The Voice of the Wolf

The Mystery Rogue

(Aiden POV)

The morning started as usual. I woke up, trained in the gym, then ate breakfast provided by the omegas who worked in the packhouse kitchen. My pack house was not the biggest in the world, but it was bigger than the majority of the surrounding pack houses. We had a fairly successful business when it came down to it and it showed in our territory and its members.

Sitting down in the den with the rest of my family and a few others who came to eat, I sat quietly as my sister did what she did best… talk.

“Aiden, when the hell are we going to get a Luna?” my sister Sabrina asked me as we ate with our parents.

I rolled my eyes at her as I ate the protein waffles and assorted meats that I had piled onto my plate. Sabrina grinned as she drank her breakfast smoothie, waiting for an answer.

It was no surprise that she asked, she and many others asked this question of me daily. I was twenty years old, an alpha of one of the largest packs in this region of the state, and I was not mated. This was something of a hot topic among the women in the territory. Something that I hated the most, was how often women threw themselves at me. Besides the fact that it lowered my opinion of them, I saw how hard it hit them in their self-esteem when they were made aware that they were not my intended mate. I hated how much people relied on the bond to feel worthy of love or affection. All of the women who came to me were beautiful, something I made very clear to all of them, and I wish they had higher opinions of themselves.

“Helllooooooo.” Sabrina sang at me, nudging me with her foot beneath the table, “I was asking about my future sister-in-law!”

Smiling, our mother raised her eyebrows at my sister, “Don’t bother him, Brina, he is waiting for his mate and there is nothing wrong with that. I wish more of the younger men would abstain and wait for their intended mates, though I know that will never happen.” My father chuckled at that and my sister shook her head, rolling her eyes at me.

I went about my business and kept eating, ignoring her quips and attempts to bait me into the conversation…again. Besides, she had no room to talk. She did not have a mate either and always claimed that she did not care if she found one or not. Regardless of her claims, I have often found her staring off at mated pairs in envy and sadness, looking as if she longed for the devoted love of another.

Finishing my food, I excused myself from the table and left the house to go patrol the pack territory. I do this once or twice a week to stay updated on what is happening outside of the pack house. I like to be in the middle of everything, so people know their alpha is there for them. My father did the same thing before me, and his father before him. Our people knew that if there was a problem, their alpha would be there to assist them all.

Today was a normal day, sunny with a nice breeze. All the pack members' kids were outside playing and running up to me to mess with me. Some of them were just interested in meeting me, some just wanted to talk, and others would come and jump or kick at me, joking of course, but their actions would elicit their mothers running up to scold them about treating the alpha with respect.

I loved the kids and always expressed that they were fine and able to just be children around me. They can worry about alpha respect in formal settings.

I always wanted kids, but with no mate, I refused to allow myself to ever get another pregnant. I would wait for as long as I needed to, or never have them. It was not something I was willing to budge on.

Smiling at the kids, I left the area and started checking with my guards to get their daily reports.

When I arrived, I was greeted by them telling me that there were no issues with the perimeter of the territory and was given the repair reports for portions of the town and fences. Once the technical things were out of the way, they then told me about an odd odor coming from the western area of the forest. It was faint and smelt like trash, so they assumed it was just garbage being picked up for a week. Seeing this as a secondary worry and knowing the humans pick up some of the surrounding territories' trash, I brushed it off.

After giving orders for the reports and giving the guards their tasks, I left.

Last on my list, I always make a note to run and check the orphanage and the hospital. Due to us having the resources, we take a lot of lone wolves in who want to escape the rogue wolves and keep them from becoming homeless, as well as make sure any of the pups born and lost their parents are cared for. Some of them help with pack house labor, others help with patrolling, and some have found mates and have birthed more pups. It isn’t perfect, but it has been a good system here, thanks to my grandfather, who laid the foundation for it.

Leaving the orphanage, and making sure the hospital had everything they needed, I made my way back towards the pack house to work on paperwork.

“Aiden!” someone yelled excitedly from across the yard.

The next thing I knew, Marissa Longley was running into my arms and kissing me. Having been in my head, thinking of all the responsibilities that needed to be handled, I was caught completely off guard.

My eyes widened a bit, and I pushed her off, looking around quickly, “What are you DOING, Marissa? Kissing me in public like that?!” I demanded; a bit more harshly than I intended.

She frowned and pouted in a flirty way, “I... we spent so much time together before… last summer… it was so intimate.” she looked down disappointed, giving the usual look the women gave when I rejected them, “and, well, since you haven’t found a mate, I figured...”

I shook my head before she finished her sentence, and I could tell it was upsetting her.

Rubbing my eyes, I said, “No Marissa... What we did was just fool around and have a few nights of drunk s*x. We didn’t date, we did not spend the entire summer together… and honestly… It should not have happened.” I sighed, softening my features, and speaking in a kinder tone, “Marissa, that isn’t what I want in a Luna and it’s not what I want in a mate. I am sorry.”

If looks could kill, the one she had on her face would end an army. She looked like she was about to shriek at me in response when an alarm sounded.

My head jerked up at the sound, my demeanor changing from soft to immediately on guard. Without caring what Marissa was about to say, I left her behind me as I ran to a guard station.

“Omar? Where are you!” I asked with a serious tone.

Omar was the head of my security team. He was a Delta rank wolf, but he was a large man. Dark as night skin, eyes browner than the bark on a tree, and the man had dreads that seemed never-ending. He was a loyal member of our pack and, with the alarms sounding, he was my go-to.

He stood tall, his face serious as he wrapped his hair up and tied it up into a large bun. He looked at me “I think we may have rogues in the area Alpha.”, he guided me towards the west gate. “One of the scouts, they caught a scent, said it smelt dirty and foreign... they said they could trace it in the direction of the lake.”

I frowned, if there were rogues on the property… why would they stay out that far? The lake was a few miles west and there was no way to sneak into the main areas of the pack from there. I couldn’t help but wonder if this were a rogue or just a random passing through, unknowing of the fact it belonged to someone.

However, I was the alpha. I had a duty to make sure this was not a threat to my people. Once Omar finished his report, I nodded and ordered 4 others to come with me from the guard station that Omar could spare. All Omega and Delta wolves reveled in the chance to prove themselves to their alpha.

“Alright, before we leave. Unless we confirm it to be a hostile rogue, no killing.” I ordered, “We ask questions, we make sure first. Only if they attack first… do we attack.” They all nodded at my words.

Nodding back at them, we took off.

Shifting, we ran in the direction of the scent. My eyes focused on the path ahead, but my wolf's mind was elsewhere… it had a curious tint to its thinking at the moment… which was not normal. He was normally very active in the pursuit of rogues. But I could not help but notice him thinking about the scent we were following… and how it was the strongest scent we had ever smelt from a rogue. Now I couldn’t help but notice that it was a rather sweet scent… almost as if it were candied fruit… apples?... no.. peaches. Candied peaches! I loved those as a child. I wonder why I was smelling that?

Confused, we continued and followed the path until we came upon the lake.