Chapter Twenty Two
Ryder and I were currently doing what werewolves call ‘patrolling the border’. While on our little getaway Ryder received a call. Apparently the people who were meant to patrol border B had plans and couldn’t make it and the others are too busy patrolling the other borders. Ryder told me that every pack has a territory, in our case; our territory is Fresno, California. A few pack members patrol the border every night to look out for rogues.
Rogues were wolves without packs. Some are banished and others don’t prefer the pack life. I’ve read a fair share of werewolf books, to be honest, and they all talk about how cruel and awful rogues are, but Ryder said that rogues are allowed in pack territories if they don’t harm anyone. I guess they seem pretty decent, but they still have to be careful because some can be dangerous.
Now at first when I asked Ryder if I could patrol with him, he said no. Too dangerous, he said, but I am not taking fighting lessons so that I could sit at home and do nothing. Besides, if my fists don’t work I always have my trusty ole pocket knife. I smirked while thinking about the pocket knife my dad gave me during one of our fishing trips.
If my dad is watching me from wherever he is, is he proud? I wonder if he feels happy knowing that his little girl has grown up, that she’s evolved from what she was four months ago. I looked over at Ryder, who was scanning the trees. I smiled. He unknowingly helped me, along with Eva and Summer.
“So Mr Alpha notice anything out of the blue?” I questioned. Ryder looked at me his serious face softening a little.
“Technically I’m not the Alpha” he corrected me. My eyebrows scrunched in confusion. Why is he referred to as the future alpha then?
“I’m referred to as the future alpha because I’m the first born but that does not mean my position as alpha is guaranteed” he answered as if he read my mind.
“But if the alpha position goes to the first born, why wouldn’t you be guaranteed a position?” Just when I thought I had the basics of the pack figured out, something else comes in my way.
“Yes, it’s true the alpha position goes to the first born, it doesn’t matter if you’re a boy or girl, but if they decline the position, the alpha role goes to the next child. If the previous alpha doesn’t have or only has one child who doesn’t want the alpha role, then the alpha can pick who becomes the next alpha. The alpha role doesn’t have to be hereditary; this also applies for roles like beta etc. The alpha role is handed down whenever the previous alpha feels they can’t do it anymore or when they feel the future alpha is ready, it doesn’t necessarily have to go to you at the age of eighteen. Every future alpha has to undergo intense physical and emotional training, to prove to the alpha whether they’re ready or not. This could take weeks, months or years.”
“If anyone questions the alpha’s position they have to fight each other and whoever falls first is not allowed to be Alpha and the winner automatically is the alpha. It happens often but it’s not considered bad since it is fair and whoever wins, earned it.”
“However, if the alpha has two children or more who want the role, they have to fight over it” Ryder solemnly said. The air suddenly seemed colder, and I shivered.
“But not to death, right?” I whispered, my breath floating away with the wind into the deep abyss of the woods. I didn’t get an answer, however, Ryder only nodded. I gasped at how they could let siblings kill each other, it seemed barbaric.
“It doesn’t happen often, the last time it ever happened was hundreds of years ago. But...”
“...you feel that Blake may question your role and you’ll have to fight him” I finished off for him. Ryder gave me a small smile, but I could see the pain in his eyes. I let out a shaky breath. I don’t know if it was the mate bond, but I felt my heart crack a little when I saw his pain. Instead of saying anything to him I walked over to him and hugged him. I didn’t have anything helpful to say, and all I could do at this moment was express to him he wasn’t alone in this battle.
His arms automatically went around my waist, tightening a little. Blake wouldn’t do that right?
“Ryder do you want to be-” I was cut off mid sentence by a deep snarl coming from within the trees. Ryder immediately pushed me a little bit behind him, I could see his eyes deepening as he growled back. Another snarl came from my left, making me look there, but all I could was a blur. Then another growl came from the opposite direction. By this time I was back to back with Ryder, I could hear him growling, challenging the wolves to come forth.
“Rogues” he spat and I knew that it wasn’t the good ones. I reached for the pocket knife inside my bag and held it. I was ready. As if reading my mind the wolves jumped out from the shadows. There were three of them, each surrounded us. I could hear my heart go thump. However, I swallowed my fear; this was a fight I wouldn’t say no to.
The wolves looked at us, as if they were smirking. Two of them were a light brown while one of them was a grey. The grey wolf looked like the leader, except he didn’t look quite like an alpha, maybe he was the beta.
Suddenly, the three wolves leaped at us, and Ryder shifted immediately into his black like death wolf. Two of the wolves were fighting Ryder, but the grey one seemed to be interested in me. Time to put my fighting skills to test. I ran to the wolf, my knife ready to strike. It pounced at me, tackling me to the floor. It landed on top of me, baring its sharp teeth. The wolf growled at me, but I didn’t cower. Gone were the days when I let fear take control of me, I growled back at it. The wolf looked surprised letting his guard down, I smirked and struck my knife into him, pushing him off me.
The wolf whimpered in pain, but it still didn’t fall. It ran full speed towards me, scratching me in the arms. I hissed in pain, staring at the claw marks on my arm. I looked back at the wolf that looked smug. Ok, the stomach didn’t work, I’ll go for the legs. I ran from the wolf. I could hear his paws pound against the earth as he tried to catch me. Then I stopped. I turned around and could see the wolf running towards me. I clutched my knife to my chest, it’s either do or die. The wolf was already running so seeing that I stopped it couldn’t, and instead jumped. I could hear my heart pumping in my ears as I quickly ducked and threw my knife into his leg. The rogue slammed to the ground, whimpering in pain. I limped over to the wolf, the wound in my leg paining me. I didn’t realise I even injured myself there. The wolf was still alive and breathing, but to injured to do anything. It looked me in the eye as I bent down next to it. His eyes mocked me; he wanted to see if I could kill him. I pulled the knife out of his leg, seeing the spark of pain flash through his eyes. I held the bloody knife, contemplating on whether or not I should kill him.
After a few seconds, I decided it would be better if I didn’t. We could receive some information, if I killed the rogue, we wouldn’t.
“You ok?” A voice said startling me. I looked behind and saw Ryder in only a pair of shorts, standing there. His hair was dishevelled and there were some scars his chest and blood staining the corner of his lips.
“I should say the same to you” I replied wincing as I stood up. Ryder looked concerned but I held my hand up to say that I was alright.
“Where did you get the shorts?” I asked him, looking anywhere but his body. It was quite awkward to see him with barely any clothes, but I kept my cool, or at least I think.
“My beta brought them” Ryder wiped some of the blood of his lips. It was definitely not easy to fight a werewolf, but I’m quite proud I defeated one, even though it’s still alive. I looked back at the rogue, who was now unconscious and in its human form, a naked human form I should mention. I awkwardly looked away from it and back to Ryder.
“What do we do with them?” tilting my head to the rogues. His eyes darkened ever so slightly as he noticed the unconscious body on the floor.
“My beta and couple of other pack members took the other two back to the pack house for questioning. We’ll take this one” he effortlessly picked the rogue and swung him over his shoulder. I followed him. I looked down at my clothes and body. My white dress was now muddy and smeared with blood. My hair was probably filled with dirt and mud, and my body was most likely covered in bruises and scratches. Well this will be difficult to explain to my mother.
***
“Why were you here?” Ryder asked with no emotion in his voice or face. The three rogues remained silent, refusing to answer. We were in a cellar of some sort within the pack house. It was quite dark, but there were a few lights one. The rogues were tied to chair with chains, special chains to restrict them in.
Every time they didn’t answer one of the pack members would hit them. Currently only Ryder, two pack members and I were in here with the rogues. The fighters would hit them really hard; enough to make you scream, yet all they would do is smile a sick, twisted one.
“I’m going to drink some water” I murmured quietly to Ryder. My eyes looked back to the main rogue, the one I was fighting. He looked at me curiously but I could see him give me a smirk. I shuddered mentally; he was deliberately not telling us anything, he knew something.
Ryder nodded and I went upstairs, away from the rogues and into the kitchen. I drank some water, the cool liquid satisfying my throat. I winced slightly when I applied too much pressure onto my foot. When we arrived at the pack house, the pack doctors kindly attended to my wounds. Anna lent me some of her clothes, so I looked a lot better with my wounds all bandaged, but they still hurt.
“I heard you fought off a rogue, that was quite impressive” I turned around, the voice familiar. I was shocked, no astounded to see who was standing there. Eva was leaning against the kitchen door frame, giving me friendly yet guilty smile.
“Eva?” was all I could manage to say. What was she doing here? Wait, was she a werewolf? I gasped looking at her accusingly, she was a werewolf. She looked at me guiltily. I was frankly quite upset she didn’t tell me. All this time she was a werewolf too, it made me wonder who else was a werewolf. Next thing you’ll know is Summer telling me she’s a pixie!
“Before you say anything, just here me out ok?” Eva came closer and made me sit down next to her as she explained.
“Before, I used to be a rogue. I didn’t have a tragic back story or anything I just wanted to live an independent life, on my own. I came here and Ryder and I became friends, no one really notices but we are quite close. His family, well actually just Blake couldn’t stand the idea of me being in the pack, since I used to be a rogue. Ryder, however, thought I was capable and made me Beta of the pack.”
“When you came to Fresno, I thought you would probably be just another girl, I didn’t know you were Ryder’s mate. When I found out I was happy because I could see you being a wonderful addition to the pack. I really wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t, it wasn’t in place to tell you. Please don’t be angry” Eva finished explaining. I smiled at her, after hearing her explanation I couldn’t possible hold a grudge against her.
“I’m not angry. Wait you’re the beta?” I asked realising that she said she was the beta. I didn’t know the beta was a girl, let alone Eva. I’m not being sexist, I just thought the beta was meant to be a boy, but I can’t really imagine anyone else being a better beta. In fact Eva could make the perfect beta, she’s tough and definitely not weak physically and emotionally, and she has a calm, level headed mind.
“Yeah, It’s quite difficult sometimes, but I really love doing it” I could see the devotion in her eyes as she talked lovingly about the job in the pack.
“Just promise me that next Summer isn’t going to come out and say she’s a pixie or whatever” I asked Eva. She laughed, shaking her head.
“No she’s not, at least I think” Eva joked. I was about to reply but a crash from downstairs claimed my attention. We both looked at each other curiously.
“The rogue wouldn’t respond and one of the pack fighters’s lost their temper, when the rogue talked about his mate lustfully” She explained and I nodded and then looked at her confused. How did she know that? As if knowing what I was thinking, she pointed to her head. Oh yeah, the pack link. Diana told me how each of the pack members can communicate with each other telepathically through a link, called the pack link. It was really cool.
We both went back into the cellar. The main rogue started to stare at me, and irked me. The other two, one boy and one girl remained silent. They didn’t look as evil as he did, in fact they looked like they were being forced to do this. Ryder looked at me, a flash of concern running through his eyes; I gave him a small smile.
“Why were you here?” Ryder coldly asked again. The rogue just smirked and remained quiet, earning him a punch, yet his eyes remained focused on me.
“I want to talk to her” The rogue said nodding his head to me. Ryder growled and pushed me slightly behind him. Me? Why did he want to talk to me?
“I don’t think we’ll get anything out of him, finish him off” Ryder spat coldly. Eva got out her knife and walked over to him. The other rogues looked scared, yet he, he was smiling at me. There was something off about him. I looked into his eyes; he was smirking knowing that I knew he knew something.
“Wait!” my voice spread across the room gaining all eyes on me. The rogue smile widened and I gulped nervously. Suddenly my idea didn’t seem so appealing any more.
“I’ll talk to him” I said coolly. Ryder looked at me, but I just looked away. He knew something and I needed to know what. Eva looked at me, and with my eyes I begged her not to kill him, not yet at least. She dropped her weapon and stepped away.
“Why were you here tonight?” My voice stayed strong as I asked him.
“I think you know why I was here tonight, Tessie” he taunted me, earning a growl from both Eva and Ryder. I gave them both a look to stand down, and surprisingly they did.
“Well whatever your mission was you obviously didn’t do it right since you got beaten by a girl and she was human too” Eva mocked him and the rogues eyes darkened as he growled at her. I shot Eva a look and she huffed and stepped back.
“No I don’t know why you’re here, why don’t you tell us?” I asked the rogue. His posture relaxed, and he went from being angry to that creepy smirk again.
“What’s her name? Sydney, Stella, Sophia?” he mocked me. My heart stilled.
“Sophie” I whispered.
“That’s it Sophie! You know I wonder what you’re doing here, when you should be with your family” The rogue said his voice turning darker towards the end. I looked at him to see he was smirking.
“What did you do with her?” I screamed at his face. He laughed evilly, making me furious. I slapped him in the face, now making him angry. He snarled at me, and before I could attack him, hands wrapped around my waist pulling me back. Ryder pulled me away, while Eva dealt with the rogue.
I pushed Ryder away from me and started walking out.
“Where are you going?” Ryder asked me worryingly, I looked back at him my vision blurred with tears.
“My family” I said and he nodded coming with me.
As we left the cellar, the rogue laughed. I could hear his laughed loud and clear as we left, but that didn’t make me scared, what scared me was what he said next.
“You’ll never find her”
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A/N: So I was really excited for this chapter, I had a lot of fun writing it :) I hope you like it and sorry for the cliffhanger, but that's life sweet thang! ;)
I'm sorry if you guys feel like the story is going really slow, but I feel that often with stories especially werewolf, the story goes really fast, but the kick ass things are finally going to happen! I have big hopes and plans for this story and I hope you guys love reading it as much as I love writing it :)
Also I'm very excited because on Monday my mum is going to buy me the Samsung Galaxy S3 mini, now it may not be exciting for you since so many people have Iphones, Samsung Galaxy S4's etc, but I can't wait >.< Also I have a new alias, I know that most of you already know my name, but I really was contemplating about this for a few weeks now! If you do know my name, shh... keep it under the rug ;)
Stay out of jail!
C.I.A
P.S (Wow I'm doing a lot of these) Is anyone else addicted to Imagine Dragons? *Raises hand* Because I am! Post down below one of your favourite songs by them, mine is It's Time and Demons!