Chapter 64

Kieran

I caught myself touching the bare skin of my throat several times during breakfast. Lucian noticed, but I claimed an itchy shirt collar and he rolled his eyes and let it go. Zara didn’t join us for breakfast, so I didn’t have to face her. Unfortunately her absence didn’t erase the feeling of her fingers in my hair, or the shiver that shot down my spine the way her voice curled around the words “good pup.”

Most of the night was fuzzy, but my wolf left me that memory sharp and clear. And I knew it wasn’t the wolf that wanted to hear it again.

Huh. I did not know that about myself.

I didn’t have the luxury of time to mull it over. The Rogues apparently got bored. Several of our border patrols reported minor attacks, small strikes meant to feel out our defenses.

“Think they’re just trying to weaken our borders for a big strike, or draw us out for an ambush?” I asked.

“I’m thinking Alpha Silvestre wants results, and they’re amping up their attacks. This is only going to escalate until they get the response they want,” Lucian replied.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “So, how are we going to respond?”

“We aren’t,” Lucian said. “I am. You’re going to stay here, and maintain the facade of business as usual. I’m going to take a small team into the Rogue lands, and question a few of their fighters. I want to know whether it’s common knowledge among the Rogues that there’s an Alpha pulling the strings, or if it’s a secret.”

“Your new Beta knew,” I pointed out. “Sandra, right?”

“Yes, but she was hired specifically by Silvestre to infiltrate the Mate Ball,” Lucian said. “So she might have been told more than the rest.”

“Does it matter if they know?” I asked.

“It tells me how bold Silvestre is,” I said. “If it’s common knowledge, I can just challenge him. If he’s keeping it secret, well, I can still challenge him, but it would look better to the other Alphas if I had evidence.”

“Since when do you care how it looks to the other Alphas when you challenge someone?” I scoffed.

Lucian shrugged. “We can’t conquer every pack.” He paused. “Well, maybe we can, but it’ll take time. Time we might not have. If a little diplomacy here or there will prevent a fight, that lets us save our strength for more important battles.”

I nodded gravely. Lucian was, as usual, correct. We needed to ration our strength. Until we found our fated mate, our Luna, that strength was a finite resource.

“I’ll keep things under control here,” I promised. “Are you taking your Beta?”

“Yes. I want to see how she fights as part of a team,” Lucian replied.

“You’re trusting her not to betray you to her former comrades?” I asked.

“She couldn’t rise as high as Beta among the Rogues,” Lucian replied. “She knows a female Rogue is nothing but a prize to the others. I don’t trust her word, no, but I trust her to know where her best opportunities lie.”

“Okay,” I said.

Truth be told, I liked Sandra. Normally, she was just the type I’d try to lure into my bed for something more serious than a one night romp. I’d keep her on my arm for a few weeks, maybe even a month or two. For some reason, I wasn’t interested this time.

Maybe I was coming down with something. It was rare for werewolves to catch a cold, but it could happen.

“Kieran,” Lucian said, pausing at the door, “Be careful. I know the nightmares and the voices are getting worse. But you can’t risk going to Zara.”

I winced a little, but nodded. I shouldn’t have gone to her last night. She found a way to calm my wolf without hurting herself, but the same method might not work twice. I’d need to keep my distance from her, just in case.

The first two days were quiet. I handled pack business and stayed away from Zara except for the meals we shared. It wasn’t likely that anyone else would try to poison her and we still had her sister in custody. I still didn’t feel like taking chances, and it was an excuse to spend just a little time with her.

It didn’t help my resolve to keep my distance when I saw that she wore the choker necklace I’d bought her. I wasn’t sure what message she was trying to send with that, and I didn’t dare ask her. So I tried to ignore both the sight of the ribbon around her throat and the strange feeling of absence around my own. I shouldn’t miss a sensation I’d only felt one time, and yet I did.

The third day, the quiet shattered. One of our patrols missed a check in. I led a team to check it out, and found half the patrol dead and two survivors barely hanging on to life. I sent my team to take the survivors tothe healers while I rushed back to the Alpha house.

I was almost too late; the attack on the patrol had been a distraction and I fell for it. My wolf howled within me as I saw Rogues attacking the guards outside the Alpha house.

Over a dozen Rogues had made their way past our patrols. They used stealth to reach the house, somehow finding their way without encountering any resistance. I’d find out how later. I’d just have to remember to leave one or two alive.

I reached the fight and helped the house guards fight off their attackers.

“Alpha,” the lead guard bowed, blood dripping from a wound on his cheek. “Two Rogues abandoned the rest. They went around the house; I’m uncertain of their target.”

“I’ll find them,” I said, already running.

This attack made no sense. Why lure me away from the Alpha house? What could they possibly want?

I found the answer in the garden, near the gazebo where Zara liked to read in the evenings. The two Rogues, and a third we hadn’t spotted yet, surrounded her.

I ran across the distance, knowing the whole time I would be too late. Zara was alone against three armed Rogues. She couldn’t even shift.

And that didn’t seem to matter. Even while I ran, Zara flipped one Rogue over her shoulder and planted her foot in the gut of the second. The third one slashed with his knife, but Zara dodged it and did something I couldn’t quite see that sent the knife flying.

She wouldn’t be able to fight off all three forever, but she did hold her own long enough for me to get there. I was impressed. I’d seen her fight her sister and her gang, but I hadn’t realized just how good of a fighter she was.

Who had trained her to fight like that? I’d have to ask, because she had some serious moves. No way had she learned that disarming trick by shadowboxing alone.

I reached the gazebo in time to have a Rogue fly over my head. I watched his neat arc through the air and winced when he landed right on a rose bush. Okay, I could ignore that one for a few minutes. That bush was old and its thorns were long.

I grabbed the next one, and yanked him away from Zara’s back before he managed to slash her with his claws. Zara nodded her thanks to me, then swung the next Rogue into one of the support beams of the gazebo. I winced at the resulting crack. Either the Rogue had just broken a bone, or we had to rebuild Zara’s favorite reading spot. Or maybe both.

I was able to finish off two of the three Rogues quickly after that, and then with Zara’s help I untangled the Rogue trapped in the rose bush. I’d interrogate him later.

“Stay close to me,” I ordered Zara. “Do not leave my sight for anything.”

For a wonder, she didn’t argue. She stayed close by while I rallied the guards and rounded up the last of the Rogues.

Once clean up was over, I returned to my office, with Zara still sticking close. I needed to contact Lucian. We needed to adjust our defenses.

This attack hadn’t been directed at us. Zara had very clearly been the target.

The question was, why?