Kevin’s POV
I felt restless and nervous at the same time. I had never been so on edge all my life. Ever since the men had seen the unknown spy running away from the building, I hadn’t been myself as I knew it was only going to take a little while before the war begins.
I wasn’t scared of wars but I hated a surprise attack which was what Kenneth was planning. That much was obvious that that was what he would do based on who he was and what I knew of him. I wanted them here already before my heart gives out on me even before the fight begins. I had been told repeatedly by my men to not fret but I didn’t know it wasn’t that hard to not worry.
I was anxious enough to make the word jealous. At this rate, if the war didn’t start soon, I had no doubt that my middle name was going to be anxiety.
I let out a sigh not knowing how many it was that I had released today.
“That would be the seventh sigh in two minutes.” Liam said as he sat beside me.
I glanced at him and a small smile coated my lips. I didn’t know that someone had been counting. The seventh sighs in the past two minutes? I smiled fully. That wasn’t bad. I had thought that I would have given out like seventy sighs since I had been here three minutes ago. It felt refreshing to know that my heart wasn’t going to pass out too soon.
I sighed again but this time it was in relief.
“That would be the eight.” Liam said, his expression deadpan. It would have been nice if he was teasing me but I knew he wasn’t. He was too worried about me to have time for jokes.
“Stop counting.” I smiled, shaking my head at him.
“Stop sighing.” He said.
I knew that tone in his voice. He wasn’t going to listen to me. He was going to keep counting my sighs until I stopped doing them. I was about to sigh again at his stubbornness before I caught myself and then shook my head at him, chuckling hard.
A slow smile glinted in his eyes. “Better.” He nodded at me as if I was a child who had just made his father proud.
I smiled at how overprotective he could be at times. I was the leader of the pack and should be the one worrying about them all. That was my responsibility but I knew Liam wasn’t going to listen.
“Are you happy now?” I asked him.
He nodded. “Are you still worried?” He asked me instead of talking.
“I don’t see why I shouldn’t be.” I replied him.
He nodded like my answer made sense. Of course, it made sense. I was only reading too much meaning into this. I should stop being worried.
“You should stop being worried.” He said, echoing my thoughts. I nodded, telling him that I understood him.
“If I may, my lord.” He asked, reaching his hand forward.
I nodded at him and watched as he rested his hand on mine. “You shouldn’t worry too much. The war will soon be here and we will all fight with our best. I’m sure that we wouldn’t be defeated. We have so much to protect and are not also not the one at fault. The universe wouldn’t be that cruel to hand us over into the bloody, violent hands of the rogues. We have been through a lot and overcame them, Kevin. This isn’t going to be an exception so don’t let the worry of what would happen tomorrow steal the joy of what you should feel today.”
I was wowed by his long speech-that was long to me because he rarely talked much-and I had no doubt the awe I felt was shining in my eyes as I looked at him.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” He shifted uncomfortably.
I smiled, wondering when he was going to start being comfortable with attention. I couldn’t wait to see how he would react when he finally had his mate.
“I didn’t know you had such beautiful words in you. I feel lucky to have such an intelligent and inspiring general with me.”
He laughed. “Fuck off.”
I was about to reply when I heard a cry from the distance. It was surely from one of the two soldiers standing watch outside to check on the arrival of the rogues so we wouldn’t be caught by surprise. He was running towards where I was, gasping for breath that I couldn’t stop wondering what was chasing him.
The rogues couldn’t have sneaked up on us. We had barricaded all entries except one and even if the rogues had managed to do the impossible, he wouldn’t be running towards here, looking for me. He would have blown into the trumpet to signal that an immediate attack was about to happen and gear everyone to action.
I knew the rogues weren’t in the building yet and wondered what was giving him the chase.
“What is the problem?” Liam asked him when he got near before I could get my mouth to open.
“The rogues are near.” The soldier replied, still heaving for breath from the long run. “I saw them camped somewhere close.”
I was grateful for the binoculars I had managed to steal from the Utopia town. “How long till they get here?” I asked the soldier who seemed to be calming down now.
“They should be here tomorrow night.” He replied.
I nodded, feeling relieved that the long wait was finally over. “Tell the men to prepare a feast for dinner. We have to eat healthily tonight and tomorrow morning to welcome our guests.”
The soldier smiled, bowed and left to deliver my instructions.
Liam smiled at me. “Finally, you won’t have to be anxious again.”
“Finally, I won’t have to be anxious again.” I replied with a smile.
The soldier was right with his estimate. The rogues were here the next night as he had predicted. We weren’t surprised and were waiting for them, dressed in our battle outfits. We had had dinner and I doubted that the rogues had had theirs. We were not hungry but they would. They had a large number of soldiers as I had expected.
My men and I were all outside waiting for them. The rogues marched into the arena, their brows lifting in surprise to see us.
Kenneth cackled as he sighted us, his voice loud that we didn’t need to be werewolves to hear him. He was as loud as he was brutal. I rolled my eyes at how loud he was.
“I see you are expecting us.” He shouted loudly. “Is that how much you are in love with me, Kevin?”
I snorted as I replied him though I didn’t shout as loud as he had. I didn’t have to stoop so low like him. I wanted to believe I was more cultured than he was and wasn’t going to become an animal like he was.
“I don’t want you moving into my territory so I am here to stop you from doing that.” I replied.
“I can’t hear you. Can’t you speak a little louder than that? If you can’t speak loud, can you fight hard?” He laughed loudly, turning to face his men who chuckled behind him. “I think you should surrender to me and not let us waste our time fighting. Let me get this over with and hack your head off. I promise your death will be swift and painful.”
My men growled behind me, filled with rage and I held my hand up without looking to silence them. I could see the evil smile splayed on Kenneth’s face and knew he was taunting me. He was trying to get us riled us, trap us with our emotions and get us to make mistakes.
My men went quiet, reminding themselves of the training they had gone through to not let their emotions get the best of them. They had all watched Ella go through hell to master her emotions in a fight and shouldn’t be the one to lose their own cool.
I wanted to check on Ella to know how she was holding up with her emotions but I didn’t dare do that, knowing Kenneth was watching all of my moves. I would have to trust her to protect herself as I’d sworn to do when her trainer had declared her fit to join the war and fight.
Kenneth hadn’t seen her at the moment because she was huddled somewhere close behind me, covered by my men. I knew he would eventually see her when the fight starts but I didn’t want him to see her sooner than that so I refrained myself from searching for her and letting Kenneth find her.
“I guess you are tongue-tied.” Kenneth laughed, reminding me that I was yet to give him a response. “Do you want to check if your hands are working too since your tongue has lost its function?”
I snorted at him, refusing to be coerced into acting out. “My tongue is working out perfectly.” I replied, not raising my voice still. “I didn’t want to shout to get heard because I’m not an uncultured animal like someone else I can see right now.”
He growled, his eyes and face going red with rage. “Let’s see how well you can protect the territory you claim to love. You will cry for help you won’t see by the time I’m done with you, Kevin.”
I was afraid but clamped down on the emotions. I refused to be intimidated by his threats or the number of his men. I could do this. My men and I had prepared for this. I glanced at Liam who nodded at me and I nodded back, feeling courage seep towards me through the silent words that just passed through us.
“Let’s see you try, bastard.”
He growled at the challenge and at the insult. “Charge.” He shouted at his men. “I will show you all that I’m my father’s son.”
We stayed where we were and watched as the rogues charged forward with a loud roar.
I smiled to myself, knowing the fun was just about to begin.