003 - RAEL

I can't believe I said that.

This stupid rogue.

I kneel while holding her limp body. Even while unconscious, she still wraps her hands tightly around El.

Her scent... it isn’t like other rogues. There’s something cleaner beneath the blood. Wilder, older.

Klaus hums in the back of my mind, low and intrigued. “She acted like one of us.”

“She’s not one of us. She’s a rogue.”

“Still saved the child and stood up to you.”

A rogue risking her life for someone else. Impossible. It's rare for a rogue alpha to be so… caring.

And this young. What is she? 20?

I haven't received any report of such a young rogue alpha and that's a problem because I know of every rogue alpha in my kingdom.

“My mate.”

“Shut up, Klaus,” I snap at my wolf. “She's not our mate.”

“The hell she isn't!”

My men take a few steps back. Klaus’s aura is extremely aggressive and for the first time ever, I'm having trouble controlling him.

Her scent is making Klaus push closer, pressing against my ribs like he’s trying to claw his way out.

“Control yourself!”

“She's our mate!”

“Well, she's gonna fucking die if you don't control yourself!”

That works instantly.

Judging by his reaction, I throw away the idea of leaving her here and taking only El.

“El, let go of the… lady.”

She looks up at me, still clinging to the girl.

“No.” She burrows deeper into the girl's chest.

“Mine!”

“Klaus, for goddess’s sake, stop snarling in my head.”

“She's hugging our mate!”

“That's our NIECE and SHE'S just seven. Pull yourself together!”

I feel like I'm arguing with a three year old at this point.

“Captain Blake.” The man jogs into view, his uniform darkened with soot and snow. “Hand me the med kit.”

He gets it from another guard and pushes it over, too scared to get closer because of Klaus.

“Report.”

Blake hesitates, eyes darting between the unconscious rogue and the child. “The hunters got away, Your Majesty. Someone tipped them off before our arrival.”

I curse under my breath as I drag the med kit closer and grab an anti silver injection. “Who?”

“No trace yet. But they moved with precision. It felt planned.”

Klaus snarls again, pacing just beneath my skin. “Those fucking hunters!”

“El,” I coax the scared kid. “I need to treat the lady. Get up, please, and go to Captain Blake.”

She does after a few seconds but doesn't go to my captain as expected. Instead, she sits in the snow next to us and holds onto the girl's hand.

Klaus growls, but I ignore him. I give her a jab in her neck and tear the hoodie to observe the wound.

Whatever stabbed her must have been poisoned as I see the telltale signs.

“She needs a proper doctor. We'll drop her off at the hospital in town.” I give her another shot to slow down the poison.

Both El and Klaus yell at me. “No!”

“Stop yelling in my head, both of you!”

“She's coming with us.”

“I'm not taking her with us, Klaus. She's a rogue.”

“She's our mate.”

I let out a breath in frustration, pinching my forehead. How I wish Klaus and I didn't share the same body.

The death stare Elise is giving me tells me that she's on the same page as Klaus. For a kid her age, she's got some serious looks.

“Captain, bring the car round.”

Immediately, he takes off and the others take a few more steps away.

The only sound is the girl’s shallow breathing and Elise’s soft whimper.

I adjust the rogue in my arms, wiping blood from her side. My fingers brush her skin—warm despite the cold. Then something strange happens.

Her blood shimmers faintly under the moonlight, like molten silver mixed with light. For a heartbeat, it glows.

Klaus stills. “That’s not natural.”

“I know.”

It fades as quickly as it came, leaving nothing but the scent of smoke and pine. I tuck her closer to me, the small weight unnervingly grounding.

Elise stares in the direction the wind blows. I can tell it's because it's carrying the same faint scent of jasmine as the girl in my arms. Klaus refuses to let go of her.

“That must be where her camp is. Let's go check it.”

“Klaus, be reasonable. Please.”

“She might need a few of her things since she'll be staying with us.”

Staying with us? Where did that come from?

If it weren't for the fact that I need her to be conscious to reject the mate bond, I would have already rejected her.

“You will do no such thing!!”

Klaus's aura becomes worse. I can hear the wolves behind me whimpering in fear.

“It's rude to eavesdrop.”

“Not when our mate is concerned, idiot!”

“Use your inside voice.”

“The hell I won't,” he snaps back immediately. “Drop the sarcasm."

I let out a deep sigh. This is gonna be a few long days.

What I really want to know is why she's my mate.

I shouldn't have a mate.

Especially not one that's an ordinary werewolf or in my case, a rogue.

I need to speak with my sister. She'll know what to do.

I hear the car arrive and I carry the girl to it, El walking in front of me, still holding the girl's hand. My guards open the doors wordlessly, though I see their confusion.

Elise slips in first and I drop the girl's head gently on her lap.

“Hold her, please?”

She nods solemnly.

After I shut the car door, I inhale deeply, following the faint scent that still lingers on the wind—hers. It pulls me north, deeper into the woods.

“Guard them well,” I tell Blake. “I’ll meet you at the checkpoint.”

“Yes, sire.”

“Also, send word to seal the borders,” I order, my voice steadier than I feel. “No one in or out until I say otherwise. Double the patrols near the northern ridge. They’ll try to circle back.”

“Yes, sire.”

Captain Blake salutes and stands in front of the vehicle with three others while I turn in the direction of her scent.

“See? You're also concerned about her.”

“Shut up, Klaus. I need to be sure she wasn't in league with the hunters that kidnapped El.”

“Are you crazy?!”

Why can't he stop yelling?

I arrive at an abandoned shack that smells strongly of her. I listen for other signs of life.

Nothing.

I walk in and immediately spot her things piled neatly against the wall.

Her things are simply a weathered, brown rucksack that contains some clothes and some cardboard boxes that have been flattened to make a bed.

“How has she been living like this?”

I can't answer Klaus because I am also shocked. I'm literally standing barefoot in joggers, and I can feel a slight cold despite being a Lycan.

I'm finding it hard to imagine that tiny little girl living in a place like this, in the winter. Everything screams of someone surviving, not living.

It’s not the poverty that unsettles me. It’s the order. Every item folded, arranged. A soldier’s discipline,

I notice her tiny boots lying about.

Klaus’s voice came out in a whisper. “I bet she ran out barefoot when she heard Elise's call.”

I let out a deep sigh as I run my hands through my hair. 

This is far from what I imagined.

My chest burns suddenly—a flare of pain that tears through me like wildfire, burning through my ribs like liquid fire.

I freeze as my breath catches. The pain always comes when the moon is this close to full.

“Three more nights,” Klaus murmurs in my head, his voice more pleased than pained. “You can feel her too, can’t you?”

I grit my teeth. “That’s not what this is.”

“No?” His chuckle is deep, dark. “You’re lying to yourself, Rael. The bond stirs the curse. She’s the first thing in years to make your heart feel alive—and you’re terrified of it.”

The words dig in. He’s not wrong, but I won’t admit it.

“She’s a rogue,” I mutter. “And likely a liar.”

“She’s ours.”

“Klaus.”

He goes quiet, but I can feel him pacing inside me, restless and intrigued. He hasn’t been this awake in years.

Born to rule. Destined to die alone.

That's my curse.

I grit my teeth, forcing the agony back into the pit of my ribs and I walk out of the house.

The moonlight filters through the trees, brushing against my skin. It burns faintly—a warning, not a wound.

The curse reminds me it’s waiting, counting down. Three nights until the full moon. Three nights until the pain comes in full.

I exhale slowly, controlling the tremor in my hand as I look up at the moon.

“Rogue or not,” I whisper, “She has complicated everything.”