The Rogue Queen's Revenge

Queen Ezell

Elena's POV

We are sitting around the campfire when, all of a sudden, my hair stands on edge. I can feel somebody is watching us, but I do not know who it is. I know it is not somebody that wants to harm us. I can feel it is my mate. Why is he watching us from a distance? And why doesn't he come closer? Then I remember it is because of the outcasts. And he might be afraid to scare them away. I want to train him. But how am I supposed to do that when we are hungry and have not eaten the whole day? I cannot blame them for stealing food and clothing because it's cold, and we have nothing to eat here in the outcast lands. Nobody ever comes here, not only because of the Wolf on ice but also because there is no food here. I know when he's gone, I feel he has gone home. My heart longs for him, but I cannot leave these poor people without food or training. My Wolf and I are strong, and I know we will find a way to get our people food.

"We need a place where we can grow our food and train. Do you know of any place where there is water and we can build shelters?" I asked the outcasts.

We call ourselves outcasts, but we know that we are rogues. We do not have alpha, and we do not have a pack. That makes us rogues. We might as well admit that we are rogues. Anyway, that is something else that we can figure out later. Right now, we need shelter, and we need a place where we can get our food.

"There is only one place in this mountain, but a ruthless rogue rules it. His name is Roger, and he does not allow anybody to come near him and his few rogues' territory. We cannot fight him as he is too strong for us. Thou not as hungry and skinny and untrained as we are." Edward says as he tries to keep Mariam warm.

"You will have to take me there. I need to talk to him. You guys have to learn to trust me. I want to save you, and I want to train you. I know my Wolf is powerful, and she can help us. I believe we can all go and see if he will have mercy on us or if he wants to fight. I will challenge him. He might be strong, but I can promise to beat him. You will have to believe in me like you believed in my Wolf when she was still on ice. If you can't believe in a wolf stuck in ice for long, you can believe in her now that she is free. Please trust in me and Snow. Someone is coming. Can you smell them? I think it is gypsies." I say.

"We better hide. We have been stealing from them as well. And I think they are looking for us. They will put a curse on us if we do not get away from them as fast as possible. Nobody understands that we are hungry and do not have hunting grounds to hunt for our food or make our clothes. Everybody sees us as the enemy and wants to destroy us. They do not care what and how we got the way we are." Mariam says, and the small group of wolves gets ready to run.

"No, wait! It is time we stand up for ourselves. We might as well start with one enemy at a time. Let me do the talking. And all of you stay behind me. If they want to curse somebody, I will tell them I will take the curse. I do not believe they have bad intentions because it does not seem that they are aggressive. Do not run! We will stand our ground." I say.

The others are hesitant as they come and stand behind me. I know they are weak from hunger, and I know if I have to plea for them, I will. Somebody has to take charge of them.

I do not think Edward is strong enough. I do not know how far they can run before the gypsies catch them anyway because we are hungry and weak. Well, they are. I am not as hungry as I had eaten the night before I fell off the mountain. Before I smelled my mate, we talked about all the good dishes we would eat when we got a pack that would take us one day. We are cold and imagining all the warm, lovely food on our table and the warm clothing we will be wearing.

I have silently prayed to the Moon Goddess to send us something, even if it is only a small rabbit or something we get caught to eat tonight. I see them appearing in the distance, and it does not look like they are aggressive. They are singing and dancing as if they are praising the Moon Goddess.

I prayed to the moon goddess but still do not know if she heard me. I had been without her for so long and believed she had forgotten about me and was angry with me because of my mother's death that I never expected an answer from her.

The gypsies come closer, and I immediately know who their leader is.

"The leader of the gypsies' name is Ezell, and she is a queen. She does not like us very much, and I believe we are in danger of getting cursed. Let's run while we can. If she comes here herself, she is sick and tired of us stealing their food and clothing. I'm sure she will curse us." Eva, the Little Omega, says that she is always afraid of everything.

I stand still and feel my companions do not know what to do. Do they stand with me? Or do they run away?

"You are not going to run away from us this time, are you? I see you have a new member with you. Why has your pack outcasted you? What did you do?" Ezell asks.

"I fell in love with the wrong mate, and he pushed me off the cliff, Queen Ezell. What brings you here? Why are you here? Are you here to curse us? Because my very hungry companions and have no food or clothing to wear in this cold stole a little food and clothing from you. Are you willing to curse him because they were hungry and without food? Are you ready to condemn them because they were cold and without clothes? Do you not pray to the Moon Goddess? Or are you, like the other wolf packs, ready to cast us out just because of stupid little things? I apologize that we had to steal to survive. We have honor, but hunger and cold are sometimes stronger than honor and drive you to do things you will not normally do. If you want to curse somebody, curse me. I am willing to take all their sins on me." I say.

"I like you. You are spirit. We are here to bring you food and clothing. We are not here to curse you. We are here to bless you. As you said, The Moon Goddess is the Goddess of all of us, her creatures. And we cannot ignore what she prays in our hearts to do." Oueen Ezell says.

I look at her skeptically as I cannot believe that the Moon Goddess, for once, hurt my prayers.

Ezell nods at her men, and they bring bags of food and warm clothing. I cannot believe our luck. Or is it luck? Gypsies don't forgive easily. What is going on here? Who sent them?

"Thank you for your generosity. But now you can tell me who sent this. Is it Ryan Collins? Did he send it and ask you to pretend that you were the ones who brought it to us? I'm not stupid. I know. Gypsies do not forgive easily, especially if you steal from them. Sit down south so that we can cook you some meat, and you can eat with us. We will also share what we have gotten with you to make up for what we have stolen from you. There is plenty of food, and we will share it with you." I say.

"Like I said, I like you. You are not stupid. You know exactly where this food and clothing came from. Is it because you can smell your mate on it? Or is it because you knew that your mate would not let you go hungry and cold? However, we cannot eat with you, and we have forgiven you for stealing from us as you offered a peace offering in return. Oh, we will not curse you, and we will let you go. But let it be known it is only because I like you. It is also because you gave us a peace offering. We saw the wolf was still on the ice when we came here. However, I feel that that is not her. I think that she is inside you. I can see magic when you use magic, and you use magic to disguise the fact that the wolf is no longer there. I'm interested in hearing your story—however, not today. Today, I have other things to take care of. Enjoy your meal, and I hope you can sleep warm tonight. I have a feeling we will meet again. Ask us if you need food and clothing, and do not steal. We will always share what we have with the other children of the Moon Goddess. We will leave you in peace and hope you enjoy your meal. Do not worry. The food is not poisoned or cursed. I can promise you that. I do not want to be in Ryan's bad books. Enjoy the rest of your day. I will be leaving now." Ezell says as she nods to her men, and they walk back to their village.

"Let's go to the cave. I think it will be better there to cook the meat. We do not want other people to smell our food and come after us. In the meantime, I am going to put on some warm clothing and some warm boots. I do not know if you want to follow my example." I say, as I take some of the warm clothing and put them on. The other way is to see if nothing is happening to me before they follow my example. I can see the relief on their faces as they feel the warmth of the clothing.

We take the food, which is a lot, to the cave. We do have wood there that they have gathered. We make sure that we go deep into the caves. We know wolves can smell food from afar as our noses are excellent. We ensure we stay close to the so-called wolf on ice. We know everybody is afraid of the wolf. They will not come into the cages if we are there.

The only ones that know that wolf is not the same one. That was the before, is the gypsies. But I believe that Queen Ezell will not tell anybody. I am sure I made a friend today, but like me, I feel she has been hurt and does not trust me quickly.

We cook the meat, and we start eating. The others wait for me to eat first to see if something happens to me again. I smile as I enjoy the fresher cooked meat. The others are hungry, and they quickly fall in with me.

To Morrow, we will go to the peace of land where there is plenty to hunt. And we will take on Roger and his rogues. I am planning to make this a big pack, and perhaps the rogues will join us if they see that I am a good leader and that I will be a good Alpha for them. I know my wolf is strong enough to handle everything coming our way, and I feel strong with her after we ate.

The rest of them sleep, as they are tired. However, I still do not feel tired. I feel full of energy.

Snow and I start training. She showed me how to shift fast and fight in my wolf form. I can feel her strength, and I can feel her warmth. I know we do not always have to be cold, as we can shift into our wolves when we are freezing, but we. do not want to expose our wolves to the elements all the time. We do not want our wolves to become as weak as we are. Although they are built to be in the snow and weather conditions we cannot handle as humans, we do not. We do not want to expose them all the time.

Besides, there are a bunch of hunters in this area, and we know that they like to hunt us in our wolf form. It is not only the wolf's responsibility to protect us. We must also protect our wolves.