The Hybrid Rogue's Destined Mate.

Chapter Three: The Human Foes

"Where are they?! Where are these creatures you speak of?" Yelled Mr. Thomas, the mayor of Margery town. He and the sheriff, along with a search party that was the inhabitants of the town, were in the woods vigorously seeking me and my type. I could hear their voices from a mile away.

"Those animals that you saw don't exist. Those were probably merely costumes" stated Mr. Thomas as he addressed the search party.

"No! We know what we saw. We are not crazy. These monsters have been bullying and stealing from us. We just recently started seeing them a couple of weeks ago. They usually moved too fast previously" stated Mrs. Smith, one of the residents in the search party.

After debating back and forth for a brief period, they started with the search. "There! What house is that?!" Exclaimed Mrs. Smith as she pointed at a two-story structure.

"That is the house of Lukas Costanzo, a very renowned artist in our region" responded the Mayor.

"What?! How can someone live in the woods? And this house appears as if it belongs to an affluent person. What is the source of his wealth?" Asked one of the residents as they drew closer to my house.

I am a light-skinned male of ordinary height, with dark hair and blue eyes. I don't know if I am physically appealing because I never had a soulmate to tell me that. However, I have had a few excursions with some humans who have told me I had a square jaw and appeared incredibly attractive.

Over the years, I have accumulated considerable riches from my exploits with my rogues. I designed the facility as a cover-up so we could blend in as people. However, I and my rogues barely lived there. We responded to our more basic nature and frequently scampered through the woods. We have marked separate territories that are highly dreaded.

I paid the mayor a tremendous sum of money to allow me to erect that building in the woods and I always paid him to look the other way. He knew about the seventeen other people I had in my care. However, he wasn't aware of the kind of monsters that we were.

I listened to the mayor and the search party together with my rogues from a long distance away.

"We can't enter this building. We would be trespassing. I don't want to do it. I'll inform the sheriff to bring him in for questioning later", The mayor said as he addressed the search party. "No! We want to see him now. We need to examine these forests thoroughly" replied one of the residents.

On hearing them, I then addressed my rogues, saying, "Alright everyone! We have to be speedy. We shall pass through the back of the building. We can't afford to be spotted. Once we're inside the compound, I'll hide all of you in the attic. Do you understand?!".

"Yes, we do, Baron!" The rogues replied in unison.

When we went to the building, my rogues and I did as planned. After that, I put on a pair of black Jean trousers and a blue T-shirt. I wanted to look casual. I then proceeded outside the house where I discovered all of them standing right in the front.

When one of them saw me, he exhaled loudly as I could hear him. He pointed my way and said; "Look! That must be Lukas Costanzo". The rest of them then looked in my direction. I simply wore a casual smile on my face and began approaching them. They all looked at me in wonder. It was as though they were expecting me to have a different look.

"Good morning Mr. Lukas! I'm extremely sorry about the disturbance" remarked the mayor as he approached me.

"This is unusual," I said.

"Yes, I understand. You see..."

"Mr. Lukas! Let me ask some questions", the sheriff shouted as he approached toe to toe with me.

"Sheriff Winston what are you doing?!" the mayor questioned as he turned to the sheriff, displaying some irritation about interrupting him.

"Allow me, sir. I merely want to ask Mr. Lukas some questions," replied the sheriff after which he confronted me.

"It's okay, I'm ready to answer all your questionings," I said.

"How long have you been staying here?"

"Five years," I said. "Wow! Incredible. How is it that I don't know of your existence in this town?" the sheriff asked again.

"Well, that is your shortcoming. The mayor here has known me for years. Kindly inform me what the problem is. I need to go back to my paintings," I replied.

"Well, these individuals allege they've been witnessing terrible animals steal from them," the sheriff added.

"Wow!" I said, after which I began giggling. "Okay, what exactly does that have to do with me?" I replied again.

"Well, we are trying to connect the dots. We are sorry for interrupting you. We are. It appeared pretty weird seeing a building like this in the woods" stated the sheriff.

"I completely understand" I answered, following which I turned to the search party to address them. "Everyone! My name is Luka Costanzo, and I have been residing here for the last five years. I and your mayor are really good buddies..."

"You look young" interrupted Mrs. Smith as she approached me.

"Yes, I am. Were you expecting someone old?!" I answered.

"Well, living in a place like this would be expected from a vintage" replied Mrs. Smith.

I then laughed in reply. Some members of the search party began laughing as well. I

watched Mrs. Smith warm up to me as she wore a warm smile on her face.

"Okay Mr. Costanzo, we are sorry for the interruption, but please, if you do come across these critters stealing from us, do inform us. They look considerably stronger and faster than us, yet we will always find a way to hunt them down. Nothing can terrify us in our community" stated Mrs. Smith. I then chuckled a little

"You find this funny?" Said, Mrs. Smith.

"Of course I do. You are talking about seeing terrible monsters. How is that possible?" Did I answer?

"We know what we witnessed!" Yelled Mr. Charles, one of the residents in the search party.

"What you saw could be humans dressed in costumes so they could scare you. Did you consider that possibility?" I answered.

"Well, let's not drag this issue any further. You are certainly a decent working man. You appear like a proper guy in society. Please report to us if you detect anything strange" urged the sheriff. "Alright, I will," I said, after which, they all went.

"What do we do, Baron?" Asked Josh, one of my rogues, as soon as I went into the attic.

"Well, we have to lay low" I answered.

I then resolved to address all of them. "Everyone! These previous couple of years have been amazing ones. As rogues, the werewolves expected us to suffer, but here we are. We have fought different battles with the werewolves and we have won all of them. This is because we are superior beings and they envy us. I have led all of you to triumph. There is one more pack we need to take down before we can truly rule this region, and that pack is the Luna pack. I wanted to attack them once I discovered enough shapeshifters like us but over the years, we haven't discovered any new ones. It appears they were wiped out from this region or maybe absconded somewhere else. Nevertheless, I have one thing I want to tell you all. I have decided to have a truce with the Luna pack. I want peace. We can't afford to have humans knocking at our doorstep. We will make sure all the packs that we have defeated in the past are going to come to an agreement of peace with us. Hopefully, this will be our last fight".