The King's Rogue

Prologue

Max. My Max.

I watched him fondly from a distance. He'd taken to standing at the spot on the apartment building roof where I'd said my painful goodbye; where he begged me to stay. I couldn't leave without looking at him one last time.

My love for him was a constant ache in my heart now. It still surprised me, that I loved another guy. As often as my mom's pimp had sent boy-loving men to me, I was surprised I could love at all.

I still thought of myself by the name he'd given me- Scout. The desperate hope I would be able to help him restore his pack still clung to my soul. Rogue is who and what I am now.

I wondered if he could feel my eyes upon him. I was getting ready to leave the city for good. The guards were going to go nuts trying to follow the convolute trails I had left around the city. Michael's water bottle filled with pee had been put to good use. I was hoping to convince the guard, and through them Lone Wolf, that Michael was still in the city. The muscled-up bounty hunter was connected to both our pack and the King's. With luck, the king would waste his time looking for me in the city.

Michael. He was the only one to call me by my old name, Jax. He had run home the first chance he got. Michael was the unwitting cause of all my grief. And yet I couldn't blame him since I was the cause of all his grief. I was the one who targeted him for kidnapping, drawing him out where he could be captured. Michael had been chained, waiting to be bitten into the pack.

About that time we learned that there was an Alpha King. My Max left to answer the King's summons. He put me in charge of Michael's initial training. It had been strangely intoxicating when I had been given the responsibility for drilling Michael on the rules. It wasn't enough to stop me from feeling cruddy for having to feed him the stupid dog food, though. I felt miserable every time he glared at me.

My Max came back with orders from the king. "No one is to bite anyone ever again. The Alpha King has commanded it! If his command is disobeyed, his wrath will fall upon our pack."

I was relieved when I found out Michael wouldn't be bitten; it assuaged my guilt for bringing him into this mess in the first place. Alpha, the only name we'd known our old alpha by, was furious that my Max refused to let anyone touch the teen. I think Alpha started plotting even then.

My Max had been our Beta back then, second in command. He claimed his rightful inheritance as the pack's Royal Alpha when he came back, upsurping the Alpha position from our older, abusive, leader. My Max opened up the long closed territory at the top of the apartment complex. He began to rule, with me at his side. The title Beta was added to the name Scout he had given me. I willingly offered him all of my support. Everything my Max did made me love him more each day. His behavior toward me was so different from everything I had endured from the men my pimp used to send me.

Our old alpha went mad I think. Truly insane. Diabolically insane. He tricked me when my Max left a second time to go help the Alpha King. Our old alpha forced me into a corner. Michael was going to get bitten. Either I bit him or our old alpha was going to. I knew without a doubt how bad it would be if that maniac made good on his threatening promise.

So I bit Michael. I bit him out of fear and desperation to keep him from our old Alpha's hands. I sunk my fangs deep into Michael's shoulder to protect our youngest guard from getting killed by the madman who once ruled us, even though I wanted to strangle the twit myself for his part in the betrayal. I did what I had been fighting to keep from happening. I did it in order to keep the wrath of a King who commanded all Alphas from coming down on us worse than it would if our old alpha did the biting.