Chapter 157 The Rogue King?
Clarence's POV
Its been a week since Norman thought he could storm the palace and win.
A week since the Kings crushed him.
They folded the packs together like a game board and redrew borders without asking anyone's permission. That was a very smart move but it still pissed me off.
I sit back in my chair, one arm hooked lazily around Lydia's waist as as straddles my lap sideways. She feels warm and solid. She's real. She sits there like she belongs and that fact still catches me off guard.
Im starting to accept her. Doesn't mean the bitterness is gone. Benjamin siding with the twin kings still burns like acid in my chest. And Brandi. Fuck! I still love her. I always will. But life doesn't stop because you didn't get the ending you wanted.
Lydia tilt her head back against my shoulder. She glances up at me with knowing eyes. I squeeze her hip a little tighter. She stays. That counts for something.
Were off the grid now. We're on neutral ground. No pack lands. No laws but the ones we make.
The warehouse is massive. Old steel bones, concrete floors, carpeted in some rooms. Thick walls. It has been abandoned for years. We cleaned it out. We reinforced the doors. We even got the electricity running back throughout it. We turned storage rooms into bedrooms. The loading bay into a kitchen, a dining room and a gathering space. It's still a bit rough, but it's ours. And every day more wolves find us. The stragglers. The fallen. The ones that ran and survived the battles.
They're from seven different packs. Men and women that followed their alphas to the grave and refused to bow to kings they don't trust. They won't go back. Not when their packs now kneel to the crown. They come here instead. They come to me. 200 bodies and counting. Were still growing.
I look around the office. Bare concrete walls. A metal desk salvaged from somewhere. Maps tacked up with red lines scrawled across them.
Stephan, my beta, leans against the wall with his arms crossed.
Gregory, my gamma, stands near the table studying patrol patterns like it's a damn chessboard.
I grin slowly. "Well" I say, tapping my fingers on the desk. "It looks like I've got myself a pretty good sized kingdom." I say as I tighten my hold on Lydia's waist.
"Are you going to wear a crown now?" Stephan snorts as he laughs at me and shakes his head.
"Don't tempt me. I think a crown would look good on my head."
"You need a name. You have your kingdom now. Which I still think is unbelievable." Gregory says as he glances up and meets my gaze.
I look at him and then around the room. I leaned down and kissed the top of Lydia's head.
"I've got one." I say and pause as an evil grin slides onto my face.
"The Rogue King."
The room goes quiet for half a second.
"Has a ring to it. Don't think Benjamin will like that. But it's catchy." Stephan chuckles.
Gregory looks over and nods. "People already talk like that. They say you're the one that's left when the kings stop pretending they care. You're the one they are running to."
That get a real smile out of me.
If you would've asked me a week ago that if I thought I'd be in this position today. I would've laughed.
Norman tried to get me and my men to join his army. To help him in his battle five days ago. I refused. I knew it was a damn suicide mission. My men and I wanted no part of that.
Damn, didn't that just fucking pay off!
"We're not striking. Not yet. It's definitely not the time for any of that." I say serious now.
Stephan straightens. "Good! The palace is a fortress right now. That would be another suicide mission. Doesn't matter our numbers. We won't win." He says as he shakes his head.
"Exactly. See, we don't break the walls. We slip through the cracks." I reply as a smirk appears on my face.
"Infiltration." Gregory gestures to the map.
I nod. "We watch. We learn routines. Who comes and goes. Who's loyal because they believe and who's loyal because they are scared."
"Leverage!" Stephen smirks.
"Always." I nod my head in his direction.
Lydia shifts on my lap. Damn I'm loving that feeling. I raise my hips slightly, just enough to show her what she just caused. She smiles up at me and presses down harder.
"You're patient." She says quietly.
"No beautiful, I'm pissed." I say as I glance down at her.
That makes everyone in the room laugh.
I lean forward, my hands braced on the desk.
"The kings thinks it's over. The packs are combined. The borders are clean. Their babies were born." My jaw tightens. My knuckles go white.
"They are wrong."
"So, what's the end game?" Gregory's eyes gleam.
I straighten slowly, confidence settling into my bones like it's always been there.
"We don't rush. We don't roar. We let them relax." Then a sharp and dangerous grin appears on my face.
"And when they least expect it, we remind them why rogues are feared."