"What are we to do?" A tall dark-skinned man asked in the room and the rest of the men there sighed. "If Gideon actually saw the Alpha king then it is over for us. We have hidden away from him for five hundred years, it maybe the sins of our ancestors but we are their descendants and their sins reflects on us."

"Alpha Joe is right, just because we have been hidden away from him doesn't mean our sin is forgiven and that our hereditary blood has been washed away from us. We are rogues and yet we are alphas, it shouldn't be so and now that he has found us, there is nothing stopping him from tracking us down and stripping us off our alpha genes," another alpha said.

Everyone kept silent for there was no better solution to their current predicament. After some minutes, all eyes turned to Gideon's father, leader of the Eastwood packs. "What are we to do Alpha Liam?" they all asked.

Liam heaved a deep breath and shook his head. "We have been hiding, just like our fathers told us to and we had successfully been hidden. If it wasn't for the recent development fifteen years ago, we never would have gone out in the open and he would never have found us. The logical thing to do now would be to evacuate from here, find another virgin wood to settle and try our possible best to remain hidden from him."

"I sense a but," Alpha Joe said.

Liam nodded, "but we can't."

"Why not?" the men asked, all surprised.

"We can't leave, she will always find us, and let us not forget that she holds my life on the line. If we don't fulfill our end of the bargain, she would ruin us, kill us all."

"If we stay here, the Alpha king would find us, strip us off our alpha genes and make us rogues," another alpha said.

"There is no better option, we are ruined with each decision," Joe said. "And that leaves us with the question, what are we to do?"

"I have a solution," Gideon said, pushing open the door to the room and followed behind him were a group of boys his age. "The alpha king shouldn't punish us for sins we did not commit. We are the five future alphas of the Eastwood packs, I say we journey to the Westwood, find the alpha king and plead for our blood line. The sins of our ancestors is already 500 years old, he should tamper justice with mercy."

"Can you hear yourself Gideon, our ancestors ran away from punishment, what makes you think that he wouldn't punish us? We are their descendants, naturally, their punishment is to be passed down to us. That is what it means when a wolf is made a rogue, their entire generation would be nothing but rogues." An alpha explained.

"But I have seen the alpha king, he is young and he is strong. He teleported right before me and he fought these shadowy creatures like they were nothing but ants. Alpa Leon, we can never run from him, and the girl, he seemed to have taken a liking to her, we can never take her right under his nose. Going and pleading to him is the only good choice we have. That is why I decided we the future alphas should go, at least, if he sees us, that would stop him from tracking down our packs."

"But if anything happens to you boys, our packs are ruined still. You hold the future of the Eastwood packs. Even if we are going to buy this idea, it should be us, the current alphas that goes to meet him so that if anything happens to us, you boys would lead our packs on," Liam said.

The other alphas nodded, seeing it as a better option, however, a cynical laughter made their blood curdle and the hairs stand on their backs. They turned their heads around, searching from where the laughter was coming from but saw nothing. Smoke started forming around them until a woman dressed in black with a hood covering her face appeared. Her mouth and chin were the only visible part on her face and a dangerous smile was hanging on those thin pale lips. "How interesting," she said, "trying to jilt me?"

"Oh goddess, no," Liam cried seeing the woman, and he knew they were done for, they were really done for.

"I took pity on you rogues and you want to cheat me, do you have it in you?" Catherine asked, a smirk now hanging on her lips. "I don't think so," and with that, she flew to Liam and with a wave of her hand, lifted him from the ground.

"Father," Gideon screamed and rushed them but Catherine waved her hand and threw him away. He smacked on the wall and fell on the floor and everyone heard his bones breaking.

"Gideon," Liam shouted and turned to the woman holding him, "please, let him go, I promise I will do whatever you want from me."

"Need I remind you that you made that promise to me fifteen years ago and yet you have nothing to show for it?" Catherine said, her voice devoid of any emotion. "You have messed up your chance, rogue, I am running out of time, I cannot wait for you anymore. My ghouls are rising, they are much more loyal than you and even delivered her to your son last night and yet, he lost her. Now she is with him, being with him alone is ruining my plans, then talk about her very existence. I had been quiet all along, giving you your time because I was wounded and needed to recover my strength. But my patience has ran out with my time, so, save yourself the swearing of an allegiance."

Hearing her words, Gideon wasn't surprised, turns out she was the one that was dictating how last night should have gone and it would have worked in her favor if the alpha king hadn't shown up.

"Please," Liam begged, "give us one last chance."

"So that you would take another fifteen years?!" Catherine screamed and flung the man away.

"No!" Gideon screamed as he watched his father experience what he just did. His father has been weak ever since her first attack in the pack and knowing how painful the fall was, he doubts if he would make it.

Catherine raised her hand and Liam's body was lifted off from the floor, "you can't die yet, I haven't vent my anger enough," she said just as Liam came to, blood seeping out of his mouth and nostrils. She formed a ball of black smoke, ready to send it into him when Gideon stood up.

"Wait," he called and she did wait, turning to him, "let me swear an allegiance."

"Hmm, a younger blood. What can you do for me?"

"You want Naomi, let me find her for you. In exchange, you will let my pack go and give my father the antidote of whatever you gave him fifteen years ago."

In a blink of an eye, the cloaked woman was in front of him and he had to swallow hard to hide his fear. She brought her hooded face closer to him and smiled, her slender fingers with long nails casually caressed his cheek. "You are young, brave and resilient, but you don't get to make the condition," she flipped his nose with a light chuckle. "But I will take you, you can work as a bait, get her to fall for you to leave and not interfere with my plans. But of course, I will still take the part of me inside her that keeps pulling him to her. However, I cannot guarantee if she would live after that, so be sure not to fall for her if you don't want to mourn. Do you think you are up to the task?"

Gideon huffed and gulped. Get Naomi to fall for him? In her dreams. He couldn't even invite her to a single party, how can he make her fall for him? But glancing at where his father hung in the air, with blood seeping out of him, he knew he had to give it his all. And so he nodded, "I will do my best."

"You must understand, I cannot go after her myself for now, which is why I need you. She has a little bit of me inside her and until I achieve my aim can I reclaim that little bit. To do that, I need her out of the way. My prince is growing and soon, he shall find me but as long as she is near him, she will daunt his growth and I need his growth to summon my ghouls. Do you understand?"

Gideon didn't understand a shit but of course, he can't tell her that.

"I need you to keep her away from him so that he can fulfill his purpose. We are both running out of time. Do that and succeed, I will leave you miserable rogues alone. Until then, ciao my minions," and like she appeared, she was gone and the smokes too. Leaving everywhere clear and bright.

"Gideon, she is evil, are you sure you can do this?" Liam asked, now sitting on the floor with a hand on his chest.

Gideon rushed to him and held him, "I don't know but I will to try."

"You don't need to make her love you to leave as she said, if you have opportunity, just kidnap her and bring her here. We would hold her hostage," Joe said and the rest nodded.

Gideon bought the idea and he knew that was the only way he could succeed because making Noami fall for him, sounded like finding a needle in the haystack. How can he compete against the alpha king?

Author's note:
Merry Christmas to you all and your loved ones. Wishing you a joyful day and may your spirits be filled with peace.
You will get five updates for Christmas,  just do one thing for me as a present, leave a comment for each chapter. Thank you ☺