To Kill a Mate

Chapter 21

Dawn's POV

The next day James had finally convinced me to get out and meet some of the other pack women around the village. While I usually would have no problem getting to know some of the pack members, deep down I was afraid they would hate me because I was an assassin and now they were all threatened because of me.

As soon as I got to know some of the pack moms and their children, I realized that they wouldn't judge me because of what I was brought up to believe. They instantly accepted me into their pack and integrated me into the way everything worked around the territory, teaching me that little things that were important to help keep the pack running smoothly.

While some of the mothers and I were inside the pack house kitchen making lunch for the children while they were outside playing in the front yard, I got to know one of the older women in the pack.

She was very helpful in getting used to the whole mate thing and giving me some helpful advice on how to adjust to pack life.

Once we were finished and were pilling all of the sandwiches we had made onto a large platter for lunch, there was a loud, high pitch scream that came from just outside the pack house. Sprinting outside, there were frightened children and mothers scattered everywhere.

"Alex, what happened?" I asked one of the younger boys that had been playing in the yard.

"We were.. all playing and.." He staggered out in between gasps and tears that were streaming down his young face. "They took.. Sieva.." he managed out and my eyes instantly snapped up to search around the yard.

"Who took Sieva?" I asked quickly, bending down to get Alex's attention.

"The.. rogue.." My wolf snarled out loud after Alex answered, my luna instincts kicking in with the need to protect my pack. I quickly sprinted off a few hundred yards from everyone and shifted into my wolf, sniffing the air to try and catch the rogue or Sieva's scent on the breeze.

Sieva was a young seven year old girl that lived in the pack with her aunt and uncle. Her mother had sadly passed away giving birth to her and her father wasn't able to live without his mate for more than a few years before he put himself on the front line of battle and didn't return. Now, Sieva was a brilliant, beautiful orphaned girl and I would die before I let some filthy rogues get their hands on her.

Picking up her faint scent, I bulleted off to the north east following her scent as best I could. Racing through the trees, I faintly began to pick up on her scent getting stronger and stronger until it seemed as if I was right on top of them.

I burst through a thick patch of trees only to skid to a halt when I was surprised to see Micah and around ten other rogues all waiting for me in a clearing with Sieva facing me standing next to Micah with tears welling up in her tiny eyes.

"Dawn! What a surprise meeting you here." Micah called out with a smirk on his smug face. My wolf emitted a low growl in response, never taking her eyes of Sieva's scared form.

"Throw her some clothes." Micah ordered one of the rogues to his left and they quickly threw a pair of shorts and a large t-shirt my way. Pulling them on after I shifted back, I simply glared at Micah as he put his hand on Sieva's shoulder making her flinch away from him as she shook with fear.

"What is this about, Micah?" I snarled at him while trying to think of a way to get Sieva out of here and back to the pack without injury.

"This is about you and me." Micah sneered back, pulling Sieva closer to him simply to spite me. "I want to settle this."

"Settle what?"

"Don't play stupid, Dawn. I want your head, but I don't want it to be that easy either." He released Sieva, pushing her away from his side and forcing her to stumble into one of the rogues. "I'm tired of the games: you kill my guy, I kill yours." I knew he was talking about Marcus being "his guy" and Sieva was clearly "my guy" to kill now, which wasn't going to happen while I was still up and kicking.