The Mate Search

Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

300 rogues! I've never heard or seen so many in the same place, let alone fighting together.

Even though we still outnumbered them 500 to 400, it had me worried. They hadn't trained harder because they had 300 rogues. But that couldn't be the only reason, right?

Xavier, Thomas, and I marched toward the Southern border, where they were about 5 miles from, according to the reports.

" There is nobody else coming from another direction."

"Not that we noticed, I sent scouts to sweep a ten-mile radius to make sure."

I nodded and helped form our warrior lines, strongest in the front, weakest in the back. It sounds mean but I need to protect the pack, and with the strongest people at the front I have the biggest chance of doing so.

I stand in front of my pack, Xavier on my right, Thomas on my left. Rose is within the lines, ensuring order.

Men and women stand behind me, some fighting for themselves, others mates and children. But the one thing that everyone is fighting for today is the pack, not me, never me. Always the pack, and those who can't defend themselves.

I turn toward the gathered warriors, some already in wolf form, others swords and shields out.

"Thank you for fighting here today. Each and every one of you is vital in this battle and the pack. Don't go down without a fight. Let's show the Twilight Moon pack what happens when they mess with the Midnight Rain pack!"

Cheers erupted from my poor attempt at a rallying speech, I was never good at speeches.

From across the clearing figures emerged out from the trees, Alpha Greg with his Beta, his son, Justin, nowhere in sight. There was a man beside Greg who I did not recognize, I assumed he was the Rogue Alpha.

"Surrender now, and we won't slaughter you all."

I turned towards Greg and said, "We will never surrender to a monster like you."

Everyone tensed, ready for their leaders to signal the attack symbol. I stood at the front, staring Greg in the eyes. He was waiting for me to signal the attack. Coward.

I looked towards Xavier and saw him give me a slight nod. I looked towards my beta, Thomas also nodded.

I faced Greg once more and screamed, "Attack!"

The MIdnight Rain pack and the Twilight Moon pack collided. Wolves collided with wolves, humans collided with humans, and wolves collided with humans.

We were holding up well despite getting separated, Twilight Moon pack members fell, along with some rogues. And Midnight Rain pack members fell. I had lost sight of Greg and the Rogue Alpha, but I knew where Xavier and Thomas were.

I shifted into my wolf form to go head to head with a rogue. Taking down a rogue should be easy, especially since they had no alpha, well until recently, and they had to fend for themselves. But these rogues were tough.

They were faster and stronger than they should be. They also healed very quickly.

The rogue in front of me growled, snapping his sharp teeth at me. I snapped mine back in challenge. The rogue pounced at me, but I was ready. I dodged his attack and rolled around and bit him in his back leg.

He yelped but kept upright as he whirled at me. He slashed his claws too quickly for me to detect. He left three long gouges down my face. They hurt like hell and were bleeding profusely, but I had to stay strong.

I got focused again to see the rogue had focused on someone else besides me. Wrong move. I quickly jumped on his back and bit into his neck, hard. He slumped to the ground and did not rise.

I lost myself in the battle, strike, kill, strike, kill.

I found myself in a smaller clearing outside of the battlefield, two figures stood in the middle, one familiar figure was on the ground.

Alpha Greg was smiling at me, the Rogue Alpha with him. Thomas was on the ground with blood leaking from his head.

"Ah, Alpha Jordan. Nice of you to finally join us. After your Beta here tried so hard to take us down I thought you would never come."

I shifted back, pulling on a shirt that I found in the trees.

"Why do this? Why cause a war?"

"It's simple really. Your mates' father, while he was my friend and Gamma, did not agree with how I did things and planned to overthrow me. So I found a band of rogues and told them if they acted like innocent survivors, I would give them food and shelter, and I would let them kill my Gamma, his mate, and his son. But, they caught him snooping too soon and killed him and ran. The mother committed suicide and I put the boy to work."

"That still doesn't explain why you teamed up with the rogues for this war."

"They didn't finish the job, the boy is still out there, and it just so happens that you're his mate. So, if we take him down, we take you down, and then I give this pack to the rogues. It was a mutual agreement."

While Greg was talking I saw Xavier coming out of the trees. He had a small dagger in his hand and was creeping up on them with complete silence. He was concealing his scent with the wind blowing from behind me. All Greg and the Rogue Alpha could smell was me.

Xavier reached Greg, raised his arm, and plunged the dagger into Greg's throat.

Greg fell to the ground and went still.

Xavier's eyes met mine, his look of relief and love turned into fear and worry.

I heard him yell, "LOOK OUT!"

But I was too slow as the Rogue Alpha slammed into my side.