Chapter 11

Flora’s P.O.V

Each gunshot felt like a bullet to my heart. Each wail of pain a knell.

I turned away from the scene and briskly walked back to my room even as several of the maidens still stood at the tower balcony, almost like they were enjoying the killing.

Yes, they were rogue wolves and yes, the troops were brought in for our protection…but this seemed like a slaughter.

These rogues were once normal wolves. Friends and family of the people who had lived in Lindersay for centuries. How could Malachi allow this? Andre was supposed to scare them, not slaughter them!

Malachi’s acceptance to this entire proposal by Andre seemed like a betrayal to me even though I had no reason to feel so. Everything about it felt morally wrong! The soldiers had been brought in to protect us! They weren’t supposed to go on a killing rampage! If they wanted to be violent like this…what difference did we have left with the rogues? At least they didn’t have a choice when they lost their humanity!

I stopped suddenly when a thought occurred to me. The rogue Alpha! He was going to be among the soldiers! What if-NO!

My mind instantly rejected the idea of anything bad happening to him. He might be a rogue but he wasn’t like the others! His eyes weren’t red! And he was somehow connected to my past. It was the same gut feeling that told me to heal Samuel. The same gut feeling that told me to keep my dreams a secret in front of everyone here.

I had to make sure he was alright!

I entered my room and locked the door securely behind me. Going through my cabinets, I gathered some medical supplies, bandages and clean cloths and put them all inside a bag that I slung over my shoulders. Then I went to the glass windows and looked outside.

The shootings had stopped and the soldiers were returning to the castle. I exited my room quietly, with a black cloak thrown over my form to camouflage with the night. Cheers went on inside the castle as the soldiers came in and I hurried my way to the gates where I could sneak out through a small opening at the side wall, where an old post had been struck by lightning and had fallen into the wall, taking down a few bricks. Since it was a highly patrolled area, the post had been left as it was and forgotten. It now provided me with an escape route.

But before I could escape through the opening, I heard voices coming in my direction and I instantly hid behind a wall of the castle, before anyone had the chance to sense me.

“You wanted to talk to me, Alpha Malachi?”

Malachi?

I peaked behind the wall only the slightest and found Malachi standing in front of…Andre! What were they doing here of all places? Wasn’t Malachi supposed to be celebrating a win against the rogues?

“Yes.” Malachi sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. “I warned you against an all out attack, Andre. That wasn’t necessary.”

“So you want us to simply lay down our arms and wait for the enemy to get us?”

“They aren’t enemy, Andre!”

“They are rogues!” Andre told Malachi incredulously. “They are no better than enemy! They don’t have any humanity left and neither do they think before attacking!”

“And what you did just now was no better than the rogues!”

I was surprised at how Malachi’s snapped out answered mimicked my thoughts from earlier. I was afraid to even breathe as the tension in the air thickened.

“Look, I know you’re a free unit of soldier wolves that helps packs.” Malachi sighed. “You have never worked under an Alpha’s command since you left here, but I’m still your Alpha and you have to listen to me. There is an order in a pack, just as there is in a military unit and as long as you are here, you are under my command. So respect my decisions and let me know before you do anything rash…and if you feel like you can’t follow that order, you are free to leave.”

Andre didn’t say anything for a long while and I found myself holding my breath. Would he be bold enough to not follow Malachi’s orders and leave? No one has ever disrespected Malachi like that! Because not only was Malachi a fair and just Alpha, he was a gem of a man.

So when Andre spoke an almost inaudible, “Yes, Alpha.” And gave a slight bow before leaving in a haste, I felt more than relief wash over me.

But the danger didn’t pass as I saw Malachi halt and look in my direction. I immediately hid behind the wall and prayed to every god and goddess above that he wouldn’t find me here. I couldn’t answer his questions now, or probably ever because I myself had no idea why I was going on a suicide mission to look for the rogue Alpha.

The rogues had just been attacked and the chances of them retaliating were higher than normal…then why wasn’t I scared for my life?

Your life is more valuable than any soldier here. Forget any other reason and just remember that.

It was Malachi who told me that not twenty four hours ago and yet…I couldn’t help my heart from pounding whenever I remembered the red wolf. There was an ache in my chest that I knew could only be eased once I saw him. Why…I had no idea.

Nothing made sense to me anymore. My broken dreams; the voices I heard in my head or my unusual attraction to the rogue Alpha even though I had only seen him once! Maybe I was the one Malachi was talking about when he said that the lines between illusion and reality were blurring? Maybe this was all in my head and I was going crazy?

Was I going rogue?

Healers have always been too ingrained into the pack to be rogues.

There it was again! That voice I heard in my dreams! What was happening to me?

But while I was having my mental debate, I hadn’t noticed how much time had passed or the fact that Malachi was no longer there. When I did realize, however, I didn’t waste any more time. I made my escape through the opening and hid behind the nearest forest giant to avoid a patrol guard.

Yes, there were a thousand questions inside my mind and very few answers…but I needed to find the rogue Alpha first. Because I knew that my journey to finding answers started with him.

*

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*

Malachi stood watch as Flora ducked behind a tree to avoid a guard.

The guard looked up at him in question but he shook his head, a small smile on his lips as he watched the guard halt and only start patrolling when he could no longer scent Flora. Malachi had seen her escape, had laughed mentally at her antiques.

Did she not realize this was a den full of wolves that could sense anyone and anything around her?

But perhaps her innocence was a bliss. Flora needn’t know about the guards that knew she had complete freedom to leave and enter the castle at any time she wanted. She needn’t know about the Alpha that stood watch to protect her. And she needn’t know about her past with the man she was willing to sacrifice her life for.

All she needed to do was listen to her heart that would take her to her destiny.

“If she is unwilling, no force shall take her. If she is willing, no power will stop her.”

Malachi recited the words that his mother had told him. The criterion for judgment. And he would stick to it till the end of his days.

Which was why, after almost four centuries…he reached out and held her hand, felt the zap of electricity as it settled in his bones; his body and his heart remembering her touch throughout the ages.

And as they watched Flora run through the shadows of the tree towards her destiny, Ezra whispered to Malachi…

“Maybe there is hope.”