{3}
Lucio's POV
Blow after blow, I took down the sea of rogues in my line of sight. They just kept on coming, it seemed endless. Hot breath escaped from my mouth as I let out a huff, before I killed yet another.
I glanced at the sky, letting out a low growl when I realised it was almost sunset. I had been fighting these abnormal rogues for hours, for most of the day. I adjusted the grip on both of my silver weapons, feeling the reassuring weight of both swords.
My sharp eyes landed on the rogues in front of me, they had stopped their attacks to catch their breath. I took advantage of their brief pause to catch my own breath and regain strength. I brought my swords up and scraped my blades together repeatedly.
Their gazes turned fearful as they watched me sharpen my swords.
My gaze wondered around the field, taking in the uncountable bodies sprawled everywhere. I had defeated the original forty eight rogues from earlier, but have had to fight almost sixty more since then. The rogues had backup for every twenty they lost, they were set on bringing me down.
They were abnormally stronger and faster, which initially caught me off guard. Why was this the case?
My chest heaved up and down, as I took in the immense army of rogues. My jaw ticked in frustration, I was beginning to admit to myself that I needed help.
"Warriors, I need backup." I finally said, mind-linking them. If only had brought more than six warriors, this would be over quickly.
"We're coming, Alpha. How many are you facing?"
"About fifty or sixty." I responded.
"What?" One exclaimed in shock. "The odds will be so unfair, even with you on our side. Not to mention, you're not in good shape. The wolfsbane isn't completely out of your system."
I bit my tongue to hold back my angry comeback, because he was right. "The odds will not be in our favour, so I expect you to fight well. Like usual."
"We can ask The New Dawn Pack for aid, they've been extremely kind to us." Another suggested.
My warriors were led to the borders of their pack by the rogues. The rogues probably did that, hoping that they would capture them for entering their territory without invitation. If it weren't for the alliance in question, my warriors' fate would have been different.
My mood darkened at the thought of getting aid from The New Dawn Pack, it displeased me. A rogue charged at me with a loud yell, silver spear in hand and crazied eyes. Another charged at me from behind, skilfully carrying three knives in each hand.
Dodging their attacks was the most I could do then, before turning dangerously offensive. My breaths were getting louder and haggard, indicating that I was getting tired. Unfortunately.
I gritted my teeth in displeasure, opening the telepathic channel. "Ask for their help, for backup." I commanded, before cutting the connection.
Whatever it takes to finish this battle, I convinced myself.
It felt like hours before I finally got a whiff of backup, my warriors were among other warriors. Their thunderous stampede echoed throughout the air, making their presence be known. My six warriors led the warriors, running beside a powerful blond female.
My intuition told me she was Beta blooded, probably the next in line to the position. The warriors and rogues delved into battle, attacking each other mercilessly. The Beta-blooded blond made her way towards me, her icy blue eyes meeting mine.
Warriors around me kept the rogues occupied, leaving me with no opponent.
"Alpha Lucio." She greeted with a nod. "The New Dawn Pack is honoured to aid you in this battle. My name is Ivy, future Beta. Is there anything you'd like to update me with?"
After quickly doing a risk assessment around me, I slid one of my swords into its sheath. I held one close to me, ready for any surprise attacks.
Her scent was pretty normal, besides a particular faint, sweet scent that lingered on her. I was surprised by how much it entranced me, I wanted-. No, needed more of it. However, the scent clearly wasn't hers.
I tried to clear my head from it, wanting to focus on the matter at hand.
"The rogues are abnormally strong and fast." I told her, getting to the point. "I don't have any explanation on that. Their aim was to kill me. They led my warriors to your border on purpose, so that they could be dealt by your pack. They are extremely organised for rogues, are they apart of The Rogue Force?"
She frowned at my question thoughtfully. "We don't believe so, unfortunately. It seems to be a completely new organisation."
So they aren't apart of The Rogue Force? Interesting...
"We should capture a few for interrogation, and a couple for autopsies." I suggested firmly.
"Alpha Maya already ordered to collect subjects for autopsy." Ivy responded, a smug smile creeping in. "But we shall capture several from this battle for interrogation."
"Do that."
Ivy's neutral expression flashed with annoyance, not liking my commanding tone. Despite this, she stayed silent and walked away.
She stopped in her tracks before looking back at me. "I will share the contents of our interaction to my Alpha. She may arrive on the battlefield due to her curiosity about the rogues."
So I might be seeing Maya earlier than expected, huh?
"And?"
She shrugged, turning away with her back facing me. "She may be able to kill all these rogues in a matter of minutes."
I scoffed in disbelief, watching her walk away. She had great trust in her Alpha, she was the typical Beta. I understood that Maya was powerful, I couldn't dismiss that fact at all.
I observed the battle scene in front of me with a dark, angry glower. If I was in good shape, this would've ended hours ago. My body was stiff from being bed ridden for the past week, I was at a disadvantage. Only my family, fellow leaders and personal warriors knew about my condition.
I was poisoned a week and a half ago, injected with wolfsbane during my sleep. The culprit had left no scent or other kinds of evidence behind. The cold truth of their being a traitor among my people had affected me, I didn't know who to trust.
The alliance meeting with The New Dawn Pack had to be pushed back, no one was allowed to know about my weakened strength. If the news had leaked, that the Alpha of The BloodRose Clan was bed ridden, it would've posed as the perfect opportunity to bring me down.
Unfortunately, rogues weren't my only enemy.
Ten minutes had passed and the enemy numbers had dwindled down to twenty five. I smirked in triumph, this was going to be easy. I glanced at the beta girl from earlier, what was her name again?
Issy?
Eve?
Anyway, it looked like her precious Alpha was nowhere to be seen. I plunged a sword into yet another body, letting the silver settle before pulling it out. Beads of sweat rolled down my forehead, and drip to the ground.
The wolfsbane had done much more damage to my body than I liked to admit.
I took a deep breath in and released it when I let out a warrior roar. All the warriors did the same, echoing my battle yell.
Just then, an alluring, intriguing scent caught my attention. My eyes widened as I realised it was the same scent I had smelt earlier.
I stood upright as my focus on the rogues diminished, what kind of scent was this? My head snapped around as my gaze searching the battle field, where was it coming from?
The scent was sweet, delicate and floral...like roses.
My feet started to move towards the source on its own.
However, the aura accompanied by it was extremely commanding and powerful. It's aura made it's presence be known among all of us, making everyone slow down in curiosity. The rogues suddenly looked apprehensive about fighting, fearing the dark, dominant aura.
The juxtaposition of their sweet scent and formidable aura almost made me shiver, what was I feeling? Was this the scent of a mate?
My mate was here?
My feet carried me towards the source, I had to find it. I dodged rogues and warriors alike, finding myself not interested in the battle at all. The scent was getting stronger, I was getting closer.
I frowned as I realised how fogged up my mind was, was I forgetting something important? I couldn't think straight, or clearly enough.
I carried on walking in a haze, needing to find the source. I stopped suddenly, growling in frustration. The damn source was moving, extremely fast. The sound of the battle stimulated my senses so much, I was struggling to find the source of the scent.
Suddenly, a dark shadow zoomed past me, creating a gust of wind. My eyes widened when I realised it was a person. I raised my eyebrows in surprise when I realised the scent was coming from them.
Long black hair was all I had been able to see from the dark streak that flickered between rogues. They dropped like flies, right after each other, dropping dead from vital silver wounds to the heart. What was I watching?
Who was I watching?
They were as fast as me...
Twenty rogues were killed by the black streak within a couple minutes, leaving several alive for captivity.
Realisation finally dawned upon me as my mind started to clear up. My eyes were trained on the black streak, watching it gradually slow down.
It couldn't be...
I watched it tackle the rogue to the ground, holding him in place. They had finally stopped moving, giving me a clear look at their outfit. A black belt was fitted around their waist, which had a sheath attached to it.
A bloodied machete was held tightly in their right hand, the only weapon they used.
Their foot rested upon the knocked out rogue's body. They slowly started look to up, revealing their face to meet my gaze. I let out a low breath as I recognised who it was.
Maya Hunter.
Her silver eyes was blazing with dominance and confidence, not wavering under my intense stare. No doubt that she had realised it too...
That we were mates.
I almost laughed out loud, at the irony of it all. We clearly disliked each other, me more so than her.
She stood tall before me, her long black hair tousling in the wind. The sun was setting behind her, as she stood under the shining golden light. Rogue's blood decorated her clothing, just like mine.
Her silver eyes slowly turned grey, back to her normal eye colour.
She wore the same fierce expression and had the same fiery aura, from eight years ago. Her sharp, feline like eyes were enticing and enchanting. Her beauty spot was perfectly positioned above her right eyebrow, just as I remembered.
My wolf began to push forward, wanting to say something. "That's our mate. What an incredibly powerful mate."
Very powerful indeed, I thought.
Her beta blooded friend approached her, as the warriors began to take the captives. We still hadn't broken our eye contact from across the field, we were both in shock of this new discovery. Her friend finally reached her to find that her Alpha was not responding to her.
Her blue eyes followed Maya's line of sight and finally landed on me. She looked back at Maya and then back at me in shock and horror. Trust me, no one was more surprised about this then us.
Her warriors started to gather up and stand around her, awaiting her orders. Mine had come to my side, also awaiting for my orders.
"The captives need to be taken to our territory for interrogation." Maya began to order immediately. "The goal is to find out who they work for, their aim and how their organisation works. You have four rogues to work with, good luck."
She nodded curtly, before carrying on. "Good job on taking down these rogues. You can all rest easy for now."
As for us, we were supposed to go back to New York by now. The sun was almost gone, indicating the beginning of nightfall. The alliance meeting had been organised for tomorrow, which cannot be rescheduled.
What was the best option for now?
Maya started to make her way towards me. Her face was expressionless, void of emotion. When she had finally reached me, she tilted her head upwards.
"Lucio."
"Maya."
Silence.
My warriors exchanged confused and wary glances amongst each other.
"Our meeting is scheduled for tomorrow." I began to say.
"You want to cancel?" She interrupted, raising an eyebrow. My warriors took sharp intakes of breath, shocked that I had been interrupted.
"Don't interrupt, I did not finish what I needed to say." I told her, snarling at her impatience. Tension was raising in between us, it was getting unbearable.
Not to mention, her scent was driving my senses crazy. Interestingly, I started to wonder what my scent smelled like to her.
"You haven't changed, at all." She observed, her grey eyes taking me in.
"I could say the same." I countered calmly. "What I was trying to say was that I have decided to stay in the state. I'm suggesting that we have the meeting in your pack territory instead of mine. I'll inform my father and Gamma and have them fly out too. What do you think?"
She frowned a little before nodding. "That sounds fine, I have no objections about that. Where are you planning on staying?"
"I have a hotel in this state, in the next city over."
"You are welcome to stay in my pack, Lucio." She told me seriously. "I have plenty of room for everyone. Besides, travelling from city to city is bothersome. Especially since the alliance agreement will be happening across several days."
I hesitated, frustrated that she was making sense. "That is thoughtful of you." I said instead, trying to come up with an excuse. "But we don't want to impose on you."
"I don't feel like that at all, especially since you're my future ally." She countered with a small smirk. "But if it makes you uncomfortable, then so be it."
Hmm, I actually wanted to get to the bottom of this mate business. Staying in her territory would give me more opportunities to sort this out.
My wolf disapproved of my thought process. "Aren't you accepting her as your mate?"
"I don't know. She could've been apart of it."
"But what if she wasn't?" He challenged me.
"But what if she was."
He didn't respond to that, shuffling to the back of my mind. We both didn't trust the New Dawn Pack, but we're forced to form an alliance for the sake of my pack's safety. We were both being attacked by this anonymous organisation that uses rogues and non-rogues alike.
I could try to get to know her, to find out her involvement in what had happened eight years ago.
"I will take up on your offer to stay on your territory." I spoke up, looking down at Maya. Her expression turned curious, wondering what made me change my mind. She shrugged it off, and told us to make ourselves welcome.
We made our way towards her pack territory, with her and I leading the warriors.
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Lucio and Maya have met! ><
The next chapter will go back to Maya, don't worry! I just wanted to have their first encounter be in the perspective of Lucio, I hope you guys don't mind.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you did, please VOTE and COMMENT <3
Love Yasmine xx