out, slamming the door behind him just as I grabbed a pillow and threw it at the door in agitation.

“Goddess, please!” I cried out as tears rolled down my cheeks. I had done everything I could to hide it, but I didn’t want to be executed. Not like this. I needed to get out of this place.

True to Darius’s words, the room was guarded. I heard footsteps all day. There were mutters in front of the door which I only suspected were from the guards standing in front of the door.

“Do I ever get a chance to get out of here?” I asked on the third day of me being kept in the room when one of the guards walked in and handed me my food for the day. I was given food twice a day, and that was the only time I set my eyes on someone.

“The alpha didn’t make any such orders. You’re a prisoner in this pack. It’s already strange enough that you’re being treated this way. You can’t possibly be free enough to walk, rogue.” The way he spoke to me with such venom was like a slap to the face.

I would never understand lumping every rogue together into one box of people who thrived on chaos when all we did was try to survive.

“I need to get out of here,” I whispered to myself when the guard walked out. “The festival…”

Of course. Everyone would be too busy celebrating. Maybe they would celebrate so much that they would forget there were rogues around, even for a moment. That would give me enough time and enough noise to fight off the guards without them knowing.

Most importantly, Alpha Darius would be with his pack members.

I drafted out a plan in my head, trying to gauge just how many guards were standing out there everyday.

“When is the red moon festival?” I asked when another guard walked in later that evening to hand me my second food for the day.

“Tomorrow night. Not like you’d participate anyway.”

My heart thudded faster. I had just one day to go over the plan in my head. I took deep breaths, walking back and forth. I looked out of the window and stared down.

I could jump out of the window and shift so I could get a good landing, but that would be riskier. If I didn’t land properly, I could break my bones. Even if I did, I didn’t know what was waiting for me down there on the outside.

I decided to go for my first plan. Attack the guards outside, sneak out, pretend to be a pack member. I was pretty sure they wouldn’t recognize my face as one of the rogues.

I would get out of there.

~

The door opened on the night of the red moon festival, and instead of a guard, Darius walked in.

My heart tightened at the sight of him, betraying me as it remined me of the mate bond that still existed between us. Perhaps it was because I hadn’t seen him in a while, but it felt even stronger now.

I looked away from him so he wouldn’t see how much he affected me. “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be with your pack members at the festival?”

If he decided to stay there for a while, that would put a dent in my plans. I had not calculated this possibility in my escape plot.

“I came here to give you the news. I’ve decided that I cannot possibly have you stay here any longer.”

“And you have decided that…” I waited for him to finish for me. A part of me, though tiny, wanted him to let me go.

“Your execution will be held as soon as tomorrow morning, right after the festival. As soon as the sun rises, my people will see the fate of a rogue who planned to kill their alpha.”

My heart deflated, and I looked down at the sheets.

Tomorrow morning. That only meant I had no other option but to escape tonight. If I didn’t, I would be dead.