Chapter 2

Blind spots were present in every protected zone. Only a few people figured out how to find the blind area. They could enter and exit the zone without being seen by employing that blind spot. She took advantage of them every time for her personal gain. It was safe to learn how to get in and out of place for someone like her, who was being pursued by over a dozen packs. When the place was crawling with Enforcers twenty-four hours a day, it wasn’t easy to avoid being detained. When you’re a rogue, you get a lot of benefits that you wouldn’t get if you were in a pack.

She came to a standstill at the word “pack.” It was a strange word to her. If she remembered correctly, everyone was on the lookout for her at any given a chance. Some people wished for her death. Some people wanted her to live. It was all a matter of perspective.

Despite this, she slipped by them like a ghost. That was the extent of her evasion. Nobody noticed her until it was too late. She kept a low profile until it was time to show up.

She preferred to leave Kingsley’s territory for good at this point. Mira lingered in the area for much longer than she had expected. The violent Alpha of the Southern Werewolves Pack was Cohen Kingsley. He was dubbed “vicious” for various reasons, including his ability to capture rogues alive. All feared the Alpha. Except for her. Mira grinned a little at the prospect, considering she hadn’t met the Alpha before.

That would change tonight.

One more task to complete.

She pondered.

Mira sighed in contempt when she realized her duty required her to enter the pack’s boundaries. This was not going as she had hoped. A few nights ago, a couple in their mid-forties hired her through a local contact to find their missing sons who hadn’t returned home after a weekend camping with some friends the week before. The story of the lost boys was broadcast on the news channel of the Werewolf’s Council. Werewolves indeed had their own news channel.

# Mira’s memory

She pushed the tip of her knife against his throat, saying, “Give me a reason why I shouldn’t kill you right now.”

“Please don’t injure him,” pleaded the woman next to him. “We were on the lookout for you.”

“You’ve discovered me now.” It’s time to get out of here before something horrible happens. This location isn’t very welcoming to werewolves.”

Between pack members and a rogue, there was a distinct aroma. Mira never cared to figure out how it worked, but everyone noticed the difference.

“Please, we require your assistance. You’re the one person who can help us find our lost boys.” She was about to leave when the man intervened.

Mira sighed and continued walking away. She’d gotten her fill for the evening. The rain started to fall. She strolled over to the bridge, where several homeless people slept in tents. The homeless ran to their tents, seeking refuge from the heavy downpours.

“Hope, hope, hope. Always with hope,” Mira said as she came to a halt and turned around to face the couple who had come to a halt.

“Please assist us. This is all we’ve got,” the woman said, handing a cheque and some jewelry to Mira.

“Can you tell me where they were last seen?”

“Paul Street,” the man said. “About twenty kilometers north of the street, I tracked their scents.”

Mira began to think quickly as a result of this. There was an industrial district north of Paul Street. An abandoned gold mining tunnel collapsed nearly five years ago, killing more than a dozen miners. Mira was aware that the tunnel had not completely collapsed. Yes, the exits. However, the rest of the tube spiraled deeper underground, some still in fair shape. She was aware of it since someone had dug another entry in secret. The vampires were now using the tunnel as an underground thoroughfare, but the pair was unaware of this.

Paul Street was twenty kilometers north. That was dangerously near to the hidden entryway.

#

Mira discovered that they had already filed two missing person reports with the local station since they couldn’t get support from a pack because they were rogues. That was one of the disadvantages of being a rogue. The parents resorted to hiring an outlaw because there was no report of the missing pups’ location—especially someone with her skill level in carrying out their bids at the right price. Someone never offered a courtesy like this for free. In the world of the outlaws, nothing was free. It took her three days to find the pups who had gone missing. It turned out that they were being held captive by a vampire inside the tunnel’s room.

The kidnapper was stronger than the captives but not as strong as Mira was.

After a long struggle, she was able to kill her captor. At the first opportunity, the puppies ran out the door. They assumed she was coming to murder them as well. That’s how they got her into this mess in the first place.

Rogue rogue

Mira dashed outside the pack’s patrolling boundary, checking her left and right to make sure she hadn’t attracted the attention of the patrolling teams. She didn’t want another problem to add to the one she was already dealing with. She could see where the two young rogues were going because of her improved vision. The Alpha himself was pursuing them. It made her even more enraged. The night could come to a peaceful conclusion. She tried for weeks to stay away from the Alpha. Because of them, she was going to go neck-and-neck with him.

If the two rogues were to die, her reward would be forfeited.

She didn’t need the money, but in this society, it was better to be prepared for everything.

What was the most effective method of entry?

Sending the Alpha to a tree.

That didn’t seem like such an awful idea a minute ago. It was apparent to Mira that it was a horrible idea. How did she think about it? Why would she think sending the Alpha across the yard was such a brilliant idea? She had trouble understanding how her own mind worked at times. It never failed to astound her with its ability to generate troubling notions.

The Alpha leaped to his feet and lunged at her, but she flung her dagger at him, which fell inches from his front leg.

“Stay where you’re at, boys,” Mira said emphatically. Her gaze stayed fixed on the Alpha. “As much as I’d like to, I don’t want to spill any blood tonight.”

The Alpha stood up on all fours, growled, and pointed his long, pointy canines in her direction. She drew her two silver daggers as she braced herself for the Alpha’s lunge.

That was the ideal way to start her sleepless night: neck-to-neck with someone she had sworn she would avoid at all costs. Her own wolf had died for an unexplained reason. Thus an Alpha’s snarl did not affect her. Something lethal replaced her dead wolf. Mira did everything she could to hold it at bay.

Mira mentally calculated how long it would take him to attack her.

One, two, three, four, five, six, and seven…

She walked away at the count of seven. An Alpha would never assault someone after waiting more than five seconds. For some reason, he remained fixed to his ground until she looked into his wolf’s eyes. The huntress with the red hair frowned. His pitch dark eyes told her something she didn’t want to happen anytime soon. It had to be him out of all the individuals she could think of. He was one of the thousands of werewolves on the planet. This was outside her authority, and it wasn’t anything she had hoped for. It isn’t possible at this time. Not when her life was as tumultuous as the chaos in her head.

She looked over her shoulder at the two terrified rogues. “Are you two doing okay?”

The young rogues weren’t in the best of health. From head to toe, they were covered in bruises and cuts. The stench of their clothing was enough to sink her six feet beneath the ground. It smelled like rotting carcasses, dried blood, and feces. Three smells should never be combined in a single sentence since it would signal doom.

“What are your plans?” one of them asked.

What was she going to do with herself? It was a simple question. There were many things she could do right now that didn’t involve going to war with this pack. With the current bounty on her head and another load on her back, she’d had enough. She preferred to stay away from war.

Mira required an escape plan and, subsequently, a restful night’s sleep. That was an excellent strategy.

Her gaze swept the area, assessing the Enforcers and their Alpha. It was impossible to knock them out. It was just her against them because there were so many of them. She couldn’t expect the two rogues would assist her. They wouldn’t have steered her into this mess if they could.

Should she give up? The day the hell froze over would be the day she gave up. She still had a lot of unfinished matters.

There were a lot of things she despised doing. It was one of those instances. The most depressing and tedious chore was figuring a route out of a problem. Mira got a headache from overthinking. She expected to get this far, but she didn’t anticipate encountering a roadblock along the way.

Mira heard waves slamming against something just in time. She was fascinated by the sound, trying to figure out what the waves were crashing into. It couldn’t just be a regular beach. No, the smashing noise was far too loud—protruding rocks, perhaps.

The grand entrance was followed by the grand exit.

Smirking, the redheaded huntress saluted the pack, “Goodbye, boys.”

She quickly gathered the two rogues and jumped off the ledge. Although death was unavoidable, she had faith in her crazy ass plan because none of them was impaled by the rocks. Instead, the waves overwhelmed them and pushed them down the surface. They coughed heavily and swam to the shore after emerging from the saltwater.

“You’re insane,” remarked the smaller rogue to her.

Because of the chill of the water, the two rogues shook. Mira laughed as she lay on the beach, gazing up at the stars. They should look at her lifestyle if they think jumping off the cliff was crazy. It was a ten-fold increase in the insanity. The word ‘insane’ was insufficient to describe her way of life.

“Well, that did the trick.” She grasped her hair and lightly squeezed it. “You’re no longer in his territory. So he’s no longer able to pursue you.”

“Who are you?” the taller rogue asked.

“Someone who wanted to kill both of you,” Mira responded while giving them a deadly glare.

They took a deep breath before she laughed again. Her twisted humor always got her the laughs she needed.

The redheaded huntress reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out a car key. She tossed it to the taller rogue. “There’s a car waiting about two minutes from here. Both of your parents are looking forward to seeing you.”

“We appreciate your help.” They hurried away from the scene with a nod.

Mira sat there for a long, gazing up at the cliff’s overhang. She discovered the Alpha standing on the ledge, staring down at her. The moonlight shone brightly on his wolf’s body. It reminded her of the paint she had seen earlier in the day in town.

With the full moon as a backdrop, a painting of a dangerous wolf stood at the edge of the cliff.

It was a beautiful painting, and it was even more lovely to see it in person.

Before Mira turned her heels, they had another direct eye contact. A black Ducati 899 motorcycle was waiting for her on the main road.

Mira remembered the moment her body clashed with the Alpha’s along the way. On the contact, she sensed a spark. Not to mention the way his gaze was drawn to her. But it was Alpha Cohen Kingsley who spent his time hunting rogues, and she herself was a rogue. Let alone the fact that she had rescued two rogues from his safe haven. That would make him enraged.