The New Rogue Kingdom

Tired and broken, Madeline was walking along the trail under the moon. It had been days since she had something to eat. She wished for anything, even a rat. If she would see one, she would devour it. She was in her wolf form as her human part didn't have the energy to go on the search for food.

She didn't remember how many days it was since she was exiled for almost killing another she-wolf. The wolf she was mated to, rejected her and took a chosen mate and called her a psycho. True, she had temper issues, but she was not a psycho. After her mate rejected her, she attacked the chosen mate and was on the verge of killing her when she was stopped.

She just wanted to show her mate that she was strong, but what she got out of it was, the punishment of exile.

"What are you doing here, psycho?" suddenly two men appeared before her with knives in their hands.

"I don't want any trouble, Dorlus, Sheng. I am just passing by," said Madeline.

"Passing by! Don't you know this is our territory," snapped Dorlus.

Madeline sniggered, "territory!!! Since when do rogues have territory? We are landless. We cannot put our roots anywhere, that's what getting exiled means. This forest is all we have, and now you want to fight among rogues for this tiny piece of land?"

"Land may be tiny, but food here is abundant. We cannot go to any wolf territory and human dwellings are far. If we control the food, we control you," laughed Sheng.

"Wolves are dying here, and you want to control the food?" snapped Madeline.

"Pay us, and we will give you a piece of juicy steak," winked Dorlus.

"Steak? Where did you get steak? Oh! So, you want to open a restaurant for rogues," teased Madeline.

"You dare make fun of us," Sheng gritted his teeth. Dorlus snapped his knife before him, its sharp edge shimmering under the moon, signalling Madeline to back up.

Suddenly, all three sniffed a new scent and were alert. There was another wolf in their vicinity. They looked around but saw no one.

"Who is there? Show yourself!!" shouted Dorlus and kept looking at the road in all directions, but no one came forward.

"Ha-ha, you think fools like you can control a territory?" laughed Seth.

All looked up to see Seth sitting on a tree branch staring at the drama that was unfolding before him.

"Oh, another one! I think we need to teach them a lesson," Sheng rolled his eyes. He immediately threw the knife at Seth. Sheng knew his knife was going to stab Seth in his eyes, he was that confident. But his confidence was shattered when Seth stopped the knife with his hands just inches away from his face.

"You think you can win against a beta?" smirked Seth, and threw the knife the next moment at Sheng. It plunged into Sheng's upper arm, and he cried in pain.

"Beta? You… you are the one everyone is talking about?" said Madeline and backed up a little.

Seth instantly jumped from the tree and within seconds he was over Dorlus, pinning him to the ground. "You think you declare a territory to be yours and you can have it. Do you have any leadership background? You are mere footmen! If you want to hold a territory, you need a leader, you need me. Work with me, and I will make sure you live. If not, I will kill you all right here, right now."

"You think you will be our leader? Don't make me laugh," snapped Dorlus.

Seth looked at him with squinted eyes. He raised his palm and with his forefinger slowly scratched Dorlus's face making him flinch with all the pain. "No one is laughing. But I can make you cry, if you want," said Seth, manically.

"Sorry, sorry, please forgive me. You are my leader. You are my leader. Please stop!" cried Dorlus.

"Haah…" scoffed Seth and sat up. "I didn't even begin, and he is asking me to stop." He looked at Madeline and smirked.

"I… I will be with you. You are my leader, no doubt," said Madeline and bowed down before him.

"Why are you walking in your wolf form?" asked Seth and stood up. "What is your name?"

"My name is Eris, my liege. My human, Madeline Osiston, is weak as she has not eaten in days. We were searching for food when they…"

"I heard," interrupted Seth. He smiled at Madeline, "are you the one who took down a she-wolf stronger than yourself?"

"Well, I would have killed her, but everyone intervened. She took my mate away from me. She needed punishment," said Madeline's wolf, Eris.

"Ha-ha, I like your style. You can be my beta," commanded Seth.

"Beta?" asked Madeline, shocked.

"Do you not want that position?" asked Seth.

"I… I was an Omega, a no one, with no position in my pack, and now you want me to be the beta?" she was shocked to her core.

"I don't care what position you were in. Remember we were stripped of all our ranks before they threw us out, before they exiled us from our packs, away from our families. We can make our own kingdom and then exact revenge on everyone who did us wrong," said Seth.

"What is your motivation for doing all this?" asked Madeline.

"I have to change my future. I have to get away from the darkness," said Seth.

"What do you mean?" asked Madeline.

"If you guys come with me, I will give you a family, a kingdom, greater than the Lycan Kingdom. We will make our own place and then snatch everything away from our enemies. Because soon they are about to get their lucky charm," Seth gritted his teeth.

"Lucky charm?" asked Dorlus, caressing his head.

Seth sighed and told them everything he knew about his future. Now everyone knew why he started killing newborns. All three were listening to his every word extremely carefully. They tried believing in what he was saying but it seemed far-fetched.

"Come on! As if that could happen," said Sheng and stood with the knife in his hand. Madeline noticed that he had pulled the knife from his arm himself and was standing without any pain. Drops of blood kept soiling his shirt.

"Don't believe me. Soon you will see with your own eyes," snapped Seth. "And in order to stop that from happening, I need an army. I alone cannot kill the prophesized one. I need help. So many wolves are giving birth and I cannot be at every place at once. I need more people."

"You think you can get us to work for you after you attacked us?" Sheng spat on the ground.

"If I wanted, I could have killed you, but I showed you mercy," Seth went into Sheng's face and growled. "If you want, you can challenge me. Let's see who's the alpha here." Seth was exuding alpha energy. He was ready to challenge everyone to a duel to establish his dominance. Sheng took a step back as the aura emanating from Seth was a strong one.

"All this just to kill some kid," asked Sheng.

"You have no idea what that kid will do to people against it. That kid will have the power to change all our futures," said Seth.

"Just because some soothsayer told you that, does that mean we should believe you?" asked Dorlus.

"Have you heard of Augur?" asked Seth.

"What!? Aug…ur. Augur told you that?" stammered Madeline. Even Dorlus and Sheng looked worried. Seth said nothing, just nodded at them.

"So are you with me?" asked Seth.

"Do we have any other option?" asked Dorlus.

"Not if you want to live. Whoever comes with me, gets to live, else why would I bring a backstabber in my pack?" asked Seth.

"Fine! But I am not killing any kid," said Sheng.

"I am fine with everything," smiled Madeline.

"And you?" asked Seth looking at Dorlus.

"I am with you," sighed Dorlus.

"So, let's establish our territory and invite as many rogues as we can. We will have an empire stronger than that weak emperor's Lycan kingdom," smirked Seth.

"By the way, where are your clothes?" asked Sheng to Madeline.

"I was looking for food. Do you really think I care about clothes now?" snapped Madeline.

"You guys should follow me. I have everything," said Seth and started walking forward.

"Food?" shouted Madeline.

"Yes!"

"Clothes?" asked Madeline.

"Yes!"

"Weapons?" asked Sheng.

"You won't believe your eyes," smiled Seth.

"Gold? Money?" asked Dorlus.

"I have been able to loot a little. But now I have you. We can keep growing our resources," laughed Seth.

And soon as per his words, rogues started coming into his pack and he started growing the territory. The Rogue pack now knew what their motivation was – to find the prophesized kid and kill it. The attacks kept growing and growing in every pack. No newborn was safe. No mother was safe.

No matter how much every pack increased the security, the attacks kept coming. And now they had only one solution, the Lycan Emperor himself, the best warrior among them, Alder Silvermaw.