"Ready?" I ask.

Raiden nods. "Yep. Let's go."

"We'll be back later!" I scream over my shoulder as we walk out of the pack house.

"Try not to drive the other Alphas crazy!" I hear Mom shout.

"No promises!" I shout back before closing the door.

Since it's too cold to run this time, Raiden and I climb into my black truck. RedRiver is an hour's drive away, so he better be ready to put up with an hour of me singing with the music. I plug my phone into the car to play music off it instead of listening to the radio. As the first song comes on, Raiden groans softly and I send him a grin.

As I pull out of the driveway, Raiden closes his eyes, his expression slightly pained.

"You miss her, don't you," I say, not taking my eyes off the road.

"What kind of question is that, of course I do," he replies.

"I didn't say it as a question," I retort. "At least Clove's coming back."

"Who knows, maybe Rei will too," Raiden says.

I sigh. "I hope."

We don't talk much. Raiden keeps his eyes closed, looking like he's sleeping. When we're almost there, his eyes snap open.

"I just realized something," he says. "Nick's mate Luke and Axel's mate Cam, as well as Nick's and Axel's brother Eric. They were rogues. For at least ten years."

"So they would've known about the Rogue Kingdom," I murmur, catching on to what he means.

"And they might know where Rei is," Raiden finishes. "She said they lived in some small town north of our pack but that doesn't really narrow it down completely. There's quite a few small towns north of the pack."

"Then let's ask them," I say as we drive across the northern border of RedRiver.

Not even a minute later, I see the Beta, Axel, running in wolf form alongside the car. I slow down and he shifts, coming up to my open window, not bothering to put clothes on. We're used to seeing naked wolves so it's not too much of a problem.

"Hey guys," Axel says cheerfully. "I'm the welcome party."

"Nice party," I reply, grinning. "Nice to see you."

"You too," he says. "The meeting's at the pack house, you remember where that is, right?"

I nod. "Yep."

"Good." He looks at the road behind us, "Ooo! Draco's here!"

Glancing in the rearview mirror, I see Drake's car behind us.

I chuckle. "You know he hates that nickname."

"And you know I love teasing him," Axel replies, grinning. "You'd best head off, Nicki's waiting."

"Nick hates that nickname too," I say, grinning back at him.

Axel nods. "I know, but it's fun to rile him up. He's my twin and he loves me; he wouldn't do shit to me. Anyway, I'll probably drop by mostly unannounced later."

I nod. "Don't freeze out here."

Axel smirks and nods, then steps back and I continue driving.

"He's quite the character, isn't he?" Raiden says, smiling.

"Yeah, but he's a lovable bastard," I reply. "Axel's fun to hang around with and so is River."

"The problem is, you three can get out of control together," Raiden retorts. "Remember, you three were singing the first few lines of I'll Make A Man Out Of You from Mulan in the middle of the battle between Bloodlust and RedRiver last year."

"That wasn't in the middle of it!" I say, smiling at the memory. "The battle hadn't started yet, that was just the chit chat before the bloodbath!"

I see the pack house appearing through the trees and see some of the pack kids playing outside in the snow. I park out front and as Raiden and I both climb out, Drake pulls up behind us. He and his mate Lily get out of their car and I'm a little surprised when their younger brothers, Jamie and Zero, do too. Though Jamie never really lets Drake go anywhere without him, so I guess so should've expected it.

"Drake," I say in greeting. "Lily."

"Asher," Drake replies, nodding in acknowledgement as Lily smiles timidly. "Raiden."

"What's with these little brats?" I ask, giving the two young boys a bright smile as we all walk inside.

"Zero wanted to come see the twins," Lily replies, her voice soft. "Jamie wanted to come along."

Seeing the two best friends holding hands, I smile softly and notice Raiden do the same.

I miss Chase and Rhea, he says. And the rest of them.

Me too, I reply.

"Hey guys," Luke, the luna/second alpha of the pack, says as he comes to greet us.

"Luke," Drake replies, smiling. "Nice to see you again."

"You too," he replies, "I swear, Axel and Cam have been driving Nick and I up the walls."

Lily smiles. "With Axel out greeting, I'm guessing the twins are working on being away from each other?"

Luke nods. "Yeah. Nick and Axel still don't like being too far away from each other but they're getting there. You can't really blame them for sticking to each other with what they've been through together."

Lily nods, agreeing. I agree with them too. Nick and Axel went from being abused for thirteen years, to being trapped under the rule of a cruel dick-tator (dictator) of an Alpha. And that's not even in detail. No one can really blame them for not liking to have the other out of their sight.

"Hey Luke," Raiden says, making him look at us. "Can Asher and I talk to you alone? And Cam, if he's here."

"Yeah, I'm here," Cam says, walking up behind Luke, Nick with him.

"Nick," Zero says happily, walking over to his older brother.

Nick smiles and picks him up. "Hey buddy."

"Come on, we can quick talk before the meeting," Luke says, gesturing for Raiden and I to follow him and Cam.

He leads us to the meeting room and closes the doors behind us. There's a long, rectangular wooden table in the middle, along with cushioned office chairs around it.

"You haven't fucked in here, have you?" Cam asks jokingly.

Luke glares at him. "Nick and I don't fuck everywhere and on everything, unlike you and Axel. We at least keep it in our bedroom."

Cam glares right back before they both smirk.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Cam asks.

Raiden and I glance at each other.

I sigh. "You two were rogues for a long time," I start. I continue quickly when I notice them both tense slightly. "You would've known about Rei and the Rogue Kingdom."

Their bodies relax but they give us questioning looks.

"How did you find out about that?" Luke asks. "Wait, she told you, didn't she. Nick said you mentioned she came back."

Raiden nods. "Well, Clove, Killian and Zaine told us."

Cam grins. "How are they? Killian and Zaine still marching to their own beat?"

I nod. "I doubt they'll ever stop."

Luke and Cam both nod in agreement.

"Anyway," Raiden continues, "The point is, do you know where they are?"

The two friends shoot each other hesitating glances.

"Please," I say, my expression pleading. "We need to find them."

After considering it for a second, both wolves nod.

"Their house is on the edge of Arcton," Luke says . "Oakwood Drive, house number..."

"Seventy-seven," Cam pipes up, seeing Luke can't remember.

Luke gives him a thankful smile.

"Thank you," Raiden says, and I nod in agreement.

"You're welcome," Cam replies, smiling. "I'm glad you two decided to try and make it work between you."

I nod, agreeing.

We don't get to talk any more, since the door opens and everyone comes in. Nick, Drake, Lily, Jamie, Zero, Blake and his mate Astrid, and River and his mate Heaven.

"Myers!" River says, grinning.

I grin back, "Blood."

He has a weird but kinda cool last name, River Blood. Before I can stop him, he gets me in a headlock, playfully ruffling my hair with his other hand. I elbow him in the ribs and he gasps, letting go of me.

"How dare you!" River says dramatically, glaring at me.

I stick my tongue out at him as we all sit down at the table in the middle of the room. Zero sits on Nick's lap, curled up and leaning against his older brother's chest, smiling in content while Jamie sits with Drake.

"If you two are done," Nick says boredly, "We can get this meeting started."

River and I both pout at him.

"Oh come on Nick, lighten up," I whine, spinning in a circle on the swiveling office chair.

"Yeah, we haven't seen each other in soooo long," River adds, spinning as well and giving Nick a wide, childish smile.

"Remind me how you two are Alphas?" Drake says, eyebrows raised.

"My brother Birdbrain didn't want the title," River replies, shrugging and acting like it wasn't a rhetorical question. I smile in amusement at his nickname for his twin brother, Crow. "And Myers Senior died and since Asher's half-sis didn't want it, he got the title. He's a lot like his dad, isn't he?"

I snarl at that before I can think through the action and Jayden pushes forward so we both share control. Raiden tenses beside me, placing a hand on my arm as everyone looks at me in surprise.

"Don't compare us to that abusive, lying, cheating bastard," Jayden and I hiss lowly.

"Language!" Jamie screams, sending us a glare.

We send him an apologetic look and continue, "We are not like him and we never will be."

Jayden retreats slowly, going back to his corner of my mind and grumbling about how we will work hard to be better than Leon ever was.

"What do you mean?" Lily asks softly.

I growl quietly, looking at Raiden and silently asking him to explain. He nods and as he tells them what happened, why Rei came back, why she left, everything except the Rogue Kingdom, I let myself get lost in daydreams, trying to distract myself from all thoughts of Leon.

I wonder what Rei's up to.

On the supernatural news, I heard about a murder to the Northwest of my pack, a group of three men and two women, all human, found dead with the scent of rogues around the house. Two had their throats ripped out, one was covered in slash marks and bled out, one was covered in bruises and had their neck broken and the last had their skull bashed in. The house was found to have evidence suggesting animal abuse and fighting: cages in the basement with fresh blood, scented to belong to rabbits, deer and wolves, and pictures of the people with severely scarred dogs, posing like the dogs were trophies.

I know it was the Royals' work. What those humans did was horrible, they deserved the fate they got.

Pay attention, dumb ass, Jayden says.

I blink and find everyone looking at me.

"What?" I ask.

"I said sorry for comparing you to Leon," River says, giving me an apologetic look.

"You didn't know," I say, shrugging.

"I'm still sorry," River replies. I nod in acceptance. He stretches, "Alright, let's get this signing stuff over with."

Nick has a small stack of papers, the details of the alliance we're all agreeing to have with his pack.

"I made copies for all of you as well," he says, handing the stack to Blake to sign them all first.

"I'm glad I don't have to sign," Astrid says, watching her mate scan over the documents. "I can't write in cursive. My signature isn't the smoothest."

"Me neither," Heaven pipes up. "But I write so fast it usually looks cursive anyway. It's just hard to read to mostly everyone but me."

"It really is," River says bluntly.

"You're supposed to comfort me and say my handwriting isn't that bad," Heaven says, smacking his chest.

River shrugs. "I'm being honest."

Heaven grumbles, "You're lucky I love you, Blood."

River wraps an arm around her shoulders, grinning. "Love you too, Love."

Blake pushes the stack towards me and I look over the words quickly before signing them. Don't want to accidentally agree to give anyone a million dollars. River tried that once, snuck that little sentence into an alliance contract and I nearly signed before noticing it. When I'm finished signing, I give the papers to River, who then passes them to Drake when he's done.

As Drake's finishing, I notice Nick's eyes fog over then narrow, a low growl rumbling in his chest that makes all of us look at him.

"Rogues," he explains. "Axel says there's too many for the patrol to handle. I have to go. And if you don't mind, we could use some help driving them away."

"I'm in," I say, standing up.

"Me too," River says.

"Me three," Heaven adds.

"Oh no, you're staying here and that's final," River says sternly as he turns to her. "And don't you dare try to sneak out and help. Stay with Astrid and Lily and watch Jamie and Zero."

Heaven huffs and crosses her arms but nods.

Me, Raiden, Nick, Luke, Cam, Drake, Blake and River all race out of the pack house, shifting quickly. I guess Luke and Cam get to help since they've had more experience fighting rogues. As I follow Nick, kicking up snow behind me, I hear faint singing.

My eyes widen as I recognize Zaine's voice. A glance at Raiden and I see his eyes are wide too, as well as Luke's and Cam's.

I see the fight up ahead and my eyes immediately find the six or seven figures perched on the branches above the fighting wolves. One of them is Zaine, that's where his singing is coming from. Crazy bitch, singing during a fight, tut tut.

As the others quickly dive into the fight, I stand on the sidelines, my eyes searching the throng of fighting wolves. Where is she, where is she. I already caught her scent, I know she's here.

Soon, my eyes lock on to her. She fights in wolf form, fiery eyes narrowed as she dodges an attack from Cam.

Rei.

➵

Drake Malice

Lily Heart

Darren Odair

None

Eric Heart

One Suicidal, The Other Uncaring

Drake's younger brother Jamie (seven or eight years old), and Lily's younger brother Zero (also seven or eight years old), both make an appearance in the chapter (because I can't have a crossover without Jamie and Zero). Jamie was murdered by the previous RedRiver alpha and brought back by the Moon Goddess. Lily is the youngest sister of Eric, Nick and Axel (Eric is a year older than Lily) and Zero is their youngest brother. All of the Heart siblings were abused by their birth pack. Eric was a rogue for ten years with his two best friends, Luke and Cam. Eric and Darren are mates.

Nick Heart

Luke Stevens

Axel Heart

Harvey Wilson

Scarlet Neil

One Suicidal, The Other Uncaring

Nick and Axel are twins. They're the oldest of the Heart siblings, six years older than Eric and seven years older than Lily. Since RedRiver's previous Alpha was killed and had no heir, Nick took over the pack. Axel is mates with Luke's and Eric's other best friend, Cam. Harvey and Scarlet are mates.

River Blood

Heaven Love

Amos Cloven

Crow Blood

Hellor Love

Claimed by Force (not the most well-written book but I love River nonetheless)

River and Crow are twins and best friends with Amos. Heaven is Hellor's younger sister. The two Loves have alpha blood, their father was the alpha of their pack Shadownight which was wiped out by Nightstalker, led by a rogue alpha Dominic Mallor.

Blake Slade

Astrid Thorn

Zachary (Zac) Slade

Kaine Slade

James Slade

Four Abused Mates (Discontinued/Adopted by my bestie)

Blake, Zac, Kaine and James are quadruplets and mated to the Thorn quadruplets, Astrid (Blake's mate), Sora (Zac's mate), Constance (Kaine's mate) and Aaliyah (James' mate). The Thorns were kidnapped and turned into shifters, Astrid can shift into a black jaguar, Sora a Eurasian wolf, Constance a white tiger and Aaliyah an arctic fox.