Talons

Chapter 57: The Interaction

Lark's POV

Luke left B back at the hospital with Robin. She was awake when he left, and the pack medic told us that the rogue we caught is well enough for questioning.

We calmly enter where the man is being held; he is clearly deranged, so we don't start out with the full-on torture that we would like. We lost seven pack members, maybe more if my grandparents don’t pull through, but considering the number of rogues, that figure is extremely low.

When rogues go mad, there is no reason for what they do. For all we know this was a random attack, but with over thirty of them, that seems unlikely.

Still, we aren't from a cruel pack. We give chances, and if they are all exhausted, then there are consequences for wasting our time.

"What were you after?" I ask, hoping that the rogue would say something typical, but he makes my heart sink to the pit of my stomach when he tells me what they wanted.

"We need an alpha," the rogue says. "Our children were taken like experiments. The alpha can help us get them back." The rogue doesn't make any sense and while I think of a follow up, Luke tries to get him to clarify.

"This man is our alpha; why didn't you come after him?" Luke points at me, and the rogue looks almost annoyed, as if my beta is belittling his intelligence.

"Yes, he is the alpha, but we needed the little alpha." I lunge forward and grab the rogue by his neck. I’m trying hard not to lose control, but my mate and child are trigger points for me.

"Why?" I growl, barely able to release my grip long enough to let him reply.

"Because we needed the queen," the rogue forces out. I release his throat, remembering that he is mad, but Luke continues with his line of questioning.

"What queen?"

"The quiet queen," he says. “The little one.” I glance at Luke because it really sounds like he is talking about B.

"Who is the quiet queen?" I ask, praying that my sister hasn’t set the pack up. I don’t think she would, but she is a rogue, and even Raven, who is actually a pack member, had a touch of madness that required her to come home for a while.

"The queen used to come and go, come and go. She always sang to the silver one but the silver one never came back. The queen left us after she was buried, but we came to bring her back. The ground is dying, and the children are being found. We watched the queen grow from little-little and she needs to save us."

Luke and I are perplexed, but we manage to get the rogue to tell us where the ground is dying after promising him that we will allow him to meet with his queen. It's a lie; but depending on what we find it might not be.

It doesn't take long for us to find the place. It's located on the very edge of our territory where B used to do her experiments as a child. There was a time when B was obsessed with flowers, but because one of the hybrids she managed to create choked out the tomatoes, she was forbidden to grow anything too close to the harvest fields.

The place is actually closer to the Iron pack’s main territory than our own. I had even forgotten the plot of land existed and I’m more than bothered by how far away B was sent to play. The rogue we have in questioning said they watched B grow, and I’m sickened by the thought of what could have happened to her if they decided to capture and keep her.

Just like the rogue said, we find six noticeably young children hiding. They seem terrified, but Luke and I are good with kids, so we get them to trust us fairly quickly.

The children say that they have been left to pray for the queen's return, but they don’t live in the field. I’m glad B hasn’t been in the area in over a year, because if she would have found the children, she would have tried to raise them all as her own.

I now understand what the rogue meant by saying the ground was dying. It looks like the area has been over harvested, and because no one is coming to fertilize the soil, the flowers are not growing well. They are small, and barely give off a scent, something I clearly remember them having because B used to smell like them when she was little.

I convince one of the older children to show a scout where he lives, and the man comes back an hour later, horrified.

He tells me that within the Iron pack’s territory there is a large, clearly unchecked, rogue colony. 

I immediately call Alpha Stone, wanting to warn him, but the response I get is less than friendly.

Colton's POV

I'm panicking about my wolf, but just as I'm about to rush to the hospital the bastard returns. He tells me that he feels weak, and I ask him if there is anything we can do to recover his strength. He and I haven't gone on a run in a long time, and we think that is the best way to help him. 

We bolt, moving through the woods at the highest speed we can, and only slowing when we smell something oddly familiar. I want to investigate, but Carter links me, saying that something bad happened to an ally.

I get back to the packhouse and my father summons me to his office. He has Lark on speaker phone, so everyone in the room can hear their conversation. 

"Alpha Lark, are you accusing my pack of neglecting it's duties?" 

"Those are your words Alpha Stone, not mine. I'm warning you that a large colony is within your territory, and they seem to have gone mad." Lark goes on to tell my father that four of the rogues had gotten near his son, but were taken down.

"I will investigate it, but I can assure you that if a colony as large as you say exists on my land then my men would have noticed."

I stare at my father, knowing full well we rarely patrol the borders to cut labor costs. Carter and I do what we can, but without resources and full control, our hands are tied. 

My mind goes back to the familiar odor, and I realize it's the scent that used to linger on B when we were children. It's a natural smell, so unless you know it's out of place you wouldn't recognize it.

I ask my father for men, and he reluctantly grants them to me. We all shift, and I know exactly where I'm going. 

As soon as we arrive rogues start popping out from every direction, accusing us of stealing their babies. There are so many of them that I can't believe they haven't been spotted sooner.

Orlin and I start ripping off arms and legs, until there is no one left to fight. There are no children in the colony, and we have not left any survivors, which is a mistake on our part.

"How did they mask their scent?" Carter links. We have both shifted back into human form and he hands me a pair of shorts to put on.

"It's these flowers." I grab a handful of them off one of the makeshift huts and hand it to him. "I've only seen them growing in one place. They got them from there and brought them here," I link back.

That says a lot about the safety of my father’s pack. Rogues have literally set up their own mini territory within ours when they could have just as easily stayed within the borders of Claw. They didn’t because they knew they would be found, whereas on our territory, they had built a small settlement.

“Alpha Colt, look at this.” I head to where one of the patrol guards is standing and he points to a crude drawing of a girl sleeping in a field of flowers.

“Make sure there are no children here,” I say to the guard, and he nods before heading out to search.

The men find nothing, but I pocket the drawing, hoping to ask Lark about it in private. The art is rough, and despite being wrapped in plastic it’s weathered, but I recognized who it's supposed to be.

Lark’s POV

B had herself discharged from the hospital as soon as she found out that the pack was going to have to pay for her treatment. The doctor said she would recover fine on her own, but he encouraged her to stay since infection could take days to present itself.

The first thing my sister did was look for my grandparents, who had been discharged the day after they were admitted. 

My grandfather’s legs are swollen and need time to heal, so he is now wheelchair bound, and thankfully, my grandmother's wound was not as serious as it appeared. She was given ointment and antibiotics to help fend off infection as she recovers at home. 

Both are on bed rest, and B has already situated herself as their backup caregiver, even though she should also be resting.

Our Parents have moved into our grandparents’ cabin, and they say that B hasn’t been sleeping well. They tell me that she has been sneaking into the woods anytime no one is around to stop her, and one of those times, I followed her.

She did nothing but dig in the dirt, collect a few roots, and bring them back to the cabin. I feel terrible suspecting my sister, but the rogue we have in custody swears that she has been protecting them for years.

Uncertain, I decide that the rogue and B need to have a face to face. Although Luke is one hundred percent against them meeting; I need my peace of mind.

I get B to follow me to the holding cells, and I can tell she is uncomfortable by the environment. It's not a place she would have ever visited, nor is it a place I ever want to see her.

As soon as we stand before the rogue, he bows deeply, almost shaking in revelry. B looks at me in bewilderment, and I point to the man.

“Do I know you?” she questions softly, and the rogue actually kneels for her before replying.

“Have we done something wrong my queen?” B’s eyes snap to mine as she looks for guidance, but I want to see how they interact without my input.