Ben's POV:

"What does the sky look like?" Krystal asked, her eyes wide with curiosity. It hurt. It hurt so much that I had to sit there explaining to her things she shouldn't have taken from her. She'd lived her whole life in the damn dungeon, never seeing anything but the cell, never eating anything but the crappy dry food they gave her, never knowing what it was like to have a real conversation with someone, someone that wouldn't hurt her or use her. It made my blood boil but I was getting her out. Kane and I were almost ready to move her out, we just had to be careful about it.

"It's uh," I said, scratching the back of my head. How did I explain the sky? "It's vast. Bigger than anything you could imagine. Most the time it's blue but it's different colors at sunset and sunrise. Dark at night. It's... Freedom," I shrugged. "It goes on forever and ever."

"Freedom," she repeated, pain flashing in her eyes.

Dammit. That was not the right thing to say.

"I'm sorry, Krys. I'm not good at explaining things," I said, pulling out my phone. "I'll show you a picture."

"No," she said, reaching through the bars and setting her hands on mine. "I like the way you describe it. I want to see it through your eyes."

My heart started racing at the contact. I'd given her space because the last thing she needed was me being an overbearing dick. Our physical contact was rare and I could hear heart race as well.

"I'm not good with words, Krystal," I said, looking up into those jade green eyes I could never get tired of staring into. They seemed to change color sometimes. "You deserve better than the crappy imagery I give you."

"I don't think that," she said, giving me a small smile, not only leaving her hands on mine but threading her fingers through mine. "I think you're great with words. I want to discover the world through you."

"You won't have to," I promised. "I'm getting you out of here. Kane and I are getting you out of here. Soon you'll be able to see it for yourself."

"I don't want to see it for myself," she said, leaning closer to the bars. "I want to see it with you, Benny," she said, lifting our woven hands and pressing a kiss to the back of mine.

"You all right, Ben?" Zach asked, patting my back.

I shook my head and refocused. I couldn't be daydreaming about Krystal. We were on a mission.

The road was bumpy and dark, making all of us sway with each rough bump. Other than that, it was completely quiet. Quiet because we usually knew what we were getting ourselves into but all the crazy shit happening with the human world as well as ours was putting us all on edge.

"I'm fine. You ready?" I asked, nodding to the gas canister.

"I'm ready," he nodded. "You sure you're good?"

"I'm good. Just focusing."

Zach looked at me doubtfully but didn't push it. He and Tess were the only ones that wouldn't leave me alone about it. I know they wanted to help but they didn't understand it couldn't be helped. I just missed her like hell.

And I hated myself for not saving her.

The car came to a stop and we unloaded from the van. Zach zipped up the bag the canisters were in along with the gun to shoot them off. He also had some just to throw if he needed to. The other vans unloaded and we all circled around Kane.

We're about two miles out. Everyone have the antidote for the anti-shift serum? He linked, looking around at everyone. We all confirmed with a nod and Kane seemed satisfied enough. All right. Move slowly. Ben's group is heading East. Mine has West. Zach is on his own, coming in from the South.

We nodded and I gave Zach an encouraging smile before we headed off to the East. My usual group followed behind me and we stayed quiet and low, sniffing out any area before moving too far. We weren't supposed to shift unless we had, unless something went wrong. I patted my pocket to make sure yes, the antidote was there.

I'd checked a thousand times at this point, I just had the bad habit of second-guessing myself. A side-effect of getting my mate killed instead of getting her to safety, even with all the careful planning.

Shit. Focus, Ben, I reminded myself.

As we approached the house, we found rogue guards although none of them seemed rabid like the hounds, at least we had that. I sent some out to take them out silently and we moved forward. It wasn't until the old house came into view that we stopped.

If it weren't for the faint sounds, most likely undetectable by a human, the house would appear still abandoned. It looked like an old plantation that caught on fire but managed to stay standing. Parts of it were burned completely black, parts of it gone completely. Apparently only half of it burned because the other half might've been white at some point if not for all the overgrowth of ivy and faint brown burn marks.

Ben, in position? Kane linked.

Yes, Alpha, I answered.

Zach? Kane linked.

Yes, Alpha, Zach answered.

Move i-

His link was cut short by the sounds of screams.

Our pack tensed and my group looked to me for direction. The words might've stuck in my throat if I had any but I didn't know what to say. It sounded like there was already a slaughter going on in there.

What the fuck is happening? Kane linked to just me.

I don't know. But we should get in there. What if they're killing their hostages?

Zach, gas it up, Kane linked. The rest of you, take your antidotes and be careful.

Zach started shooting them into the house, going through the holes and broken windows, breaking ones that hadn't broken yet, filling both second and first floors until the gas was leaking out the building and creeping towards us.

Antidotes, I reminded my group. Do not shift unless you have to. Kill rogues only. The prisoners are a priority, Alpha and I and the Gammas will handle the rest. Kill only if it's in self-defense.

Yes, Beta, they answered.

I bit into my own pill and made a face at the bitter taste. As the gas crept and wrapped around us, I felt it not affecting me. I pulled a silver dagger from my belt and moved forward through the grey cloud of gas.

I was used to missions like this. I'd done worse ones with just Kane, before Tess came along and calmed him down much more than I thought he could ever be calmed down after what happened to him, to us, to the pack under our previous Alpha's rule.

I only wished that bastard was alive so I could kill him again.

Focus, Ben, I reminded myself.

We entered the building and the first rogue I encountered was different. Not different in the way the rabid one was, just.... Different. He almost had the smell of belonging to a pack. It was like his scent was half-way between both. I'd never smelled anything like it.

He lunged for me and I dodged it, swinging my blade around and catching him in the stomach, not deep enough to really hurt him but deep enough for it to hurt. He hissed and clutched at the wound only for a second before coming at me again, so hard he knocked me back into the wall and it cracked.

Damn, he was strong. His fist swung towards me and I dodged it and slammed into his stomach, throwing him back.

The strange scent was throwing me off. Was this a group of rogues looking to become a pack? If they were, they weren't doing themselves any favors attacking other wolves. The next hit he threw at me, I was ready and caught. He growled, swinging his head forward and smacking his forehead hard into my nose.

I groaned and stumbled back and he charged towards me again. One of my Deltas came behind him with a silver blade, held up and ready to come down on his neck but something wasn't right. There was something about the scent that told me these weren't the rogues we came to take out. These were different.

Leave it, I have it, I ordered, moving aside at the last minute as the rogue charged at me.

He nearly ran into the wall and I used that opportunity to pull out a tranquilizer and slam it into his neck. He groaned and sank to the floor, passed out. I spit out some blood and wiped my nose with the back of my hand, taking a moment to reset it and wincing as I got it back in place.

It wasn't the first time I had to reset my nose and it wouldn't be the last.

Alpha, something weird is going on, I linked Kane.

I know. I smelled it too, he linked me before linking all of us. Do not kill the rogues that smell different if you can help it. Take them out with tranquilizers.

A chorus of 'yes alpha's came in and I moved forward through the house. The problem with the rogues that smelled different was they were incredibly strong and fast, especially considering I couldn't they were smaller than most wolves, like they didn't eat enough. Typical for a rogue but the way they worked together, the way they fought back, that was not so typical of a rogue. Rogues didn't band together often and even when they did, they weren't this coordinated, weren't this trained and prepared like a real pack.

Something was definitely going on.

I reached the top floor just in time to see two female rogues fighting. Wait. Two rogues fighting? It wasn't that rogues never fought each other but usually when they had a setup like this, they stayed relatively calm with each other. The thing was, one smelled different and the other just smelled like a rogue. My instincts had to be right. The ones that smelled like a pack weren't the ones we were here for, they just happened to show up at the same time.

Before I could separate the fighting rogues, the one launched into the other and they fell out of one of the windows. I ran forward and watched in surprise as both jumped up and the blonde one took off into the forest, the black-haired one chasing after her. I didn't know what the hell was going on but I couldn't let anyone get away so I jumped out the window and ran after them.

They were faster than I thought they would be. The gas didn't affect their speed but damn they were just normally fast. I sprinted after them, dodging trees and hopping over fallen logs. The best I could do was keep up with their speed until all the sudden, I couldn't even do that. I was closest to the black-haired one but she suddenly picked up her speed faster than even I could keep up. Damn, that's impressive.

She caught up to the blonde and tackled her to the ground, raising a silver dagger and piercing it into the woman's shoulder.

"You really thought you could get away from me after what you did to him?" The black-haired one asked. "You bitch," she growled, removing the dagger and slamming it into the blonde rogue's other shoulder, making her scream. "You fucking murderer," she spat.

Then she started repeatedly stabbing her over and over, the blood flying around and covering both of them, stabbing her in the chest more times than I could even count. 

A/N:

Heyy loves, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Heads up, I'm going on vacation so there won't be an update next week. I'll see you the week after 💜

This book and the next two are complete on Patreon and we're nearly 50 chapters into Dean and Mia's story. Link in my bio 💜

Poor Ben 😭

Well... That's one kind of first meeting 😂

Take care, loves 💜