The Oralei

Thirteen; Rogues

*Morgan’s POV*

The sight before me was unbelievable. Avianna’s wolf was mesmerising, and absolutely stunning. A small part of me felt a tiny bit jealous, but I wouldn’t let that feeling overtake the others I had for her; love, admiration and pride. I was over the moon for my brother that he had finally found his mate again, he had waited long enough.

I notice Aurelia walking up to Jaxon whilst he seemed as if he was daydreaming - I knew he was talking to Hunter, no doubt expressing how wonderful she was between themselves. I chuckled along with the others when she began to nuzzle and lick his face happily.

“She is absolutely beautiful, I’ve never seen a wolf like her!” I say aloud with excitement.

“Oh, Morgan! I didn’t realise you were still here! I think that is the longest you have ever gone without speaking!” I turn to face Mikey who is laughing at his own comment. Jada starts chuckling in my mind and I internally roll my eyes at her and tell her to shut it. I respond by punching Mikey on the arm and sticking my tongue out at him for good measure.

“Is that all you got Morgan?!” He taunts, laughing louder. ‘You little sh*t! I’ll show you!’ I mindlink him quickly.

“Behave you two! Enough of your silly comments and behaviour!” Mom says firmly, rolling her eyes.

“Now is not the time to be immature! A lot has happened tonight and I for one, am ready to go back inside and have a nice cup of tea…actually, make that a whiskey,” she chuckles.

“Now that, sounds like a perfect idea my love,” my Dad responds, smiling down and her and pulling her to him.

I smile at my parents interaction, praying to myself that one day soon I will get to find my mate and have what they have.

Glancing to the side, I notice Jax staring at Xavier with a confused expression. Come to think of it, Xavier hasn’t said a word since we’ve been here, or shown any sort of reaction to what has happened. I flit my eyes between the two of them, realising that they’re mindlinking between themselves. This goes on for a few more moments, until Xavier looks toward Avianna with a tense expression, then back to Jax. Hmm, I wonder what’s going on here.

*Avianna’s POV*

“What do you mean our eyes are special Aurelia? Why was Jaxon glowing gold?!” I asked her curiously.

“Well hun, our eyes usually glow gold after we have shifted, when our emotions are elevated - like if we are very angry, or if we are using our powers,” she replies, casually as if this is completely normal.

“P-powers?! What do you mean, powers?!” I shoot back quickly.

“I’ll explain everything as soon as we are safely back in the pack house it’s not safe out here right now. Oh, but to answer your first question - Jaxon was glowing gold in our sight because his soul is pure, loving and kind. The others would also glow gold, I can sense they’re all the same as our mate,” she explains.

“Oookay. Is that a wolf thing then? What other colours can people glow?” I question her further.

“It’s not specifically a wolf thing no, it’s our thing. Like I said, I’ll explain everything soon…and trust me, you’ll know if someone’s soul isn’t pure when you see it.”

I decide not to press anymore and nod my head to myself, accepting what she has told me thus far. I have no reason not to trust her, after all she is a part of me.

“Right! Enough dilly dallying, let’s get back to the pack house and get some rest!” Jax calls out.

Everyone starts to turn to head back towards the house and Jaxon turns to look at me, still in wolf form.

“Do you want to shift back now Avi? Or when we’re near the…” Jax trails off and snaps his head to the right of me, sniffing the air.

Behind him Mikey and Xavier have appeared, also looking in the same direction. Jax turns to them and they both nod at him with unspoken understanding. Jax and Mikey then run off in the direction they were all looking toward.

“Avianna, you need to come with me,” Xavier says quickly.

“Aurelia? What’s going on?” I ask my wolf quickly.

“…rogues.”

“What? What the f*ck are rogues?!” I ask. I feel like I’m constantly asking questions, it’s getting on my nerves a bit to be honest.

“Rogues are wolves who don’t have a pack. They’ve either been banished or left of their own accord. Most of them are feral and bow to nobody, that’s what makes them so dangerous, especially in large groups,” she informs me swiftly.

“Well, we’re special and have powers don’t we? I’m sure we can scare them away?” I point out to her.

“You can’t control your powers yet Avi, and we don’t have them all just yet either. We can’t risk you being seen, then we will have a huge problem on our hands. That will put us AND everyone else here in danger,” she says firmly. “Go with Xavier, Jax and Mikey can handle it.”

I switch my attention back to Xavier, who is still waiting for me to respond.

I nod and start to run back towards the pack house, - which by the way, is a lot harder than it looks on four legs instead of two - but don’t get very far when we hear a piercing howl through the air. I come to an abrupt stop, listening intently. The howl sounds again from a fair distance away, but I hear it clear as day. Why do I feel as if I know that howl…

*Gamma Xavier’s POV*

After my short conversation with Jaxon earlier regarding Avianna and what she is, I knew he was going to want a more detailed explanation later. Luckily, I could give him it as I still had the book I needed that held everything we needed to know.

Everyone started to make their way back towards the packhouse and honestly, I could do with a drink. Before we could take more than a dozen steps though, Mikey and I caught an unwelcome scent as a small breeze passed by us through the trees.

We turned our heads to one another and nodded. We quickly rushed back to where Jax and Avianna were stood, and we knew he had noticed it too.

“You guys catch that scent?” Jax asks through the mindlink.

“Yep. It was faint, but it was definitely there. There better be a damn good reason why they’re on our pack lands!” Mikey growls.

“Mikey, you come with me to check it out. Xav, please take Avianna back to the packhouse quickly. I can’t risk anyone seeing her, she’s too vulnerable right now with only just shifting,” Jax asks quickly.

“On it,” I nod. Mikey also nods to Jax and they rush off into the trees towards the source of the scent.

I turn to Avianna, who is still in the form of Aurelia and looking at me waiting for me to speak.

“Avianna, you need to come with me,” I say quickly.

I wait for her response, knowing she will be talking to her wolf before she gives me an answer.

A few moments later, her huge head nods to me in agreement and we both turn and start running in the direction of the packhouse.

From the quiet comes a piercing howl that echoes through our surroundings. Damn, that was powerful, it almost sounded desperate.

Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t realise that Avianna was no longer next to me. I skid to a stop and turn around to see her stood staring up at the sky, ears pointing upwards as if listening intently.

I rush back over to her, “Avi come on, we need to go, now!” I hiss quietly.

Aurelia’s eyes look to me for a few seconds, before she turns and speeds off back into the woods.

“s**t!” I growl to myself. I quickly shift into my wolf, Xander, and sprint off after her.

I catch her in my sights as a huge white blur ahead of us, darting and dodging trees as if they were nothing. Avianna is running about 100 feet in front of us. I’m running at full speed and still can’t close the gap between us.

“Damn, she’s fast,” Xander murmurs to me.

“You’re telling me, and I thought we were all quick!” I shoot back at him.

“If we don’t catch up to her and fast before she reaches them, Jax is going to kill us if she gets hurt,” Xander warns.

“Way to state the obvious Xander. We’re trying our best here! It will be alright, just keep going.” I’m not sure if I’m trying to reassure my wolf or myself, but we have to keep going. We’re getting closer, the harsh scent of rogue is becoming stronger the further we go, and we’re nearing the edge of the pack lands.

My eyes are darting through our surroundings as I run, checking for any signs of movement in the trees.

Caught up in checking around us, I didn’t realise that Aurelia was stopped dead right in front of us.

“s**t!” Xander shouts in my mind.

We try to stop, but we were running too fast and she was too close. I run straight into the back of her with force and both of us surge forward. I hear a snap and a loud yelp come from Avianna as she hits a tree beside me.

“Shake it off Xander! We need to check her!” I shout at my wolf.

“Alright alright, for f*ck’s sake Xav!” He growls back.

I roll my eyes and we get up, turning straight to Avianna to see how badly she is hurt. As soon as my head swings round to where she landed, I am met with a fierce pair of glowing, golden eyes.

Xander starts whimpering in my mind and we are forced to submit under her suffocating, but unbelievably powerful aura. He lies down on the floor like a little puppy who is in trouble. As our eyes leave Aurelia’s, they flit downwards to one of her front legs that she isn’t putting any weight on. I see it is bleeding and realise what she snap was that I heard.

“Oohhh we’re in big trouble Xav,” Xander whimpers.

“Don’t Xander, just d…” I trail off my mid response and my eyes widen in disbelief.

“Xander…are you seeing what I’m seeing right now?!” I ask him quickly.

“Holy sh*t…”

I had to blink a few times to believe what I was seeing…Aurelia’s leg suddenly began to glow brighter and brighter, and then just as suddenly the glow stopped. Her front leg that was just broken and bloody, now looked good as new, as if nothing ever happened.

“Well f*ck me! I knew werewolves could heal quickly, but I have never seen any heal instantly,” Xander murmured in awe.

“That makes two of us. She has only just shifted, but already she is becoming stronger. I don’t know about you, but if I was an enemy, I would seriously be worried right now. Who knows what she will be capable of at full strength and control,” I reply.

“Mhm, well if you hadn’t noticed already Xav, it appears that we are in fact the enemy right now. So if I were you, I would be very worried,” Xander pointed out. I’m sure there was a slight quiver to his voice.

I raised my head to see Aurelia’s eyes still piercing me, although they were no longer glowing. She was growling at me in warning, no doubt extremely pissed that we had just sent her flying. I was about to shift back to apologise profusely and explain, but caught the sound of rustling in some bushes nearby.

Both of our heads snapped in the direction of the sound and we are able to stand up again, now Aurelia’s attention has been diverted. Not even a second later, a pair of red eyes appears from around the side of the bush. F*ck!

*Avianna’s POV*

“I can’t believe that asshole sent us flying like that!” Aurelia growls to me.

“I can’t believe we just literally broke a leg and it healed straight away! Just calm down Aurelia, I’m sure it was an accident. Plus, you have a lot of explaining to do when we get back!” I point out, but she is oblivious to what I am saying and doesn’t give any sort of recognition. She is too busy growling at Xavier in warning, obviously letting him know that what he just did has severely pissed her off.

“Oh, behave Aurelia! He is the gamma, he would never hurt us intentionally. Besides, we are better now so let’s just…” I am cut off from finishing my sentence by the sounds of rustling nearby.

Aurelia snaps her head in the direction it was coming from, and I notice Xavier does the same and is now standing again.

A moment later, a pair of red eyes appears and is staring right at both of us. Aurelia starts growling quietly, but it is enough to vibrate the floor beneath our feet. The eyes flit to us and narrow, as the owner of them begins to emerge from the cover of the bushes.

“Is this what you said earlier Aurelia? A rogue?” I ask her, slightly worried about her answer.

“Yes. A dirty, disgusting one at that. We were too busy being angry at Xavier, that I didn’t even notice the pungent scent was so close,” she replies.

“Ermm, you mean YOU were too busy being angry with Xavier? Don’t blame me, how am I supposed to know what they smell like?!” I shoot back, sarcasm lacing my voice.

“Alright hun, point taken. Now you know,” Aurelia says with disgust laced in her voice.

“What do we do now? Run? Hide? Fight?!” I rush out. I can feel myself beginning to panic.

“Oh no you don’t girl. Don’t you dare start hyperventilating on me now. We’ve got this, don’t you worry about a thing. A lonesome rogue is easy pickings,” she states with confidence.

As soon as she finishes her last word, another pair of red eyes appears behind the first pair, then another, and another, until we have around 10 pairs of eyes all staring at us.

“Ummm, Aurelia? You were saying?” I question.

She doesn’t respond to me, only starts growling louder at the many eyes staring back at us.

I see Xavier get into some sort of position beside us, slightly moving forward. It looks as if he is getting prepared to fight, to protect us.

“Little does he know, it is not us who needs protecting,” Aurelia chuckles.

The first rogue has now fully emerged from the bushes. It is a dirty brownish colour, it’s fur all matted with some missing patches. It starts growling ferociously, foaming round it’s mouth like a rabid dog. Despite all of this, it was a lot smaller than we were - it was almost laughable, like a tiny little puppy. Surprisingly, I am not afraid, not one bit. I fully trust Aurelia with our lives, and I know she wouldn’t let anything happen to us if she can help it.

The rogue then lifts its head and let’s out a small howl. I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing because of how ridiculous this little wolf sounded.

“Aurelia…hahahaha, I-I’m sorry…hahaha, it’s just - what on earth was that?! Hahaha!”

“Avi, please stop. You’re going to break my concentration and there are currently ten rogues surrounding us, I need to focus just in case anymore emerge,” she chuckles lightly.

“Oh, sorry, sorry.” I try to hold it back and cease laughing. She’s right, we need to concentrate. I compose myself and settle down, turning my attention back to the band of rogues around us.

Next moment, the front rogue lunges at us with a growl. I gasp but Aurelia is prepared. She grabs the rogue by its front leg and launches its body through the air, straight into a tree. More and more growls sound from around us and the next thing we knew, the remaining hidden rogues all start their attack on us and Xavier.

Xavier’s wolf dives straight into the fight, biting, clawing and snapping his way through them.

“Ok Aurelia, show me how it’s done,” I say.

“With pleasure hun,” she smirks.

Two rogues are coming at us from the front and she slams the first into the ground with such force, she breaks it’s spine and it becomes immobile. The second is snapping its jaws from below us, aiming for our neck. These rogues may be small, but damn they are quick.

Whilst the second is dancing around us, we hear more howls coming closer and something lands on our back and a sharp pain runs through our shoulder.

Aurelia growls and spins around quickly, throwing off whatever had landed on top of us. It was a dirty, greyish wolf, slightly larger than the others that had attacked us so far.

“Sneaky little b*stard!” Aurelia huffs.

“Are you ok??” I ask her quickly.

“Yeah I’m fine, don’t you worry, we’re already healed,” she reassures me, “enough playing around now, let’s finish this,” she adds.

Aurelia grabs the one that bit our shoulder by the neck with her huge jaws, and bites down, snapping it instantly. Spinning round, the other rogue is still stood there, but not attempting to attack us. It’s eyes are wide and it is just staring.

Finally after a few seconds, it lifts its head and lets out another howl, this time longer and all the fighting ceases instantly. As quickly as they came, the rogues all turn and run off into the trees.

“Well, seems as if they knew they couldn’t win huh Aurelia!” I snicker.

Before she could respond, a loud, powerful growl sounds from behind us that shakes the ground and even the trees.

We spin around quickly to see the source of it, I notice Xavier has done the same from my peripheral vision. As soon as he turns, he instantly bows his head.

I turn my attention to the huge, black wolf stood tall in front of us. Aurelia begins purring like a little kitten and I internally roll my eyes at her. The wolf then shifts instantly back into a human, Jaxon to be exact. He looks pissed, like, unbelievable pissed.

“WHAT THE F**K IS GOING ON HERE?!” He roars, and Xavier’s wolf whimpers behind me.

“My, my, my…would you look at that,” Aurelia mutters, more to herself than to me.

“Behave Aurelia! But, I absolutely, one hundred f**king percent agree with you…”