Chapter 30: Rogue Wolves

DIEGO

There was a buzz of excitement in the air. The pack guards had arrived at the house and were getting ready for our departure. Border patrol had placed a couple of dozen rogue wolves over by the creek.

Piece. Of. Cake!

I spotted a young wolf looking extra hyped and went to talk to him. “Hey, kid, you got a name?”

His eyes widened, and he looked around to check I was actually speaking to him before he answered. “Me?” I smirked at him and nodded.

“Name’s Ash, sir! It’s such an honor to meet you! You and your sister are legendary!”

I held out my hand to shake his. He looked like he would die but shook it. “How old are you?”

“I’m nineteen, sir! My father was a pack guard, and my grandfather before him. It’s tradition in my family. Once I found out my mate Marie was pregnant with my son, I signed up.”

I let out a low whistle. Nineteen and mated, with a pup on the way. “You nervous?”

He chuckled, running his hand through his hair. “About what? Becoming a father or hunting some rogues?”

I smiled at him. “Both?”

He looked into the distance.

“Becoming a father—I’m terrified, if I’ll be honest. I know Marie will make an amazing mother. I’m just afraid I’ll screw up and drop the baby or something. Hunting rogues? That’s in my blood, man.”

I chuckled and clapped his shoulder. “It’ll all be peachy, man, no worries. My congratulations to you and your mate.” His chest swelled with pride, and I couldn’t help but smile.

I guessed I had mating with Liv to thank for my change in attitude. Before her, I hadn’t really cared. I’d only cared because father said it was good decorum, but now?

Now I cared what happened to these wolves. After a quick meeting when we went over our plan of attack, each of us shifted and fell into line.

Gianna and I would lead the way.

Her white wolf contrasting with my black one would grab attention, and with our wolves being so well known, the rogues would scatter, which was when our circle would close in, and we’d have them.

A couple of dozen rogues to our small army of forty was so easy it was almost a waste! We would be home drinking beer and celebrating our victory before the sun even set in the sky.

Or so we thought.

GIANNA

A massacre.

We’d led these wolves into a massacre.

I sat against the wall of a hall in the pack house, covered head to toe in blood that wasn’t mine, numb to the bustling around me, my legs splayed out in front of me.

My mind replayed what had happened. We had had it all planned out, but it was an ambush, a trap.

They’d known we were coming, and it wasn’t a small handful of rogues, it was a full-on army. We were outnumbered and overpowered.

Everything happened so fast it was almost a blur, save for the howls and shrieks of agony as our wolves were attacked from every angle.

Kids.

Most of these wolves were kids.

Pups barely of age on their first pack guard run, eager to do a good job in front of the royals.

Most of us managed to escape back to the house where Mother and Father had already teleported in with the twins. I guessed they had been alerted to what had happened.

Mom had called in help from a local witch coven to heal the wolves who weren’t healing quickly enough.

I looked into the room across from me and flinched, the feeling of death heavy now. I winced with each passing life.

How had this happened?

“FUUUUUUUCCCCKKKKK!!!!!!” I heard Diego’s roars and the unmistakable sound of him breaking something in a rage.

He appeared at my side and hauled me to my feet, dragging me into the room toward a boy no more than nineteen, his golden curls falling into his eyes, his face an ashen white.

I drowned out the howls and screams of parents, mates, and families claiming their fallen. Diego pulled me to a stop by the boy, his claws digging into my arm, drawing blood, but I was numb to it.

He shook me. “See this kid? His name’s Ash. He was nineteen. His mate? She’s gone into early labor at the news of what happened! She’s not even six months, Gianna!”

I flinched at the use of my full name. “She could lose the pup! Their firstborn! A son! She felt her mate die!”

Tears were falling silently now. He dragged me over to a young girl, barely sixteen, her dark hair in a ponytail matted with blood. Two witches were trying to heal the gigantic slash in her side.

“See her? She dove in front of a rabid rogue wolf to save your sorry ass! She turned sixteen last week! Her parents told me you were her idol! Isn’t that ironic? Her fucking idol!

“These wolves risked their lives for their pack, Gianna, without question, and what the fuck were you doing at their age? Hmm? I’ll remind you, shall I? Getting fucking high and partying!”

I tried to choke back the tears that were freely flowing now when I looked at him, his eyes black with rage, his grip threatening to rip my arm off.

“Diego, I’m sorry! I—I dunno what happened to me. I just froze,” I stuttered under his glare.

His eyes went so wide I thought they’d leave his face. “YOU FROZE? YOU FUCKING FROZE? WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE PROTECTING THESE WOLVES, GIANNA, AND YOU FAILED THEM!”

I winced at his words. He was right, of course he was. I had failed them.

“Diego, calm down. It could’ve happened to anyone.” Mother tried to reason with him, but it was too late. He was too far gone.

Instead, he turned on her. “DO NOT TELL ME TO FUCKING CALM DOWN! THIRTY WOLVES DEAD BECAUSE SHE FUCKING FROZE!”

He turned back to me, and I automatically took a step back, which angered him even more. He snarled at me so dangerously I thought he would rip me apart that second.

“All this talk of you being this powerful wolf, this rare precious wolf. This majestic white wolf. This ruler of the world! You want to know what I saw today, Gianna?”

He didn’t wait for my answer “I saw a fucking coward, that’s what I saw. You don’t deserve the blood that flows through you. You don’t deserve whatever fucking gifts you possess.

“You deserve nothing because you are a fraud, Gianna. A fraud and a coward, and you disgust me.”

I knew he meant what he said, because even in his angriest rages, Diego would never say anything he didn’t mean.

Instead, I sank to the ground and looked up at him. “Diego, I’m sorry, but I don’t know what I can do. What can I do?”

He stared down at me and scoffed. “If you can’t even answer that, then I can’t fucking help you.” He turned on his heel and left me in the fetal position on the floor, tears streaming silently.

I lay there for what felt like forever. No one came near me, not even Kol. I could feel his disappointment in me. I’d sworn to protect these wolves, and I couldn’t. Diego was right. I was a fraud.

I flinched again as I felt another life slip away into death. The door was open now. I felt it everywhere all around me.

I felt useless. How could I be so powerful and yet so weak at the same time? How could I be a ruler of a world when I couldn’t even protect forty wolves?

Once Kol, Diego, and Jax had run the rogues away with a handful of what was left, they rounded up the injured, the dying, and the dead and took them back to the pack house to be claimed.

I was not powerful; I was weak. I was not a ruler. That title belonged solely to Diego.

~She who walks freely through the valley of death into life…~

I flinched again and again, feeling each wolf slip away.

~Behold she who will rule the world.~

I sat up slowly and looked around me.

~You possess a gift that most would murder for.~

The realization hit me so hard I almost passed out. I didn’t rule life. I was not a ruler of life.

“DIEGO!” I shouted, jumping to my feet. He turned to glare at me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my mother’s expression, a mixture of pride and sadness, understanding what I was about to do.

What I was going to do would surely kill me, but I had to. I had to at least try. I owed it to them. I had failed them once; I would not fail them again.

I stood at my full height and locked my eyes onto Diego’s, his now flashing curiosity in with his anger. I clenched my jaw and took in a sharp breath.

“Bring me the dead.”