Marked By A Rogue: The Rogue Hybrid Book Three

by K. J. Padgett

  There were people waiting outside. Kids released early from their lessons playing out in the yard, parents scolding them when the wrestling got out of hand. My mother was there, her eyes burning a hole straight through my face. And Jamie... Jamie wouldn’t lift her head to meet my eyes.

  My chest tightened as she turned and walked back into the pack house. We hadn’t spoken a word the entire trip home. She’d been curled in the backseat, silently sobbing for hours through the night, well after the sun had crowned in the sky. I didn’t know what I could possibly say. I didn’t know what to feel.

  I’d made her promise me that she would stay in the car. She was never supposed to get involved in the fight. She was a lookout only. Or she should have been... I couldn’t begin to understand why she’d disobeyed me and broken that promise. I couldn’t begin to understand a lot of things right now.

  “Ryn!” A young, female voice called out.

  Before I knew what was happening, a small brunette girl threw herself into Ryn’s arms, hugging her tight. For a second, Ryn completely froze, and then with a small smile, she wrapped her arms around the girl and hugged her back.

  Katherine, I realized as she pulled herself away, one of the teenagers Ryn had pulled out of the dungeons during her escape. The same girl I’d been tracking for months.

  “I wouldn’t have made it without you,” she gave Ryn a watery smile. There was a look of such adoration on her face. I wasn’t sure if Ryn even realized it, but she was this girl’s new hero.

  “I’m just glad you’re okay,” Ryn answered.

  “How’s Sarah?” Katherine shifted on her feet, clearly worried. Putting two and two together, I gathered that Sarah was probably the raven-haired girl we’d rescued.

  “Arden is taking good care of her. I’m hopeful that she’ll recover.”

  I didn’t miss the lack of information that Ryn was willing to share. That didn’t bode well for the girl’s wellbeing. But I understood and appreciated her not freaking Katherine out. Even more concerning, Arden was taking care of the girl? Why would they possibly allow that?

  Katherine seemed to accept that. Her shoulders visibly relaxed.

  My mother’s phone rang, and she quickly answered it. She murmured something back to the person on the other line and then ended the call. When she approached us, there was a small smile on her face.

  “They’re here,” she told Katherine.

  Gravel crunched on the car path behind us, and I turned just in time to see the silver sedan jerk to a halt. The back door flew open, and a brunette boy with arms and legs for days jumped out.

  Katherine took off like a rocket and fuck me if tears didn’t burn the back of my throat as the two met in the middle. I knew that boy from the pictures Katherine’s parents had provided during my search. Sam was Katherine’s mate. They’d only found out shortly before her disappearance. Young... they were so young.

  Sam’s face crumpled as he held onto Katherine as if he’d never let go, and as his legs gave out beneath him, she followed him to the ground until they were sitting in the dirt, holding each other.

  “Kathrine!” her mother cried as she sank to the ground beside them.

  Both of Katherine’s parents wrapped their arms around the couple, whispering soothing words as they cried.

  I realized why Ryn had dragged me out here. For a moment, my broken heart swelled at the sight of this family reunited. For months now, they’d been holding onto the hope that Katherine was still alive. And here she was. A walking miracle.

  Katherine’s father turned his gaze to me and Ryn, his lips trembling as he mouthed, “Thank you.”

  A cool, porcelain palm pressed against mine, and our fingers intertwined. I looked at Ryn to find her already watching me.

  “This is why you do what you do,” she said simply. She looked back at the reunion, a small smile on her face. “You’re a protector, Aella. You did your job.”

  And Ser had done his...

  I wiped away the tear cascading down my cheek.

  After their sincere gratitude, Katherine and her family got into their car and started off down the gravel path. They’d promised to keep us updated on her health over the next few months as she was seen by their pack healers. Katherine rolled down her window and stuck her head out, waving goodbye to us.

  It was odd, to feel this strange joy in the midst of everything that my pack was going through. Guilt strangled me like a rope being pulled tight all around my body. How could I feel anything other than grief right now?

  I started to turn, heading back toward my house and the bed that beckoned. And then a scream ripped through the trees.

  33

  Ryn

  Every hair on my body started to stand on end.

  That scream... It sounded like a woman.

  Aella spun around, her eyes wildly searching the woods. And her mate, Wilder, was at her side in less than an instant.

  The pack alpha stepped in front of all of us.

  Crunching sounded in the woods, the sound of snapping twigs and rustling leaves.

  Luke stepped out of the treeline – his fist curled in the fabric of a petite woman’s oversized sweatshirt. She was so small, she practically dangled from his hand. Dark brown hair, coffee brown eyes accentuated by long eyelashes, and a button nose. I knew her instantly.

  “I caught this one spying in the woods. She tried running when she caught sight of me.” Luke’s face was feral, fangs flashing as he eyeballed the young woman.

  There was no time to react. Aella flew forward, a scream on her lips. Wilder caught her up in his arms as she thrashed against him.

  “I’ll kill you!” she screamed as she fought Wilder’s hold. “I’ll kill you, you monster!”

  “Aella stop,” he hissed in her ear. “Wait.”

  “She almost killed you!” she nearly screeched. “She almost killed me!”

  I could tell by the tense look on Wilder’s face that he remembered the ordeal just fine.

  “Stand down,” Alpha Kay commanded.

  Aella growled, but some of the fight seemed to die out of her as she stopped thrashing in Wilder’s arms. He still didn’t let her go. Smart move.

  “Who are you?” The alpha asked.

  I knew damned well that she knew who this was. The rogue that they’d been after. The very same rogue that had ended numerous lives in her bloodlust and hunting frenzy. She just wanted to hear her say it.

  “Camilla,” the girl replied in a slight voice.

  I blinked in surprise. In our time in the dungeon together, I hadn’t gotten her name. And it didn’t surpass me that she didn’t give the answer the alpha had expected. Nor did it go unnoticed that she wasn’t even trying to get away from Luke. She’d come looking for us for a reason. I just wasn’t sure what that reason could be.

  “You’re the one accused of crimes across state lines. Deaths of innocent people. Brutal attacks that have been life-changing for others.” Alpha Kay gestured toward Wilder - the only other known Hybrid in existence. “You attacked my daughter and her mate.”

  Camilla’s brown hair fell over her face as if she were trying to hide. But she gave a barely perceptible nod nonetheless.

  Alpha Kay’s face was severe. “Have you learned to control yourself?”

  “No,” Camilla whispered.

  “Then you will be put to death for your crimes.”

  My breath hitched in my throat. No. No this wasn’t right. Yes, Camilla had done atrocious things, but she hadn’t been in control. She was the product of monsters who had made her this way. How could we hold this girl responsible for what William and Loraine had done to her?

  I expected Camilla to fight back, to claw her way out of Luke’s grasp and go silver-eyed on us. But she didn’t. As she hung there, almost limp, I realized with startling clarity that this was what she wanted. This was why she’d come looking for us. She’d come to die.

  The alpha moved forward, her fingernails transforming to daggered claws that could
cut and tear. She reached Camilla in a few long strides, lifting her hand into the air for a blow that would be fatal. Oh god. Oh god...

  “No!” I launched forward.

  Alpha Kay’s arm paused mid-strike. I dove in front of Camilla, only for her to be yanked back by Luke.

  “Ryn, what are you doing?” he barked.

  “She’s the one who got me out of that dungeon. She saved me down there.”

  “Impossible,” Alpha Kay snapped.

  “No, it’s true!” I turned to find Camilla staring at me, wide-eyed. “She’s plagued by what the experimentation has done to her. She doesn’t want to be a killer. She helped me so that William and Loraine wouldn’t have an advantage. She doesn’t want this to happen to anyone else.”

  You could have heard a pen drop for the silence that followed. Even the birds had stopped chirping.

  “Ryn,” Aella breathed. “Stop this madness. The girl can’t live. She can’t be controlled.”

  “She’s right.” It was Camilla’s small voice that made me whirl around. “Please.”

  My eyes burned as she held me in her gaze, pleading for her own death. God. How brutal life had been to this girl...

  Maybe it was that pleading that changed the alpha’s tune. She lowered her arm, her claws changing back to human fingernails.

  “What are we supposed to do with her? Keep her on a chain?”

  “Mother!” Aella seethed. “Don’t do this! You can’t give her the chance to escape!”

  Alpha Kay looked between the simmering blonde and the defeated brunette – her mind seemingly made up. “We all deserve a second chance.”

  I stepped back to Luke’s side and placed my hand on his arm. He watched me for a long moment, his lips parted. Ever since I was taken by Brian, Luke was being extra careful with my safety. And here he held potentially the most dangerous supernatural on earth.

  “Are you sure about this?” He dropped his voice as if only I could hear him.

  With my other hand, I reached up to his face, brushing along the stubble on his cheek. Touching him again felt like taking a deep breath after a long time without oxygen.

  “I’m sure, Captain.” I winked, and a small smile curled at the corner of his mouth at the use of my old nickname for him. “You can let her go.”

  He did. Without his strength holding her above the ground, she fell at our feet and slumped forward, breathing hard. Her hands fisted in the dirt.

  “You’re making a mistake,” she said. I got the feeling that she was speaking specifically to me.

  I hoped that she was wrong. I saw goodness inside of her. She helped me when she never had to. She cared enough that other people never go through the kind of sick torture she went through that she risked everything to help me escape. She didn’t want to be a merciless killer.

  “Who’s going to teach her to control the beast?” Aella was out of Wilder’s hold and moving forward to stand over Camilla. Her jaw was tense, her eyes full of unspoken hatred. It was clear that even though I’d convinced her mother to believe in Camilla, it would take a lot longer for Aella to come around.

  “I will.”

  We all spun at the newcomer’s voice, and my eyeballs nearly popped right out of their sockets. This was the last person I’d ever expect to be volunteering their help. And yet, there was earnestness in that lilting, French accent.

  “I’ll teach her,” Arden’s emerald eyes blazed, and they were trained right on Camilla.

  Coming Next

  Can’t wait for the next book? Marked By A Hybrid, the final book in The Rogue Hybrid Series, is available for pre-order! Click on the image below to find out more or visit www.kjpadgett.com and sign up for my newsletter to be notified about the release!

  About the Author

  K. J. Padgett is the Indie Author of Marked By A Bite, book one in The Rogue Hybrid series. She has always had a fascination with monsters and loves to make them diverse and beautiful in her stories.

  Paranormal romance and urban fantasy are her favorites, but you can find her reading just about anything with a romantic plot involved.

  She lives in Florida with her husband, two pups, and rescue cat (who may be an evil mastermind).

  Acknowledgments

  I can't thank you (my amazing readers) enough for choosing to read this book, and I hope you’re as excited as I am for the final book in The Rogue Hybrid series!

  I am beyond grateful to my husband for his endless support and love. You are so awesome! Thank you for being my biggest fan.

  I also want to give a huge thank you to my family and friends who have always supported my writing dreams. You gave me the encouragement I needed to keep going.

  To find out more, please visit:

  www.kjpadgett.com