The Midnight Rogue’s Broken Mate

Sabotage

[Ryder]

I paced back and forth around the room, restless, stealing glances at the young woman bound hand and foot to the bed like some kind of experiment. She was unconscious, her hair spread across the pillow, bruises scattered across her skin—marks that weren't healing like a wolf's would. Odd. Especially since Elvis claimed he'd caught the scent of a wolf on her, though it was faint. He wasn't the type to make such blatant mistakes.

I turned toward Elvis, who stood by the door, arms crossed. "Is this necessary?"

He gave a slight bow, expression impassive. "Very necessary, Master. Who knows what she'll do when she wakes? My duty is to protect you." He bowed in a formal gesture. He was a broad-shouldered man, white hair tied back neatly, his eyes dark behind a pair of spectacles he claimed added a touch of sophistication despite them not being medicated. Heaven knows what gave him that idea...

All in all, Elvis was the closest thing I had to a butler, an assistant and of course, a dear friend. He was once human, leading quite a miserable life as a slave. During one of my ‘nightly episodes’ I seemed to have turned him though my intention must have been to kill him. Any normal person would be vengeful after such an encounter but he found me and pledged allegiance saying I'd saved him that night from a worse fate.

Werewolves weren't like vampires; we didn't have servants. We were either family or bound together by personal interests—how rogues did. I was a rogue and gave him the freedom to leave whenever he pleased. But Elvis had stayed—loyal. Some part of him even seemed grateful. I couldn't say I understood why, but in some quiet way, I was glad. Yet, just as I feared, my curse had spread to him from the bite. The only difference was that its effects differed.

For me, I lost control of my inner wolf, Malik every night. During the day, I was almost human, unable to shift. I couldn't communicate telepathically with Malik or hear his thoughts and he was never willing to speak by writing overnight. To think that he still hated me, still blamed me for what happened even after all these years. I couldn’t forgive myself either.

Whenever I wanted to, I saw their faces and heard their voices—their cries as they were slaughtered before my very eyes. All because I loved a woman, once. Never again.

The other part of the curse made me somewhat... immortal. After so many years of being around, I almost felt like one of those old bloodsuckers.

As for Elvis's side of the curse.... well, let's just say he wasn't as free as a normal wolf should be. He couldn’t shift. He didn't seem to mind though, seeing how he'd stuck by my side for the last fifty years and shown nothing but loyalty. I was glad to have him and even more relieved about him ageing gracefully. A bit envious too.

"She's just a child," I muttered, almost to myself, curving around the bedside to touch her face. She looked to be somewhere around her early twenties, but who could truly tell? Her hair was the same colour as mine, just darker and longer. Her cheeks were rosy, soft...

‘No!’ I quickly pulled away from her. It didn't matter how attractive she was. I'd been careful for the past few centuries not to look too closely at a woman. Especially not one who still had a bright future ahead.

By the time I woke up, naked, this woman lay beside me, her hand curled about medical supplies.

The easiest way would have been to kill her or leave her be and bear the consequences later on. But seeing how she'd likely tried to nurse my injuries made me stop Elvis from killing her. I didn't kill anymore. At least not during the day.

I'd brought her home completely on impulse which was worse than both other options combined. She didn't belong here, but seeing the bruises on her, it felt right to return the favour. Yet, something about her was hard to ignore.

"Elvis," I said, forcing my attention back to him, "uncuff her."

Elvis's brow creased. "Are you certain? She could—"

"She'll panic when she wakes up like this. Uncuff her." My tone was hard, and I didn't wait for him to argue. He slipped on gloves, wanting to avoid the burn of silver as he moved to unfasten her bindings. He was a bit old-fashioned and hadn't adapted to the changing times. But I liked it.

"Now then, what happened last night?" I ask plainly. Every night, I would bind myself in an underground prison that opened automatically by means of a timer at a certain time of the day. Last night, my bindings had loosened earlier than usual.

Elvis shook his head, wearing a guilty look, "I went to inspect the bindings. It seems the mechanism was broken."

"Broken? Aren't the weekly maintenance checks enough to have given a clue that it was falling apart?"

He seemed to lower his head further. "Forgive my carelessness, I would have a word with the engineer to make sure it wasn't his doing."

I was still frowning when the doorbell resounded.

"It must be Ms Hart who's come with our supplies. I will see her in." Elvis bowed before leaving. If he were to be anyone else, I would have suspected that he had a hand in the faulty mechanism. But this was Elvis! I'd rather trust him than second-guess his loyalty after all these years. Hopefully, I was not wrong.

It wasn't always like this. There was a period when I'd lived off suppression spells to keep Malik tamed at night. But as the years passed, the curse had grown.

I'd made a deal with a newer witch, Selina Hart, who could create a talisman to suppress my curse, but the talisman in question would last for only three months before shattering. It took one year to make and five years to grow the plant which served as the main ingredient.

I turned back to the slumbering woman, frowning. Hopefully, we wouldn't need to hurt her once we made sure she wouldn't blow the horn on my identity. Just as I was about to step away, something caught the light from beneath her shirt. My hand shot out, grabbing the familiar emblem attached to a string. "Impossible!" I whispered, my fingers trembling as I held it in the light, eyes widening.

How? How did she have this? It was something that should have been wiped from existence long ago.

"Well... this complicates things."