Rouge

My eyes are closed. My ears are ringing, it intensifies to a point that I can't tolerate it any longer, and then it stops. Slowly adjusting my gaze, I noticed a large wolf tackling Oliver to the ground. I recognize the wolf as my dad's. He snarls at Oliver, who is now pinned helplessly to the ground. Dad releases him and growls at him to submit.

But Oliver’s eyes are pinned at me, his eyes are neither human nor wolf. It is something else. Something cruel. Like he wants to murder everyone, starting with me. Still looking at me, his eyes turn yellow. His bones snapped, but he didn’t scream.

Shifting into one's wolf is a painful process.

But he is not in control of his body. He is painfully shifting and morphing. His bones break at abnormal angles and snap right back to the shape of a wolf. He is transitioning to a rouge.

“He is becoming a rouge”, I say backing away from the scene. Oliver jumps and growls at everyone before taking off.

“Don't let him get past the borders, kill him”, Alpha Ezekiel orders the other guards. They shift into wolf forms, tearing their clothes. They chase Oliver, who is already outrunning them. Oliver glances one glance at me smirking before pumping his speed.

“Are you okay?”, I turn my head, it is Casper. “I am okay”, I lied. He nods and doesn’t press the matter.

“He is out for blood”, Nicolas says.

“When did he show the signs?” I ask no one in particular, trying to catch my breath from almost dying.

“He is not really a calm guy. Thought it was stress but not exactly” Ren says, his face a mixture of worry and disappointment.

"How did he keep it together in stage two?" I wonder, but I say it out loud.

"Search her belongings and bring his packmates for qustioning. Alpha Nero will take lead", Alpha Ezekiel must be thinking the same. So he orders the two guards that Oliver attacked. They slowly stand up and walk away to execute their order.

In my opinion, it makes sense. I noticed that he was looking at my dad when we were doing the introductions. He didn’t even glance at one single soul, rather glaring at both me and my dad. I don't know what made him tick and kill those wolves at the party. Is it because of Greyson?

I look at Greyson but he doesn’t meet my eyes. “Everyone inside”, dad comes wearing jeans and a shirt. As we are walking to the Alpha’s office, Greyson taps me on the shoulder.

“Do you think it's my fault?” He asks. One should see his face. He is feeling guilty, but doesn’t want to admit it to anyone else. Why me?

“You tell me. You were a ‘team’ in stage one”, I say, glancing at his eyes. Seems like he is not satisfied with my answer, he grabs my arm stopping us from walking. Other contestants glance at us but resume walking.

“I know what I did is unaccounted for. And I shouldn't have manhandled you like that. I am…” he says but when it comes to apologizing, he is tongue-tied.

“Yes, I am listening”. I say crossing my hands to my chest. His look wanders to my chest from one second and then he meets my eyes.

“I am sorry”, he whispers. He looks at me like a scolded puppy.Seeing the sincerity in his eyes, I wanted to forgive him right then and there.

"I don't think it was you who caused Oliver to transform. I have done researching when my heath started to become bad. I thought I was turning into a rouge". My eyes are drawn away from him. I do not want him to know each and every detail of my life. So I went straight to the point.

"What's important is that you don't trigger the transition with one incident. There must be multiple episodes before one becomes rouge. I would say that this is the last straw for him in this case". I say looking at him.

“Last straw caused by me. He killed three wolves becuase of me”. Greyson eyes are filled with guilt.

"The fact is, he would have become a rouge in some form or another. Today just had to be the day. Don't beat yourself up over it". Never in a million years did I think that I would have to defend Greyson. Defend him from himself.

He smiled at me with a sad smile. I could see the twinkle in his eyes as he hugged me. I stand there not knowing where to put my hands. Not so long ago, he was pinning me to the wall and manhandling me, and now he is hugging me. I think this is his way of saying ‘thank you’.

“We need to go”, I say as I feel awkward. “Yeah”, he pulls away.

Alpha Ezekiel is standing beside his chair. Dad is beside him going through a folder. All the contestants are standing in wolf stand, standing in attention with their hands behind their backs.

I stand in wolf stand beside Angelo. Angelo winks at me raising an eyebrow. What is he planning now? I look at my dad and alpha Ezekiel. Dad turns to me and nods. I nod back, not understanding why I have to be here.

"We understand that we kept a secret from you. I think we should have been more honest", dad starts.

“We didn’t tell you because we didn't want you to concentrate on your past, we wanted you to give your best in the contest. Most of you either lost your mates or never found them, we didn't want you to become agitated because of the marked mate ceremony.” Alpha Ezekiel speaks.

“It's a sensitive topic and if we were told at first, most of you wouldn’t be here”, Alpha Ezekiel says in a strict tone. Nobody can question it. He is making a statement.

“This contest only allows mateless wolves because of my daughter. She is mateless for so long, one more year and she will become rogue with madness just like Oliver”, his voice wavers at the end.

“Yeah, it's personal, and I wanted a strong male to protect my daughter when I can't”. Dad’s emotions stir me and the tense atmosphere dissipates to something else.

“I know it's going to bring shit to my pack, wolves blaming us for our personal decision, but it's a logical one as well. A decision a father makes for his daughter". He looks at me.

“So wolves, do you understand that when one of you will become Royal Beta, along with the title, I promise you my daughter, Taylor”. Dad says after a moment of pause.

The wolves nod their heads and all yell at the same time, “Yes, Royal Alpha and Royal Beta”. I agreed to this. But it was before I met Roman. It feels like I am cheating on him. But, he doesn't want me, so I guess we are even. I hold my ground keeping my head up, seeing no one in particular.

“She will also be the one to evaluate you. She is good at that, I assure you. Which is why I am telling you this, Taylor". I turn to my dad. "You will train with them and accompany them during their entire training. You will study every aspect of stage three and report back to me. You got it".

“Yes, Royal Beta”. I say. The Royal Beta has given me an order, so I should address him as such. "If you have any questions or if you want to leave, you can tell me now." Alpha Ezekiel speaks with power emanating from him. Although I am used to my father's authority, Alpha's is still a bit harsh and powerful.

Nicolas glaces at me and smiles. Angelo raises his hand. Alpha Ezekiel motions him to go on. “I think its better if Taylor lives with us. She can get to know all of us, won’t she?”. This retarted. Dad and alpha Ezekiel look at me. It seems they are really thinking about this.

"That's a good point. Taylor, you pick a room later today". The words won't come out of my mouth. This is a direct order. I nod at my dad and I glare at Angelo. Since I'll be with them most of the day, there's no need to live with them. But it seems as if Angelo is determined to irritate me.

Contestants do a wolf dismissal by bringing their hands behind their backs and kicking the ground once with their right foot. They are asking to be dismissed, which means they don't have any questions.

“You are dismissed”. Alpha Ezekiel announces.

I say right there as the contestants leave. “Are you not going to come? Greyson whispers. I don't know why it sounded so dirty. "I need to talk to my dad". I nod at him.

I go up to my dad. "You have got your Royal Beta voice," Dad says, looking serious “It’s not a big deal, dad. The packs were on the verge of war, so it just happened", I shrugged. This is a big deal. Never did I speak in that voice. It happened today. Today is the first day I have felt powerful, even for a few minutes.

He smiles as he pats my back. He wants to say more but he keeps it to himself. “Send an email to the pup school, you will be accompanying the boys and evaluating them on a day to day basis. You will be training with them, so there will be a medic on site. I will ask Dr Kyle to look into it".

“What about Dr Roman, dad?” The words flew out of my mouth. Dad recommended Roman to me, but I do not know why he would switch doctors right now. “He resigned almost an hour ago, sweetheart”.