Chapter 3: First meeting 

Elliot’s Point of view

"You are kidding me. Right?" I ask my dad.

"I'm sorry. It's the only way."

"This is stupid." I tell him as I stand up. "There is no she-wolf as powerful as Alice. The best I can find is a beta's daughter and that won't even be enough. Our only hope is that I find my mate."

"We don't have time!" My father snarls. He's as red as the hair I inherited from him. His black eyes shoot daggers at me.

Fortunately, my mother is there to calm him down. 

"Elliot is right. No she-wolf is as powerful as Alice. The best we can hope for is that Elliot’s mate is a beta’s daughter of a powerful pack."

She looks at me with her big green eyes and smiles. "Don't worry my darling. I'm sure the Moon Goddess has given you a strong she-wolf."

"Maybe, but we don't have time to wait!" My father gets angry, making my mother sigh.

"Well, he just has to mate with Alice and the matter will be settled."

Both my father and I grumble at the same time. "Never!"

"I'd rather rip my own claws out than have her walking on our land!" My father spits. 

"Anyway, I don't think she'll agree to mate with Derek" I say to change the subject. 

"Why?" Asks my mother.

"I heard from some Blues that their soon-to-be Alpha wants to rule alone. Apparently, she doesn't want to mate or something like that. It wasn't clear."

My father sighs. "We'll see, I guess. But in the meantime, look for a she-wolf just in case. Do it for the pack." 

I nod, not wanting to get into this debate again.

As they leave, I call them back. 

"What are we going to do about the rogues? I'm not thrilled about it, but we should let the Blues know."

My father sighs. "Don't worry, I'm sure Alpha Jack has already warned Alpha John. We'll get organized and fight back and the rogues will eventually get tired of us." I don't insist and let them go. 

I know this is not the right tactic. It is absolutely necessary to dislodge them from the city but unfortunately, we can't intervene. I don't know what to do. 

"You know very well what to do" Says Leo my wolf. 

"Here you are! I found you very quiet when dad told us to abandon our mate."

"That won't be necessary. I can feel that she's not far away. We have to go out to find her!" He says, wagging his tail. 

"Easy. You've been telling me that for months and we still haven't found her."

"We will, I can feel it."

I sigh. "In the meantime, we can't wait for the rogues to come back and attack us. I'm tired of playing it defensively."

"I say we go out there and slaughter them all!"

I grab a loose-fitting black hoodie and a scarf to cover my face. With my sword in hand, I jump out the window before turning around to spray myself with something to mask my scent. That way if someone sees me, no one will know it was me and my pack won't be accused of declaring war. 

Although Leo wants me to shift so he could run, I reach the city in my human form. I regret not taking a long coat to hide my sword. 

Hiding in dark alleys, it's only after 10 minutes of walking that I finally spot a scent of dirt, typical of rogues. 

As I follow the trail and approach, I find a rogue fighting with a black silhouette dancing around him with two daggers at the end of an alley.

Immediately, Leo is alert and looks at the stranger carefully. 

"What is it Leo?"

I feel him very serious and for a moment I have the impression that he didn't even hear me.

"I, I. I don't know."

Meanwhile, we both watch the stranger circling the rogue for another minute and considering the size and shape, I quickly realize that it's a girl.

I have the impression that she knows what she’s doing but she is fighting the rogue for several minutes now.

Finally, while it seemed impossible, she accelerates her movements and finishes him by planting a dagger in his heart.  

While he collapses on the ground, she still seems on her guard and looks around.

"It's us she's looking for, you idiot! She must have sensed us!" Leo scold at me.

"What? I've hidden my smell!"

"I know you're there! Show yourself, coward!"

She sounds so confident. All smiles, I slowly come out of my hiding place and lean against the nearest wall, about 15 meters away from her. 

"Well. It took you a while to kill him." I say.

"What fun would it have been if I had killed him in ten seconds?"

I laugh. "I understand. Hunting is the best part, but there's no point in killing the prey too quickly, is there?"

She freezes. "I didn't chase him. I was walking around and all of a sudden he jumped on me. I fought back, that's all."

I smile. "Do you often walk around with your daggers, all dressed in black, in the middle of the night?" I ask in an ironic tone.

"Yes, I do. Are you cold in the face just like me?" 

I smile. Humor it is then!  

"Absolutely. It's only 20 degrees celsius after all. I think it's a pretty cold September, don't you? I do love your scarf though! It's much nicer than mine."

Even if I can't see her, I can feel her smile as she touches her floral scarf.

"It's a gift. I never thought I'd use it to cover my face!" She laughs and something stirs deep inside me.

What the hell is happening? I can feel that Leo is both calm and excited. He doesn't know what to think either. 

After a long silence, she finally sighs. "I won't say anything if you don't?"

We both know that we shouldn't be here and that we can't tell anyone anyway. At best we'll get kicked out of the pack and turn rogue and at worst we'll have started a war.

No big deal really. 

"Works for me. So, have you seen any others?" I ask.

"Calm down it's still early! For now, I'm just keeping our border with the city and especially the Blue Silver corridor to stop them from coming into town. But I mostly want to catch them. I was planning to go to the city center around midnight. I found one of their haunts yesterday." 

"What do you mean yesterday? My fath- I mean Alpha Mark only told Alpha Jack today that the rogues were staying in the city and going through the corridors."

She huffs. "It's already been a week since I figured it out. I tried to tell Alpha John about it but he wouldn't listen."

"Alpha John? Wait. Are you a Blue?"

She nods. It's a disaster. 

"You're really slow. You may have disguised your scent like me, but I knew right away we weren't the same pack." She sighs. "Whatever. I won't tell Alpha Jack if you won't tell Alpha John."

This is a nightmare. She thinks I'm a Silver and at the same time, it's for the best. If she knew I was a Red, no partnership would be possible and I can't get rid of all the rogues by myself. And even if I don't like the idea of working with a Blue, I don't have the choice.

"But if we do that, the rogues will run to the Reds." I say.

"So what?"

"We need to dislodge them completely."

"I agree. But the two of us can't stop a rogue army. We have to choose our battles and I choose to protect my territory as much as possible and you should do the same. And together we can also defend our corridor."

This is out of the question. She's got a lot of nerve and now I understand why the rogues’ attacks on my territory have doubled in the last two nights. It's because she chases them to my place! 

I'm tempted to tell her to go to hell since she's doing so well on her own but I hold back. No matter how much I want to walk away, I have to be smarter than her. An idea comes to me and I chuckle in anticipation.  

"Fine, let's make a pact. We don't tell anyone and we hunt them together to protect our territory and the corridor we share. Sounds good?"

She thinks for a minute. "Fine. Let's go, it's going to be a long night." She walks away in the direction of the Blue Silver corridor. 

"Let's swear on it."

She stops dead in her tracks. "Excuse me?"

"We should swear on the Moon Goddess herself. To make sure we keep our word, no matter what happens." I feel her hesitate. "Unless you already feel like betraying me." 

She tenses and answers me coldly. "I always keep my word."

"And if I knew you or even if we were in the same pack, I'd take your word for it."

She sighs and approaches me. "You first."

"You think I should take a knee or something?"

"Goddess no! You're not asking me to marry you! You’re just swearing not to betray me." I laugh at her shocked tone.

I then decide to hand her my sword and we hold it together. Although her eyes are in darkness, I lock my gaze with her and say: "I won't tell anyone that you are hunting in the city and I promise to defend the corridor between our packs with you. If necessary, I will help you to keep them away from your border without crossing it. I swear it on the Moon Goddess."

As I pronounce these words, I feel how solemn the atmosphere is. I feel as if the Goddess herself was there when I say those words. She feels it too because she repeats the same thing with great seriousness while we both hold her daggers.  

"Happy? Can we go now?"

"Sure." And I turn around and head for the Blue Red corridor.

"Wait! The Blue Silver corridor is that way." She says pointing in the opposite direction.

I smile. "I never said I was a Silver."