Chapter 8

Rogue

-Horatio-

Taking a few deep breaths, I allow myself a moment to recompose myself. “Um, are you ok?” Someone asks gently, and I turn my head to see a man a few years older than me with dark brown hair and pale brown eyes.

I smile awkwardly, standing up and fiddling awkwardly with my hair as I see the man’s eyes widen as he catches sight of the four scars across my left eye and the claw marks across the right side of my neck.

His expression darkens with sadness, but his eyes are kind as he places a gentle hand on my arm, asking quietly “were you also attacked by rogues?” I stare at him dumbfounded for a moment, before shrugging.

“Nope, I am a rogue,” I explain, shoving my hands in my pockets. His expression changes to one of horror, and he pulls his hand back from my arm with a jerk, fear spiking through his expression. He takes several steps back, his hands trembling slightly as he grasps at the material of his jumper.

“O-oh, I- I see, I, um, I h-have to go,” he stammers out, turning around and almost instantly bumping into Myles, Xabien’s beta. “Caro? What’s wrong?” Myles asks, and I file the name Caro away in my memory as the jittery wolf.

Caro hides his face in Myles’s shoulder, and when the latter snakes a protective arm around Caro’s waist, I realise they must be mates. Myles looks up at me suspiciously, any kindness from when he led me to the alpha’s office earlier now gone.

The hostility in his gaze is evident, and I raise me hands defensively. “I literally didn’t do anything,” I reassure him, taking another step away from the scared wolf. Myles seems to suddenly remember who I am; the poor, dying, weak and vulnerable rogue who only just finished healing today, and his expression softens.

“Rat, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to accuse you of anything, it’s just um…Caro and I aren’t the biggest fan of rogues,” he explains gently, and I suddenly remember what Xabien said before about this - “Myles doesn’t have anything against you or your family personally, it’s more of a thing on principle. His mate went through something awful at the hands of rogues, and he’s very protective over his mate, as you can imagine.”

And, what did Caro say to me? “Were you also attacked by rogues?” So, this guy is scared of people like me, who don’t have a pack. The only difference between my family and most rogues, is that they were cast out of their packs for being pieces of shit or something, whereas my parents left of their own volition.

“It’s uh, fine, you already know I have a bias against alphas, so I’ll assume it’s the same thing,” I say softly, giving Myles a small smile before slipping past him, and making my way back to my own room. I need to decide what to say to Xabien about mating.

—————

-Caro-

I haven’t felt fear like that in a long time. Not since the trial two years ago, when I was forced to face my past head on. Myles holds me gently, and I wish again that we’d met at that point. It hurt, to sit in the stands totally alone, when the other poor victim had his entire family and mate by his side, whilst I had no one.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m so glad that Atticus has such wonderful, supportive people in his life, and he’s my best friend in the whole world, but…that was such a difficult day. Shuddering at the memory, I scent Myles gently, letting the calming fragrance soothe my frayed nerves.

“You’re safe here, ok? And Rat- he’s not like that, he’s a good guy. I wasn’t too thrilled about taking in three rogues to begin with, but his mother and sister are really lovely, and although I’ve only just started getting to know him, he’s not- he’s nothing like them, ok? I promise, I’ll never let anyone like them near you,” Myles says softly, kissing the top of my head.

I nod, knowing he’s right, and just waiting for my heartbeat to slow down to a normal pace. “I’m sorry, I know he’s probably just some random guy, but it’s like- it’s like those words just had this effect on me, and all my instincts were telling me he was going to hurt me.”

Myles hugs me tightly, kissing my forehead. “Never apologise for your trauma, my love. It’s ok, even Rat understood,” he reassures me, and I smile into his warmth. How I ended up with someone as sweet and incredible as Myles as my mate, I’ll never know.

I truly love him with the entirety of my heart.

—————

-Xabien-

I frown slightly, worried to hear that Caro had been so terrified just from his and Rat’s simple interaction. “And he’s alright now?” I ask my beta, and Myles nods. “Went and called Atticus, I think, so he’ll be fine. Speaking of, alpha Ceyden and the usual group are coming here in a few weeks, right?”

I nod, smiling at the mention of my best friend. “Yes, it’ll be Ceyden, his mate Riya, his father Rayen, his brother Atticus and his mate Blake,” I say, mentally counting them off on my fingers. Whilst Ceyden and Riya run the pack, Rayen is the previous alpha and still helps out a lot.

Atticus and Blake don’t actually live with the pack; although they visit near enough that they might as well.

“We’ll be doing the usual thing of our two families having dinner together,” I say, letting my mind wander to Rat. I wonder if we’ll be mated by then?

“Oh my God Xabien you found your mate?!” Myles practically screams, and I face-palm as I realise I said that out loud, not in my head. Clearing my throat, I nod slowly. “Yes, I had the name mate dream about a month ago,” I say calmly, hoping Myles won’t pick up that that’s the same time we took in three particular rogues.

Myles gasps, clasping hand to his mouth. “Oh my God- I didn’t think about it before, but I noticed how close you two were, and- eleven years is quite the age gap, but if you love each other then who’s really to judge?!”

I stare at him, bemused. “What the fuck are you talking about, Myles?” He claps excitedly, flapping his arms around with all his excess energy. “You and Harli obviously!”

I stare at him for a moment, disgust evident on my face. Myles seems taken aback by my reaction, and quickly recoils from me. “Oh- are you- you’d hate being with a rogue that much, huh?”

Rolling my eyes, I sigh. “No, that’s not it at all. It’s just, Harli is like a little sister to me, so that’s just creepy. My mate is Horatio, not Harli,” I say after a moment, waiting for Myles to get it. He looks at me blankly. Ok cool, he doesn’t get it at all.

“Um, Xabien- who’s Horatio? Pretty sure no one in this pack has a name like that.”

“Ugh oh my God Myles this is so obvious how haven’t you- you even worked out the timings you just didn’t- it’s Rat, as in Ho-rat-io. Understand now?”

Watching understanding crest on Myles face is pretty amusing, I can’t lie. It’s like a fresh sunrise as he smiles broadly at me, before his smile falters, falling off completely. “Oh- that’s- but- he hates alphas,” he says quietly, and I sigh, nodding.

“I know, which is why we haven’t decided if we’ll mate yet. You’re the only person who knows.”

My beta looks sad for me, but also honoured that I told him this. I’ll have to tell Rat that he knows now, but I don’t think he’ll mind too much.

“Oh- he came to visit you earlier though, that’s a good sign, right? I mean, if he completely hated you, he wouldn’t go out of his way to come see you?”

I grin at my friend, nodding. “Oh yes, I definitely don’t think he’d kiss and hug me if he hated me,” I muse, watching as Myles goes from confused to vibrating with excitement in a nanosecond.

“You and he- Xabien, there’s no way he doesn’t like you,” Myles confirms confidently, and I blush a little, hoping to the Gods that he’s right.