"I can't feel my feet. Help," Julie groaned as she fell into a chair outside a small coffee shop, half a dozen shopping bags from various stores scattered around her feet.

"You'll live," Kellan deadpanned as he slid into the chair beside hers.

I dumped my bags on another chair and pulled out my wallet. "What do you guys want to drink?" I asked my friends.

"Just water, ice cold like my heart," Julie sighed.

I rolled my eyes and turned to Kellan. He shook his head, indicating he didn't want a sugary, girly coffee drink. Jason and I walked into the coffee shop. He ordered an smoothie while I got my white mocha and an ice water for Julie. As we were waiting for the baristas to finish our drinks, I looked at Jason. He caught my glance and raised a curious brow. "What are you thinking about, milady?"

I sighed at the nickname. "I have a question but I don't know if I'm allowed to ask you."

"This'll be juicy. If it's about Alpha Alexander's previous relationships, you don't need to worry."

I frowned. "Oh?"

"He hasn't really played the field, if you know what I mean."

I blinked, disbelief clear in my expression. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I didn't need images of Alpha Alexander flirting with some girl. I needed answers to a different question. "Well, thanks, but that's not what I was going to ask you."

"Oh," Jason shifted his weight. "Well, what's up?"

"Um," I hesitated. "Well, I was just wondering, what, uh . . . what are rogues?"

Jason's body visibly froze. He broke eye contact with me. "Where'd you hear that?"

I bit my tongue. I wasn't about to get Julie in trouble because I was too curious for my own good. "I just heard some kids talking about it around the house." I picked at my oversized sweater. "So what are they?"

Jason shifted again, uncomfortable. "They're bad news, milady."

I was about to press the subject, but the barista called our names and Jason didn't hesitate to grab our drinks and head outside. I followed him out and pulled up a chair next to Julie. Jason easily slipped back into his normal self, teasing Julie and joking with Kellan, but he glanced at me once in a while, a concerned look on his face. I smiled at him, and he gave me a small smile in return, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Where's Spencer and John?" I asked, realizing I hadn't seen them since we first got to the shopping center.

"They're nearby," Kellan answered. His eyes stared pointedly at a nearby store that stood behind me. I didn't bother glancing back.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"I can smell them. Plus, they're keeping contact with us."

"Is that who you keep texting?"

Kellan shook his head slowly, clearly amused, and looked at his friend. Jason laughed and said, "Go for it, dude. I'm curious as to how you're going to break the ice on this one."

Julie rolled her eyes and turned to me. "They're mind-linked."

I blinked. "Uh, what?"

"It means we can read each other's thoughts," Kellan offered.

I made a face. "That's unfortunate."

"Not all the time. The whole pack is mind-linked, but a wolf can turn it off and on. Kind of like a radio station—there's a certain station we can 'tune into' when we need to communicate, but when it's not necessary, we can switch it off."

"Going along with his fantastic metaphor," Jason added, "we can also tune into another person's station, just one on one. Or, we can tune into the pack station, especially during the full moon when the pack runs together."

I absorbed the information. Questions rattled around in my brain, but the one I asked seemed the most important. "So, you guys can communicate for answers to a test?"

Kellan and Jason nearly fell over themselves laughing. Julie chuckled, "It's been done, trust me."

I glanced at my friend. "Are you mind-linked with the pack?"

She shook her head. "I'm human. I'm only allow to tune in to my mate's station."

I frowned. "Damn. I have a calculus test coming up."

Kellan laughed even harder. "I'll tutor you, milady."

I made a face. "I was so hoping just to tune into your station and take the answers."

"You just might be able to," Jason said. When we all gave him confused faces, he explained, "As an Alpha, you might be able to mind-link with the rest of the pack, even though you're human."

I swallowed the nervous lump in my throat. Another reminder I was an Alpha now and I was still hoping it was all a misunderstanding. I mentally shook off the chill of knowing it was not a misunderstanding and put a smile on my face. "Come on. We have a couple more stores I want to hit before we head back."

Kellan and Jason groaned simultaneously.

Julie giggled. "You can hit on the girls in Victoria's Secret."

"Deal," Kellan stood up.

Jason gave me a look. "What are the chances the guy of my dreams works in a lingerie store?"

"Pretty good, actually," I said, remembering a particularly flamboyant gentleman last time I was at the mall.

After Kellan struck out twice in Victoria's Secret, we moved on to Bath and Body Works. I had just spritz Kellan with something that smelled like a beach in Mexico when John suddenly stood by my side. Kellan made eye contact with the older wolf, a silent understanding erasing his nearly permanent boyish grin from his face. He glanced at me before looking over his shoulder at Jason, who stood rigid next to Julie, his hand latched protectively around her arm.

I didn't need to ask what was wrong. Something that tasted distinctly of dread and fear turned in my stomach unpleasantly. "Where's Spencer?" I asked quietly.

"The car. Walk with me, Alpha," John said sternly. I didn't hesitate grabbing the arm he offered me. Kellan fell into step on my other side, his body slightly in front of mine while John nearly plastered himself to my shoulder. Jason and Julie followed closely behind. I kept glancing back to make sure my friends were still there, my concern and barely concealed fear reminding me that I was not the only one in danger.

The dark SUV sat in front of the entrance to the shop with Spencer sitting in the driver's seat, his eyes scanning the surrounding area. John quickly opened the back passenger door and all but threw me and then Julie inside. Our bags tumbled onto the floor as Spencer locked the doors and sped away from the curb.

"What the hell?" I cried. "What about the others?"

"I need to get you home, Alpha."

"But—"

Julie cut me off. "They have their car, Phoebe. They'll be fine."

Kellan and Jason drove to the mall in Jason's car, but that still didn't ease my fears. "What happened back there?" I asked as Spencer sped out of the parking lot.

"Rogues, Alpha," his answer was clipped.

I glanced at Julie. "Can one of you please explain to me what the hell rogues are?"

Julie and Spencer made eye contact in the rearview mirror before my friend turned to me and gently began to speak. "Um, okay." Her hands twisted together nervously. "Rogues are wolves who were once members of a pack but were kicked out or willing left. A wolf cannot survive long on its own, though; he needs a pack for stability and help controlling his wolf. Without a pack, a lone wolf can easily give in to his animal's instincts, losing his humanity in the process.

"Normally, a rogue might band with one or two other rogues, but lately a pack of them has emerged, which has never happened before. This pack is growing in numbers and doesn't want to coexist with humans. The self-proclaimed Alpha of this rogue pack believes wolves are the greater species and should essentially rule over the humans."

I absorbed the information, my heart rate accelerating as I began to fully comprehend what Julie was explaining to me. "Why are they here?"

"They seem to be everywhere. The rogue pack is large, but our pack outnumbers them, and they know that. Alpha Alexander is one of the strongest Alphas in the country. They are trying to take down the biggest threat, but they haven't been able to so far. They've been waiting for an opportunity to weaken the pack," she said the last sentence as gently as she could, her eyes filled with concern and anticipation as I took in what she was implying.

"Me," I said so quietly I could barely hear my own voice. "I'm the weak link."

The talk Julie and I had when I came back from Tommy's soccer game the night before flooded my mind. "You have the possibility of being a part of the extremely unfortunate situation where you might possibly be used against your own mate to weaken him or weaken the pack."

Julie nodded and softly placed her hand on my shoulder to comfort me. "They won't let anything happen to you."

"I don't want to be the reason someone gets hurt," I said firmly. "I won't let someone sacrifice themselves just to protect me."

Julie looked like she was going to argue, but Spencer interjected. "It's a honor to protect you, Alpha. An honor we gladly accept the moment we are born. Every member of the pack would willingly die for you."

It sounded so rehearsed, like it had been beaten into him over the years, which only angered me more.

"I won't let someone get hurt because they're trying to protect me," I repeated. "Regardless of honor. No one should die because of me."

"We're hard to kill, Alpha," Spencer said bluntly. "Any wolf would lay down their life for you. All we ask in return is that you're worthy of our sacrifice."

"How could I ever be worthy of a person's life?" I asked in horror. "I haven't even been here a week. You don't know me. I'm human, I'm not a wolf."

His eyes held mine for a moment in the review mirror. "You're human, but you are the mate of an Alpha. You have the same instinct to protect us as we have to protect you. You didn't panic when you realized you were in danger. You felt it in the store, didn't you?" I didn't respond. I didn't know what I felt back at the mall, but I just knew it was best to let them do what they were trained to do and ask questions later. John took my silence as affirmation. "This is a lot for anyone to understand, yet you take it in stride, as though you were born into this." He got off the freeway, his eyes once again on the road. "You're a lot stronger than you realize, Alpha. Just because you're human doesn't mean you're weak."

I was silent for the rest of the drive back to the pack house. The moment we pulled into the driveway, I finally spoke. "Can you please not mention what happened today to Alpha Alexander?"

Spencer didn't say anything.

"You already told him, didn't you?"

He had the decency to look guilty. "I'm sorry, Alpha."

I shrugged it off. "It's not your fault. If you need me, I'll probably be chained up in his bedroom."

"Seth tried that once." Julie joked, "I threatened to strangle him with the chain while he slept."

We gathered our bags as Spencer pulled up to the front of the house. Julie got out first, tugging some of the bags as she all but fell out of the car. I followed after her. I turned to grab the rest of my bags from the backseat, but was suddenly yanked from the car and spun back around.

"What the—" I started to say. The words died on my lips as a very serious, very mad, and yet very handsome Alpha stood toe-to-toe with me, his hands squeezing my upper arms. "Um, hi."

"Are you hurt?"

I dumbly shook my head.

He scanned my body, twisting me sideways briefly to inspect my back. I tried to shove him off of me, but he was quite a bit stronger than my feeble arms.

"I'm fine!" I finally snapped, shimmying out of his hold.

His eyes held mine so intently I was afraid to look away. "You are not leaving the compound again."

I blinked at him, my mind going blank as I sputtered, "But, wait . . . w-what about school?"

"Homeschooling can be arranged."

"What? No! I'm going to school." Word I never thought I'd say, but school was now a reprieve from the most intimidating man I had ever met. It was a safe haven, somewhere he couldn't distract me.

"You are staying here."

"I'm safe at school."

"You are safe here."

"If I miss any classes, I won't graduate." I was grasping at any excuse I could think of. "How will I get into a good college if I don't graduate?"

"You are staying here, Phoebe."

I glared at him, my body flaring with anger, but I dampened it enough to calmly respond, "Fine."

He eyed me suspiciously. "Don't."

"What?" I fixed my face into a mask of innocence.

"Phoebe," his voice was full of warning.

"Alpha Alexander," I mocked his tone.

His face softened and the faintest glimmer of desperation flickered through his eyes. "You are not going to leave this compound. I will tie you to the bed post if I have to."

A flutter went through my stomach, but I quickly squashed it. "Tempting, Alpha Alexander." His eyes darkened. My body slowly relaxed when my mind once again went reeling with the seriousness of the conversation in the car with Spencer and Julie. "I'll stay here until you think it's safe. Okay?"

His eyes squinted in suspicion, but he wisely let it go. "Good."

I smiled sardonically. "You have the honor of telling my parents."

Perfect timing, too, as their minivan pulled into the driveway right at that moment.