Chapter 10: Welcome to the Rogue Trials

I was frozen in place, more confused than I had been in my whole life.

What was going on? Was I supposed to follow him or did he really mean to leave me in the park stranded? And what about my stuff still in his apartment?

I began to panic as I tried to remember my uncle’s name and address. Victor St. James. It was such a human sounding name. I knew he didn’t live far away, but still had no idea where exactly in Alexandria he was.

I began to follow after Cole, angry overtaking my confusion. He, at the very least, owed me some kind of an explanation. Did he really think that just because he was an Alpha, the head Alpha or whatever kind of Alpha his sister said everyone thought he was, that he could just treat me like this?

“Kayleigh…” Ms. Julie’s voice traveled to me from the shadows and my breath caught in my throat.

It was a struggle to turn my eyes from Cole’s retreating figure to see Ms. Julie as she emerged from the darkness and into the light of the moon.

She looked so different. Before I left home, I would have said that she had a soft motherly and even wholesome look. But taking her in at that moment, I might not have recognized her if she hadn’t spoken. She wore all black, leather pants, and a leather jacket with a black shirt underneath.

My adoptive mother of 14 years looked like the undercover agent that I’d learned she truly was. She had lost weight over the last several weeks since I’d left home. She’d also cropped her hair short and it seemed as if maybe she had dyed it too.

Several emotions ran through me. More confusion that just made me feel dizzy. However the combination of bottomless fruity fizzy drinks and Cole’s cryptic dismissal of me already had me off balance.

I was sad and angry. Seeing her again reminded me that I had been undercover and living a lie, my entire life had been a lie. But at the top of the list was relief. She had kept me alive in all of that time and even killed my would-be assassin with her bare hands.

Whatever she looked like, whoever she was, whatever she’d done, it kept me alive. The brief snippets of memory I had as a baby screaming alone with fire burning around me yet still living and breathing today was proof of that.

I hurried over to give her a strong hug. She hugged me back tightly, and cradled my head in her hand for a moment and smoothed over my hair several times.

“When I checked in with Vincent and he hadn’t heard from you… We tried to pick up your trail and made it all the way to the Appalachian trail. But, your scent just vanished.”

She leaned back and looked me over in my silver party dress as if to make sure it was really me.

“Honey, what on earth are you wearing?” That was the mother tone I didn’t miss so much. I had to admit to myself that under Tessa’s influence, my penchant for jeans and tshirts had died a quick and painless death.

Then she looked off in the direction that Cole disappeared.

“Honey, how did you end up meeting Cole Shelton?” There was something, almost an air of suspicion, in her voice.

“He saved my life in the wilderness that you tossed me out into.” Her head snapped back in my direction. “My scent vanished because he and his friends airlifted me in his helicopter after I sprained my ankle…”

“Airlifted…?”

“Don’t you think you owe me some answers, Ms. Julie? Is that even your real name?” I was angry and frustrated. My life was tossed on the wind and I seemed to have no control. That needed to change.

She led me from the park towards a brand new SUV waiting in the street. I could tell that she was trying to decide how to begin the tale that she was about to spin for me.

“My name is Julie and your mother was one of my best friends.”

All of the air dispelled from my lungs as we got closer to the vehicle. She had known my mother and never ever mentioned it before.

“What was she like?” I asked over a lump in my throat.

We stopped next to the SUV and it was then that I realized it bore a sharp resemblance to the vehicle that crazy Luna had gotten into.

I turned to Ms. Julie, shocked and confused.

“She was a lot like you,” she answered my question before the doors to the car opened.

Large shifters came out to drag me inside. I kicked and fought as best I could in a silver party dress and then opened my mouth to scream for Cole to come and help me. Before I could, a hand clamped over my nose and mouth smothering my senses with a cloth soaked in chloroform.

I quickly began to feel weak and faint and then all went dark.

When I woke up again, it was still night. The harvest moon still illuminated my surroundings, but I was in the middle of the forest and all alone. I wondered if I had been left for dead and somehow survived.

What the h*ll was going on?

The shriek of a howl pierced the air ringing out over all other nocturnal sounds and my already thundering heart catapulted into panic mode. I got to my feet and, for the first time, noticed that I was no longer in my party dress, but had been outfitted in black battle fatigues and was holding a semi automatic rifle.

How did I know that’s what it was? I had never held a gun in my life. I hated guns. But my grip on the weapon became tighter and I looked for a place to run and hide.

More howls pierced the air and it sounded like they were getting closer.

They, as in a pack, at least four, maybe six… How did I know that?

I knew it would be a mistake to run and hide from the wolves headed my way, so I looked up.

Slinging the strap of the rifle over my head and allowing it to rest across my back, I began to climb a tree. It took less than a minute to get to a spot that was high enough to provide a good vantage point for anyone that might come from any direction.

I focused on the sound of paws running towards me and positioned my rifle, preparing to take aim.

But a little girl walked into the clearing. Where had she come from? What was she doing out there all alone? I knew there was no way for me to shoot and kill all of the wolves headed in our direction before one of them got to the girl.

I hurried down the tree hoping I’d be able to get back up with the girl in time. I jumped down the last four feet and turned the little girl around to face me. I froze in place to see that the little girl looked exactly like me when I was five years old.

Wait… this had to be a dream.

“End simulation.” I heard a gruff and authoritative voice call out. The sound of the voice seemed to be coming from everywhere.

Suddenly, I felt like I was falling, everything went dark and then my eyes popped open and I squinted against the sharp fluorescent light.

It was cold. I shivered and looked down to see that I was still in my party dress. I was also barefoot and strapped to a chair with wires connecting me at the arms, chest and temples to a machine. As my eyes came into focus, I noticed the room was small and there was also a hulking figure standing over me.

I gasped as he touched my hand then held it reassuringly.

“It’s alright, Kayleigh.” The way he said my name sent a warm wave of comfort over my body. I looked up as his face came into focus. “You did a great job.”

“Excuse me?” I managed to say.

He smiled at me and said, “Welcome to the Rogue Trials, Miss Sloan.”