MATE AND HIS LOVER 2

#8 Name

I didn't have a carefree childhood. My mother loved me, but she also wanted me to be perfect.

She had her reason to raise me like that, but whatever that be, when a child chases after perfection they end up losing their childhood.

The only times I've ever felt alive are when I'm with my friends: I forget the family pressure, the misfortune of being paired with a werewolf, and just about anything else.

But that bliss doesn't stay long: sooner or later loneliness catches me.

However, for better or worse, I hadn't felt lonely ever since I came to Red Peak. I'd been sad; I'd been jealous; I'd been angry. But never lonely.

Knowing he was right next door felt great. Hearing his voice, seeing his face, no matter how far away from, made me feel like everything is alright in my life.

During my younger years, when the pressure was turning into numbness I wanted to run away, so I could start feeling again, so I could start living again.

And the only place I ever thought of running to was into his arms. I thought of going to his pack, finding him, and asking him to run away with me.

We would go somewhere far away. I would start a new life with him. I would experience new things through him. I would see the world in a new way because of him.

But I never left my house. Probably because I was too scared, but could also be because I didn't trust he would run away with me if I asked him to. That he wouldn't leave his pack for anything or anyone, especially me.

Now I know for sure that's true. That's why I'm packing. Ready to leave him and Red Peak once and for all.

Just when I was going to ask Jenny if she had finished her packing, Sabrina runs in saying, "The rogues are here. The cursed ones, this time. Our men are fighting them off in a perimeter farther from our border!"

I press my lips tight, looking at Sabrina. She couldn't have picked a worse time. "Are you sure?" I ask her. "Remember what happened last time when you came here saying something similar?"

Sabrina nods quickly. "I'm sure. Leon, Jack, and everyone is out there! It's happening."

Nara touches my shoulder. "Let's go."

We drive to the border and see that it's empty.

"My brother and his men are fighting them off pretty far from the border. They didn't want any rogues even touching our land," Sabrina says.

"We're not going to see any rogues here?" I ask her.

She shakes her head.

"Alright, then," I tell her, "You get off here and inform your brother and Jack we are on our way to inspect one of the rogues. If they'd caught one that's great, but if not, ask them at least not to kill them all off."

She nods. My friends and I cross the border and keep driving.

After about twenty minutes, we hear them. It's a gut-wrenching, stomach-turning sound. The growls, whimpers, slashes, impacts, howls... everything reaches our ears disconcertingly.

I stop the car. We get off and carefully walk towards the battleground. We hide behind a large fallen tree.

As I look over the trunk and see the blood and spilled insides of the rogues, I want to throw up. I quickly slide back down and so does Jenny. Nara, however, continues to watch. I want to pull her down, too, but at least one of us should keep an eye out there.

A large grey wolf comes into view from the side of the fallen trunk. For a second, I panic, then I realize that's Jack.

"You need to let a rogue slip through so we could catch it," I say to the wolf.