Page 11 of Rogue Games

DEAN: Distract everyone, Lynn. Give out the timetables early or something if they start to wonder what’s going on.

I don’t need this. I’ve got enough going on without having to run a bunch of feral rogues off my land. Or worrying about one of my guests being attacked while they’re visiting here.

Did they think with so many different scents around, we wouldn’t catch them sneaking around? Or that I wouldn’t be as focused on guarding my borders?

I can’t decide which of those options is more offensive. Growling, I pick up the pace. I need to deal with this and get back to the party before anyone questions my absence. Whoever dared come here to cause trouble should be quaking in their boots. I’ve got days’ worth of bottled-up anger and frustration ready to be unleashed on someone and they’re going to be it.

Head down and pushing hard, my paws pound the dirt as I lengthen my strides. I don’t need to follow Callum’s trail or think about which path will get me there fastest. My wolf takes control and steers me straight where I need to go, his sixth sense uncannily accurate today.

Well almost.

As I get near, his focus strays to the hill beyond Callum’s location, pulling my attention that way. He thinks I haven’t spotted the other shifter watching me from higher ground. But I have, and I’ve felt that wolf’s presence before. Recently.

Instead of going where my wolf wants to, I studiously avoid looking in that direction. I’ll handle one problem at a time. And the first is why two rogues have walked into the most dangerous place they could be: a pack brimming with wannabe alphas trying to prove how brave and worthy they are.

7

JAMIE

Murmured voices as I sneak closer to their position tell me that Wyatt is playing his part to perfection. They haven’t killed him yet, which is a good start, and the fact that we made it across the river at all is further than we thought we’d get.

Alive, anyway.

“We want to compete,” Wyatt repeats again, voice still calm and confident despite the fact he’s now staring down an angry alpha.

Trespassing onto a reclusive pack’s territory and then challenging his authority is not the way to get what you want. Wyatt is wisely opting to remain as non-threatening as a six-foot five man with arms like tree trunks can be.

The shifters surrounding him grit their teeth, recognising the strength of Wyatt’s wolf and the hint of an order behind his demand. All but one.

“You want to compete in the Alpha Games? A rogue wants to win a pack?” Dean’s tone isn’t condescending as he emerges from the shadows, pale moonlight illuminating every hard plain of his perfectly sculpted body. In fact, from the slight tilt of his jaw, he seems intrigued. “Do you really think you stand a chance?”

Wyatt shrugs. “I’ve got as good a shot as most of those pampered pricks I saw strutting across the bridge earlier.”

Dean’s lip twitches, and for a moment, I think he might even crack a smile, but instead, he presses his full lips into a thin line, stubbornly refusing to act like anything other than a robot.

“Every pack has already submitted their nominated entries, and you’re not on the list.” Dean turns his palms up as if to say there’s nothing he can do. His fingers are long, tanned and strong. A dark tattoo wraps itself around his forearm, moving as the corded muscles flex with each gesture. “We’re already in the middle of the welcoming dinner, which your arrival rudely interrupted. It’s too late.”

Dean strolls casually closer to Wyatt, apparently unconcerned about the threat he might represent and waits for my brother’s response.

My heart pounds, fearing he’ll lash out at my brother for trespassing on his land. Dread creeps up my spine and wraps itself around my throat. I can’t breathe. His father, Graham Reynolds, was a vicious tyrant. Dean could easily be cut from the same cloth.

If he hurts Wyatt, I’ll never forgive myself for pushing him into this stupid plan. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

“Not everyone is part of a pack. How are we supposed to enter if we have no alpha? I thought the games were open to everyone.” Wyatt remains polite and measured, tone reasonable, hands behind his broad back. “And technically, registration is open until midnight.” He’s relaxed, not an ounce of neither submissiveness nor aggression in his body language, despite how Dean sidles ever closer to him, purposely invading his personal space.

“Do you not think it makes sense for the person who’s going to inherit a pack to have successfully lived in one?”

Dean’s provocative question hits its mark, and I see Wyatt bristle, though he does a good job of hiding it. A man who would have done anything for his pack before we were unceremoniously booted out, that question hurts.

“I’ve lived in a pack. Very successfully in my opinion. Too successfully if you ask my alpha. Not everyone on the outside chose to leave their home.”

Some rogues are living feral because of moon madness or other temperament issues, and I can see why Dean is cautious. Wyatt is powerful, and if he were to attack, not many could subdue him. I can see the cogs turning in Dean’s mind as he studies my brother. There are plenty of alphas out there who’d get rid of a wolf like Wyatt, a potential threat to their position as leader, before he got the chance to challenge them.

“I doubt many could force you to leave if you didn’t want to,” Dean comments, eyes shrewd, head tilted, watching Wyatt and his posture carefully. “But maybe they could force someone you care about to leave.”

Dean’s gaze flicks to me, and as our eyes lock, just for a millisecond before he refocuses on Wyatt, it’s like being struck by lightning. I shrink back into the camouflage of the sun-dappled leaves, heart pounding, chest heaving. This is not good. He knows I’m here, just like last night.

Wyatt blinks hard, stunned by how easily Dean picked him apart. They weren’t strong enough to force Wyatt to leave, but they could make my life hell pretty easily. And Wyatt couldn’t protect me twenty-four seven. Eventually, it was safer for both of us to just go. And who wants to stay in a pack that could turn against us so easily.

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