The Alpha's Little Rogue| ✓

5| sangre leikos

The ride felt endless, and my body was heavy with exhaustion after many sleepless nights. Even the cosy comfort provided to me by my best friend's pack was never enough to ease away my restlessness from staying in one place for too long. I fought to stay awake, wanting to ease into conversation with my mate, but the rhythmic sway of the car combined with the quiet presence of my mate allowed me to fall asleep easily. When I finally stirred, the entire scenery outside had changed. 

The space we were in felt cocooned from the outside world by tall towering trees, with impossibly wide trunks that formed a canopy all around us. Nestled between them were quaint little homes that were evenly scattered around, and people walking in and out of the houses were laughing and chatting with their companions. The smoke tipped chimneys in their homes surprised me, as did the fences and picture book like view that calmed my heart. I would have loved to settle down in a place like this. Waking up in the mornings, and taking off into the woods in my wolf form to explore the natural and man made trails. The scent of the life that lived in there made its way through the crack in the window, and I felt a small smile slip onto my face. 

I turned to the left, still caught between drowsiness and wonder to see my mate's eyes fixed on me. His lips curved into a tender smile, his eyes and posture relaxed. My heart skipped a beat.

"Welcome to the Leikos territory, Little Rogue." I could hear the immense pride that he had for his pack in his voice. It was always warming to see an Alpha who loved his people and territory, and I was glad that my mate was one of them.

This proved about fifty percent of the rumours about this pack wrong. People said that the Αlpha of the Sangre Leikos pack was cruel beyond limits, that he kept his pack members tied to the dungeons like dogs, and also that after a raid he tied his victims to the trees leading to his home, so that he could see the faces of all those who he murdered and enjoy while their corpses looked at him with dead eyes. All this might have sounded gory to untrained ears, but with what I had seen in a few packs I wouldn't have been surprised if it was true.

Honestly though, he seemed to be more the type to hand out cookies during pack meetings than  to hang corpses from trees.

I pressed my forehead lightly against the window and continued to drink in the view greedily, letting the sea of green blur past. The flowers along the road were like an explosion of colors, cheerful and welcoming. Still, I felt dread rise up in me whenI felt myself getting attached to a place I had barely been in for a couple of minutes. What if I was the reason this paradise was destroyed? I could feel Arden's stare drilling holes into my back, a little more intense now than it had been during his welcoming. It was likely that he felt my spike in anxiety, but I could also sense that he was gathering the courage to speak up as well. Was he socially anxious? Did I make him nervous? It made me slightly gleeful to know that a man like him could potentially lose composure over me.  I decided it would be better to stare at the trees than turn around and say something stupid like a bumbling idiot. 

A short while later the car came to a stop in front of a gorgeous white pack house. It looked more stylish than strong, which was different. The house was a combination of white walls, glass walls and light brown wooden panels that ran along the sides. I could clearly see the women working in the kitchen from the place our car had stopped, but my attention was fixated on the large crowd that had gathered in front of the main door.

"Rose, before we-" Arden ran his hand through his hair, clearly frustrated with himself.  His eyes drifted towards the chauffeur and he paused, taking a breath. His nervousness started to make me nervous and I raised a questioning brow, while wringing my hands together inconspicuously. "It's not- I need to talk to you in private later. I'll explain it better."