Chapter 52

—Third Person POV—

That was painful for Asher to watch.

You shut down on her, his wolf growled. Can you not do anything right?

This is really complicated. Asher winced, looking to Mia.

“You didn’t need to do that,” he said to her, averting his gaze from her extremely piercing one.

“Everything I do is for my job,” she replied, her hands resting on her hips. “And those two have been flirting.”

“There’s nothing going on with them.” Asher pressed the subject gently, figuring his attempt wouldn’t work on her anyway.

Where were those words when Sienna was here? She needed you, his wolf droned on, ever the whisper of reason.

Asher ignored it.

And you abandoned her, it echoed, and he bit back a snide remark in return.

“It’s not your business, Mia,” Asher sighed, not looking forward to the mess this was surely causing. Now he was absolutely getting thrown into that uncomfortable conversation with Lucius sooner than expected.

“Anything affecting her leadership is my business,” Mia beamed the words again, and Asher hated that he was thinking about how good she looked rather than her unbearable attitude.

He wanted to threaten her position, but that would only start an unnecessary war, one that she’d fight to her death to win.

“It seems like you’re purposely trying to start something,” Asher muttered, running a hand through the loose strands of hair falling against his face.

“Not at all,” Mia pouted, offended he’d think such a thing. After all, she was so perfect, wasn’t she?

“Look, it’s late.” Asher glanced over Mia’s shoulder to the hospital, seeing it still bustling with all the injured. “I’m calling it a night, and you should too.”

“How about we go and — ” Mia perked up, her eyes lighting with the god awful mischief they always did.

“Goodnight, Mia.” Asher shook his head, shutting down whatever terrible idea she’d been about to suggest.

He headed past her, heading for the upscale motel just past the hospital, figuring he’d stay in Blackmoon overnight to stay close to Lucius after everything that had happened.

Asher checks in, assuming Sienna will do something similar, though he has no idea where she stalked off to. He settles into his room, a specifically requested street facing one, and realizes just how exhausted he is.

Before he knows it, sunlight is filtering in through the cracks of the silk curtains, and for a moment, he forgets where he is.

Blackmoon. The hotel, his wolf says grumpily. It was too early for any of that.

Asher wanted to see Lucius as soon as possible. It was time to get everything out there, close this subject of Sienna and any feelings for her once and for all.

After a quick shower, he’s out of the hotel, strolling across the now very empty street to the hospital and Lucius’ room.

He finds Lucius sitting up, looking significantly better already — the perks of being a wolf. They never stayed damaged for long, especially under the right care.

“Good morning,” Asher greeted from the door, taking a few slow steps in.

Lucius face lit up, and he beckoned him over, the TV in the corner muted but on the news, the wreckage of the charity event front and center.

“How are you feeling?” Asher gave a half assed smile, sitting in the chair next to Lucius’ bed.

“Much better,” Lucius sighed, almost sounding content. Of course, he was still infinitely bothered by how the attack had even happened. In fact, that would eat away at him until the case was solved and tucked away in the history books.

“It seems that Julian is missing,” Asher announced, glancing to the TV in the corner. “No one has seen him and it’s unlike him to not show himself.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he was taken as some sort of bait,” Lucius muttered, his eyes on the TV as well.

“Kind of hard to feel bad for him,” Asher said softly, turning his attention back to Lucius. “It’s almost too easy this way, isn’t it?”

The edge of Lucius mouth curled up, a bit of relief in his eyes. “It certainly is. but is it right to leave him there, if he was kidnapped?”

Because no matter what, he was still an Alpha, and Alpha’s took care of each other.

Lucius seemed conflicted as he spoke. Everything with Julian had been a nightmare, and yes, his absence was excellent for them, considering all the mess he’d caused of late.

But the Alpha code had always been to stand up for each other, no matter your conflict.

The TV in the corner flickered, the news cutting out to show a shadowed figure, backlit so their features were entirely hidden, a hood concealing any chance of identifying features.

“Turn it up!” Asher urged, his curiosity peeked. This wasn’t just part of the news.

It was the rogues.

Lucius hastily raised the volume, and the two men went silent as crackling echoed through the room, the mysterious figure finally speaking after a long moment of silence.

“Hello, world,” the figure spoke, their voice low, chilling Asher to his very core. They let out a dark chuckle before continuing.

“How are we in the aftermath of our great attack?” They sounded amused, already knowing how much disarray they’d caused. A beat passed, as though someone was supposed to give an answer.

“Let me guess — by now, you’ve realized some people are missing, no? Well, how could we attack the most powerful pack without taking a few prizes, hmm?”

A chill went up Asher’s spine. This was definitely confirmation that Julian had been taken, along with some others they likely hadn’t even realized were missing yet.

“That’s right. We took prizes.” The figure sighed in contentment, utterly pleased with themselves. “Quite a few of them.”

Lucius cursed under his breath, and Asher could hardly allow himself to blink, afraid he’d miss something, anything, that would clue him in to where this was happening.

But the rogues were smart. They’d never give away their location like that, especially after an attack that had once been thought to be impossible.

“We’re mostly just here to rub that in your faces. We stand strong, fighting for a world that we control —no one else.”

That had always been the rogues message, that they didn’t support the King, believing we should stand up for ourselves and rule our own lives.

“This is bad,” Asher muttered, sensing a war on the horizon. For so long, the rogues had lived in silence amongst the shadows, attacking and then disappearing for years at a time.

Now that they’d resurfaced, it seemed like they were ready for a fight like never before. A fight that the Alpha’s wouldn’t be able to deny, thanks to their own being taken as prisoners.

“A war is coming,” Lucius whispered, his eyes glued to the TV, perfectly voicing Asher’s own internal thoughts.

For a brief moment, the two broke their attention from the TV to look at each other, a look filled with acceptance of what this all meant.

“A war is coming,” Asher echoed, his heart pounding in his chest.

It was always expected that a war would break out against the rogues, but they never thought it would happen this soon.

They could only hope they’d be ready for it.