Chapter 24: The Rogue King

Damien assembled his warriors beforehand in the territory of the ancient moon pack along with the warriors of Blood Howler Pack, Night Walker Pack, and Shadow Stone Pack. All the warriors were capable, but they lacked knowledge of the territory. They all were trying their best, but still, they could not fight the way they used to. Some rogues invaded the territory from the west border. A warrior informed Damien. He did not have any time to waste right now. He needed to secure the east first. Alex was taking care of the south with Night Walker pack warriors. Alpha Jackson from Blood Howler Pack was at North. The situation seemed to be the worst in the west.

‘Alpha, alpha Jakob is here in the west’, a warrior mind-linked him. What was he doing there? He was supposed to protect his kitten. His wolf lost focus thinking about his mate’s safety.

‘Ben, where are you?’ Damien's mind linked him quickly.

‘I am near the packhouse. Alpha, Lotus threatens me that she will surrender herself to the rogues if I don’t go out to fight. I am staying near the packhouse,' Ben explained.

‘Stay close. Some rogues are going towards there’, Damien warned.

There were thousands of them. Damien was killing one after another mercilessly. He suddenly realised that the rogues were pushing them towards the packhouse! They all were already away from the border. He sensed the same happened with other borders. They all are now fighting near the packhouse only. He could feel something terrible going to happen. It was preplanned. They did it purposefully. Damien’s wolf was running out of patience.

Suddenly all the rogues stopped fighting. He could see a smirk on their faces. Damien could sense something was wrong.

‘Alpha! They have captured Lotus! The rogue king wants you to be in front of packhouse’, Ben mind-linked him.

Damien didn’t say anything. He started to run towards the packhouse. He smelt chocolate along with rotten eggs. His wolf became restless. He followed her scent and reached the garden behind the packhouse. He saw Ben standing there helplessly. He saw Jakob, Evalyn, Jackson, Lawrence, and Alex standing there as well. Then he saw her. She was forced to sit on the ground, and a bustard was holding her hair tightly. She looked in pain. She looked devastated. His blood was boiling. How dare he touch her?

As soon as he reached there, that wolf, holding Lotus, commanded him to shift. Damien gritted his teeth. That wolf pulled her hair, and his kitten let out a painful scream. Damien could not do anything. He shifted back to human form. Another rogue gave him a pair of pants.

“Wear that”, that bastard ordered him. Damien did not argue that time. He did not want that bastard to harm his kitten anymore. His kitten looked so fragile.

“What a sight! For a single female, alphas of four great packs standing in front of me without making a sound. Indeed, she was worth it. After all, she is so beautiful!” he said with a chuckle.

“Release her, right now,'' Damien yelled. He gritted his teeth, showing his canines.

“Talk with respect, alpha Damien. You are talking to the rogue king.”, the rogue king said with a smirk on his face.

Damien was getting restless. How did Lotus end us like this? After all, he always heard that she was a swift runner! Jakob was on the same page as Damien. He looked at Evalyn once. She looked scared. He could not think of a single possible way in which a rogue can catch Lotus. She could have just run away.

“Why do you want me so desperately? I have the right to know.”, Lotus said in a low painful voice.

“Indeed, sweetheart. You have the right to know.”, that man laughed. “Let me start from the beginning. All these start with a young and beautiful daughter of the alpha of the New Moon Pack. She was special. That girl was not only a direct descendant of the moon goddess as her other siblings but also could foresee the future.” He paused.

“Mum!” Evalyn said in surprise. That man knew their mother! The rogue king chuckled.

“Yes, your sweet mother. Their family was very much protective of her, but still, I knew about her ability. I managed to become close to her. Scarlet became dependent on me. I kept using her abilities to gather the strength that I always wanted. One werewolf pack under one alpha. I was this close to winning her, but she met that bastard. The girl who used to share everything with me changed suddenly. She moved with Baron on the very same day they met. She didn’t stop at that. She found out what I was up to. She revealed everything to her father, and I became a rogue. I didn’t give up. I kept gathering every single rogue under the same roof. I gave them new hope. I became their king. I thought I didn’t need Scarlet anymore, but I was wrong. My plans started to fail. I was always guided by her before. Everything was right when she was beside me. I attacked the Golden Moon Pack for the first time to get her back, but I couldn’t. I was attacked so many times. Your packs became allies with other ancient moon packs. Then you three came into the picture. An ancient prophecy mentioned that the direct descendant of the moon goddess would have three children with different abilities, and you will be undefeated if you have the one with the best abilities. I kept my eyes on all three of you. Jakob got strength. Then came Evalyn. She became a master planner. I was impressed by you, Evalyn.  Your mother could foresee things, but you can make them true. I kept gathering rogues and attacking all these ancient moon packs. I wanted to have you beside me, Evalyn. I had no use of Scarlet anymore. So, I ordered to kill her.”, the rogue king smiled like an evil. Pointing towards Lotus, he continued, “Then you came, my sweetheart. You showed no abilities until you were ten. One day you started training. So brave, so desperate to help the pack members. I saw your ability. The ability of speed. Instead of only running around, you started to use them on the battlefield. The day you beat up Jakob pretty badly, I understood what you could do. My target changed. I kept attacking, and your father kept trying to keep his pack safe. During one attack in New Moon Pack, unfortunately, the alpha recognised me. He knew about me before. I had to demolish the whole pack to keep my secrets safe. That was one of the very few mistakes I have made to date. That pathetic Baron got so scared that he pulled alpha Damien into this. He asked for his help. I was not much worried, knowing his nature. I was sure he would be taking Evalyn with him and then throw her away after using her. But Damien chose you. I heard everything. He married you. But none of my men could find out where you went. I attacked another time after you left the pack to make sure that you were not there. I have to praise you, alpha Damien. You hid her well. I couldn’t find a single trace of her for almost three months. None of your pack knew that they had a new member! How surprising. I had no choice but to attack. I got that chance when you went to Midnight pack. Your pathetic slut was quite a good informer. I attacked with seven hundred men. None of them returned. My army was devastated. Such good warriors you have, alpha!” he stopped again.

“I planned everything and attacked again and again, but all went in vain. But not this time. I knew Lotus would come here for the Moon Festival. I knew you could not protect her here even if you have many warriors because they don’t know the territory. Now I finally have you. I will always keep you beside me. You will help me to have an army of wolves with abilities.”, he started to laugh like a lunatic.

Damien and Jakob gritted their teeth. They were waiting for one single chance to attack that bustard and rip his throat. Lotus looked towards Evalyn once, and Evalyn nodded.

‘Damien!’ Lotus mind-linked him using their mate bond. ‘Ask your warriors to be prepared after my signal’, she said.

Damien was shocked. What kind of signal was she talking about? Was she saying stuff because of stress? He looked into her eyes. He saw she was relaxed. There was no pain in her eyes. She did not look scared at all. He saw her smiling.

“You did well, rogue king! You spied well. But you missed two things. First, you got the prophecy wrong, and second, I have two abilities, not one.” Lotus said with a smile on her face. Suddenly her nails grew like a wolf’s, and she scratched the ankle of the rogue king. The Rogue king shouted in pain and almost fell to the ground.

Damien did not waste a single minute. He jumped into that wolf, shifting in midair. Lotus and Evalyn were also ready. Lotus bent down and grabbed the daggers from her legs which were hidden beneath her gown. She slit the sides of the dress and started to stab the rogues using her speed. Evalyn mind-linked Jakob before being prepared to attack again. With the sudden counter-attacks, the rogues were devastated.

The rogue king also transformed into a wolf and started to fight with Damien. Damien was a little destructed seeing his kitten fighting like a tigress. She did not need any protection, he thought. The rogue king took advantage of that to bite his leg, but Damien shook it off. His wolf was huge, even compared to other alphas. It took him a few minutes to take the rogue king down. He ripped off his throat. All the rogues felt the death of their leader. They became more devastated. They started to run away. The pack warriors chased them and killed them mercilessly.

It was over; finally, Lotus thought. She was standing in the backyard garden facing the woods. She felt someone’s hand on her shoulder. She did not have to turn around to see who it was. Evalyn.

“It’s over, Lo! Good job”, she said with a smile. Lotus returned the gesture.