Chapter 24: 24: Rage

ALEX

As I walk down the hall to Lola’s room, my pulse races.

Everything happened so quickly this afternoon, and I barely got a word in before Lola and my mother made the decision to move the mating ceremony up.

I asked her to be my luna for the good of the pack, but we went from having three months to two weeks, and now, for some reason, I’m feeling uneasy.

I knock gently on her door. “Lola? It’s Alex.”

“Just a minute!” She sounds almost frantic, and I hear her opening and closing dresser drawers as I wait outside.

She never goes anywhere without a full face of makeup, her hair done, and a perfect dress for the occasion.

While she always looks beautiful and put-together, I hope she doesn’t think she has to do all of that every time she sees me.

Finally, her door opens. She’s wearing a blue nightdress that leaves little to the imagination.

I swallow hard and try not to let my eyes wander down to her cleavage.

We’ve only kissed at this point, and she’s said she wants to keep things that way until our ceremony night.

“Alex,” she says, smiling at me, “what a nice surprise. Please, come in.”

I walk into her suite and sit on the couch. “Can we talk? About the ceremony?” I ask.

“Of course.” She comes over and sits down beside me.

“Listen, I’m just starting to think that maybe things are going too fast,” I begin.

“You don’t have to worry about a thing,” she purrs. “Your mother got a wonderful ceremony planner, and between the three of us, it’ll be beautiful!”

“It’s not just the planning, Lola,” I say, unsure of what my next words will be. “It’s just, we had three months to try to get to know each other better before taking this leap. And now, with things just two weeks away—”

“Alex,”—she takes my jaw in her hands—“I completely understand.”

She moves to her knees and crawls over to sit on my lap. I can feel myself getting excited and hope she doesn’t notice.

She puts her arms around my shoulders and looks deeply into my eyes. She just looks so much like Liv, I can’t stop my mind from flashing to her.

~Liv and me as pups, playing on the swings.~

~Looking into Liv’s eyes on her eighteenth birthday, the moment we realized we were mates.~

~Lying next to Liv in my bed the first night we’d made love.~

~Liv walking down the aisle on her father’s arm, dressed in white.~

“I don’t want to rush you into anything. I hope that’s not what you think,” she says.

“I’m just so excited to begin our life together as a mated couple. I just figured we’ll have the rest of our lives to get to know each other, and I didn’t want to wait longer than we had to.”

I nod my head looking into Liv’s—I mean, Lola’s—purple eyes.

“So two weeks then?” She looks so hopeful. So sweet.

“Two weeks,” I agree with a smile.

“Oh, Alex! Thank you!” She wraps her arms around me before planting a kiss on my lips.

“I only want you to be happy,” she says as she pulls back. “This will be the most beautiful mating ceremony anyone’s ever seen.”

***

Helena

OMG! I just overheard the craziest thing!

Ariel

??

Helena

Lola! We’ve got her!

Helena

She’s sticking to me like glue, tho.

Helena

I have to get back but we’ll talk later!

Ariel

Just be careful. I’ll see you this afternoon.

I walk behind Maria, Lola, and Helena along the border of the palace property. It’s now six days before the ceremony and Lola is insisting that she wants an outdoor reception.

None of the courtyards are big enough so we absolutely ~must~ find the best spot on the property to convert.

Never mind that you can fit a thousand people inside the palace ballroom.

Nope. Has to be outside.

Lola talks vapidly to Maria about all the small details that make what she believes to be the ideal mating ceremony for a luna queen.

Helena looks back at me as I take up the rear.

I’m officially on guard duty right now, and since we’re on palace property, it’s just me.

Not enough if you ask me, given the uptick in rogue sightings, but what do I know? I’m just a commoner.

I keep an eye out for anything strange while I vaguely listen to Lola talking about all of the ways to fold a napkin.

But I notice something else about Lola today, too.

She seems to be looking for something, her eyes darting around the forest.

~What are you up to, you sneaky bitch?~

Meanwhile, Helena’s clearly trying to fall back from the luna mother and luna queen-to-be, and she’s not being all that subtle about it.

I try to motion for her to continue looking forward.

We’ll talk later. This isn’t the place.

But I’m not sure she gets the hint.

Helena is a lot of wonderful things, but stealthy and tactical aren’t words I would use to describe her.

“What do you think of this?” Lola asks Maria as she stops right at the edge of the forest.

“Well, it’s definitely spacious enough,” Maria says, “but I do worry about it being so close to the woods.”

She may not like me, but Maria’s not stupid. I’ll give her that.

At this point we’re near the west woods. One of the last places rogues were scented.

My wolf’s ears perk up, and she stands at attention. I stop in my tracks to see if I can detect any new scents or sounds.

All werewolves have a keen sense of smell and hearing, but warriors train to hone their senses even more to detect trouble.

The hairs on the back of my neck stand up. There’s someone close by.

Helena finally falls back next to me.

“Hey,” she says in a hushed tone. “So, I was near Lola’s room this morning and heard her talking on the phone—”

“Shh!” I put my hand up to listen, and then the scent hits me. Rogues. At least three.

“Everybody, get behind me!” I yell.

Helena obeys immediately. Lola only rolls her eyes.

“What is it?” Maria is smart enough to be concerned.

“I scent rogues.” I sniff again. “Maybe a half mile away.

“Are you sure? I don’t scent anything,” Maria continues.

“With all due respect, ma’am”—I look her in the eyes—“this is what I’m trained for. I’m messaging for backup.”

Ariel

Requesting backup

Ariel

Rogues scented on the west palace border.

Ariel

I’ve got the queen luna, beta princess and luna 2b here

Dave

Omw w a squad. Get the royals out of there asap

Ariel

Copy

“We need to get back to the palace,” I say. Maria reluctantly begins to walk over, but Lola just stands there texting on her phone. “Lola! Now!”

“You don’t tell me what to do, guard!” she lashes out.

“Ariel is only protecting us!” Helena responds from over my shoulder. “Please, let’s listen to her and get back to the palace.”

Lola crosses her arms. “I just want to get this area measured for seating. It’ll just take a few—”

“I think we should listen, dear,” Maria says just forcefully enough to remind Lola that she’s not queen yet.

If Maria didn’t hate me, I just might start to like her.

Lola scoffs but lets Maria take her hand to lead her to the rest of the group.

The rogue scent is getting more potent by the second. It’s strong enough that everyone must smell it now.

“We need to hurry.”

Just as the words leave my mouth, a huge half-shifted rogue with black fur leaps through the bushes, followed by two fully shifted, one brown and one gray.

“Get back!” I yell at the other women as I begin to shift.

Just as my wolf rips through my clothes and I land on all fours, the fully shifted rogues take Helena’s feet out from under her and begin to maul her legs.

She lets out a blood-curdling scream as I lunge for them, knocking them off of her one by one.

The brown wolf gets a good grip on my hind leg with his teeth as the gray wolf works to pin me down, digging his canines into the nape of my neck.

I let out a squeal of pain, but I don’t let it stop me from fighting these two mangy bastards.

Just as I kick the brown wolf in the face to free my leg, I look over to Helena.

Standing over her, the black rogue, still partially shifted, is now brandishing a knife over her bleeding body.

~No!~

I try to rise to my feet, but the gray rogue slams my head down to the ground while the brown rogue regains his balance and chomps down on my thigh.

The black rogue lifts the knife above his head, and almost as if I’m watching in slow motion, I howl as I see him stab Helena brutally in the belly.

Once, twice, three times while Helena screams in horror and pain.

“The baby! My baby!” Helena cries as she holds her abdomen.

Watching my friend bleed out on the ground, I feel it taking over again.

It’s not me.

Or my wolf.

It’s rage.

Pure, red, hot, unbridled rage. And I’m scared it’s going to make me kill again.