C3| To the Lodge

Luka Lennox

"Well, that was intense." Chase commented, staring out the window. Yeah, but I was tired of that asshole undermining my authority.

Goddess, he needed to stop thinking about that insufferable old man. I put my foot on gas once more driving at a normal speed, when I really wanted to just floor it to the site.

My Grandfather had brought land about a third of the way up the mountain and built a lodge there.

In truth I think he stayed there year-round not hunting for Rogues but looking for – for my mother's body. He killed any Rogue he saw on site, no matter if they were involved or not. Rogues tend to be rabid, feral even, it's what happens to lone wolves without the protection, comfort and structure of the pack, they go mad.

It was a most fitting punishment for a criminal, it was the choice an Alpha would offer a pack member who had done something irredeemable. Banishment that lead to complete and total insanity or death at their Alphas hands. You'd think we'd have more complex laws and systems to follow as a supernatural species but we were straight forward with acts against our pack or person, if the criminal could not be forced into submission, then depending on the threat and how monstrous we Alpha's are feeling in the moment, its death or madness, no middle ground existed.

Even then I knew it was very rare for a strong member of the pack to be exiled, cases like that only take place if the wolf has committed an unforgivable crime like rebellion or murder. In such instances most Alphas simply petition, the Royal Family for permission to execute the wolf.

Though a case like that hasn't happened in 40 years, and I banned the exile of criminals, the second I was allowed to sit in on the council meetings.

Becoming a Rogue wolf meant madness, and if you survived that then your children were born without a pack, they would have been feral from the day they were born. The horror stories the palace guards would tell us as pups used to haunt my nightmares.

More beast than human, they simply attracted too much attention, it was better for everyone if they were put down.

Grandfather said he'd scented Richard Maine- most notorious feral rogue in our record, he was born to an Alphas bloodline long thought wiped out- in the area of my mother's disappearance, well, it was more the scene of a murder than a disappearance.

When I'd been told what had happened at first, I thought she'd been taken by those mutts but then Tristan totally lost his shit and there was no question about whether or not she was still alive.

I squeezed the steering wheel, my knuckles turning white, fingers nails aching to become claws. It was all down high from that day. Everything had gone to shit, and I was saddled with a mountain of responsibility, and a dead-beat dad.

"I almost forgot," Chase said whipping around to face me. "I have some news on this supposed rogue leader." Tilting my head to look at Chase, his expression taking on a look of seriousness.

The change of pace almost welcome after Tristan's antics even if the results of the investigation proved I had more things to worry about, then just the succession to the throne.

"Some news? What have you found? Are the rumours true?" Chase nods in understanding.

"Like I told you over the phone rumours started in Pinewood Grove the town just before Rogue Mountain, for the past few months, our watchers have been hearing whispers of some kind of unification of the rogues. The last rogue they caught was so strong it killed 2 of the local pack members." I listened keeping my eyes on the road processing all the information Chase provided, comparing it with the reports I've received.

Rogues are generally like pack omegas, weak lone wolves. It's very rare for a strong member of the pack to be exiled, cases like that only take place if the wolf has committed an unforgivable crime. In such instances most Alphas simply petition us, the Royal Family for permission to execute the wolf. I have not come across or signed off on any such cases since I unofficially took control.

There is the possibility that Tristan might have gotten his hands on the petition forms before I could see them but then I dismissed the thought, if he had gotten to them first then he would have issued a kill order.

"What did they get out of him?"