Page 85 of Fated to the Rogue

“Well, that’s not too hard. Every time it happened, at least one of us was in wolf form. Last time with the rogue, both our wolves were out at the same time, so that could be a requirement.”

“Makes sense,” I agreed. “We were also either conflicted or afraid in most cases. Maybe we projected these visions to each other as a call for help. But more importantly, all the times it happened were when we-”

“When we had our eyes closed,” Tina concluded. “Let’s start off with that.”

Our wolves nodded at each other before taking a few steps back and turning around. Dawn closed her eyes, and we stood there, completely in the dark, for a good few seconds until we realized that we were doing something wrong.

“Zephyr.”

“Yes?”

“If we both close our eyes, neither of us will see a thing!” My mate’s laughter echoed inside my head.

“Oh. Right. Sorry.” I cleared my throat, trying to hide my embarrassment. “You go first, then. Close your eyes and tell me what I’m seeing.”

I waited anxiously for her response, just as curious to know if our first attempt at it was going to work. It seemed like it wasn’t going to work, but then I heard Valentina’s voice again.

“There’s a brown bird…a robin? It’s about 15 feet away, hopping between the dandelions, and…it’s gone.”

“Yep. It just took flight!” I had to admit I was a little skeptical at first, but hearing her describe exactly what Dawn was seeing was nothing short of extraordinary - magical, even. “Good job, sunrise.”

“Awesome! Your turn now,” my mate cooed, at the same time that her male wolf barked excitedly.

“What should I do?”

“Just try to clear your mind and focus on Dusk. He’s supposed to be you, so just be you.”

Taking her advice, I told Dawn to close her eyes. The whole time, I tried my best to concentrate on seeing through Dusk’s perspective. At first, there was only darkness, as I couldn’t figure out exactly how to reach out to my real wolf-self. Instead of trying to analyze and understand the process, I eventually decided to simply stop overthinking. Next thing I knew, I could see again, even though my she-wolf’s eyes were still closed.

“You’re admiring the view you’ve loved from the moment you came here,” I told her, unable to hold back a smile.

“Yes! You did it too!” my mate cheered while Dusk howled in joy. “You know what? Learning with you makes this a lot less scary.”

“I’ll always be with you, my sunrise,” I reassured her. At the same time, Dawn approached her mate, rubbing her muzzle against his chest in a wolfish hug. “Wanna practice some more?”

“Yeah!” Tina giggled.

The hour flew by as we tried to connect with our individual wolves to better understand our newly-discovered skill. Training our special ability - well, at least the one we already knew about - was actually quite interesting. However, it was also very draining. By the time we decided to call it a day, we both had headaches. Agreeing that it would be best not to overdo ourselves on our first try, we returned to the pack house to dine. Once we were done, we headed straight to our room.

I was glad that we were learning how to use our special abilities, but there was something more important I needed to focus on for the time being. We were just about to meet the Alpha of the last pack standing between us and the Fallen, and if we convinced him to form an alliance with us, it could change everything.

???

“Are you ready for this, man?” Malin asked, rolling the limo’s windows down to let some fresh air in.

“For another ‘no,’ you mean? Yeah. I think I’ve gotten pretty good at nailing those kinds of failures,” I replied, half-joking.

“Let’s not forget that we managed to get a deal with a large pack from Galensoles, and an alliance with Sapphire Pond,” my Luna recalled. “Just stay positive.”

“We also have two of their high ranking females mated to our Beta and Gamma. I’m afraid we’ve run out of single men to help us close a deal.” My joke earned me a punch in the arm from my mate.

The day following my private training with Valentina, we woke up early in the morning to get dressed in formal clothes and get moving. Since Raven Woods Pack was located just pastour territory’s northern border, it only took us about 20 minutes to get there.

Raven Woods was about the same size as Wind Howlers used to be before the merge. They also had almost the exact same number of members. Alpha Nolan, their leader, used to have an alliance with us, but he terminated it when he found out about me being paired with a female wolf. He was quite honest when he said he thought that made our pack weak, and that he needed to direct his resources towards finding stronger allies. Knowing that the Fallen would attack his lands sooner or later, he was just as worried as I had been.

As soon as we hopped out of the limousine, we walked past a couple of cottages before we made it to the packhouse. It was very modern with rounded edges and its snow white and midnight blue color scheme, though what truly made the building stand out was its many glass walls.

Alpha Nolan was already waiting for us at the entrance with his Beta by his side. He was wearing a tired expression, which led me to believe that he had his hands full with the preparations for a war he’d soon have to fight. After a long sigh, I forced a smile as I stepped forward to greet them.

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