Rogues: Rise of The King

    Dreams have a way of screwing with your head. Whether they are an expectation, a daydream, a nightmare, or something your subconscious conjured up in your sleep. I had this expectation of my life. After my older brother chose his mate over the family business, the burden was left to me. I didn't want it and I never thought I'd be the successor but I had accepted and done the job to the point.      There is a familiarity and sequence in all of it. A repeat of events that were perfect. The job was easy. Give orders, tax, and raddle the cages now and then to show the sheep who the boss is. To give them a little taste of fear in order to keep the streets clean and our kind safe. I didn't want the job but I sure did love it once I got a taste of that power. It became me and there was no one who was brave or bold enough to challenge me for it.     I never thought it would be taken from me. Sure, I knew that maybe one day I'd get caught doing something to someone. Whether it would be to someone's wife or the blood of the son staining deep on my not so clean hands. I thought my ending would come at the end of a gun barrel and the last thing I would hear would be the sound of the gun going off.      That's what it means to be at the top of the world. You either die or you kill taking what you want. Bleek and dark I know but it's the truth. My dad had known that. My brothers all know that. Even my crazy sadist sister knows that. At the end of our journey, there will always be a price to pay and we had accepted that. We had embraced this outcome and had run with it. Sure one day our maker would come and take back what he had given us, but he'd have a hard f*****g time doing it. There was no way either of us is going down without a fight.      A little over a year ago, my redemption strolled into my bar and took a seat at the very heart of who I am. Long dark hair, steel blue piercing eyes, thick full lips, the body of a goddess, and the most wicked smile I had ever seen in my life. The woman is a tremor. Something that can't be contained. A fighter down to her very soul.      That's not what I loved most about her though. It's the love. The kind of unconditional love that is rarely ever heard of. Not just for me either. For all things. Human, monster. objects. You name it and she'll tell you why it's important. Her empathy isn't just a quality to her. It's an ability. Something she was born with. Something that had possessed her at a very young age. She may hate it but she'd never wish it on anyone else. She'll keep this burden in her until her last breath.     That's the only thing I'm afraid of. Losing her. And damn does she love to push my buttons. Stopping her from getting herself killed is almost an every day occurrence. Nothing stops her. Nothing gets in her way. I am paying for everything I did in my life as a Don through the existence of this woman.      "Ash, that's not how you shoot a shotgun!" she growled. "It's going to kick back and hit you in the face,"      "I'm a vampire. I don't need to know how to use one of these. First of all. Second, No amount of force is going to slip through my hands," my i***t brother scoffed at her. He held the gun up like a handheld and fired. The gun kicked back slipping from his hands hitting him on the nose.      "You were saying?" Sloane asked, crossing her arms over her chest.      "f**k, why didn't you say anything?" he growled giving her a playful shove.      "You're an i***t," she stated, shaking her head. "How have you survived all this time without me?"      "Lance," I laughed answering her.      "Of course," she smiled, looking back at me with that little-wicked smirk.      I looked down at my arm when she turned away. Every day, I wake up with the hopes that the thing etched in my arm would somehow disappear. Sometimes, I catch the glimpse of the identical mark on my mate's arm and it angers me. The Alpha King had made it clear. We had no say in the matter it was this or death. This world isn't ready for her to leave it. It still needs her and she'll need me to pick her up when she's down.      We had been at court for a few days now waiting for the Alpha King and the Luna Queen. They had taken Daniel from us a few days after they had forced us into this and had personally taken him to Karin's family in Poland. They'd take care of him until we were able to establish something permanent.      I see the pain in her eyes when she walks past his room every day. Every time she finds his toys or sees his drawings and coloring pages. It kills me to see her like that. I can feel her retreating into herself. She doesn't like showing her emotions. She says it's weak of her. My mate, the soul soldier with the heart of a lover.      "What are you doing?" the three of us turned to the door to see the Beta prince glaring at my mate and brother.      "Teaching a vampire to shoot a shotgun. What does it look like I'm doing?" she sarcastically asked, rolling her eyes. There is it. One of the qualities I both love and hate equally about her. The sass.      "You can't do that here. There could be people down there. What if you accidentally shoot one?" he growled. Ash and Sloane leaned towards the open window and looked down.      "Well, it would be their fault for getting in the way of the bullet," she goads. His face turns from worried to angry in an instant.      "Give me that," the guard shouts going for the gun. Ash turned around and aimed it at him.      "There you go. That's how you hold a shotgun," my mate exclaims excitedly. The beta prince puts his hands up in surrender. "Now shoot him,"      "Now, Sloane that's no way to treat my subordinates. Is it?" the man we have been waiting for finally decides to show his face.      "Your subordinates. Not ours. I'm sure you have others just like him waiting to serve at your feet when you need them," I'm pretty sure she's smiling at him as she put her hand on the shotgun. Ash lowered it.      "This is no way for a queen to act," the queen scolded from behind her mate.      Sloane scoffed at her before taking the shotgun. She popped the barrel open and began to reload it. She pulled it popping the barrel back in place before she spun it in her handloading the ammo in place.      The Luna Queen looks like a pampered little thing. I bet she knows self-defense but has never had to enforce it before. Especially not one someone like my mate. Sloane handed the gun back to Ash without taking her eyes off the queen. A clear challenge. She's daring her to come and do something about it. The queen looked away.      "I will not fall for your antics. Gather your things your training begins now," she demanded. "You may bring your pet leech along,"      "His name is Ash," Sloane growled. The King smiled to himself.      "You find this funny, do you?" his mate challenged.      "Eli, she's a rogue. Her rules differ from ours," he said looking at her. "It's best you remember that or you will find the task at hand to be a lot more difficult,"      "Let's go, Sloane," the queen growled.      "I'll see you later," my mate whispered into my ear as she picked up her laptop carrier. She leaned into me and gave me a kiss before following the queen out.      "Stay with her," I ordered looking at my brother. He nodded following her out.      "You don't trust us with our niece?" the king asked.      "No, it's not that," I replied with the truth. "It's her I don't trust. She'd snap Queen Elianne's neck if she thought she could get away with it,"      "Eli isn't as docile as she seems. You've heard of the Priestesses of Court, yes?"      "Yeah, they worship the old gods and are special op warriors or something," he nodded. "She was a Priestess of Court?"      "It's how we met. I was sixteen when she was assigned to be my shadow. My father had just passed alongside hers," I had underestimated her.      "I'm worried now, even more," I said with a sigh.      "Why?" he asked.      "How often can one say they got the better of the Luna Queen a former Priestess of Court?" he laughed like it was cute.      "And they say us men are the beasts. Have you gone through your readings?"      "Yeah, it's not much different from what I do now," I admitted.      "But it is Alexian. Being a rogue and being the Rogue King are two different matters. I assume your job as a Don has been rather easy for you to handle?"      "You assume correctly,"      "You feel confident in what you did?" I nodded. "This is where your existence comes into play. There are many Dons in this world. The werewolf mafia supplies the human mafia by carefully placing a member in each family to keep watch. You know how it works you control the crime you control the city. They deal with their drugs we deal the humans without them seeing it,"      "Yeah," I nodded.      "How many Wolf families do you know of?"      "The six running this region. The Russians, Vasiliev. The Irish, McGowan. The Italians, Romano. The Mexicans, Escobar. The African Americans, Balewa. And us, the Polish. Victors,"      "Did you know that there are six more branches in England? Five in France. Four in South America. Two dividing Germany in half.  Eight in Russia itself. Chinese mafia, Mongolians, Pakistanis, Aussies, Koreans, Iranians, Swiss, and Canadians? All of them like you. Dons to the name. Honor to the game. Each one with the same obligation you had,"      "Okay," I said not understanding.      "You are the Rogue King now. All of these Dons now belong to you. They all answer to you. If you want Pakistani m*******a you can have it. If you want pure Columbian coke it's yours. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? You don't answer to anyone anymore, boy. You want something all you have to do is demand it,"      I stopped walking as I processed what he just said. A weight hung heavily over my head and came down crashing as the realization hit me hard. All the records, the number, the locations, and frequencies all make sense now. I didn't know why he had handed us so much information.      "Why would you give me so much power?" I asked.      "It's simple," he said. "The greatest kings aren't the ones who sought out power. The greatest kings come from those humble enough to not want the power they hold but step to the occasion when it is required of them. You weren't born to be the heir to the Victor name but you took it and it became you. You have an incredible gift, Alexian Victor and that is why I chose you to become the king I know is dying to come out,"      "I don't want to be a king. I just want my girl and my kid to be safe. That's it. All of this isn't me," I argued.      "Not yet," he waved me off before motioning me to follow. "Once I'm done with you, you're going to fall in love with life all over again,"