The wolf was older, his brown hair already becoming peppered with grey. Still his presence was not to go unnoticed or easily dismissed. Nearly the same height as the Salvatori heir, he stood determinedly with a thick set of shoulders and a physique that was bulky and akin to a boulder. He held himself confidently and the sense of competency and power that radiated from this second rogue was startlingly nearly equal to what Kaiden himself carried.

A series of low growls sounded in the clearing as the alpha and his warriors studied not just the werewolf - but the rogue - who would dare to come onto pack land and put himself between an Alpha and his mate. All eyes narrowed readying themselves for the order to kill. Clayton, Kaiden's head warrior slid into position readying himself to take out the rogue at the signal of his leader. Blair and Austin fell in behind him flanking his position as they all focused on the enemy now standing in their midst. Warning growls erupting from all sides of the clearing.

"Alpha I mean no harm." The Rogue said hands rising before him, but he didn't move or back down, "I know she is your mate ..." This time the rogue was cut off by Kaiden's roar.

"Yet you keep me from what is mine!? You. Will. Die." Kaiden spat, another growl ripping through the air as he took an advancing step on the rogue. To his surprise this time the rogue stepped back, backing down from the challenge, his gaze dropping instantly and without reluctance in a show of submission. It was enough to still the Alpha's advancement for a moment. He wasn't acting like a normal rogue.

"I'm not keeping her from her. But you can't go up there. At least not if you ever want her."

Kaiden felt his patience slipping as he watched the older wolf. His mate was near, he had rogues on his territory and he was exhausted, it took all his control to keep from ripping the rogue into a million pieces at that very moment. "Explain." He barked between clenched teeth.

"The girl she's different. Special. You can't approach her, she will never let you. Ever. And you'll never catch her. And if you do, you'll lose her. I've known her for five years and that girl has never spoken. Has never communicated with me in anyway." The rogue rushed out his words running together he was speaking so quickly.

"What the hell are you talking about!?" This time it was Austin who had spoken. His confusion and anxiety breaking through, as Kaiden was silently trying to grapple and understand the rogue's words. What did he mean she had never spoken? Then how did he know her?

The rogues eyes swung to Kaiden's Beta this time as he spoke, "Please let me explain. I want to help. She deserves a mate. I've never met a wolf who deserved one more. But he can't get her like that, I swear. Beta, alpha please let me explain."

That he addressed both Kaiden and Austin by their appropriate titles surprised all the wolves gathered. Rogues were never respectful and most times didn't even seem able to comprehend the hierarchy of the wolves they were interacting with. This one had identified and recognized the power of the two leaders instantly and spoke with both a familiarity and also a level of deep respect that had them all reassessing the man.

Kaiden looked over the rogue one more time before nodding his head reluctantly to indicate he could speak.

"Thank you Alpha. Your mate's story must start with my own."

It was only his continued acknowledgment of the female rogue still high in the tree as his mate that kept Kaiden silent and on the ground, not to mention the rogue breathing, as he began his tale.

"Up until five years ago I wasn't a rogue, I belonged to the Custoson Pack." If the news that this rogue had belonged to the only other pack in North America that was larger than their own surprised those gathered, his next statement blew them away, "I was Alpha Dominic Custoson's head warrior for over 40 years." The rogue had to stop for a moment as words of disbelief and confusion arose in reaction to the outrageousness of the claim.

Kaiden looked at the man standing so surely and confidently in front of him. He took in everything about him from his frame, to his aura of power and confidence, to his tone of respect and authority. Holding up a hand to silence his pack he nodded for the ex-warrior to continue.

"My name is Richard. And as head warrior Kaiden, I fought alongside your father a number of times. The Custoson and Salvatori packs have a long history."

Kaiden stiffened in recognition of the name. Disbelief turning to awe as he considered the rumors that had started over four years previous. Whispers of the head warrior turning traitor, abandoning not only his post but his pack and his alpha who had been a childhood friend. Not even bothering to acknowledge the reactions of the werewolves around him the ex-warrior continued his tale.

"I don't know why but one day five years ago I got this urge, this need, I couldn't ignore it. It felt like if I didn't follow it, not just me but everyone and everything I ever cared about would be destroyed, it was this unexplainable feeling of horrendous loss. It was so deep and strong I was powerless. I only managed to resist for a few weeks before I had to leave. Without word, a note, nothing, I turned my back on the pack I had been born into. A pack that had held my bloodline since the beginning of the packs themselves. I turned my back on my alpha, the man I had loyally followed without question since I was barely 6 years old. I turned my back and started running. I didn't know where I was going or why, only that I had to get there and I couldn't stop. After 4 long days of running suddenly the feeling vanished. The need to move, to run and search just disappeared. I was in a small clearing in unclaimed territory with no idea what I was supposed to do. I tried to leave. Believe me, I tried, but I couldn't. I could make it about a mile out in any direction from that clearing before the feeling came back so strong it would feel like I would pass out.

It was three days before she showed up. I didn't know how close to human civilization I had come until then. I had come in the back and never noticed the town that was in front of me. Imagine my shock when I'm minding my own business and suddenly, I catch the scent of another werewolf only to turn around and find a tiny little girl just sitting at the edge of this clearing silently watching me. I hadn't even heard her approach, and I didn't understand how she would have found me. After my shock wore off I tried to approach her when she didn't answer me. It was not a good idea." Richard shook his head as he thought back to how the small child had reacted to his approach, a small sigh escaping his lips at the memory. Even as he paused in his story none of the wolves listening interrupted nor did they make a sound, enthralled by the account that the old warrior was reliving.

"After the first time I saw her and she took off, flying through the woods from me, I followed her back. I don't know. At that point I didn't understand anything. Hadn't yet realized that it was her, that she was the reason for all of it. I just knew I had to know where she had come from. The first werewolf I had met in days, I had to follow her. Turns out she was living at a human orphanage. I know now that at that point she had been there about three weeks, arriving almost the same time the desire to run had started back in my old pack. She was 13 at the time although she looked more like 10, she was so small and undernourished. It took her a week before she came back to the clearing. This time I didn't acknowledge her, merely kept on with what I was doing hoping she would talk to me. She sat on that rock for a few minutes before she simply got up and walked away. I was puzzled I had no idea who she was or what was going on. The next time she came I decided to just talk, see if she would pick up if I just kept babbling. Still don't know what I said that day but I talked for over an hour straight, she just sat there watching me. Didn't make a peep, not a single sound, not an emotion on her face. As soon as I grew quiet for a few minutes she got up and walked away. I tried to get her to come back but she wouldn't even turn around. By then I already knew not to touch her, so instead I decided to go and talk to the orphanage. Turns out police found her out alone one night, severely injured and starved, she wouldn't speak and would freak out anytime anyone laid a hand on her. After months in the hospital with no family, records, or any information they processed her into the system. They didn't even have a name for her. They decided to call her Sarah. Sarah Smith."

Kaiden stiffened at the first mention of his mate's name, the anger that had been building in him as he listened to the story of his mate's journey to him momentarily forgotten. Richard seemed to notice his reaction and let out another sad sigh shaking his head, "Sarah may be the name they gave her but it isn't her name. She has never once responded to it, and the one time I made the mistake of calling her it, she refused to come see me for two weeks. When I say she hasn't spoken I mean that. And not just talking, she won't nod or shake her head, she won't write notes, she won't even point to what she wants. She shows no emotion or response to any outside stimulation that I have ever seen, or that the orphanage has been able to facilitate. The academy tried to say she was mentally challenged suffering from a number of mental disorders and incapable of making any decisions for herself. But even though I never seen her talk or anything I very much doubt that she can't. I also think she sees and understands much more than they ever gave her credit for. She has to." his voice took on a puzzled yet hard edge as he mused seeming to be considering words that he had spoken many times before. Physically shaking himself from his thoughts he seemed to realize he was still addressing others and a flash of embarrassment crossed his face as he cleared his throat to continue Aislinn's story.

Unbeknownst to those below, Richard's familiar voice had made its way to where she sat and although she did not listen to the words she had moved lower amongst the branches so that she could be closer to the familiar sound.

"Because they had no records on her, they estimated her age and made her birthday the day she arrived at the academy. Sept 27, 1997 although without her talking I don't know if any of that is right. Yesterday within the human system at least she officially turned 18 and signed her release papers from the state system. I had figured she would leave soon, I didn't think I would turn around yesterday to see her standing there with a backpack on her back before she would immediately turn around and head into the woods. It only took me an hour before I had packed and was on her trail. I couldn't stay, the feeling I thought I lost five years ago was back and it was telling me to follow your mate. She never shifted, actually - I have never seen her shift. I'm not sure if she even has or can.

Anyway, another time for that, I don't know how she did it I'm exhausted and I shifted after about two hours. We've been running for nearly fifteen hours straight. Those rogues crossed her trail about an hour before you showed up. She started getting sloppy about her trail awhile back and there was only so much I could cover. I don't know how she learned what she knows. It's amazing actually, she's as good if not better than my best scouts back at Custoson. Even with the rogues she didn't shift simply climbed that damn tree. I was going to try and take out this lot when you guys showed up. I would have been here sooner but I took out three others that were lagging behind the main pack." The grizzled warrior let his words settle in upon the silence before he pulled himself up to his full height meeting Kaiden's gaze head on, his eyes went hard as he stared the alpha-to-be down in a surprise show of domination.

"I told you this story not for any other reason than you need to know as much of the truth as you can if you have any hope of keeping your mate. I don't think she would want you to know her past, or maybe she would, but you needed to hear my story. Every word I said is true. And yes I am a rogue but I am her guardian and I will lay down my life for hers. I keep you only from her because she will not want you to touch her, at least not yet. I don't know why but the reaction that happens when she is touched is enough for me to guess that the thirteen years before I met up with her were anything but normal. I saw the police reports from when they found her, the injuries were not natural. With no proof they couldn't investigate and wrote it off as a car crash but I don't buy it. I don't know if she's ever met another werewolf before me or if she even knew what she was. All I can tell you is that if you try and go into the tree and bring her down she will run from you and I can assure you, you will not catch her if she doesn't want you to."

Kaiden stared at the man his words bringing a flash of pain to his heart, he couldn't touch his mate, couldn't hold her, couldn't inhale her sweet scent, claim her as his own. She was supposed to be his, and yet here was a man saying that every instinct that he had for his mate would only force her away from him. His heart nearly ripped in two. The thought of her being hurt made him want to kill, to rip the throats out of anyone who would dare to bring pain upon her. Made him want to enfold her in the safety of his arms and never let her go and yet if the story was true all that would do would be to hurt her more and make her run. He wanted to be sick. His eyes had unintentionally risen to the thick foliage of the tree that hid his mate from his sight, it was only her soft scent still in the air that reassured him that she was still there.

"What do I do?" Kaiden asked as he wrenched his eyes back to the man in front of him, not caring at the moment that his tone was boarding on pleading as he searched the ex-warriors face. Normally he would ask none but his head lieutenants for advice, as it was seen as a sign of weakness but there was such truth and conviction in Richards's voice as he proclaimed himself his mates guardian that he could not help the instant respect he had for the man.

"If you promise me that no one and I do mean no one, not even yourself will touch or approach her for any reason... I may be able to get her to come on down on her own." Richard's voice was calm even though his eyes held a look of trepidation. Normally what he had just asked for, especially as a rogue who was trespassing, would be grounds for an instant death, but these were not normal circumstances.

Kaiden ignored his instinctual reaction to the disrespect and the implied command in the statement and instead worked on focusing on the hope that his words contained, "How? I thought you said she never listens? Doesn't react to others? How will you get her down?"

"She doesn't, well not really, she listens I think when she wants to. But for five years without fail, except for the few times in the beginning when she was placed with families, she has actively sought me out at least three or four times a week. Even now as I've been speaking she's moved lower in the tree. I don't think she was listening to my actual words but still, I am familiar and for some reason she has always come back to me. Plus, I have talked to her about mates before. Explained what a mate was and what they meant. I tried to talk to her about every aspect of werewolves not knowing what she knew. I may be able to get her to realize who you are to her, and even if she doesn't let you touch her she might go with you."

Kaiden let out a growl as jealousy raged inside him at the rogue warrior's words.

Realizing his mistake Richard threw up his hands in surrender taking another step backwards, "Alpha I didn't mean it like that. I spoke of my mate. She died two years before I left. I mean nothing towards you mate, I never did. She was a child when I first met her, and now I see her only as a daughter. I have no children, but over the years I have come to see her as one of my own. I spoke only of the idea of mates, of what they meant, of what my Maria meant to me. " As his words trailed off he lowered his head once more in submission.

The acknowledgment of his lost mate was enough to have Kaiden backing off, as did the recognition of his mate as a daughter.

Kaiden took a long breath before speaking, "Understood. If you think you can get her down unharmed then I give you my word that none of my men, myself included will touch my mate, and further promise that none of us will try to approach her." With his words he took a step back from the base of the tree. At a look from their Alpha, the rest of his men began to fall back along with him until they were merely a loose ring nearly ten feet from the trunk.

Richard met Kaiden's eyes giving him a nod before turning to look at the figure still oblivious in the tree.