Page 115 of Fated to the Rogue

“Hmm…I think it’d be cool to go somewhere tropical someday.”

“Like those islands with paradisiacal beaches?” I nodded. “Interesting. I think I’d like to go somewhere really cold, with snow-covered landscapes, you know? Imagine seeing the Northern Lights dance in the sky. Pretty cool, huh?”

“Yeah.” A smile played on my lips before. It was sweet to fantasize about our future together. And in doing so, a question suddenly crossed my mind. “And, uh…” I cleared my throat. “What about pups?”

“Pups?” Just from her tone, I could sense her startlement. It wasn’t long before she started to relax though. “I wanna have three.”

“Three?” I turned to look at her.

“What? Is that too many or too few?”

Again, I smiled. “I think it’s perfect.” Leaning closer, I gave her a long, yet delicate kiss. When I pulled away, I sat back up. “Well,ma chérie…” As I rose to my feet, I offered her my hand to help her do the same. “There’s one last thing I wanna do before we call it a day.”

I let go of her to reach for my laptop. It took me less than a second to find a file I had previously downloaded. As soon as I hit play, the songTake Me DancingbyThe Mainestarted playing. It was one of my favorites, and it had become one of Valentina’s too.

“Wait...what…” A cheerful grin lit up my mate’s face as she realized what was happening.

“May I have this dance, my Luna?”

She giggled as she took my hand. I led her towards our grassy dancefloor, where we could enjoy each other’s company, and pulled her closer to my chest. My grip was firm around her waist, while both of her arms wrapped around my neck. Thankfully, the instrumental introduction of the song was pretty long, which gave us enough time to prepare before the lyrics came in. We twirled and spun around, never taking our eyes off each other as we danced together in the dandelions. When the chorus started, I playfully mouthed the words at my mate.

“You’re so silly,” she whispered against my lips, her smile growing wider.

“Yet you love me,” I stated in all seriousness.

When our lips crashed, there was no war, no problems, no fear. We enjoyed every single second of the song until it came to an end. Not ready to dive back into reality yet, we kept slow dancing to no music for a while.

No matter what came next, I was grateful that we got to share this moment.

38 | Dark

My night with Valentina had been amazing. During the brief hours when we were out in the dandelion fields, we both managed to live in a world where there was no danger. However, the lingering feeling that our bubble of happiness would soon burst was always there, in the back of my mind. Somewhere inside me, I couldn’t deny that the calm wouldn’t last, and the breeze of hope would soon be replaced by a raging storm.

It was around ten when we reluctantly returned to our room. Tina was so tired that she passed out in my arms almost immediately; I, on the other hand, wasn’t as lucky. No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t shut my wide open eyes. I feared that, if I lowered my guard, someone would come to take her away from me. Dawn shared my anxiety, never ceasing her pacing in circles in my mind. It was almost as if we could sense that things would take a tragic turn sooner than later.

I wanted to be wrong so badly, but when the emergency alarm sounded, waking up the entire pack house, I knew I was right.

My mate, who had been peacefully asleep, instantly jolted awake beside me. It took her less than a second to realize what was going on. I was surprised to see her golden eyes shine with determination as she turned to me. She gave my hand areassuring squeeze and we both got up to leave the room in a rush.

As prepared as I was, I still felt my stomach flip when I found the pack in a panic. The atmosphere was heavy, and there were wolves running everywhere. I took a deep breath, scanning the crowd in search of my friends as soon as I stepped outside. A breath of relief broke through my lips when I saw Malin gathering the warriors in front of the main building. Zach stood beside him, revising war strategies, while Alex worked together with my mom to guide the members who couldn’t fight towards the safety bunkers.

Never letting go of my Luna’s hand, I turned to face my men with my sternest expression. “This is not a drill. The war has reached us!” Every single one of the wolves standing before me went silent to listen to me. “You have trained vigorously for this moment, and you are prepared. Do not back down! The pack is relying on you. Will you fail them?”

“No, Alpha!” they answered without hesitation. As tense as the situation was, their readiness helped calm my nerves.

“Good. Now, let’s go out there and protect our home!”

“Yes, Alpha!”

In the blink of an eye, torn pieces of fabric flew through the air as hundreds of beasts took over my men’s bodies. Malin had already shifted, and he led the army into the battlefield with Talon in the back. I watched as Alex’s gray wolf, Bellona, together with my father’s dark brown counterpart, Ebert, joined the others.

Suddenly, the smell of freshly spilled blood hit my nostrils, bringing me back to reality. There was no time to lose. I glanced at Tina one last time, and we both nodded at each other in encouragement and comfort before shifting. We didn’t need to waste words, as we had already said everything we wanted to say the previous night.

Our wolves sprinted through the grass, catching up to the rest of the army in no time. When we were feet away from our borders, we came across the sentinels who were on duty. They managed to slow the rogues down, but they had gotten badly injured. I gestured for them to retreat, while the front line promptly took their places.

“I contacted Alpha Sanders. He’s on his way with backup.” Malin’s voice echoed through my head, and I realized that Mint was on my right.

“And I talked to the guards.” Zach’s voice followed, as Talon jumped to our left. “They told me that at least 50 Fallen were caught by the new traps we placed. They avoided the ones they knew about, but it still forced them to split up and look for new entrances.”

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