LOUISA IS DEAD

ROWAN.

It is the voices that lull me to consciousness.

At first, they are just murmurs, indecipherable sounds that just hover over me and then they become clearer.

“I think she is coming around.”

“What? How do you know that?”

“I saw her hand just twitch. There! It did it again. Did you see it?”

“Really? hi! Hello, can you bear me? Can you try and open your eyes? Hello?”

Several gentle taps on my face later and I manage to squint my eyes open.

The first thing I notice is that I can see.

Whatever it was that Dominic had Clarisse put in my food must have worn off. My eyes are so clear that I have to turn away from the shining rays of the sun.

The second thing I notice is the pain.

Turning my head from the direction of the sun causes shafts of immense pain to run through my body, ripping out a strangled groan from me.

“Ugh,” I groan as I try to take in a deep but measured breath.

“Hey, hey, hey. I wouldn't move if I were you,” one of the two voices cautions. “You have some pretty rough bruises on your body and I am pretty sure some of your bones are broken.”

I open my eyes once again to actually take in the scenery.

I am on what looks like the banks of a river, with no large sea in sight and two young ladies by my side.

Twins.

Identical ones, apart from their eyes. Both are redheads, pale skinned, and lithe. But their eyes are different.

One has a pair of icy blue eyes while the other is hazel.

Both beautiful.

“Where am I?” I croak out.

“I don't know,” one answers. “We were just camping here when we saw your floating corps- sorry, I mean body and fished you out. You have been unconscious for a few days.”

Days.

I have been out of it for days.

Flashes of memories bombard me as I remember what had actually happened.

Dominic… mate… the rape… the rejection…

And then being thrown off the cliff.

It wasn't enough that he broke me, and rejected me, no, he had to also kill me.

But he failed.

I am alive, aren't I?

“What are you?” the blue eyed girl asks.

“What?”

“You smell like a wolf, heal like one too, but I can't sense a wolf in you. It is quite… disturbing.”

“Oh.”

“Don't mind her,” the other twin responds. “She asks the most uncomfortable questions. I am Rina, she is Lisa. We are twins, invade you didn't notice.”

“I noticed.”

“And we are also rogues.”

Rogues.

I have heard many disturbing things about rogues. About how vicious, cruel, and rabid they can be.

But yet, I was saved by these two when it was a pack member who tried to kill me.

My Alpha for that matter.

“How did you end up in the river?” Rina asks.

“I… I don't know.”

“You don't know? Did you fall or trip or something.”

“Or something,” I answer.

“Hmm, I see. Well, you are not a rogue, I can tell that much, so you either list your way or you have just been recently kicked out of your lack.”

“You can say that.”

“Ehn, don't worry about it. Packs are overrated anyway. What is your name?”

I pause at the question, the name Louisa at the tip of my lips.

Louisa is dead.

Louisa was thrown off the cliff by her Alpha and mate and was told to go meet her dead parents.

If I am to continue in this world, evading his reach and knowledge, Louisa would have to die.

For good.

“Hello? Did you hear me? Do you think she has a condition?’

“Now who is being rude?” Lisa snaps.

“Rowan.”

“What?”

“Hmm?” they both ask.

“My name is Rowan. Rowan Blaze. And I have no pack.’

They both look at me in quiet contemplation, with only the goddess knowing what thoughts are running in their heads.

“That is not really your name, is it? Not the name you were given at least,” Lisa states.

“My name is Rowan.”

“Very well, Rowan. It is a pleasure to meet you. And congratulations on the pup.”

“What?!” I ask, scandalised as I try to sit up, only for the pain to run through my body, again.

“Not too fast. Your body is still recovering,” Rina cautions as she gently pushes me back down before sending a look at her sister. “What is wrong with you?”

“I wanted to know if she is aware, clearly she isn't.”

Unlike humans, who take weeks to know that they are with a child, wolves can know a few days after the deed, by scent alone.

A few days have already passed.

“This is a nightmare,” I whisper as tears begin to fall out of my eyes.

“And it is about to get even worse,” a deep baritone voice echoes.

The twins are on their feet in a flash, teeth bared and claws elongated, their stance shielding me from the newcomer.

From the space between their feet, I see a man backed by three other men, watching us.

“You are on the property of the Vale pack, state your business.”

The Vale pack.

The pack my parents died fighting.

Oh, this day truly couldn't get any worse.