Alone: My Cursed Fate

Rogues

*Vienna*

I am bursting on the inside with joy hearing those words from Matteo. I never thought that he would feel the same way as me. I am still filled with concern that we are not fated and that my heart will be shattered the moment he finds his true fated mate, but in this moment, I don't care. My lips suddenly feel very dry and I part my lips and wet them with my tongue. His eyes flash to my mouth and he begins to lean in. My heart quickens as I do the same.

Right as our lips are about to meet, a wolf howls in the distance- abruptly breaking us out of the moment. Damn it, he curses under his breath. “That’s my Dad’s wolf, Blade. He must want us to return to the pack house”. Hesitantly we both stand up and climb down the ladder of the tree house. We run back to the pack house together. There we find a gathering of warriors outside the pack house front doors. Something is wrong...

“Mom, Dad?!” I call out.

“Over here sweetheart!” They wave me over urgently.

“What’s going on?”

“A group of rogues were spotted on the northern borders of the packhouse. We need you to help gather the pups and bring them to the safe room.”

“On it..” I say as I look over at Matteo and ask, “Aren’t you coming, Matty?”

He hesitates, looking between me and his dad. “I should go with the warriors. I am 16 now. I need to start learning how to lead this pack and protect it”.

“You don’t even have your wolf yet. We wont get our wolves for another year”.

“I know, but I can fight in my human form. I have been training. I need to do this.”

I give him a quick nod of understanding and turn to leave. He grabs my hand as I start walking away and pulls me back into a hug. “I’ll see you after. I promise”, he says as he crosses his fingers and lays them over his heart- a sign that we made up when we were little. It means “cross my heart”- a promise that we will always be there for each other.

I run up the packhouse steps until I reach the Alpha's suite where I know I will find Matteo’s sisters. Five-year-old Mila is kneeling by her toy packhouse playing with her little wolves as her eight-year-old sister Rayna braids her blonde curls. I pick up Mila and grab Rayna’s hand, leading them out of the room and back down the packhouse steps. The safe room is a hidden room located under the packhouse kitchen. Our head cook, Jill, is already ushering in the other pups of the pack and I help with the stragglers. Diamond Willow is a strong pack with many allies, so rogue sightings do not happen often. We do rogue practice drills to help us stay prepared for attacks. This really helps us move quickly when the real thing happens like today.

I slide the saferoom door shut and let out a deep breath. My heart is pounding in my chest from the adrenaline of the last few minutes. I take a seat on the floor next to Lydia who is comforting a little boy. Mila climbs onto my lap with her hair half braided and one of her toy wolves in her hands. Rayna sits next to me and lays her head on my shoulder. Her hair, dark like her brother and dad’s, falls across her face. I gently tuck her hair behind her ear and tell her everything will be alright as she looks at me with tears in her big chocolate brown eyes.

Now all we can do is wait and pray to the moon goddess that our packmates return safely. My mind instantly wanders to Matteo. This is his first time going with the warriors rather than helping secure the packhouse. As a Beta shewolf, I too am expected to one day join the warriors. Fighting and training has never been my thing- I instead hope to go to school and become a healer for our pack.

*Matteo*

Most of the pack warriors shift into their wolves and take off towards the threat. The rest of us follow behind in our human form. Alpha Mark, my father, orders us just west of the northern border where our pack border patrol intercepted the group of attacking rouges. I soon smell the stench of decay- rotten and pungent. An odor often talked about during stories of past rogue attacks and warnings to small children to run far and fast whenever you come across it. Something is off though. A faint whiff of burning embers mixed with a rich earthy spice. People only ever mention the smell of rot. My gut tells me that something is different about this rogue attack. There are far too many of them, maybe twenty total. Rogues usually only travel in packs of three or four because they don't tend to get along and often kill each other off. I brush this gut instinct off as the fighting begins.

I see my father's huge gray wolf, Blade, taking down two rogues at a time. Beta Patrick's dark gray wolf, Flint, takes on a wolf that was trying to corner his mate Lena's wolf, Yuri. A rogue with matted, brown hair deems me an easy target seeing that I am young and in human form. I have been training for this moment for as long as I can remember. As a future Alpha, I am stronger than most, even in human form. The smell of decay gets stronger and my eyes start to water. The rogue gets closer and closer, starting to circle me like prey. Drool drips from his yellow teeth as he snarls at me. I watch him, analyzing every step he takes.

He makes his move lunging at me going for my left leg. Before his teeth make contact, I quickly slide underneath him and grab his underbelly. He struggles to shake me off, but I have a tight hold on him. He rolls to his back in an attempt to release me, but this is exactly what I wanted him to do. I use all of my strength to grab hold of his neck as he continues to make every effort to free himself of me. His claws make contact with my right shoulder tearing my flesh. Pissed off, I make my final move and snap his neck with my bare hands.

I stand up and look around me. All of the rogues lay on the ground lifeless. The warriors have already started to clean up around me. I notice my father standing nearby watching me. He gives me a nod of approval with a proud look on his face seeing his son take down his first rogue. I smile back, turning away from the rogue I just killed and walk towards my father. Suddenly his expression changes to that of surprise as he stares past me towards the dead rogue. The odd smell of burning embers and earthy spices returns.

I spin around to see a woman standing over the rogue's body. She has wild brown hair that reaches her waist. Her long, dark purple dress is tattered at the hem and has holes patched with random patterned swatches of fabric. She is barefoot- her feet dirty and worn. Her eyes stare blankly at his lifeless body and her mouth agape. She clutches his chest in pain and falls to her knees holding the rogues head in her lap. Warriors nearby start shouting at this new unforeseen threat snapping her out of her trance. Her head turns to me, her silver eyes brimmed with tears that begin running down her cheeks. Silver eyes- the trademark sign of a witch. Hatred fills those silver eyes as she says to me, "You will pay". With that, her and the rogue's body disappear into thin air.