Page 106 of Fated to the Rogue

As I carefully listened to the witch’s every word, my eyes were fixated on the scene playing around me. I managed to count nine rogues in total, all of which never left their animal form. Some of them were chasing small prey or gnawing on the bones of their fresh kill, while others were sleeping. Two of them were up and alert, seemingly patrolling the area.

Exactly one minute later, the particles dispersed, disappearing as though they had never been there. It was too soon; I wanted to see more. But like Cass said, it was enough to at least answer the most important question.

“So, this truly was a Fallen camp.” When my eyes darted to the witch, I was sure they were filled with concern. “You said they were here 12 hours ago?”

“Maybe less,” my Gamma’s voice caught my attention. He was crouching beside a rabbit carcass, carefully examining it. After rubbing his index finger over one of the open wounds of the carcass, he brought it closer to his different colored eyes. “Blood’s still a vivid red on this one. It’s probably been dead for three hours at max.”

His observation only added to my wariness. “We need to scout the area and make sure none of them are around anymore. Malin and Zach, you two stay together. Going in pairs willprevent us from being easy targets.” They promptly nodded at my command. “Cass, come with me and Tina.”

“Yes, Alpha!” She saluted me mockingly. Even after living with wolves for two weeks, she still found our customs way too funny.

Fighting back a sigh of reproval, I turned to my friends again. “You take north, we’ll take south. Meet us back here when you’re done. If you find anything, howl.”

I watched my men free their beasts and disappear between the tall trees. After exchanging one last glance with my mate, we did the same. Cass followed closely behind us as we carefully traversed the forest, but she wasn’t nearly as cautious as we were; being a centuries-old witch, she probably knew how to take care of herself.

Half-an-hour into our search, we hadn’t been able to find anything relevant. We set off a few more traps, and spotted traces of scentless blood sprinkled over the grass, which suggested that the Fallen rogues likely fought amongst themselves. Sadly, nothing we came across helped us understand what they had been doing here, or where they had gone after abandoning their camp. It was a dead-end.

Or so I thought, until a sharp howl cut through the wind.

“Talon!” I immediately identified the voice of my Gamma’s wolf. Tina’s black beast turned to Dawn with wide eyes, hearing me through the mindlink. “We have to get to them!”

“Wait, where are you going?!” Cass shouted behind us as we bolted in the direction the sound had come from. I couldn’t afford to shift to explain what was going on. She seemed to understand that, as she quickly started running after us.

Never ceasing her movement, Dawn pointed her head to the sky to let out a yowl, letting our friends know we were on our way. I couldn’t tell how much time had gone by as we dodged the trunks and boulders blocking our path until we finally madeit to our destination. There, I was shocked to find Mint and Talon trying to defend themselves against four dirty beasts, all standing at least six inches taller than them.

My friends’ wolves both had a few superficial wounds, but that didn’t keep them from snarling fiercely as they backed away, trying to keep a good distance from their savage opponents. They knew they were at a disadvantage, and so did the rogues. Reading the body language of one of the creatures, I realized it was about to pounce on Mint, and the rest of his crew would surely follow.

Without thinking twice, Dawn lunged at the attacker, sinking her teeth deep into his neck. Dusk soon appeared beside her, keeping the other creatures away to allow her to return to safety after injuring one of the bastards. Growls were heard, but they stayed back, giving me a moment to think.

“What are we doing here, man? Fighting or retreating?” Malin’s voice echoed in my head. He had opened his connection to the three of us simultaneously, making it easier for us to communicate.

“It’s four on four,” I observed, but I immediately cursed myself for making such a statement so quickly. It didn’t take long for two other scentless beasts to jump into view from behind the dense foliage of the forest. Three more followed. “Shit!”

“Zephyr, we need to go! There’s no way to know how many more of them there are!” Tina was right. Cass’ spell showed us nine rogues living in the camp, but there could be more; we weren’t able to see everything in one minute.

“We can lead them straight to the traps in our borders,” Zach suggested. “That way, we can get rid of them while possibly avoiding direct confrontation.”

“Alright. Retreat!” I ordered as Dawn’s gaze focused on my friends. “Hide your scents with the wind to slow them down!Malin, link our warriors! Make sure they are ready to fight should we need their help!”

“On it, Alpha.” Mint nodded, waiting for me to lead the way.

Through my she-wolf’s eyes, I scoured my surroundings in search of Cass; I couldn’t leave her out here with those hungry beasts. It was foolish of me to think she needed rescuing.

“Lux quae excaecat!” Dawn raised her ears as we heard the witch’s unintelligible words, only to find the crazy woman sitting on her back. The next second, a blinding light took over the area, stunning the enemies for a moment. “Come on, wolfie, run! Now!”

Dawn blinked a few times to focus her vision again. With another powerful howl, she signaled for our friends to follow us as we dashed towards our territory. Once we identified which direction the wind was blowing, we ran in its same course, making it harder for our pursuers to track us. Aside from giving us a speed boost, the strong breeze also carried our scent with us instead of blowing it behind us, as what would have happened if we had decided to run against it.

At full speed, it took us less than 15 minutes to make it to our territory. Dawn slowed down, allowing Talon to run ahead of us so he could lead us safely between the traps. Our sentinels were all in position, as were the majority of our warriors - hopefully, if my Gamma’s plan worked, we wouldn’t need them.

Running further into the territory, we stopped beside our army to catch our breath. We were at an advantage now; all we had to do was wait. Only a few seconds later, the first four rogues marched into our territory, getting in range of the alarm traps. The high-pitched sound forced them to stop at once, causing them to drop to the ground, stunned.

The other five rogues who were falling behind were lucky enough to not be affected by the magical trap. We watched as they avoided coming near the source of the sound, taking adifferent route. A grin lit up my she-wolf’s face as she anticipated what would happen. By dodging one of our traps, they fell right into another one - the wildfire circles. It was fascinating to watch the green flames magically rise to the night skies, trapping the enemies in a fire vortex.

I began to relax, only to realize it was still too soon to celebrate. After two minutes of peace, another dozen Fallen appeared on the horizon. Followed by another. And another. More of them fell into our traps, but some managed to get past them. Dawn and Dusk started growling at the enemies coming in our direction, while the other wolves around them took a step back, horrified. I was worried too, of course, but I needed to be strong to ensure the safety of my pack.

“There weren’t just nine of them…” my best friend observed. “This might be their entire army.”

“Malin, send the front line in to contain their advance! I want the emergency unit in the back to weaken them!” I ordered, watching as Mint quickly recomposed himself. With a single howl, the warriors promptly followed him. “Zach, I want you to contact the rest of our sentinels, check if there are rogues coming from any other directions. Once you’re done, join us!”

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