Two: Sloane

The cold rush of water around me was refreshing, washing away the morning, but it caused my dress to wrap around my legs and restricted my movement. I pulled myself through the hole in the rock wall about six feet down, regretting not stripping out of my dress before diving in, but I didn't want him to get away without getting answers. The dress was slowing me down enough as it was.

It could have been another decade before I saw him again. By then, I would be mated and probably would have been forced to pop out several children for the man my parents had given me to.

Unable to use my legs, I used the rock walls to pull myself through the hole before reaching the other side and surfacing for a large gulp of air. The cave was cold and sent a chill through me as I drug myself from the water, kicking out my drenched skirt.

But when I looked around, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Why did you try to help me?" I called out, lifting the heavy, water-logged skirt as I looked around at the open cavern and the tunnel options.

When he didn't respond, I bit my tongue, staring at the ground to search for a trail, but the small stream of water that ran through each corridor made it impossible.

I was familiar with the first few, having gone down them a time to two. One was a dead end, where the water was sucked down into a natural drain. I wasn't sure where or if it came out somewhere else, and I hadn't searched for it.

My preferred path was the tunnel to the right, leading right out under a beautiful waterfall. It was my favorite place to go, and I started in that direction but paused when I reached the entrance.

It didn't feel right, as if my body knew he hadn't gone down this one.

There was one path further down the cavern that I had never explored due to the sharp edges and the way the hair on the back of my neck stood up just from looking at it. I had been smart enough to avoid that one until now. Today, I was feeling brave.

Stupid because I was ignoring my instincts and chasing after a man, but brave enough to chase him into the ominous tunnel to get my answers.

I don't know why I held my breath as I entered it, carefully avoiding the sharp rocks jutting out. But a few steps in, I relaxed. I was even more relieved to find that after only a few minutes of walking, there was a ladder with a hatch overhead, and I climbed up and pushed it open.

The forest seemed darker here, making me uneasy as it was the middle of the day, and I paused when I saw buildings only a few hundred yards away through the trees. Was this where he lived? A quick glance behind me showed a mountain to my back, and I swallowed hard as I realized if anything went wrong, my only way back to my pack would be to make it to the tunnel or a three-day walk around the mountains.

Lifting my chin, I marched forward, only slowing when I realized it wasn't just one building. It was a town.

A town filled with rogues whose attention immediately turned to me as I stepped out of the tree line.

I didn't see their Alpha anywhere, but that didn't mean he wasn't here. He should have only been a minute or two ahead of me.

"What's a pretty little thing like you doing in a place like this?" A raspy voice called out, and I jumped, lifting my hands to prepare to fight as I spun to my left to face the balding middle-aged man.

He must have been a rogue for most of his life based on his scars, the several missing teeth, and the malnourished look about him.

I opened my mouth to speak, to demand to see his Alpha, but was interrupted by another voice.

"It doesn't matter what brought her here, but it would be rude not to make her feel welcome." The second man was bigger than the first, with unkempt blond hair that fell to his shoulders and a smile that promised my 'welcome' would be anything but.

"I demand to speak to your Alpha." I lifted my chin and took one step back to put more space between us as the blond man stopped his approach toward me to laugh.

"Darlin', don't you know?" He asked with a sneer as I moved away again. My breath caught when I bumped into a warm body. The smell of onions oozed from their every pour, and my stomach rolled when I realized just how bad of an idea this was. "We're rogues. We don't have an Alpha."

An arm looped around my waist, lifting me from the ground. I shrieked, my legs flailing as he walked me into the town, gathering a larger audience of smirking and cheering men.

"Put me down!" My nails extended, as did my teeth, and I clawed at his arm just to have him tighten his hold on me.

"Gladly," He grunted before throwing me forward. I raised my arms to catch myself, but I wasn't fast enough and collided with the base of a dried-out fountain in what appeared to be the center of their town. My chin hit the cement, and hot liquid dripped from my newly split lip.

While he had let me go, I wasn't free. A quick glance up confirmed that I was surrounded, and the feeling of the top layer of my skirt being ripped away from my body from behind sent a cold chill of fear through me.

"Stop!" I spun around, and the man behind me grabbed my forearms to prevent me from swinging at him, but it didn't stop my knee from slamming up between his legs.

"You little bitch!" The balding man cried as he hunched forward, releasing me just enough that I could rip my arms away from him.

The blond was the next to lunge at me, and I relied on my years of training as I used his weight against him and sent him face-first into the concrete where I had just been.

My chest heaved, and my heart pounded quickly in my chest as I looked around like a cornered, wounded animal. There weren't any openings in the crowd for me to push my way through, and I couldn't fight off eight grown men alone.

"That is enough!" A woman's voice called out. It was strong and full of authority, making my eyes widen as the men all took a few steps away from me.

Maybe I had been wrong. Perhaps the man who had saved my life twice now wasn't their leader.

Maybe she was.

"She's off limits!" The woman roared, moving to stand before me, and met each man's stare as she did so.

"Says who?" The blond groaned as he stood and wiped his hand under his nose, smearing his blood across the skin.

"Me." The familiar deep voice of the man I had been chasing caused the others to dip their heads, and I bit back a smirk. I had been right. He was their Alpha, even if they didn't consider themselves to be a pack.

I shivered, wanting to blame the wind for my reaction, but it had been the sound of his voice that had triggered it.

Twice I had heard it now, and each time, it had sent a shock of pleasure through me.

He moved forward, the crowd parting for him as he glared down at me, stopping only a few inches away.

"Get lost!" He roared to his people, glancing at them momentarily before returning his deadly grey eyes to me. His raw power almost sent me to my knees in submission, but I kept my chin up. I was the daughter of a true Alpha, and I would submit to no one.

The men dispersed as the woman scowled and muttered, "We really need to do something about them."

As the square cleared of my assailants and the horrified onlookers, I had to resist the urge to step forward and lean into his warmth.

"That makes three, Firefly." He growled, his hand wrapping around my bicep, and I gasped as he began to drag me back out of the town and toward the base of the mountain. "You shouldn't be here."

I scoffed. That much was clear. Did my father know there was a direct path from a town of rogues right to our border? He couldn't do much about it since it wasn't on our land, but he should at least be aware of the possible threat to our people.

"I needed to talk to you," My reasoning felt weak now. Had it mattered why I had been following him?

I had been impulsive and stupid and followed a man I didn't know, a rogue no less, into an unexplored tunnel because I wanted to know his name, why he didn’t kill me, and where he got the name firefly from… even though I did feel my body warm when he said it.

I could have very easily just rolled over and let him gut me back at the pond. It would have been a lot less work.

"That was foolish!" He snarled, taking me deeper into the trees, and I looked over my shoulder to see the woman stopping to stand guard at the edge of town with her back to us.

Was she with him?

As I stumbled over a branch, I forced my eyes away from her and shook the thought away. It didn't matter if he was with another woman. I didn't even know him. As attractive as he may be, he was still a rogue, and I was still about to be forced to mate with another man.

"Why did you save me?" I asked again, and this time he glared down at me.

"Why do you keep putting yourself in positions that require you to be saved?" The amused smirk he had sent me back at the pond was gone, and in its place was pure anger. I had no response for him because he had a point. My impulsiveness had always been an issue.

He released my arm from his hold as we approached the hatch I had crawled out of only minutes before.

I looked up at him and backed away as he bent down and opened it.

"Get in." He snapped as he stood back up and saw me moving away. I wasn't going to run, and I think he knew that. There was nowhere safe to go here, and I would have to return home soon if I didn't want my parents to send out a search party for me.

"I didn't think I would need to be saved!" I snapped, stepping back into the base of a tree as he stalked toward me like a predator hunting its prey until he had me caged in.

"I didn't think you would be stupid enough to follow me!" His breathing was just as hard as mine, and I tilted my head back to look into his eyes. How had I been so scared of this man only an hour ago?

He sounded so angry, and I expected him to continue to yell at me, but he didn't. His eyes were locked on my throbbing, split lip, and I gasped as he moved closer. His delicious smell surrounded me as he caged me against the bark with his broad and muscular form.

"Go home, Firefly. I'll meet you at the water tomorrow." His nose brushed against mine as he spoke, and I gasped in surprise as his tongue gently traced my bottom lip, cleaning the blood away.