The rogue wolf appeared to be sleeping when I approached him.

You’re all good, I reminded myself. I had to be in a logical state of mind while dealing with the situation. I had dealt with rogues a few times before, although it wasn't very often. But Nic was off to Ottawa, and my dad had other important pack business to do, which left me to do the investigation work.

“Take him out if necessary, son,” dad had told me. “Do what’s necessary for the safety of our pack.”

I wasn’t sure if that would be necessary, now that I was looking at him. From this angle, he most definitely didn’t seem to be a threat. His face had an angelic look to it, and I almost felt sorry for planning to disrupt his slumber. Almost. I knew appearances could be deceiving, though.

“Hey,” I growled out to him, using my authoritative voice. Upon hearing the noise, he shot up and tensed immediately, looking around wildly before his eyes settled on mine. Immediately, his expression went cold, and he stayed frozen in the spot.

Now that I could see him more clearly, I could tell that he had been busted up a little bit. His hair was messy and unkempt, as if it hadn’t been brushed in days. He had a little nick on his left forehead, along with a few cuts, scratches, and bruises littering his skin.

“Who are you?” I asked him in a clear voice. “C’est quoi, ton nom?”

No answer.

“English?” I tried. “Français?”

He only stared at me blankly. I wondered if he was even from around here - maybe he didn’t speak English or French. Nevertheless, I switched to the universal default language when you had no idea what language to use.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” I assured him. “My name is Bennett, and I’m one of the pack members. I just want answers. Now, I just want to know your name.”

“Frankie.” His voice was low, with possibly a menacing undertone.

“Frankie...last name?”

“Just Frankie,” he said simply.

“Okay. Where are you from, Frankie?”

“Not from here.”

“That’s no surprise, I could tell you weren’t one of us,” I said. “What pack are you from originally? Do you even have a pack?”

He was silent for a moment. “I do.”

We both knew he was lying. I had interrogated enough people to know when I was being lied to, and this was one of those times. Something was up, and I was determined to find out what.

“Is that so?”

“Yes,” he claimed, although he was averting my eyes.

I raised my eyebrow, suspicious of his behaviour. There was more to this story than what he was letting on, and I had a couple of options right now. Option A - I could get rid of him quickly, and get this over with. Option B - I could take him back to my father’s study, and do some more interrogating to see if he was associated with anyone. Or, Option C - I could let him go.

Option C wasn’t in the picture, I wasn’t going to let him go and threaten the safety of our pack. Honestly, Option A would’ve been pretty promising in any other situation - except for some reason, I couldn’t quite bring myself to injure the particular wolf in front of me. Which left me with option B.

“Stand up,” I ordered. “I’m taking you back to my pack so we can do some more investigating.”

His eyes widened. “Now?”

“Yes, when else? Get up.”

Frankie wasn’t budging, and I was starting to get annoyed. I didn’t want to use my Alpha voice, either, as it tended to be pretty unpredictable.

“I told you to get up,” I repeated. “Either you comply, or I assume the worse, and I execute you right here for trespassing.”

I seriously hoped he would listen, because there was no way I was following through with that threat. To my relief, however, he sat up slowly and hauled himself to his feet with a grimace.

“This way,” I said.

Frankie took a step forward and gasped, buckling over. I was immediately by his side, supporting his weight as his face paled. I tried to take a closer look at where the injury was located. I noticed a line of blood just by his left leg, and cursed to myself. The blood was oozing out of his wound, and I knew if he hadn’t healed by now, then it was probably pretty bad.

“You’re hurt even worse than I thought,” I murmured quietly. I slipped an arm around him and prepared to hoist him up in my arms so I could carry him.

“Don’t!” Frankie’s eyes flashed murderously.

“You’re injured. I have to take you to the pack hospital.”

“I’ll be fine,” he dismissed. “I can walk.”

“You might have an infection of some sort, which needs to get checked out before it gets any worse,” I said, surprising myself. Since when did I care this much for rogues?

“No,” he pleaded, his eyes begging.

I was set to mindlink the pack paramedics and bring them over here so they could stretcher him to the hospital, but apparently he could read minds, too.

“There’s no need to mindlink anyone,” he muttered. “Don’t waste your resources on me. Just walk me there. Please.”

We headed over to the pack hospital, with me dragging him, and him hobbling on one leg. It was a slow walk, and on more than one occasion, I tried picking him up so we could quicken the process.

“No! Put me down, Bennett!”

“This is taking way too long!” I huffed. “If you want to make it to the hospital today, this is our only option.”

“Just drag me beside you, we’ll make it there fine!” I sighed and relented, returning to our slow pace.

Eventually, I decided to stop taking orders from him and scooped him up in my arms, with him growling angrily at me the entire time. I ignored him, and we managed to arrive at the hospital within the next 10 minutes.

For the next little while, I sat just outside his room, just in case he tried to do anything. I watched him through the window, enjoying his angelic expression he slept.

Shortly after, my father joined me.

“How is our guest doing?” he asked me formally.

“He’s resting,” I told him. “He was cut deeply in the leg with wolfsbane, according to the doctor.”

Dad nodded. “I see, then. Thank you for retrieving him. You are dismissed.”

“What?” I frowned. “But what about him?”

“His fate will be in my hands. Once he wakes, I will interrogate him.”

“Shouldn’t I interrogate him?”

“No, you will not. You have a swim class to get to, hm? Now, hurry up and head to the pool. It’s almost 6 o’clock.”

I hesitated. “What are you going to do with him?”

“I will do with him what I see fit,” he said authoritatively. “Now, go to your job.”