First Rogues Recruits

Chapter 031

 First Rogue Recruits

The ruins of the cabin still smoked behind us when we left.

I didn’t look back. Not because it didn’t hurt because if I did, I might lose the thin thread of control I had left. My wolf prowled just under my skin, pressing against the surface, eager to rip apart whoever had done this.

Caleb kept his pace steady beside me, his eyes scanning the treeline for movement. We hadn’t spoken since we saw the tracks. Whoever they were, they’d come in numbers, and they’d been organized. That wasn’t random.

Sylvia’s hand was all over it.

No Home to Return To

By the time the trees thinned and the slope leveled out, my muscles burned from the climb. I leaned on my knees, catching my breath, the cold air burning in my lungs.

“We can’t stay in one place anymore,” Caleb said. “Not unless we have numbers.”

I straightened, meeting his gaze. “Numbers we don’t have.”

He studied me. “We can get them.”

I knew what he meant. And I knew the risk. Rogues weren’t just wolves without a pack they were wolves with something broken inside them. Outcasts, deserters, those who had been banished for crimes or defiance. Dangerous, unpredictable… and exactly the kind of wolves who had nothing left to lose.

The Decision

By the time we reached the frozen river, my decision had settled like stone in my chest.

“We find the Seal,” I said. “And we build a force to protect it.”

Caleb’s brow arched. “You’re talking about recruiting rogues.”

“I’m talking about surviving.”

He didn’t argue. Which told me he’d already decided the same thing.

The First Contact

It took us two days to track the first lead an abandoned quarry a few miles north, where rumor said a rogue camp had taken root.

When we got close, the scent hit me wolf, unwashed and wild, layered with smoke and meat gone slightly bad. A warning.

Caleb raised his hand. “From here on, let me talk first.”

I gave him a flat look. “You think I can’t handle rogues?”

“I think rogues might be less likely to put a knife in you if they don’t think you’re a threat right away.”

I let that sit for a moment. Then: “We’ll see.”

The Quarry Wolves

The camp was nothing more than a cluster of tents and tarps strung between rusting machinery. Wolves lounged near the fire, some in human form, others half-shifted, eyes glinting amber in the dim light.

One of them a massive male with a scar running down his cheek rose when he saw us. He was shirtless despite the cold, his breath steaming in the air.

“You’re a long way from any pack territory,” he said, voice low and rough.

“We’re not here for trouble,” Caleb replied.

“That so?” The scarred wolf’s eyes flicked to me. His nostrils flared, and something sharp crossed his expression. “She smells like an Alpha.”

My wolf bristled. We are an Alpha, she whispered.

“I smell like me,” I said.

He grinned, showing teeth. “Dangerous either way.”

Negotiation

Caleb explained quickly too quickly for my taste that we were looking for allies, that we had something worth protecting, that there’d be a place for those willing to stand against the packs.

The wolves listened, some with interest, others with open hostility. The scarred one Garrick, as we learned never took his eyes off me.

Finally, he spoke. “You want rogues to follow you, you prove you’re worth following.”

I met his stare without flinching. “What did you have in mind?”

The Challenge

It wasn’t a fight to the death. But it was close.

We squared off in the dirt near the fire, the ring of onlookers closing in. My wolf pushed forward eagerly, claws itching under my skin. Garrick shifted halfway, muscles bunching under fur, teeth bared.

The first hit rattled my bones. He was stronger than I expected, faster too. But I was faster still, and my wolf and I moved as one dodge, strike, twist, slash.

By the time it was over, I had him on his back, my claws pressed lightly to his throat. My breathing was harsh, my blood singing with the fight.

“You want an Alpha?” I said. “You just found one.”

The First Recruits

When Garrick pushed to his feet, there was no resentment in his eyes only respect. He gave me a sharp nod.

“Three of us will come,” he said. “For now.”

It wasn’t much. But it was a start.

Firelight Oaths

That night, we stayed in the quarry. Around the fire, Garrick told me his story banished for refusing an Alpha’s order to kill a human. Another rogue, a wiry woman named Miri, had been driven out for stealing food from the pack stores during a famine.

They were broken in different ways. But they were also sharp, quick, and utterly unbound by the rules that shackled pack wolves.

Exactly what I needed.

The First Step of Many

As the fire burned low and the others drifted into sleep, Caleb caught my eye.

“This is dangerous,” he said quietly.

“So is breathing,” I replied.

I lay back, staring at the cold stars. The Seal. The rogues. Sylvia. Dax.

The storm inside me had changed. It wasn’t just rage anymore. It was direction

We were no longer just surviving.

We were building something.