When he made it to the bar, where he could smell all the shifters inside, he couldn’t believe his luck. And the fact that Hann welcomed him in and listened to him attentively, with no judgement or threats was crazy. Lukas had heard of the alpha in Maine, the shifter that preached that there was more to this world than black and white–that there was so much gray around us. Maybe those rumors and whisperings about Hann were true–maybe he was actually an alpha who cared.
Looking at Annie, Lukas felt he knew why. It could’ve been a public shame to have your only child be from a human woman. The child would more than likely become a halfie, and the chance of the kid even being able to shift was extremely low. Annie was lucky that she gained the skill and ability to shift. Lukas didn’t know how Hann not only raised this child as his underling, but also kept his status as the alpha of the pack. Anyone else would’ve been laughed out of town.
Maybe Hann was different. Lukas sure hoped–for his own sake–that he was.
“So, why are you a rogue?” Annie asked him, bringing him back to reality. He stared at her hard. She stared back, unflinching. He mentally gave her some kudos. Someone that sexy really shouldn’t be able to be this strong and intimidating. Not that he was intimidated. Just a bit turned on by her.
“So, why are you a halfie?” Lukas asked back, mimicked back, smirking. He wouldn’t tell his dirty, little secret, and he doubted that she would want to talk about her mother being a human.
“Well, it looks like we both are just gonna have to sit here in silence then, each of us thinking and assuming things about the other,” Annie mused, tapping her chin.
Lukas didn’t have a chance to respond before the door burst open, Hann standing with another shifter that Lukas had recognized when he first walked into the bar.
“I see you both managed to not kill each other,” Hann laughed as he entered the room, the shifter standing close to him and eyeing Lukas the whole time. Lukas smiled and waved slightly to the shifter, which seemed to clearly piss him off.
“So, what’d the pack say?” Annie asked, sitting up straight in her chair.
“Well, they’re not happy, of course. They believe that there is something going on, especially after I told them I knew about the Romanian slaughter. However, they don’t trust Lukas,” Hann told them. “But, I made it known that I am putting my trust in this boy, and if they so much as harm a hair on his head, they will answer to me.” Hann chuckled, and Annie rolled her eyes lovingly. Her father wasn’t cruel, but if he set up rules and someone disobeyed them, he was true to his word. He would make them pay, and everyone in the pack knew that.
“Thank you for saying that, Hann,” Lukas said as he stood up. He felt a bit of rumbling in his chest as Hann told him that he was protected, and he didn’t like it. He couldn’t get attached to this pack, even though the wolf in him called to others like him. He’d left the shifter society for a reason–and even though he desperately missed being with others of his kind–he knew that he had to stay away. Even if it made him a bit crazy. “I do, however, feel that I’ve overstayed my welcome. I’ll be leaving, now, but please do—”
Annie cut him off, standing up and glaring at him. “Wait, you’re leaving? Are you serious? You come here and warn of some big bad, and now you’re running away the first chance you get? You obviously weren’t so torn up about the idea of shifters dying, were you? You came here, told my father the scary news, and now you’re up and leaving before the rest of the rogues get here and find out what you’ve done.” Annie shook her head, crossing her arms.
“What exactly are you implying?” Lukas asked her, his voice low.
“You’re a coward. You think that you did something good today? How about you actually show up and fight the bastards that slaughtered a whole pack full of women and children, instead of just running away.”
“Annie, stop,” Hann said, stepping between the two of them before Lukas did something he was going to regret. He didn’t know why he let Annie get to him so easily. “Lukas, you are free to go whenever you see fit…. However, if you choose to stay around and fight with us, I will have your back. I know it doesn’t look like it right now, but so will Annie. And, so will Ross. We are aware of the rules that rogues cannot live with packs, but I will make an exception for you.”
Lukas didn’t know what to say. He stared at Hann, not truly believing what he was hearing. Every ounce of his being wanted to stay with Hann’s pack for a little bit. He wanted to have those feelings of being a part of something bigger than himself. And Hann saying that he would have his protection, and that he would go out on a limb with the Elders in order for Lukas to stay, was something that Lukas knew no other alpha would ever do for him.
“I don’t know what to say,” Lukas honestly told him.
“How about you sleep on it? I’ll set you up at the nicest hotel we have here in the middle of Maine, and you can think about what you want to do. Ignore my daughter. Whichever choice you make is yours alone, and none of those choices will make you a coward. You coming here in enemy territory to warn me shows that you’re far from it. I, personally, think that if you stay it could be beneficial to both of us. You could tell me more about Kaiser and his pack, so we can try and think like them. Then we can try and figure out what their next move could be. But of course, it’s up to you.”
“I respect you, Hann. I really do. So, I’ll sleep on it. Thank you for the kind offer.” Lukas tried to keep his face a mask, but he really just wanted to give Hann a hug.
Annie sighed, uncrossing her arms. “I don’t trust you, Rogue, but I trust my father more than anything else in this world. So, I stand by him and everything he just said.”
“Annie will also stop threatening you every chance she gets, won’t you darling?” Hann chuckled, playfully pinching her cheek as he walked by her. She swatted his hand away and pretended to go for a punch to his face.
Lukas thought they were the weirdest family he’d ever seen. Alphas didn’t act like this. And halfies sure as hell didn’t command as much respect or have a close relationship with their parents. Normally, the parent that was a shifter of the halfie tended to disregard raising their child–it was just what they did. So to see Hann, probably the biggest and strongest alpha in America, be an easy-going guy that had a halfie as his only kid was beyond weird to Lukas.
“Alright, I promise I’ll be nicer to the Rogue. I know he gets his feeling hurt easily,” Annie smirked at Lukas, and thoughts of what it would be like with her under him raced through his mind.
He knew that staying in Maine was going to get him in trouble in the long run. But suddenly, thoughts of leaving didn’t seem as important as they once were. Now, all he could think about was staying.
Chapter 3
Kaiser could smell betrayal in the air.
He looked around his camp, his wolves prancing in the moonlight, blood coating their fur. They had just gotten back from introducing themselves to a pack in the Tuscany hills. Those Italian shifters didn’t appreciate them, though. So Kaiser and his wolves had to show them what it meant to be respectful.
Kaiser couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Kaiser sniffed the air again, and betrayal was still there. He knew it had to do with Lukas. That damn rogue left in the middle of the night after their first hunt for wolves in Romania, and Kaiser hadn’t seen or heard from him since.
No one left in the middle of the night. Lukas was up to no good, and Kaiser had a feeling he knew where he went. He shouldn’t have even let Lukas into the group–many of his wolves howled against it. But Kaiser knew of Lukas–he knew what Lukas had done to become a rogue. And that interested him more than he wanted to let on. He wanted someone like that in his group. All he had were shifters that were dumb killers–he wanted an intelligent murderer. Someone like himself. He thought Lukas would be that person. He thought they could be partners, working with each other for Kaiser’s ultimate goal.
But
Lukas wasn’t the person Kaiser was looking for, obviously. And Kaiser cursed at himself for letting him in on his plans so quickly. He thought Lukas would get excited and start throwing out ideas of his own, but, instead, he just sat there drinking his whiskey and listening to Kaiser talk, his face an unreadable mask.
Kaiser was still ahead of Lukas, though. He didn’t let him in on everything. He still needed to keep some mystery around him–some fog.
So, wherever Lukas was right now, Kaiser could rest easy. He still had the upper hand. And once Kaiser found Lukas, he was going to make him pay for sneaking away from the group. Something was off with that. Sneaking out in the middle of the night? Someone was up to no good… And Kaiser wouldn’t stand for that.
Kaiser stood on top of one of the hills near his camp and howled, reveling in the moonlight and the breeze that ruffled his blood-drenched fur. His family all howled with him, harmonizing with their leader.
Kaiser didn’t smell betrayal anymore. He smelt victory.
Chapter 4
Annie didn’t know how she got stuck with escorting Lukas to the hotel he would be staying in. Oh, yeah–she’d volunteered. She mentally cursed herself as she drove him to the place, with him crammed in her passenger seat. She tried her hardest not to laugh at how squished and dumb he looked. She promised her father she’d be nice and on her best behavior. Even if she didn’t really trust Lukas, regardless of what her father said.
“Has anyone ever told you that your car is really small?” Lukas voiced, his face looking like he was beyond uncomfortable. Annie smiled but held in her laugh. She would not give this rogue the idea that they were now friends, regardless of how sexy he was.
“Wow, complaining how small cars are. Sounds like a first-world problem to me,” Annie shot back, and Lukas let out a short laugh, surprising both Annie and himself.
Annie pulled up to the hotel parking lot, getting out in the now raining weather. She pulled up the hood of the sweatshirt she’d grabbed before she left the bar, silently sending inappropriate insults to whoever it was in the sky that controlled the rain. Lukas got out of the car and walked by her side up to the front, not at all bothered by the rain that bounced off his leather jacket.
As they drew closer to the front door, both Annie and Lukas slowed down as they sensed something was off. Annie looked closer at the walls that weren’t lit up to see shadows moving. What the hell? Annie pushed Lukas away slightly and stood in front of him, not liking what she was seeing.
Then Grant stepped out of the shadows, a few other shifters behind him, and she mumbled a curse. She really did not want to deal with this right now. She stopped walking, Lukas bumping into her back slightly.
“Move aside, Annie,” Grant, a shifter in the pack, told her, stopping a few feet away from them. “This doesn’t concern you.”
“Don’t be a dumb ass, Grant,” Annie sighed, shaking her head. “My father told you all that he would deal with anyone that harmed Lukas. Do you really wanna risk that?”
“Your father will forgive us eventually–especially when he learns that this scum has been using him all along.”
“Oh, so I suppose you have proof of this, then?” Annie asked innocently, which only earned her a deeper glare from Grant.
“I suggest you get out of here, Annie. This is your last warning.”
“Or what?” Annie asked, stalking towards him and his posse. “You’re gonna do what to me, Grant? Because my dad will be upset if you mess with Lukas, but with me? Well, you’re gonna have a big problem if you so much as lay a finger on me. And that’s going to be after what I do to you. But go ahead–try. I would love to kick your ass.”
Grant glared at Annie, then looked at Lukas, who was behind her, his arms crossed and grinning. “What the fuck are you grinning about, scum?”
“I just think this is pleasant–I don’t even have to defend myself. Bravo, Anastasia,” Lukas smiled back at them, clapping his hands a few times, and Annie rolled her eyes. Why did he have to be an annoying ass in a time like this?
“Shut up, Lukas,” she yelled back at him, never taking her eyes off of Grant. “If you leave now, Grant, my father never has to know what you idiots were up to.”
Annie could see Grant’s friends behind him starting to shift and look away, the real threat of their alpha finally becoming real. Grant, himself, began to look unsure, and Annie knew she had won.
“This isn’t over,” Grant declared as he walked away, and Annie held in her bitter laugh.
“Bye, fellas. Be careful driving in this rain,” she sweetly told them, waving goodbye to them as they all left.
“Oh, they were absolutely charming,” Lukas said as he walked beside Annie, watching them go. “I feel so welcome, you all are doing such a great job at making this feel just like home.”
“You’re a pain in my ass,” she shot at him, walking into the hotel with Lukas having no choice but to laughingly walk in behind her.
Chapter 5
Lukas couldn’t help but stare at Annie as they walked to the hotel room. Watching her defend him back in the rain, her body drenched from the storm, surprised him. She stood up for him to her own pack members, even though she still didn’t trust him–and he didn’t blame her. Plus, that Grant seemed like a total dick. But Annie was able to hold her own, and Lukas didn’t mind watching the glimmer pop up in her eyes when she threatened to fight Grant and all his thug friends.
She was definitely not what he expected. Hell, these whole last few hours were definitely not what he expected. He thought he would be killed, or at the least brutally injured, before he ever got to Hann. But he knew he had to try.
Annie swiped the key card they got from the front desk to open the door, ushering him inside. She smiled at him politely as they entered the room, setting the key card on the dresser that also held a TV. The room wasn’t anything fancy, but to Lukas, who had been drifting and roaming from motel to campsite, this was the nicest place he’d slept in for quite a while.
“Alright, well just call me if you have any more problems with Grant–or anyone else in the pack, for that matter,” she told him, writing down her phone number on a little notepad that was on the desk in the room. “Okay, well… I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess. I’m sure my father will want to meet up with you at some time, so I’ll see you then.”
“Sounds good,” Lukas nodded, putting his hands in his pockets. He felt awkward, like he should say something nice. It couldn’t have been easy to defend him in front of her pack, yet she did it easily and better than he could have. “Thanks for outside, too. You didn’t have to. So thanks.” Lukas made a face–he sounded like a dick that didn’t ever say thank you to people even to himself.
Annie just laughed and walked to the door, opening it while looking back at him and smirking. “Please, I did that because my father would’ve killed me if something happened to you,” she told him. “But you’re welcome.”
She left him alone, with only his thoughts and memories to keep him company. He threw the only backpack that he had with him open, taking out the few possessions he had. He folded his clothes into the dresser the hotel room provided, shaking his head. When was the last time he had a dresser?
He remembered almost as soon as he thought it, memories coming rushing back in as if on an ocean wave that couldn’t be stopped. He was living in a little suburb of Kansas City at the time, working as a bartender. He had been a rogue for about a year, with no regrets to his name. He floated from town to town, always leaving when some shifter got wind of what he was. He stayed away from the cities and towns where the shifters congregated, only living in the places that were free of his own kind. But every now and then, a shifter would pass through and attempt to be a hero by killing Lukas.
In that suburb outside of Kansas City, he had been happy. He was a bartender at one of the local bars, not a great job but something that gave him enough money to have an apartment. He had friends
, he had dates, and he had memories. He felt as if maybe life would be okay there–he could see himself buying a house and even putting a damn, white, picket fence up if he found some lady to do it with him. To marry and have kids. Well, maybe not kids. He didn’t know how his potential wife would feel if he let slip that she would more than likely die after carrying his child. No… but a nice, little, human life wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
But then, a shifter was passing through from the east coast to Kansas City. The wolf stopped in the suburb because he got a whiff of something off. That something off just happened to be Lukas serving drinks during happy hour.
Lukas, sitting on the hotel bed, lost in his memories, remembered that day that a shifter walked through his bar, glaring at him. They got in a fist fight right there in front of all those humans–though the shifter was smart enough to not shift in his rage at everything that Lukas stood for. Rogues were evil. They were enemies. And this shifter wanted to kill him.
Lukas still didn’t know how he was able to get away from this shifter, but he did. He ran out of the bar, bleeding from every part of his body it seemed, the bar ruined behind him with a momentarily knocked out shifter that would wake up pissed off. He ran and never looked back.
Lukas regretted not going to say goodbye to his friends. They were good friends–hell, they were the best he ever had. He even had a girlfriend that he really liked. But he was so upset and angry, he just ran. He shifted into his wolf form and didn’t look back at the happiest moments of his life. And that eventually led to Lukas now sitting on his hotel bed regretting that he didn’t at least say goodbye. He just vanished, as if in thin air, leaving his friends wondering what ever happened to him.
Maybe now life will be different, Lukas thought. Here he was, helping out a pack that was actually accepting him–well, the alpha was. But that was still saying a lot. Lukas never thought he would have a shifter he could even consider a friend ever again, let alone have an alpha that wanted him to stick around for help.
Falling for the Rogue (Moonlight Wolves Book 1) Page 2
