Escaping the Rogue King

Chapter 1 Midi’s POV When people ask me about my parents I shrug and say I don’t remember, but I think I do. It’s just my memories aren’t like my memories of everything after- they don’t form a timeline; I can’t pick and choose between them. They come to me in dreams. Depending on what mood I’m in it depends on what memory will visit me that night. Sometimes it’ll be weeks between memories, some nights are filled with them from start to end, so that I wake up more tired than when I went to sleep. But things like that aren’t spoken about in the Rogue Kingdom. Feelings aren’t spoken about outside the family home really; it’s a form of weakness. And when you’re brought up by the King of the Rogue Kingdom and his Warrior Queen these things aren’t discussed much at home either. My memories really start from the first time I met Royal, as if his aura were so powerful that I have no choice but to remember. I was cold, and in a snow-covered forest but dressed in a simple flowery summer dress. I was crying but the group of male rogues I was with didn’t care. They were drinking and bickering amongst themselves about what best to do with me, whilst I was tied to a tree shivering. And that’s when he appeared; to this day the biggest wolf I’ve ever seen, his coat a fairly typical grey and fawn, but his eyes glowed red, and as he observed the scene before him- a small child bound and crying as 6 grown werewolves drank and bickered around the fire- a growl began somewhere within his chest but seemed to make the whole forest vibrate with him, until the sound surrounded us, instantly silencing the bickering rogues and drying my tears. I rarely thought about that meeting, but the way things had been changing round here recently it was playing on my mind more and more. So much that I was lost in my thoughts, absentmindedly swirling my diet coke round and round in my glass that by the time I finally became aware that someone had sat in the booth with me, sharing my bench seat and staring at me, I couldn’t have guessed how long he’d been sat there. I lowered my glass to the counter and turned to him- you learn early round here not to look weak, a full-on ninja army could jump out on me nowadays and I wouldn’t bat an eyelid, no matter how slim my chances. But as I turned to see who this intruder to my private thoughts was, my breath hitched and I could feel my heart racing. His scent began to surround me, smelling somehow of a warm summer’s day… but not like the ones we get up here near the arctic circle! My wolf had become excited, she was normally so strong and calm but now she felt like a hyperactive puppy eying up this stranger. I was finding it hard to focus on anything other than his eyes- the deepest brown I’d ever seen, staring back into my own, but as I forced myself to take in the rest of him, I had to admit he was quite the looker. Older than me but by how much I couldn’t guess, more tanned than anyone who lived up here. His face was almost painfully handsome. He looked fairly average size for a werewolf, which was at odds with his aura. If he were bigger, I’d feel sure he was an alpha, or at least a beta, the power and confidence he seemed to radiate didn’t match his smaller size although I’d guess he was over 6 foot, some Alpha’s were closer to seven. The stranger smiled at me as if amused by something, ‘so do you speak?’ ‘I’m sorry?’ ‘I wondered if you might be deaf, seeing as you didn’t seem to hear me asking if you minded me sitting here, so the next logical question I guess is do you speak.’ Still confused I c****d my head slightly, ‘Not that you seem to be deaf anymore….’ I guess in a lot of places a man chatting to a girl he doesn’t know at a bar wouldn’t be anything to write home about, but this wasn’t like other places. In the Rogue Kingdom strangers would very very rarely talk- everyone that came here would be introduced or invited by someone they knew, or if they came seeking refuge Royal would hear their case before deciding whether to permit them. But it was the middle of winter so even most werewolves avoided travelling to or from here at the moment. And what’s more I wasn’t just any girl, I was Midi, the girl who Royal had brought home unexpectedly one snowy afternoon and raised with our Warrior Queen as something between an adopted daughter and a pet. Few male wolves here were brave enough to talk to me. Everything got back to Royal one way or another round here and upsetting him could easily mean banishment or death if he was in a bad mood. I blinked at the wolf beside me, wanting to ask how he could possibly have appeared here unannounced and why he was confident enough to approach me. A quick glance round the bar found several of Royal’s fighters were here, most pretending not to watch us, but a trained wolf can do that; appear to be unaware of a conversation beside them whilst picking up everything from the smallest whisper to the heart rate of the speakers. I tried to calm my own racing heart, ‘Sorry, no, that seats free… I’m Midi. And you are…?’ ‘Callan’, he flashed me a dazzling smile, ‘you can call me Cal though.’ There was another silence as he held my eye contact intently, it was probably only a second, but it felt like time had stop as I was drawn into his eyes. I had to snap out of this. This wasn’t a safe place. Hell, I just wasn’t a safe person for him to be talking to. I’d been sat here forming the bones of a plan to leave this place, trying to decide if there were any other option and now my focus was off. Off the plan to save my life and instead completely focussed on a complete stranger beside me. I shook my head, ‘Have you… been here before?’ A weak question but how else do you ask a stranger in a bar if they realise what they’re getting themselves into just by talking to you? He looked around the bar with an eyebrow raised as if slightly amused, ‘To Rogue territory? Or this bar?’ The nearest of the fighters edged perceptively closer to us on his seat. I caught the stranger watch the action yet somehow seem completely unphased. On the other hand, I felt like I was in a pressure cooker about to see something explode. I reached for my phone and typed in, I’m off for a walk along the river heading north and placed it screen up on the table by my arm, whilst also clearing my throat. ‘Well, this isn’t really a place that takes kindly to strangers,’ a sudden rudeness in my tone. The stranger glanced at my phone with barely a blink. His move. He put his hand up slightly in front of me, ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend. I can sit somewhere else.’ ‘No need, I was leaving anyway.’ I countered, as if offended whilst grabbing my jacket and heading to the door. Stepping out into the frozen night would be enough to take a human’s breath away. It was minus 30 already, everything covered in a foot of snow that dazzled in the starlight. Even other wolves felt this cold, but I’d always been able to bare it with ease. Rather than head straight to the river I slipped into the trees in the opposite direction, a route that would normally take me home, but instead I crouched in the darkness off the path and watched for followers. I saw one of the fighters leave the bar, his nose sought out my scent and he followed to the start of the path. As if satisfied that I had gone home he turned back to the bar. Lazy. But rogue fighters were like that. It confirmed my suspicions that someone was keeping an eye on me, but as yet I seemed not to be a major concern. I looped back through the woods to the river. In the heart of winter in Rogue territory most wolves would either be tucked up at home with their families or heading for the bar- our only real social hub. I had always enjoyed the freedom this gave me to wander the forest. I gazed at the frozen river. What was I doing here? Why had I just invited some random stranger out to the middle of nowhere on this cold night. I really was cracking under the pressure this week. I sighed massaging my forehead. As if he was even going to come. I turned to leave and nearly walked smack into a wolf sat behind me staring out across the river too. How the hell had he managed that. I sniffed the air and his scent hit me- a warm summers day. Cal then. I c****d my head at him… maybe I’d been lost in my thoughts? But in all my living memories no one had ever managed to sneak up on me… yet Cal had managed it twice in under two hours. I studied his wolf for clues. He was a beautiful wolf. Not like the rogues up here- bristly with aggression, scars and muscle. He was spotless, white legs and muzzle with a fawny grey back and tail. The way it blended together was almost a camouflage, much like a wild wolf up here would have. Shall we go for a run? I gasped as he mind-linked me. Usually wolves can only mind-link pack members. It’s a bit different in the rogue kingdom where not all wolves are bound by the same pack ties- I can only mind-link with Royal and Zenith, our warrior queen and, for a while, something of a mother figure to me, as they are the only two I have strong enough ties to. ‘How are you doing that?’ I ask. The wolf wags it’s tail, Come with me and we can talk.