The Princess And The Alpha *Excerpt Only*

Rogue

I dismounted Poison when the man asked me to. I knew I didn't have a lot of leverage now; I had crossed onto someone else's territory in the middle of the night, though I couldn't remember whose. I figured that if I was kind and well-mannered they would take me back to my parents, but would otherwise leave me alone. I mean, I was the princess after all; they wouldn't harm me unless they wanted every werewolf pack tracking them down and slaughtering them. Sadly, my idea of keeping my manners faded incredibly quickly as I watched the man who had caught me.

"You bastard!" I screamed when the man smacked his palm down on Poison's rump, making my horse rear up slightly before he took off, running back the way he came. I began running after him, hoping that I could grab him before he harmed himself, but man grabbed my arm, stopping me from moving another inch. "He could die because of you! What if he trips on his reins? What if his leg gets caught in a hole and he breaks it? What have you fucking done?!"

The man pulled me closer to him and my nose wrinkled instantly at the smell of him while I had to repress my need to gag. He smelt like rotting fish to me and the scent made a connection in my brain, even though it was faint. My stomach dropped at the correlation. This man was a rogue. I had crossed onto the rogue territory, where the mixed up lone wolves had somehow made their own society and got their own land by threatening surrounding packs. I suppose being in some sort of pack, even if it was mangled, had taken the more wild edge of the rogues, which, in turn, made them smell less strongly.

"Swearing isn't very lady like." The rogue murmured, his lips far too close to my ear.

I felt like I was going to throw up all over myself. Between the fear and the smell I wasn't sure my body could handle it. Part of me wanted to fight this rogue and make a run for it, but I had never been taught how to fight. Apparently, it was more important for a princess to know how to dance properly than it was for her to know how to defend herself, despite the fact that my parents had always made it clear that I was in danger. I swallowed the ball in my throat and decided to keep quiet. I could not fight, I knew that. I would just have to wait for my father and mother to come for me.

The rogue's hands slid down the sides of my designer riding jacket, making me shiver in disgust. I wanted to slap him and scream at him, but I knew that would lead to no good so I stood as still as I could and tried to remind myself that I would be okay. He couldn't do anything to me unless he was willing to risk his life and the safety of his entire pack. Royals were known for showing no mercy when threatened.

"Come on, let's go see the alpha." He murmured, letting go of my sides, but grabbing my arm in a vice-like grip again. I was mildly surprised by his strength; usually rogues were mangy and thin, weak from being half starved all the time. Living alone was not a good life for any wolf.

He tugged me along like I was a disobedient dog and as I followed him I started to look around the surrounding forest in the light of the moon. Everywhere I looked I saw the glint of large eyes catching the moon light and I repressed another shudder. Even if I could fight there were far too many of them for me to handle, far more than I knew of. When my father had told me about a rogue pack I had nearly laughed out loud, assuming it was only about ten deranged wolves banded together for personal gain. But now, I could see at least twenty wolves around me and I knew this was a much bigger problem than my father had ever let on. I silently cursed myself for not listening more intently to his warnings.

If the sheer size of the pack wasn't a big enough shock to me, the way they lived certainly was.

Everything was normal, which made my jaw drop.

I mean, they didn't live in a grand palace like I did; there weren't any stables or any massive training compounds. But they did live like most packs. They had houses, I counted at least sixteen homes just on the walk in, they had a building with a playground which must've been a little school, a grocery store, and a training compound too. It wasn't the bustling metropolis that some of the larger packs ended up as, but it seemed functional and structured, something that rogues were not.

And what nearly floored me completely was when I saw a young child running outside, excited by all the commotion and his mother quickly grab me and yank him back to her side as she watched me. I couldn't tell if she knew that I was the princess, but I could certainly see the fear in her eyes as she watched me being escorted passed her home. It made me feel like filth, like a villain and I dropped my head in shame.

"Get the alpha!" my captor shouted at someone and I almost snorted. It was amusing that they had a leader. But, then again, all of this structure and order had to come from somewhere. Someone scurried off to follow his orders though which impressed me, maybe there was more of a hierarchy here than I had ever thought.

A few moments later a man emerged from the largest home on the property, looking groggy and annoyed in his clothes that had obviously just been thrown on. My heart rate quickened at the sight of him, but dread filled me as my wolf became excited.

"No." I whispered as the man neared.

Once the man got himself together and ambled close enough, his eyes became serious as they scanned me over, then a smirk touched his lips. "Well, look at that, I guess the princess is all mine."

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