After Logan packed a few clothes from the closet in a small duffel bag, he came out to face Aella again. She was looking at him as though she wanted to say something but couldn't. Her eyes were full of regret and pain but he couldn't stand that look. He couldn't trust her anymore.He looked at her expectantly, his eyebrows raised. "Well? If you have something to say, then say it.""Look, Logan. I want you to know that it's all for your good. If I tell you about my past, if...""What exactly is going to happen if you tell me anything? Are people after your life? Is something going to happen to me if you tell me about your past? Just tell me, Aella!" He yelled."No, I'm so sorry!" Aella replied and he gave her one last look of disbelief, then turned to walk away. She quickly reached out and grabbed his arm to stop him. "Please, Logan...""I think it would be best for the both of us if we stay away from each other for now, Aella." Logan said in a deadly quiet voice. "I still love you but
Logan could feel a headache coming, as sure as thunder on a rainy night. He gripped his head and squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to let the tears of frustration drop from his eyes in the presence of his beta.He heard the crackle of dead leaves as Casper walked towards him and a suppressed grunt as the other man sat beside him. He didn't look up or acknowledge his presence in any way. All he wanted to do was lie on the forest floor and never open his eyes again.He was exhausted in his body and mind. He was heartbroken at the deaths of his people, at the back and forth he had been having with his mate, at all the questions that were lodged in his mind and needed urgent answers."Hey, Logan." Casper called quietly. "I have dismissed the patrol team so you can open your eyes now."Logan didn't budge or make any indication that he had heard Capser talk. He thought of the members of the patrol team that had seen him take out his anger on a nearby tree. That action had been weak and stu
They got to the front lawn of the pack house soon after Logan's revelation. They saw Louve from afar, waving enthusiastically from the doors that led to the foyer inside. Logan groaned and rolled his eyes."What?" Casper asked with a teasing lilt to his voice "Don't act that way around my mate, alpha, or I will be forced to attack you.""You can't blame me. Your mate is nothing short of impulsively annoying. I'm not sure I can handle her drama today." Logan said and smiled.Louve was still waving gaily and gesturing at them to come closer. Logan sighed and walked over with Casper closely behind him.Logan gave his cousin a once over when they got within speaking distance. She looked absolutely good. She was putting on a light blue sweater that matched the colour of the sky and a pair of darker blue trousers. Her straight black hair was pulled up in two pigtails. Her face was bare of the light makeup that usually filmed her face. Her green eyes looked larger and more prominent. Logan t
Casper turned to Louve as she made that volunteer. His eyes were narrowed and full of a suppressed danger. "What?" He whispered.Louve turned to him curiously. "I said I want to join the patrol team. Is there something wrong with that?""There is everything wrong with that, Louve. Why would you even think of joining them? What's your business with the affairs of the pack?" Casper asked.Louve shrugged. "Why shouldn't I join the men for patrol? Is there an express rule that states that I can't do that? There is the need for more members of the patrol team as we are severely depleted, so I don't see why not.""You're not going anywhere." Casper insisted. His voice was raised now. "It's too dangerous!""Is it really because it's too dangerous, or because I am a woman?" Louve retorted, her hands akimbo.Capser stalled and looked at her. "I didn't say that...""Yeah, but that was what you implied, was it not? That I am a woman and because of that, I am not capable of protecting the pack?"
It was night time already. Logan was yawning sleepily as he looked around the littered library. Casper, on the other hand, was pacing the library frantically. At intervals he would groan and mutter to himself."Casper, stop pacing please. You're making me nervous." Logan spoke up."I should not have said those things I said to Louve. Now I can't find peace again. I didn't mean any of those things I said.""I know you didn't, Casper." Logan replied. "You only did that to protect her and to protect your feelings. I know firsthand how it feels to lose a mate. I mean, look at my father.""I am scared to lose her, alpha. As I am equally scared of dying and making her go through pain on my account." Casper confessed. Logan could see the regret on his face. "Even now, with the possibility of battle in front of us, I don't want either of us to feel any pain because of the other's death. I thought if I told her she wasn't capable of going to battle that she would actually stay put.""Well, Cas
Logan paced the library again, his mind at unease. This time the library had been cleaned and the books that had littered the floor had been returned to their rightful place. The whole place was looking as a library should look.However, the man who paced its length was feeling very restless again. Logan could not exactly pinpoint the reason for his restlessness, all he knew was that he needed answers, and fast too. He felt like he would go crazy if he didn't find the answers he was looking for.It had been ten whole days since he had first entered the library and a when week since Casper had mind linked him to come and check out the trails. Trails that had long since gone cold and had been covered by the wolf prints of other wolves that had walked that perimeter. Trails that led nowhere.Logan sighed and stopped pacing of a moment. He closed his eyes and remembered the feeling of utter hopelessness and grief that he had felt when he had seen those trails and followed it, the feeling
Logan snapped out of his reverie and picked up the history book, walking out of the library. These days were giving him more and more reasons to doubt everything his mate did."Damn, damn, damn!" He cursed under his breath. The hopeless feeling was back, spreading across his chest like a deadly virus. He had found the answer he was looking for, but at what price? He still did not feel any peace, neither did it make him regain his trust for Aella. If anything, he was even more wary of her.So many questions raged through his head. Where did she come from? Was she part of this rogue pack? What was she not telling him? Were his mother and his mate somehow related?All these questions and more were raging through his head. He was confused and angry. At Aella, at the rogue wolf pack, at himself, at the Goddess. He did not know what unforgivable sin he had committed for him to be punished like this, but he felt that it was extremely unfair. He had been all a good alpha should be to this pa
There was an uncomfortable silence among the men as she walked in. They all stared at her like she was an alien who had fallen from the roof, until one of them men cleared his throat and spoke: "Uh, help us how?" He asked."I'm glad you asked, gentleman." She said and spread her hands. "My mother who is the former alpha's sister got mated to a Lycan from a southern pack. Because of this, she had to move over to Southern U.S to live with her mate. That was where I was born and bred too. But despite I've been around the world for a better part of my life, I still hold claim there and I can summon my fellow Lycans from that pack when I need their help. I could call on them to join us in battle against the rogues." She said.All the make wolves stared at her in shock. Louve could clearly read the expressions on their faces and she knew that they were all surprised that a mere woman could come up with a solution where they had all failed. She smirked in self-appraisal. So much for "women s
Everything was peaceful again.Logan stood at the border that separated his pack from bare land. He slowly looked around, taking in the scene of the battle that had happened so many months ago now. The sight was still as vivid as though it had happened just yesterday. He could still see the Rogue King and all his numbers standing mere meters from where he stood, the sounds of clashing metal and yelling men, so familiar and neverforgotten, the scent too, of blood and fear and adrenaline. Everything still looked and smelled and sounded the same, yet so much had changed since then.He sighed and looked up into the sky, raking his hand through his ponytail. It was almost springtime already; the whole forest reminded him of the change in season. The tree trunks dappled in the morning light and the shadow of the leaves on his face. Some of the trees were already bringing out leaves and flowers. The air smelled of over-ripe berries, fading blossoms, and a thousand or more flowers dazing hi
Logan screamed, and several things happened at once."Attack!" Casper yelled, and the whole of Logan's warriors roared and raced toward the Rogue King and his army. The rogue army equally chanted in a loud voice and beat their weapons against their shield, then ran at the oncoming warriors.Both armies met in the middle of the grassy land. The sound of their collision was terrible and harsh to the ears: the screeching of iron on iron as shields met, the barking and snarling of the frontline wolves as they tore at each other, the painful yells of dozens of Lycan warriors as they were stabbed or speared or torn apart to death.The bodies of Logan's gamma and the spy from the rogue pack were lost in the commotion. Logan barely had time to access the situation of the battle or go after the Rogue King. He had eyes only for his mate. He spotted her in the middle of the stampede, lying on the floor as her life seeped out of her body.He ran towards her after she slipped to the ground before
Logan dismounted from his stallion and walked forward to the edge of the border in preparation to meet the Rogue King. Every angle of his face was set in determination as he looked forward, the spring air caressing his regal face.Then suddenly, he spotted a speck of black coming forward from about a mile forward. The whole army behind him was so silent that the alpha could hear his beta breathing lightly beside him.Casper looked at his alpha. “Logan—” he said, then broke off, stiffening all over. A moment later Logan heard it too—a heavy, rhythmic pounding, and laid over that, a sound like several bonfires crackling. The speck grew and elongated little by little until it was a line of army, running towards Logan and his pack. It took the alpha several long moments to understand the noise.“The Rogue Army.” Casper whispered. Following his gaze, he saw them, coming closer and closer like a spreading shadow, the Rogue Wolf pack in all their numbers. There must have been hundreds of th
Logan had been waiting for a long time.He was standing in the part of the woods that faced the border, with a hundred and fifty well-armed warriors. The whole forest was silent and tense, almost as though all the animals were joining in the wait for the arrival of the Rogue King.He had sent Casper ahead with a couple of other warriors to scan the land ahead and send word when they noticed the arrival of the Rogue King. He had told his beta to wave a red flag when coming to indicate that battle was near. So far it had been four hours since he sent Casper out, and he was feeling as harried and on edge as a father expecting his newborn child.He was seated on a white stallion, bred specially for the use of alphas in the pack. His hair was packed up in a man bun and he was dressed in black fighting gear. He had smeared black paint across both of his cheeks, as well as all the other warriors that stood behind him. He raised a hand and pulled at the tight material on his neck uncomfortabl
Aella's dreams made no senseFirst, she was in the foyer of the pack house in Logan's pack, walking down the makeshift aisle that was meant for Louve. She looked sideways at the crowd of well-wishers and instead of the faces of Logan's pack members, she saw grins and sneers from the members of the Rogue Pack. She looked down and instead of a white dress, she was putting on a black one: lacy and tattered, like a Bride of Death. Someone was leading her by the arm, and when she looked up, she saw that it was her dad.Impossible, she had time to think before they got to the makeshift altar, where the Wolf Priest was waiting for the both of them. She heard low chants from the members of the Rogue Pack behind her but she paid little heed. All her attention was focused on her groom who was standing with his back to her, looking very much like Logan. Maybe this dream isn't so bad after all, she thought. But when the groom turned to her, she was staring not at Logan but at the face of the Rogu
Logan and his gamma walked back to the pack house in relative silence. Several thoughts kept running through the alpha's mind. At least now, Aella's name would be cleared, albeit not completely. She would still be seen as a rogue wolf that was sent to spy on them, and the only reason Jesse was assigned the position of a spy in the pack was that Aella had failed at it by getting herself mated to him.Jesse was the last person he had expected to be the spy though. He stole a sideways look at the man as he dragged him forward by the collar. He was one of those silent, sidelines people, those you'd never know they were there until they spoke. Logan had seen a lot of himself in the man and had admired his knack for staying level-headed even in very tough situations. That was the very reason why he had made Jesse his Gamma.Logan's mind flashed back to when they had been younger. While Casper had been his best friend, Jesse had been that boy that sort of tagged along anytime they went on th
Staring at Logan was the familiar face of Jesse, his Gamma."What the hell are you doing here? And hooded too?" Logan asked. There was a nagging, almost uncomfortable feeling about this situation, but he tried to push it off. Jesse's deep blue, almost black eyes that stared up into his were wide and full of everything suspicious. His eyes kept looking behind Logan's back as though he was expecting someone else to show up."Can you get off me, alpha?" Jesse said, squirming uncomfortably. Logan stood up with a grunt and even stretched out a hand to the man, who took it and stood up from the forest floor, dusting his clothes.Everything about this screamed suspicion, but Logan paid no heed to it. He wanted to trust his gamma beyond any reasonable doubt, but the man kept giving him every reason to doubt him. The hands that dusted his clothes were shaky; only someone who felt guilty about something would fidget so much. And the clothes—Logan hadn't noticed them before—he had a black turtle
The flashlight in Logan's hand illuminated several meters of the cave stone, upon which hundreds of intricate drawings had been scrawled. Logan quickly closed his mouth as it had been hanging open in shock, and moved further inside the cave.The sight that met his eyes was unbelievable. He truly had never seen them before. It wasn't really the fact that they were unique that intrigued Logan so much, but the fact that this cavehad stood right in the middle of his pack's borders and he hadn't noticed it, not once.Granted, the cave was hidden in the side of the mountain, but not once had a wolf from his pack ever stumbled upon the cave entrance. It was baffling and confusing to Logan.Wow. This was so not what I was expecting, his inner wolf said in amazement.He raised the flashlight high and looked around. The wall to his immediate right had more inscriptions than drawings. Logan moved closer to the smooth cave wall, trying to decipher the writings. The writings had been made with a p
After their short meeting, the three of them walked out of the study. Logan's spirit was much lifted after talking to his two best friends. His mind was still full of worry about Aella and how she was doing, but he was also happy that he seemed to be making progress on one thing at least.He remembered something that his father had once told him, that the fastest way to forget about something painful was to drown that pain in work. He had been extremely sad about Aella's kidnapping and had worried for her safety, but at least he had been able to do some work with his beta and cousin and make headway in the process. It had drowned his worries about his mate for a few precious minutes.But now thoughts of Aella had returned and had started haunting him again. He felt as though he would lose it if he didn't find a way to clear his head.Logan escorted Casper and Louve to the door of the dining room, where they were to have dinner. Louve turned to her cousin. "Come and eat dinner with us.