5 Chapter 4 Breaches

To say the pastries at Big Sur Bakery were good was an understatement.

Oh my God. A throaty moan built up. This is so delicious!

Samantha, a rogue that worked at the bakery, had given me three pastries to devour. Devour I did.

Slow down there, you're going to choke. Samantha warned. She'd joined me with a cup of coffee.

Aren't you working right now? I asked her through mouthfuls of food.

No, She replied. I just got off for the day. And besides, aren't I allowed to help the Luna?

I groaned loudly. Don't mention that. I whimpered.

I could feel Samantha's mood shift at my muttering. Why? She asked defensively. You don't want to be the Luna of the Rogues? Scared that will make your pack look down on you?

Yes, I thought, but I'll never admit that to you.

I chose to smooth things over rather than tell her that she was right. No, I just don't want to be a Luna. I don't think I have the capability to be one. I lied.

Samantha relaxed. Yeah, I can understand that. But don't give up. If you weren't the right fit, fate wouldn't have chosen you for Anton.

My eyebrows jumped at his name. You don't have to call him Alpha?

Samantha snorted. Why would I? It's just a formality we use with other groups. He chooses not to use that title. And even if he did try to use it, I'd never call him Alpha.

Wouldn't you bend to his will?

No, She smirked. I'm his Gamma, or third in command. Packs don't have Gammas, but we do. Being Gamma makes me strong enough to do most of what I want. There are only so many orders he can make me follow.

Oh . . . that's cool, I guess. What about me? Does that mean I won't bend to his will?

Samantha inspected me for a moment. I don't know you well enough to say. Maybe you can, maybe you can't. Rank is only part of it. Personality has a place in it, too. If you've always followed rules and don't have a rebellious bone in your body, I would say no. If you never follow rules, and always cause scenes, I'd say the same.

Why don't you think the super rebellious ones are the ones who'd stay strong? Didn't that seem to be the opposite of logic?

Nah, She replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. The really rebellious tend to be the most fragile on the inside. They usually hold up for a few days before they completely break down.

Wow. I commented, That's a smart observation. How'd you learn that?

She didn't answer immediately. Instead, she jut stared out a window and sighed. When she did answer, she said, Pretty soon you're going to learn we all have places here. We may be as wild as rogues, but we all have things we're required to do.

Anton leads us down the road to victory. Matthew controls minor dealings within the group, such as planning basic attacks. I do my own part . . . She trailed off. It was easy to see she was getting caught up in her memories.

And what's you're part? I questioned in an attempt to prompt her to answer.

I handle any minor outbreaks. When Anton and Matthew don't have free time, I do prisoner control. It's pretty nasty work. Some of them even try to kill themselves.

Prisoners? I asked in alarm. My eyes had widened to their limits. Few packs kept prisoners: it was considered a cruelty, and wars had started over it.

Samantha faced me again. Her eyes flickered to mine, and I could see a bit of sorrow in hers. She didn't like keeping prisoners, that much I could see.

Yes. She murmured. Your two packs were the first packs we've ever spared. You've probably heard about our deadly attacks before. We leave the children alive, but only so they can eventually become one of us. We take the ones we think will be useful. Then, if we were wrong, we kill them.

If that was Anton's doing, I was going to blow a gasket. I may not have known him much, but I still would not stand for a mate who kept prisoners.

I jumped off the table and grabbed Samantha by the shoulder. I swerved her so that she faced me directly. Who does prison work? Tell me. I commanded.

Her eyes widened in surprise. Matthew, our beta. She answered without a second's consideration.

I released Samantha from my grip and thoughts started spinning. The Alpha controls the beta, so it's Anton's fault, too. But that beta . . . something's not right about him.

I'm going to go back to the base. See you later. I told Samantha. I wasn't going to eat pastries when I could be doing stuff for the good.

Samantha pulled me back. Wait. She demanded. Please, don't tell Anton or Matthew I told you about this. Anton would forgive me, but he would drop my rank. And Matthew . . . he messaged me, She tapped her head. Saying he thinks you should adjust slowly. He doesn't forgive or forget.

I nodded to Samantha tersely. Then I took my pastries and walked out.

That beta gives everyone the chills. Even Samantha, the third rank. I noted. What's so bad about the beta? He has the intimidation factor, yes, but there's something else . . . I just can't put my finger on it.

It was easy to see that Anton could beat the beta up any day of the week. The beta was at least six feet tall, but Anton towered over him, too. And the muscle was smaller on Matthew. So why did he intimidate everybody more than Anton?

With mentions of Anton, I could see respect in Samantha's eyes. With mentions of Matthew, respect turned to fear.

Are you heading back to the base? A voice asked out of nowhere.

I jumped up and fell straight on my butt. Ouch! I yelped.

The voice behind me chuckled cheerily. Are you ok? I didn't mean to scare you.

I turned around to give the guy a pissed glare. Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Just watch where you're going.

I inspected the guy in front of me. He was average height, with average brown hair and eyes. Nothing too special about him except for the larger-than-life smile he fit on his face.

Ok. Sounds good. Are you ready to go to the base? The too-happy guy asked.

I guess so. Why are you following me anyway, Mister?

The dude formed a put-off look at my question. Am I already that bad? I've just been sent here to guard you-Tobi Johnson, here to help. Wouldn't want anybody trying to steal you off.

I considered it for a moment. Well, I suppose that's true, though there's nobody around to steal me off.

Tobi pressed his lips together and shifted uncomfortably. Actually, he said hesitantly, That's not exactly true.

More unpleasant news for my day; just what I needed! Excuse me?

Tobi shifted some more. Let's just get to the base. Then I'll explain. He told me.

It was quiet when we reached the base. Not a single rogue was out. It was almost eerily quiet-so much so that I tried to stomp to break the silence.

Are you going to tell me now? I whispered. The silence made me default to quiet mode, something that hardly ever occurred.

No, not yet. Let's just get into the base building. Tobi whispered back. And stop making so much noise.

Surprisingly, I did as told and stopped my stomping. I slowed my breaths and tried to be quiet until we reached the building.

The moment Tobi closed the door to the building behind us, I jumped on him. In the not sexual way, of course.

What the hell was that about? I asked him.

He scratched his wrist-an anxious habit. He started off murmuring, We've never had breaches before . . .

I sighed. I don't know what you're talking about. Please, explain.

He scratched again-once, twice, three times. Look, Luna, we recently had a border breach. Please, don't let that lower your view of our group, Tobi whimpered. Because we're good fighters and we've never had a breach before.

I forced a reassuring smile and made a hand gesture to say, Go on.

This girl in our group just got kidnapped. It happened right after you arrived. She was sitting around the base area, which is why I wanted us to be so quiet. They could still be out there.

Right after I arrived . . . huh. What did she look like? I questioned. I'm sure the suspicion showed on my face.

He took a shallow, shaky breath. Like you, Luna. Just like you.