Luna's Revenge

Confusion

Rowan laid in his bed with his back against the headboard whilst a girl’s chestnut hair was sprawled on his chest as she laid n***d beside him. Each of their clothes were discarded somewhere in the room as Rowan’s eyes stayed locked on the ceiling of his room with painted wildflowers as a chandelier hung in the middle, casting a soft light in the room.

Rowan’s hands were locked under his head whilst she hummed underneath her breath softly but he was hardly paying any attention to her.

Somehow, he was surprised when he realized that his thoughts revolved around the brown-haired rogue he had met in the afternoon. The one who had so bravely agreed to serve the pack.

“Rowan!” His eyes jerked down to the woman beside him as he looked at her with a slightly annoyed expression.

“What Jenna?” He asked in a sleepy timbre.

She pouted, her eyes, although green as well, were much lighter than his own. That along with her blonde hair made her look pretty, too pretty.

“I am leaving tomorrow, the least you can do is listen to me.” She whined.

Rowan rolled his eyes as he softly pushed her off of himself and got up before he picked up his pants from the floor and began to pull them up. “I would suggest that you go back to your own room and take rest before you have to leave for the wolf city tomorrow.”

Jenna huffed as she glared at him softly before picking on the hint that he was not interested in her company anymore; she soon dressed up and was out of the room in a jiffy as he was left alone, wondering about why he was thinking so much about a rogue.

He closed his eyes to stop his thoughts but it wasn’t possible for him as he ran his hands down his face. Until now, he had never even paid a single moment’s thought for a rogue. Rogues were not respected in any wolf pack because being a rogue was clearly a sign that they had either betrayed their Alpha before or had decided to walk out on their old pack.

Many packs, like his own, believed in punishing the rogues whereas many packs believed in taking them prisoner for life. His pack was one of those who were still a little liberal towards the rogues, especially considering the brutality of packs like Dragary or Morta.

He stood up, pulling a t-shirt over his head before he walked over to the open window of his room.

In the stark darkness of the night, he could see the forest extending in front of him for miles. Breathing in the fresh air of the night, his eyes travelled up to the crescent moon shining dimly in the sky.

The sliver hue emanating from the moon was enough to calm his restless heart as he thought of home for a few moments.

The home that he had grown up in before they had to move here.

The childhood that he had.

And as he had his eyes closed, thinking about all of this, he saw two stormy blue eyes looking at him with fear and slight fascination. He could not help but be plunged in the thoughts of the rogue that he had seen in the morning. Her long brown tresses which he knew shimmered in the sun extended till the bottom of her spine as she had continued to stare at him with wide and curious eyes.

He was unsure of the time he spent in thinking about the girl but he knew that there was no stopping his mind.

He had never thought of anyone so deeply, let alone talking about a rogue.

He instantly opened his eyes and wondered what had gotten into him as he could not control his racing thoughts anymore. With every breath he took, it became more and more difficult to keep her out of his mind as he angrily ran his hands through his hair before a low growl escaped his lips.

He was now staring angrily at the ground below him from his window as he took a few steps back and before he could second guess his decisions, he leapt out of the window and landed on the ground below on four paws, fully transforming his body into his wolf’s.

His fur was the colour of dark chocolate, looking velvety under the dim campfires and lanterns and lamps in the streets around him.

Clark, who was about to enter the DeLaurentis mansion in the centre of their lands as he saw Rowan transforming into a wolf before he ran straight into the woods.

Clark turned around, adjusting the broad sword strapped to his back before he walked back inside the house, making his way to his room, knowing that Rowan was more than capable of taking care of himself.

Rowan’s eyes saw the wilderness for as far as he could see. He ran and the wind tussled with his thick coat as his paws ran through the damp grounds of his pack.

He had spent a large amount of his life in these forests.

He had shifted into his wolf form when he was only seven years of age and slowly, he had grown. He was more than familiar with these woods and his heightened senses whenever he allowed his wolf form to take over.

And even though there had been so many moments when he had shifted in the past, the euphoria of turning into his true element never ceased. It was always the same and there was nothing in this world for which he could ever consider giving up his wolf.

He was free and he was the strongest one on the land. He was the Alpha.

♚♚♚

Rowan’s steps were slow as he walked the boundary of his lands. He still did not wish to shift back to his human form, considering that even though he shifted, his thoughts about that rogue girl had still not ceased.

He was clueless about the reason behind his thoughts but he believed that it was because he had hardly ever met anyone so bold and strong before in his life.

Now, don’t get him wrong, he had seen plenty of agile wolves in his pack and in other packs. However, there never had been a rogue that he had wanted to respect.

And it irked him that his heart and mind were screaming at him to respect her.

How could he though? She had probably betrayed her last Alpha and there was not a single trustworthy bone in her body; so why would he want to respect her?

He remembered how his father had always taught him that respect needed to be earned and fear always needed to be exerted. That was his way of ruling and of many more Viribus Alphas before him.

For more than five centuries, his family held the position of the Alpha of this pack. His great ancestor had once killed the previous Alpha, thus, gaining the pack’s favour and since then, every single one of the Viribus men or women had proven themselves for the honour.

For all of the wolf packs, there was a ritual for the children of the Alpha which made it their duty to prove themselves worthy of the loyalty from the pack.

Even Rowan, at the age of fourteen, had to undergo a process of extensive challenges and battles before the pack decided unanimously that he was best suited to be an Alpha in the future.

Rowan’s father died mysteriously when Rowan had been only ten years of age. And after that, Rowan’s uncle and his father’s younger brother had proved it to the pack that he was the fair choice as an Alpha.

However, when six years after that Jason, Rowan’s uncle, died in a battle, Rowan was the obvious choice left.

And now, at only nineteen years of age, Rowan was an Alpha of one of the strongest packs in the world.

Deep in his thoughts, he did not realize where his mind had taken him as he looked up and found himself staring at the entrance to the prison cells.

He was baffled to find himself standing there and as he tried to turn around and run away, something tugged at his heart, urging him to go inside.

After a short battle in his mind, he almost rolled his eyes as he began to walk up the steps that led inside the prison which once used to be filled with criminals; at least that is what he always heard in all of the stories from his father and uncle.

The prison initially used to be a large unit and Rowan knew that it extended to at least three more floors underground.

However, where he stood, was the only upright building with a roof above and jail cells lined up on both of his sides.

As he was walking, his eyes travelled at the empty walls of the unused cells. Most of them held blood splatters and claw marks. Some even had heavy metal chains impaled in the walls.

He knew that his pack had never been one for mercy.

And without thinking, he stopped when he heard it.

A new heartbeat. The slow and rhythmic thumping blasting in his ears made him look to his side and when he did, he saw the same blue eyes staring at him with curiosity.

She sat on the mattress with her back against the wall as she lazily looked at him with an unreadable expression. Rowan was almost tempted to shift back and punish her for staring at him with such a disrespectful expression; however, he knew that it would be worse if his pack found out that he had visited the prison cells. For now, he was glad that she was unable to recognize him.

“What? Come to get me to ruffle your fur? Is that the job of a slave of your stupid pack?” She barked out with sass, sending a jolt of shock and anger through his body as he stood in his place but made no move.

“Oh, come on, Ophelia!” Rowan heard someone say from the cell beside her own. The second and last prisoner who stayed here. Rowan’s uncle had been the one who had captured him and this was the first time he was seeing Adrian. However, his thoughts only stayed on the name which had fallen from his lips.

Ophelia. So that was the name of the rogue. Quite regal for someone so common. He thought.

“What? That jerk who threw me in here said that my duties start from tomorrow!” Ophelia snapped at Adrian. She seemed pissed, even though she was whispering her words.

Adrian shook his head before he turned his back on her and slept.

Ophelia kept picking on the lose threads of her mattress as Rowan stood awkwardly outside her cell, looking at her through the rusted iron bars.

After a short while, she tilted her head to look at him as she scooted a little closer to the bars, now only a hand’s reach away from Rowan. He watched her movements scrutinizingly.

Even now, she did not speak.

He purred under his breath as he walked closer to her and sprawled down in front of her, knowing that she would never be able to recognize him as the Alpha because she had never seen him in his wolf form.

Even though he was worried that someone might come to check on the prison cells but he wanted to be near her. He did not know why, but there was barely anything that could make him walk away at this point.

“Why are you here?” She whispered softly as she looked at Rowan in the eyes. Her eyes, which had looked so bright in the daylight, now looked stricken with shadows and darkness. She looked tired and even after that, she did not look to be in the mood to sleep.

He found himself wondering about why she was here.

She chuckled when he did not reply to her question. “Obviously, why would you talk to me. I guess you’re only here to keep an eye on me.” She mumbled before shaking her head and crawling back to her mattress as she curled up, facing the wall.

“Good night, stranger.” She said with a smile that looked so carefree that Rowan almost felt bad for the situation she was in. And somewhere in his heart, he had hoped that she would stay up with him.