SCENT OF BETRAYAL

Kaiden

Kaidën

He was slaughtered like an animal. A common worthless animal.

“One day, I will kill all of them.” Riven spits out bitterly. I can't blame him. He holds in his hands, the body of his little brother, lifeless and pale. An open gash in the little boys neck, that reveals the cause of his death.

He was just a little kid, barely 14 years old in the last full moon. But the Shifters realm don't care. He is rogue, so he is deemed dangerous, violent, to be slaughtered without mercy. I rub my hands under my eyes, my muscles aching, but I refuse to rest. I have to make the rounds. See all my people.

Let them know that there is hope. Even though sometimes I wonder if there is. The shadows around me darken as they match my thoughts. We were raided againIt never stops. It's not enough that we've been banished into the forest.

The pack shifters have to remind us of what we are—outlaws that don't deserve any pity. A slaughterhouse to be picked from when they want to go on their justice killings. Anger throbs in my veins at the thought. "One day, Riven. But that day is not today, and you need to get that wound checked. I will call Akira."

He shakes his head before I finish, the tears already dried in his bloodshot eyes. I could never understand the pain he went through, finding his brother's body the way he did, but I know he can't let himself die from his own injuries.

As wolves, we tend to heal from any injury as long as it's not our throats torn out, or head detached, but rogues don't have that luxury. Part of our curse is a slower healing. To be deemed a rogue, is to be deemed worthy of the slow and painful death of injury. We heal from wounds fast, but not as fast as pack shifters.

"I want to kill them all." Riven's hard voice reaches me again.

I pat his shoulder stiffly. "Bury your brother, and treat your wounds, Riven. You need to be alive to take your revenge." My words sound dry even to my own ears, but he knows I mean them. Since become the Alpha of the rogue camp, I have seen the death of my people, and I haven't lost faith, but I have learnt to deal with it.

I can't afford to go into a rage every time my people are killed, not because I don’t feel rage, but because I have to lead them. They can only mourn and rage, because I remain levelheaded. "Alpha," a young woman suddenly appears before me, and drops to her knees.

I wave at her to stand, and her eyes barely meet mine. "Clegane is dead. He was slaughtered by the Alpha of the Shifters realm." I turn my head to the body in Riven's arms. Clegane? "What was he doing in the Shifters realm?" I ask.

"Akira, my alpha."

***

"You seem upset, my King."

The scratchy old voice I am familiar with greets my ears as I step into her coven. The wrinkly old woman standing in the middle of the room, with long white hair, grazing the ground turns to me. Her piercing white eyes match her hair, and if I wasn't an alpha, I would have been disconcerted by her stare.

Akira is one of the oldest Omega's among the rogues. Even older than my late father who died fighting the war. She was sentenced as a rogue a long time ago, but she had lived even longer as a pack shifter. I don't remember her offense exactly, but I know it has something to do with her sorcery.

Even now, there is a young man on her table, clad in a thin bare clothe, his eyes closed like he is dead. But I can hear the faint beat of his heart so I know he still lives. Sometimes, I see Akira as the mother figure I didn't have. My father was banished to become a rogue, but my mother was still a pack shifter at that time.

Before his official banishment, he and my mother had me, and left with no choice they had to be separated. Since my father's death, Akira is the only one who treats me like her child, so I try to listen to her words. Other times, I remember why she was banished in the first place. Her obsession with sorcery is rumored to be her downfall.

"Your mate will be the darkness that saves you, or the light that destroys you, my King." She still insists on calling me her King. Her eyes remain on the man she's working on.

"Why did you send Clegane to the Shifters realm?" My voice comes out hard. She must know that because of her, an innocent man is dead.

"I did not send him anywhere. He left of his own accord. I merely gave him an instruction to pass along the way."

An instruction?



Akira always speaks in riddles. Irritation flashes in me. "You will answer my questions directly, Akira. What was he doing there?"

She turns towards me at the hardening of my voice. "He went to pass the prophecy to the Luna."

The Prophecy.

An ancient prophecy the rogue camp has decided to believe in, despite how unlikely it is.

There is no Luna that will come and save the rogues. Happiness isn't waiting for my people in the hands of some powerful omega, but they don't believe this.

"I can see you still don't believe the prophecy, my King."

Of course, I don't.

And I have good reason not to, seeing that Clegane just lost his life. "I have seen things before you were born, and things after even your own children will be born. Your mate holds the key."

My mate.

It's the same story over again. "Now he is dead. What good does this prophecy bring if it only kills my people, Akira. My people die from attack, and now you are handing them over to be killed by pack shifters? I can have you beheaded for this.”

She shakes her head wistfully, "Clegane's death is sad, my King, but he had a part to play. I have played my part, and so must the rest of us, for the prophecy to be ful—" A cry of agony rings through the coven, and instantly I'm on alert.

The cry is coming from Akira's inner chambers, and it sounds like a woman in pain. For the first time, I see a look of fear on Akira's face.

"Who is in there?" I ask.

"My King, everyone must play their part." She repeats, and I push past her, and head towards the room.

I don't know what I expect to see, but it isn't a young girl, who looks barely 16 years old, lying in a pool of her own blood. Different weapons have been stabbed into her skin at different points of her body, and her blood is darkened almost to black.

I rush towards the girl. What sorcery is this? Her eyes can barely remain open.

"Al-alpha," she stutters weakly.

"Stay calm, I'll get you help, girl." But she shakes her head and mutters just a single word.

"Sc-scent."

I wouldn't have caught it if I wasn't leaning close to her.

That's all she manages to say, before she slumps.