Love Thy Enemy

Chapter 7

"What are we going to do Daren?" Missy whined at the rogue alpha as she paced back and forth. Missy and Daren had to take refuge inside of an abandoned hunting shack just outside of pack territory when the vampires attacked. They’d had time to get away before they'd been spotted. Daren growled at Missy. "You will refer to me as alpha, b***h!" he snarled, and Missy growled back but only half heartedly. "You aren't an alpha anymore. Brone is Alpha of your old pack, and your rogue pack is dead." She sneered with an attitude. She knew he wouldn't hurt her. He'd been warned by her uncle who was on the council that no harm was to come to her. Missy's uncle had sent her to Brone's pack. She was to trick him into having feelings for her. She was supposed to manipulate Brone into mating and marking her. Then her uncle was going to have him killed. Some members of the council wanted Brone dead because he was a Lycan leading one of the strongest packs in the world and the council felt threatened. They knew his bloodline was royal and they feared that he would take their precious power from them. Missy had been so close to her goal when Lucy had shown up with that leech. Brone found his true mate and Missy's plans had gone to hell. Trey, Brone's Lycan, refused to mate with Missy after that and abandoned Brone when he'd betrayed the mate bond. Daren grabbed Missy by the throat and squeezed just enough to scare her. "That's right, my pack of rogues is dead. I have nothing left to lose. So, your uncle's threats mean nothing to me. I want revenge and I will have it. Just remember that." He threatened, releasing her. Missy held her throat coughing. After Brone lost his Lycan, Missy had left. She'd stumbled across Daren, a rogue who her uncle hired to take out Brone's pack and joined him. Now they were back at square one, only this time Missy couldn't go back to the pack.

Matthias roared and smashed his desk in rage and frustration as he received the news that the Lycan's pack had been saved and by vampires no less. It had taken years for Mattias to put his plan into action. He'd sent his niece to seduce the Lycan and everything had been going well. He'd nearly had the opening he needed to secure his power over the council. Mattias had been planting doubts about the Lycan and his pack for a long time. Slowly turning the council against Brone by telling them that he was just consolidating power to take over the council. He'd told them that Brone wanted the council out of the way so that he could rule as king when it was really Mattias who wanted to rule. Mattias inhaled deep breaths trying to calm himself. It would do no good for other members of the council to come snooping in his personal space and discovering what he'd been up to. "Is everything okay sir?" his personal assistant asked through the door after knocking softly. "Yes Kate, everything is fine." he replied darkly. "I will have what is mine and I don't care if I have to kill innocents to get it." he growled to himself as he righted his study.

Brone woke with a gasp, sitting upright in bed. He frowned as he looked around him. There was an IV attached to his arm and Jake was sitting by his side, asleep in a chair. The last thing Brone remembered was thinking about his regrets and then sinking into darkness. He'd thought he'd heard Evolet's voice. "That's because you did hear her voice. Who do you think saved us you i***t?” Trey said sarcastically, startling Brone. "Trey?" he asked, and Trey huffed at him. Okay so his Lycan was still pissed at him. He was surprised that Trey was there at all. "She brought me back. We were nearly dead." Trey informed him and Brone nodded. Just then Jake woke up, his eyes widening when he saw that Brone was aware. "Brone! How are you feeling?" Jake demanded excitedly, at the same time his eyes went distant as he alerted Lucy and the pack that Brone was up. "I feel a little weak but otherwise alright." Brone replied. Rick entered the room then. He unhooked the IV from Brone's arm and moved the unit away. "Alpha" Rick greeted solemnly. "Tell me alpha, what do you remember?" Rick asked, shining a light first in one eye then the other. Brone thought about the last thing he remembered, and a memory surfaced. Missy was pissed at him. She’d kept hounding him to mate and mark her, but he couldn't because Trey refused to come forth and Brone didn't blame him. Brone had felt Evolet's pain every time he'd been intimate with Missy and because of that he'd never been able to find release. In time he'd come to hate Missy, himself and eventually, Missy had screamed that she deserved a better mate than one who was impotent and had stormed out. The next thing he'd known was a week later, she'd returned with another pack, a rogue pack. Brone went on to tell Rick that. "I’d been ready to die and was sure that I did until I woke up here." he explained, and Rick nodded.

Jake appeared very uneasy the whole time that Brone spoke. "What happened? is everyone alright? how did we get loose?" Brone fired his questions in quick succession. Rick said nothing, casting sideways glances at Jake. Brone looked to his cousin and Beta for the answer. Jake cleared his throat and ran his fingers through his thick brown hair. "Lucy managed to escape and she went to Evolet for help. She was near death when she got there. Evolet saved Lucy's life, sheltered her while she healed. Then she and her clan came here and saved us." Jake told him softly and waited for the information to sink in. Brone was shocked to say the least. Evolet's whole vampire clan came here and saved them; saved him. Even after what he'd done, Evolet not only healed his sister, she saved him and the pack that had shown her nothing but hatred. "How did I get here?" Brone asked after a long silence. Jake seemed to fight with himself. "Evolet carried you herself. She wouldn't let anyone else near you. She nearly went feral when she thought you were dead." Jake said. Hope bloomed inside Brone, hope that maybe he could repair the mess he'd made with his mate. "Where is she? I need to see her." Brone demanded and Jake looked at the floor. "She said she was only staying here until you were well and then she was going back to her territory with the rest of her clan." Jake murmured. A panicked feeling filled Brone, like he couldn't breathe. "You can't let her leave again Brone." Trey ordered and Brone whole-heartedly agreed. "I know Trey." He replied and his Lycan calmed down.

Rick forced Brone stay in the pack hospital for two more days just so that he could be sure the Alpha was healed all the way through and to make sure there were no ill effects from Trey being gone so long. Brone sighed with relief when he was finally allowed to leave. The first thing he did when he walked out of the hospital was take a deep fortifying breath. He knew that what he would see was going to be bad, but he wasn't ready for how bad when he saw the damage to his land. There was a big patch of dead grass from where the rogues partied. Silver poles were sticking out of the ground, silver chains connected to collars were hanging from them. The pack warriors were in the process of removing them and to his surprise four vampires were up during the morning helping them.

The warriors nodded to Brone as he walked past but the vampires looked pensive and wary. One looked familiar to Brone but he pushed the thought aside as he nodded at all of them, the vampires included. He walked into the pack house and was surprised to see vampires comforting the crying women and children of his pack. He was also surprised that his pack members accepted the vampires readily. Brone wondered just how long he'd been unconscious. "Alpha!" someone called, and Brone turned to see Will his Gamma, walking towards him. "It is good to see you up and healed Alpha. You were in bad shape. We were all worried." Will said, giving Brone a manly hug. "It's good to be alive." He replied with a smile. He motioned to the vampires with the women and Will shrugged and smiled. "The rogues r***d and tortured them. Evolet's clan is just compelling them to forget the worst of it. They want the women to remember that it happened because it would be wrong to completely take the memory and would harm more than help them. Don't worry they have the women's permission." Will told him.