The Alpha Rogue and the Geek

Chapter 6

“Did you find her Rob?” asked Ash through the mind-link.

Ash did not catch his mate’s scent at first as he was focused on the ceremony and the speeches of the Alphas. When the vanilla scent finally hit his nose, he was confused as the scent was similar to the same vanilla tones he caught earlier this morning.

He sniffed the air and distinguished a mix whiff of gardenia and vanilla. The fragrance was exhilarative, and he was burning to find the source of this scent.

“Mate! Mate is here!” yapped his wolf Rohan all excited until he whimpered a few seconds later when he noticed that his mate’s scent was fading away, a clear indication that his mate was walking away from him… from them!

“It is difficult to find someone when we do not even know how this someone looks like” mumbled Rob through the mind link.

“I told you Rob. I think she is medium height and has long wavy red hair. She had a ripped jeans and a white t-shirt. This is enough given that she turned away the moment I spotted her as my mate.”

“What girl in full possession of her faculties, would see Ash and run away!” mocked Carmen.

“The type of girl who is a snobbish racist” spat Rob.

“Rob!” Roared Ash through the mind-link fighting to not lose control while still on stage with the other Alphas.

“Rob, you are not helping!” Scolded Carmen.

“Ok. Ok. Are you sure this girl you described is your mate?”

“No” groaned Ash.

He just followed his gut feeling. A couple of redheads were standing to his left, right where the scent was the most concentrated. But he did notice that a few brunettes were also leaving the premises just at the same time as the redhead who caught his eyes.

He had no idea what she looked like, but the way she was walking away, swaying her hips, caught his attention and he was even turned out by her sexy ass.

She had a killer body so yes, it might be just a plain physical attraction but what are the chances that you would smell your mate and then get turned on by another woman.

“Why don’t you check all the girls who are leaving the ceremony. I would find it suspicious if anyone left the venue now. They would at least wait for the end of the official ceremony” suggested Carmen.

“And how is this helping? Searching for a petite redhead is much easier… Honestly, I do not know why we are even trying to find her. She clearly does not want you Ash. And you have a long line of girls waiting for a sign to jump in and satisfy you” complained Rob clearly not on board with this search mission.

Ash growled at his best friend and second in command, something that he never did before and yet something that he did today twice in the space of ten minutes!

“Ok. Ok. I will continue searching for the “princess”. Not because I want to find your mate but rather because I want to teach this conceited rankist a lesson!” Said Rob.

Rob despised pack members for looking down at rogues like him. He had no doubt that Ash’s mate ran away because he is a rogue. And he was determined on making her regret offending his Alpha and friend like that.

Rob mind-linked his friends and asked them to intensify their search. The instructions were clear: Track all redheads with long wavy hair as a priority one but also expand the search to track any woman that is trying to leave the ceremony.

He did not know that in Alpha Dean’s office, Bella was getting a makeover to facilitate her exfiltration.

“We do not have time to dye my hair” sniveled Bella.

“Luna Taylor noticed that they were closing up on you. So, chances are they are looking for a girl with long red hair.” Explained Charlotte.

 “How about just a haircut?” Suggested Emma.

“Great idea Luna Emma! I think a pixie haircut would be the best to blur your tracks and it would make you look edgy.” Exclaimed Charlotte all excited.

“No way! I like my long hair.” Pleaded Bella who was not ready to sacrifice her long locks.

This mate was costing her too much already, thought Bella... She must leave her pack and run Moon Goddess knows where… she must cut contact with her friends in case her mate decided to spy on them. And now the icing on the cake, she must dye and cut her hair.

Bella’s Wolf, Gaya, was huffing and pacing nervously deep inside her head, strongly disagreeing with her.

“You are making a big mistake Bella. No one runs from their mate!”

“Oh Really? If someone had a psychopath for a mate, she would stay around looking all lovey-dovey?” mocked Bella.

“Ash is not a psychopath. All the Alphas shook his hand and trusted him. If anything, he is a natural-born leader.”

“Gaya, what is happening to you? We had a plan! You and I were in-sync about how our future would unfold. Living on the road, without a place to call home, was never part of the plan.”

“Plans are made to be broken, Bella.”

“Please Gaya. I cannot make it on my own. Please do not go against me.”

“I will always be by your side Bella. I am just suggesting we give him a chance.”

“You saw how he reacted Gaya. He sent his men to hunt me down. If I give him a chance and still decide to leave or reject him, do you seriously believe he will accept my decision? He will undoubtful lock me up. Please Gaya don’t be blinded by the mate bond. Please…Please see the bigger picture.” Implored Bella

Gaya, her wolf, was conflicted and did not know what to do. She trusted the Moon Goddess and believed that their Goddess paired them together for a reason. But still she understood Bella’s skepticism because Ash was the opposite of Bella; he refused to join a pack whereas Bella was attached to her pack. He enjoyed the rogue life whereas Bella would be miserable living like that.

And yes, Ash seemed to be too possessive, given how he mobilized all his rogues to find his mate. Would he accept Bella’s decision if she gave him a chance and yet in the end wanted out of the relationship?

“Ok Bella. Let’s leave for now and give you some time to think this through.” conceded Gaya, realizing that her human needed her emotional support.

Bella let out a sigh of relief happy to see that her wolf Gaya finally agreed with her. She needed her wolf to survive the forced separation from her pack. She could not make it if her wolf were not onboard.

Bella knew that she overreacted at first by running away instead of talking with her mate. But seeing his reaction, she did no longer regret her decision. She cannot live with a rogue, and even less with an over possessive mate.

Maybe a few months away would help her analyze her options with clearer mind. Yes, she was convinced that she needed some time away, but she also considered this as a test. A test to see whether her mate will respect her wishes to stay anonymous and to get a break. Or whether he will continue to chase her down, focusing on his sole needs.

“Bella! Are you listening to me” yelled Charlotte waving her hand in front of her friend’s face.

“Um.. Sorry what were you saying?

“I said, Ok let’s go with a short bob”.

“Emma where are we on the headcounts?” asked Taylor who was organizing the departure of buses and taxis for the departure of the selected pack members to facilitate the exfiltration of Bella.

“I have secured sixty-one pack members who are ready to help and to keep all this operation a secret. I have 35 single women, 8 single men and 9 couples with or without pups.”

“Good thinking Emma! A good mixture of profiles will not raise questions. So where do we send them? I have already booked a SPA retreat for 25 people.”

“For the couples with pups we can put a Disneyland getaway.” Proposed Charlotte

“And we can send some of them in pre-Christmas retreats, others in long vacation spanning to the new year. I have also secured a few internships in distant packs outside Idaho. We need to make sure that several pack members will not come back anything time soon. Otherwise, Ash can see that Bella is the only one remaining MIA.”

Bella glanced uncomfortably at Emma and Taylor and lowered her head. She was steeped in guilt seeing so many people have to put their lives on hold just to help her run away from her mate.

“Bella… Hey Bella, what is wrong? I feel your guilt-trip and your wolf’s anxiety.” Asked Emma.

Bella raised her head and tried to look at Emma and Taylor without losing composure.

“I am messing up your lives and the lives of so many other werewolves, many who I do not even know!”  whispered Bella, mortified.

“Bella, all those people volunteered to help you. No one forced them. They understood your concerns.”

“And many of them did not appreciate Ash’s pushy methods. His men have been following every girl with long hair at the event!” huffed Taylor visibly annoyed by Ash’s forceful approach.

Taylor believed that Bella would have been more open to listening to Ash if he did not send his men to track her down. But now, she simply was not keen on reasoning with Bella after hearing of Ash’s manu militari method.

Some distance will only do them good; Bella would get time to think about her options and hopefully Ash would learn how to behave with his mate.

“Ok, we need to speed up. The ceremony will finish shortly, and I have a feeling that as soon as Ash can step down the stage, he will turn this pack over until he finds Bella. Charlotte, take Bella to your room and go ahead with the haircut. Taylor & I will finalize the reservations. Meet us here in twenty minutes. Maximum!” commanded Emma.

“Come Bella. I will give you a makeover, and then we will go for a SPA retreat for a few days before you fly away to San Francisco.”

“What?! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, you will not spend it in hiding with me!”

“And you will not spend Christmas Eve alone. Tristan will join us tomorrow and we will celebrate Christmas together and enjoy some me-time together. This is not negotiable Bella. So let’s go.” Stated Charlotte dragging Bella with her.

When Bella and Charlotte closed the door behind them, Emma looked at Taylor, her eyes filled with worry.

“I have a bad feeling about that Taylor.”

“As long as you do not have second thoughts, I can live with bad feelings.”

“Maybe we should have convinced her to give him a chance instead of facilitating her escape.”

“You saw how he reacted Emma. What do you think he would do to Bella if she talked with him and expressed her unwillingness to give in to the mate bond?”

“I don’t know Taylor… Our mates will fly off the handle when they learn about this exfiltration mission.”

“They should not know.”

“How can we hide from them something that big!”

“Emma! Where are you and where is Taylor? The ceremony ended and you are the only Lunas missing!” scolded Liam through the mind-link.

“s**t! Liam is already mind linking me. Taylor I cannot lie to him!”

“Emma! What is happening? Pack members reported that Ash and his rogues are nervous and almost rummaging through the pack… s**t, here comes trouble!” said Liam before cutting the mindlink.

Emma gasped and looked at Taylor her eyes filled with fear.

What is going to happen now?