17

17

"What do you have planned for him?"

The question was low enough that I, the recipient of the question heard it, and mixed with the rustling of trees so un-intending ears could not hear, unless they were very zoned in on us anyway.

"I don't know what you are talking about." I respond. Zooming by Erin as a subtle attempt to say I was not discussing the human thief so early in the morning.

He was by my side in a second, like I didn't just leave him behind.

"You do and you won't be able to escape this conversation."

When I rolled out of bed this morning, I made a deal with myself, I was supposed to go as long as i could without any of my thoughts straying to the person shackled in the cell. I was doing so well until he drew my attention to him. I only thought of him twenty times in thirty minutes. Such a shame that I was going to start thinking about him every single second now, the deal was off.

"What do you want me to say?" I slow down. Jogging now, our speed came in handy but sometimes it was like they made time run for no just cause. I wanted to trap the feeling of the warm sun on my cheek for as long as i possibly could.

"I want you to tell me what you plan to do with him. It must hurt you incredibly when Lia and Calli torture him." He was jogging beside me.

I let out a low, dry laugh.

"And you said the moon goddess was not vile."

"She isn't." His voice was as weak as his argument.

"Yet I am feeling pain whenever he does, when he is not going to give up the corona. The more he holds on to the corona, the more pain he feels, the more of his pain I feel. And he knows none of this since he is human. That is the work of the moon goddess."

Erin winced but kept moving. We had a little unspoken competition between ourselves, the first person to falter during our run, was the one who lost.

"You are not going to accept him." He says simply.

He knew me too well.

"I won't. He is too weak. He won't be accepted by the pack, he is a thief, worst of all, he is human." I tell him while taking a bend, delving thicker into the trees, this was where Charles came through. I wanted to use this chance to check the place if it was fixed now. And do a little patrol.

"The fact that he is human is worse than anything else?" he sounded as baffled as he felt.

"Exactly." I say, my head whipping left and right. My senses on high alert, just in case I heard something.

"So you are actually scared he would reject you."

I slow into a walk now. Our competition forgotten. He slowed with me. I guess nobody won today.

"What did you say?"

If it were somebody else, they would apologize and never repeat themselves, but they were not Erin. Only Erin was Erin.

He shrugged as if, we were discussing the weather.

"You know human relationships aren't as simple as ours, we don't love the same. You feel everything, right now the Only thing you are to him is his captor. He might not like you, so before he rejects you.. you reject him first."

That felt like a punch in my gut. It left me speechless, so speechless that I just stared at Erin blankly. I never really thought that was why I was rejecting him. I just thought the moon goddess had made a huge mistake and well I was ready to carry on with my life.

"It's not your fault though. Anybody would do the same in your position. It's not like we know any body with humans for mates." Erin tried to salvage the situation. He was always a honest person. If you ever wanted a honest view of things, he was the best to tell you.

I take a deep breath. Grounding my senses again. Remembering what was important, my pack, my people, here. Not the human.

"I plan to send him away quietly. Nobody was to ever find out about our connection. Only you will know. Everything will return back to normal after he leaves."

I don't even feel half as confident as I sound. I was not even feeling confident. I felt hollow, like my insides were carving in.

Erin gave me a look that was half wonder, half pity. Our kind without mates were mostly called wandering souls. And there haven't been wandering souls in over a decade, yet I was the first to be one.

"I should be fine. I'm sure there are others out there who never find their mates."

Erin opened his mouth to say something when my ears pick up a snapping sound, faint but obvious that someone stepped on a dried twig. It was enough to tell me we were not alone.

Crouching down into a fight stance, I hone my hearing to pick up something else to indicate the presence of an intruder.

Erin whom I always thought should have gotten Grace instead of me since they both avoid fights and scuffles, noticed that I grew quiet and serious. Annoyance flashes through his irises, he did not want this any more than I did, but he stood, his back against my back.

We slowly circled the perimeter, our feet made no sound, trying to find our enemy before they found us.

Erin dove before I saw them. He landed squarely on one of the assailants, knocking him to the ground. He avoided fights but he was deadly when it came to fighting. His opponents always end up dead, reason why he detested fighting. His wolf loved to fight, another reason I feel like he should have been paired with Grace and not me.

I scan the area, they were few and they raced to attack me. From the way they were poised in the air, it was clear they were newbies. I jumped from my position in time to catch two by their necks. Flinging their body on trees, they land with a loud thump.

The last one tried to run away, but I needed information from him so it was not going to be easy. I swing my fist, catching the side of his head, enough to knock him out temporary.

"What do think they were here for?" He asked me like he was not affected by the dead person by his feet.

I looked around. My ears trying to pick up on any sound, any thing to indicate they were more than five. Asides the singing of the trees, there was a stillness in the air.

"Better question, how did they get in?"

This place needed to be checked out. Which I already told them, yet here we are. Like they say, if you want something done, you better do it yourself.

"They are rogues." Erin announced.

I turn to find him searching their pockets, I would ask why but it was important we knew who we were dealing with.

"How did you know?" I ask as I pull out my phone to send a text to the head of security. My dear human mate would be having cell mates. That is if the two I flung to the tree were not dead. My heart did a little dance as I remember the him I struggled not to think about.

"They aren't in the data base of our pack, so I checked other packs. And they were listed as wanted, wanted rogues."

My brows shoot into my hairline.

"Other packs?"

He nodded very casually like he didn't just say he broke into their security systems unnoticed.

I had seriously been underestimating the boy. And clearly hoarding him and his talent.

"They seem completely harmless. They are also very young. About the age to graduate." He noted.

"What are they wanted for?"

"The irony. Stealing. More than five counts."

I snort. Stealing must be trend around here. I walk to the two bodies slumped against the tree. One was gone, the other was barely hanging on. Something about rogues, they were easily breakable. A little thing to them causes unexplainable damage.

The head of security at the dungeon stopped in front me. He must have ran with everything inside of him. After getting that kind of text, it would be crazy if he didn't run like that.

"Get these two to a holding cell. Make sure they are alive. And they don't escape." I point at the two. He nods. Picking up the one that was barely alive.

"wait." I call out before he zoomed off.

Swallowing I ask.

"How is the human fairing?"

My heart thumped in my ears in anticipation of the whatever he was going to tell me.

"He died M."