I stepped back, my face paling. At this rate, it was unlikely that Lucien or Zeke would come back in time.

The bounty hunter reached for me, and I ducked, trying to escape. He merely smirked at my pathetic attempt at avoiding him before deliberately striking my limp arm. A sharp pain ricocheted through me, and I let out a scream of pain.

"Ooh, that looks like it hurts," he said, wincing sarcastically as he watched my reaction. "Guess you won’t be pulling off any sudden feats of strength like the last two times any longer. Such a shame."

I gritted my teeth, beads of perspiration already starting to gather across my forehead as I tried to stamp down the feelings of pain. He had been watching my encounter with Sienna, it seemed, which was bad news.

The first time I had fought back, the sudden bursts of strength hadn’t brought about any repercussions. However, the control I had over my own muscles and bones wasn’t stable enough to ensure I would be injury-free every single time, and he had realized this.

I had no other choice. With an injured arm and strength that only came in random bursts, I was in no state to fight him and two other fully grown men. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"Help! There’s an attack in the medical tent―!" I screamed as loud as I could, but then he slapped his big, meaty hand over my mouth, forcing the words back down my throat.

He came closer towards me, and I risked the urge to gag. Such a close proximity to him was causing my stomach to do cartwheels, and I felt all sorts of uncomfortable knowing that my fate was now quite literally back in his hands.

"No can do, little birdie." He smirked nastily at me, delighting in my struggle. His voice caused goosebumps to appear on my skin, and his hot, sticky breath brushed past my earlobes, causing me to shudder with disgust. "Can’t have you bringing other uninvited guests into the party. Your mates only asked for you."

My eyes widened. I tensed up before redoubling my efforts to escape. I struggled as hard as I could, slamming my other elbow into his chest. Now that I knew where I was bound for, I would gladly break every bone in my body if it meant I could beat the living daylights out of him and his cronies just so that I could stay with Lucien.

Most werewolves would find willingly living in a pack of rogues to be a miserable existence, a shame that needed to be rectified, but to me, it was paradise. Lucien was here, and I wanted nothing more than to stay with him.

He was my fated mate. He was the only fated mate of mine who mattered― and made me feel like I mattered.

And I prayed that I mattered enough for him to be able to sense that I was in trouble. Somehow, he always managed to come find me at the right time, just whenever I needed it. I simply had to stall for time and make as much trouble as I could before he caught up.

It wouldn’t be long.

I kicked backwards, striking the man’s knee with as much force as I could muster. He let out a little wheeze of pain, his grip loosening just enough for me to wriggle free. However, his men were already prepared for my little attempt at escape. One slammed his fist into my belly, causing me to bowl over in pain, while the other struck me in the head, causing my vision to spin.

"If you had just come quietly, we wouldn’t need to use this much force," their leader said patronizingly, patting my head like I was a dumb child.

I snarled with all my teeth, wanting to bite off his fingers. However, he wasn’t threatened at all, and merely hit me again― this time in my chest, causing my breath to stutter as I felt a rib crack. I fell to the floor, wheezing breathlessly as pain shot through my body.

My vision started to spot, and the world started to spin. I felt as though all the air had been knocked out of my lungs, and my limbs were now devoid of strength to even hold myself upright, much less fight back.

"H-Help!" I cried out as loudly as possible.

"The triplets only told me to deliver you to them. They didn’t say what state you would need to be in," the man continued.

I gazed up at him, pure loathing in my eyes. I wanted nothing more than to slug him, but his cronies came prepared after learning their lesson the last time.

They produced a long silver chain and began to wrap it tightly around my arms and legs. My skin began to burn, and my eyes watered in discomfort. I never had such a strong sensitivity to silver before― whatever wolf that was inside me, no matter how weak, didn’t like it.

"Don’t look at me like that. I’m not sadistic enough to be torturing you for fun," he continued, smirking maliciously. "I’m just repaying your favor. After all, bounty hunters like me are awfully good at keeping score."

"Magnus, we should go now," one of the men said. "I think the Alpha is coming soon."

"When Lucien finds you, you’re finished," I spat out as my heart cheered.

"If he finds me, you mean," Magnus said, easily lifting me on his back to sling over his shoulder as though I weighed nothing more than a throw pillow. "He’s not going to, sweetheart. I don’t plan on staying in this pack for him to." He turned to his men and grinned. "Let’s move!"

All of them rushed out of the tent, and immediately, I could hear the sound of growls and howls filling the air, punctuated by the sound of fists hitting flesh.

The rogue pack was seemingly tearing itself apart.

My heart sank; even with my limited vision, I could tell it was pure unadulterated chaos, and no one even noticed that I was being hauled away like a potato sack.

I screamed as loud as I could for help again, but I was ignored. My screams basically blended with their own screams and howls of pain. I could feel Magnus chuckle darkly at my attempt.

"Scream louder, sweetheart. Maybe someone will finally pay attention to you," he said mockingly. Despite his words, he picked up the pace.

The three men hauled me away from the campsite effortlessly. As they had suspected, no one even batted an eyelid when they breezed past. Everyone was engaged in a battle of their own, and they didn’t have time to spare for a measly girl hauled away on someone’s shoulder.

Everywhere I looked, I was met with carnage. The rogues were ruthless in battle, even against their own kind. Whatever grievances they were fighting over must be something that couldn’t be solved with a bit of shoving, as they were all going for the kill.

"Wonderful, isn’t it?" Magnus said with a laugh. "That’s how rogues should all be. We escaped packs to live on our own rules, not join another."

His friends cheered, roaring with laughter as they dodged fights and egged others.

I quickly scanned through the crowd, desperate to find signs of Lucien and Zeke. However, they were nowhere to be found. It didn’t seem like they were even at the campsite. My heart sank to the pits of my stomach when I finally turned to look at Magnus, only to find that he was smiling sinisterly at me.

"W-What did you do?" I asked, seething through my teeth. He was smiling as though he knew something I didn’t, and I had a faint inkling of what that might be.

"Now, what makes you think that I would’ve ever done anything?" Magnus said innocently, batting his eyelashes a few times as though he were a baby filled with wide-eyed wonder.

"Because this rogue pack was still fine before you showed your face," I spat out. "How did they fight so suddenly?"

"Have you forgotten, love?" he said with a laugh. "You were the one who started the fight with their Luna. Now, they’re simply following in your footsteps," he said pointedly.

I opened my mouth, ready to retort, only to realize that he was right. I did set an example, whether it was my intention or not.

"Everyone can pretend how they’re civilized werewolves, but let’s be honest, dearest. We are mere beasts. You can never remove the wolf from our true selves," he said a little too happily.

"You―!" I was just about to cuss him out when I smelled something in the air. My eyes widened, and I perked up, spinning left and right as much as I could in hopes of finding who I was looking for.

Finally, my gaze landed on his figure in the distance. A familiar black wolf was charging straight towards us, with killer intent in his eyes.

"Lucien!"