VIOLETS POV âDidnât think weâd have to the hospital this soon.â I said.
âNeither did I. But letâs be thankful it was today and not a month ago.â Kettler replied.
Both of us jumped as the woman on the bed, Natalia, screamed, again. Itâd been a little shocking when, in the midst of getting everyone out of here and back to their homes, her water had suddenly broke. Iâd mind-linked Kettler immediatly, asking what I should do. Yes, my Mom was Head Doctor, but that didnât make me a medical expert. I could stitch someone up though, and I had knowledge on emergency situations in the field, but delivering a baby? Not within my capacity. The best I could do was get her to maternity ward and wait for Kettler.
âWhere the f**k is my mate?!â She screamed.
âHe said he was on his way.â Kettler reassured her. I could tell he was trying to remain polite. It was nice to see him working on his attitude with patients at least.
âHeâs always late! For everything! Last week, he was thirty minutes late to dinner with my parents! Oh, Goddess, here comes another one.â She winced, shutting her eyes tightly. Her low m**n turned into another scream.
âWould you like me to go try and find him Natalia?â I offered.
âNo! No, stay. Please. If that moron doesnât make it, I want someone here.â She panted. âAnd then you can kick his a*s for me afterwards.â
I giggled. âWhatever you want.â
The door burst open, and in ran a dishevelled looking young man with black hair and blue eyes. His eyes found Natalia immediatly. Relief crossed his features, but she glared at him murderously.
âKain! Where the f**k have you been?!â She screamed at him.
âNat, I am so sorry! I got lost trying to find your room.â He walked to stand beside her. âIâm here now baby. How you doing?â
I took a step back, knowing from my Mom how stupid that question was. As expected, Natalia exploded.
âHow am I doing?! How am I doing?! Well, I donât know Kain! I feel like I want to puke and s**t at the same time, my insides feel like theyâre being lit on fire and drenched in acid with every contraction, and soon, Iâll be pushing out a f*****g watermelon from my v****a! How the f**k do you think Iâm doing?!â She shrieked. Kains eyes were wide and frightened as he gulped.
âI-Iâm sorry baby. What can I do to help?â
âYou can never touch me or come near me again.â She hissed.
âOh. Okay.â
Kain started to walk away.
âWhere are you going?! Come back here and hold my hand!â Natalia shouted. Her poor mate looked all kinds of confused and I had to turn away to hide my laughter. Even Kettler had his head ducked.
âYou got it from here?â I asked him.
He nodded. âShiela should be here soon too. Youâre good to go.â
âThank You, Luna, for staying with Natalia. We really appreciate it.â Kain smiled at me, then winced when Natalia caught his hand in a death grip.
âNo problem.â I replied and backed out of the room. On my way out of the hospital, I ran into Shiela, a woman in her mid-thirties who had recently come back to Silver Moon from University. Her parents had told her everything that had gone on in recent months, and as soon as she came back, she handed Kettler her resume to be a nurse. We were glad, but also still looking for more, obviously. A hospital couldnât be run by two people.
âHello Luna. Can you point me to the room of the patient?â
âJust down there. Room seven oh nine.â
âThank you.â She hurried off.
Exiting the hospital, I almost missed King standing outside. In fact I might have, had he not fallen into step beside me.
âWere you waiting for me?â
âYes. I need you to come with me. The Alpha wants you to meet him in the cells.â
My brow furrowed. âThe cells? Why?â
âThe prisoner we captured isnât cooperating.â
âOkay⦠And he wants me to talk to him?â I asked confused.
âNo, he doesnât. But the man, he wonât even give us his name, said he will only talk to you.â
âHe asked for the Luna?â
King glanced at me. His expression was neutral, but his eyes were filled with mixed emotion.
âHe asked for you. By name.â
I stared at him. What rogue could possibly know me? Iâd never had any interactions with rogues, never talked to anyone of them. My whole life, there had been two rogue attacks at B***d Moon, and each time I was sent down to the basement with the other women and children. And as sheltered as I had been growing up, never leaving the pack until recently, it wasnât likely my name got around easily. Or maybe it had, and I just didnât know. I was thinking of many possibilities, sorting through them in my mind as we walked to the cells. It was a small building, dirty on the outside with what used to be white brick.
King nodded to the guards at the door as we walked in. I followed him down a concrete corridor with a metal door at the end. He opened it, cautioning me to watch my step as we then decended down a flight of concrete steps. The air had a chill to it the futher down we went, and a pungent odor floated into my nostrils. We ended up at another metal door and I shook my head. Two doors and a flight of stairs? Yeah, great security. The smell was a lot stronger when we stepped through the door, making me gag.
âSorry. Alpha orderedf or the place to be cleaned ASAP.â
âGood. I know this is where prisoners go, but that stench is unreal.â I grimaced as a rat ran across my foot.
I counted twelve cells as we walked, all no bigger than a closet. Each one had two rusty buckets, and I didnât ask for what they were for. I could guess. Standing at the end of the room was Jasper, Ashwell, and a few warriors I didnât know the name of. Jasper looked angry, more angry than Iâd ever seen him. His expression relaxed only a fraction when he saw me.
âWhatâs going on?â I asked when I reached him. He was blocking my view of the cell behind him.
âThat mutt wonât talk. Not to us.â He growled.
âI know. King said he asked for me.â
âYeah. But you donât have to talk to him Vie.â
Two of the warriors glanced between him and I, their faces suspicious. I tried to ignore it; It was unusual for a rogue to ask for the Luna by name. And we hadnât been Alpha and Luna for very long. Considering their old leaders, I could see why theyâd be wary.
âNo, itâs okay. Iâll talk to him.â I said. âWe need some answers.â
Jasper sighed. âAlright. But not alone.â He half turned, glaring into the cell. âYou hear that? Sheâs here, but weâre not leaving.â
âFine.â The voice that answered back was rough, deep. It was not one I recognized.
Jasper stepped aside, keeping close to me. I took two small steps, peering into the dark space. It was the same as all the others, two buckets, small and dirty. Unlike the others, this one held the man who claimed to know me. He was leaning against the back wall, arms crossed. Someone had given him clothes, gray sweatpants and a black tee. He was a tall guy, at least six foot, with tattoos covering his arms. His hair was short, maybe dark brown or black, I couldnât tell for sure. He wasnât thin like Iâd heard rogues were. This guy was built, healthy looking. My eyes roamed up to his face. He had penetrating green eyes, very unnnerving. He might have been classically handsome, if not for the scar that ran from his left temple down to his chin.
I had no idea who he was.
âYou asked for me?â I questioned him.
âYou are Violet?â He replied in that rough tone.
I nodded. âYes. How do you know my name?â
âA lot of rogues know your name sweetheart.â
Jasper growled behind me. I crossed my arms, leaning against the wall next to the bars of the cell.
âIs that so?â
âYouâre becoming quite famous.â
I raised an eyebrow. âHow is that? I have no dealings with rogues.â
He laughed. The sound was humorless. âNobody said you did.â
âI donât understand.â
âYouâve got quite the bounty on you Luna. A hefty price to take you in alive.â
My insides turned cold. âExplain.â
âYou want me to dumb it down? Alright.â He leaned away form the wall, holding my stare. âSomeone wants you. Said they pay my buddies and I if we brought you in, alive. Obviously I donât trust that, so I got half the money up front.â
âWho wants me?â I asked numbly. âAnd why?â
âNow, why should I give up that information?â
âBecause it might help save your a*s.â
He laughed again. âYou think Iâm stupid, donât you? Iâm a rogue. I attacked a pack. Either Iâll spend the rest of my miserable life down here, or your boy there will do me in.â He nodded at Jasper. âWhy not leave you with a mystery?â
âBecause,â I snarled, âIf you donât tell me what I want to know, youâll be putting my unborn children at risk. If anything happens to them, you wonât need to worry about my mate. Itâll be me you deal with.â
âYou going to rough me up buttercup?â He smirked. âIâd love to see you try.â
âWould you like to know who my father is?â
âDo I care?â
âAlpha Dimitri Varlos, of B***d Moon.â His eyes flicked up to meet mine, surprise playing in them. âIâve been trained my entire life on how to deal with rogues. And not just interrogation wise. You can trust every word I saw when I tell you if my children are hurt because of the information you refuse to give me, the rest of your life will indeed, be miserable.â
âYouâre lying.â He whispered.
I turned to Jasper. âDo you have your phone? I want to call my Dad.â
âRight here.â
Surprisingly, the reception down here was decent. I pulled up Dads contact and hit send. The rogue waited, obviously trying to call my bluff.
âHello?â
âHi Dad.â
âViolet?â
âWho else? Iâm calling because we have a situation here.â
âWhat kind of situation?â
âThe pack was attacked shortly after you left. Rogues. We have one alive. Iâm talking to him now.â
âWhat?! Why are you talking to him?â
I filled him in quickly. He snarled so fiercly, the man behind bars flinched.
âThis doesnât prove anything! You could be talking to anyone.â He said.
I pressed the video invitation. Dads face appeared on screen, looking every inch the Heartless Alpha he was known to be. I turned the phone around, watching as the mans face paled considerably.
âDo I need to come back to Silver Moon?â Dad growled. The man gulped.
âDoes he?â I asked.
He looked at each of in turn, his bravado vanishing. âNo. Iâll tell you.â
âViolet?â
âYeah?â I flipped the phone back to myself.
âRemeber Vincent?â
I glanced at our prisoner. âI do. I think that punishment is a little too light for this guy though.â
âIâll leave that up to you. Keep me informed.â
âWe will. Bye Dad.â I ended the call, tossing Jasper his phone.
âWhoâs Vincent?â The man asked.
I shrugged. âSome rogue we caught at B***d Moon. He was sneaking in and âplayingâ with underage girls. So my Dad decided to rid him of his appendages. All of them.â
He went even paler than before.
âIf I were you, Iâd start talking.â Jasper ordered.
âAlright, alright!â He held up his hands. âI donât know who wants you, but I do know itâs a chick. And she was adamant you were brought in alive. Alright?â
âNot alright. Who is she?â
âI donât know! She never told us her name.â
âWhat did she look like?â
âBlond, white. Scary as Hell.â
I scoffed. âReally? Two minutes ago you were saying I couldnât do s**t to you, but this girl freaked you out?â
âDonât witchs freak you out?â
I stepped away from the wall, staring at him to see if he was joking.
âShe was a witch?â I demanded. âHow do you know?â
âAt first I told her to get lost. She set one of my guys on fire, right in front of me. There was nothing left but ashes. Never touched him, only waved her hand, mumbling some shit.â
âDid she tell you why she wanted me?â
âShe only said you were important, that youâd help get what she wanted. I agreed and she demanded half the money. She paid up, told us where to find you, and left. Actually, she vanished into thin air. Havenât heard from her since.â
My hands moved to my belly protectively. âDid she know about my babies?â I whispered.
âI donât know. She never said you were pregnant.â
Suddenly, the stench down here was overwhelming. I doubled over, my insides numb with a fear Iâd never felt before. Fear for my children. Vomit spewed from me, controlled by that fear.
âThatâs enough.â Jasper rubbed my back, helping me to stand straight when it was over. âYou need to go rest.â
âNo. I have one more question.â I said weakly. âYou said I was becoming famous. What did you mean by that?â
âWe came across two other groups on our way here. Both were coming for you, so we took them out. Iâm just assuming she got to more people, in any case any of us failed.â
âWell, you did fail.â Jasper snapped. âYour buddies are dead, and youâre in here. Where youâll be until I decide what to do with you.â
âI helped you!â
âAfter we threatened you!â He shouted. The sound echoed off the walls. âWeâre leaving. Enjoy your stay.â He spat.