7. Rogue Pack

...Wynter's POV...

Months had gone by since I first found Darius. So much happened in such a short time frame. That night, I found out that I had far greater abilities than I ever could've imagined. Callista and Maddox had always said I was special, but I just figured that they meant it figuratively, not literally.

Though I doubt, even Callista and Maddox knew about my abilities. With Darius' help, we soon found out that I was a hybrid, which meant that I was both a witch and a werewolf. Darius came to visit me at least once a week. He would study more about my abilities, and together we would test them to see what I could or could not do. 

I was just as interested as he was in finding out what I could do. I started to believe that Darius was my mate. He had explained to me the night we met what a mate was. He had said that a true mate makes you stronger. Ever since I had met Darius, I felt incredibly powerful. I think a lot of that also had to do with Darius himself. He treated me as if I was his world. 

The night I met Darius was the first time I ever shifted. I never knew I could even do something like that. Darius believes it happened because I was scared. From what he managed to find out, emotions played a large part in my abilities. The stronger the emotion, the more powerful I became. 

My ninth birthday was in less than a week, and for the first time, I actually felt excited about it. Darius and I had already made plans to spend time with each other that night. I was over the moon excited about it.

Callista and Maddox were wary of my relationship with Darius, but they quickly realized that there wasn't anything they could do to stop us from being together. They just wanted what was best for me. They were only concerned about how my relationship could effect our future. I guess they were worried that the wrong person would learn of us and have us killed. Having a relationship with Darius was extremely risky, considering I was a rogue. 

Darius assured me that nothing bad would happen. However, I still remember the Alpha's thoughts before he left us that night in the woods. Those words had haunted me to this day. I didn't want Darius to think I was worried, but I didn't miss the Alpha's threat against my family. He had made sure to mention that Darius wouldn't be able to protect all of us. Which only made me worried about the rest of my family.

Unlike most rogues, we had actually formed a rogue pack. Over the years, we had run into other like-minded individuals. Outcasts that had been deemed a rogue from circumstances beyond their control. For example, Charlie was in a way, our pack doctor. He found us shortly after he had been cast out of the Midnight Shadow pack. 

Werewolves are blessed with advanced healing capabilities. However, the Luna of the midnight shadow pack was a human. This meant that she was susceptible to diseases and other ailments werewolves weren't. So when the Luna was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, Charlie knew it was only a matter of time until the Luna passed away. Charlie tried to explain this to the Alpha; however, he wouldn't hear of it. Rather he blamed Charlie for not helping his Luna and exiled him. 

Miles came to us from the Blue Moon pack. He was a university professor at the time. Everything was going fine until the Alpha's daughter became interested in him. She made multiple advances on him, which he denied each time. However, the more he continued to shut down her advances, the more determined she became. She grew tired of his lack of interest and instead tried to get back at him. She accused him of rape, and since she was the alpha's daughter, the alpha never even let it go to trial. Rather he had him banished immediately. Because of Miles, I was able to get a somewhat normal education. It was like being homeschooled. Or rather, I guess you can say, cave schooled. 

Phoenix was the gamma of the Obsidian Pack. She was the only known female gamma, which meant she was always under a microscope. She experienced scrutiny regularly but never said anything about it. It was something that she had just grown used to over the years. 

She had managed to earn the respect of her team, or so she thought. There was one soldier that always seemed to have it out for her. She soon found out that it was because he was jealous of her ranking and didn't believe she deserved it. He had challenged her on multiple occasions but never seemed to succeed. 

She wasn't too worried about him; however, she quickly realized that she had underestimated his desire for her role. On her night off, the warrior had led a rogue attack on the village, which resulted in the death of several children. Following the attack, the warrior immediately blamed her, saying that she was unfit to be the gamma. He earned the hearts of the parents of the children that had been killed and caused a riot. The alpha attempted to get them to see otherwise but was unsuccessful. He reluctantly cast her out as a rogue, knowing it was the only way to reinstate peace within his pack. With no one there to challenge her position, the warrior gained her title soon after.

Timber was a high-ranking omega from the Golden Eclipse pack. Unlike the others, Timber wasn't as reluctant to the rogue life. He had fallen in love with the Luna's sister Claire. Since he was the construction manager for the pack, he was in charge of all construction projects. 

Claire had decided to move to the Golden Eclipse pack to be closer to her sister. Or so she told everyone else. When in fact, she moved to the pack to be with her mate, Timber. They had quickly fallen in love but had to keep their relationship a secret because of her sister's rank as the pack Luna. Even though Timber was a high-ranking omega, he was still considered low ranking compared to other wolves. 

Claire had asked her sister for her own house, as she didn't want to live in the packhouse. Timber happily obliged the Luna. However, he wasn't aware at the time that Claire was sought after by one of his workers. He wanted Claire for himself, so he devised a plan to sabotage the build and make Timber look inferior. However, the worker didn't know that Timber had asked Claire to visit the building site late in the night, as he wanted to surprise her with a new feature he had added. Upon entering the site, one of the main supportive beams had collapsed, trapping Claire inside, killing her instantly. It was already too late to save her by the time Timber arrived. 

Distraught, the Luna had Timber cast out from the pack immediately. A fate he didn't mind, as he didn't want to be reminded of Claire's untimely death.

Lastly, there was Ember. She was a bubbly woman that always wanted to please everyone. She was the pack chef at the Imperial Heart pack. Due to their notoriety within the werewolf kingdom, the Imperial Heart would host functions regularly. Neighbouring packs would come to visit their pack regularly. The new alpha and his beta from the Scarlet Mountain pack were invited to visit. However, Ember was not made aware that the Beta had a severe truffle allergy. Since the Imperial heart pack was famous for its local truffles, Ember decided to include them in each of the dishes to highlight their territory. However, shortly after consuming the appetizer, the beta experienced signs of anaphylaxis. However, it was too late before they discovered the cause. The beta died shortly after. Furious, the Alpha of the Scarlet Mountain pack, called for the head of the chef. Ember's Alpha managed to get rid of the death penalty in lieu of Ember becoming a rogue. 

While each member joined us for their own reasons, the root of the problem stayed the same. Each one of them was cast out because of wrongdoing, not of their fault. Rather they were all used as a scapegoat.

We all bonded over our pasts and created a better future together. Everyone had their own role in our pack, and together we flourished. Since we were rogues, it meant we had to relocate often. However, we all stayed together. Timber was tasked with finding us shelter, and Ember was sort of like a scavenger. She managed to make amazing dishes out of random scraps. Phoenix was tasked with keeping us safe. She also helped to train me. I wanted to follow her steps and become a warrior like she was. I looked up to her and so badly wanted to become respected like she once was. Charlie was there for us if we ever grew injured. He also helped others that we would find caught by pack guards and left for dead. 

Because of Charlie, we managed to get a much larger group of followers. Or at least rogues that didn't wish to harm us, on our side. 

After knowing Darius for a while, I introduced him to each of our rogue pack members. He was surprised at first, as he had never heard of a good rogue pack. Rogues didn't normally form packs, and if they did, it was usually to plan an attack on a neighbouring pack. I was happy to see that we had singlehandedly changed his impression of rogues. 

Darius soon learned everything about me and my life. Well, the things I knew of it, at least. Everything, for the most part, was going great. For the first time in a really long time, I thought of the future in a positive light. I should've known at the time, however, that what goes up must come down.