TAKEN
1595 Words
NIGHTFANG PACK
DREAM
“Nightfang Pack is one of the most powerful packs in the North yet you didn't hesitate to break the rules and disgrace yourselves.”
He paused.
“You took something that belongs to me.”
My heart sank. I couldn't help but stare at Luina.
What did he mean?Was he seriously going to accuse us of theft after all we did to save him?
Heads bowed. None of us dared lift them to stare at the man walking around or his heavily armed men.
Both hands dipped into his coat, he moved through the grand hall like a predator among sheep. His boots clicked against the marble floor, each step unhurried.
“The audacity of attacking a cortège passing through your borders, even with a pass, is...” He paused, letting the words hang. “Interesting.”
Slowly, Kaelen stood. Placing a hand over his chest, he greeted the strange man.
“Lord Ruzzan.”
Lord Ruzzan? The rogue everyone wanted dead?
“I am deeply sorry for what my shielders did. Why don't you go back for now? I'll personally take care of it.”
Silence descended.I finally gathered the courage to lift my head.
Ruzzan stared at my mate calmly.Then he laughed.
The sound was low and cold, lacking any warmth.
“Who are you?” he suddenly asked.
“Kaelen,” my mate replied, a hint of red spreading across his face.
“Kaelen.”
He echoed the name as he walked closer. Each step was deliberate and unhurried.
“You are Alpha Dylan's pup? The one supposed to take over?”
My mate's gaze widened slightly.
“Yes, I am.”
“It seems your father didn't teach you the rules, young Alpha.”
He was so calm it was infuriating. And he was so disrespectful.
What was he getting at? Is that how all rogues behaved? No wonder we were told to stay away from them.
“You don't tell me what to do.” His voice remained quiet. “I tell you what to do.”
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
I felt Luina shiver beside me.
“What?” I whispered baffled.
Ruzzan's gaze swept across the room.
“Your shielders put four of my men down. One is dead. Three are between life and death.”
He looked back at Kaelen.
“The earlier you produce the wolves on patrol that day, the earlier we leave this place and you can continue your little event.”
Kaelen stiffened.
Ruzzan's boot struck the leg of a nearby chair.The c***k echoed through the hall.
I jumped, my grip tightening around Luina's hand until my knuckles went pale.
“Do you seriously want to kill people in a ceremony the Alpha King himself organized?” Kaelen demanded, finally losing his composure. A few protest rose in the room.
I expected Ruzzan to protest.
Argue.
Anything.
But he didn't.
Instead, he reached inside his coat and pulled out his gun.
The first thing he did was shoot a shielder.
A scream tore through the hall.
“Oh no.”
DeKan.
Luina's brother.
Both of us ran to him simultaneously.The protests that had begun died instantly.
I dropped to my knees beside him and pressed my hands against the wound.
A silver bullet.
The worst thing any wolf could have inside their body.
The wound wouldn't heal until the bullet was removed. I could feel it beneath his skin, burning and poisoning him.
Kaelen took a step forward as if he would attack the rogue.
Ruzzan lifted his gun again, aiming at another shielder.
“Do you still have objections, Alpha?” he asked. “Because if you do, I have a thousand ways to help.”
Kaelen's calm vanished.
“Okay.”
His voice shook.
“But the rosters are too much. We will have to search, and it might take until tomorrow morning.”
It was a reasonable request.
That way, no one else would get hurt. Our events will end and we will all go back to our homes and families.
Ruzzan didn't agree.
Instead, his gaze moved slowly across the crowd.
Calculating.
Cold.
Like he was deciding which part to attack on a prey.
“Your Alpha has a lot of work, so I can't continue to disturb him.”
He turned toward one of his men.
“Rhysand. We need four she-wolves.”
My stomach dropped.
One by one, the girls were picked.
A young mother with trembling hands, her child crying as she was pulled away.
The leading gammas daughter who barely past her first shift, her face pale with terror.
The leading omegas mate screaming for her mate as she was dragged from his arms.
And then—
“Luina.”
I couldn't let her go.
I grabbed her hand.
Her brother tried to reach her.
Her mother came running, sobbing.
Still, they took her.
“Don't worry about me,” Luina said, her voice breaking. “Just heal DeKan.”
I stared at her for a second before obeying.
I pressed harder against DeKan's wound.
Blood had begun to seep through my fingers.
Ruzzan continued walking around the hall.Four girls taken away ruthlessly.
What more could he possibly want?
Then he stopped.
“Someone said the soon-to-be Alpha has a mate he met three years ago.”
Silence.
“Where is she?”
My heart stopped.
I slowly turned toward Kaelen.He was staring directly at me. and his face had gone pale.
His hands trembled at his sides.
Then Ruzzan's gaze followed his.Straight to me.
He walked toward me.
Slowly.
When he finally stopped in front of me, his dark eyes moved over my face.
“So you are the Alpha's mate?”
His voice softened almost imperceptibly.
“What a beauty the Goddess has bestowed upon you.”
His fingers brushed my cheek.
Cold.
Rough.
They carried that same scent I'd been trying to forget these days.
I slapped his hand away.He chuckled.
The sound made my skin crawl.
Who did he think he was?
“Very well, then.”
His eyes remained on mine.
“We're taking the Alpha's mate.”
I couldn't remember when I started shaking. But I was.
Kaelen stepped forward.
“What more do you want? You took four girls for four shielders. What more could you possibly want?”
His voice cracked.
“It's forbidden to touch an Alpha's mate.”
Ruzzan glanced toward Rhysand.
“Rhysand, he says it's forbidden to touch an Alpha's mate.”
To my shock, Rhysand laughed.
The sound echoed through the silent hall. This was so humiliating.
Ruzzan looked back at Kaelen.
“Is the law a Krustan's law or the Golden Fangs' law?”
Kaelen went silent.Why was he quiet at such a momentI couldn't help but groan frustrated.
“It's a law of werewolves.” I snapped.
Everything went quiet.
Ruzzan crouched until he was level with me.
His dark eyes met mine.
There was amusement in them. And something else.Something I couldn't name.
“At least you know the answer, little one.”
His gaze shifted toward Kaelen.
“Your mate knows nothing.”
I frowned.His arrogance was becoming annoying.
“Like you said, it's a werewolf law. Part of the packs' constitution.”
He straightened.
“It has nothing to do with us rogues.”
My heart stopped.Then he turned toward Kaelen.
“The goods your shielders took cost a thousand Nightfang coins.”
His voice remained perfectly calm.
“It's only right that your mate is taken as the substitute.”
My mother sobbed.
My father stood, but a shielder immediately forced him back down, driving him to his knees.
I watched my father proud, stubborn, always so powerful—forced to kneel.
Something inside me broke.
“Alpha, you have forty-eight hours to bring my goods and the shielders who were on patrol that day to our clan.”
Ruzzan's expression didn't change.
“Failure to comply, and I'll send their heads back.”
I went cold.Completely cold.
“Rhysand.”
I was dragged away.
My mate stood helpless.
My mother wailed and my father fought against the rogue holding him down.
I screamed at the top of my voice, but no one cared.
They placed me inside one of the middle cars.
Through the open door, I heard Ruzzan give his final instructions.
“If you bring men my people can't identify as those shielders, I'll kill all of you.”
Goddess,the way he spoke of killing so casually. Truly rogues had nothing to do with us pack wolves.
“See you, Lord Ruzzan.” That stopped my sob.Who could be this warm to such a monster?
I glanced through the window, wiping away my tears. Hoping to catch a glimpse of the man who had spoken.
Then I remembered.The Alpha King's assistant.The man who had come to supervise the ceremony.
I'd forgotten they were even there.
The most shocking part was how they had stood there and watched us being taken away without doing anything.
And now they were bowing to him.
Goddess.
What had I gotten myself into by saving this man?
Defeated, I leaned back against the seat, resting my head against the window.
The car smelled of leather and something sharp.
Silver, perhaps.
I closed my eyes, hoping to find a solution.
Hoping to wake up from this nightmare. Then the car open.
I opened my eyes.
Someone stepped in and that chilling voice came.
“Little wolf, what were you saying?”
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