The Alpha's Rogue ✔️

3 | Aftershocks

3175 words

Her heart was strangely calm while her mind was screaming to run the opposite direction. Her hand was warm and engulfed in the large one of her mate, and the tingles that sizzled up her arm were a reminder that this was where she belonged.

Supposed to belong, anyway.

"Having second thoughts?" the rogue asked airily as they crossed the border of her territory, and her body shivered as the distance increased from her rightful domain.

"Nope," she kept her face straight and jaw clenched. "My Beta's life is more important."

The rogue suddenly growled menacingly, his grasp tightening on her hand until her bones protested. "I knew I should have killed him when I had the chance."

"Then I would have killed you!" Savannah yanked her hand free and snarled at him. "You, and all your filthy wolves. Then you never would have had me as mate."

"He means that much to you? That wolf you call Beta?" he roared, his arms flexing widely as his eyes flashed with undisguised jealousy.

Savannah took a step back, assessing the threat of the angered rogue who was also her mate. "You know nothing about the relationship between Alphas and their command. I am sworn to protect my pack and all its members, just as they follow my orders. If you think I'm coming with you for any other reason than protecting my pack, then think again, Silver Rogue," she spat.

But she was fooling herself. After years of waiting for her mate, there was no way she would let him slip through her fingers and get away. "My Beta is my best friend and will always mean a lot to me," she muttered as an afterthought.

He growled, hazel eyes holding hers trapped in a stare-off, until the rogue called Phoenix interrupted the silent battle.

"Guys, we don't have time for this. We have to get out of here before it gets dark."

"What happens at dark?" Savannah asked, alarm flooding her adrenaline-filled veins, putting her further on edge. Her eyes quickly took in the setting sun and the lengthening shadows.

Cale touched her arm lightly. "Do you forget whose territory we are on?"

"Drats!" she clenched her teeth in a snarl. "Alpha Pierce. He'll roast us for dinner if he finds us here."

"I'm sure he's not that bad--" the rogue argued.

"He'll string us up and dangle us from totem poles, then sacrifice us to the demons of darkness. He'll slice us like butchered rabbits and chuck us in a cauldron of carrot stew!" The Alpha gripped her hair and tugged, turning in circles as she frantically scanned the trees around them. All she saw however were the dozen rogues that had captured her. Still, the stories she'd heard of the dreadful Alpha Pierce were hard to dismiss from her overactive mind.

"Is she always this dramatic?" the rogue leader turned curious eyes to Cale, then lifted his hand as if he didn't really want an answer. "I don't know why you are so worried. Afraid I can't protect you against this fearsome Alpha?" he propped his hands on his hips and studied Savannah.

"That's not my problem." Despite noticing his insanely muscled body and obvious strength, she didn't want to become dependent on him for survival. "I'm strong enough to take down twenty of his men. But I would rather not destroy our fragile trade relations. He's threatened us before, and we've only recently reached a peaceful agreement between our packs. I'd hate to ruin that now," she lifted her chin and stated confidently.

"Politics," the rogue huffed, rolling his eyes.

Phoenix chuckled in agreement, and Savannah began to feel on edge due to their obvious disdain for her pack way of life. These rogues had an air of freedom that rubbed her the wrong way. Rules and regulations kept wolves in order, packs running smoothly, and lives safe. This was dangerous territory she was wading in, despite her curiosity of her mate and his way of doing things.