Luna of Rogues

Part 21 - An Unlikely Ally

Oh thank the Moon Goddess that my holiday home has wifi. I've been on a complete writing spree and have four chapters ready in advance! Now I might even get to thirty chapters before the Wattys :D

Zach didn't even deign to look at me, but his group weren't shy with their glares. One of the females was watching Kyle with obvious concern, and I safely assumed that she was his mate. Dark hair and eyes — his polar opposite. But I thought I detected a mischievous undertone which would fit right in at Last Haven.

We reached the treeline and returned to our standoff as if we hadn't been interrupted. Except, this time, I would prefer a verbal argument to a physical one. At least, until Leo arrived with backup.

"So, Zach, what are you doing so far from home?" I asked. He ignored the question and asked one of his own.

"I'm at a disadvantage here. You know my name, but I don't know yours. Who the hell are you?"

"This is Kyle, Kevin and Fion," I introduced them first. "And I'm Skye Llewellyn."

He shrugged. "Never heard of you."

I smirked at that. "Lucky you. But you'll know my father. Rhodric Llewellyn."

Disbelief turned to suspicion. "Rhodric doesn't have any daughters."

"Yet here I am." I wrinkled up my nose in distaste. "And you happen to be trespassing on my land."

"First of all, only packs can own land, not upstart rogue girls. Secondly, what the hell kind of a name is Skye, anyway?" Zach spoke with the level of arrogance that only Alphas can possess. It was already making me want to bash his smirking face in.

"She named me, so kindly direct all your criticisms at her." I jerked a thumb towards Fion. "Oh and my bad. I must have forgotten to mention. We're from Last Haven Pack."

"No such thing," he scoffed.

I cocked my head to the side. "Isn't that what they said about Shadowless a few decades ago?"

He accepted that with a grudging nod. "Okay. Fair enough. But explain something to me. You're a female. Even if Rhodric's not in charge anymore, he had two sons. Who died and made you queen?"

"Rhodric actually. Then Brandon, and most likely Rhys too." My tone was stone cold and as indifferent as I could force myself to be.

My dad and brother weren't dead, of course. But it was beneficial to pretend they were. If the Alphas caught wind that Rhodric was drifting and isolated, they would hunt him like a stray fox. And Rhys would be safer as an anonymous rogue prisoner.

For the first time, some emotion flickered across the young Alpha's face. "Shit, really?I'm sorry to hear that. Rhodric was a friend of my father's — saved his life a while back. I even met Rhys once or twice. He was ... brave, I guess. What happened to them?"

I snorted because his definition of meeting was chasing Rhys off his territory. I remembered all too well Rhys's description of Zach after that occasion: 'a hothead.' How remarkably accurate, judging by the café incident.

"Brandon happened, then I happened to Brandon," I muttered darkly. It suddenly struck me that I was having the first civil conversation with an Alpha since ... well, forever. Maybe Zach wasn't as bad as I had thought. After all his pack had been a group of rogues once, same as us.

Zach was approving. "Good for you. How'd he get the jump on you in the first place?"

"Ferals."

"Ferals," he repeated, as if trying to make a connection. "Oh, shit. Please tell me Rhys wasn't with the Ferals."