12

"You owe me a new hairdryer."

"You owe me an apology. You could've warned me my mate had absolutely no regard for personal privacy," Savannah continued the staring match with Talei, who held her broken hairdryer in her small fists.

"That guy is the most private guy I've ever met. I'm pretty sure it's you who disregarded all privacy by forcing your way into our lives and disrupting everything!" the petite blonde rogue rose on her toes to match Savannah's height, her dark hazel eyes blazing. "Now look at my hairdryer! If you two didn't fight so much, it wouldn't be broken!"

"Oh, for chocolate's sake, it's just an appliance. I'm sure Zion can fix it in his basement downstairs. He's got enough gadgets and gizmos to build an entire armory of hair tools."

"Wait, you've seen his lab?" Talei's eyes widened, momentarily forgetting her anger. "He lets no one go down there. Girl, tell me everything! Is it true he's working on a subatomic particle drive that could shut down this entire city?"

"A what?"

"Or an eight litre turbo engine that runs on nitrogen tetroxide to go on his fourteen cylinder motorcycle?"

"I can't recall a bike—"

She snapped her fingers. "Or maybe he's improving the thiophosphonate compound that Chayton procured, in order to make it undetectable to hounds—"

"What on earth are you talking about?!" Savannah gripped the excited shewolf by the shoulders and shook her until she got her attention.

"Oh, Zion is always down there tinkering and working on some new device to make our life easier. You know, evading the people we target and cops long enough to carry out our missions. A nerve agent worked really well last week but resulted in some fatalities so we figured—"

"Nerve agent? You are all certifiably barbaric!" Savannah tugged her fingers through her short hair, suddenly hating the dark and dangerous colour it now was. The black strands that hung in her eyes made her feel secretive and villainous, the opposite of the true heart beating in her chest. If her dad saw her now, colluding with a criminal gang of rogues...

"Look, I'll buy you a new hairdryer, okay? Just don't make me tell you what I saw in Zion's lab. If he wants it kept a secret, I don't want to be the one to blab about it. He's angry enough with me as it is."

"Oh, honey, he's not angry with you. If anything, he seems rather whipped. But deal!" Talei stuck out her hand for Savannah to shake.

Wary, the Alpha found herself with a myriad of questions instead of answers after talking with the spunky rogue shewolf. What was Zion really hiding in his lab? She'd seen lots of tech, computers running programs that were likely hacking into government or corporate networks, other electronic devices, and wires and parts to presumably build those devices. The man was probably a genius, which could explain his arrogance and natural way of making her feel small.

And what had Talei said about him being whipped? He could barely stand being in her presence without an argument starting between them, so unless rogues had another definition of the word...

"Come on, shops shut in two hours. If you wanna get some stuff, we gotta go now," Talei clicked her fingers in front of Savannah's face.

"Alright, I just need my card wallet. I haven't seen it since we left my territory. It should have been in my jacket pocket..." Savannah turned her pockets inside out but came up empty.

"Ahh, about that. We removed your phone and wallet when you first arrived in case you called for backup and killed us all. I guess you can have them back now," Talei explained, opening a locked cabinet against the wall and tossing Savannah her personal effects. "Niko, Willow! We're going to the shops. Want anything?" she called out, her voice echoing through the house while Savannah turned on her phone.

The lock screen soon came on, and she tapped in her password only to be met with a buzz and the same lock screen. She tapped it in again, only to get it wrong again. Frustrated, she took a breath and slowly pressed the exact numbers, knowing they were right.

But her phone remain locked, only this time an error message showed up.

Limit reached of incorrect passwords. Deleting data and restoring factory settings.

Savannah felt her heart speed up. "Wait, what? What is my phone doing? I only got the password wrong twice but it says it's deleting everything!" Her stomach sank and bile rose in her throat as she watched a progression line creep across her phone as it erased data.

Talei looked over her shoulder. "Oops. Shouldn't have gotten it wrong."

"But it was only twice! This can't be happening. How do I stop it?" Savannah's voice trembled as her hands shook. She tried to recall the last time she'd backed up her phone. With countless family photos, friends' contacts, documents and pack schedules on her phone, she couldn't imagine losing it all. "Cale, where are you? Come quick! I need your help!" Hysteria heightened her voice, and the screech drew Cale, Niko, Willow and Zion to come rushing into the living room.

"What's wrong? Who's being murdered?" Cale instantly took a defensive stance beside his Alpha, prepared to tackle whoever was attacking.

"It's my phone! It's deleting everything. Do something!" She kept tapping the screen and pushing the buttons, but the line steadily continued, symbolising the amount of data lost. "No, no, no!" She tried turning the phone off, but nothing worked. The phone slipped from her shaky fingers, thudding to the floor and disintegrating into a dozen pieces. It was the last straw, and the tired, weary, hyped-up Alpha shrieked and collapsed onto the couch.

It was Cale who snickered first, followed by a laugh from Niko and a chuckle from Willow. When Talei burst out laughing, Savannah sat up rigidly and gave them all a look of confusion before it morphed into a death glare. "What on earth is going on?"

Zion, fully composed, knelt down and gathered her splintered phone. "I do believe you've been pranked, little Alpha." He then settled his amused expression on her, his eyes twinkling with golden flecks.

Her face grew hot, a blush stealing over her mortified features. "You are all dead," she growled defensively. "And you owe me a new phone!" she glared at Talei.

"Hey, it was Niko's idea," Talei lifted her arms up in defense.

"And don't throw the baby out with the bathwater just yet," Zion said calmly, handing her the reassembled phone.

"What is that supposed to mean? Who says that kind of thing nowadays?" Regardless of his answer, she took the phone warily, watching him closely and keeping her eyes on the others in her periphery.

"Just turn it on," he motioned impatiently.

Still not trusting them, she carefully turned it on and keyed in her password. The phone unlocked like normal, displaying her favourite photo of baby Kiana along with notifications for a hundred texts and missed calls from Justin. She let out a sigh of relief. "It's working," she looked up at them all as they watched her with raised eyebrows, but she still wouldn't apologise for her accusations. "You're so mean, did you know that? What did you do to my phone, anyway?" She flipped through some emails and files, making sure everything was working fine.

"It's quite simple, actually," Niko began explaining as Willow and Zion wandered off. "All I did was access the operating system and add a replica of the interface. Then your password triggered the coding, causing a small program to run that mimics the reset function. I didn't touch any of your personal data or settings."

"What kind of important data do you have on there, anyway? Your reaction to losing it was priceless," Talei couldn't wipe the smug grin off her face.

"Just years' worth of Alpha stuff. Nothing you'd be interested in," Savannah muttered, not trusting that they didn't lift her phone and make a copy of everything on it. She wouldn't put it past their IT ingenuity.

"It looked to me like you were having a panic attack. Wouldn't have pegged you for a nomophobe," Niko arched a curious eyebrow.

"A what? Never mind," Savannah waved her hand dismissively. She felt stupid enough without not knowing the meaning of the thing he just called her. "Let's just go shopping. I need to get out of here," she quickly stood from the couch and adjusted her jacket. "Cale, you stay here and keep an eye on things. Any suspicious activity, report to me."

"I'm pretty sure everything around here is suspicious," Cale commented dryly.

"Exactly my point."

Talei and Niko smirked as they followed her out to the street.

"So, where are we going?" Savannah asked, not bothering to look over her shoulder at them as they trailed two steps behind.

"I was afraid you'd never ask," Talei skipped to her side, looped her arm through the Alpha's and led the way to the multistory shopping centre a couple blocks away. Once they arrived, Niko went his own way with a grocery list while Talei dragged Savannah to all her favourite clothing stores. It didn't take long to purchase the things she needed, including a short black dress that Talei assured her would come in handy. Apparently, rogues liked to party a lot.

"So, tell me about your childhood," Talei asked as they sat in the food court after most of the stores had closed, sipping bubble tea and resting their tired feet.

Savannah was still so tired, but she was actually enjoying herself. Surprisingly, the busy mall with a rush and buzz on all sides didn't agitate her as she expected, but it made her feel anonymous and relaxed. Not being the Alpha that everyone looked up to was a change to her system, and she felt her body unwind from constant vigilance. Of course she kept a guard up, but it was different. A good different.

"It was nice," she answered Talei's question. "I grew up close with my siblings and friends. My family means everything to me, and we still do most things together," Savannah brushed over details, giving a general idea of her backstory. "Tell me about yours."

"Only child. Raised by my single dad. Best friend who was older than me left for college while I was practically still in diapers. The rest of my childhood isn't worth remembering."

"It can't have been all that bad. You seem like a well-educated woman, and smart."

"I am very well-educated, smart, and highly skilled. I almost made Head Guard before my eighteenth birthday."

"So why did you become a rogue?" Savannah frowned, trying to understand her new friend, if she could even call her that.

"I wanted a life of adventure," Talei gave her a cheesy yet wistful smile.

"I'm sure you're having it," Savannah raised her eyebrows at the handbag and jewellery the rogue had insisted on stealing from the stores despite the Alpha's stern advice against it. She was wearing hundreds of dollars that didn't cost her a cent.

In contrast, the supersonic hair dryer Talei insisted on made Savannah over five hundred dollars poorer.

"Hmm," Talei swished her ponytail playfully over her shoulder and sipped her tea. "In truth, I ran away when I was sixteen. My dad wanted me to mate with the Beta's son of our pack. I wouldn't have a bar of it, and he wouldn't listen to me so I had no choice."

"The guy wasn't your real mate?"

"Goodness, no! Mates are crutches in our pack, unless you're lowly omegas."

Savannah winced when she heard the word for the lowest caste of wolves. Ever since she could remember, her parents had never singled out the rank, yet treated everyone equally below the top commanding ranks.

"Then you can fall in love with your soulmate and all that rubbish. But the top ranks," Talei continued, "The commanding families are very particular about who they allow into the top ranks. Mates are chosen specifically based on strength, talent, and merit."

"Which you clearly have, considering you were chosen for the Beta," the Alpha reiterated.

"Mm hm. But the guy was a prick. A self-righteous arrogant jerk who hated my guts, especially when I was chosen for the final challenge in our senior year of training—a hand to hand duel with none other than him."

Savannah grimaced in empathy. "That sounds like fun."

"Yeah. Too bad I never got to prove I was stronger than him."

"What happened?"

"My dad was Head Guard, and I'd been training for the rank ever since I can remember. I rose above the other warriors pretty quickly, reaching the top of my class. Dylan, the Beta's son, was one of the trainers, and seemed to get a special kick out of watching me fail. He would push me harder than everyone else, yet I was determined to be stronger and smarter than he ever anticipated.

"His dad took notice of me, and conspired with my dad for us to be mates. Dylan ignored me for a month when they told us of the pairing, and I hated him all the more for it. When I caught him messing around with my rival, he made up some fable that I was really the girl he wanted to be screwing all along but had to wait until our ceremony. I grabbed my wallet and left that very night. Never looked back since."

"Sounds like a choice I would've made."

Talei leaned back in her chair and studied Savannah. "Are you saying I'm made of Alpha material?"

"I'm just saying you made a wise move. Not everybody would have the courage to go against their leaders to protect their own future. It must have been hard to deliberately paint a target on your back by stepping outside of your territory's boundaries."

"Easier than being stuck with that selfish jerk. I'm telling you, he was Gaston on steroids. Boy, could he make my blood boil!"

Savannah nodded her head. "I know what you mean. Zion can infuriate me so easily, I hate it."

Talei sat up straight and narrowed her eyes, bristling in offence. "Zion is nothing like Dylan. Zion is the most caring and selfless man I've ever met."

Biting her tongue to keep from choking, Savannah eventually said, "I take it he's never knocked you unconscious and tied you to a torture chair."

Talei refused to react, instead she just kept staring at the Alpha with hostility in her eyes.

"Okay," Savannah coughed and cleared her throat. "Tell me how you met Zion?"

Talei took a deep breath and relented after making sure Savannah got the message to never speak ill of Zion again. "He found me. Actually, it was Niko. Zion was the brains behind the plan, while Niko did the technical work."

Savannah lifted an eyebrow, urging the rogue to continue. She was earnestly fascinated by Talei's story.

"I'd just stolen an iPhone from an Apple store, and you know how all devices have an IP address?"

The Alpha nodded.

"Whenever a new device comes online, the manufacturer is alerted and matches its store records to ensure the device was purchased legally. I had to break into the phone's programming first to stop it from being detected before I could use it, and instead connected it to a sublayer of the internet called the Dark Web. It would have worked fine, but Niko had created an algorithm that scoured the dark web for any devices using the back channels in this way. He found my new phone, hacked into it and lifted my location. And before I knew it, Zion and his guys were breaking down my door in the middle of the night."

"That is crazy!"

"I know, right?"

"So, why did they want you?"

Talei smiled proudly and replied, "Zion needed someone clever enough to steal an iPhone and get away with it. Now I help with the gang's security, keeping our own computers fully secure as well as getting into and shutting down whoever it is we're targeting on our missions. I reroute cctv cameras, block security networks, and gain access to VPN's, all the while keeping my own tracks invisible to the government's cyber security division. It's a game of cat and mouse, and I love it."

"So I can see," Savannah swirled the remaining pearls and tea in her cup and studied the excited shewolf before her. "I didn't understand half of what you just said, but my Beta Justin would. He's always learning about the latest technology and devices, while I'm much more into studying tactics and battle strategies from historic and current pack events."

"Hmm, fascinating, I'm sure," Talei gave her a sarcastic look.

"You'd be surprised. We have a whole collection of diaries and documents from previous Alphas that lead back all the way to the time of the kings. We even have a scroll from King Cyrus the Great. The stories of his battle conquests are so interesting."

"Conquests. That's all you're really interested in at the end of the day, isn't it?" Talei tilted her head and pinned the Alpha with a steady gaze.

Savannah's smile slipped from her face. "I don't understand—"

"You're slowly gaining our trust, acting all nice and friendly, before you rat us out and defeat us. You think we're something to conquer," Talei's eyes narrowed, all playfulness gone from her face as her body locked cold and rigid.

"That's not it at all!" Savannah stood up, her senses on full alert as she stared down at the unpredictable rogue. "I would never hurt you or Zion—"

"I'm just messing with you!" Talei suddenly laughed and stood up, slapping Savannah on the back and coming dangerously close to the claws the Alpha had extended and held ready to swipe. "Girl, you're so tense. Loosen up and live a little."

Savannah took a deep breath, taking a few moments to calm down and warily watch Talei. She was shouldering the shopping bags and didn't look suspicious or dangerous anymore. "Fine, whatever. Let's just go." She saw Niko approaching with two trolleys stuffed with groceries, and was glad to get out of the shopping centre. The conversation with Talei had given her so much to think about, and she couldn't process it while her body was still on edge.

When they were halfway home, she stopped dead in her tracks as Talei's words played over in her mind. "Wait, what about Tasman, your twin? Where does he fit into your story of being an only child?"

"I have a twin? So easy to forget sometimes." Talei lifted a hand to her temple and made an explosion gesture as she kept walking.

Savannah stood flabbergasted for a brief moment before hurrying after Talei, sure now of her theory that all rogues were mentally unhinged.