“Your Majesty, more small packs ca to pledge their allegiance to you!” Commander Landon reported with a smile. “Now the High Priestess won’t worry about us being the invaders anymore!”
“So true,” Jace comnted as well. “There are also rogue groups joining us too, thanks to Alpha Ethan’s intimidating reputation. They knew better than to fight with the forr Rogue King!”
I smiled and nodded. It was indeed great news. If this continued, we could expect minimum disruption to the citizens’ lives while achieving our goal of taking over Mirage.
anwhile, we continue to proactively push Kal’s line south, out of our territory.
Ethan and I didn’t see much of each other while we were in attack mode, because he was leading the army and looking over the data to see what was working and what we needed to improve upon now that his strength was more stable.
But I thought about him a lot. Seeing him hold our son and rock him back to sleep when the boy was fussy was a permanent mory ingrained in my mind. I wanted to see if Ethan had changed his mind at all about what he had said about when we were in the temple.
He’d said he never loved , but I had seen evidence that that might not be true. I wanted to find out if there was a chance we could actually be a couple and raise our son as a loving family.
Since I didn’t get to see him very often, though, it made it more difficult for us to work on that.
I pushed my personal issue aside and focused back on the patrol. I took my team out to scout around and found that everything was secure. I was just about to leave the area where we were patrolling when I heard so moaning in the trees off of the side of the path we were walking on.
It sounded like a man in an extre amount of pain.
Exchanging glances with the people with , I said, “We should check that out.” We were in our human forms at the mont since we were returning from our patrol.
“Be careful,” Jace stopped . “It could be a trap.”
He had a good point, so I asked him and a couple of the other bigger warriors to go ahead and shift. That way, they would be ready to fight if it was King Kal trying to fool us.
I walked carefully out into the woods toward the sound of moaning. A trail of blood led us to a man lying unconscious beneath a tree, his side ripped open and his head bleeding as well.
“Who is he?” I asked, wondering if he was one of ours or one of King Kal’s. His clothes were mostly torn, barely covering him, so there was no way to tell by the way he was dressed.
‘That looks like Alpha Dallas’s son, Alex,’ Jace said, using the mindlink.
‘Alpha Dallas? Isn’t he one of the rogue leaders?’ I asked. I couldn’t keep track of all of the new people, though I tried to. I knew it was important to know everyone who was fighting for us.
‘That’s right,’ Jace said. ‘He’s one of those who joined us from the western part of our territory.’
Alpha Dallas was a gruff older man who reminded a lot of Ethan when he was the Rogue King. I wondered if his son had a similar disposition.
At the mont, it didn’t matter, though, because he needed my help. “Who has the dical bag?” I asked. We always brought one with us in case we found soone who was wounded.
One of the won who was still in her human form brought it over. She opened it up, and together, the two of us bandaged Alex up and fed him so dicines mixed with my blood.
Alex began to look better. His face had been so pale when I first started to help him that it made nervous. But now... he was starting to regain his color.
“There we go,” I said, sitting back to give him a few monts. I expected him to wake up soon enough.
The others continued to keep watch, leaving Alex and together, alone, for a few monts.
I noticed he was a good looking young man. I thought he probably hadn’t had his wolf that long, judging by how youthful his face looked. He had blond hair and light eyebrows.
In a way, he was the exact opposite of Ethan with his dark hair and bushy eyebrows that always seed to be narrowed in anger or consternation.
When Alex opened his eyes, he blinked several tis, looking at . His eyes were a light green, and they were very pretty.
“Are you okay?” I asked him.
“My Queen!” he exclaid, attempting to sit up. “It’s you!”
“It’s ,” I said, feeling my cheeks fla. “And you’re... Alex? Is that right?”
“Yes, that’s my na,” he said as I helped him sit up. “You... saved !”
“Well, you needed so help, so we stopped to make sure you were okay,” I said, trying to keep my tone nonchalant.
Alex took hold of my hand and lifted it to his lips. “My Queen! It’s my honor to finally et you! Your kind and rciful reputation has been known throughout the continent,” he said, kissing the back of my hand, “and I pledge my undying devotion to you, beautiful Queen Rosalie. You saved my life. From now on, my heart, and my life, belong to you.”
I stared at him, not sure what was happening. After a mont, I glanced around, wondering if I’d sohow managed to walk into a fairy tale. “Uh... thanks.” That’s about all I could say.
“I will speak to my father, Alpha Dallas, and make sure he understands the seriousness of this situation so that our rogue pack will forever be united with yours.”
“That’s... great,” I told him, trying not to laugh. He was clearly quite serious and devoted with his sentints. But I thought it was all a bit odd. “If you’re a rogue, how co your eyes aren’t red?” I asked him.
“Only my father has lost his soul,” he explained. “Most of our pack is made up of mbers of our forr pack, and we have simply had to fight for our lives because of the war situation. My father wanted great power, so he traded his soul to beco a Rogue Alpha. But he has forbidden us to do so. Now, I give my soul to you, my Queen.” He dipped his head and kissed my hand again.
I pulled it back. “I appreciate your allegiance.” I didn’t know what else to say, but his story reminded a lot of Otto’s. “We’re going back to camp now. Do you think you’re strong enough to co with us?”
“I will follow you to the ends of the earth, my Queen.”
With that, he pushed himself up off of the ground, and I got up, too. He offered his hand, but I was good.
We walked back to camp, and Alex stayed near the whole ti. He spoke so highly of which made a bit embarrassed.
However, the more I spoke with him, the more I started to like him. Not in the sa way that he liked , clearly, but I began to think of him like a little brother.
It was pretty clear to everyone, though, that Alex was infatuated with .
For the next few days, he followed around camp, offering to help at every turn. It was sort of like having a puppy at my heels. It was quite helpful for him to jump in and lend a hand to when I needed it, like fetching dical equipnt, getting water for thirty patients, and even helping prepare food and other necessities.
He also spoke to his father, and Alpha Dallas began to treat everyone more kindly, since we’d saved his son. He was still a Rogue, but at least we no longer had to fear that he might go crazy and turn against us.
Ethan was away during this ti. I couldn’t help but wonder what Ethan would think of Alex when he returned to camp.
Would he be jealous, or would he be happy I was occupied with another man, even if I didn’t reciprocate Alex’s romantic feelings?
“Queen Rosalie?” Alex said to the afternoon before Ethan was set to return. “As I express my undying love for you, I must ask, will you reconsider becoming my one and only love?”
I choked on the water I was drinking. He imdiately ca over to pat my back.
After a while, I finally managed to breathe properly again. “I’m sorry, Alex. I just don’t feel the sa way about you. Besides, soday, you’re bound to et your fated mate, and then you’ll know true love.”
He shook his head. “I swear off all other loves and leave my heart only for you.”
I straightened my face. “I’ve told you before, Alex, I like you as a friend. That’s it.”
“Well... I shall not give up!” Alex declared, his head held high. “I will be back soon with a gift for you, my beautiful queen, one you will not be able to resist!”
“Okay then. Be careful!” I called after him. Normally, when he said things like that, he ca back with flowers or sothing to eat.
“What an energetic kid,” I said to myself, holding back a smile.
“Kid? He’s probably the sa age as you, Rosalie.” Georgia ca up behind and asked, “Where’s your boyfriend going now?”
I rolled my eyes at her. “He’s not my boyfriend. And I have no idea.”
“Well, it’ll be interesting to see what Ethan thinks when he cos back tomorrow,” she said. “I hope he doesn’t pound Alex into the ground.”
“I don’t think he will,” I told her.
Maybe Ethan would even be happy to see Alex was around. He might be even relieved that I was in love with Alex and would finally leave him alone.
I sighed silently and shook my head as I carried on with my own work when a deep and seemingly upset voice rang out behind . “I need to have a word with whoever’s in charge of the security. I didn’t know we assigned an underage as the Queen’s guard!”
“Great timing, brother!” Georgia laughed.
Ethan had co back from his mission.
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