Chapter 0144
He rolls his eyes at me.
"I take it the Rogues are all dead if you're standing here?"
His dark eyes remain fixed on me, unreadable.
"It's fine," I tell the guard. "He's with Mallory."
Damien cocks his head slightly. "So the female Alpha hasn’t killed her yet?"
"Not yet," I reply. "But that possibility is still very much on the table."
Damien exhales sharply. "Did she apologize like I told her to?"
"From what I heard, she said an apology would be meaningless."
"Classic Mallory," he mutters under his breath.
As we walk, he suddenly stops, his nostrils flaring. His sharp gaze scans the area, and at first, I think he's looking for Mallory. But then I follow his line of sight—he’s locked onto my sister.
Raven, carrying something in her arms, immediately drops it when she realizes she's being watched. Without a word, she turns on her heel and strides away, her pace quickening.
"Wolf, right?" Damien murmurs.
"Yeah. That’s Raven, my sister. She’s never been a fan of Lycans."
"Who is?" he replies with a shrug.
"There are only four Lycans here—my mate, Jess, Mallory, and now you. Raven’s close to my mate and gets along with Jess, but every other Lycan she’s met has been a royal pain in the ass. Everyone else in this pack? Wolves."
"Got it." His dark eyes continue scanning as we approach the house where I set Mallory up.
Before Damien can even knock, the door flies open. Mallory flings herself at him, wrapping her arms around him.
"I'm so glad you're alive! But you shouldn’t have come. Now that you're here, we need to leave," she urges.
"I haven't met the female Alpha yet," Damien responds, setting her back down. He glances at me expectantly.
"She’s resting."
"I see." He pauses before suggesting, "Maybe a tour then?"
Mallory’s eyes narrow. "Are you up to something? Because I don’t have the time or patience for games right now."
Damien smirks. "If I were, those guards at the entrance wouldn’t have kept me waiting. I probably could have taken out half your people in the time you were busy with your mate. Because that’s the only reason you left me standing there so long, isn’t it?"
"Damien!" Mallory snaps. "You can't talk to him like that. He’s the pack leader."
Damien glances at her before giving a reluctant nod. "Fine. My apologies."
"Packs aren’t how I learned to be a Lycan," he continues. "We didn’t have a hierarchy."
"You may not have, but you sure acted like the one in charge," I point out. Even in the short time we spent together, he had taken control of everything.
He smirks. "I suppose so."
"Why do you want to meet Neah?" I press as Mallory disappears back into the house.
"You already said it, Dane. She’s the last female Lycan Alpha. That makes her a target. She needs all the protection she can get."
"She has the pack."
Damien frowns. "Yes, but they aren’t Lycans."
Something in his tone makes my stomach drop. "The Rogues… they’re still alive, aren’t they?"
"One got away," he admits.
"We’ll track it down," I say firmly. I wasn’t afraid of any beast.
Damien studies me for a moment before asking, "You’ve fought Lycans before, haven’t you?"
"Yes."
"But you’ve never battled Rogues," he states. "They’re different. Darker. More dangerous. They don’t fight to win a battle—they fight for the thrill of it. They don’t just kill they tear their prey apart. They drag bones and organs from living bodies, feeding while their victims beg for death."
I clench my fists. "How did you kill them?"
"Luck," Damien says bluntly. "But I’ve been watching them for years, learning their patterns. I’ve fed them and studied their behavior. They don’t care about Wolves. They don’t care about Lycans. They don’t follow orders. The only thing that matters to them is a full stomach."
"You killed them in their sleep?"
He meets my gaze, unflinching. "I did what had to be done."