Chapter Four - Rowan's P.o.V

Alina had already left for work at the pack house by the time I sat up. The basement felt strangely empty without her quiet presence.

I ran a hand over my face and took in the faint scent lingering in the room. My nose caught two things, one nearly gone, the other clinging stubbornly.

The first was the fading trace of rogue that still clung to me like a stain. Weeks of living among my own had made me forget how sharp that scent could be to others, but here, surrounded by the reek of Marcus’s pack, it stood out in my own nostrils. There was something about this pack’s scent that was worse than the usual blend of pine, musk, and fur. It was acrid, almost metallic, like blood left too long in the sun, tangled with the bitterness of old ash.

It was a pack steeped in cruelty.

If I weren’t here for the investigation, I would never have set foot on this land.

I let out a breath and shifted on the narrow bed, my fingers brushing the blanket Alina had given me. Without thinking, I pulled it closer, pressing it to my nose. Her scent, warm, steady, faintly sweet, cut through the foulness clinging to my skin. It steadied me.

But it didn’t change the reality of where I was.

A few days ago, I’d crossed this pack’s border under a masked scent, following a trail of complaints and quiet accusations. Packs loyal to the kingdom had been reporting Marcus’s people for months, claims of illegal hunts, of rogues disappearing after being “welcomed” in. My own scouts had tracked unusual rogue movements near the borders , small groups forming and circling the territory as if testing it.

The kingdom’s law was clear: after the last war, every pack was to open its gates to rogues who sought membership, no questions asked. The rule existed for a reason. Keep the rogues scattered, and they’d never rally. Close your gates, and you risked driving them back into each other’s arms, and then into another war.

Marcus wasn’t just closing his gates. He was setting traps.

I’d found that out firsthand. The day I arrived, I’d stumbled into one of their “games.” Their warriors didn’t hesitate. They came at me in waves, not challenging me like a rogue seeking membership, but driving me like prey. The injuries I carried back here weren’t from a fight for dominance. They were from an ambush meant to end me.

If Alina hadn’t dragged me out of that clearing, I might have bled out in the mud.

I inhaled her scent again, ignoring the stiffness in my ribs. She’d been risking her neck to keep me hidden in a place where hiding anything could get you killed.

In truth, I’d had another reason for coming here besides the hunt investigation. I’d been patrolling the last of the kingdom’s packs, searching for something, someone, I both dreaded and needed to find. My mate.

The curse in my blood left me little choice. I’d covered every other pack’s land over the years. This was the last one. And I’d hoped, gods, I’d hoped, that my mate wouldn’t be here.

Because if she was, it meant she was part of this pack.

The sound of a mind-link sliding into place cut through my thoughts.

“Rowan?”, my Beta Jeremiah’s voice filled my head, tight with urgency. “The Gamma and I are inside the pack house. The rest of the team is spread out in disguise. Where are you?”

“I’m safe, don’t worry,” I replied silently, already asking the question that mattered most. “Have you found any sign of proof of the rumours? Anything we can hold against Marcus?”

His answering growl vibrated through the link.

“Proof? You almost died here. We don’t need proof; we need to burn this place down.”

“We don’t move on an Alpha without cause,” I reminded him. “Rumors and suspicion and my word alone won’t hold. I need evidence.”

As the words left me, a thought struck. Alina could be a witness. She’d seen enough because she had lived through it, and I was certain she’d agree.

“I may already have a witness,” I told him. “Focus on Marcus. Lay low until I tell you to move.”

His reply was a snarl.

“You trust too easily. This witness could hand you over the second you turn your back.”

“She won’t,” I said without hesitation, and I knew that without a doubt.

That’s when I heard it, the creak of footsteps above me. Slow. Heavy.

My jaw tightened.

What is it? Jeremiah asked, his voice flooded with concern.

I didn’t answer. My attention was locked on the sound of the basement door slamming open, followed by the thud of boots on the stairs.

Marcus.

He stood at the bottom step, a line of warriors at his back. His expression was smug, the look of a man who thought he was already holding my throat.

Jeremiah’s voice sharpened.

What’s happening?

I scanned the space. There were too many warriors to take in this narrow room and not enough cover to hide. The only option was to move first.

Marcus opened his mouth to speak, but I didn’t allow him the opportunity.

I struck without hesitation.

The first warrior went down with a snap of my elbow. The second took my shoulder, but I drove him back before he could pin me. I moved fast, faster than any rogue had a right to, and by the time Marcus barked for the others to grab me, I was already past them and sprinting for the corridor.

The shouts behind me grew fainter as I cut through the lower halls, Jeremiah’s voice still trying to push into my head.

Where are you?

Outside, I spotted them, Jeremiah and Nolan, my Gamma, slipping from the shadow of the pack house.

They moved toward me quickly, Jeremiah’s eyes like ice.

“Your witness sold you out. I heard a warrior talking about a woman finding you.”

“No, there’s no way that it’s her.”

I frowned.

He shook his head in disbelief.

“If you want to believe that? Fine. But the moment you trust the wrong person in enemy territory, we’re all dead.”

Nolan glanced between us and cleared his throat awkwardly.

“You’re healed enough to move. We should get out before the cover breaks.”

Jeremiah grunted his agreement.

But unease scraped at my ribs. My wolf was still sealed to hide my identity, but there was a pull in my gut that I couldn’t put my finger on. Something… wrong.

Still, the plan came first.

I fell in behind them, keeping my pace measured as we moved toward the edge of the grounds. The instant we crossed the threshold of the pack house, I released the seal.

The rush of my wolf’s senses hit me like a flood.

And then his voice boomed inside my skull, urgent, raw, undeniable.

"Mate! Our Mate is here!"

I stopped dead in my tracks.

From where we stood, I could hear a voice shouting over the din of the pack’s daily life:

“Let it be known that the rebel Alina will be executed tomorrow at the Moon Goddess Festival by order of our Alpha Marcus!”

Pain tore through my chest so suddenly that it dropped me to one knee. Not just the pain of the mate bond tightening, this was sharper, more visceral, like the start of something breaking inside me.