3. Thirty- nine

~ Harper’s POV ~ 

Natalie, who happens to be my Luna at the moment, had just screamed that she had found his mate. This could have happened at a better time because, by the looks of it, my Luna had just found out that her mate was a part of the rogues who had been targeting our pack for months. These rogues have harmed innocent people and massacred innocent children. 

With my luck, the very leader of the rogue pack would be Natalie's mate, the one with those huge bulky, and muscular arms. I could imagine her distress. Her mate was now looking at her when she was already mated to an alpha. Moreover, it was no secret that Natalie had also given birth to my son. That bit of information was surely going to cause problems in her future with her mate. 

I'm sure she knew she would face several complications when she first knew that she had conceived all those months ago. I'm pretty sure she must have been mentally preparing herself for this situation but there is a vast difference between preparing yourself for a situation and living it. I could practically feel the anxiety and nervousness raging inside her, thanks to the alpha-Luna bond we shared. 

I tilted my head slightly to look at her to see if she was alright. I respected the fact that regardless of her inner turmoil, she looked calm. I respected that. I just hoped this meeting would get over without any more hitches. 

I desperately wanted to know who her mate was because the identity of her mate affected me too. Even though Natalie had somehow come between me and Zara, I wanted her to be happy and the most happiness a wolf can experience is with his/her mate. If Natalie wanted to be with her mate, I hoped that he would give her an honest chance before rejecting her after judging her condition. 

I didn't have the heart to question Natalie who her mate was at the moment. I didn't want to add in on her inner battle of emotions but that didn't mean that I wasn't curious. I casually looked at the ten rogues who had come for the hostage exchange to look for any discernable clues, something that could tell me in the right direction. They all held carefully blank expressions which irritated me to no end. 

The huge guy, who I had correctly assumed to be the leader of the rogue pack, spoke up," I am glad you decided to accept my offer of holding a truce meeting."

My mind was still reeling with the revelation of Natalie's mate that it took a few seconds to realize what he was saying. "I'm guessing that Aaron must be very important to you. All this time, you have been on the offense and attacked us without remorse. But when I captured Aaron, you were willing to give up your upper hand and offer a truce meeting."

His face softened. "He is my brother. I'm sure you would do the same for your sister."

I nodded in assent. There were very few people in life who I would do anything for, Zara included, for whom I was standing here, talking to my enemy. "Where is Zara? I want to see her first."

"And I want to see my brother first," he stated and he knew that I would do anything as long as Zara was safe in my arms. I turned around and nodded to Ethan to get Aaron out of the transport car. Ethan glared at me and I knew that he wanted to stand up against me because I was willingly letting the rogues lead this meeting. 

It wouldn't help at all if an argument broke out between me and Ethan at this moment. It would show unease in the command chain and the pack couldn't afford to show any kind of weakness in front of the rogues. Even though Ethan was a rogue, he was a temporary member of the pack and he was expected to uphold the rules and ethics of the pack. I willed Ethan to stand down and let me handle this situation. Just when I thought that he was going to disobey me, he turned around and walked towards the transport van. 

Before starting our ride towards the southern border of the pack, I had personally seen to it that Aaron be bound in heavy chains laced in wolfsbane, which chafed at his joints every time he moved. It gave a sickening pleasure to know that he was hurting. On top of his bindings, his face was covered with a black bag. All the five warriors who had accompanied me jumped out of the van one by one and stood behind me, while Ethan manhandled a very beaten Aaron into the clearing where all the rogues could see that he was alive. 

Ethan pulled Aaron with him and released him beside me. Aaron stumbled and fell to his knees with a groan. I looked at the rogue leader to look at his reactions but to his credit, the man looked like he had been set in stone. He had an almost casual expression on his face as if his brothers' humiliation meant nothing to him.

"This is your brother. Now, I want to see Zara."

"You need to lift that black bag over his head. We need to make sure it is Aaron,” the girl spoke up. I regarded the small girl for a few seconds. No one from the rogues disputed her request so I nodded to Ethan to pull off the black bag over Aaron's head. Ethan followed my command and I turned to look at the rogues again. I knew Aaron's face wasn't a pretty sight but again, to the rogues' credits, neither of them showed any emotion. The only emotion I could observe was the slight widening of the girls' eyes. 

I had no idea how I hadn't seen it before, but it was clear to me now. This big brute who was the leader of the rogues, this small girl, the only girl who had accompanied the rogues, and Aaron were siblings. There were many similarities in their facial structures and demeanors. This realization made me wonder even more. Why were these three siblings targeting my pack? What personal grudge did they hold against my pack that they were willing to endanger each other's lives over it?

I shook my head. Whatever their reasons, they weren't important right now. The only thing important right now was to make sure that Zara was safe. "Now I want to see Zara."

The rogue leader smirked at me then and gestured to one of the rogues to get Zara out of the car. I waited with bated breath as the rogue walked towards the car and opened the door. He pulled Zara out of the car and I tensed because it wasn't Zara he had pulled out of the car. 

The rogue had pulled out a kid who was scared out of his wits and pulled him into the clearing. I recognized the kid because I had seen him running with the young wolves across the back yard and the trickery of the whole truce meeting dawned on me. My gaze landed on the leader of the rogue pack and although his expression hadn't changed, there was a gleam of victory behind his eyes because he knew that he had bested me. 

"That's not Zara," Samantha glared at the rogues.

"No, that's no Zara but this boy is a pack member and your alpha must protect him, which means that your alpha is supposed to do the right thing and rescue this little kid. He will have to exchange my brother for this little kid, even though you were all hoping to rescue Zara, your alpha's true mate." The rogue leader smirked and I felt my wolf rage inside me.

"You were supposed to bring Zara." Samantha raged and Aiden put a comforting hand on her shoulder. 

"I never said I was bringing Zara to be exchanged as a hostage. All of you just assumed it. I never mentioned Zara in the note I sent to your alpha, I just sent a picture of her bound to a chair to give you all the motivation to come here and give me back my brother."

Ethan snarled viciously at the rogues and shifted into his wolf. He growled at the rogues and just before he charged at the rogues, the leader spoke up again. "Be careful, rogue. Understand that right now you are with this pack and the alpha will be answerable for your actions. The law states that there should be no violence during a truce meeting and I think we both know the ramifications of breaking the rules; the pack dissolves. And all the alphas around will make sure the red lakes pack dissolves."

Ethan growled back at these words but I knew that even he knew the truth to this statement. I was glad that he stood down and I looked back at the rogues again. "I think we should go ahead with the exchange of the hostages," I spoke up and saw Natalie gape at me.

All this time, I had been standing mute because I was reeling from the number of surprises I had received in a short amount of time. First, Natalie's mate and then the absence of Zara in this situation, when the reason I was willing to meet with these rogues was to rescue Zara and make sure she was safe. But as I regarded the situation, I knew that I would have to go through with the hostage exchange and I would not even get the chance to rip their throats out after that. 

I knew that I couldn't just ignore that this little kid got caught in the crossfire. He was part of the pack and was under my protection and I had to do right by him. "We are here for the exchange of hostages, after all. Isn't it?"

If the rogue leader was surprised by my statement, he didn't show it. Instead, he just nodded and motioned his lackey to pick up the boy. I motioned for one of the warriors to force Aaron on his feet. The warrior complied and I could hear the painful groans of Aaron as he moved. His pain didn't give me an ounce of pleasure right now.

I watched as the boy started walking towards us while Aaron walked towards the rogues. Midway, the little boy started running toward me and I picked him up in a hug. The little kid hugged me with all his might and I knew that I had made the right decision. 

I watched as the girl hugged Aaron and led him toward one of the cars. One by one, the rogues turned around and walked towards the cars. I remained rooted to the spot as I watched the rogues depart in victory. 

"Harper, in another universe, I would have done the same thing for you, brother." With that ominous statement, he got into the car and drove away.