Chapter 4 CHAPTER FOUR
CAIUS
I fight the urge to follow her, to physically tear down the invisible wall she's putting around her so I can claim her right here. Her lingering scent is intoxicating. Thank the Goddess. I'd given up on finding a mate. I hated the idea even. Many Alpha's my age were getting fated to weak and helpless Omega's and I detested it. I didn't want to feel that way about my own mate so I rejected every invitation to look at unmated she-wolves in other packs.
I hoped for a Beta, someone strong, someone I'll make strong pups with. The goddess did me one better, she gave me the only female Alpha around.
I give her retreating back one last look before turning my back and leaving.
"Meet me at the room." I say to Clayton through the mind link.
"The same room you refused to sleep in last night?" Clayton replies.
"Watch it, I'm not in the mood."
I find my mate and her Beta near the front of the council building. I don't even know her fucking name. I'll have to fix that. I turn around and find another way out of the building. I'm not running from her, I just want her to take her time and think about what she's about to get into.
Clayton is sitting on a couch and helping himself to the alcohol available. He takes one look at my face and the smirk on his face vanishes.
"What happened? The meeting is about to start."
"The meeting starts when I get there."
The only reason those lazy council leaders are having a meeting in the first place is because I pressured them. Their stance was that the threat the rogues pose is not strong enough to assemble all the Alpha's.
"I met my mate."
Clayton's worry morphs into joy then worry again. "Is she an Omega?"
"She's the female Alpha."
His smile is wide and he tries to hug me but I put out my hand, stopping him.
"Isn't that what you wanted? An alpha is definitely better than a Beta. What's wrong?"
"She tried to reject me."
A myriad of emotions cross Clayton's face at my words. Confusion, disappointment, worry then amusement.
"What did you do?" He asks.
"Exist. She suffers the opposite of what I suffer. She wanted an Omega."
"She told you that to your face?"
"She didn't but I saw the disappointment in her eyes. She doesn't want the power struggle that will surely happen when we mate."
"Damn. I don't blame her. She has seen a lot of bullshit at the hands of these Alpha's."
"That shit ends now." I growl, thinking of the dumb fuck that was objectifying her last night.
"She won't like that." Clayton says.
"Do you know her name?" I ask.
"Alpha Maeva." Clayton says with a smile.
She has a very beautiful name. Everything about her is beautiful and perfect.
"What is your plan?" He asks.
"I'm going to force her hand. I'll bring it up at the meeting and have the council order her to accept the mate bond."
"She won't like that."
"I know. She'll have to deal with it, she's mine."
Clayton starts to say something but shakes his head and raises his hands in surrender. Good, he should stay out of this.
We finally enter the great hall for the meeting and I immediately search for Maeva. I find her moving to the other end of the hall, away from me and I smile. She knew when I walked into the room.
The hall is an egotistical architectural nightmare designed for intimidation. As if you need a room to properly intimidate people, you either have it or you don't.
I take my seat in the front, near the seats for the council leaders, my eyes sweeping the room and finding Maeva again. The door behind me opens and the council leaders come in one by one. I stand up with the rest of the Alpha's in respect. Let's finally get this meeting started.
The leaders take their seats and the meeting starts.
"We're gathered today, to discuss our survival as werewolves." Alpha Hill starts.
"For the first time in our thousand year old history, rogues have organisation. They are not crazed and looking for anything to feed on for survival. They have rational thoughts and are intentionally attacking packs. We don't know how they're able to do that or how they're multiplying but they are multiplying by the day." He continues.
"We need every head in here to proffer solutions and strategies…" Alpha Haze starts.
Alpha Haze's speech is interrupted by an alarm. It's not the usual pack announcement alarm. It's the city's war alarm. The entire room freezes.
"Rogue's are breaching the city Perimeter!" Someone yells.
I shoot out of my seat, moving before the others have even processed the sound. The meeting, strategies, Maeva and my plan to force her hand are all forgotten and I have only one focus. Capturing at least one of these rogue's alive.
"Clayton! Let's go." I yell into the mind link, already on the move.
"Don't kill all of them! We need them alive to understand them!" I yell at the moving Alpha's.
I spot Maeva as she shifts and I'm temporarily charmed. Her wolf is pure white without a single spot on her. She's barking orders at her Beta who is also in wolf form and they're part of the crowd running out the door.
I snap back to my senses once she's out of the room. I shift too and head to where the fight is. The Rogue's can't be more than forty in number. Which means that this is an interruption. It's no secret that this meeting will be holding today which means that our numbers are larger. They came to let us know that they're aware that we're meeting. I look around at all the Alpha's trying to prove strength by killing as many rogues as possible.
My goal changes. I have to keep at least one rogue alive. I communicate this to Clayton through the mind link and we zero in on one rogue and draw him away from the heat of the fight. We corner him in an alley and wait for the fighting to be over.
Soon the noise comes down and we relax. Clayton and I then shift to human form together so we can hold down the feral wolf and take him to the council cells. As we shift, the rogue extends his claws, digs into his chest and pulls his heart out. He dies immediately
"Fuck," I mutter. This is more dangerous than I thought.
"Urghh. I've heard about the rotten heart of rogues but seeing it in person is worse." Clayton says.
I take a closer look at the heart. It smells and looks like what a normal rogue heart is supposed to be like but it feels different. I'll have to bag it and study it more.
We return to the hotel with the heart. I transfer it from a dirty paper bag into a zip-lock bag then change my clothes.
"I have bad news." Clayton calls from the bathroom. "I've just been informed that Alpha Maeva and her Beta left the city."
She's running away? That's unexpected.
"Should we chase them down?"
"No, let her run for now." I say with a smirk.
Catching her will be very sweet.