Rouge's Trail

XXXIX

November's POV

I thought about his offer for a long time.

He made sense. Everything he said was true. If I went with him then I would be free of Cyrus forever. Sophia would be safe. We can find Ajax and Isabella. The Haven will be waiting for me when I return and I get that happily ever after I've been chasing on that damned trail for years. Russia, the pack, Ivalo, all of it will just be cold dreams that always end with me waking up in the Haven. 

But what happens to him if I go?

He's a warrior. They live for the rush of a fight. The adrenaline of a win. The peace of death. 

If I go with him and Valentin and his merry band of wolves chase us then he will go to fight them and I will be left in his pack house waiting for the news that the man I'm supposed to love more than anything in this world is dead because of me. 

If he goes up against Cyrus and loses then Cyrus will come get me with my mate's head on a spike for me to watch every night while he destroys every sense of hope and freedom I have.

I may not have much love in my heart but I have enough to not wish the death of an innocent man.

But if I don't go then Valentin comes and he finds me because if Lucas Sterling, Beta of the Jade Forest pack can find his way into a safe haven for rouges then so can Valentin.

So I went to the place where we have all been sleeping and I left a note for Sophia. I found Thomas flirting with one of those beautiful wolves from yesterday and I took him to the pit where Luke was waiting.

From the look on his face you can tell that he was waiting for us. He knew we would be coming to free him and go home. 

Thomas looked beyond excited to leave. He was going home to his little pack and we were all going to be happy again.He was getting what he has secretly wanted since he left the safety of his home months ago.

"Did you bring a rope?"

Thomas looked at me and I nodded, handing him the long rope. The hold Lucas is in is roughly 15 feet deep and 7 feet wide. Big enough for him to lay down in and accept his fate but not big enough to get a running start and jump out to his freedom.

"I knew you'd come for me," he whisper yelled, black eyes gleaming with the stars above. It was nearly three in the morning and the moon was big enough to show us how beautiful his face was.

I tried my best not to look.

Thomas pushed the top aside and I dropped the rope down, holding it still until Thomas could grab the end and we could both pull him up together. The moment he was on the ground he pulled me into his arms in a tight hug. I knew he didn't want to let me go and in all honesty I'm not sure I wanted him to. I can't remember the last time I had a hug like that. 

I pushed him away and told him we need to go. On our way I looked down at some of the other prisoners so I could avoid his never ending gaze. Those poor wolves were rotting down there, some literally. I don't know how often the Haven empties out a pit but there were bodies that were rotting and falling in on themselves. No one was here to save them.

__

"Where is your pack?"

Lucas looked around, taking in a few deep breaths and sensing the world around him instead of replying right away.

"I don't know, let me contact them."

He went quiet again, this time for an actual reason. I noticed that Thomas was quiet, too. I imagine he was talking to his family. After a few seconds Luke opened his eyes and smiled widely. I gave him a questioning look but he walked around me and slapped Thomas on the back.

"Tommy boy, quit flirting with my brother in law and lets go! Alpha Michael is on his way to us as we speak."

"We need to get out of this area before Valentin sees us. If he finds us before we find Mike then we have problems bigger than flirtation," I told him, getting annoyed with his wolf. 

"You are entirely correct, my dear. Let us go find my best friend."

He started off in front of us and we trailed behind. I may not have a link with Thomas but from the look he gave me I can safely guess that he is just as annoyed by this happy-go-lucky Lucas as I am.

It did not take us long to reach Mike and his little army. I don't know what I expected but it wasn't a group thirty or more wolves all walking around the hills of the Appalachian mountains looking like a battle was coming.

The moment Alpha Mike saw us he came running towards Luke, only slowing down when he noticed the black eyes. I don't know how long Luke has been with his wolf in charge, but I know it's been too long. Soon he runs the risk of going rouge.

"Luke, it's good to see you're safe," he said, knowing Luke could hear him before adding just for Luke's wolf," how did you manage to get away from them?"

"I had a little help. Which reminds me, when we leave can you leave a few men behind to help that guy out? His name is Ajax and I left him with a few wolves to take care of. He should still be alive but you never know."

"I think we can manage that."

Mike turned around to go yell at some wolves to go get this and that and be ready to leave soon. He instructed people to contact the ones already out there and tell them to keep looking until they found an Ajax and then to return home with him. Luke smiled lightly at the whole thing and stayed with in a few feet of me the entire time we waited for the trucks to be ready to go. They left a pair of them but took the other four with to head back to the Jade Forest.

Luke and Thomas sat on either side of me in the truck while we traveled rather swiftly out of the mountains and back down to the streets below. We hadn't gotten very high in the mountains but we were up there enough to get a view of how beautiful the gigantic hill tops above us were. I watched them until they were out of sight, trying to ignore the way Thomas was clicking annoyingly on the phone someone had lent to him while his old one charged and Luke glanced at me every few seconds as if I was going to disappear.

"I can't believe you're here."

"I can tell," I said dull-ly. He reached out to touch me but stopped. 

"They know about you. Valentin calls you something else, he calls you-"

"Nika Cyzarine Sonia Belinsky. I know," then I got a little concerned," You already told me that."

"Oh, I did? I must have forgot in all the excitement."

"I think it's time you changed back and let Lucas take over. It's getting to be dangerous."

"I can't just yet."

"And why is that?"

"Because I have something to tell you."