The Rogue King's Mate

Seraphina “Kill her.” What? The world seemed to stop; air grew still, the birds and animals of the woods stopped their crescendoing chants and my heart stopped for a moment when I heard those two words. Slowly, I turned my head to look at my father who stood with six others on the hill over-looking the training ground. He looked small from where he stood – dressed completely in black and his eyes staring right at me. I have looked like a small deer to him. A small deer who was surrounded by merciless wolves. Earlier that day … “And where do you think you’re going?” It was the first thing I heard after being grabbed by the arm and pulled into one of the many rooms that lined the first hallway in my father’s clan home. “Huh?” I exclaimed as it turned momentarily blurry around me before I came face to face with none other than Callum Graves. He has a pronounced smirk on his face as he stared at me with bright grey eyes, eyes I always thought tried to hypnotize me whenever mine locked with them. “Did I scare you?” His husky voice was low and seductive, as it has always been since the first time I met him two months ago. It has been torture trying to avoid him after my father mentioned to me privately – and by privately, I mean in the midst of the elders and a few respected clan members – that he was to be my chosen mate as the daughter of clan leader. I raised my eyes to look into his. He had a smug look on his face, his gaze dropping to my lips as I quickly surveyed him. His short brown hair was styled in his signature curly crew cut. His beard was freshly trimmed to give him a rugged look and his scent – a white musk with the smell of steel in the background. He’d been working in the armory again. He was wearing his leather jacket with jeans and around his neck hung a silver necklace with a knife pendant hanging down his exposed chest. “Not really,” I answered, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow and a tilt of my head. His smile grew even wider. Callum has always been a flirt. As the daring alpha of the Bloodfang pack, his reputation precedes him in the most notorious way. Influential for things including war, battle strategy, trickery and brutality placed him at a position that can’t be contested by any other. This, of course, inflates his ego and makes him think he can get anything he wants. Anything like me, his arranged bride – the utterly uninterested, no bullshitting person who is much too busy coming up with ways to prove I am the perfect successor to my father’s clan, the Crescent Moon pack. I roll my eyes when his go down my face, neck and straight to my cleavage. I raise my hands to press on his chest, growing slightly annoyed. “I’m busy, Callum.” In one flash, his hands fly up to my waist to pin me against the closed door. His body pressed against mine as he lowered his head to push his nose into the crook of my neck. I don’t resist the automatic groan of disgust when he inhales deeply, planting a kiss there. As much as I want to push him off me and punch him till he is bleeding from the same mouth he has on my neck, I reined in my emotions. Callum wasn’t just bold and daring to get what he wanted, he was ruthless; quick to anger and not afraid to take things further than where they were supposed to go. I wasn’t afraid of him. Not one bit. I had too much on my mind for today to spend my energy fighting him back. “Hmm. You smell good.” “Get. Off. Me.” I felt him smile. “Or what? You’ll tell your daddy on me?” “I will break your neck.” His laugh resounds deep in my ear and I can’t take it anymore. I push him off me. He was still laughing when he stumbled backwards. “Perfection,” he said as I wiped my neck and straightened my clothes. A curtain of my auburn bangs fell over my face as I raise my head to shoot him a glare. “I’ll say it for the last time, Callum. Don’t you ever touch me again,” I threaten him with a low growl. “Ooh! Feisty. I love what’s mine that way.” His tongue slicked his lower lip as his grey eyes glowed. My irritation spread over my features and I turned around to leave the room he shut us in. “Good luck impressing your father again today. I’ll keep cheering you on. Even though we both know there is no need for all this over the old man’s seat. You will be mine anyway in a month.” I didn’t stop to let his words marinate. The reality of it all set in like a fog and for the hundredth time, I thought of what else I could do to prove to my father that I was more than an alpha’s daughter who was only useful for uniting clans. The air that morning was heavy with tension. Everything around me in the forest, on one of the harshest training grounds the pack had close to the Outlands or put more specifically, Rogue Woods, rhymed with the adrenaline coursing through my bones. I kicked off my boots as I stepped into the middle of the grounds, eyes darting at the twelve werewolves surrounding me with my jaws clenched and limbs ready. The place was all too familiar even though this was my first time training here. The judging gaze of my father, clan elders and other warrior wolves never left me everywhere I went. I rolled my shoulders as they got closer around me – single and in pairs. They all sized me up, alert and ready to pounce with expressions that were determined to beat the alpha’s daughter. Not on my watch. I gave one last look at my father who had his arms folded with a stone cold look on his face. I was to be the loyal, dedicated daughter he needed me to be – one who obeyed his every word even though it cost me my freedom and pride. He stood far on the highest hill that stood around the training ground dressed in dark clothes with his completely dark grey hair slicked back. His lips grew taut as he raised an arm and the bell gonged loud, starting the fight. Summoning speed, I dashed with like blurry light through the clearing at a werewolf – Daniel. I dodged his sudden high kick that had him in the air and retaliated with a foot in his stomach. He fell down with a thud and gasped for the sudden escaped air. On seeing the two second move, I watched as the rest of them half-transform with their eyes glowing and claws sliding out. I smirked. This was going to be easy. Amelia lunged forward next with even faster moves than Daniel. But I didn’t spend years of my life since I was ten training only to be slower than anyone in this entire pack. I moved from left to right, dodging her punches, slashed and kicks until she landed against a tree, panting and glaring at me. “Fight, coward!” She brazenly yelled. I didn’t care for the disrespect but I still looked at my father and saw his expressionless face despite the great distance between us. I didn’t expect him to react. Only the Moon Goddess knows why I even bother checking. It was my turn to lunge forward. I grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, and then her other arm before flipping her over my body to the ground in one loud thud. I heard a large bone break. “Temper!” One of the elders, Kilo standing close by barked at me. Fuck you. The men weren’t made to control their tempers when they trained with me. Suddenly, I was sick of this. I thought I could last but this temper wasn’t going to leave anytime soon. A light sheen of perspiration covered my forehead as they came at me one by one, baring their fangs and slashing their claws at me. I took them each down within seconds. The sharp grass, twigs and thorns beneath my feet did nothing to slow me down. Instead, I let whatever nature had to give – both painful and relieving – turn into a source of energy. My long braid down my back danced in the wind as I pushed the last one against a large tree; my chest heaved and my heart beat with determination to prove something … anything. Every now and then, as they got up to fight back, I stole glances at my father, hoping to see something different in his gaze as he watched me. But there was none. Not yet, I guessed. In twenty more seconds, I was the only one on my haunches in the midst of twelve badly beaten werewolves. I flipped my braid over my shoulder and gave one last exhale. The only voice of support within me spoke. Piece of cake. Suddenly, from that hill, I felt him move. But it wasn’t one I expected. It never was. He always had something up his sleeve. This time, I knew I wasn’t going to be prepared like the others. The forest grew silent and the animals were as still as the breeze, if there was one. What is going on? I frowned as the werewolves struggled to get to their feet before suddenly speeding out of sight. Copper. Oh no. Blood … the forest. I jumped to my feet to see rogues emerge slowly from the border of the Outlands, their home. I took one step back. I fell into an alert stance, ready to take on a surprise attack if one of them dared. How could they be here? The clan was here to watch my final training. How dare they intrude? Did they think they could escape my father and his clan alive? They were meant to be deep in the woods, far from clans and their homes. They were trespassing! This was my chance, I thought to myself as I saw the all-male large muscular forms of the rogues. Their shared color of eyes – dark amber, a mark all rogues carried, shone under the darkening sky. They were all naked from the waist up and I could see their anger and hunger and hatred for me from where they got closer. I could use them to establish my position as heir. But that thought slowly faded to one of uncertainty as they growled and snapped their jaws at me. This was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. They were wild and untamed like the dark side of the moon – full of mystery, dread and bitterness. “Kill her,” I heard my father mutter from his place on the hill. My breathing stopped. What? Think fast! I broke into a run and instantly, I was chased. Deeper and deeper into Rogue Woods.