THE MOST TRAGIC ROGUE KING

26 FEBRUARY, FRIDAY, MIDNIGHT

"Who are you?" I openly stared at the man folded on the armchair in front of me. He looked too long for the chair, but besides that, he looked weary, the lines on his face a mixture of deep crevices and faint creases, like the leather of very old sofas or the seats in Beta Gerald's old beat up tin truck.

His nose looked a little crooked. There was a small scar next to his eye. His messy straw brown hair was frizzy and now that I was looking harder, I realized it was pulled back in a low straggly ponytail.

{Weak wolf} Boo decided dismissively. Beta Lorent calling him an omega was not far from fact.

"I..." The man sighed then, "Let's just say, I'm an old friend of your father's."

Oh whew, for a moment there, I thought he was going to say that he was the rogue king. Hahaha.

But I had to wonder what level of friendship Roy had with my Dad. As far as I knew, my Dad had very few friends. I mean, Dad was well known in the lycan circles, and he had more acquaintances than he could actually recognize, but if you're talking about people Dad really trusted and actually liked hanging out with, I could count them in one hand.

"Ah, you probably don't remember..." Roy shook his head, but he had a wry smile on his face, "You used to color on my maps with your crayons. I used to read my books to you too..."

No, he was right, I don't remember any of that, but it sounded like something I would do. Could that mean that there was someone else besides Beta Lucas who ever had the "privilege" of babysitting me when my Dad was busy? I really couldn't remember.

Roy, Roy, Roy... He wasn't lying, but why couldn't I recall my Dad ever mentioning his name? Still, the name rang a distant bell in my head, if only I could remember how I knew it.

"In that case, what are you doing here?" I asked, "Did the Rogue King capture you?"

"Ah, well..." Roy sighed again, "I probably should explain..."

And so Roy explained...by telling me his ENTIRE LIFE STORY.

Roy was born an omega in the Night Forest Pack the same year as my Dad.

"In every pack, it is fated, that an omega is born the same year as the alpha." Roy commented bitterly at the memory of his birth. From the day of his birth, his omega status was a thorn in his side.

"An omega's life is cursed from the moment it began. But you wouldn't understand, little princess." Roy sighed, "You've lived your whole life as the alpha's daughter... but I cannot complain. After all, this omega also did not suffer the brunt of the omega's life either. It was thanks to your father, I had a fairly normal life."

My dad?

In their heyday of youth, the trio were known as King, Luc, and Roy. They were easily the coolest guys in highschool. Actually, Luc had all the coolness the three of them needed, King was more of the hot type. The girls... O.O Stop TMI! I cannot think of anything weirder than being told my Dad was the hottest guy in his high school.

King and Luc were the best fighters. There was not one wolf who did not admire the Young Alpha's courage, and coupled with Luc's amazing strength, no one could best them in battle.

"But they had a bad habit of rushing head first into trouble. I know King had vision, and Luc would not think twice to rush into the thick of the action, but somebody had to draw the maps, plan the details, document the policies, track the accounts..."

"That was you?" I realized, suddenly remembering where I've seen Roy's names - in the old documents detailing our pack's previous attempts to absorb Morning Light, in our original copies of pack policies, and our legal documents. No wonder the name Roy was familiar! It must have been printed under the "Prepared by" section of every official and not so official document until quite recently.

"Hn." Roy nodded.

They trio had grown up together. With King and Luc behind him, Roy never had to fear being bullied. And with Roy behind them, Dad and Beta Lucas never had to worry about pesky details like paperwork, documents, or homework.

Later on, when Dad made his exodus from Night Forest to come out and start his own pack, Roy naturally followed him.

"There was nothing good left for me in Night Forest with King and Luc out of the picture, anyway." Roy explained, "Let's just say the career options for an omega back in Night Forest was ah... LIMITED."

"It was thanks to King that I got through college too." Roy continued, "Most of the elders had thought it was a waste of resources to grant an omega the pack scholarship even though this omega had placed first in the entrance exam, but King and Luc argued my case so I could read in the same university together with them. I owed them at least that much."

Okay, so they grew up together, and then graduated together, and then when Dad took office as the Young Alpha, Luc and Roy were the core members of his FAO.

And then when Dad decided to leave Night Forest, they left with him. Not just Luc and Roy, but Dad also managed to enlist a younger Harry, as well as Charlie, Simon who just completed his medical studies, and a number of other strong warrior wolves. Even the belle of Night Forest, the ever-captivating Felicity. O.O Okay, the "ever-captivating Felicity" was weirder than my dad being the "hottest guy". I'm seriously having trouble visualizing all this with a straight face.

But back to Roy's story: Many said when Dad left that he took with him the cream of the next generation crop.

"Well, except for me." Roy rubbed the back of his neck ruefully, "I was just the omega that tagged along, the pesky parasite that had latched himself to our young Alpha's generous nature."

I shook my head wordlessly, feeling quite sure Roy must have been joking. If Roy here was indeed the Roy who had set up our pack's initial administration, he would cry if he saw the state of our paperwork now.

I mean, remember Titanium? I'm not even sure if we had any documents with his real name printed on it. I was also quite sure Titanium (also known as Ti or Titan in other documents), was not the exception. I for one, had no idea what Flynn or Hank's full name were, even though I've seen their names in countless official agendas, and minutes, and rosters...

On the bright side, if any of our confidential documents leaked to an outsider, I'd like to see them figure out what the hell was going on in our meetings.

Before Ki, our minutes looked like it was written by someone who felt typing meeting notes was a game of Taboo.

For example, with regards to the increment of educational outfield budget (whatever that was), the meeting notes stated that "D.Char motions increase. Reasons appen. B no small amount. Motion passed. 25k. A approved. Action Fin Com."

One could at best guess $25,000 was added to whatever an education outfield budget was.

As in seriously, I can't believe my dear Dad would sign off something like this, but he had, very many times.

I had wondered more than once, how Dad and Beta Lucas managed to write those ground breaking white papers and those radical pack policies that made Night Leaf one of the top emerging packs and gave Morning Light a systematic administration that sustained them without an Alpha for more than 10 years. I mean, I knew they were the brainchild of my genius dad, but I also knew my dad's penmanship had a word limit of an email.

Now, I was starting to suspect that I was looking at the wolf responsible for the administrative groundwork that set up our pack for long term success.

"So why did you leave?" I wanted to know.

"It was a woman." Roy sighed. Roy liked to make those heavy sighs like life's burdens were too much for him to bear.

Roy often accompanied King and Luc to many important meetings after Night Leaf was set up. Roy was the Secretary of the Alpha's Office. Like Lola's mum, Edna. Yeah, I was wondering why we didn't have one of those.

Anyway, one afternoon, while meeting at the Lorents' Alpha Office, the most beautiful Lorent princess entered to serve tea. She was Alpha Lorent's sister, and the moment their eyes met, Roy knew SHE WAS THE ONE.

"Oh, little princess, you can't imagine how elegant and lovely she was!" Roy exclaimed, his eyes shining at whatever apparition only he could see in his memory.

Alpha James' sister? That could only be... Hmmm... There were two sisters. Which sister was it?

But the Luna Mother (apparently this was the title bestowed to the Alpha's mother), was against the match. Roy was undaunted, he would meet his mate in secret, "We would walk in the night and enjoy the bloom of the roses. She had complained because roses were her favorite flowers, but the roses in the Lorent household were always white."

And they would talk about a day when Roy might find a way to win Luna Mother's mother approval.

But eventually, these two were found out. The Lorent Alpha was furious at Roy's indiscretion with his innocent sister. He captured Roy and had him flogged. Naturally, King and Luc rushed in on motorbikes to Roy's rescue and a fierce fight ensued where neither side was winning.

During this fight, Roy's Lorent Princess slipped down to the dungeons, with herbal healing tea, and bandages. Roy's omega constitution made healing slow and his Lorent Princess could not bring a healer for fear of being found out.

"You must run, Roy." She told him with all the tears and drama of a true Lorent princess, "I love you with all my heart, but I'm afraid there is no happy ending for us. We are the unluckiest of star crossed lovers."

But Roy had other ideas, "Come away with me. We would both run. Let's return to my home pack at Night Forest. I'm sure my alpha would help us get away."

"I'm not a strong wolf, you know I'm only an omega, but over the years I've saved up enough for a comfortable life. We can return to my family land. I am the only son. I will build you a beautiful house and a rose garden with many colors." Because Roy had been planning for the day when he could take his princess away. He had drawn up many plans in his head, and even the new home's blueprints and everything too.

But the Lorent princess shook her head, "I cannot leave my mother's side, she is old and had suffered so much for my brothers and sister and me. If I left, I would wound her heart and she might die."

"Better her than me." Roy had said - which probably wasn't the best choice of words.

"Please Roy, you must live." His Lorent Princess told him, "For my sake, for I will not be able to live if your died."

"Meet me in the Warlock Forest on the next full moon." Roy stubbornly insisted, "I'll tell my Alpha and resign from my post, and we will run away together."

And then Roy left, stumbling out the old stone building and into the night. He mindlinked King and Luc and they ran over to meet him and carried him home.

After Roy recuperated, he told King and Luc about his plan. King wrote him a letter with his own hand, "My alpha father at Night Forest would take you back with this letter."

"We can't abandon our old friend to a rogue's life, can we?" Luc had joked, "If Alpha Silas refuses you, come straight home. King and I got your back."

"No." Roy shook his head, "I've thought through everything over and over again. The Lorents would never allow it. And a long drawn war will not bring any good to our new pack. I need to take my princess away from the Green Packlands."

"Until we meet again, my friend." King patted him on the shoulder.

Roy left with the small fortune he had saved from the years of service at Night Leaf. His Alpha had also given him a wedding gift - a small collection of books, 9 crates in all, and a sum of money, which wasn't a lot but knowing the financial situation of Night Leaf then, Roy was truly touched at King's generosity.

"Your father, he had always been a generous alpha." Roy told me, "A true visionary who is both upright and courageous."

So Roy, heartened by the support of his two best friend left to the Warlock Forest to wait for his mate. She never came. Instead Roy had found a letter pinned on one of the trees in his princess' delicate handwriting...