Protector

RORY

“An injured pack wolf. It must be Christmas,” a voice announces in an amused tone.

“Stay behind me and be quiet. I’ll deal with them,” Ace whispers to me as he pushes me behind him once more, gently. I comply, knowing Ace has more experience dealing with rogues.

All of the rogues shift into their human forms, all staring at us like we’re their next meal. Wolves don’t eat other wolves or humans, but rogues love the attack.

Rogues hate coexistence with humans and love how easily they can take humans down because we’re weak.

They especially hate pack wolves for just being in a pack.

They have rejected the idea of a pack, either leaving their pack or exiled from it, and they hate any wolf who belongs to a pack, a community of wolves.

Maybe because they’re just lonely? All rogues are different, I think. I’ve only met one, but he was honorable and actually caring.

“I’m Gamma Ace from the Shadow Blood Pack. You would be wise to leave me and the girl alone if you don’t want the largest and strongest pack hunting you,” Ace declares with authority, even though they can all see that he’s weak and vulnerable from his wound.

A hunter’s wound. They know. They’re wolves after all.

“We don’t care. A gamma? All the better. An injured gamma wrapped up here like a present with only a little human gir—”

He pauses mid-sentence as his attention shifts to me, and then fully to me. He stares for the longest time, as do the other rogues, the same expressions on their faces that I can’t understand.

He steps closer toward us, not threateningly but curiously. However, Ace pushes me further behind him as he slumps over from pain. “What’s your name, little girl?”

“Don’t answer hi—”

“Rory,” I reply, interrupting Ace. Ace gives me a sharp glare and a disapproving look, but I think I’m starting to figure some things out.

There’s something about me, I don’t know what it is, but it’s keeping me safe from these rogues.

All of them are giving me strange looks like they know something, or feel something, that I don’t. But I somehow think I’ll be protected.

“You shouldn’t be hanging around pack wolves, little one. Humans shouldn’t be around wolves,” he tells me, nearing closer to me.

Ace tries to get between us, but his legs give way, making him fall to the floor and clutch his chest.

“We need to get back to our pack. Can you tell us the direction?” I ask him in a confident tone. From the corner of my eye, I see Ace glance over to me with a confused expression.

“Your friend is dying. The Shadow Blood Pack is about two hours’ walk, three or four if you’re lugging him around. A little girl like you shouldn’t be wandering around these parts with an injured, valuable pack wolf.”

“I’m not leaving him. Can you please just show us the way?” I say stubbornly and with a profound confidence.

“I don’t help pack wolves.”

“But you’ll help me?” I question hopefully with a shy smile. He stares at me for the longest time before nodding.

“If you want my advice, I’d ditch the wolf. But the Shadow Blood Pack is in that direction,” he says, pointing to the right side of me.

“It will take hours, and he’ll die by then anyway. If it was just you, little one, I’d show you the way. But I hate pack wolves.” He turns to the other rogues surrounding us. “Let’s move out.”

I, for some insane reason, decide to stop them by asking, “Was it you who injured one of our pack members?” The leader turns to face us once again, a small smirk on his face.

“No, Rory. And I doubt it was any other rogues,” he tells me before he runs off.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I mutter, to myself and Ace now as the others have followed behind the lead rogue.

It’s strange, they don’t usually travel together, just hunt sometimes. Taking on a pack wolf is a hard task, although this time, their target was injured.

“What the hell just happened?” Ace questions me as I help him to his feet again.

“I guess they decided to leave us alone,” I say nonchalantly, hoping to sway the conversation away from everything that just transpired.

Of course, even I found it strange. Either rogues hurting humans is a myth or there’s something about me. And I fear it’s the latter.

Which would mean maybe they can tell I’m special, that I have weird, unexplained gifts.

The more Ace loses strength, the heavier he becomes as I have to carry more of his weight, and the harder it becomes to travel further. But at least we’re heading in the right direction.

“You shouldn’t have engaged with him. I told you to be quiet,” Ace huffs, wincing every so often in pain. “If he had found out you were the alpha’s mate, he wouldn’t have let us go.

“I still don’t know why he let us leave. If Everett found out you were flirting with him—”

“Flirting?” I blurt out at the outrageous accusation.

How dare he? All I did was have a conversation with the guy.

“I was not flirting. How dare you? You know what? I couldn’t care less about what Everett thinks or knows. But I’m technically still with Eddie, my high school boyfriend.

“I mean, we never broke up. I never even said goodbye. But I wasn’t flirting with anyone. I was just talking to the rogue and hoping he’d let us leave.”

“Everett already sorted it out,” Ace says with a little chuckle.

“What do you mean?” I ask warily, looking over to him.

“He broke up with Eddie for you, in a text. He was feeling very jealous at the time. He couldn’t let some guy walk around thinking he was dating you.”

“Everett dumped Eddie, pretending to be me, in a text, most probably the worst way to break up with someone?” I question, absolutely horrified.

“Yes,” he confirms proudly.

Eddie is a good guy, and he was a good boyfriend. He put in the effort even when he couldn’t get certain efforts back, like walking me home or hanging out after school, or even meeting my mama.

He didn’t care, somehow, and still he had cared about me. And even though I didn’t love him, and we probably wouldn’t have lasted forever, I cared about him too.

Dumping someone in a text is cruel. Really cruel. And he didn’t deserve that.

“How?”

“He found out his number, texted him like Everett was you, and dumped him. Then he destroyed the phone in case he got a reply.

“Anyway, if you weren’t flirting with that rogue, what was with all the eyelash fluttering?”

“What eyelash fluttering?”

“The thing where you flutter your eyelashes. You were doing it whilst you put on the whole innocent sweet girl act.

“Which I can’t believe worked because rogues don’t think that’s adorable, they just think of it as weak.”

“I was not putting on some act or flirting! I was just trying to talk to him. And clearly it worked, so I don’t know why you’re criticizing me anyway,” I state with a pout and a scowl.

“Maybe it’s not an act. You’re just adorable. Is this you trying to be mad? I think you’re keeping me alive with your…whole deal.

“Everett’s right, you are a mystery,” he says with a pained chuckle before sliding to the floor once more and suppressing a loud cry with a grimace.

I try to help him up, but he can no longer carry on. I think this may be as far as we can get unless I can actually save him. I’ll just have to try.

I kneel down beside him, opening up his shirt to assess his wound.

There’s a big black hole on his chest with black poisoned veins spreading out across his body, taking over more and more of his skin.

“This looks awful,” I mutter. A strained laugh comes from Ace, making him cough straight after at the pressure on his wound.

“Thanks, Rory. I love the positivity. I know Everett’s your mate, but I am very attractive actually,” he comments with an anguished smile.

“So once I’m dead, tell Everett I died protecting you; it will paint me as a hero rather than a guy who got shot by a hunter he didn’t see coming.”

“You were protecting me,” I tell him.

“Then you protected me, somehow. I still don’t understand what happened back there. That guy must have liked you and let you go. But I’m surprised he let me go.”

“You’re dying, and you’re still dwelling on that?” I say, shaking my head.

He narrows his eyes at me all of a sudden, like he’s figured something out. “You know why he let you leave. That’s why you’re trying to change the subject.”

“No, I’m trying to change the subject because you’re dying and I don’t know what to do.”

“Changing the subject again. Being curious about you will take my mind off the fact that I’m dying. So, tell me Rory, as I am dying, why did the rogues let us go?”

“I don’t know,” I answer, and honestly, I don’t know.

I just know that these rogues like me, or something like that.

They know something or feel something, and it has kept me safe out here in rogue territory, even as a baby, when I was left in rogue territory.

My mama said I had no marks or scratches on me. The rogues didn’t hurt me at all, a vulnerable little baby.

I notice Ace’s eyes begin to quiver, as if deciding whether to open and close.

“Stay awake, Ace,” I tell him, shaking him a little.

“Rory, that’s really not helping…” His voice trails off as he loses consciousness. It’s now or never. I have to at least try and help him.

I place my hand on top of his wound and my other hand on top of that, pressing down with slight pressure. I close my eyes and push, hoping something will happen.

But it doesn’t.