The Moon's Legacy

The Bounty

Damian POV

The headache spiking at my temples was only getting worse as Elder Ulric kept speaking. "After all, Alpha, you've been without a mate for six years now. This can't continue. The pack needs a luna."

I drew a breath. "The pack is fine, Elder. I refuse to go to another mating ball this year. The last one had no decent prospects, and all I did was spend the day avoiding the Alpha's daughter from Stonefang Pack. She snuck into my room and waited there naked, for Goddess's sake!" I shoved my hand through my hair.

"Even so, you must choose someone. And soon, Alpha Damian. Or we will choose for you." Elder Ulric turned and walked away, his steps calm and steady despite the way he'd spat those last words out.

My jaw tightened. If anyone else had acted like that towards me, they'd face a day of whatever s**t duty I could come up with. Elder Ulric had been one of my father's mentors, and I knew he was only trying to help in his own way.

I flopped into the chair at my desk. I just didn't see why I needed to choose another mate. The first one had worked out so wonderfully that my parents were dead and I'd had to step into my role years before I should have. The thought of letting someone else that close again made my skin crawl.

I pulled up the reports I'd been reading before Elder Ulric had come in. The rogue cell we'd been watching was coming closer. Too close. It was time to deal with them.

'Archer, my office.'

'Yes, Alpha.'

My beta didn't waste any time. He walked through the door minutes after I'd summoned him, his hair still dripping.

"Catch you at a bad time?" I asked him, unable to stop the amusement from bleeding into my voice.

"Morgana managed to spill an entire bag of flour this morning. Do you know how light flour is? It gets everywhere. Our entire kitchen is covered in white dust. As I happened to be in said kitchen, so was I." He rolled his eyes. "I love my mate. I truly do. But I'm not sure I can survive this new obsession she has with trying to learn to cook." He huffed out a breath, exasperated.

"Remind me why she chose to cook as a new hobby?"

"She said she wants to be able to provide for me. That a good mate should be able to feed her partner." He threw his hands up. "I don't care where our food comes from. We have wonderful chefs in the main kitchen. But she's focused in, which means I have to ride it out."

I shook my head. Morgana was an excellent match for Archer, and a strong beta female in her own right. But she tended to get hyper-focused on an idea, and my beta just had to hang on until it fizzled out. "Hopefully she'll get tired of it quickly this time, man."

"Yeah. So, what did you need?"

I turned my monitor to face him. "New intel. That cell we were tracking is starting to sniff around the pack's borders. We need to address it. I won't risk another incursion."

His eyes sharpened as he reviewed the data, nodding to himself as he read. His brow furrowed, and he looked at me. "They've been coming right up to the edge, then veering back out again. Looking for something?"

"That's my take. No idea what, and we won't until we capture one of them. I want to take a team out."

"Agreed. Caine and Evander are at the training grounds. How many are you thinking?"

I checked the information we had again. This group was small, around a dozen rogues. "Twenty warriors, including us. We'll need the bus, as they're on the south side of the territory now. If they keep on their current trajectory, they're going to run into the human town down there. I don't want to risk it."

"I'll let Morgana know she'll have the pack while we're gone. When do you want to leave?"

I looked at the clock on the wall. "One hour."

If Archer was surprised at the short notice, he didn't show it. He just nodded and stood, heading for the door. "I'll get the group ready." And he was gone.

Less than an hour later, I was standing with my beta, gamma, and delta while three units of four warriors lined up in front of us.

"Listen up, everyone. We're going after rogues who have been sniffing around. I need at least one of them alive for interrogation. Absolutely do not push them to cross into human territory. Keep it contained." After receiving acknowledgments from everyone, we loaded onto the bus and hit the road.

Tension and anticipation were high as we traveled. After the attack on our pack six years ago, none of the warriors tolerated rogues getting near our territory. I had learned that lesson more brutally than most.

Of course, there were occasional rogues who split with their pack who simply wanted to live a quiet life as a lone wolf, and we rarely had a problem with them. It was the rogues who had started to go feral, or who were exiled from their packs for committing a crime, that caused us trouble. As far as those wolves were concerned, there was no mercy.

We pulled up about five miles from the last known sighting of the cell that was hanging around our borders and exited the bus. Onyx stretched in my head, ready to take over. 'I can smell their stench. They've been here recently,' he growled.

We shifted, and Caine, my gamma and our best tracker, took the lead. We spread out behind him, following as he picked up the trail.

The forest blurred past as we ran, the scent of pine and damp earth filling my lungs. Leaves crunched beneath our paws, and the cool morning air cut cleanly through my chest with every breath. For a moment, the weight that had been sitting on my shoulders since the Elders started their campaign lifted just a little.

Onyx stirred in a way he hadn't in a long time. 'It's been a while,' he rumbled.

'Too long,' I agreed.

He pushed forward slightly, stretching into the run, muscles coiling and releasing as we moved through the trees. The rhythm of it—breath, stride, scent—was something no human form could replicate.

Onyx didn't take the lead much anymore. Since the bond with our ex-mate shattered, he'd preferred the quiet spaces at the back of my mind. But here, with the forest rushing past and the hunt ahead of us, he felt…awake again.

Onyx's attention sharpened suddenly, the scent of rogues cutting through the forest like rot.

Caine slowed. 'They're up ahead. We should surround them first.'

I agreed, and the three warrior units broke off, slinking through the forest to take their place. We crept toward the rogue camp, waiting for the units to signal when they were ready. We didn't wait long.

Charging in, I leaped onto the first man I saw, jaws clamping on his neck before he had a chance to raise his hands. I jerked my head back, ripping out his throat, as the alarm went up and rogues started to shift all around us.

My warriors flooded in, snarls and growls sounding through the trees. One of the rogues was shouting orders, and I focused on him. Stalking forward, I shifted when I reached him. His eyes widened when he saw who I was.

"A-A-Alpha Damian," he stuttered.

"Why are you casing my territory?" I heard a yelp behind me, then the sounds of the battle quieted. The rogue's eyes darted around as he looked for a way out.

"I-I-I'm not, Alpha Damian." Sweat beaded on his temple. "I would n-n-never. We were just…" he darted to the side, but I intercepted him in two strides. I wrapped my hand around his throat, lifting him onto his toes.

"You were just what? My stance on rogues is well known. My territory is not to be trespassed upon. Why. Were. You. Here?" I gritted out.

His hands grabbed at my forearm as his face started to turn blue. I held him for a moment longer before I dropped him. He fell to his knees, gasping.

"Looking for a female," he finally managed to get out. I heard a snort behind me.

"What female?" I asked, voice low.

The rogue swallowed hard. "Rogue female. There's a bounty on her. An alpha's daughter who ran away from home."

A bounty. My grip tightened slightly. Alphas didn't put bounties on their daughters unless something had gone very wrong.

The rogue was crying now, tears tracking through the dirt on his face. "We didn't mean to trespass. Everyone knows Crescent Peak isn't to be m-m-messed with. Please don't kill me!" he pleaded.

I stepped forward, leaning down to look him in the eye. "Alpha's daughters don't just run away for no reason," I spat. "Which means you're either lying, or you're taking her back to a f****d-up situation. Why would I spare you?"

He continued to sob, saying nothing. I stood and turned back to my people. "Tie him up. He goes in the dungeon for now." I looked around and realized two men were missing. "Archer? Evander?"

Caine looked at me, eyes pained, as he pointed. Evander was leaning over Archer, who was still in his wolf's form. His hands were covered in blood as he pressed them against a gash near his stomach.

The scent hit me a second later—iron and panic. Archer's breathing was ragged, his sides shuddering with each attempt to pull in air.

Evander looked up, meeting my eyes.

"If we don't get him to a doctor immediately, he's not going to make it."