We spent the rest of the afternoon finishing our evaluation. I made my fight with Seth quick. I knew that it would hurt him to hurt me. I did not want to put that onto him. After being "overpowered" by three lower-ranking wolves, our wolves were beyond annoyed. I seriously wanted to mutilate someone. I distanced myself from others. I knew if anyone got too close, I would injure them.
We ended up scoring a C on our evaluation. It was annoying, but we would live.
The moment the evaluation was over, Soren and I went out for a run. I am surprised that they did not try to tackle us when we told them. Running was a great release from stress and annoyance. We ran for about 20 minutes before coming to a stop by a stream.
The stream was breathtaking. The stream was crystal clear with multiple hues of blue. The rocks in the middle of the stream could be seen as steppingstones. Of course, it was not suggested though, as with all the moss and water on them you would slip if you were not careful. There were pine trees surrounding the entirety of the stream.
There were a variety of fish species swimming together as one. Their assorted colors reminded me of a rainbow. Is it narcissistic to be astonished by something you have created? "It makes me proud to know that we created this," Soren says to me as she continues to look at the stream. "Yeah. You know it never really feels like we are the "Myths" every wolf talks so highly about, but then I see this. This life that we created. The life that we are maintaining."
"Do you find it a little unusual?" Soren turns her head to look at me. "What?" I ask. "The fact that we have so much freedom. We are "rouges" that just happen to enter their territory and they let us in with open arms. They let us roam their territory without a second thought. Even with you being Seth's mate, this doesn't seem right."
I thought about what she said, and she does have a point. No alpha or pack for that matter would just let strangers, rouges at that, run through their lands. Mate or not. "Not unless they had some way of keeping tabs on us," I respond with suspicion laced in my voice. It is how they are tracking us that I am worried about.
I did not like this. "Listen," Soren commands. We stood still for a moment, closed our eyes, and listened. We heard the steady rhythm of the stream, the sounds of the birds chirping up in the trees, the whistles of the wind, and the animals who were grazing around the area.
It was peaceful and calm. It was the ideal environment you would want to be in. Everything sounded natural until I started to hear a footstep that was heavier than the animals that were roaming these grounds. It was the sound of a paw step. Specifically, one that of a wolf.
They were a distance from us. They were not close enough to hear our conversation, but close enough to keep watch. The fact that there was a wolf lurking, and we did not hear, was concerning.
We need to be more careful about what we say and do.
When I opened my eyes, I found Soren already looking at me. It was a little creepy and it made me jump. "You startled me," I say to her, but she pays me no mind. She wasn't just staring at me.
She was looking at me like a predator sizing up its prey. It was then I saw that she was not looking at me, but behind me.
I slowly turned to look at what she was staring at. I turned to find myself staring at a large, but malnourished wolf. Its orange eyes stare directly at me. It looked like a rouge, but how would a rouge make it this deep into the territory? Especially when a guard was watching us right at this moment.
The wolf I heard could not have been a rouge. Rouge's steps are lighter than that of a properly fed wolf. The wolf I heard is farther back and towards the direction Soren and I had just come from.
This wolf seems like it came from the direction of the outskirts of the land. I do not know if the guard watching us did not see the wolf because it was too focused on us or did not want to attack it because it did not want us to know that it had been following us.
It was not like we could do anything about the rouge. We cannot shift, or use our powers, and we have just finished our fighting evaluation. If we show off more than we did in the evaluation it would come off as suspicious.
The best thing to do is walk away, so that is exactly what I started to do. I maintained eye contact with the rouge. 'How terrible is this pack's patrol for a rouge this big to slip by?' I hear Soren say through the mind-link. 'I do not know, but it is best to alert them.' After slowly walking back into the trees, We started sprinting back to the training grounds.
"C'mon!" We yelled at the guard we ran past while trying to get back to the training grounds. The guard seemed surprised but started running with us anyway. I noticed that the rouge did not attempt to chase us. If it did, it would be running right into the heart of the territory. Rouges may be without knowledge, but they are not dull-witted in the least.
If anything, they are sly and tactical despite being known for their recklessness. Others look down on rouges for their way of life, but in a way, you must respect it. Surviving on your own this long with no teaching and packs at every corner is an achievement. You don't get taught how to be a rouge.
You either figure it out or you die. Naturally born rouges usually die because they do not know the rules of the game. I have seen what rouges can do. They are frightening when alone, but deadly when together. Some rouges travel together like a pack. You never know what type of wolf you may encounter though.
Harmless wolves, wolves that do not want to be in a pack or have lost their pack are called Lone Wolves. Wolves that have been banished are Rouges. Then you have Hounds. Hounds are vicious wolves with no morals or ethics. Their senses are naturally enhanced. They are rouges, but more deadly. They aren't considered rouges because they haven't been banished from a pack.
Hounds look more muscular compared to rouges and you will see them traveling in groups of five or less. That is if you see them in a group at all. Hounds are considered loners. If you ever do run into a group of them then you are unlucky. Seeing hounds in groups is rare and usually means that there is danger in the area, or they are the danger.
The last of them is Jinx. Jinx is a type of spirit wolf. If you see a Jinx, it means that you or someone close to you will die soon. They are looped in with the rouges and others because they are wolves without a pack.
Most spirit wolves join the packs of their dead ancestors. All except lost spirits. Lost spirits could be considered a type of rouge but are not because while they have packs, they cannot go to them because they are trapped in a medium. They are just stuck in the world of the living, usually because they have unfinished business. Some types of spirit wolves live on the astral plane, but that is more of Shiro's expertise.
We sprinted out of the woods and back into the open training grounds. Most of the crowd from earlier had already dispersed, but Seth and Ranor were still talking.
They immediately turned their attention toward us when they saw us bolting out of the woods. Normally we would not be so cautious of a rouge, but this was different.
This rouge did not look like it wanted to harm us. If a rouge does not attack right away it has a plan or a reason for doing whatever it was doing. There was no way it was a lone wolf because lone wolves have developed a different scent from any type of wolf to prevent getting killed for being mistaken as a rouge.
It was bothering me that it seemed like nothing else noticed the wolf. Not the guard, not the animals, and it did not make a single sound. I could barely hear its breathing and the steps it took to get into our perimeter were not heard.
The wolf was just staring at us. It looked like it had no intent in its eyes and that scared me. That is exactly why rouges are feared and hated. Nobody likes the unknown. If you are unknown, then you are unpredictable. If you are unpredictable then how can you properly be fought? If nobody knows what you can do then how can they protect themselves from you if you ever decide to attack?
Nothing about our encounter with this wolf was normal.
The moment Seth saw me dash out of the woods with a panicked expression on my face, he came running towards me. He met me halfway there and caught me in his arms.
"Are you okay? What happened? What is wrong?" His expression was that of one filled with worry. His hands roamed my face and body looking for any sign of injury. "I am okay. We are okay." I tried to calm him down despite being flustered myself. Ranor came up to us with a stern expression on his face.
"What happened?" He looked at the guard that was following us, to answer. I do not know when or how he shifted back, but he did. "I do not know. I was watching them by the stream up west and they seemed to have noticed something. I tried to look in their direction but saw nothing. Next thing I knew they were running past me with bothered expressions on their faces. They told me to hurry so I did."
I could tell Soren felt annoyed with him stalking us and to be honest so was I. As ironic as this may sound, all I wanted was time with just me and Soren. I have only spent two days here and I am already sick of lying and hiding. I am starting to think that this was not such an innovative idea. But when I look at my mate's face, I quickly erase the thought. I will tell a hundred lies to be able to see his face.
Ranor turned his piercing gaze to me and Soren. "What happened?" He speaks. "There was a big rouge. One that could not be missed. It had black fur and orange eyes. It was just looking at me and Soren. We had found it weird that it seemed like nothing else noticed it." I spoke. "When you say, "nothing else" you are referring to..." Ranor cuts off his sentence so I could complete it.
"This guard over here that you had watching over us and the animals around us. As I am sure you know, a deer would not just graze by when it sees a wolf nearby." Soren answers with bitterness in her voice.
"And you say you saw nothing?" Ranor speaks to the guard again. The guard shakes his head no. "I saw nothing, heard nothing, and smelled nothing." This was another thing that concerned me. With the rouge being that close we should have been able to smell it. "Seth, go send a scout to patrol the area and report back if they see anything out of the ordinary."
Ranor told Seth, but Seth did not move away from me. He held me closer, unwilling to leave my side. Ranor sighs. "Okay. Terrance go send out a scout." So that is the guard's name. Terrance left with his alpha's orders.
"Seth, take these two back to the dungeons," Ranor said. "Sakura is coming with me." I loved the way my name rolls off his tongue. It gives me butterflies. "You know she can't live in the pack house unless authorized," Ranor says sternly. He sounds like he is not leaving any room for disagreement, but Seth goes against his word anyway.
"She is coming with me." It was Seth's turn to leave no room for disagreement. Ranor gruffly exhaled a breath of air. "Fine." Seth started to walk off with me. "But do not get used to going against my commands otherwise you can kiss your title as beta goodbye."
Seth halted for a moment before continuing towards the pack house. I did not want Seth to lose his rank because of me. "So great to know that I am cared for." I hear Soren say sarcastically. I apologize through the mind-link, but she quickly reassures me that she is just teasing. And to use protection. I scold her saying it will not be needed.
Not even a second later I hear Ranor say "Do not worry you are coming with me." to Soren. 'Oh, you in trouble.' I tease through the mind link. 'Shut up.' I feel her cut off the link. With nothing more to say I started to wonder just where Seth was taking me.