KADEN’S P.O.V

I could not stop thinking about Amelia. I had been with different girls in my life but none were my mate and none had the power to infiltrate my mind the way she did. She didn’t even know the kind of power she had over me. I would never have thought it was possible for someone that small to hold such a place but I was completely at her mercy and it was obvious to anyone with eyes.


I tried to push the thoughts of my mother out of my mind. I texted her soon after leaving Caleb’s house hoping that we could talk but she was ignoring me. I had never spoken to her like that before and I knew it was going to take a lot for her to forgive me and as much as it hurt me, I wasn’t going to apologize to her. I didn’t appreciate the way she spoke to Amelia and I needed to make sure it didn’t happen again. If I had my way then both women were going to be in my life for a very long time and I needed to make sure that there was complete respect.

My door opened and Caleb waltzed in wearing an amused smirk on his face and biting into an apple. “I heard from the guards that you actually smiled at them today.”

I rolled my eyes. “Why are you here Caleb? Do you need something or did you come to be a pain in my ass?”


“I came to find out if you were really my best friend or if you had been possessed by a demon because the Kaden I know does not smile at guards,” he lounged in the chair opposite mine and lifted his feet onto the table.

I narrowed my eyes at him but my good mood must have been palpable because he didn’t make any attempt to move. If it were another day, I would have pushed them off so he fell but I couldn’t even bring myself to move. I was happy and I doubted that anything could have changed that.


“Does your sudden cheerfulness have anything to do with a certain brunette that I dropped off at your house last night?” he teased but I stayed silent. “She didn’t return last night and according to Clara, when she returned she looked extra bashful. I can also smell her on you.”

“Keep talking and I will pitch you out of my window.”

He laughed and glanced behind me as if he were trying to gauge how true it was. Realistically, it would be impossible because my windows had bars on it but I was not above pulling them out just to throw him off. He must have realized that there was a twinge f honesty because he sighed and stood to his feet.

“Fine,” he mumbled. He didn’t say anything until he got to my door. “For the record, my ass is way too big to fit in those bars.”

I shook my head at him and just as he was about to shut it, he froze. I could tell he was being mind linked and I was wondering who was talking to him when I felt a pressure at the back of my mind. I pulled down my wall long enough to realize that it was one of the generals. Very few people had access to my link and he was one of them.

“What is it?” I asked wanting to get to the point immediately.

“We caught some rogues on the pack. We are currently chasing them towards the Western border but he caught one.”

“Make sure the rogues do not leave the territory alive. As for the one you caught, take him to the dungeons, I will be right there.”

I broke off the mind link and merely looking at Caleb, I knew he was told the same thing. I squared my shoulders and made my way out. If there was one thing that I could count on to take my mind off things, it was rogues.

The rogue in question was a rather skinny looking fellow. He didn’t look like he could hold a gun, much less be responsible for wreaking havoc on our grounds. His hair was matted and streaked with dirt like most of the rogues I had come in contact with and his teeth were beginning to turn a nasty shade of yellow. One thing I did notice was that I could not smell him. It was like he had no scent.

“If you have come to kill me then you might as well do itnow,” he sneered as he saw me. “I won’t tell you jack shit.”

“That is brave talk for a man who is locked up in my dungeons,” I made my way over to the cell and stared down at him. “Tell me, rogue, do you know who I am?”He didn’t respond but I saw a flash of fear in his eyes. “I see my reputation precedes me. What I don’t understand is why you will come to my pack and cause a ruckus knowing who I am and what I do to people like you.”

He swallowed deeply but he did not respond. I knew I was going to have a harder time breaking him so I gestured for the guards to open the cell. They did not hesitate and as I walked in, I saw someone bring in a black leather bag. The rogue eyed it with interest but I steppedin his way. There was no need for me to ruin the surprise.

“What is your name?” I asked as I took a pair of gloves from a passing guard and slipped them on. I was tired of his silence so I grabbed his jaw with one hand. He tried to keep the defiant look on his face but I could tell that he was scared. “Listen kid, you’re in your mid-twenties tops, I don’t want to dragthis out any more than it needs to. Give me the fucking name- now.”

“Theo,” he mumbled and I smiled cruelly before stepping aside so he could see what had been set out. I didn’t need to turn back because I had seen that setup a thousand times before. Theo swallowed deeply. “Now, we can make this quick and I won’t have to use any of my tools or we can make this fun for me. The thing is, I’m fine with whatever you choose because I will get my answers.”

“Fuck you,” he spat.

“I was hoping you would say that.” I reached for the pliers first.

I had barely spent five minutes before he was screaming and passing out from the pain. I just rolled my eyes and requested for a bucket of cold water. Caleb was the one who took it and he glanced at the boy who was lying at my feet.

“I honestly expected better,” he mumbled. “I lost tenbucks out there because I said he was going to last fifteen.”

“I’m shocked he even lasted five,” I shot back as I dumped the ice-cold water over Theo. He shot up instantly and I watched as he spluttered and coughed to get water out of his lungs. “How nice of you to join us again. This is going to be the last time I extend this offer to you so I would think wisely if I were you.”

Theo glanced down at his broken fingers and his nails on the ground and his face went pale. I feared he was going to pass out again but thankfully, he pulled his gaze away and kept his eyes locked on my feet.

“Tell me what it is that you want on my territory and I will make the rest of your stay here painless,” he knew the implied meaning but, in that moment,I didn’t think he cared.

“I don’t know anything, I swear it,” he mumbled. “That was my first time out with them. All I was told was that we were to cause mayhem. They didn’t tell us who you were. Our job was to create trouble. It is the others-”

He trailed off and I realized I was finally getting somewhere.

“What others?” when he didn’t immediately respond, I crouched downso that I was at eye level with him. “I have a lot more tools I would be more than willing to tryout on you, Theo. Do not give me a reason to.”

“We are split into groups. The younger ones like me handle the carnage and the disaster. We aren’t told important details until we graduate,” as if he knew what I was going to ask next he immediately added. “I don’t know what the graduation ritual entails. It is kept a secret and changed each year in case someone leaks it. I swear, I’ve told you all I know. Please, don’t hurt me.”

He looked so small and broken that I almost felt bad for him but the truth was that if he wasn’t sitting in my cell, he would have felt no remorse for his action. I was still crouched downin front of him and I really took my time to study him.His arms were chained behind his back and he looked pathetic.

“I’ll have mercy on you, but just this once,” I said and I saw hope fillhis eyes. Before he could even process anything, I reached for the knife in my boots and I sliced his neck open. He was dead in seconds and I watched as he fell to the ground in a pool of crimson. I turned to Caleb. “Find someone to clean this up. We need to find out where this rogue colony is and what the other groups are responsible for.”

Caleb was quick and efficient. As we were leaving the dungeons, there were already men rushing in to handle the killing. It still amazed me sometimes how easy it was for me to take a life. The first time I did it, I felt a rush of power so unimaginable. I didn’t feel the usual guilt that most men said they did and I always wondered if it meant that I had a problem.

“We have men scouring the woods for any signs of where the rogues might have run off to. They have a trail and they are following it right now,” Caleb said but I was fixated on just one thing.

“The other rogues ran away,” he hesitated before nodding. “Find the men who were supposed to be patrolling the area and suspend them. They have two weeks of intense training after which I will personally vet them before I consider putting them back on patrol. They should be ashamed of themselves for getting outrun by a bunch of children.”

Caleb looked like he wanted to say something but he stayed silent.He kept me updated on the progress while we made our way back to the office. I opened my office door and when I saw who was standing in the middle of the room, I squared my shoulders.

“Caleb, we will continue this later.”

He took one glance at my office and nodded. I waited until I heard the door shutsignaling his exit beforeI walked in. “Hello, mother.”