gaius

There are a lot of differences between a regular rogue and a feral one. The most prominent was their eyes.

While a regular rogue still maintains the eye color it's born with, a feral rogue loses that color, and its eyes become a shade of red. Having only heard stories about it, I can't confirm but it is said that their eyes become brighter the more they kill.

Another difference is the size. Wolves attack each other that's normal, what isn't normal for werewolves is eating one another. Even for rogues cannibalism is still considered frowned upon even when food is scarce. Feral rogues, however, don't care if their prey is another wolf or not; food is food. Because of this, they often grow bigger than most normal rogues do.

Lastly, while you're able to connect with a normal rogue, you can't with a feral one. They have no human side so you can't reach them like you would be able to a normal wolf. It is also said that they don't have mates because even the Moon Goddess can't love them. They were created from all her hatred and anger towards those who hurt her and because of this, they're cursed to be alone.

Staring down at my mate, I can't help but question just how much of that is true. I mean, the Moon Goddess gave this one a mate so surely it has to have some ounce of humanity within right?

The wolf squirms more as it tries to move from underneath me. Shaking my head I quickly lift my foot before making it connect with the wolf's head effectively knocking it out. Part of me fills guilty for what I just did, but if it stayed awake it wouldn't make it five feet into the pack before Gray killed it

I take a glance at the white wolf who still lies on the ground unmoving. I would've assumed it was dead if I hadn't seen its partially open eyes.

"Gray," I call out through the link. "I need you at the northern border there are two injured rogues I need your help with."

Gray takes a minute to reply, "Injured? How badly and are they regular rogues?"

"They're pretty badly hurt, one looks as if it's about to die, and yes they're both regular," I reply. I bite back the guilt as I wait for Gray to respond.

"I'm on my way."

While I wait for Gray to come, I look down at my mate and take it its injuries.

I need to stop calling them "it".

Unlike the white wolf, my mate's injuries seem minor in comparison. They're still pretty bad which tells me that the two had to have been in a pretty heated fight beforehand, but they're not nearly as bad as the other wolves.

I watch as he lies passed out and like this, he doesn't look like the same snarling wolf from before but instead he looks somewhat peaceful. Moving away from my mate, I make my way to the white wolf and lightly flip it over to check the injury. There's a deep gash on its side that seems to be very slowly healing. The wolf is much thinner than my mate which tells me that it probably hasn't been able to take in a proper meal for a while which causes my heart to ache for it.

"Help is on the way," I link it even though I don't know if it'll receive it.

The wolf lets out another whine which lets me know that it received my link and not a minute later Gray moves into the clearing with Taylor and Foster in tow. The three of them take in the scene before we all quickly move into action and begin to try and transport the wolves back to the pack.

With the help of Taylor, the smaller white wolf is placed onto Gray's back. Foster moves towards my mate before I quickly stop him.

"I got it," I link him.

Foster's brows furrow but he says nothing back as I move to get my mate on my back.

"He's heavy as hell," Taylor grunts as he helps me.

Part of me wanted to growl at him for his comment but I knew he probably wasn't wrong. For a wolf that didn't have the build of alpha, beta, or gamma, my mate probably was considered heavy.

Once we have the two secured, we begin the walk back to the pack house and toward the hospital.

"So what the hell happened?" Foster asks through our link.

"Don't know, when I got there, they were already fighting," I tell him honestly.

"Well, we know who won," Taylor says causing Foster to snicker.

The rest of the walk is silent allowing me to be alone with my thoughts. What was I going to do with my new mate? He's feral and I don't even know if he's permanently stuck like that. Then there's the issue of getting Gray and the others to accept him. The thought of it gives me a headache.

When we arrive at the pack hospital, doctors come rushing out and quickly take the two wolves. I quickly follow behind and the others do too. My mate is placed in a hospital room as his wounds are tended to and I watch carefully before shifting back.

One of the nurses brings clothes for the four of us and I quickly get dressed as I keep my eyes on my mate.

"What are we going to do with them?" Taylor asks Gray.

Gray hums in thought, "The same we do with all rogues; interview them, determine if they're a threat, if not invite them to the pack, if they are then we kill them."

The thought of my mate being killed has my blood running cold. Gray notices this and raises an eyebrow.

"Are you okay, Gai?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I wave him off but in reality, I'm anything but.

"Are you sur-" Gray doesn't finish his sentence when his eyes move towards the bed and harden. I don't even have to look to know what he's staring at, but I do to confirm my suspicions.

Laying on the bed is my now awake mate, red eyes showing and all. They blink a few times before glancing around the room and letting out a deep growl that has both doctors and nurses alike jumping away.

Foster moves in front of Taylor and Gray quickly moves toward the bed. I rush to move in front of my mate before he can do any harm. Gray's cold blue eyes meet my brown before they turn into an accusing glare.

"You knew about this?" He spits in a cold voice.

"Gray-" I try to speak but he cuts me off.

"You brought a feral into my pack lands?!"

The room falls silent as Gray continues to glare at me, the only sounds are the snarls coming from the bed.

Gray's attention turns toward the doctors and nurses.

"Please give us the room," he says and they're quick to do so.

Foster's eyes don't leave my mate but he makes no move toward them.

"Gray, listen-" I try again but Gray shakes his head.

"Listen?" Gray scoffs. "You not only lied to me, but you willingly put the pack in danger by bringing that creature here."

"Gray-"

"Gaius move right now so I can kill that thing behind you," he growls out.

I shake my head and Gray glares more.

"I can't," I tell him as I stand protectively in front of the bed.

"What do you mean you 'can't' that things a monster, Gaius," Foster snaps.

"This monster is my mate," I growl back at the both of them causing the whole room to go silent.