Luna of Rogues

Part 4 - Irresponsible Father

Up above is a drawing of Fion by the very talented LittleLoneWriterGirl! :D

It was a little bit annoying — travelling back the way we'd run only days before. It was also a distinctly uncomfortable journey for Rhys. He received blows and kicks from his captors at every opportunity, who all hated his guts. He had been 'abusing' females, and if that wasn't bad enough, he was a rogue too. Yes, so were Jay's group, but they were rogues in the lone sense, rather than the raiding sense.

Jay had called Rhodric immediately and arranged to meet in the middle ground of our two groups. My only concern now was that Rhodric would pick up on what we were trying to do before he gave the game away.

It was only a few hours before we were due to meet with my adopted father when Fion finally managed to get anything useful out of Jay. We had been discussing the different packs in the north and their tolerance of rogues...until I hit the jackpot.

I had been asking him about every Alpha to try and see if he had a link with any of them. Completely innocent questions, of course.

"Chris from Pine Forest?"

"He's alright, but a bit of a wimp," was Jay's only reply.

"Alpha Keith from Silver Lake?"

"Complete jerk."

"Alpha Darren from Riverside?"

Jay froze and threw me a wary look but quickly hid his reaction. This time, Fion wore a triumphant grin — she'd got what she needed, even if he didn't know it.

"He killed Darren's pregnant mate," Fion told me through our link.

Bastard, even if she had been a Luna. That explained a lot. Now we had something to show for our time with Jay's group, and a way of ensuring his rogues couldn't move against us without consequences. There was nothing like a bit of blackmail to brighten my day.

At midday, we faced off across a clearing — Jay, the six of his men who held Rhys prisoner, and Fion and I against Rhodric and eight of his rogues. I could see a twinkle of amusement in Rhodric's eyes as he took in our predicament.

"Rhodric," Jay greeted him. It was usually quite funny watching every rogue grovel in front of my guardian, but the rogue-Alpha seemed far too proud for that. "I have your son's murderer."

"Huh." Rhodric raised an eyebrow as his very-much-alive son was brought to kneel in front of him. Jay's men backed away gladly as soon as they'd let go of Rhys.

I felt Rhys speak to his dad through the pack mind-link.

"Punch me."

Most parents would probably refrain from hitting their children on two words, but as I've already mentioned, Rhodric is not 'most parents'. He gave Rhys an impressive clout, then kicked him in the stomach just for luck. Rhys made a dramatic act of groaning and rolling around, but I could see him grinning from my angle.

"As much as I enjoyed that, was there a reason for it?" Rhodric asked mentally, sounding very amused.

"I told them you hated my guts and wanted to kill me, so please just play along," Rhys replied.

Rhodric grunted. "I should give you a hug right now and see what happens. You little shit — telling lies about me."

But I could feel his underlying amusement and approval. Just as they ended their mental conversation, Jay spoke up again. He looked far more comfortable after the display of violence.

"I found him molesting these two girls near my land," Jay said, gesturing to Fion and me.

"Did you now?" Rhodric asked, struggling to hide a smile. He turned to give an order to two of his men. "Take the boy back to our camp. I'll finish him off later."