Logan dismounted from his stallion and walked forward to the edge of the border in preparation to meet the Rogue King. Every angle of his face was set in determination as he looked forward, the spring air caressing his regal face.

Then suddenly, he spotted a speck of black coming forward from about a mile forward. The whole army behind him was so silent that the alpha could hear his beta breathing lightly beside him.

Casper looked at his alpha. “Logan—” he said, then broke off, stiffening all over. A moment later Logan heard it too—a heavy, rhythmic pounding, and laid over that, a sound like several bonfires crackling. 

The speck grew and elongated little by little until it was a line of army, running towards Logan and his pack. It took the alpha several long moments to understand the noise.

“The Rogue Army.” Casper whispered. Following his gaze, he saw them, coming closer and closer like a spreading shadow, the Rogue Wolf pack in all their numbers. There must have been hundreds of them, even a thousand. Their barking and baying filtered to where Logan stood with his own pack warriors, brittle and harsh.

The wait was over. The battle was here.

Logan walked forward in his battle gear as the wolf pack stopped about half a kilometer in front of them. He stopped halfway and stood strong. He didn't feel any fear in his heart: it seemed to have died with the arrival of the Rogue Pack. He felt free finally, as though his entire being had been waiting for this time, as though the purpose of his whole ten years as an alpha was for this single moment.

At least they would end this long wait, one way or another.

At the head of the sea of rogue wolves stood a black stallion, quite similar to the white one that Logan had dismounted from. Logan suddenly felt small and inconsequential. He wished he had stayed on his own mount.

He looked up into the eyes of the Rogue King. The man was huge; Logan wondered how the horse could hold him up. He was bald and had a large tattoo on the left side of his face, the exact shape of a crescent moon. The eyes that stared into Logan's were a pale, faded gray colour. They were cold and seemed to inflict fear on whoever looked into them.

Logan swallowed past the lump in his throat. "So. You're here finally."

The Rogue King did not answer immediately. The expressionless look on his face didn't change as he continued to look down at Logan from his stallion. Then he looked up and his lips lifted at the corners in a venomous smile.

"I'm so glad I was able to do this to your pack, to diminish your numbers like this. You're a very stubborn alpha. It wasn't easy to get to you, but I finally did. I have something of yours that I think you hold very dear." He said, his voice grating and heavy.

Logan's heart leaped as the Rogue King said that. He knew the man was talking about Aella. "I would advise you for your own good, that you don't lay a hand on my mate." He said, his eyes burning with rage.

The Rogue King laughed a cruel sound that sent fear racing into the hearts of everyone around. "Oh, you mean this mate?" He asked, then gestured behind him. Aella was pushed from the midst of the rogue wolves and she stumbled forward, then fell to her knees. 

Logan's breath hitched as he saw the state, she was in. Her hands were tied to her front. Her curly black hair was in disarray with twigs and leaves poking out from it. Her skin, the soft skin that Logan had ached for so many days was dirty and bruised. Her white dress had been stained with mud and sweat and she was barefoot.

But despite looking like she had taken several trips to hell, she slowly got back on her feet and looked at the Rogue King with as much venom and hatred as she could muster. Logan looked at her with pride.

That's my girl, he said through their mind link.

Boy, I really want to push him off his stallion right now, Aella replied, her eyes still on the man.

However, the Rogue King wasn't paying any attention to her. His eyes were on the alpha, and Logan knew that the king expected him to break down at the sorry state of his mate. He stared resolutely back at the King, not giving away the fear he felt in his heart.

"You'd better turn back now, King," Logan said loudly and bravely. "I am giving you this last chance to give me back my mate and be on your way. We can avoid this battle and everyone would be happy."

For the first time since he arrived, the Rogue King looked astonished. "Turn back? What an idea!" He laughed. "Not after I've gone through so much effort to be here, no! I am going to enact my revenge on each and every member of this pack. I am going to kill every last remaining member of the Alpha's family, and then I'm going to make this pack my seat of power and turn every remaining member of this pack into slaves. If anyone should be having second thoughts here, it should be you."

"You asked for it, King," Logan replied, then gestured to his own warriors. They dragged the spy that had been captured and Jesse the gamma out, then pushed them forward. The two wolves fell to the ground at Logan's feet.

Logan slowly drew a short knife from his belt, then put it against the rogue wolf's throat. He watched the face of the Rogue King as he did so, but the King stayed expressionless. 

Then he slowly slit the throat of the spy, feeling warm blood spread between his fingers. The spy fell to the ground, dead. When the King continued to stare without any word, Logan moved to the gamma and placed the knife against his throat. He expected the King to say something, but the man continued to stare at him.

Logan closed his eyes. He heard a soft "Please." from his gamma, but he didn't look down. He thought of Kylie, Ryker, and all the dozens, if not hundreds of wolves that his gamma had killed. Then he slowly drew the knife across the man's throat and heard the gurgling of blood before the lifeless body of the man fell to the ground.

He opened his eyes and looked at the Rogue King, who was smiling without humour.

"Do you think the killing of those pathetic spies would affect me in any way? I'd have killed them anyway. You only helped with the job. My eyes are on your pack and nothing else.

"That had been my goal for so many years now. I sent your mother to infiltrate this pack twenty-five years ago, and she ended up getting mated to your father who was the alpha then. I ordered her to come back with immediate alacrity, and do you know what she did? She scorned me, her lover of so many years!" The Rogue Wolf beat his chest, an evil light in his eyes.

"She scorned me for your father, and to add salt to injury, she had a child for him. Jessica had always been submissive to me until she met your father. I knew she would never come back unless he was gone, and so I sent your mate's parents to this pack to sneak in and kill him and you. But do you know what your mother did? She laid her life to protect yours and your father's, and my wolves had no choice but to kill her. 

"I'd never hated a person the way I hated your father. He managed to steal my lover from me and managed to take her life in the process. I had your mate's parents killed, of course, for disobeying orders. I bided my time for ten years, planted my spy here in the form of your gamma to give me information, and then I sent your mate to finish the job that her parents failed at. And what happens? History repeats itself, and she gets herself mated to you too.

"I heard from your gamma how your father slowly lost his marbles after losing Jessica. It's enough punishment for him. I want him to feel every ounce of pain, and I want you too." The Rogue King concluded.

Logan's eyes moved to Aella. He didn't know what had made his eyes stray in her direction. Perhaps it was their mating bond or the current of tension that permeated the air. Perhaps he needed to see the encouragement in her eyes. 

He heard the whistle of an object moving through the air before he saw it. The spear left the Rogue King's hands and lodged itself in Aella's back. 

He saw the blood spread across her chest, saw the smile melt from her face, saw her move slowly to her knees, and he screamed.