Chapter 72

72 Chapter Seventy Two

Caden did his best to listen without interrupting the girl’s story. Ashley’s life was filled with hardships, making it hard for him to keep a straight face when she spoke of the times she felt like she was trapped. Having kept her identity a secret for nearly ten years before being deployed into Brigadia as a spy by a convoy that was meant to be killed by the Rogue Killer. Up until this point, Caden was yet to know who the rogue killer was and stayed patient throughout the story.

Before coming to Brigadia, they had noticed from the statistics of rogue attacks that there hadn’t been a single one in the past four years and yet Ashley continued to speak of their presence and knowledge of the peculiar town like they had been there the whole time. He couldn’t keep himself from asking the question when it irked him, “You’re telling me that rogues know of this place and only keep away because once they get within three miles, they are killed immediately?” he asked while she nodded.

“Yes, that is true. The one they refer to as the Rogue Killer always shows up without fail and there is no escape for rogues that get within that distance of the town. I was made to take the drugs far before I got into that radius so that once I hid, I would not be detected, however, that was also just speculation. No one knew how the Rogue killer would get alerted once rogues were in Brigadia,” she explained.

After this Caden asked that she continue her story, intrigued by the fact that there was someone of that much power in Brigadia. They were used to seeing just the Chase hunters at the Lycaon palace performing such rare feats. Perhaps it had something to do with the Chase family that lived here as well. There was no reason for there to be a family of Chase hunters here either which also sent his suspicions into a frenzy about what secrets they held for being here.

Ash continued the story of the time she lived with the rogues in the house South of Brigadia town. This house was barely big enough for the seven of them. Since it wasn’t permanent, there was no real reason for setting it up like a permanent home and so they only made the kitchen and living room presentable. The rest was up to whoever felt they had the need for order. It was not long after she moved into the house that one of them began to suspect her.

Chandler began picking on her and making her stick out like a sore thumb among the rest. Soon enough the others had started talking to her and sending her for errands and something of the sort since she was the youngest in the crew. They didn’t mind what she did or where she was which was fine, but Chandler did. And one day he decided he wanted to see her without all the gelled hair.

She never noticed that by refusing, she only made him even more curious to know what she was hiding. As a result, he’d poured water on her while she was walking through the hallway and watched as the hair let loose and fell to her shoulders. Her clothes stuck to her and revealed the entire secret. She might have been lucky that the rest of the rogues weren’t around to see her, but Chandler was bad enough.

The barbaric boy did not hesitate in taking advantage of the girl. Using her secret as leverage, he’d threaten her and falsify the results of her secret coming out. It wasn’t clear what would happen to her once they found out about her, but she didn’t want to find out. There was no doubt that he would make sure to put ideas into their heads so that they had the worst-case scenario ready for her. Chandler had her moved to his room claiming there was something that he needed to teach the newbie concerning being a spy for the Rogue King.

.....

Chandler then used this tactic to force her into sleeping with him,” Ash was shaken as she revealed this part. Caden had been gritting his teeth and barely noticed when he shattered the hollow handle of the ceramic cup that he held spilling its contents on the floor. He paid no heed to the cup and pulled Ashley into an embrace, rubbing circles in her bag and trying to wear down the shivers. She did not have to say the rest of the story as he could feel that she was about the end of her story.

“I later realized who the rogue killer was when we were in the forest today,” she said.

“Who was it?”

“It was Katie. Katie moved like her when she was fighting the others this evening. When I saw Cole walk into the school building that day, I saw my fight ray of hope. I’d already known of his arrival as that was the information that I was sent to confirm though rules stated that I was not supposed to tell the others of my mission. If I could only get Cole to start a Prometheus evaluation for me, I could finally be free of being labelled a rogue and free of Chandler and the others,” she said.

“It would make sense considering she is the one that possesses two Prometheus gifts and is part of the Chase family,” he said.

“She possesses both of them, are you sure?”

“Yes, I am sure. She demonstrated it while you were going through your evaluation. It was scary,” he said, still holding the girl in his arms. Ash remained silent for a bit enjoying the warmth of the werewolf with her. She’d been told stories of men who weren’t rogues. Stories of how dignified they could be. Outside of the camp, in the world outside the rogues, the life that females lived felt almost untouchable and fictional.

“I haven’t felt this safe or relaxed since I could understand what fear was...” she said. Caden tightened his embrace, partly because he was boiling with rage. He’d always frowned upon the ways of the rogues, but being in the presence of a survivor of that life made that hate even more intense.

“That will never happen to you ever again. Forget everything about what happened to you when you were there. You have a new life now,” Caden was compelled to comfort the girl in his arms. His protective instincts were completely alert. Rogues had caused a lot of suffering in the world and most werewolves trained to fight the rogues were also tested in the matter of rescue. Part of rescue was rehabilitating those that were psychologically affected by an attack.

“I appreciate everything you guys are doing for me. I’ll do my best to lessen the burden that I impose on you. I’ll...”

“Hush, Ashley, there is nothing you have to worry about. Let us take care of you,” he tried.

“No, I won’t be a liability. There is a lot I want to see in this world. My mother spoke of rivers and lakes as far as the eye could see. She spoke of carnivals and festivals similar to what I hear every time I’m told about the Founder’s festival. Foods that can make one moan the moment they touch someone’s tongue. I was told that in the world outside of the camp, children were allowed to follow their dreams.

I envied those stories and the people who were born with the privilege and freedom of such a life. The mission of the rogues disgusts me every time I find something about the rogues that is repulsive,” she said.

“You’ll get to see all of that. All in good time, Ashley. You’re far from the reaches of the rogues now,” he said.

“It gives me a lot of hope to feel that. I do want to know something though. Can I ask you a question?” she asked him.

“What do you want to know?”

“What’s a mate?” the question seemed to break his heart hearing it. Rogues didn’t care about that sort of thing and it would only stand to reason that she didn’t know anything about them. It still didn’t make sense though. Ashley might have heard a weak wolf and didn’t know much when it came to using her newly awakened senses, but knowing nothing about mates a whole new level of ignorance for a werewolf.

“How is it that you don’t know what a mate is?” he asked.

“I’ve heard the word plenty of times and from the way I hear werewolves speak of the term, it sounds amazing and sort of like what every female hopes for, but I don’t get how it all works,” she said.

“Well then, perhaps you might need an education on what that means then. Ask anything that you don’t understand, okay?” Caden went through the entire explanation of how every werewolf was granted another that supplemented them in every way. Ashley listened quietly at the description of the bond that the two shared that even allowed them to feel each other’s emotions, feel what the other wanted and the effect that mates had on each other. When Caden was done, she had tears in her eyes.

Caden, on the other hand, was determined to help make her time with the rogues nothing but a distant memory. It wasn’t something that was going to be easy, that much he knew, but he wasn’t going to give up without trying and this he swore to himself that night as she fell asleep in his arms. He took her to her room and laid her to sleep. On that night, two ladies slept in their suite and none of them had even seen it coming.

When Ash was found dead, Caden started losing his mind over the promise he couldn’t fulfil. While the others were trying to get through the process of grief, he was stuck far behind them and could only distance himself for he couldn’t go through the process as fast as they could. ‘Ashley was not supposed to die,’ he would yell at himself. But nothing he did could change the fact that she’d been murdered. His wolf let out a howl once he was far away from Brigadia collapsing on the forest floor, exhaustion and grief taking their toll on his body, ‘She didn’t have to die...’