Andrei
I can hear my pack members talking outside the house as we get closer. The boy’s hand is still tucked in mine, but I can’t seem to pull away from him.
When he looks up at me, his eyes make something twist in my gut. Then when we break through the treeline, they stop behind me.
The she-wolf sniffs the air and backs away. The boy looks over his shoulder at her, and the other two are standing just in the shadows of the trees.
“Are there children to play with?” The boy suddenly asks me.
“No,” I answer and shake my head. There is no reason for me to lie to them.
Both wolves growl behind me.
“Jonah, come here,” the young girl calls as she waves him over.
Her hair is cut short, and if I couldn’t smell her scent, I would have mistaken her for a boy. Her brown doe eyes shine with fear of the small child standing beside me.
The chatter of my pack stops, but I can hear the crackle of the fire pit that sits out the front of the house and smell the spit roast cooking above it.
“He won’t hurt us. He gave me an apple, isn’t that right, Mr?” the boy asks, looking up at me, yet I have no idea what I want to do with them. I can’t understand why I didn’t just walk away and leave them behind.
“Andrei,” I answer.
“That doesn’t mean we should trust him,” the girl behind me hisses. All things aside, she is a smart one. Very smart. No one should trust a stranger, regardless of how kind the said stranger might appear. Especially inside unknown territory.
“Can we trust you? What does trust mean?” The small boy asks as he bites into his apple again.
I furrow my brows at his determination to finish the entire apple. At this point, it is barely seeds and the core is left.
I don’t have an answer to give this child.
“Please, Paige, I don’t want to go back. He has apples,” The boy pleads, making me chuckle.
“We can’t leave them to fend on their own, Andrei, say something. Make them trust you,” Donnie tells me.
“They can’t trust me, Donnie. I don’t trust myself,” I reply, and he growls at me.
“Hungry?” I ask them, unaware if there is anything else I can say and not make a fool out of myself.
The boy nods, and I walk around to the front of the house to see most of our pack gathered around the fire pits set out in the center of the small park-like area. They watch me as we approach, and I glance around for Zane but can’t see him anywhere.
The she-wolf behind me whimpers, and the teenage wolf growls, looking over at all my men. He is quick to take a protective stance in front of the girl.
“Where are the girls?” I barely hear her whisper to her friend. “You said you had a Luna. Where is she?” She asks me.
Her eyes frantically scan the crowd of pack members that are sitting up. A few get up, and I can see the shock on their faces.
I, too, can’t believe I have willingly brought rogues onto my territory. Malik and Casen stand up and walk toward us. The little boy ducks behind my leg, but he doesn’t let go of my hand.
“My men won’t hurt you,” I promise the young girl. “No one here will hurt you,” I try to reassure them.
It is dangerous, being rogue. Everyone knows that, but being female and rogue is even harder. I have seen it countless times growing up and witnessed my mother forced to do unspeakable things to keep us alive before my father found us.
“Where is Zane?” I ask Malik as he approaches.
“Trying to calm Sage down. She has smashed herself up pretty badly, trying to get out of the house,” Malik answers, right as his eyes dart down to the boy hiding behind me.
Casen stops beside him, and Clay gets up and walks over to us. The entire pack is watching with curious eyes and fear. They are all aware of my hate for rogues, and my need for their deaths, and I can tell they are holding their breaths to see what I might do.
“Please, Alpha,” Casen whispers.
His eyes are focused on the three behind me, and I nod to him. He tugs off his shirt, and holds it out to the male wolf, but he doesn’t take it, just watches him warily.
The girl hesitantly steps forward with her arm outstretched. Then, she quickly snatches the shirt from him, and I hear bones snapping. At least the teenage boy is shifting.
“I’m Casen. This is my brother, Vince.” Casen introduces himself and his brother as he comes over and stops beside Casen.
“I’m Paige, my brother Liam and my sister’s name is Nora,” she introduces, pointing to the she-wolf.
“And that is Jonah,” she says, pointing to the boy, still hiding behind me.
“We have food, come,” Casen says with a massive grin across his lips as he steps backward and waves at them to follow him.
“We won’t hurt you,” Vince tells them, clearly unsure of what he is supposed to do or say in such a situation.
The she-wolf growls at Paige, and she looks at her sister.
“What did she say?” Malik asks the girl.
“That we shouldn’t because there are no girls here.”
“We can explain. Just come get some food, and if you want to leave after, you can,” Malik tells the kids and his gaze darts to me.
A moment later, his voice flits through my mind as he opens the mindlink. “They can leave, can’t they? You wouldn’t…”
I don’t bother answering, let alone acknowledge the stupidity behind his words. Instead, I gaze down at the boy. “Go with Malik, Jonah. I need to get my mate,” I tell him, but he doesn’t move.
“Here, you can take the apples,” I offer him the basket as a distraction for the time being. He just looks in the basket, and it appears like he’s counting the apples to decide if my offer is worth considering.
“Can I have them all?” He asks, and Malik laughs.