If I received a dollar every time I caught a side eye from each individual in this room, I'd have a down payment for a new car. The tension is thicker than caked-up castor oil. They attempt to kill me. If Malinda hadn't been there, I would have been done for. I glanced up from my shoes to glance around once more and Wooly did the Forrest Gump wave. By a light of disgust, I rolled my eyes and flowed them to Miska.

She displayed the same detest to me and he communicated with her to control herself. He appears to be a sweet guy, but he is cunning. Miska attitude: you could spot seven truck lengths away. Sigh. My car. I could not forget how Cage was so close, and today I learned about Bora being the Alpha. When was he going to tell me?

What does that mean for us? Did he settle for this? No, not after last night, not after what we shared in the woods. Our fresh connection is something you couldn't leave on the ground. It is different now. I can delve into his innermost self and extract the essence that my soul reflects, completing him. I can't quite explain it. So what am I saying? Of course, he didn't agree.

"How long must we sit around and do nothing?" Carina's lazy elbow is on the table, holding up her head. "Frankly, I am tired of sensing the hellish tension in this room. Get over yourselves. What's done is done, for Christ's sake."

"Evil woman." Wooly ugly eyed her.

"Keep talking and I am going to shove a knife in your gut."

"Feisty wolf lady. I like it." Quinn winked at her. She sighed in annoyance, twisting her body from him.

"What you see her I will never know," Wooly remarked. Carina sprang out of her seat when the front door opened, and we all turned towards it. Bora and his father entered with wary gazes at us.

"Are we getting along?" Bora had a slight smirk as he drove his way to me.

"Of course." Quinn's sly smile made it look like a lie. Nice try, bro.

"Not." Adam finishes, holding his head.

"They attacked your girlfriend," Carina's nonchalant response caught me off guard. I did not think they would speak about it.

"What?" Bora took a step forward toward Miska and Wooly.

I held his chest to catch eye contact. "But we resolved it. It's alright now." He gazed at me and then at the two.

"Did they touch you?" His eyes fell on mine.

"No."

"Okay." He glanced at them one more time, but Wooly gave an innocent smile.

Clearing his throat, Xannon announced, "Bora's strength is back. We should be able to take on the seven and end this calamity."

"How is that possible? We've only been here for twenty-four hours, more or less." Miska argued, dancing her eyes from Xann to Bora. "We kept him for months so he could recover."

"Were you hurt?" I hugged his waist and gazed up at him.

"You didn't feel it?"

"I am still learning what I feel. I thought it was me who was weak."

"What about now?"

"I'm good."

"Psf, lying human," Miska uttered. "You're not his true mate. That's impossible. You are common among us."

"Miska." Bora snared.

"This isn't the first time." Malinda chimed in, hopping up on the island and biting into an apple. "When my son went berserk, no one could control him. It was years when he lost touch with himself, as though he were running on steroids and testosterone. Everything he did was murderous. Irregular brain patterns. Nothing he did was routine but mostly out of passionate anger like a sociopath."

"Alright Mom, I think they got it." Bora's cheeks reddening.

"Sorry." She flashed a squinty sweet smile at him. "Anyway, when Gemma came along, she snapped him back to reality. It wouldn't surprise me if she helped him tap into his strength." She stared at Miska, who seemed to doubt us. The sunken stare on her face made me feel bad for her. Her expression appeared to surrender and pivoted out the door while Wooly looked between Bora and I followed behind.

It isn't love. So why is she upset?

"We need the root of their terrorism. You have yet to tell me." Bora folded his arms, staring at Xann.

"Yeah, I would like to know why it almost killed me."

Xannon eyed the room, sensing the pressure from everyone who wanted to learn the unknown. Based on his expression, whatever he has to say is not good. Between my father and the seven, I am ready for it to be over. I pray there are no others, realizing some humans know wolves exist. They will never live in peace. I have never so desperately wanted a normal life. "This is hard to say because of how it may be." His words slipped out, shaken.

"Before Bora was born; I used to wander for weeks whilst involved in a pack. They called me the Rogue to shame my name and to prevent me from leaving them. It started because I wasn't able to find a mate and I didn't even think it was possible. The Lone Ark Tribe requires its leaders to be paired, but I haven't formed a connection with any of the she-wolves. It was getting close to the investiture. A day before, to be exact, and the pressure was on."

"I bumped into this group called the Crest Lupine Tribe. I knew who they were, and I knew they were enemies, but I am a peaceful alpha. There was no need to fight. As you say, pick your battles. Even though they were in territory, I let them pass through. The junior member was sick, and the waterway was a shortcut to get to the witch doctor. My knife was strong in my hand when I saw my rival Cage wrapping his wound. The real name is Soren."

"Even though I wanted peace, seeing him boiled my blood. When our fathers fought in the great war, he was the reason mine lost his leg. And like that, my mind changed. I crept in between the horse and carriages. It was four. Two behind, two in front. Because of a lost wheel caused by running over something, Soren engaged in a heated argument with a wolf, resulting in a delay."

"I planned to strike him when nobody was watching. So I slipped into his carriage facing a woman dressed in all black with a black veil. She didn't even sound, didn't even look aware. It was so unordinary, but I wanted her to look me in the eye before I killed her. I grabbed her chin with aggression. Her unique orange eyes stared at me, trapping me in her beauty."

"That feeling of wanting to assassinate her changed. I wanted to protect her. There was an unparalleled need for her in my life. Everything inside me healed. Her existence completely consumed me. She was sad and afraid, but not of me. Forced into mating because of her status. Modern-day wolves did not acknowledge soul connections if they didn't align with their social status. They ignored them and it cost the lives of the Alpha and Luna and because they were not to be. They get sick and never live a long life."

"So. I saved her because I was her true mate. Fate had brought us together. Instead of killing Cage, I took her and later realized it was his arranged mate, and since then he has had a grudge against me. Some would call it sweet revenge, but I never saw it that way."

Everyone in the room was quiet. Bora and I glanced at each other and Miska, who I didn't realize was in the room, as well as listening. Her eyes swell, assuming this was the first time she had heard this story as well. "Then what happened?" Bora asked.

"He calls himself Cage because he believes I stole his heart and trapped it with voodoo. Unable to find his true mate, he later learned he couldn't assume the role of the tribe's alpha. This led him to force the traditional way and exercise his dominance to declare war on our tribe. We won, and he lost most of his clan, leaving seven."

"I was a fool. I should have known he would come back for vengeance. That is when he got her and I lost my son, later to find out the grays had cared for him. I knew Cage was out there with eyes on me. He popped up with this never-ending battle. He claimed I ruined his life, so he ruined mine and my fate of being Rogue was inevitable."

"I promised the L. A Tribe that Bora would be their next alpha and ensure a brighter future. The new regulations have recently caused some major issues. The Lone Ark Tribe followed them, but later changed after the destruction and used black magic to see the future. They assumed Miska and Bora would be together. We agreed to keep Bora safe with the grays, so I left him until it was time. It didn't matter how far they were because the universe would bring them together, but we were wrong. The elders' vision was wrong."

"Haha." Quinn spit out his laugh.

"Quinn!" I popped his shoulder.

"I should have known. All wars are behind pride and power."

"Anyway," Bora chimed in. "As I should have known. I am cleaning up your mess. Where can I find these seven to end this catastrophe because you failed to do so?"

"It's not as easy as you think."

"We will see."

"The only way you can locate them is through the witch doctor. She wears a rose gold astrology clock coin around her neck."