Chapter 3: Mate

-Nova-

My brothers were heading out again tonight, but I was not going to be left behind, which was why I had stolen some clothes from one of the female rogues who always went out, covering myself in her scent, and put on a black cap, so no one could see my face. I had pushed all my black hair under the cap, and then I kept my eyes down, as they all met in front of the house.

“Are we ready?!” my oldest brother shouted.

Everyone cheered and growled, while I stood in the back trying not to be noticed. I knew I was taking a damn big risk tonight. If my brothers found out, I would be locked in my bedroom and never allowed to come out, but I wanted to be part of this. I wanted to prove I was more than some little sister just leeching off of everyone here. I wanted to pull my part too. So, even if I might burn in my brothers’ anger, I would do this.

Everyone ran to the cars, and I quickly followed, getting in one that was pretty much a van, and staying in the back, so no one felt the need to talk to me, and then we drove out of there. My heart was pounding but I wasn’t sure if it was from excitement or fear. A little bit of both, I would guess, but I wasn’t backing out now. I could do this, I told myself.

Even when the van parked and everyone got out of the cars, not far from the pack we were going to attack tonight, I followed. I wasn’t going to be weak tonight. I was going to show everyone that I was a true rogue, and I could go through with this.

My brothers, of course, had it all planned out. They knew the pack would be a little weakened tonight because the alpha and luna and some of their top warriors were attending a very important gala, and therefore it was going to be very easy to take down the rest. We hit them hard and where they couldn’t see us.

The border control was even so damn easy to take down, and we quickly moved through the trees and the big lawn that was leading up to the dark house …

Wait … why was it so dark?

We broke into the house, but I noticed that some of the doors weren’t even locked … rather careless, and as we came inside, everything just seemed so damn quiet. The only noises I really heard were from the other rogues every time they found something valuable.

I froze though, as I stood in a hallway, a weird feeling going through me. Something was just not adding up here, and I couldn’t really say what it was. It just seemed so easy … too easy. I wanted to go find my brothers and point this out to them, but I couldn’t allow them to figure out I was here …

What the hell did I do?!

Suddenly, I heard a scream go through the house, and then it was like everything turned quiet. I was all alone in the hallway, I noticed, and quickly ran to the end of it, hoping to find someone I knew, but there wasn’t anyone. Where were they?!

Then out of the blue, someone came running towards me. I recognized him, of course, but just as I was about to ask him what was going on, he ran past me and jumped out of a window.

“What the hell?” I whispered.

I looked the way he had come, and there I saw a dark wolf with green eyes, looking right at me. That was not a rogue … and from the power, I could feel that he was an alpha.

“Shit!”

I quickly turned on my heel, running away, before I found a room to seek refuge in. I heard him run by the door, and took a deep breath, trying to calm my heart. It was a trap … I already knew it, because of the power of that wolf … Shit, he gave me the chills, even from afar. He was no ordinary alpha.

“What the hell do I do?”

*We need to go find our brothers!*

My wolf spoke loudly in my head.

“I can’t …”

*We need to warn them!*

“Don’t you think they already know?” I asked.

*Well, we need to do something!*

“Yeah, we need to get out of here, before anyone figures out, I was even out here. This is not the night for me to prove myself,” I said.

Everything is still rather quiet, maybe not everyone knows what is going on. I really think we should find our brothers.

“Sure, and get locked away forever! Bad idea!”

*Fine …*

My wolf was not happy with me. I understood. This was a scary situation. My brothers had been on such successful missions lately, I just assumed this was going to go smoothly too, but they were expecting us this time.

“I can’t believe this …”

*We can’t think they would let it be so easy forever.*

My wolf was right. Of course, they were going to fight back. My brothers had been having it too easy lately. They knew, of course, that a challenge was coming. No one would just stand by and watch everything get taken from them.

*You don’t think our brothers expected it to happen tonight, do you?*

I shook my head.

“They would never risk so many rogues.”

*Sometimes you have to sacrifice the queen in order to win …*

“Stop it!” I said. “We are not playing chess!”

My wolf just huffed a little, not happy I wasn’t listening to her.

*They really didn’t like you coming out tonight.*

“They never want me to come with them. You know this,” I said.

*I know! And it sucks!*

My wolf was right. It did suck. I couldn’t keep being the weakest.

“Yeah …”

*But you’re right, we should get out of here.*

I nodded and looked around the small room I was in. It had a window, but it was locked. I was about to smash it with my elbow when I saw shadows moving around outside the house. It was the wrong way to go.

“We can’t go that way …”

*No shit!*

I turned around myself hoping to find another window, but there was only the door. I sighed and walked over to it, before pressing my ear to it.

“I don’t hear anything …”

*Should we take the chance?*

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to, because the last time a big alpha had had his eyes on me. The room felt safest, but I knew I couldn’t stay forever. I could hear voices and screams getting louder. Time was running out.

“I am not sure we have much choice.”

*Then go!*

Yeah …

I reached out and grabbed the handle, but I felt myself shake a little.

“Come on, you can do this,” I whispered to myself.

It was not the time to get cold feet. I had decided to come out here tonight, and I needed to prove I could handle this. If I couldn’t even get out of here on my own, how was I ever going to prove to anyone that I was strong enough to handle these missions?

*Exactly! So do it!*

“Just … a moment.”

*We can’t be weak now!*

No, I knew we couldn’t, but the image of that black wolf just filled my mind, and it was hard to shake the fear off me.

“Come on!”

I finally grabbed the handle a little harder and pushed it down, before I looked down the way the wolf had come. He was no longer there, and I couldn’t hear any loud voices, which meant people were far away from this hallway. I smiled, as I walked out, closing the door, but keeping my eyes on where I had seen the black wolf, as I started to walk the other way.

I hadn’t taken more than a few steps before I hit a hard wall, but when I looked up, I saw it wasn’t a wall … it was a very tall male wolf, who had the bluest eyes, and was looking right at me with a shocked look on his face.

*Mate!*