Book 1: Chapter 19

I stumbled out the front door and took out a cigarette, but patted my pants. Wrinkling my nose, I turned to go inside when a lighter appeared in front of me. Looking over, Solaris was leaning against the building, a clove cigarette in her other hand. Reaching out, I took it and lit the end before handing it back to her.

“Thanks.”

She chuckled. “No problem, Alpha.”

“Silas.”

Her head cocked to the side.

“You’re not part of my pack. It’s Silas out here.”

Rolling her eyes, she took a drag. “You need a ride home, Silas? Your Beta and Charles left an hour ago.”

“I’ll probably stay in town. Ubers don’t like going up into the territory.”

She laughed. “Considering the ones that work now are mostly vampires, I’m not surprised. I can give you lift if you can handle the back of a motorcycle.”

My eyes narrowed. “Why would you…”

“Maybe I just want you off my property, Alpha.”

“Si-las. S-i-l-a-s.” Somewhere in spelling my name, the drunkin-ness got to me and I slurred the last three letters of my name.

I could see her bite her lip, trying not to laugh. “Alright, Silas. Would you like a ride home or not?”

Grumbling, I threw the cigarette in the ash tray they had outside. “Alright. This once. I don’t want you on my fucking territory again.”

Getting up from her lean, she shook her head. “You couldn’t pay me to go in that territory, Silas. Trust me.”

I was a little taken aback by the bite in her words. Like she had a grudge against my territory specifically. The thought evaporated in my alcohol fueled mind. She disappeared into the bar before coming out with her keys. Her bike was parked in a special motorcycle parking that was outlined in the parking lot. She got on and looked at me.

“You coming?”

“No helmet?”

She rolled her eyes. “You gonna tell the chief?”

I chuckled and got on, grabbing her waist as she rolled out of the parking lot. We headed up the road and I closed my eyes. The wind felt great against my skin. This was probably the closest you could get to running in the woods in wolf form. The feeling of the wind and the speed of the run. We crossed my territory line and I watched the trees become more dense as we drove further north.

Ten minutes into the ride, my suspicions grew. Solaris hadn’t asked for a single direction the whole time but we were going a barely used back way to the pack house. My eyes narrowed but she didn’t even give a hint of anything was off about the ride. Another ten minutes we pulled up to the pack house and she stopped, not turning off the bike.

“I’ll be headed back now. I don’t want to be here as much as you don’t want me here.”

“How did…”

Her eyes caught mine. “Silas, not all rogues start out as rogues.”

Nate opened the front door, his eyes widening at the scene before him. She gave him a short salute before peeling out of the driveway and back down the road. I watched as she left.

“She actually dropped you off?”

“Nate, she knew the whole way.”

He looked at me, confusion on his face. “She came up the Birchwood way. Didn’t ask for a single direction to the pack house. She knew where the hell she was going.”

Nate shrugged. “Maybe she’s done her homework on our pack. I know I would. Especially with your reputation with rogues.”

Shaking my head, I tried to shake the feeling out of me. The feeling that something deeper was going on. That Solaris had far more secrets than she was letting on.

-

Groaning, I laid my forehead on the cool marble countertop.

“You know, Alpha, you aren’t 21 anymore. You really shouldn’t be out drinking so much.” Meredith commented as she handed me a glass of orange juice and some toast.

“Thanks. I’ll make sure to note that next time. I’m getting too old for this shit.”

She chuckled and shook her head. “I’m just saying. Take care of yourself better. You and Nate run around like you’re trying to kill yourselves sometimes.”

I sighed and lifted my head up, taking a drink of the orange juice. “Sometimes I wonder if we aren’t.”

Her eyes narrowed for a moment but she didn’t reply. “Sam was by earlier to drop something off, saying there was an issue this morning that Nate was taking care of. He had to go help but it might be something big.”

My eyes narrowed and I closed my eyes. Forcing the pounding headache back, I mind linked Nate.

*'What’s going on? Mer said something was going down.'*

Nate heaved a sigh and I knew it was bad.* 'There was a skirmish at the border.'*

*'How bad?'*

*'It’s…complicated.'*

My eyes narrowed and I took a bite of toast.*'Complicated how?'*

*'Some of our boys caught Solaris running through the woods.'*

*'Inside our territory?'* I asked. I hadn’t been alerted of anything crossing over.

*'No. Thus the complicated part.'*

I sat up straighter. *'They didn’t attack her outside the territory, did they?'*

There was no reply from Nate.

*'Beta?'*

*'They did, Alpha. She was in wolf form. Sent four of our boys to the hospital.'*

*'Any of it happen on…'*

Nate cut me off. *'No, Alpha. They all stepped out of the territory. I actually got the call from Charles.'*

*'Charles? Why Charles?'*

*'Solaris called him. She didn’t have our number so she called the person who would have them. Said she took care of the guys best she could but that they most likely needed a doctor. Charles called me and I went out there.'*

*'And?'*

*'Sure enough. She did a fucking number on them but they were all bandaged up and knocked out. I had to get the 2nd shift to bring all four of them in. She said she was only within view of the territory because she was following a deer. They didn’t even hesitate to jump her apparently. Said that they were lucky she didn’t accidentally kill them.'*

I swallowed a bite of toast and shook my head. Everyone knew and felt my hatred for rogue. We took care of every single rogue that even touched a toe in our territory. Outside of last nights ride, no rogue had walked out of the territory unscathed in decades. My warriors knew better. They knew not to cross the line. Especially when the information that three rogues were now running a bar in town.

*'Boys still at the hospital?'*

*'Yes, Alpha.'*

*'I’m going to head over there now. Were you able to speak to Solaris?'*

Nate sighed again. *'Yes. She said it was her partly her fault for being so close to the territory line so she wasn’t going to file anything against us but I think she wanted to speak to you.'*

My head fell back as I sighed. I’m sure she wanted to chew me a new one. Hell, it was my pack and I deserved it if they really did just cross the line to get her. I may want her out of range the territory but I wasn’t about kill her or do something to bring the wrath of the Alpha King down on my pack. Human laws meant little to us but the Alpha King could easily decide to wipe out an entire pack.

Downing the orange juice, I grabbed my jacket and keys. The pack house was still a fair ways away and I didn’t feel like running. Eros had been still ridiculously silent since yesterday and I didn’t want pull him out just for a run. Jumping into the truck, I drove down to the hospital and made my way in. A few of the 2nd shift were still there and stood up when I entered.

“Alpha.”

“Are they still inside?”

They nodded.

“Go ahead and head back to your post. I’ll take it from here.

“Yes, Alpha”

They all scattered and I walked over to the rooms. One of the doctors was coming out and I smiled. He held out his hand to shake mine.

“Morning, Alpha.”

“Morning, Shep. How they doing?”

He chuckled. “You want the bad new or good news?”

“Bad first.”

Walking over to the nurse, he handed her a clip board. “Bad news is they are probably out for the next couple days. At the very least, they are staying overnight here. We’ll see how ready they are in the morning.”

I groaned. It meant I would have to adjust the patrols for the next few days. Probably just take on their patrols myself to not make it complicated. I loathed the early shift though.

“The good news?”

“Whoever did this was a master. Honestly, I would feel honored to just shake their hands.”

My eyes widened and he laughed.

“Every single hit, one inch from death. Alpha, it was incredible. Every single hit, bite, scratch, you name it. All an inch, exactly an inch, away from arteries or important veins or vital organs. Someone being able to have that much control and precision while fighting multiple of our boys at the same time? They deserve a medal.”

My hand covered my mouth and I nodded absently.

“Also, not too bad with the bandages. Got all the important parts covered and cleaned. For field work, it looked professional.”

I nodded again. “Are they coherent enough to talk?”

“Oh yeah. They are all good if you want to go in. Just…be gentle. Their bodies aren’t the only thing bruised.” Shep gave me a wink but he had no idea.

Four of my best guys just got beaten down by a single female rogue. If their ego’s weren’t bruised I was about to gut punch them. Walking into the room, I straightened and let some of my Alpha power follow me in. All four of them sat straighter in their beds.

“A…Alpha.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I looked over them. All of them were nearly covered from head to toe in bandages. A couple were in casts. It looked like a hell of a fight. However, from what Nate said, it seemed very one-sided.

“You boys want to tell me what happened?”

All of their eyes fell.

“That wasn’t a request. That was an order.”

Ken, my lead for the group cleared his throat. “We were doing our rounds in the southern part of the forest when we caught some movement in the forest.”

“At first, we thought it was just a deer and it was but then a huge fucking wolf was chasing after it.”

“Seriously, the wolf was even larger than you and we started to freak out. We hadn’t smelled any rogues or smelled anything outside the deer.”

I looked at all of them. “Were they on our territory?”

All of them went quiet.

“Don’t make me ask again.”

“No Alpha, the wolf was not on territory.”

I took a deep breath. “So you attacked a wolf, who you couldn’t even identify as rogue by the smell, outside of our territory in the safe zone, is that correct?”

“We were worried! If the wolf crossed our territory then we would never smell them coming! So we…”

“You left the territory, attacked a wolf, and got your asses kicked in the process.”

Their heads fell.

“You realize we could have been in serious fucking trouble. That wolf could absolutely report you to the Alpha King and your asses would be hauled off to court. Attacking another wolf you couldn’t identify outside your territory is a serious fucking crime boys.”

“Yes Alpha.”

I sighed and pinched my nose. “Lucky for you, the wolf you attacked isn’t going to report you. Though that doesn’t mean you aren’t free of punishment. Once you’re healed, you will report to me for your punishment.” I turned to leave but stopped. “Also, all four of you are banned from The Wayward Tap.”

All of their mouths dropped open and they started to argue but I put my hand up.

“That wolf you attacked, that was Solaris, the co-owner of the bar.”

“But…the wolf…was huge. It was bigger than any Alpha…” Ken stammered and I shook my head.

“It doesn’t change the facts. You’re lucky, all of you, that you’re even alive. You will also be making apologies to her directly.” With that, I slammed their doors shut.