Chapter 1
Tobias
I stare across the fields, my eyes focussing on the enormous expanse of forest beyond.
Then I glance back at the large stone building that’s been my home for the last two years.
I’ve bided my time since they brought here me in chains. Kept my head down. Made them think I was sorry for what I had done. I’m not sorry, not in the slightest.
The one thing that has kept me going was the thought of her, my mate. She’s mine and I’ll be damned if I let anyone else have her.
For the first six months I was here, they kept me chained up in the king’s dungeon. The pain of the silver chains biting into my flesh felt like nothing compared to the pain of my mate’s rejection. I could have eased the pain in a moment if I had accepted it, but I refused. She was ours, and I would never believe otherwise. I would die first. Most of the time, I had no idea whether it was night or day. The only reason I knew how long I was there was because of the marks I cut into my skin. They would never heal whilst I was chained with silver. They brought me food only once a day. Food laced with wolfsbane. I had to put on an act that made them think I had lost the will to live. If anything, the will to live grew stronger within me each day I was here.
The stupid girl may have said the words of rejection, but I didn’t accept them then and I sure as hell don’t accept them now. I saw the way the king and the other alphas looked at her. If I can’t have her, then nobody will.
The king used some weird Royal Alpha magic on her. Wiping her mind of everything that had transpired.
It wouldn’t have worked on another werewolf, but human minds are weaker. I heard whispers that he had sent her back to where she came from... England.
I thought my chances of ever claiming her again were gone, but then the king couldn’t decide whether I should live or die. That’s what the guards said.
So he brought me back to his castle. That stone monstrosity that stands behind me. Why would a wolf want to live encased in stone? Normal wolves prefer to live in houses made of wood, but not the werewolf king, it seems. Having said that, there is nothing normal about him. A normal werewolf wouldn’t try to steal another wolf’s mate. I saw the way he looked at her two years ago. He wanted her for himself. Call me paranoid, but I know what I saw in his eyes.
They slowly gave me more freedom for my good behaviour. First, the silver chains went, and then I was allowed out of the king’s dungeon.
They carried on lacing my food with wolfsbane. The idiots thought I didn’t know. When they finally allowed me outside, I was able to find other food sources and throw the food they gave me away.
Doing manual labour in the fields has made me stronger, and not eating the food that is laced with wolfsbane means my wolf has finally returned.
I’m still keeping my head down, though, and that has brought its own reward.
No one really notices me. If they do, they generally whisper that I’m the wolf who lost his human mate. They barely mention that I almost murdered a pregnant she-wolf. Seems like some shifters have short memories, but that suits me just fine.
By this time tomorrow, I’ll be nothing more than a memory.
I managed to make some contact with some other rogues. They occasionally come into the forest to hunt, the same as I do. We have a tenuous alliance and with their help, I’ll be able to make it to the human territory, which lies on the other side of the forest.
Most of the rogues I encountered live there. They aren’t feral and quite often hunt together.
The moon goddess must be looking down on me. If I was still in the States, then finding my way back to my mate would be more difficult. But the werewolf king has his palace in a small principality in Europe.
The humans think he’s some sort of crown prince and he spends more time with the humans than he does with his own kind.
When I leave this place, I will be nothing better than a rogue, but I don’t care because, to all intents and purposes, I’m a rogue already.
Once my old pack was destroyed, the pack link left me. I didn’t really feel it, as I was chained in silver. The other wolves around me noticed it more. They could scent that I was a rogue.
Now, time is of the essence. If the rumours are true, then the great king Axel is going to ship me off to another pack. That’s what he’s currently doing. Lauding the fact that he has managed to rehabilitate me. Pah! I’ve barely seen him since he allowed my mate to reject me, and then spirited her away. I don’t doubt he intends to ship me off to the arse end of the world. Far away from my mate.
I don’t intend to let that happen.
Once I leave this place, I’ll travel across the human provinces. The rogues I met have contacts and they are providing me with the paperwork I need. We may even form our own little pack. All of us have been disowned and rejected at some point. Some of the others aren’t as lucky as me. I still have a mate out there.
When I find her, I’ll make her mine.
This time I’ll mark her and complete the mate bond at the same time, then no one will be able to take her from me.
The dawn doesn’t come soon enough. I take the food that the omega gives me, telling her that I’ll eat it later and head off into the fields as usual.
The others look at me as worthless. Less than worthless. I have no rank, not even that of an omega. I don’t care. I know what I am. I was born an alpha and I will always be an alpha.
That was my only mistake. Letting that bastard Bryn take over the pack that should have been mine. It’s his fault I lost my mate in the first place. I should have challenged him long ago, then none of this would have happened.
The stupid palace guards don’t even notice when I slink away from the fields. Too busy laughing and chatting with each other to notice my absence.
With a bit of luck, no one will notice that I’m gone until this evening, when I don’t return to the palace.
By the time Axel finds out that I’m gone, it will be too late.
I will have found my mate and claimed her, then no one will be able to take her from me again.
