Queen of Rogues

A chat

Fitz POV

He wasn't quite sure how the pack would handle this news. All he could do was back a man who was giving up everything to make his pack survive. The hope and fear in his eyes had appeared in equal measure and that alone made Fitz realize he had to make this happen. "So did you happen to catch your mate's name?" He finally managed to get out. His deep voice shattered the silence of the drive. Even he could admit that it seemed almost hopeless. They had been on this search for two days already without any lead and even he was feeling just as lost as Matthias. Would they even be able to find her? Had she cut her losses and ran? There were so many questions and no answers. Was it normally this hard to deal with a mate that wasn't part of a pack or happened to be human?

Yet both of these girls smelt like wolves. Why were they so drastically different? He looked at Matthias again, "Earth to Matthias." At this point Fitz considered renaming Matthias, because of how often he seemed to say that particular phrase to the man.

"N...No...." Matthias answered with honesty as his face turned red with embarrassment. He had to look out the side window to hide it.

"No!" Fitz yelled while looking at him astonished. "I caught it! How did you fail to catch it!?" He said, shocked by this bit of news. But then again it was Matthias and at times he missed certain details. He turned his eyes back to the dark road ahead. Trying to keep from swerving in the road.

"You got her name!?" Matthias counted back to the man. "What is it?"

Fitz stole a glance at his friend. He shook his head and wondered if he should even give the man her name. "Why?" He felt a smirk pull up at the corner of his lips.

"What do you mean why?" Matthias looked at him. His brown frowning deeply in frustration.

"Well, you know. You didn't even listen. It was like being in school all over again and you failed to hear the teacher." Fitz felt like teasing the man beside him.

"What the hell!" Matthias yelled. "How could I when you seemed ready to kill the girl?" His hands went up into the air before slamming against his body and crossing together.

"The girl was rude as hell! Who the f**k flips off someone for literally no reason at all?" He asked the red-headed beast next to him. His hand rose up and rubbed against his trimmed beard before he shook his head. "Lia." He said, "But I don't know if it's Lia with an E or A." He said with a shrugging. "It could be a nickname for her but we won't know until we find her."

"Lia." He heard his friend whisper the name. Testing to see if it fits the face.

Fitz laughed lightly, "You're like some love, sick puppy. This is strange to see." He turned off the main road to some little town coffee shop. He needed something to keep him awake if he had to keep driving around. Matthias drove too, but it was getting late and they needed to head back to the pack. "Do you want anything to drink?"

"Sure. I could use a coffee. I'm going to have to stay up late anyway to keep caught up with the workload at home." Matthias yawned out while rubbing the back of his neck. Finally, both of his hands brushed through his red curls.

She's different.... Morphues whispered.

Color me stupid, but who is? Why was his wolf always mysterious?

The Luna... Morphues spoke again.

Fitz's face wrinkled up in frustration, Yeah... NO duh! She's a rogue, we've established that.

No... She is more than just a rogue.... Atlas knows it as well.... Morphues let out.

"Wait.... Ask Atlas what makes your mate different?" Fitz stopped at the door to the coffee shop. His hand on the door as he looked back at Matthias, who looked confused by his question.

"He won't tell me. He just said in time." Matthias seemed at ease with the answer and Fitz felt like he was festering in utter confusion as he grunted at his wolf, who just seemed to continue to be as mysterious as the first day they met.

He pushed the door and stopped at the scent. "She's here Matthias."

Matthias pushed past him to see a blotch of colors hiding behind a cabinet in the dead cafe.

"Excuse me..." Fitz spoke up to get the girl's attention.

*******

Tavia POV

"Oh f**k!" She gasped out the moment her eyes looked up to the two men that walked there. She was screwed. If her damn ass had dressed normally, then maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't have recognized her so easily. She knew the moment their eyes met hers that they knew they had who they wanted. Tavia had never felt more cornered than at this very moment. She was stuck behind a counter with no way of getting out the front door, but if she made a mad dash then maybe she could get out the backdoor and run.

"We just want to talk." The red head told her with caution as he put up his hands to show no harm.

"No!" Tavia said while shaking her head, trying to figure out if she was fast enough to get out the back.

"We promise no harm will come." The dark-headed guy said.

"Bull! You damn pack wolves are all the same! We won't harm you! We won't touch you! We won't hurt you!" She started screaming, knowing fully well she could be just adding fuel to the fire, but she would fight like hell if it meant living just one more day.

"I promise you. Alpha's word that no harm will come to you from us." The red-headed man said. He never once moved from the door and held his friend in place.

"Bull!" She scuffed at him. "I call bull. You're no Alpha." A snicker followed the words. She was standing straight at this point. Her fingers were fidgeting with her brightly tied dyed tank top. "You guys are all the same. You ask as if this rogue is stupid enough to fall for your sh*t!" Tavia felt herself becoming cross. Her anger rising.

"Now I see why you two were friends." The dark-haired man with the beard muttered before rolling his eyes. They were both foul-mouthed.

"f**k you!" Tavia glared at the man.

"Calm down please." The red-headed man asked.

"Why the hell should I!? You don't have power over me!" Tavia screamed out in irritation with the conversation.

"Because I just want to meet her. I want to meet.... to meet Lia." He said gently.

Tavia could see that he was being careful with how he spoke to her. She wanted to cuss him out when he said her best friend's nickname, but Belladonna suggested listening to him. She was quiet and asked, "Why? What is she to you?" She stared down the man. Her eyes glared at him while she sized him up and down.

"Because she's my mate." He said and then looked shocked when Tavia laughed.

"Mates! What a joke." She normally wasn't this much of a jerk to anyone, but she hated pack life as much as Dehlia had. "Mates this and mates that! You guys are a joke. Your kind only ever reject us rogues. Your kind treat us like crap. Your kind treat use like a damn disease. Some of us lost are packs. Some of us are generations without packs." Her hands rose up into the air as she wandered slowly around from behind the counter. "Some of us have had to deal with rejection for assholes like you!" She was screaming now. Her anger boiling. She was in the man's face at that moment, "So f**k you and your stupid fucken mate bond!" She screamed in the red-headed man's face.

He looked quite shocked by her outburst. He leaned back when he got in his face. "Um..." He really didn't know how to deal with this situation. "Look. I don't want to reject her." He managed to mustard up.

"What..." Now Tavia felt at a loss for words.

"I want to meet her. I want to stay with her...." He could feel the heat rise up in his cheeks.

Tavia stepped back from him and really didn't know how to react to that. She expected violence. She expected a war of words. Not a damn admission of the need to meet his mate. She was taken back by the events unfolding before her. "Uhhhh..." She looked around and then back to his face. "How can I trust you not to break her heart?" She whispered to herself. "How can I trust you won't hurt her." She lifted her eyes up to him. She could feel fear grip her for eternity for his answer.

"I will do everything in my power to protect her." He said with all sincerity. His eyes were looking pleadingly at her.

"Fuck...." She let out slowly before looking away and then back to him. "I was expecting worse. Not a damn love confession. Shit." Tavia sighed out. What the hell was she supposed to do now? She was expecting to fight or to run. This changed everything and she found herself chewing on her lip in thought. "She's not happy with this." She finally confessed as she ran her hands through her rainbow hair. She sighed, "Take a seat so I can lock the door. Its time to close anyway." She ushered them to a small table. She locked the door and went to the counter to make a couple of cups of coffee.

"Have you been looking for her this whole time since the diner?" She asked quietly now that she had taken a seat with the guys.

"Yes. I left the conference early in order to find her." He was quiet before taking a drink.

"He isn't lying. We were only there for two hours before booking it. The last two days we've been looking for her." The dark-haired man said, "Anyway, I'm Fitz and this is Alpha Matthias. We're from the Eclispe Pack." He spoke matter of factly.

"Ah names. Yeah, I'm not great with manners. Octavia Rose. Tavia for short." She looked at Fitz. At least she had names on the faces that she spoke with. "The girl your looking for isn't happy with this news." She confessed while diverting her eyes from Matthias and continued, "She doesn't want a mate. She's worried it will ruin everything she's achieved this far. You have to understand the world that we live in. While you all have your packs, we have to learn to strive and survive on our own. The majority of us are homeless. Some of us manage to work in the human world. We learn to dampen our instincts and urges to survive because to see another day of life is all that matters." Tavia had become quiet, and spoke from experience alone. She could feel their eyes on her. She could feel the pity.

"Pack life's not what its cracked up to be either." Matthias said, "Yes, we have the luxury of each other, but that depends on the pack. I'm trying to fix my pack. Years and years of bad leadership have damaged the pack and its reputation. My father tried with all his might to fix it but nothing came of it. I had to step up. I never wanted it but it was either I did it or the pack would fall apart." He stared into his coffee. "I've seen pack members kill each other for food. I've watched parents abandon their babies because it meant having another mouth to feed. I don't want that in this pack. But the only other solution is to have my Luna at my side. Your friend is my Luna. I promise I won't let harm come to her. All I ask is that she'll just love me in return." He finally looked back to Tavia with those intense green eyes.

"Damn you came prepared. But you won't know what we've been through. What our parents have been through. How will your pack treat her when they learn she's a rogue? You're forcing her to leave everything she's created behind. You don't understand how much this girl has done. I don't think you could even grasp the concept of it."

"Then tell us." Fitz said, looking at Tavia intently.

"Lia created something unique for our kind. A safe haven." Tavia looked up to Fitz, then at Matthias. "She created a little niche in this dark world for our kind. A place where a rogue is treated kindly. Where they can just go for a bite to eat or to get clothes. A place to rest and a hospital that would tend to the wounds caused by others. It seems like so little to packs that have tried to cause trouble there, but to Lia it's the world." Tavia spoke with such honesty and hope, "She created a place for the elders or children that come her way. A network to get our way into a stable situation where we don't have to worry about where our next meal will come from. Where they can finally stand on their own two feet. You need to understand that Lia won't leave that all behind." She finally turned her sights back to Matthias.

"She's done all that?" Matthias asked in shock. This girl. His mate created a feat he could only dream of achieving. He already admired this information about his mate. Her heart was bigger than her own well-being.

"I'll talk to Lia about it. I can't promise anything though. Meet me here in two days. She's not an easy soul to convince." Tavia spoke while messing with her bracelets on her left wrist.

"You dropped this in the forest, by the way." Fitz handed over her multicolored bracelet.

Tavia looked at it and slowly back at it. "Thank you. I thought I had lost it for good. Lia made it for me." She smiled weakly before nodding and sliding it in her hand. "I'll see what I can do for you guys. But please if this does happen. If she does talk to you, please don't come at her. Take your time with her." She advised. "Plan to be here in the nighttime. Take your coffee. It's on the house." She said before she rose and watched the men follow suit before guiding them outside into the darkness. "Have a goodnight fellas." She nodded her head but kept her eyes down. She closed the door behind her.

What could she possibly do to convince Dehlia to come and talk to this man?