Voice of Vengeance

Chapter 7

(Euan’s P.O.V)

After we continue our interrogation of the other rogues, we don’t get any useful information other than they were after Juniper. We walk back to the packhouse to meet Royal Gamma Cormac and his son, Angus, who is my future Royal Gamma.

“So, we know they are after Junie, but we don’t know why. Do you think we should get in touch with King Cerberus in Alynthi? See if any of his vampires know anything?” Angus asks.

“That’s an excellent idea, Angus.” My father says.

He grabs his office phone and dials the number for King Cerberus.

“King Cerberus.”

“Hey, my sweet little caped cannoli.!”

“Rian, I swear on the Moon Goddess that the next time I see you, I will rip out your throat and spit in it.”

“Well now, that’s just rude! Here I am, calling to speak with my best friend and this is how I’m treated!?”

King Cerberus lets out a long sigh before saying, “What do you need?”

“We had another rogue attack yesterday. No one from our pack was harmed but the three rogues that we were able to capture told us that they were after Junie.”

“Juniper Shay? Killian’s daughter?”

“Yes, however, they wouldn’t tell us why. They are all passed out right now, but we are going to try again tomorrow with the interrogation.”

“We haven’t had any rumblings from our rogue vampires, and I don’t think my spies have heard anything either. I will check with them when we get off the phone. You may also want to contact the other kingdoms and see if any of their rogues have spilled the beans about anything.”

“Do the elves and spell casters even have any rogues in the Rogue Lands?” Angus asks.

“All kingdoms have rogues in the Rogue Lands. Most of the rogues in the Rogue Lands are shifters though since the magic users can just use magic to punish and imprison their outliers."

“We’ll start with Eferhile. I know Morrigan would love to have a conversation with Bayard since he’s getting ready to pass the kingdom to Maeve and her mate, Harry.” My father says.

“Let me know what Bayard says, because we may have a bigger problem than the rogues just wanting Juniper,” Cerberus says.

We all say goodbye before my father hangs up the phone. There isn’t much for us to discuss at this point, so we say our goodbyes to one another and head home. Dad and I pull up to the house, and since the kids are all in school it’s only mom in the house.

“How did the interrogation go?” She asks as we walk into the living room, where she is sitting reading a magazine.

“Your son decided to use the cactus.” My dad replies.

My mother’s eyes widen before she throws her head back and laughs long and loud.

“Yes! You are my child! Thank the Goddess Danu above that someone finally used it besides me!” She says, getting up off the couch and doing a little happy dance.

“Really mom?”

She stops her dance and gives a shy giggle.

“Okay, princess. We need to call Bayard.”

“What? Why?” She asks, shocked.

“The rogues told us that they were after Junie. We couldn’t get a reason out of them, so we called Cerberus and asked if any of his vampires had heard anything. He was going to check but he also said it would be a good idea to get ahold of the other kingdoms and ask about their rogues.”

“Makes sense. Okay, I’ll call him now.”

She grabs her phone, tapping on my Uncle Bayard’s number.

“Hey, MoMo. What’s going on?”

“f**k off with the nickname Bay! I’m a Queen and it’s rude.”

“And yet you are here telling me to f**k off.” Uncle Bayard chuckles.

“Whatever. We are having a rogue problem. Our pack was attacked yesterday but the only thing that Killian, Rian, Euan, and Owen could get out of them is that they are after Killian’s daughter, Juniper.”

“Holy. Shit.”

“We called Cerberus already and he was going to check in with his spies, he also said to check with the other kingdoms about their rogues.” My dad says.

“Makes sense. I will say that off the top of my head, I haven’t heard of anything. Our rogues have been pretty quiet, staying to themselves on the outskirts of the kingdom. I will ask my warriors to go around and ask the rogues themselves.”

“Thanks, Bay! Call us when you have something. I’m going to get in touch with Uncle Alstin and his son, Aramis, and see if they know anything.”

“I’ll get in touch with Winnie and see if Lysander knows of anything.”

“Divide and conquer, I like it! Thanks again Bay, we’ll talk soon.” My mom says, just before she hangs up the phone.

“Hopefully they get back to us soon,” I murmur.

“They will, my little wolfie. Now, go take a shower, you smell like dungeon and rogue.” My mother says, crinkling her nose in disgust.

I roll my eyes before heading up to my bedroom to shower. The rest of the day goes on normally, training with my father, going over pack businesses, and looking into pack members that could be potential moles to the rogues. Before long, the twins and the rest of my siblings are back home from school, and we are all sitting in the living room watching a movie when our dad comes running into the room.

“Junie is missing!” he shouts.

“What!? How can she be missing? Flynn and I dropped her off at the front of her house and watched her walk in!” Rory shouts.

“I don’t know. Killian says he doesn’t remember her coming home because he was having an argument with Florence. He says she’s masking her scent, he’s not sure how because she hasn’t been taught how to do that yet.”

“Could that be her Siren?” Mom asks.

“It could be, but we aren’t sure. We need to go find her.” Dad says.

“I’m coming with you,” I state before we bolt out of the house and towards the Royal Beta residence.

Warriors surround the house while Cormac and Angus are walking through the door with Killian, Owen, and Owen’s twin, Marcus. We split the warriors up, to get them heading in opposite directions, because like my mother said, divide and conquer. Having a nagging feeling I might know where she is, I tell my dad that I’m going to go look for her with the group of warriors that are headed towards the northern part of the territory. Taking off, I make my way towards the north where our treehouse is. Well, it’s not a treehouse so much as it is a few planks of wood nailed to the branches of a tree, making a platform for us to sit on. Owen, Marcus, and I built it for ourselves when we just wanted a fun place to hang out and jump into the snow during winter. Then it became a spot for Junie and me to just be together like we had been yesterday in the field. I run at werewolf speed towards the little outcropping of trees, and I can hear her sniffling up on the platform.

“Oh, Junie bear,” I call out.

Junie doesn’t answer me, but I know she heard me. I climb up the tree and see her lying down spread eagle on the platform, tears making tracks down her cheeks.

“What’s the matter Junie bear?” I whisper as I start to lay down next to her.

I pull her against me, and she snuggles her face into my chest as I rub soothing circles on her back.

“I heard mom and dad fighting about something when I got home from school. I heard that the rogues are after me.” She whispers.

I stiffen, unsure of what to say, so I figure I would just tell her the truth.

“They are after you. We don’t know why though. The rogues wouldn’t answer that question. We have feelers out in the other kingdoms to see if they can gather any information for us.”

“Why does it have to be me? I’m nothing special.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Junie. You’re everything.” I murmur, kissing the top of her head.