Rogue Desires (Sample)

One

Sloane:

A branch scraped my arm as I raced through the trees, a wide smile on my face as I could hear the guards trailing after me. They wouldn't catch me. No one ever had.

I prided myself on my speed. It came in handy when I needed to escape, as I had to now. Running was nothing new to me. I enjoyed escaping for a day or two at a time and being surrounded by nature.

"Stop!" One of the men shouted from behind me, and I rolled my eyes and pushed myself to move faster. Whether they remained on two feet or shifted into their fur, it didn't matter. They wouldn't catch me, and they knew it.

The scrape on my arm tingled as my body healed, and I was grateful it hadn't drawn blood. It would have made it too easy for them to track me if it had.

I would have to be more careful if I were going to evade their attempts to drag me back to my father, the Alpha.

Alpha was a bit of a loose term, as the other pack's reported to him. He was their king.

"Sloane!" The growl of frustration mixed with my name sent a burst of adrenaline through me. 

They were falling behind. I was only seconds away from being out of their sight. Another minute, and I would lose them entirely. "Stop!"

Not a chance.

I spun sharply to the right just as I passed a thick section of trees that I could use as cover, knowing if I could make it through the overgrown bushes a few paces ahead quickly and without injury, I would be free.

My instinct was to look over my shoulder to see how close they were, but I knew better than that.

That would only slow me down.

The hair on my arms stood in warning as I slipped between the thick bushes and emerged on the other side with leaves in my hair.

I should have listened to my gut that something was wrong, but I had gotten cocky.

I had seen my freedom before me. The cool, clear water that would lead me to my hideaway where I could be alone.

Just as I dove toward it, a giant black beast collided with me, sending me to the ground on my stomach. His fur was dripping wet from the pond I had been about to jump into, and the excitement of my escape vanished when his heavy paw pressed down onto the center of my back, his claws digging into my skin.

I groaned from the impact, my ribs protesting as I tried to wiggle free and failed due to the enormous wolf holding me down.

A combination of fear and a thrilling kind of excitement that I didn't quite recognize filled me as he released a low, threatening growl and goosebumps rose along my skin.

We rarely had rogues this close to the border, but this was no ordinary rogue.

From my brief glimpse of him, I knew I was in trouble before he had collided with me. He was twice the size of any ordinary wolf, and the power radiating from him gave him away. He was the Rogue Alpha.

I had seen him once before when I was a kid. He was just a teenager at the time. He had saved my life that day, and I had no hope that he would be so merciful as to do it again.

The thick ropes of scars were new, but from the horror stories I had heard about him, he had more than earned them from his years leading the rogues and taking down hunters.

His snout pressed into the back of my head, and I heard him take a deep breath.

"I'm sorry!" I gasped, the rush and excitement I had felt at escaping the guards turning to fear as he applied more weight.