A Rogue's Choice

KATIE

I was jolted awake by the sound of the front door being broken down. I quickly sat up on the mattress.

I immediately knew that it wasn’t my father or any of the other rogues. The scent was all wrong. Well, not wrong exactly, but I could smell other werewolves.

Despite my not being able to heal, my father said I was the best tracker he had. I guess you couldn’t be great at everything.

The scent of strange werewolves could mean one of two things. Either someone had followed me earlier, or my father's little killing spree had gone horribly wrong and one of the rogues had betrayed us.

I hoped it was the latter. If not, I was as good as dead!

The more pressing need now was to avoid being found. That could be a bit tricky.

The room I was in was nothing more than a glorified cupboard. It had no windows, and the only exit was the door that led back into the main room, which was now more than likely occupied by members of the Blood Moon Pack.

I stood with my back flush against the wall so that I would be behind the door when it opened and if it opened. Though I had no doubt it would. If I could smell them, likely, they could smell me.

My only hope was that all the crap of empty bottles and pizza boxes might mask it slightly. It was a vain hope, really.

“This place is a fucking tip!” I heard one voice say. It was a male.

I could smell three different scents.

“Someone’s still here. I can smell them!” a female voice grunted.

Shit! If she can smell me, she’ll be able to track where I am.

Some werewolves were warriors or fighters; others were trackers. The trackers were always better at scent discrimination, and a lot of packs had female trackers. They seemed to be good at it; I know I was.

The question now was, should I surrender, or should I try and make a break for it after distracting them?

I was small for a werewolf and fast. The Blood Moon Pack had a bad reputation for how they treated any rogues they captured.

I doubted they would be sympathetic; I had scared that alpha boy in the burger joint after all. So I decided to try and make a run for it.

If I surrendered, my father would be furious, but not so much if I was captured after putting up a fight.

Despite the way he treated me sometimes, all I really wanted to do was make him proud.

I silently waited behind the door. I’d heard two of them, but I knew there was a third.

I shoved my hands into my jeans pocket and smirked, finding the change that I hadn’t given to the alpha boy.

Poetic justice, kind of. If I threw a handful of coins in the first one’s face, it would give me at least a chance. I grasped a handful and waited.

I heard the woman, even though her voice was hushed to a whisper. “In there…”

I watched as the doorknob turned, my heart beating violently in my chest.

As it opened, I prepared myself. I figured that I maybe had an advantage, as my eyes were already accustomed to the dimly lit room.

The one who entered was the woman. She had long, blonde hair pulled up in a tight ponytail. I watched as she peered at the mattress, sniffing the air. Then she turned to where I was standing.

Still hidden in the shadow, I threw the coins at her face before she even saw me. Then I scuttled past her, running out the door.

Unfortunately, her screams had alerted the others, and before I could run very far, I was grabbed by huge arms.

This werewolf was bigger than any of the rogues and seemed bigger even than my father. I was small for a werewolf. Most she-wolves were usually close to six foot. In comparison, I was tiny at five foot and about four inches.

I squirmed and struggled, trying to get free, kicking my legs.

One arm was wrapped around my middle, pinning my arms to my sides, and the other was wrapped around my neck, threatening to cut off my air supply.

“Easy, pup!” he growled.

If that was supposed to scare me, it had the opposite effect.

I heard a growl as the blonde she-wolf stormed out of the room. She had a knife in her hand. With one look, I could see that the blade was made of silver.

“Fucking little bitch!” she hissed as she stormed across the room toward me.

My captor spun around to face her, then I heard another male voice. I knew there were three of them; I had smelled three separate scents, even from the closed-off room.

“Stand down, Carlotta! You know the alpha’s rules. No harming female prisoners!” His voice was authoritative, and he had an accent, which I suddenly realized was English.

Carlotta huffed and sheathed the knife, sneering at me. “You seriously think the alpha’s mate would be a runt like that?!”

The thought of being taken to an alpha to be his mate or his toy sent a wave of panic through me. No way!

I managed to twist my head slightly to the side and sank my teeth into my captor’s arm. I had tasted blood, so I knew I had bitten his arm deeply.

He immediately released me and jumped back, cradling his arm in pain.

“Fucking little mongrel!” he growled.

I immediately bolted toward the door, only to see it blocked by the other male.

He stood there, legs apart, arms folded. He was even bigger than the other one, if that was possible.

I didn’t slow down, and he looked a little surprised. When I was about four feet from him, I slipped to my knees and slid down the tiled hallway, aiming to slide right between his legs.

But as I looked up, I saw him smirk. Too late, I realized he knew my plan.

As I ducked down to slide between his legs, his knee came up and made contact with my nose.

The speed I was going at and the force of his knee hitting my face sent me plummeting backward.

I heard the crack as his kneecap crashed into my nose and tasted the blood as it rushed from my nose.

My vision started to blur almost instantly, and I groaned in pain.

“I thought you said no harming!” Carlotta chuckled.

“Collateral damage!” he replied, the last thing I heard before I passed out.

***

The first thing I felt when I came around was the pain in my face. My nose was throbbing, but it felt kind of numb.

Normally, when I was hurt or after my father had decided I needed punishment, I usually probed the affected area with my fingers to try and assess the damage.

I didn’t need to touch my nose to know that it was broken. Poking it with my fingers would only make the pain worse.

I opened my eyes, not surprised to find myself in a cell. I’d never been captured before. We’d had a few close calls, but had always managed to get away.

I was lying on a cot. The mattress was even thinner than the one in the house.

Before I had a chance to take in any more of my surroundings, I heard a voice I recognized.

“Well, well. If it isn’t Daddy’s little princess!”

I looked in the direction of the voice. “Terence! You fucker, you told them, didn’t you!”

He looked at me and laughed. “It’s every man—or should I say wolf—for himself.” He hesitated before continuing, “Besides, I might even be able to persuade them to let me have a little fun with you after they’ve finished with you!”

Despite the pain I was in, I jumped up and flew at the bars separating us. “You fucking bastard!” I hissed. “I’ll kill you!”

He quickly stepped away from the bars. I could sense his fear. He knew that given even half the chance, I would gut him like the pig that he was.

“You always were a fucking coward, Terence!” I hissed.

My attention was drawn away from Terence when I heard another voice I recognized.

“Step away from the bars, rogue! Face the wall, hands on your head,” he demanded, he being the werewolf responsible for the current state of my nose.

I glared at him and growled.

“Don’t make me ask you again!” he growled.

I turned around and slowly walked toward the back of the cell. Then I heard the cell door open, and I suddenly felt an excruciatingly painful jolt in my back.

I fell to the floor, groaning in pain.

“Too slow, pup!” He smirked. “When I tell you to do something, you do it the first time!”

I lay on the concrete floor, my heart racing, trying to get my breathing under control. I glanced around. He was carrying a rod that seemed to emit sparks of electricity coming from the end.

A cattle prod. He’d used a fucking cattle prod on me.

“Bring her,” he hissed.

Before I knew what was happening, I was roughly grabbed and dragged along the corridor to another room.

It was brightly lit and seemed to be empty, until I felt shackles being put around my wrists. They were suspended from the ceiling, and now, so was I.

I couldn’t even put my feet on the floor.

The guards retreated to the corner of the room, while my tormentor paced up and down in front of me. I’m sure he was relishing me being in agony.

The weight of my suspended body made the muscles and sinews in my arms scream as they were pulled tight.

If I thought my father was a sadist, he was nothing compared to this creep.

“Now, little Ridgeway pup, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. I would recommend the easy way!” He smirked.

I swallowed hard. After what he had just done, I was pissed off. I knew what he wanted before he even asked. He wanted me to betray my father.

That was never going to happen. I quite liked my heart where it was—in my chest. If they wanted to kill me, so be it; I wasn’t going to be a coward like Terence!

I glared at the bastard in front of me, and with every ounce of energy I could muster, I spat right in his face. “Fuck off, you piece of shit!” I growled.

He was furious. I could see the anger in his face and his eyes turn black, not the sort of communicating black, but the letting-your-angry-wolf-take-control sort of black.

He didn’t shift, though, just balled his fist. I felt the full force of it in my stomach, gasping and crying out in pain.

Before I had a chance to recover, his other fist hit me. I screamed, then coughed as blood escaped my lips. My head lolled forward as I tried to catch my breath.

I heard him gasp in surprise as more blood started to trickle from my mouth.

He walked closer and grabbed a fistful of my hair, yanking my head back. The pain in my scalp was nothing compared to the pain in my stomach.

He stared at my face, then pressed his thumb to my nose. I gurgled a scream in response as more blood erupted from my mouth. Then he stared at the cut on my face.

“Heal yourself, damn it!” he screamed at me.

I grimaced to smirk at him. I knew why he was screaming. His alpha would have his ass if females weren’t meant to be harmed.

Probably, in the past, he could beat them up, and they would heal.

“I…can’t!” I groaned.

He stared at me in horror. “What do you mean? You’re a werewolf; of course, you can! What happens when you shift?” he demanded.

If I hadn’t been in this much pain, I would have laughed at him. I shook my head as much as I could with him grasping my hair.

“Can’t... shift,” I whispered, feeling myself beginning to fade.

He let go of my hair, and my head slumped forward on my chest.

“Alec!” he growled. “Give me your knife!”

The guard called Alec, who I couldn’t see, sounded panicked. “You can’t, Beta! The alpha…”

“The alpha won’t know!” he hissed back.

“What won’t I know?”

The voice brought me back from the brink. There was something about it, strong and commanding.

“Step aside, Nathan!” the newcomer growled.

I knew without even trying to open my eyes that Beta Nathan had stepped to the side. I felt an overpowering presence of authority approach me.

“Fucking hell, Nathan! What did you do?” he growled.

I felt a large hand touch my face. The touch that should have caused me pleasure racked my body with pain as the electrical buzz going through my body stimulated the pain receptors of the injuries that Nathan had inflicted on my body.

My whimper turned into a cry of pain.

“It’s not my fault, Kane. She’s Ridgeway’s pup, but she isn’t normal. She’s not healing!”

I heard Kane growl. I wasn’t sure if it was at me or at Nathan.

“Alec! Cut her down and take her to medical!”

As the guard cut me down, the last thing I heard before the darkness took me was Alpha Kane’s voice.

“Nathan! You better fucking pray to the moon goddess that she doesn’t die!”