The Alpha's Soul

10

"Stay close to me," Luke ordered as he and Tan jogged together, attempting to pick up the rogue's scent.

Tan would've shot back about how he could taken care of himself, but he could tell how tense and nervous Luke was, so he didn't argue.

"I will, don't worry," Tan said, brushing his nose against Luke's side and they ran. "I know you and Tiberius will protect me as much as Mika and I will protect you."

Luke's contentment at that could be felt through their wolves and Tan was glad it seemed to relax his mate a little bit.

They kept running until they heard a loud snarl and Calix's voice echoed in his mind.

"Eastern border! Anyone who is close, get here now!" he ordered, and both Tan and Luke shared a look before taking off in the direction.

When they arrived they found Calix and the aforementioned rogue circling each other with deep growls and baring their teeth. The rogue was about as big as Tan, meaning it was slightly smaller than Luke and Calix, but it looked vicious and ready to kill.

Luke sniffed the air and his eyes widened. He leapt in between the pair and snarled at Calix, shocking both Tan and their Alpha.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Calix demanded, watching the rogue to make sure that it didn't attack his idiotic pack mate. "Stand down, Luke!"

Luke lowered himself to the ground, showing that he wasn't challenging his Alpha, but he didn't move either. "Don't attack him," Luke said, speaking to both Tan and Calix. "I know him. Please, let me get him to calm down."

"How do you know him?" Tan asked, growling at the rogue wolf who snarled right back at him.

Luke whimpered. "Can we go over this in a bit? You know, when the Alpha and an angry rogue aren't snarling at us?"

Calix huffed and backed off, Tan following and sitting down.

The rogue bared his teeth when Luke approached him, slowly stepping back. They couldn't communicate because the rogue refused to open his mind to Luke's attempts to talk.

"Come on, you know me," Luke said, sitting down and showing he wasn't going to attack.

He knew this wolf. It was the very same one that entered his house as he helped the Omega in his previous pack deliver his pups.

Luke didn't know he'd become rogue and taken off. All he remembered was how shy the Beta was and how sweet he was whenever they talked. They weren't friends because they had different roles, but Luke had become close with his younger brother, the Omega who he helped. He knew the Omega was convinced that Luke was his mate, which made Luke feel bad for him, but he didn't ever say that it wasn't true because he didn't want another wolf to possibly overhear that Luke knew who his mate was and hurt him.

The rogue, who Luke was pretty sure was named Payton or Peter, snarled at him, but he didn't attack. His eyes kept flashing to Tan and Calix, almost as if he was worried that they'd attack.

Luke whined, lowering himself to the ground to show he wasn't going to fight. As he did, the bushes behind the rogue ruffled and a pup walked out, waddling toward the four grown wolves.

Tan's eyes widened and he tried to run toward the pup to protect it from the psychotic rogue, not caring that Luke said he knew the other wolf. If there was an innocent pup, Tan would not let it be hurt by a rogue.

The rogue snarled and attacked Tan, pushing him out of the way.

Tan leapt up and was prepared to see the rogue murdering the pup, but he was shocked to find the wolf lifting the pup up and gently setting it back in the bush and positioning himself in front of it so the other three wolves couldn't get near to him.