Chapter 2

Every protected territory had in common was their blind spots. A handful of individuals learned where to pinpoint the blind spot. By using that blind spot, they could enter in and leave the territory without having spotted. She exploited them each time for her own interests. It was safe to learn the way in and out of a place for someone like her who had over a dozen packs hunting her down. It wasn’t a simple task to evade getting arrested when the place was crawling with Enforcers twenty-four-seven. As a rogue, the status did many things to someone who should have existed inside a pack.

Pack, she halted at the word. It was such an alien word to her. If she recalled, everybody was hunting her down in every opportunity they could have. Some wanted her dead. Some wanted her alive. It was a matter of personal perspective.

Despite that, she evaded them like a phantom. That was just how elusive she could get. Nobody saw where she was until late time. She stayed a low profile until the proper time to turn up.

She preferred to escape Kingsley’s territory for good now. Mira mingled in the territory far longer than she had anticipated. Cohen Kingsley was the vicious Alpha of the Southern Werewolves Pack. He was labelled vicious for many reasons particularly in catching rogues alive. Everyone feared the Alpha. Everyone but her. Mira smiled slightly at the thought as she hadn’t come across the Alpha.

Tonight, that would change.

One more job.

She thought.

Mira groaned in resentment when she realized her job took her into the patrolling perimeter of the pack. This wasn’t progressing as she hoped. A few nights ago, a couple, perhaps in their mid-forties, hired her through a local contact to locate their missing pups who hadn’t come home a week prior after a weekend camping with some friends. The story of the missing pups were all over the Werewolf’s Council’s news channel. Yes, the werewolves have their own news channel.

“Give me a reason why I shouldn’t kill you right away,” she pressed the tip of her dagger against his neck.

“Please don’t hurt him,” the woman beside him begged. “We were looking for you.”

“Now you’ve found me. Time to walk away before something bad happens. This place isn’t particularly friendly to werewolves.” 

There was a distinctive scent between pack members and a rogue. Mira never bothered to learn how it worked but apparently, everyone could recognize the difference. 

“Please, we need your help. You’re our only hope to find our missing boys.” the man stopped her from leaving.

Mira huffed but kept on walking away. She had enough for the night. The rain began to pour. She walked towards the bridge where there were dozens of homeless people’s tents. The homeless people rushed to their tents, seeking shelter from the heavy rain. 

“Hope, hope, hope,” she grumbled. “Always with hope.” she stopped and turned around to face the couple who stopped abruptly. 

“Help us. This is all we got.” The woman handed a cheque and some jewelry to her.

“Where were they last seen?”

“Paul Street. I followed their scents about twenty miles north from the street.”

That got Mira thinking rapidly. North of Paul Street was an industrial area. There was an abandoned gold mining tunnel that collapsed nearly five years ago and killed more than a dozen miners. Mira knew the tunnel didn’t collapse entirely. The exits, yes. But the rest of the tunnel that spiraled downward underground, some of them still in a good condition. She knew about it because there was another entrance secretly dug. Now, the tunnel was used as an underground road by the vampires but the couple didn’t know about that.

Twenty miles north from Paul Street. That was almost close to the secret entrance.

She found out they already lodged two missing person reports to the local precinct as they couldn’t seek the help of a pack because they were rogues. That was the flaw of being a rogue. As there was no report of the missing pups’ location, the parents resorted to employing an outlaw. Particularly, someone who was remarkably skilled like her to carry their bidding at the right price. A favor like this never came free. Nothing was free in the world of the outlaws. She took three days to track the missing pups. Turned out, a vampire held them captive inside the chamber in the tunnel.

The captor was stronger than the pups, but not stronger than her.

She killed the captor after a lengthy struggle. The pups bolted their way out at the small window of opportunity. They thought she was there to kill them too. That was how they got her into this problem.

Foolish rogues.

Mira sprinted outside the patrolling perimeter of the pack, checking her left and right to make sure she hadn’t drawn attention from the patrolling teams. She didn’t desire another trouble continued into the one she was having. Thanks to her enhanced sight, she could see where the two pups headed to. The Alpha himself was on hot pursuit. It infuriated her even more. The night could end quietly. For many weeks, she did her best to evade the Alpha. Now, she was about to-go-neck with him because of them.

If the two pups ended up dead, then her reward would not make it into her bank account.

She didn’t need the money, but the world she was living in, it was better to prepare anything.

What was the best way to enter?

Sending the Alpha flying to the tree.

A minute ago that idea didn’t sound like it was a bad idea. She saw it was a bad idea. How did she come up with it? Why on Earth would she consider sending the Alpha across the yard such a clever idea? Sometimes, she didn’t even understand how her own mind functioned. It never failed to amaze her in making troublesome ideas.

The Alpha quickly got up and rushed to attack her but she threw her dagger at him and it landed a few inches away from his front leg.

"Stay where you are, boys," she said to them firmly. Her eyes remained undivided from the Alpha. "I don't want to spill any blood tonight as much as I'd prefer to do so."

The Alpha got up all on four, growled at her, and showed his long, pointy canines to her direction. She drew out her two silver daggers as she prepared for the Alpha to lunge onto her body. 

That was the best way to start her sleepless night by getting neck-to-neck without someone she tried to avoid at any cost. An Alpha’s growl had no effect on her as her own wolf ceased from existence for an unknown reason. Something replaced it - something far more deadly. Mira did her best to keep it at bay.

She counted in her mind, calculating the time he would take to attack her.

One... Two... Three... Four... Five... Six... Seven…

At the count of seven, she quit. An Alpha never waited over five seconds before launching an attack on someone. He remained rooted on his ground for some unexplained reasons until she stared into his wolf’s eyes. The redheaded huntress frowned. His pitch black eyes spoke a volume of something she didn’t hope to happen soon. Out of all the people she could think of, it had to be him. Him, out of thousands of werewolves in existence. This revelation was out of her jurisdiction; it wasn’t something she hoped. It couldn’t take place right now. Not when her way of life was as turbulent as the turmoil in her mind.

She peered over her shoulder to look at the two frightened pups. “Are you two all right?”

The pups were far from being all right. Bruises and wounds covered them from head to toe. The smell of their clothes was sufficient to bury her six foot underground. It was the smell of putrid carcasses, dried blood, and piss. Three scents that should never go into one sentence because it spelled hell.

“What are you going to do?” one of them asked her.

What was she going to do? A straightforward question. There were many possible actions she could make right now; it didn’t consist of going full-on war with this pack. Enough with the current bounty on her head and with another pack on her back. War was something she would rather avoid.

What she required was an escape plan and later, going to bed to rest. That was one great plan.

Her eyes searched around, sizing up the Enforcers and their Alpha. Knocking them out was out of the question. There were too many of them; it was just her against them. She couldn’t expect these two pups to help her. If they could, they wouldn’t have steered her into this problem.

Surrender herself? The day the hell froze would be the day she surrendered herself. She still had too many unfinished businesses.

There were many things she loathed doing. This was one of those things. Thinking of a way out was the most depressing and exhausting task to do. Thinking too much caused her a headache. She knew she would come this far, but she didn’t expect to come across an obstacle along the way.

At the nick of time, she heard waves crashing against something. She fixated on the sound to figure out the things that the waves were crashing onto. It couldn’t be a plain beach. No, the crashing sound was too strong. Perhaps, protruding rocks.

Grand entrance meant grand exit too.

The redheaded huntress smirked. “Adios, boys.” She saluted to the pack with a laugh.

And just like that, she rounded up the two pups and hopped off the edge. Death was inevitable, but she had confidence in her crazy ass idea because none of them impaled against the rocks. Instead, the waves engulfed them, sending them below the surface. Emerging from the salt water, they coughed heavily as they swam to the shore.

“You’re crazy,” the smaller rogue said to her.

The two pups trembled because of the coldness of the water. Mira laughed as she lied down on the beach, staring at the night sky. If jumping off the cliff was crazy, they should look at her lifestyle. It was ten times crazier. The word 'crazy' wasn’t enough to represent her lifestyle.

“Well, that got the job done.” She gathered her hair and gave it a light squeeze. “You’re out of his territory. So, he can’t chase you now.”

“Who are you?” the second rogue asked.

“Someone who wanted to kill both of you.” Mira stared at them dead in the eyes.

They swallowed hard before she laughed again. Her wicked sense of humor always received the response she sought.

The redheaded huntress reached for the pocket on her jeans before taking out a car key. She threw it to the taller pup. “There’s a car about two minutes of walking from here. Head home, kids. Your parents are expecting you both.”

“Thank you.” They nodded before scurrying away from the place.

Probably thinking she might change her mind.

She rested there for a while and glanced up to the overhanging cliff. She found the Alpha stood on the edge while he looked down at her. The bright moonlight illuminated his wolf’s frame. It reminded her of the paint she saw in the town in the morning.

The paint of a vicious wolf stood at the edge of the cliff with the full moon on its background.

Beautiful painting and it was even more beautiful to witness it for real.

They had another direct eye contact before Mira turned her heels. There was a black Ducati 899 motorbike waiting for her on the main road.

Along the way, Mira was busy reminiscing about the moment her body collided with the Alpha’s body. She felt the spark on the contact. Not to mention the way his eyes captivated her presence. But, that was Alpha Cohen Kingsley who devoted his time to hunt rogues, and she was a rogue herself. Let alone she had rescued two rogues from his protected territory. He would be furious about that.