Chapter 4: Concession 

Alice’s Point of view

I'm going to kill him. I swear I'll kill him. That damn Red! He tricked me! 

I should have known. He sweats arrogance.

"Well then, Blue? Are you coming or what?" I don't move an inch. "Have you lost your tongue?" He asks me, laughing.

I try to ignore the shiver that runs through me at the sound of his laugh and answer him calmly.

"No, I'm thinking."

"About how to put one foot in front of the other?"

"No, to how I'm going to kill you."

I feel him tense and put his hand on the pommel of his sword. 

"You swore at the Moon Goddess." He reminds me.

"He's right." My wolf Cassiopeia tells me.

"Are you serious? He is a Red! He is an enemy. He will stab us in the back as soon as he gets the chance."

"He swore too."

"Since when do they keep their word?"

He sighs. "Let's be honest. I don't trust you and you don't trust me. That's a fact and it's not going to change in one night. But we both have sworn and at least for tonight, let's put our differences aside for the sake of both our packs. We can't do it alone anyway."

He's right. And it pisses me off.  

But there is something I don't understand. He knew I was a Blue and if there is one thing for sure, he hates me as much as I hate him. We've been at war with each other for so long that if one of our packs found a way to destroy the other, he wouldn't hesitate. 

When I figured out how the rogues move and told my father, he immediately saw an opportunity to destroy the Reds for good. We don't have to do anything. If we can hold out long enough, they'll be overwhelmed by the rogues. Hopefully, they'll lose the battle and we'll just have to eliminate the surviving rogues. 

Although it's a pretty brilliant plan that doesn't involve us, my dad doesn't believe it and neither do I. 

Indeed, it is one of the most powerful packs in the world, just like us. There is almost no chance that simple rogues can take them down. 

But then again, never before have so many rogues attacked a territory. Who knows what might happen. 

So I'm sure Alpha Mark has thought of the same thing to destroy us. 

No. I would never trust a Red. My mind is made up.

"I can't team up with you, I'm sorry. I know I promised, but I just can't. I'll feel like I'm betraying my pack."

He sighs. "I know and it doesn't make me feel any better than it does to you. But I'm not betraying my pack. I'm protecting it. And if to protect it I have to team up with you, I will." He hesitates. "And these quarrels are mostly between our Alphas."

I huff. If he knew who I was... 

"I trust him." Declares Cassiopeia. 

"What? You're the first one to show your teeth to the Reds and you’re telling me you trust him? You're as tired as I am. It's been too long since we sleep all night because of the rogues."

"No, it's not that. I feel like we can trust him."

I am left speechless. She's usually quick to figure people out and I've always trusted her on that. But today I don't know. 

"Don't doubt me!" She says, showing her teeth.

"Don't growl at me!" 

"I'm telling you we can trust him and we swore on the Goddess. I take it very seriously." She says to me while pressing the ‘I’.

"Hey, I take it seriously too. But I just can't."

Red starts talking again, pulling me out of my internal conversation. 

"Anyway the question doesn't matter since you swore. Now let's hurry up. We're wasting precious time."

I'm annoyed by his behavior. "That's impossible." As he wants to speak, I cut him off. "Even if I wanted to, which I don't, I am a warrior and I have to protect the Blue Silver corridor. So if I come with you to the Blue Red corridor, I will be too far away if I am called to my post. And if I take too long to get there, my pack will wonder. And that’s it if I can make it! I'd have to go through the rogues who attack us for that." I sigh. "I can't risk being found out. I know you can understand that."

He sighs and paces. After a moment, he lifts his head, "I hadn't thought about it, but I have the same problem as you. I'm on duty at the Red Silver corridor." After a silence, he resumes. "That's too bad. All we'll do on our own is push them away as you did before. Together we could have chased them down."

I don't know what to say to him so I just nod.   

"What a waste." He mutters to himself. 

We both stay silent for a while and I find it strangely comforting.

"Well, I guess we're going our separate ways here Blue. I'll keep my promise and I will not say anything and hopefully we'll still manage to scare some rogues away." I stay silent. "I'm leaving." I still don't say a word. "Good hunting!" Still nothing. He starts to walk away but I get the feeling he doesn't want to leave. 

The worst part is that I don't want him to leave either. What the hell? 

As he walks away, I just want him to come back. It's not right. 

No, I hate him. He's a Red and I hate him. He's pretentious and I hate him. He gives me orders and I hate him. 

As he disappears around the corner I find myself running after him and I don't realize it until I'm near him.

"Wait."  

He turns around, surprised and I find myself like an idiot staring at the inside of his hood, hoping to see something. 

This is a bad idea. 

"Come on! Trust me." Cassiopeia says to me. I sigh internally and give . 

I'm already regretting what I'm about to say. 

"Do you think you could get transferred to the Blue Red corridor? If we're both there, it'll be easier to defend it together. We won't be so far from our posts."

"Sooooo. Did you change your mind?" He asks in an unbearable ‘I knew it’ tone. 

I grit my teeth. "Don't push me, Red. I might change my mind and you don't want to piss me off."

He tenses up. "Is that a threat?" He laughs. "Yes, you fight very well but you don't stand a chance against me."

Does he want to fight? That's fine. I'll be happy to wipe that smug smile I can sense under his scarf. He doesn't know he's dealing with an opponent with Alpha blood. 

"Peace Alice peace. Don't let appearances fool you." Cassiopeia tries to appease me. 

"What does that mean?"

"You'll understand it later." She answers me with an enigmatic voice. But she doesn't fool me.

"You don't know, admit it!" I mock but she ignores me and focuses on the Red. 

She's still right. I take a deep breath to calm myself. 

"I'm not having this debate with you. Do you still want to work with me or not?" I ask him impatiently. 

"Yes, I do! I'll try to change my position but I don't think it's possible. We've spread our forces evenly at each border, like you and the Silvers, so I'd have to trade with someone else at my level. Just like you will have to trade."  

"It doesn't hurt to try."

He pauses. "Yeah I guess. How will we find each other? We should exchange our phone numbers."

I have a sudden urge to tease him. "Are you flirting with me or something? Are you doing all this to get my number?" I shake my head reprovingly. His look of embarrassment is priceless.

"What? No, no, you're wrong."

I can't hold back my laughter anymore and I feel him relax.

"Funny. Very funny." But I can feel the smile in his voice.

"Seriously, phones are too risky. Someone could read our messages and it leaves a trail. Call me paranoid but I don't think it's very safe."

"Would you rather we sent messenger pigeons?" He asks in a joking tone. 

 I laugh. "No, but we need something that doesn't leave a trail."

He thinks. "A dating application!" He says, as if evidence. 

Damn. It's too tempting.

"And you dare to tell me you're not flirting with me?" But he doesn't fall for it this time.

"Think about it! It leaves no trace, we delete the application at the slightest problem and the bonus: we don't even need to know our names, we can put a nickname."

"Very good. Let's create profiles and try to find each other."

We both take our phones to d******d the application.

"Damn, it's asking for a picture." He says with a boring look.

"You didn't know?" I ask in surprise.

 "I'm not used to this kind of application." He looks around and ends up heading to a park not far from where we are. Once there, he takes a picture of a big tree and I take a picture of a very pretty yellow flower which I don't know the name of.

"We put Red and Blue as nicknames?" I ask.

"It's a bit too obvious, isn't it? Other people will see our profiles, they don't need to know which pack we are from."

"That's right. But I don't have much of an idea."

"I do." He taps on his phone then snatches mine out of my hand. He taps for a moment and then gives it back to me. 

"Sapphire?"

"Yes, it's blue."

I get a message on the app. 

"Copper?"

"Yes, it's red. And both can pass for names. Saphira and Cooper." He puts his phone away and straightens his head. "I have to be at my post at 3 AM so I'm going to take a walk around town until then. You want to come?"

I think for a moment. "I have to be back at 2 AM."

I feel him smile. "That gives us plenty of time to find some rogues."

I smile back. "Let's go hunting then."