Voice of Vengeance

Chapter 8--Split Chapter

(Juniper’s P.O.V)

“That’s where you’re wrong, Junie. You’re everything.” Euan says, before kissing the top of my head.

I can’t help the way that his statement makes me feel like my high school crush finally sees me. In all honesty, I’ve had a crush on Euan since I was little and the way that he’s looking after me right now, makes the butterflies in my stomach go crazy. I’m cuddling with my crush! I know that we spent the afternoon the other day together but there’s something significant about this moment. Euan and I stay on the platform for a few more minutes before we both climb down and walk back to my house. When we turn the corner to the backyard of my house, I see my parents both pacing back and forth. They hear us coming and both their heads snap up in our direction.

“Junie!” My mother cries, running toward me and hugging me tight to her.

“We were so worried about you, sweetheart.” I hear my dad say, as he engulfs both me and my mother in a hug.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you guys,” I murmur.

They release me from their hold and then dad asks the million-dollar question.

“Why did you run away?”

I shuffle my feet nervously, looking down at them, not wanting to admit that I overheard their argument.

“She overheard you and Aunt Flo arguing about the rogues being after her,” Euan says, knowing I’m too chicken s**t to admit that I overheard.

“I’m sorry, Starfish,” Dad says.

“It’s okay,” I mumble, still looking at the ground.

“Let’s get inside and we can talk about this. Thanks for bringing her home, Euan.” Mom says before she guides me into the house.

We make our way into dad’s office, knowing that this conversation doesn’t need to be overheard by Stephanie. I sit in one of the chairs in front of his desk and mom sits in the other as dad closes the door behind him. Sitting in the chair behind the desk, he puts his head in his hands, elbows on the desk for support.

“What did you hear? I want to start there first.” He asks.

“I just heard that you wanted to tell me about the rogues, but mom didn’t,” I say, giving the gist of the argument.

Dad nods, before sighing deeply.

“We don’t know why. I’ll get that out of the way right now. The rogues we have in the dungeons aren’t talking about the why. All we know is that they want you.”

“What’s going to happen now?” I ask.

“You’ll still go to school, but you will be taken to school by a guard and picked up by a guard. You will also have one of the warriors in training transferred into all of your classes because I need someone watching you at all times.”

“The teachers can do that! They’re fully shifted wolves and know how to fight.” I say, not wanting a stranger to be around me all day.

“This isn’t up for negotiation.”

I sigh, knowing that it’s no use to argue with him about this. I bring my left hand up unconsciously and rub at the front of my throat. I feel the rough skin of my scars against my palm, trying to soothe the ache from having talked so much. A cup of water is put in my right hand, looking to see my mother smiling softly at me.

“Drink, baby girl, I know your throat hurts.” She whispers.

“We’re going to find out why they want you, Junie. I promise nothing will ever happen to you again.” Dad says, fire in his eyes and sincerity dripping from his words.

“I know daddy,” I murmur, before taking a sip of water.

I just wish we knew why the rogues wanted me so badly.

(Unknown P.O.V)

“Sir, three of our scouts have been captured. They are currently in the dungeons of Alpha King Rian.” One of the werecat soldiers tells me.

“It was a reconnaissance mission! How could they have been caught!?” Julian shouts.

“I thought you had your wolves well trained?” Teresa growls.

“Are you questioning my ability to train my wolves or their ability to do their job right? Chose your answer carefully, bear.” I growl.

She glowers at me but keeps her silence. Teresa isn’t a small woman, she’s well-muscled and can take down a man twice her size, however, she won’t try me. She knows that when I fight, I fight to kill. For all intents and purposes, we are the Alphas of the Rogue Lands, we each rule over our own species but we are currently working together to get what we need. The little half-breed Siren. The Royal Beta’s daughter.

“She’s a 15-year-old girl! It shouldn’t be that difficult to run a recon mission on her! Where are the other spies?” Julian growls.

He’s the Alpha of the werecat rogues, and so the warrior before us is part of his Pride here in the Rogue Lands.

“They are on their way back. The other wolves state that they ran into problems infiltrating the pack, or at least that’s what had been mind linked to them.” The werecat says.

We may not be established packs in the eyes of the Kingdom, but we are still able to mind link one another. It’s a gift that the Moon Goddess gave us, as citizens of her kingdom, that the Alpha King and Luna Queen cannot take away. We were all banished from Màni for various reasons. Most of them were lies spread about us by pack members and no trial was held. So, Teresa, Julian, and I are looking to make our way back into the kingdom to overthrow the current rulers. And according to the spell caster we use, Juniper is the key to our plans. If we can’t get our hands on Juniper, our plans will fail…and we can’t have that. The first attack didn’t go as planned, our rogues deviated from the plan and attempted to kill her rather than kidnap her. That mistake won’t happen again.