Cracking the window slightly, I dig through my pocket to find my smokes. Grabbing them out, I light one and happily exhale.
The moon is now high in the sky, not even the mountain can hide it from view. Fluorescent eyes in the trees are the first giveaway that we are getting closer to the pack. The border patrollers follow the car through the windy path, running alongside us in the trees.
Going over the cattle grid, I let out a breath of relief once I finally see the pack houses come into view. We are hidden deep within the trees at the base of the mountain. Our small town is branching around the mountain base.
It was a lot larger before the attack, but since we are slowly building it back up, we must focus on the most important parts of the process, first and foremost, the security.
We can easily manage without the other stuff. All of us are used to living off the land, having been rogues before an official pack, and we all know how to survive the wild. But we would never live without security again, the tragedy of the past would never happen to my pack as long as I was Alpha.
Pulling up to the front of the house, I spot a few lights on in the surrounding houses. A few people walk around and chat amongst themselves.
An odd sensation of sorrow rushes through me. This place has grown lonely lately.
As shitty as it feels to admit mistakes, in order to learn from them, I need to acknowledge everything I have done wrong. Same goes for my men.
We never realized what a big part the woman in the pack played. They were the ones that looked after all activities that brought us together as a pack, the luncheons, and the pack parties, little things we never paid attention to.
Now, we all sit around, mostly bored or working ourselves to exhaustion, so we don’t have to think of those we lost and the lifestyle we had grown accustomed to before it was taken away.
Opening the car door, I climb out to see Zane hop off the grass. Casen is beside him, as they walk over to me. “Alpha,” Zane greets, and Casen nods.
A strange smirk spreads across Casen’s lips as he looks through my window at my sleeping Sage. Then he notices that I am watching his little stunt, and he instantly straightens up.
Zane elbows him in the ribs, making him grunt from the impact. “What? The only thing to look at around here is your ugly mugs. I was only looking, I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Eyes off, Casen, you bloody horn dog,” Zane scolds, rolling his eyes.
Casen shrugs, not a care in the world, and now, I can tell he has been drinking. I don’t plan to ruin his night, even if he is too young. There isn’t much to do out here, and the other members will keep an eye on him and pull him up if he becomes too rowdy.
“Need something for my spank bank, picturing your face isn’t working anymore.” Casen jokes, nudging Zane back.
“Keep Sage away from your filthy thoughts, please,” I growl at him.
“No promises, Alpha,” Casen taunts, and I shake my head at him. Little shit is asking for a beatdown.
“Why are you both over here? What’s wrong?” I try to distract them both from my mate and get over whatever they came here for. The sooner I get rid of both of them, the sooner I can carry Sage inside and lay down with her in my arms.
“We caught another rogue and got some information out of him,” Zane relays.
I look toward the house, praying the rogue isn’t in the basement right now. The last thing I need is to have another asshole down there. Sage will definitely notice that, and I won’t hear the end of it.
The relationship between us is finally getting better. She seems to have learned how to trust me more, she speaks her mind and behaves much more openly around me. I would hate to have it all ruined just because of some filthy nobody.
“I tied him to a chair at my place. We didn’t know whether to bring him to your torture chamber,” Zane tells me, answering my thoughts.
I scrub a hand down my face, trying to decide what the best thing to do is. All things aside, at least the rogue isn’t in the basement and Sage won’t hear any weird, disturbing sounds.
“What information did you get?” I ask, pinching the bridge of my nose.
“Not much, really, just that they sent him out to scout for food. Found out there are a hundred and forty rogues in their camp, mostly women and children. There is another camp, not far from theirs, full of a band of rogues up to no good. He claims his camp has nothing to do with the slaughter of our pack, but I can’t be sure.” Zane gives me a quick run-down.
“Just let me get Sage to bed, and bring him to the basement. Keep this one quiet this time. You wake her, and I will skin your ass next time,” I warn him.
“Yes, Alpha, I will mindlink you when it is done,” Zane agrees, striding off towards his place across from my house.
“Fuck!” I whisper under my breath as I make my way around to the other side of my car.
This is not how I intended for this day to end. So fucking far from everything, it’s making my head spin and mind run wild. I can’t believe this is actually happening right now.
“You will ruin everything. Are you trying to make her hate us?” Donnie snaps at me.
“No, but I need to protect our pack.” I snap back at him.
Didn’t he notice my inner turmoil or did he decide to ignore it? I don’t want that rogue in my basement, and I don’t want Sage to find out there are more incoming, but for fuck’s sake, I need to ensure the safety of the pack. I need to protect her!
“Find another way, this isn’t it, Andrei,” Donnie growls and retreats to the back of my mind.
Stupid wolf, he was all for it before she came along, and now, he pretends he doesn’t like hearing them begging for mercy.
I know he does. And so do I.
I can claim as many times as I please that I don’t enjoy it. That I don’t crave hearing their screams, but fuck, as much as I wish it were true – it’s not.