Chapter 14: Chapter Fourteen: Slander

AUTHOR'S POV

Jonas and Aria looked at each other, astonished at what just happened. Aria's heart was starting to beat really fast as she was scared of what was going to happen next. They were both sure that the rogues outside had definitely heard them.

What were they going to do?

"Did we do the right thing?" Aria asked, as her eyes fleeted toward the entrance of the tent, in fear. She knew how rebellious the rogues could be and she knew they would barge into the tent at any minute.

However, Jonas was still calm as he looked straight at the tent.

He didn't think he had done wrong as he was only thinking of the wellbeing of the wolves.

"We are going to face them, head on." He replied finally and Aria nodded, however, she was still scared. Both of them never expected things to blow up that fast, with Anna.

They thought they would be able to convince her and together, they would convince the rogues. They both thought that since Anna needed a place to stay as she couldn't just be on her own, they thought she would agree to their request immediately.

However, it backfired and now they had a handful of angry wolves to deal with. No one ever expected that Anna would be so dramatic.

A few seconds later, they heard a loud thumping sound. One of the rogues was running to the tent and in the next second, Nate dashed in.

"What the fuck is going on?" Nate demanded as his eyes flared in anger. He looked from the weak Aria to Jonas. However, he didn't take another look at Aria whom he had stabbed.

"Calm down, Nate." Aria spoke up while Jonas let out a tired sigh. He didn't know how to go about what had escalated but then he would make sure to resolve it before things got out of hand.

They all had a goal to achieve and that was why they were all together.

"Don't fucking tell me to calm down, woman!" Nate yelled at Aria and she jumped in fear. Swiftly, she held onto her chest as her heartbeat spiked up, quickly.

Jonas saw her immediate reaction and he got worried and scared for her.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Nate?" Jonas yelled back at Nate, in anger.

"Do you want to kill her, finally?" He asked, with eyes red in anger. Swiftly, he rushed toward Aria who still held onto her chest.

"What do you mean? I never tried to kill her! You both want to kill us all instead and I don't want to believe I fell for your lies." Nate yelled back as he didn't even feel remorseful about what happened to Aria.

Jonas was angry that he was being accused of something that he didn't even have in mind. At the same time, he was angry that Nate was nonchalant about Aria's life. Was that how they would become a good team? It was also one of the reasons why he had not told the rogues about his decision. They would never think rationally with him and would only prefer violence since they had no law binding them.

"What if Aria had died? Would you take on the blame for her death? Don't fucking stand there and accuse me of wanting to kill you all. If I wanted to do that, I would have done that a long time ago." Jonas said, through gritted teeth as he pointed at Nate.

In the next second, he stood up to his feet and with a resolute tone, he said, "If any of you have questions for me, you should come face me directly, in the right behavior. This will not be tolerated." His voice resounded with so much authority in a loud tone as he wanted the other rogues outside to know what was going on.

Nate, knowing he couldn't refute Jonas' words, went still and he looked like he was bottling a lot, inside.

"This is not over yet!" He said as he pointed as he pointed at Jonas.

"Of course, this is not over yet! You have to apologize to Aria for what you did!" Jonas said, in an authoritative tone and Nate chuckled. He looked at Aria who had a surprised look on her face. She never expected Jonas to say what he said.

"Apologize to her? Why? She would not be hurt if she didn't try to be a good Samaritan. After all, you both planned this. Why should I apologize?" Nate asked, with an egoistic look in his eyes. However, his eyes fleeted across to Aria, subtly and there was a mix of emotions in his eyes.

"Get out!" Jonas ordered as he was filled with so much anger that he was going to burst. Watching Nate spew out such words made him more angry and he just wanted to beat the egoistic rogue up.

"What?" Nate asked, in disbelief.

"I said get out! Now!" Jonas yelled as his hands clenched into tight fists.

"This is not over!" Nate replied, and in the next second, he dashed out of the tent where the rogues were waiting.

Jonas turned to look at Aria who was still scared of the exchange that just went down.

"It's okay now. We will explain to them later." He said to her and she nodded.

An hour later...

Jonas and Aria were outside the tent. While Jonas stood before the rogues, Aria rested her back on a tree as she was still very weak.

"Care to tell us what is going on? We trusted you, Jonas. Has the Kingdom bribed you and asked you to kill us?" One of the rogues spoke up.

"I'd not tolerate any slander toward me or Aria, everyone," Jonas spoke up, in a calm tone.

"Just so you know, everyone. We are not enough to defeat our enemy." He added and the rogues were thrown into confusion.

What was he saying?