0084
Neah
"What do you want?" I demand as I stare at the Rogue, chained to the wall of the dungeon.
It growls back at me. I had been asking it the same question for days and yet it still refused to speak.
'This is a bad idea. We should have waited for Dane.' Nyx murmurs. She didn't like us being down here alone. Or rather she didn't like pregnant me being down here alone.
'They can't do anything.' I murmur back at her. Both Roan and the Rogue were locked up; it wasn't like they could do anything.
"He won't answer you." Roan calls out from his cell. "And shouldn't you be protecting those precious twins instead of coming down here to annoy us?"
I watch the Rogues' eyes drop to my stomach at the word 'twins'. His snout curls up even tighter until the whole thing is wrinkled and I can see his back teeth. Everytime he heard the word, all he seemed to do was focus on my stomach. It was like roan was trying to antagonise him.
"Growl at me all you want, it's not like you can do anything, is it?" I snap at the Rogue. "You are chained up and you have one and a half legs. I will kill you before you even lay a hand on me!" He tugs on the chains.
I had made sure to repay the Rogue for what he had done to Raven, or rather Nyx did.
I hear Roan chuckle behind me but for now, I ignore him. He will be dead tomorrow, finally.
The Rogues growl deepens and Roan chuckles more.
I spin around to look at the asshole in the cell behind me. He liked to do this. He liked to stick his nose in where it wasn't wanted. "And you can shut up."
"Are you not worried about being down here alone?" Roan asks from his cell.
"You go on trial tomorrow." I spit.
"Oh sweet Neah." His dark grey eyes lock on me.
"Don't sweet Neah me." I snap before he has a chance to say anything else. "You don't get to talk like that to me. Not after what you did to Jess. Not after what you planned to do to my unborn pups."
His grin grows, showing his missing teeth. "You think these chains will stop me?" He pulls on them as he gets close to the bars. "Do you think I am the only one in the world who will want those pups?"
The Rogue starts to chuckle too and the confidence I had a second ago was quickly fading. I was missing something. They were both chained up, there was no way possible for them to get out.
My hands instinctively go to my small bump.
"What do you want?" I growl again, aiming the question at both of them. Dane shouldn't have put them down here so close together. They could talk. They could plan. They could plot. Two very different enemies could work together.
The Rogue's beady eyes leave my stomach to find my eyes. Another deep growl comes from its throat and for a split second, I no longer felt safe.
I knew he couldn't go anywhere. I knew they couldn't get out of his chains, but that unsettling feeling just doesn't go away. I felt like I was right back in the line of Cassandra's fist. Unable to figure out what was wrong.
Unable to defend myself as it came at me.
Shaking my head, I turn on my heel, leaving the dungeon.
With my back pressed against the dungeon door, I look up, letting the warmth of the midday sun hit my skin.
It lasts all of two seconds before I feel his crimson eyes on me.
"Again?" He mutters. "I thought I made it clear that I didn't want you going down there, especially not alone. And you are supposed to be resting, especially while Raven can't check on you."
"I wasn't alone." I protest, ignoring his comment about resting.
"Nyx doesn't count. If something happens to you, it happens to her."
He holds out a hand to me and pulls me in against his chest. Locking his arms around me tightly and whispers in my ear. "I don't like you going down there."
"I'm fine."
"Really? Because I see that frown on your forehead and I feel your frustration. What did Roan say this time?"
My scowl deepens. "Something about me believing that he would be the only one who wants our pups. What if he is right? Have you heard anything about his pack? Ashburn city?"
"He is trying to mess with your head. Roan will be killed in front of everyone tomorrow. It doesn't matter what he says." He presses his lips to my cheek. "But yes, I have had news from Ashburn city. It seems that Roan was getting a bit too power obsessed. The Beta has
stepped into the Alpha role and he has told me that he will be glad to see the back of him as is the pack."
I frown. It had taken me a while to figure out the importance of an Alpha Beta relationship. But I always thought they had each other's backs. Though I didn't have much to base it on. Just Trey and Kyle, and Dane and Eric.
"So they won't try anything?"
"It seems that way."
"And what about the Rogue, Salem? Will he be sentenced tomorrow?"
"Raven wants to speak to Salem first."
"What?" I was completely taken by surprise.
"She has requested it. And I agree. Maybe she can get more information out of him. Because he isn't talking to you, no matter how many times you try."
It surprises me that he had agreed. Especially after what the Rogue did to her.
"Are you sure you are okay with that?" I whisper
"Damien and myself will be with her. She won't be alone with him."
***
It was late in the evening when the three of them headed over to the dungeon. Raven was hopping along on crutches much to Damiens frustrations. "She will be okay." Eric mutters from next to me.
"You don't know that."
"You are right, I don't. But neither of those men are going to let anything else happen to her."
I watch them disappear from sight and turn back into the house.
"What answer were you hoping to get from him?" Eric asks curiously, following me in.
"I don't know."
"Really? Neah, you have been sneaking down in the dungeons for days. There must have been something you wanted him to tell you."
"I wanted to know how he ended up like that. But he won't answer any questions."
"You wanted to know how he became Rogue?"
I nod, feeling the lump form in my throat.
He stares at me for a second. "That won't happen to you."
"You don't know that."
"Do you crave the taste of flesh?" I hear his amusement
"No. But what if I snap, or lose control? What if I'm lured into it? What if something so bad happens that I let Nyx take over completely? What if..."
"Neah, that is a lot of what ifs." He grins at me, "You have fully shifted all of a handful of times and only for a short amount of time. I think it would take a lot for you to become permanently like one of them. You have Dane, you have the entire pack behind you. You are not a lone Lycan and right now, you don't need to worry about them. We have it handled. I promise."
Maybe I was overthinking it. Maybe I had let the silent Rogue get into my head.
I nod as we walk through the house to the kitchen.
"Do you think there are more?" I ask quietly
"Rogues? According to Klaus, the probability is yes. We don't know how many they chose to mark. Mallory said the others found her over a span of two years. So I would assume there are more out there."
"I can't sense them. Well, Damien I can, because he has made some sort of oath to protect me. But the others, there aren't even whisperings of them. It's like they don't exist but I can see the Rogue and Mallory with my own eyes."
"And in the forest." I continue, "It was like my body knew where to go. Like Nyx could sense them, but I couldn't. How is that possible?"
"Did Nyx know?"
'No I didn't!" She snaps
"She says no. How Eric, how was it possible for me to track him without ever laying eyes on him?"
He smiles at me. "You are an Alpha, Neah. It's ingrained in your blood."