THE ROGUE WOLF

by Klaire London

"So you brought her to me as a candidate for the Alpha Trials?" I don't know what the Alpha Trials are, but the words send me spinning into a world of confusion. For a second, I feel as though I've been submerged in a bucket filled with ice.

  The Alpha King's face scrunches with anger, and I expect him to shout at the top of his voice, roaring at Damien as to why he brought a weak, female rogue to see him.

  But he doesn't. Instead, he does the opposite: he nods.

  "She'll make a good competitor." Then he turns to me, but I refuse to meet his gaze. Those pale azure eyes would slice me apart like the Northern Wind if I did. "What is your name, rogue?"

  As much as I didn't want to reply, I couldn't help stop the words flow out of my mouth. "Don't call me rogue," I growl. I keep staring at the ground, studying the deer hide of my snow boots.

  The Alpha King walks up to me, and before I know it, his cold and rough fingers are on my chin. He automatically forces my head up, his eyes captivating mine.

  "Look at me when you talk to me." He demands, his disgusting touch leaving my face. "Now, I'll ask again, what is your name?" The seconds tick away, and his rage grows. I know that it's not long until he explodes.

  "Rogue." I reply. He wasn't my king. A king didn't kill those under his rule.

  "Your name." The Alpha King persists.

  "According to you, my name is rogue. Therefore I am Rogue." I say defiantly. I wasn't afraid to argue with the ruler any more. He was a blemish on our society. He had killed without reason. Never respect a soldier who kills for blood. Respect a warrior who kills for reason.

  In the blink of an eye, Damien is on me with a knife to my neck. All I can picture is the battlefield around us, my body pushed up against the tree. He wouldn't kill me. Not here.

  "Tell the King what your name is, or I swear to God I will slit your throat." Damien demands, the knife breaking the skin of my neck.

  "You won't kill me." I pant.

  "Tell me your goddamn name!" He shouts, and finally, I give in. I am not one to give up, but I had had enough struggle for one day.

  "Aurora. My name is Aurora." I say, and push Damien away, wiping my neck with one of my sleeves. It comes away soaked with crimson.

  I feel defeated, as if part of my soul has been torn away. Since when was I so soft? This wasn't the Aurora I had become accustomed to. This Aurora was different, yet I sensed that she was stronger.

  The King draws a shaky breath before continuing. "Well, Aurora. I am getting old, and I do not have long left. Nor do I have an heir to take my place when I die." The King begins to pace again, running a shaky hand through his flaking scalp. "Therefore, I have created The Alpha Trials to find the next Alpha King or Queen to take my place. Only Alpha males and shifting females are able to compete, and this is what makes you compatible to enter, if you chose to.

  "The challenges will consist of fighting within arena, against one other werewolf. Some fights will be with weapons, others without. With you being a rogue, if you get defeated, the winner will kill you.

  "You can accept my offer and become part of the Alpha Trials, or we can execute you tomorrow in the morning. It's your call." The Alpha King finally stops walking and sits back down in his throne, the huge metal piece of furniture appearing to swallow the shrinking man whole. "But the only way you will come out alive is if you win, Aurora. So, do you want to be part of the Alpha Trials or not?"

  He was asking me whether I wanted to die. Whether, after all these years, I would give myself up to be quietly beheaded, and just like that, I would be gone from the world. No one would remember me. I would be a cloud of dust in the memories of others; an unwanted part of their minds.

  Aurora Thompson was a fragment of glass from a smashed mirror that could never be mended. She was something that was never meant to exist in this world.

  No one had such a haunted past as I did, and yet I was still here, I had still battled through. And for what? To let some measly sword slice through my neck?

  I don't think so.

  I'm Aurora Thompson, and I'm a rogue. There is no shame to my name. No shame to the fact that I'm a rogue. I am Aurora, and no matter how much they torment me and scar my skin, they will never damage the real me inside.

  The Alpha Trials sounded daunting, but it was nothing a rogue couldn't handle. We had sat through blizzards in shaking tents, whilst they had played cards in the warmth of a vast castle.

  I have battled far too hard to surrender now.

  Because life is for the living, not for the dead. And I'm not dead. Not yet.

  I raise my chin higher, and stand as straight as I can. I want them to see that I'm not just any old rogue that just happens to be able to shift. I am stronger than they all anticipate.

  "Yes, I do." I say, my voice as strong as the tides of the sea.

  If I die, I die, but at least I would go down fighting. That's another thing that the Alpha King didn't know about rogues: we never gave up. Never.

  3 | Competitors

  ❝And I know that somewhere inside that cold, lifeless exterior, there's an actual human soul.❞

  Damien has disappeared. As I glance around, he is nowhere to be seen. I don't know why I even care, but I do. He's an alpha male, so that must mean that he's also a competitor. Maybe he went to catch up with all of the other tributes.

  The thought of fighting him again makes my body writhe with a strange sensation. I can't tell whether it's rage or excitement, except this time I know that I will beat him. I would not allow myself to die at his hands.

  I had since been directed away from the castle, and down flights of stairs to the cold dungeons beneath the grand building. Icy water drops slide along the walls, an eerie dripping noise reverberating throughout the chasm.

  "This way." The guard orders me as he opens the door to a cell, except this is no ordinary cell. The ceiling scales meters in the air, the cobblestone walls lit by single flame torches at random interval. Above my head, an ancient chandelier hangs from the ceiling, cobwebs coating the non-existent candle and wiry metal frame.

  But the main attraction of the room was the huge table in the middle. A variety of different meals are scattered onto the oak, and other werewolves sit around it, voices filling the otherwise stagnant air. All except five were male, and there were at least forty in the room. I'm surprised that they can all sit in here.

  As soon as the metal clanks open, everyone is silent. A thousand eyes peer at me from different angles, melting into my soul.

  They must know who I am, otherwise they wouldn't be staring at me the way they are.

  I straighten my clothes and pick up a plate from a side table. It was clear that these were the people I would be competing against, and looking at my competition, I stood little chance. As the Alpha King had warned, they were all Alpha's, muscles bulging, each trying to dominate one another.

  The guard has since left me to the wrath of the other competitors. It's not like I enjoyed having a guard, but at least he made me feel slightly safer than I did now.

  But hey, I could make some friends.

  I glance at the table and thousands of pair of eyes staring at me as if I was some goddess. I am pleased to find that the other end of the antique counter is deserted.

  "Welcome to the party, Rogue!" One shouted, causing the rest to chuckle. I feel my rage begin to grow into a tight ball of fury, but I won't release it. Not yet. I would save that for when we were all competing.

  They continue to peer after me as I saunter to the other end of the narrow room. "Quit staring." I utter confidently as I feel their gazes begin to drop. "It's rude."

  I take a seat and help myself to a portion of chicken from a dish in front of me. It was strange having everything here in front of me: as a rogue, I had relied on hunting to keep me alive.

  After taking my food, I look up again and see Damien at the head of the table. So that's where he disappeared to. His head was leant forward on his fist, single elbow propped up on the table in a powerful pose. His e
yes infiltrated my own, and I felt as though he was trying to burn a hole in my skin.

  Abruptly, plates clatter as two people come to sit opposite me, diverting my gaze from the mysterious Alpha who had previously held a knife to my neck.

  One was male, and the other was (thankfully) female. The man looked around nineteen with a mop of brown tresses, and beautiful eyes that I could gaze into all day. Not that I would, but they looked more as though they belonged on a woman rather than a fully grown man. His face wasn't as stern as Damien's, but softer and the boy sat before me actually looked genuinely kind.

  The girl had much sharper features, but she was beautiful as well as striking. Her eyes were a penetrating azure, constantly shifting from one object to the next. Her hair was slightly ruffled, but the otherwise the straight brunette hair didn't have a flaw. She was what I had always imagined a shifting female would look like.

  The male looked in the direction I had just been staring in, and saw Damien's glum expression as he started to pick at his food.

  "Looks like it's his time of the month again." The boy jerked his head towards Damien, flashing a smile my way. The girl let out a snort. After a few seconds, he politely held out this hand. "I'm Josh." He then signalled to the she-wolf beside him, "This is Azra. You must be the rogue."

  I don't know what to make of him calling me 'rogue.' He seemed like a nice guy, and he was actually trying to cooperate with me, proving that he didn't care whether I was a rogue or not.

  I take Josh's hand. His grip is strong and firm: he will not be easy to beat, although he looks it. Can I trust him, though? Trust was a foreign concept to me, but having a so called 'friend' could help my understanding.

  "Aurora." I say, leaving out my surname, because who the hell wanted to know my surname anyway?

  Josh greedily picked up a drumstick of chicken and ripped off a chunk of the charred flesh. "You missed the opening ceremony." Josh said after swallowing. "Don't worry, though. It was just a bunch of crappy fireworks and a parade around the whole city, and then we got blessed by the Alpha King. Nothing much." Josh shrugged his shoulders. I was trying to figure out whether he was joking or not.

  Azra rolled her eyes as she nudged her piece of chicken breast with her fork. "Don't mind him. He's just being an arsehole as usual." She looked up at me, confidence writhing within her cerulean irises. "Nice to meet you, Aurora."

  I nod at her, not because I don't want to talk to her, but because I don't know what to say. Having been separated from pack life for so long, this was all new to me, and to be frankly honest, I hated it.

  "Sorry about coming in like that." Josh apologised after another bit of meat. "You just looked lonely."

  I open my mouth to respond, but Azra beats me to it. "God, Josh. Leave her alone."

  "I didn't do anything!" Josh gaped at his friend. I wondered whether they were siblings, although the resemblance was almost non-existent.

  "You talked."

  "Since when was talking a crime?"

  "Since you opened that big fat gob of yours."

  "Now that is low." Josh retorted, leaving his food to fold his arms across his chest.

  "I'd get used to it, if I were you." Azra concluded with a roll of her perfect, pristine eyes. Then her sapphire orbs snapped to me once more. "Sorry. I've lived with him for ten years. You get annoyed after a while."

  So I guess that meant that they weren't siblings. They were childhood friends, just like I had been with some of the children at my old pack. I barely remembered their names to this day. After all, I wanted to forget as much as I could about the Shadow Claw pack. The memories would trigger nightmares if I didn't bury my ancient grudges.

  "It's ok." I say quietly. I was not a confident person. That much was obvious.

  "So what's it like, being a rogue and all?" Josh asked me. It felt as though my whole body had been picked up by an invisible force and hurled outside my comfort zone by a million miles. Did this guy understand how to be sensitive, because he wasn't pushing the right buttons.

  I glare at him. "There's no difference to a normal pack wolf."

  Josh looked puzzled, the happy look from his face disappearing somewhat. "Really? Because I've been told lots of stories where rogues are bloodthirsty creatures."

  "Do I look like a bloodthirsty creature?" I say in a monotone. The words slip from my mouth before I realise how bitter I was being to this boy. He had chosen to pluck up the courage and talk to me, so why was I trying to turn him away?

  "No." Josh glances at me, realising that it was an uncomfortable subject. "I was just curious. I've never met a rogue before."

  "Not many people have." I state. "But trust me, you're lucky you haven't. You wouldn't want to meet a real rogue."

  "A real rogue?"

  "The nightmare rogues. The ones that will tear you limb from limb and smile while doing it." I explain. Josh was just curious, as I would be, although he could have asked me in a more sensitive way. "I fled from my pack because they found out I could shift. The only reason I'm a rogue is because I don't belong in a pack registered under the Alpha King."

  Josh nods his head as he understands my situation. "That makes more sense."

  Azra once again rolls her eyes. "Just let her eat, Josh. If you were trying to flirt with her, then you could've been slightly more sensitive."

  Josh's cheeks heat up slightly, the pastel skin turning a light cherry. Even if he good looking, the thought of a boy trying to even get near me made my stomach churn and feel as though centauries were going to crash down on me. Love was something I no longer understood. It died the day my parents did.

  Perhaps love does exist, but not for me. I was a nobody going head on against the world, and the sad thing is that I don't even care if I lose. Ok, maybe that was a lie. I didn't want to die, but there are times when we no longer have a choice.

  The two people across from me don't talk and allow me to eat my food, but I can barely taste it. Fear was gushing its way through my system as I suddenly realised how unlikely it was that I was going to get out of this alive. It was not only the fear of my imminent death, but also how I would be killed. I didn't want to die a slow and miserable death. I didn't want to go up against Josh or Azra either because I felt as though I had connected with them, and fighting against my new 'friends' wouldn't feel right.

  When I finish my meal, I look back up the table to see someone I had hoped never to lay eyes on again. My heart begins to hammer in my chest, the steady thump thump being the only thing keeping me sane.

  Because before me sat the face of a demon. The crystal blemish in his eye was still visible, and his face was as unusual as I remembered it. Age had not faired him well.

  Titus. The one who discovered my secret and played a part in killing my parents. And since he's here, that can only mean one thing: he's alpha of the Shadow Claw pack.

  The bastard. I'm alpha.

  My throat is dry, burning for even a drop of water. I can't speak: it feels as though my vocal chords have been shredded. My limbs seem to have a mind of their own. They get up and walk over to the beast. Seconds click by, a clock whirring in my head, gears clicking into place, adrenaline being released into my bloodstream.

  Azra and Josh don't move. I can see from their confused expressions that they are unclear what my motives are.

  Titus doesn't realise that I'm standing there. He continues talking to the other alpha beside him, oblivious to my presence. I doubt he evens remembers me; the girl who could shift. I still don't see why it was considered a crime.

  So I do what anyone in my position would do to get his attention: I tap on his shoulder, his head turning in my direction, and I punch him in the face.

  Titus propels himself from the bench so that he is standing, his hands clenched in both shock and retaliation. "Hey! What the hell was that f-" Titus gazes at me, realising who I was. "Aurora? You're supposed to be dead." He growled, his wolf beginning to rise to the surface.