Betrothed

Chapter 18: Figuring Out The Past

Willow

He had leapt down from the deer stand to stand next to the rogues that were still holding me, each carrying half of my transformed wolf body. Romellow had been behind this all along. Brayden was right to be suspicious of him as Romellow just proved himself to be untrustworthy. How could I have been so naive? I let him make me think that he was trying to help and warn me of the future. Why did I think he knew the future anyways? Was I really that gullible?

I was so in shock I didn't even acknowledge that Romellow was talking. "Excuse me sister, but I am talking to you." Romellow firmly said in a louder tone as he looked down at me being carried by his henchmen and not supported at all, so I laid there in the air limp as each of them were holding two of my paws. I tried holding my head up to look at him, but he was still upside down in my viewpoint as I was being carried upside down. "Willow, I always knew our parents made the wrong choice to throw me out. Remember when I said that if the multiple children were not identical then they could keep them all?" Romellow was intently looking at me waiting for any form of response, so I gave out a grunt. "Well, they could have kept me in their lives if they had not made a deal to strengthen another pack with their loss." I looked up at him doing my best at holding my head up and gave a low growl. Our parents would never let the rouges benefit from their loss.

"Oh, sweety! There is a lot you do not know about our family's past. Why spoil the fun by unveiling all the secrets at once? Shall we. Oh, no it is much more fun watching you squirm." Romellow laughed as he started pacing around me. I kept trying to force myself to move around to try and loosen the rouges grips on me. It seemed to be pointless until I noticed the one rogue was wearing a belt with a knife holder on it. I looked more at it and noticed there was something in it. If only I could reach it, Romellow would notice.

"Sister, I have a lot to teach you but first we need you to get acquainted with your new packmates, so if you would ever so kindly transform back so we can speak face to face as I sense that you cannot communicate with us rouges effectively in that form." Romellow said firmly then he turned and started climbing up the deer stand in the tree next to us. As he was on the third step I quickly but slowly tried seeing if I could reach the rouges belt knife holder. I started wiggling my toes and then I jerked my whole body forward to try and reach and I was so close.

"Knock your squirming off." The one rouge hissed at me still looking around the tree line looking for his other rouge pack members. I got myself ready and put all I could into jerking my body as far forward as I could again and this time, I was able to get my tooth in the notch of the holder before gravity took me back down to my resting position. I tried to keep quiet as I looked up to see Romellow at the top of the ladder of the deer standing in the tree next to us. I quickly jerked my body forward one last time and as soon as I was close to the holder with the bottom part of my jaw I clamped down on the holder. The holder shoved the knife toward the top of the holder with the pressure I created by clamping down on it quickly. I jerked another time and pulled the holder just enough that the knife went into my mouth. When the knife was in my mouth, I clamped down on it enough to make the knife go completely into my mouth. Us royal werewolves have bigger mouths than normal sized wolves, so it fits entirely in my mouth with some wiggle room to spare. I heard a thud next to me and saw that

Romellow was back on the ground, and he whipped around to look at me. "Here are some clothes to put on Willow so if you just transform back, I promise we will give you the decency of putting clothes on. Unfortunately, before that though I do not know how we are supposed to let you go to transform and change without you running off, so maybe this will help." Romellow gestured to the bush line next to us where I heard growling and smelled some more rouges. "So, before that happens you will be surrounded by your new pack." I looked around watching the rouges surround me one by one while trying to keep the knife in my mouth hidden so it stayed on my tongue where I could taste the nickel constantly. There had to have been at least ten rouges surrounding me and I knew they were all males because you could smell and sense that they wanted to get a piece of something new and fresh. "Now, Willow, I may have left something out. Whoops! My bad. I am sure you will figure that out yourself."

I quickly tried to reach out to Brayden through the mind link when Romellow let out a whistle and the rogues shifted in place around me when two came up from behind and grabbed me, picking me up into their arms. "Brayden, I need you. I think something bad is going to happen." Romellow came close enough to me for me to recognize his scent which smelled like coal and mud. Not a great smell but it is what he smelled like unfortunately every werewolf has their own unique scent hence our ability to recognize each other. "You are going to realize that our parents did more than just keep you in the dark, they made it so your world would be different than how it should have been. You and Brayden should have never been matched because your true mate will find you eventually and when that happens it is going to be very confusing for you." Romellow whispered in my ear when I smelled pine sap and sage. "Brayden, is that you?" I said into the mind link. "Look what we found, Alpha."

The rogues said to Romellow as they dragged something behind them. Was that, no it couldn't be? "Brayden!" I said in my mind link sad and hurt. I let out a whimper and saw a flash of a grin on Romellow's face. What was Romellow up to and why did it seem like he had an alternative motive? "I am going to let them put you down now Willow as you are surrounded and it looks like we have your lover boy limp over here, so just change back to your human form and we will discuss the future together." Romellow stated as he gestured to the rogues to put me down, and then suddenly they dropped me, and I hit the ground swiftly and let out a yelp. I slowly tried to regain my composure by lifting my head and slowly getting to my feet.

After I stood up, I slowly made my way over to Brayden's limp wolf body that laid on the grass. His dark brown fur had flecks of blood in it. I nudged him on the ear, but he did not move, so then I decided to look around and the other rogue wolves started to growl at me and decided that they were going to get closer. I sensed that they wanted to either hurt me or mount me, so I decided to nudge Brayden again when suddenly I smelled something familiar. His pine sap and sage scent was strong and smelling that gave me hope but he would not budge. I let out a whimper but felt a rogue getting a little too close to me and my mate. I do not care what Romellow said Brayden will always be my mate and nothing could ever change that because there is no way that my parents or anyone could have altered that outcome it was uncommon for royal wolves to have a mate too far from their pack, but it happened with Brayden and I, so anything is possible. I moved so I was now standing over Brayden protecting him from the rouges turning as I heard rouges shift around me. Romellow still was standing not too far from me in his human form still, "We had a deal I thought, Willow. You were going to change back into your human form or something bad would happen. Of course, I was not planning on your lover boy getting involved in this gesture of taking you to your true pack."