Chapter 41: Staying Back

-Nova-

We quickly got dressed and went to eat in the kitchen. It was best I didn’t eat with everyone else right now. They were quite mad at me, and I understood, but I hoped I could make up for what I had done, just like Serena, because I wanted to be here. I wanted to be here with Rhys, and live my life with him. I just hoped it didn’t cost me everything. My brothers might not be able to forgive me, and I couldn’t really forgive them, but I didn’t want them dead. Never! They were still my family. After we had eaten, we all met up back in Rogan’s office.

“Dammit, Rhys,” I heard shortly after Rogan entered his office.

His eyes were on us, and I looked confused at Rogan.

“Now? Now you decide to mark her?” he asked.

I looked down, completely forgetting the rest must have felt it as he marked me. Rhys was part of this pack and now that we had completed the marking process, then so was I. Shit … Rhys, on the other hand, didn’t look so worried. He just wrapped an arm around my waist and smiled smugly.

“Yes,” he said calmly.

I looked at him shocked, but he just looked at Rogan who was shaking his head as he sat down behind his desk. Serena wasn’t far behind him, but she was smiling at us and not looking too worried.

“She is not getting out of this without answering to the consequences of her actions!” he said.

Serena chuckled and then wrapped an arm around Rogan’s neck, before whispering something in his ear. It seemed to calm Rogan, and I was surprised Serena even wanted to help. I had betrayed her too, but shortly after, Rogan just seemed a little tired, but calmer, as he took his mate’s hand and kissed it.

“Fine, we will figure it out afterwards. We got work to do,” he said. “Tomorrow we are going to attack.”

“Already?!” I asked.

“We need this problem solved and fast, and now that your brothers know you are siding with us, they won’t wait long either,” he said. “They might already have left the house.”

“I am not sure where they would go though.”

“They have claimed a lot of territory, they could be hiding anywhere,” he said.

“I am sorry … I was only in that house, they never allowed me to go anywhere else. I can’t tell you where else they might hide.”

Rogan lifted his hand and shook his head a little as if to tell me that was not my fault, and I guessed it wasn’t really. I couldn’t really change the way my brothers had raised me.

“I am in contact with Julianna and some other packs, and we are all ready to strike them hard,” he said.

“So, we are finally getting an end to this rogue problem,” Marcus said. “Unless there are more children we don’t know about.”

Marcus turned to me and smiled at me in a strange way until I understood what he meant.

“I have never been pregnant!” I said.

Marcus shrugged.

“Just making sure.”

I heard Rhys growl lowly, which just made Marcus laugh.

“Enough!” Rogan said.

“What about your brothers?” Marcus asked.

I shrugged.

“Never heard anything, but then again, they didn’t live like saints,” I told them.

“What should we know about them?” Serena asked.

“Zane is the one making the decisions. He always plans everything,” I told them. “Keith might be hotheaded, but he is damn strong. Probably the strongest out of all of them, despite being the youngest. Michael … well, just don’t get Michael angry.”

“Why?” Rogan asked.

“Because … you really don’t want to see him angry,” I said. “He can be … cruel when he gets angry. He is always so quiet, but if something really gets to him, then you don’t want to be close.”

“Oh, yeah, sure let’s just have a nice chat with your brother then,” Marcus said.

Rhys growled again, not liking the attitude Marcus was showing, and I quickly placed my hand on Rhys’s chest, which instantly calmed him and he turned to me and smiled.

“It’s fine, I get it. Michael will get angry, but there is a difference,” I said. “When I say angry, I mean truly angry. Like blinding. He doesn’t know who he is when he gets there.”

“So, no pissing him off,” Rogan just said.

I nodded.

“We shouldn’t all go in at the same time,” I said.

“Why not?”

“Maybe I am just used to the way my brothers do it, but they go in, in groups, first hitting the border control, then the house. It is a way to constantly keep the waves coming, forcing people back,” I said. “Using their own tactics against them is not really something they would expect.”

Everyone seemed to like my plan and agreed it was a good idea. We would do it more rogue style, it seemed, and it made me smile. I was glad I could be of help. I had messed so many things up. It was only right that I fixed them too.

“Alright then, one last thing,” Rogan said as the meeting came to an end. He was looking at me, and I didn’t like the look on his face. “You stay back.”

“What?!”

“You heard me, Nova,” he said. “You stay back.”

“But I can fight, and I know my brothers.”

“Exactly,” he said.

I froze and realized what he was trying to say. I looked up at Rhys, but it was clear he was agreeing with this.

“You don’t want me out there in case I might not be on your side,” I whispered and turned to Rogan.

“I’m sure you can understand,” he said.

I sighed and nodded.

“But I can also be helpful!” I quickly added.

“You already have been. Now we are going to do the rest.”

“But … My brothers …”

“I know you’re worried about them, and if we can we will let them live,” Rogan said. “But don’t you see you being so worried, makes us doubt you. It makes us think if you are really on their side still.”

I looked down, understanding where he was coming from, but it was still hard to hear.

“It is not personal, Nova,” he said.

“In a way, it is,” I whispered.

“Maybe, but I am not changing my mind.”

“Okay … I will stay.”

“Good. You are all dismissed.”

People started to leave, and when Rhys and I had left the office, he quickly stopped and turned to me.

“You understand why you have to stay, right?”

I nodded.

“Yeah …”

“Nova, we won’t be gone for long.”

“You sound so sure, but you don’t know my brothers,” I said. “You don’t know if this will be over fast, or even over tomorrow.”

“No, but we also now have something we didn’t have before. You.”

“And yet I am trapped here,” I said.

“Just one night,” he said. “And then everyone, when it goes smoothly, can see you can be trusted.”

I smiled a little.

“Yeah, I guess that is right.”

“They will see it very soon. Nova, I trust you, and I know you are only trying to help.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him.

“Thank you for believing me.”