Red's POV:

My eyes opened to see cushions of a burnt-orange couch that had seen better days. The stitching that was meant to make up some kind of square pattern was probably originally white or something close to it but was now yellow and more like deformed blobs than actual squares. Before I fell asleep for the very brief amount of time I was asleep, I decided to not question what the stains were because it wasn't as if I had a lot of options and it was better than sleeping outside or on the floor whose stains were somehow even more questionable.

It wasn't that I'd been asleep and woke up to see this. I'd been awake for a while but wanted to pretend I had some semblance of normalcy and was really sleeping like everyone else was. I'd been up all night comforting a pregnant Talia over the loss of her mate a few months ago, and the mourning that the baby inside her would grow without every knowing their father. Then I was up with Diego, promising him he'd have a chance to be ranked as soon as we were in a stable place. Sleep was the least of my priorities last night.

I rolled onto my back and glanced around the living room in the small hostel. There was absolutely nothing in this room, or really in almost the whole apartment, except couches. Couches meant to hold us rogues who had nowhere else to go.

I quietly rolled off the couch and to the floor, dropping into pushups. It didn't matter if I was tired. Rogues didn't have the luxury of being tired. I still had to be ready for anything. I left it at a hundred then reluctantly stood, wiping my hands off on my pants and making a face at the stained carpet.

Just because it was my only option, didn't mean I liked it.

I carefully tiptoed over to the front door and opened it as quietly as possible, slipping out and closing it with the softest click I could manage. It was going to be a long day, a long night. My pack needed to be ready for that.

"Awake already, Luna?"

I glanced to the side, finding Darius sitting on the ground with his long legs stretched out in front of him, hands crossed over behind his head, and eyes closed. The sun reflected off the sheen of sweat on his forehead, making his rich umber skin reflect a little extra. If his eyes were open I'd be able to see that little bit of gold in what normally seemed to be solid dark brown eyes. He was one of those people that enjoyed feeling the warmth of the sun on his face. I was too, normally, but after spending months in colder areas, the sticky heat of the South was no longer what I was used to. My black hair was already sticking to my neck before I did those damn pushups. Still, a tan wouldn't kill me. My skin tanned easily but rarely burned, I at least could let that happen since I was going to be hot anyway.

"You already knew that, Alpha," I said, nudging his leg with my foot before leaning over the bars of the second-story porch and watching the sun continue rising higher, the orange and red streaks in the sky becoming paler and paler.

Technically speaking, we weren't a pack. I wasn't a pack leader and he wasn't either. But fuck technicalities and fuck the supernatural law. We were a pack whether the Elders wanted to acknowledge it or not, and Darius and I were the pack leaders whether they liked our different situation or not. Normally, pack leaders were mated pairs, if not fated mated pairs, they were at least claimed mated pairs- claimed as in chose each other to be their mate instead of going along with the Goddess's plans of a fated one.

Dari and I were neither.

I was a Luna because I was born to be. It was in my blood, whether my family acknowledged my claim or not. It was in my blood and they couldn't take that away. It was not in Darius's blood. He would technically be an Omega if you went by bloodlines alone, but anyone that thought that was the wise way to go was a fucking idiot. Darius was a natural born leader, a natural Alpha. He may not have come from pack leaders but it only took one look at him to know he had what it took. He had the confidence, the strength, the compassion, the loyalty, and the love, all in one giant intimidating package. He was the only Alpha I would ever feel good working alongside. I fucking hated Alphas. Dari was the only exception.

We talked before how our mates might feel coming into a pack and discovering the pack leader positions were already taken. Being mated to Darius wouldn't give his mate the Luna title because that was mine and Darius agreed it wouldn't be taken away. When I asked if that would be a problem he shrugged and said, if my mate is truly meant for me, she'll understand our positions and respect it. For me, it wasn't an issue. I already rejected my mate and I had no intention of claiming one. Or if by some fucking miracle that ever changed, I would at least know they weren't with me for the title because they wouldn't get it. Darius would stay Alpha if I took a claimed mate and I would stay Luna if he found his fated. If they didn't like it, they could leave, but nothing was breaking my and Dari's bond.

We didn't have a mated connection but we had a strong one. Joint love, joint loss, joint trauma. He was my ride or die and I was his, but he was like a brother to me. Especially when I lost mine. Especially after we escaped our old pack and formed our own. We ignored the comments of it not being real because we didn't have the blessing from The Elders. We didn't need their help to make us official, to connect us, to give us the benefits of being a real pack. We'd been a pack for the last two and a half years.

We didn't need those things but they wouldn't hurt. I hated that my pack was sleeping in hostels or outside every night and had no place to call home. I hated how careful we had to be getting close to any borders because some packs would freak at the mere scent of rogues and start hunting. That was the only reason I was swallowing my pride and planning to approach the Elders to ask them to make us official. Though it wasn't the only reason for my presence in Georgia.

No. Revenge was my other reason for being in Georgia.

"What's on the menu today?" Darius asked, his eyes still shut.

That managed to almost get a smile out of me. It was all we had right now, to pretend we were getting something other than powdered eggs and some apples. That was the other thing. My pack was malnourished. I tried to keep them fed well but it wasn't easy. There weren't a lot of open hunting grounds and we had almost no money. I didn't steal from humans because I wanted to, I did it because I had mouths to feed and I had no other option.

"I was thinking a Belgian waffle topped with strawberries and custard and whip cream," I said, giving him a side-glance. "Side of bacon. Maybe some sausage. Maybe a mimosa."

He opened one eye and almost cracked a smile. "Custard, whip cream and a mimosa? Really dreaming there, Luna."

"Someday," I said, turning my gaze back to the sky that was now closer to blue, the color it would be all day until the sun went down again.

"Someday," Darius agreed.

I stayed silent, watching the world before me slowly come awake. There was a toxic part of me that resented every happy face I saw. How could they be so happy when so many others weren't? When there was so much fucking injustice in the world? They had the leisure of running by in their fancy jogging clothes and fancy jogging shoes with their expensive earbuds in while I was trying to figure out how I would feed sixty people. It wasn't fucking fair.

"You're getting a little loud there, Red," Darius said. It was what he said to me when he could tell my mind was working too fast, worrying too much.

I looked back and his eyes were now open, a teasing smile on his face but the concern still evident. Darius was my equal for a thousand reasons and one was that he had the incredible capability of being soft when I needed him to and tough as goddamn nails when I needed it. I was the only one that got the soft side.

"I'm fine," I said, straightening out and pulling my long, straight hair back into a tight ponytail. "Just planning."

"Tonight, then?" Darius asked, his expression becoming more somber.

"Tonight," I confirmed.

"You ready for it?"

"I've been ready a long time," I said, turning and reaching for the doorknob. "I think we could use some real food today," I said, giving him a pointed look. "We'll need to be at full strength."

"I'll see what I can do," he nodded, standing up and wiping the sweat off his forehead. "I could really use a place with an air conditioner."

"Couldn't we all? Stop sitting in the sun and it won't be as much a problem," I pointed out.

"The sun makes me feel alive, Red," he said, giving me one of his dashing half-smiles that could make any person interested in men, crumble. Except me, obviously. Gross. "Sometimes we need to feel alive."

"Feeling alive makes you weak," I countered. "If you feel dead, you have nothing to lose."

"If you feel dead, what's the point in living?" He shrugged.

"Spite," I said simply. "It's what gets me through the day," I added with a wink before going inside.

Some of the pack was already awake, including all my Gammas and my Beta. I didn't not have females as leaders because I didn't want them, I just didn't have a lot of choices. I found males were kicked out of packs more often than females and often females were also more welcome to other packs than males. That left me with mostly men and besides, my ranked wolves were the ones that escaped our last pack with me. We were tighter than tight, our bond stronger than family. No one was replacing their titles and most the rogues I picked up to join our pack weren't strong in the shallow sense people consider strong.

They were the unwanted. The weak ones no one wanted to build up. The troubled ones no one wanted to deal with. The hurt ones that no one wanted to heal. The crazy ones no one wanted to either tame or at least learn to live with peacefully. We were a ragtag group of defiant misfits, where every night had at least one person screaming from a nightmare because rogues didn't have it easy, but no one was made to feel bad about their past and the dark things in it. Thankfully, my pack was full of sweethearts.

Sweethearts that could snap your neck in a split second.

"Morning Luna," my Beta, Ezra, said as he shook out his bedhead, shaggy brown hair. He was my secret weapon. A shifter-witch that could use his magic while in his wolf form was a rare thing, but he'd mastered that skill and many others. He was so good, he had control over scent expression of his magic. When people scented him, all they got was shifter, and that was why he was my secret weapon. No one ever saw him coming.

"Need a haircut?" I teased.

"I'm never letting you cut my hair again," he said, narrowing his eyes.

I couldn't blame him. The truth was, I was actually trying to do a good job. I just didn't know the first thing about cutting hair.

"Never say never, Ez," I warned. "You don't know what the future holds."

"My future hopefully holds some beautiful southern bell because I desperately need to get laid," Levi, my Gamma, sighed as he pulled his dirty blonde hair back in a bun. I couldn't argue there, I would also like to get laid and ease some of this damn tension.

We all needed haircuts. My hair wasn't down to my ass because I liked it that way, it was because somehow with all the misfits I picked up, none of us could cut hair to save our lives. I had a sneaking suspicion Levi was enjoying his long hair though. I doubted he'd do more than a trim when we finally had a chance to do it.

"I'd take a shower if you hope to make any progress in that regard," I said, raising an eyebrow. "But I'm sorry to say it's not happening tonight. Tonight we have something important to do."

"Tonight?" Ezra asked, looking up at me.

He tried to hide his nervousness but he couldn't. I didn't blame him but I'd be damned if any harm came to any one of them. It wasn't that we weren't good fighters, it was that rogues fighting rogues drew attention and this was delicate. We would be close to The Elders and we needed a good impression. Attacking a group of rogues I'd been hunting down for the last several months would not make a good impression and that's why we were nervous. We all defended our title as a pack with unmatched ferocity, but it didn't change the fact we desperately wanted the real thing. The real connection, to be able to link each other and know if someone was hurt. We had a faint hint of it because we were all so close. We could vaguely sense when someone was in danger but we couldn't link. We were stuck between real pack and rogue pack until we were granted a blessing.

"Tonight," I confirmed.

"You found her," Levi said, watching me carefully.

"Noah did," I nodded. "Last night. She's not far. About sixty miles away."

"We running it?" Ezra asked.

I hated to say yes, we were running that distance and then getting into a fight but that was our only option so I nodded reluctantly. "Darius is working on getting us some real food. There's some small towns along the way, easy to rob. We'll just take what we need and it won't be a problem after I talk to the Elders."

"You think they'll make us a pack officially?" Levi asked.

No. I didn't know for sure. But this was my pack and they needed me to be strong and confident. "Yes. No one says no to me," I said, gesturing to myself. "You know that. I don't take no for an answer. Never have, never will."

"That's why you're the Luna," Ezra said, offering a lazy smile. "When are we heading out?"

"After breakfast," I answered. "I want to get there early. Properly scout it out. Make a good plan."

"I'll start the food we already have," Levi said, rising from the couch and heading into the kitchen.

"Could Darius use a hand?" Ezra asked.

"It wouldn't hurt," I shrugged. "And we need to pay up for using the hostels," I added. Ezra usually carried the little amount of money we had.

This was a moment I wished we were a real pack. A real pack would mean I could just link Darius and tell him Ez was coming to have his back but I couldn't do that. I hated I couldn't do that. Ezra simply nodded and walked past me to the door while I took a deep breath and glanced down the hallway, seeing more of my pack waking up.

Tonight, we would be in danger but I knew them. I knew them better than I even knew myself and they could handle this. Even malnourished, they were strong as hell. Once it was all over, once we were officially a pack that had a real home and reliable source of food, I had no doubt we would be one of the strongest packs out there.

That was far in the future but tonight wasn't.

Tonight the bitch that killed my brother was going to die a most violent death.

A/N:

Heyyy we got our first look into Red's POV! Thoughts?

This book and the next 2 are complete on Patreon and we're less than 10 chapters away from being done with Dean and Mia's story. Link in my bio 💜

Ahh we got to meet some new characters. First impressions of Darius and the guys?

First impressions of Red?

Oooh, what do you think will happen next week? 👀

Take care, loves 💜