Claudia

Braden came in the following morning to see how I was doing. Apparently, whatever he was working on with the alpha took its sweet time. He saw my annoyed expression, his brows gnashing together. “Baby don’t it’s my job I came as soon as I could,” I pressed my lips together seeing his fresh set of clothes and I picked up the scent of his lime shower gel so he clearly had time to shower before coming here.

I turned to look back out the window, the thin grey light casting shadows over the narrow streets as people wrapped up in more layers than normal, fighting off the chill. I could see several more guards on the street doing patrols once again.

“Why are there so many guards?” I ask, changing the subject as Braden comes to sit on the bed beside me, taking my hand in his. “It’s a precaution, something Alpha Ansel wants. There is some discord in the pack,” he states matter-of-factly. I glance back out the window as I watch the people pass by. To look at them, you wouldn’t think there were any issues. I can’t say I have noticed any tension.

“They look fine to me,” Braden pats my hand, giving me a sympathetic smile. “Looks can be deceiving Claudia, you should know this better than anyone,” he gives me a tight smile as I look down at our joined hands. I know what he means. He’s referring to the day we met. There had been a rogue attack, and I had been running through the woods before I had stumbled across remnants of a grand stone building. The tall arched doorway was a place I had taken shelter in ivy moss, and vines covered the walls, allowing it to blend in with the surrounding woods.

Fear like I had never known gripped me so hard I couldn’t think straight. My clothes were soaked as I hide trying to ward off the chill that was coming for me.

I waited as the rain poured drips landing beside me as I shivered watching the sunset, hoping that the coast was clear. By the time Braden found me, darkness had fallen, although I was unaware at the time. However, he assured me that everything would be alright. All I remember is thinking about how handsome he was. It was coming up to my 18th birthday and the prospect of finding my mate drew nearer by the day.

All shifters get their wolves when they turn 18. As soon as we have our wolves, we can also find our mates. When I saw Braden, I was relieved and sent a silent prayer up to the moon goddess that the two of us would be mated one day.

He told me it was fate that brought us together that day. Something I am forever grateful for. The howls that followed my departure only made me think the rogues would have found me had he not shown up and then … I dread to think what would have become of me. Rogues are not to be trusted blood thirsty beasts that have lost all sense of humanity and only respond to their baser instincts. In the best-case scenario, the rogues would have ripped me to pieces.

Worst doesn’t even bear thinking about. I look back into those intense blue eyes of his.

As we were leaving, a rogue had followed us. He didn’t strike me as a rogue, perhaps it had been all those stories my father used to tell me that made me believe rogues were the wolves that hid under the bed, went bump in the night and I pictured some foul beast dirty and with razor teeth and straggly hair. In reality, they looked so similar to me and Braden that I would never have known what he truly was.

A dangerous beast lurked beneath that veil of beauty. It’s only when they launched themselves at me and Braden saved me that I realised how deceiving looks can be. I still shudder at the memory even now. How different life would have been if the rogue had succeeded.