Page 42 of Bound to the Dragon

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CHAPTER 15

MADISON

The rogues are reluctant to accept me, and I understand it. I had been expecting some pushback, but I’m willing to go the distance. I hope that every moment that I’m there stalls Vigo’s and the others’ fates.

If it means getting Vigo and the others back, I will hold onto this façade as long as it takes, even if it’s gnawing away at my stomach.

“You brought the Shadow Pine Luna here?” The leader of the rogue faction is livid with Virginia. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“She’s nothing like her father!” My friend is willing to vouch for me, but it’s not enough. “And we have never had a problem with Shadow Pine.”

I’m going to have to speak up for myself. I step forward in the Silver Glade packhouse.

“I know how this looks,” I offer tentatively, careful to choose my words so they come across as sincere, but it’s hard when my heart is thumping so furiously. “But you have to know that I always hated what my father did. If I had known beforehand, I would have done everything in my power to stop him.”

There is a flurry of scoffs throughout the room.

“What could you have done?”

That’s a fair question. “I don’t know. I was a child. I never had any real influence on him, if I’m being honest. He and Granger have always had their way of doing things. But maybe if he knew that there was more opposition, he would have done things differently.”

I have all their attention now, which is an improvement. I might be getting through to them.

“But what are you doing here?”

“If they sent you here to negotiate?—”

“They didn’t,” I interject. “No one knows I’m here. I came to join you in ending this, to right the wrongs of my father. But you have to leave Shadow Pine out of this. I’m going to remove myself from them, so you have no reason to go after them anymore.”

The leader glances around at the other rogues with her clear green eyes, and they appear to consider the proposition seriously for a moment. She sweeps a whisp of silvery gray hair away from her finely lined face. If I had to guess her age, I’d put her in her late fifties, but she’s not familiar to me. I don’t know what pack she belongs to.

“You want to join us?” She lets out a bitter laugh. “Do you even know what we’re fighting for? What your father took from us?”

I shake my head, suddenly realizing how little I actually understand about their cause.

“We lost everything,” she continues, her voice growing heated. “Your father didn’t just betray an allied pack—he handed overourterritory, our ancestral lands, to your enemies. We’ve been homeless for years, scattered like true rogues, while strangers live on the land our families built for generations.”

The weight of her words hits me like a physical blow. “I... I didn’t know.”

“Of course you didn’t.” A younger male steps forward, and I recognize him as someone from Silver Glade. “Many of us from your own pack have joined them because we were disgusted by what Granger and your father did. We want no part of a pack built on betrayal.”

Virginia nods beside him. “That’s why I’m here, Maddi. I couldn’t stand by and watch Granger profit from stolen land while these people suffer.”

I glance around nervously. “But how are you meeting here? Doesn’t Granger know?”

The leader’s mouth twists into a grim smile. “Your precious Alpha has been too sick to leave his estate for weeks. And half his enforcers have joined us anyway—they’re the ones who gave us access to the packhouse.” She gestures toward several faces I recognize from Silver Glade. “It’s amazing how many of your packmates were horrified when they learned the truth about what Granger and your father did.”

The leader’s eyes bore into mine. “We’re not just seeking revenge. We’re trying to reclaim what’s rightfully ours and form our own pack on our ancestral territory. But first, we need to weaken those who took it from us—starting with breaking Silver Glade’s alliances.”

“How do we know you’ll honor your deal? You’re mated to the Alpha. That’s reason enough to kill you right now.”

My heart pangs so strongly with the question that it almost brings tears to my eyes. But now I understand their pain, their loss. “I understand why you feel that way,” I concede. “But if I really were going back to the Alpha, wouldn’t I have just brought him with me?”

There’s another muttering of agreement amongst the group, and I finally manage to sell my point. My stomach flips as I realize the magnitude of what my father had done—these people lost theirhome.

“Are the Beta and the others still alive?”

The leader arches an eyebrow, the suspicion returning to her green eyes.