Kissed By The Moon

CHAPTER 11: Getting Ready

It has been a very interesting few days, for both good and bad reasons. Firstly, I haven't seen much of Brie since she found out that Monroe was her mate. I haven't seen much of Monroe either and I could not be happier for them. Similarly, Tim and I are now on very good terms and now I get to see the pleasant aspects of his personality which makes me understand him and Charles as mates so much better.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there was a rogue attack. I use the term 'attack' very loosely though because they didn't really get a chance to advance too far into the territory. It happened after my talk with Tim and Charles. After Charles left, I smelt something foal. I knew it was rogues, but they were still at a distance, likely on the outskirts. Any wolf that is kicked out or leaves a pack has an odour, it helps packs distinguish between rogues with nowhere to go and pack members just roaming unclaimed territories.

The smell brought me back to my childhood and I almost had a panic attack. I thought I was over this fear, but I guess there's just a residual fear that got exacerbated by me being home. I ran out of the room and went straight to Charles.

"Do you smell that," I whispered not wanting to cause too much of a scene.

"No, I don't, what is it, Mari?" Charles looked concerned.

"It's rogues, at the border, I can smell them Charles, they are advancing," I stressed, and he looked at for a brief moment, uncertain, but seemed to decide in his own mind that it was worth investigating even though he couldn't smell anything.

His eyes glazed over and I knew he was mind linking my dad.

"Alpha Nash says we should send a few warriors to go and check it out," he relayed.

"I'm going with them," I asserted, "I'm the only one who can smell them anyway," I added, trying to be more persuasive.

He hesitated but nodded his dead, seeing that I was determined to leave. He then called Tim over and we told him what was going on, he seemed sceptical, but after I insisted, he relented and agreed to give me a few warriors to go with.

I made sure to ask for Deidra, if a fight was going to break out, I wanted to be sure I had I fighter I knew was competent enough to have my back. The only people briefed on the possible attack were the 4 warriors I went with, everyone else resumed training as usual. We all shifted and ran to the border with me leading them to where I'd smelt the rogues. At first they were sceptical, especially after we passed the main border and border control reported nothing peculiar. I insisted we advanced and instructed the warriors at the border to remain alert as we advanced further. As we drew nearer, the warriors still could not smell them, but for me, the smell was almost overwhelming.

Rogues are not always dangerous. In fact, it is very rare that they are. When a wolf goes rogue, it firstly means they are without a pack which makes them vulnerable. Secondly, this vulnerability heightens their wolf's senses, and it becomes almost dominant, having prolonged instances of control. The humanity takes a back seat, and they are in extreme survival mode.

In the past, rogues were killed on sight because of the danger they posed, but when Diana unified all wolves and became the first royal, she did so with an army of rogues, and showed that there was a way to 'domesticate' rogues and essentially rehumanise them. However, the caveat is that if a wolf has been a rogue for more than 3 years, it's impossible to bring them back, and they do tend to be very dangerous since there's no humanity left.

When we got to the outer border Eris stopped. We were well withing their territory. The other warriors looked confused. Nothing was happening. There were no rogues in sight, but both Eres and I were sure. Deidra came close to me and mind linked me informing me that the other warriors were calling me crazy. I blocked the mind link so I could focus. There weren't many rogues, but that smell, it was too pungent. There were old rogues. Over 3 years, likely, which is uncommon.

I'd only ever smelt rogues that old once in my life, when there was an attack on Grey Valley, and we captured them. I was about 9, definitely too young to fight, but my father wanted me to see them so I would know their smell and appearance in case I was ever captured by someone who used them. I was taken aback by the scent and I braced myself for a battle. I mind linked the warriors that were with me and told them to brace themselves for old rogues, and their doubt was almost palpable, until the rogues attacked.

There were 3 of them, vicious, but we outnumbered them. The other 4 warriors paired up to take down two whilst Eres took one down on her own. It was a quick battel, only prolonged by the surprise of the attack. We managed to subdue them, and I mind linked my dad to our location and he sent warriors out to collect the rogues and hold them in custody.

They are still in custody and at the moment not much is known about the attack, mainly because the focus was quickly shifted back to the Ball since guests started arriving. The only thing we did know is that they were old rogues, and they were cloaked. Old rogues are rare because a rogue can't stay hidden for three years without running into a pack, whether on purpose or accidentally. These rogues were intentionally hidden, so we were not meant to find them until it was too late. There is definitely magic involved, which is odd because witches don't tend to interfere. The rogues that attacked Grey Valley weren't cloaked, evidence showed that they were being kept away from packs for those 3 years by someone who wanted to launch that attack.

Rogues don't cloak themselves, they can't, the only wolves that cloak themselves are ones in the human world who don't want to be identified by other wolves. I could always smell them though, but I minded my business. Although we interact with witches, they mostly stay hidden from our world, allowing themselves to be seen only when they want to be. This maintains the divine order of things. For a witch to give rouges a cloak, they have to have done it with the intention of launching an attack which would disturb an ancient peace.

You can imagine how on edge I've been. I was on edge when we welcomed guests, on edge when I gave tours to our allied packs, on edge when we welcomed members of the Royal Family and on edge even now, on the day of the Ball as I'm having a team of experts chosen by my mother do my hair makeup and everything else. Eres is restless and I don't blame her. This Ball is just a distraction from the threat that needs to be investigated before we hand the rogues over to the Royal Guard to be euthanised.

By 7:30pm, I'm ready for the Ball. Credit to my mother and her team, I look amazing. She picked everything from the hair down to the colour they paint my toes. She opted for a sequin one-arm dress made of a light chiffon that's sheer in most places but has a lining that covers the important areas. The dress has vines of sparkly sequins with small gems all over. My hair was put in a roller set and has been styled in a meticulous side part body wave that's reminiscent of a like 1940's femme fatal look.

I give myself a final once over in the mirror before I head out to my so called 'Welcome Ball' even though we all know it's an 'I'm Desperately Looking For a Mate' Ball.