Forsaken.

"You okay, Red?" Donna asked as we stepped out of the portal.

I sighed. "Yeah. Just angry."

She looked around for a moment. We were in a forest with trees that towered into the sky. The earthy scent of mud and nature bloomed, even as the smell of smoke was mixed in. We ended up on a path that lead through the middle of the forest. Besides the wind running through the leaves, not a single sound could be heard.

"Where are we?" She asked me. "Why… can't I hear any animals?"

"We're about three hundred miles away from the pack house."

I started walking the path. It was well maintained, being regularly redone using gravel. The whiteness stood out among the dark earth around it and it crunched with every step.

"So, what now?" Donna walked beside me.

I paused and sat on a nearby tree that had fallen. Donna followed me and jumped up to sit next to me.

"The rogue you saw… it was more like a werewolf like from the underworld movies, right? Human-shaped body with a wolf-like head and stood on two feet?"

Donna shuddered. "Yeah. Fuckin' creepy. It wasn't anything like twilight!"

I huffed a laugh. "Yeah, that's what happens when it gets really bad. There's no flash of light and you magically transform. It's a painful process that changes your bone structure and muscles. Your bones crack and reform, and after the process is over, you will be a wolf that would be slightly larger than natural wolves. When a werewolf goes mad, the body doesn't know what to change and the man and wolf become one, giving them an appearance of both beast and man."

She nodded. "Okay. I get that. But what does that have to do with…" she waved her hand around the forest. "This?"

"Well, Not all rogues go crazy. Some simply aren't affected and other power through it. Most of them just live in the human world silently, while others go to places like this." I made a gesture at the surrounding forest.

There was a growl from the distance before we heard running paws and breaking branches. A moment later, we were surrounded by rogue wolves. They growled at us and their skin pulled back to reveal their teeth. There was a brown wolf who was staring at me with crescent eyes, The wolfs version of a smile.

"Bella." I said to the brown wolf.

I heard bones pop and five seconds later, a woman with light brown hair was standing in front of me. Naked as the day she was born.

"Birger… so wonderful to see you." She spoke in a sultry voice. "I see you have an… unturned wolf with you?"

I nodded. "Donna, this is Bella. She's the leader of the rogue wolves who live here. Think of her as the alpha."

"Hi!" She waved happily at Bella without an ounce of fear.

Bella's eyebrows rose. "She's fearless. You told her about rogue wolves?"

"Yeah, yeah, been there done that. I almost got killed by one, too." Donna spoke in my stead.

"Well, you heard her." I said to Bella. "Isaiah is…" I shook my head.

"Being stupid, I presume?" Bella finished for me.

I grunted. "He's not taking control of the pack properly."

"Well, then! He was always weak to his mate's words. I appreciate the peace as much as his new mate does but at the very least I expect blood."

Donna looked between us for a moment before her eyes widened. "You…"

Bella looked to Donna and spoke. "Oh, let me introduce myself. My name is Bella Reece, the previous mate of the Alpha King of the North American pack, Isaiah Reece."

Yeah, she did die that day. The mate bond between Isaiah and her broke. While we were killing the vampires, one of them had fallen on top of her and the blood from it had gushed into her mouth.

I should mention; making a vampire is a very difficult experience. It's not as simple as biting a human and they turn into an undead creature!

The same goes for werewolves.

The process for both requires the human to be… almost dead.

For werewolves it's more about getting their DNA injected into you, effectively making you inhuman. It's not magic in any way but rather, science. The adrenaline makes the humans blood rush through their entire system, moving the werewolves saliva and blood and whatever else was inside of them, all around their body. After a few days, they wake up thinking everything was normal and at the next full moon, they turn.

Vampires, on the other hand, are all about magic. The process for turning a human into a vampire is… more primal. There is more… bloodlust.

First, the human would be drained of blood to the very point of death. Secondly, the would-be-sire would cut an artery and feed the human the blood of a vampire. Unlike werewolves, the vampire in question has to be strong to turn a human, otherwise their would-be night-child will suck them dry. It requires a vampire that is strong enough to be able to move without any blood in their system.

In some cases, the would-be-sire gets drained completely and dies on the spot.

Or, in one in a million cases, this situation arises. When a vampire simply falls on top of a dead human, and the human turns.

Bella had died that night with a master vampire's blood draining directly down her throat. It had changed her into the only vampire/werewolf hybrid in existence.

Typically, vampire blood wouldn't do anything to a werewolf. They would simply stay dead.

And yet, for some odd reason that even I didn't know, she had crawled out of her grave the next day. She had immediately felt blood lust and came running to me. She had drank me dry, almost to the point of death, before she ran off into the woods in fear and shock.

She didn't want to live in a world where her mate was… no longer her mate.

She became a rogue.

Over time she had made her own 'pack' of sorts. It wasn't just werewolves. Vampires were here, as well.

I had visited her before I had left the pack. We were both two broken fools, crying at the loos of our mates. For her, though… it was like someone had ripped out a part of her heart.

The fear of death, followed by death, and the loss of the mate bond broke her. I had spent a few years here with her. Helping her live and guide other broken souls.

When I had though she was… well enough, to live on her own, I left. She was one of my best friends, as well as a sister to me.

"Alright, guys. Calm down. They're friends." She spoke to her wolves and they all shifted.

She started to walk up to me and I held a hand out to stop her advance. "Can you put some clothes on? I don't wanna see you naked!"

She huffed and put a hand on her hip. "How rude! Nathaniel, do you agree with him?"

A male werewolf, presumably Nathaniel, spoke with a thick, Hispanic accent as he grinned. "Nah, Bell. I can die happy now!"

She pointed her thumb at the man. "Ya see? He likes it just fine."

"Yeah, well maybe 𝘩𝘦 would like to see his sister naked. I, on the other hand, was not born in Alabama. Now put some fuckin' clothes on!"

Donna let out a laugh. "Damn, Red! She really got you blushing like that?"

"Shuddup, Donna!" I turned to her with a sly grin. "Want me to take my clothes off? See how you like it!"

I went to reach for my shirt and she stopped my hand.

"P-please." She gagged jokingly. "Don't do that."

"See? Doesn't feel good, now does it!" Her gaze moved to Nathaniel. "And quit fucking staring at them!"

She jumped and looked at me with a sheepish grin. "What~? Can you blame me? He's hot af~."

"Unfortunately, honey, I'm married!" Nathaniel said with a grin.

"Ugh. Boner kill!" Donna said as she stomped the ground.

Bella spoke up with a grin. "He's also married to a man so you didn't have a chance in the first place!"

"All the cute ones are gay! God dammit!" Donna shouted.

I laughed and patted her head. "When you shift, you'll find a mate. Until then I don't want to hear about any escapades, understood?"

She pouted. "Whatever."

I turned to Bella. "So, will you take her in?"

"Hmph. A request coming from the great Birger Age? How could I deny it? C'mon, we'll head to the pack house."

She stepped onto the path with the others trailing behind her. As they walked, they pulled out various clothing items they had stashed inside the forest. It was fairly common to stash clothes in the woods within your pack territory for situations like this. Of course, some just shifted back to wolves.

We followed behind them.

Nathaniel fell back to the rear and walked along side us. "So, darling. What's your story?"

Donna spoke without looking at him. "Pretty normal, I guess. Grew up, got a job, then I got attacked by a rogue."

Nathaniel nodded. "Hmm~ pretty normal, indeed. You got a boyfriend?"

She shook her head. "Nah. Ain't had the time. Though I am looking forward to getting a mate!"

Nathaniel smiled. It was one of those rare, genuine smiles. "It's a wonderful experience. Seeing someone for the first time and immediately thinking; 'he's mine.' You'll fall in love hard, darling. It's a whole new experience compared to human love."

"How will I know if they're my mate? Red explained it before, but I wanna hear it from someone with experience."

"It's…" he tilted his head. "Instinctual. They smell like the best thing you've ever smelled. So much that it'll have your mouth watering. They'll look perfect in your eyes and they'll love you unconditionally."

She nodded. "And what about your wolf? My wolf?"

He smiled again. "My wolf's name is Forger. It's like having two minds in the same body. We both think alike and love the same things and… it's wonderful."

Donna looked at him. "It's not weird? Being with another person all the time?"

"Mmm… it wasn't weird, per say. It just felt right. Like a missing piece came to me. Sure it was disorientating, but it's a… nice experience. You can always have someone to talk to about things, even things you can't tell your mate."

I stared at Nathaniel in silence. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘶𝘺… 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘭. 𝘏𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵.

I nodded and patted his back. "I'm gonna call you Nat."

He looked at me in confusion for a moment. "Uh… okay?"

I nodded again. "You're decent. You good in a fight?"

He tilted his head again. "Uh… I'm alright?"

"Take care of Donna, okay? Seeing as how Bella trusts you, I can assume you're better than most people."

He turned serious as he spoke. "I will. We may not be a pack, but we are pack, regardless."

I nodded again as their pack house came into view. It looked like they fixed up an old motel. It was two stories and had rooms along the outside with railing along the second floor. The parking lot was half full with different vehicles.

"Upgrades look nice." I said to Bella who was waiting for us.

She chuckled. "Yeah, I'm sure anything is better then that hut that we started with! We found this place around 1927. Fixed it up and Bob's your uncle! New permanent residence for the Forsaken-Pack."

I grinned at her. "Forsaken-Pack, huh?"

"'Cuz you guys are rogues?" Donna asked.

"No, darling. Because we are Forsaken. Rogue is a broad term for people who have been kicked out of a pack or never had a pack to begin with. Forsaken is a term we use to signify the difference." Nathaniel said.

"Then what is Forsaken?" Donna asked with a confused tone.

"People that have been abandoned by their pack, house, clan, or whatever they may call it. We are the ones who were in the right."

Donna turned to me in confusion.

"Rogues are people without a pack. Usually, they get kicked out for committing a crime."

She nodded for me to continue.

"Sometimes people are wrongly accused. The people you see here are the ones who've been abandoned by their leaders without a proper investigation."

Bella spoke up now. "Yes. I say we are a pack, but we are not just wolves. We have vampires, humans, werewolves, and even a Fae-Warrior. We are more like a family, rather than a pack."

"What's a Fae-Warrior?" Donna asked.

"They are a people who originated from Scotland. They are a supernatural race of warriors who protect the Tuathe Dé Danann."

"What's-" she cut herself off by shaking her head. "I'm not gonna fall into the rabbit hole. Jesus. I ask one thing and get two more questions."