Dangerous Love: The Rogue Queen

Aylin was devastated. She couldn’t believe what had happened. Tears began to fall down her face, and she started backing away from the cheering crowd.

After shifting into her auburn-colored wolf, she ran home. Her paws were pounding against the ground, her head throbbing.

“Go back to Mate!” her wolf, Kaia, screamed in her head.

“No! He doesn’t want us!” Aylin snapped back, immediately shutting her out.

Everything around her completely shattered. Her whole world. The hope she had was immediately sucked out of her.

Seeing the man that was supposed to love and cherish her kiss another woman was too much for her soul to deal with.

After arriving back at her house, she stormed through her back door, sliding the door shut so hard that the glass cracked.

She bolted upstairs to her room and turned on the shower. The hot water ran over her aching bones, but it did nothing for the pain she felt in her heart.

All she could think about was the bouncy, gorgeous, long-legged dirty blonde bounding up the stairs, wrapping her arms around Daemon’s neck, and planting a kiss right on his lips.

She was perfect. Blue eyes to die for, a full bust—everything a man could want, including Aylin’s would-be mate.

After exiting the shower, she put on a pair of loose-fitting sweatpants with an oversized T-shirt.

She plopped on her bed and stared at the ceiling, wondering what to do next. Daemon never rejected her, which meant the mate bond was still between them.

Lying on her back, she stared at the white ceiling for an undetermined amount of time before rolling to her side. She hoped that this was all a bad dream.

Maybe if she closed her eyes, she would wake up, and everything would be all right. Before she knew it, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

A knock on her front door roused her out of bed. Darting for the door, she hoped it was Daemon coming to tell her that he’d rejected Ophelia and chosen her instead.

Upon opening the door, her heart swelled with happiness when she saw him.

“Alpha,” she said, bowing.

“Aylin,” he said coolly. She moved aside, and he came into the house. “I’m sure you know why I’m here.”

Playing dumb, she lied to him. “No, I don’t think I do.”

“I, Daemon Morris, reject you, Aylin Turner, as my mate and luna.” His cold words fell on her, destroying her. She dropped to her knees, and Daemon took one last look at her and left her on the floor.

Hearing the click of the front door, Aylin released a scream that shook the whole house. She curled up into a ball. She could already feel the mate bond breaking.

It felt like her muscles were being shredded from her bones, and her heart was on fire, burning in her chest.

She was being crushed from the inside, and her soul was ripping apart. Her entire reason for existing was torn from her, and she wanted to die.

“I’m sorry,” Daemon whispered, hearing the howl from the house behind him. He walked back to the pack house to look for his luna.

***

Hours went by before she finally willed herself to get up. She bolted up the stairs to her bedroom.

Packing a bag with a few things she would need, she decided she was going to leave Dark Moon Pack. No one would notice, nor would anyone care.

It was official.

Aylin Turner was a rogue.

***

Three weeks had passed since Aylin had left her pack. From the moment she left, she could feel herself falling further into depression. Sleep was hard to come by, and she was running out of money.

When she looked at her reflection in the mirror, the person staring back was unrecognizable.

The bags under her eyes were growing larger with each passing day. Her once well-groomed chestnut hair was becoming stringy, and her skin was losing its glow.

No one from her old pack knew that she was gone, nor did they care. If they did, they would have tracked her scent and dragged her back by now.

Laying on the hard, uncomfortable motel bed, Aylin wanted to cry, but she didn’t have the energy to exert anymore.

Staring at the bland, white ceiling, she tortured herself with thoughts of what her life could have been. The more she did that, the more she wanted to crawl under a rock and die.

Her life was meaningless now, left to her own devices.

Waking up the next morning filled her with dread. She packed her things and aimlessly left the shabby motel on the side of the nothing highway.

Not having a car, her feet were her only means of transportation.

Aylin wasn’t even sure where she was. Was she still in her old pack’s land, or was she in another pack’s land? If she was, then she would certainly be caught and thrown in a cell.

Even if she was, who would care? She would rot alone in a dank cell for the rest of her days. Seemed to be a fitting end to her life. Aylin’s hopes and dreams were crushed.

As the day wore on, cars became scarce, although the occasional one would speed right by her, the driver not even batting an eye. No one stopped. No one cared.

Nightfall came, and Aylin was nowhere near a town or even another moldy, crappy motel to spend the night.

The only thing she could think of was to hunker down in the woods for the night. It was cold, but she didn’t care. Her feet were blistered, and her body was giving out. Aylin’s will to continue was gone.

Stepping off the highway, she slung her bag across her body and found a somewhat comfortable spot to sleep for the night.

She walked into the woods. Crickets were singing their song as the moon rose. Aylin found a large tree in a place about a quarter of a mile in.

Resting her weary body against it, she hoped this would be the night that her body would fail. She hoped that her heart would just stop beating and end the torment.

Closing her eyes, she slipped into blackness.

***

Howls in the distance startled Aylin out of her sleep. She’d been found, and they were closing in on her.

Leaping to her feet, she took off as fast as she could. She had blocked out her wolf weeks ago, so her shift became impossible.

Having not taken care of her body the way she should, her form was already weakened. Wolves were hot on her heels, and she felt their hot breath across her back.

The cold air was biting her skin as she ran, her feet pounding into the dirt. Aylin’s heart was racing and on fire. It felt like she wasn’t making any headway. She could feel them gaining on her.

Before she knew it, her face hit the dirt hard. She’d tripped over a tree root that was barely poking out. Because it was nighttime, her vision was slightly obscured.

Her head was spinning, and her vision clouded. Warm breath fanned her face. She could see golden eyes staring back at her.

After letting out a small scoff at the wolf in her face, Aylin passed out.

***

Shouting roused Aylin out of her slumber. The clanking of silver chains burned her skin the moment she moved her wrists.

Hissing in pain, she focused her eyes as much as she could. Dank cement walls were the second thing she noticed.

Sitting up completely, she rested the back of her head against the wall. There were two men arguing on the other side of the bars. Their shadows were dancing against the wall beside them.

A slight clank of the chains whipped their shadowed forms at Aylin.

“You know the rules!” the one on the right growled.

“Sir—”

“The king will not be pleased with this!”

The one on the left bowed. “Sir, I realize it’s our law, but there is something different about her,” he reasoned.

“Then you can explain yourself and your actions to the king,” the right one snapped back.

One shadow stalked off, and the other observed Aylin in the cell. “You better be worth the trouble, little girl.”

Hearing the shadow man’s words, Aylin snickered. “I’m not worth anything. Just let me die.”

He stopped dead in his tracks and cocked his head to the side as he walked toward the stairs. Clearly, he was confused. “If that’s the case, the king will kill you.”

“Fine,” she huffed. “I’m done with this life anyway.”

Dropping his shoulders, he walked away, shaking his head.

Why this wolf decided that Aylin was worth it, she didn’t know. She wasn’t. In her mind, death was the only release that she would have. Maybe this king was her answer.

She was tired, weak, and unworthy.

“Whoever you are, King, I beg you, end my life.”