Chapter 203 Her Fire
Chapter 203 Her Fire
ROWAN
I could hear Wilder’s voice from a distance, amand that left no room for questions.
“Just kill him,” he said sharply, irritation coating his voice. “He clearly doesn’t want to talk. He’s the same as the other rogues. You give them the slightest chance, then they go around killing our people, and when that happens, they die after causing trouble. So make sure to kill him before that happens.”
I stepped through thest line of trees and onto the open ground just as one of the guards raised his de.
“Stop.”
The sword froze mid–swing. Wilder turned his head, sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“What are you doing here?” he asked impatiently.
I didn’t bother answering him. My eyes fixed on the man kneeling in the dirt, his wrists bound tightly with rope. He was trembling, not with the usual rage or defiance rogues carried, but with something closer to fear. His head was slightly
way his bowed, his dark hair matted with sweat, and there was something off in the gaze moved. It appeared… unfocused.
“I came here after training,” I finally said. “Francis alerted me there was a big breach and that some escaped.”
“Damn rogues again,” Wilder muttered, rolling his shoulders back. “We can’t afford to coddle them. They’ve taken enough of our resources already.”
I didn’t argue. Instead, I crouched down slightly, narrowing my eyes at the man. Something wasn’t right. The air around him wasn’t feral or bloodthirsty like the other rogues had.
The man lifted his chin/shakily. His voice cracked when he spoke.
“I told you–we were just hunting for meat. Nothing else.”
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<b>ue</b><b>, </b><b>z </b><b>Sept </b>
Chapter 203 Her Fire
Wilder clicked his tongue, unimpressed.
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“That’s a new excuse,” he said with a sneer. “You roguese up with something different every night. You’re lucky I didn’t cut you tightened on his sword. “Anyst words?”
down on the spot.” His grip
The man trembled visibly, his shoulders quaking. Wilder took a step forward, sword raised high, ready to finish him.
“Stop,” I said again, this time firmer.
Wilder froze and then turned toward me with an annoyed frown. I ignored him and walked closer to the kneeling man. When I stopped in front of him, I waved a hand slowly in front of his face. His eyes didn’t track the motion.
“He’s blind,” I said after a moment.
“What?” Wilder’s frown deepened. He turned to me, then at the man. “Blind? Well, that’s new again. Who would send a blind rogue? What a waste of time, really. Useless.”
But I wasn’t convinced. The man didn’t look like someone abandoned to rogue life. There was fear in his posture, but also dignity clinging stubbornly <i>to </i>him, even as he knelt in the dirt.
Wilder raised a brow at me.
“You’re wasting time, Rowan. A rogue’s a rogue.”
I didn’t answer him. I crouched lower, my voice cold but controlled.
“I had a feeling you were different.”
The man flinched, then swallowed hard. His jaw trembled as he forced out words, low and shaky. “I’m not a rogue.”
My eyes narrowed. “Then what are you?”
He lifted his chin just a little, blind eyes staring somewhere past me.
“I’m from a pack.”
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A tense silence fell over the clearing. Wilder scoffed behind me. “Every rogue says that when they’re about to die. Don’t waste your breath on him.”
However, I ignored Wilder. My voice hardened, cutting through the air.
“Care to tell me which pack it is?”
The man’s lips pressed into a thin line. He bit down on the inside of his cheek like he was holding something back. His breathing grew ragged, but still, he didn’t give
me an answer.
My patience thinned. I leaned closer, my voice dropping into a warning.
“I’m going to have to kill you if you don’t speak.”
Wilder clicked his tongue, the sound sharp in the stillness of the clearing.
“You’ve gone weak,” he sneered, his grip tightening on the sword. “Why are you showing mercy? You’re seriously believing him? Just because he’s blind? Let me kill him, Rowan. It’ll save us troubleter.”
His words grated on me, but I didn’t respond. My eyes stayed on the kneeling man and the way his breath came unevenly.
“Alpha Rowan,” the blind man said suddenly, his voice cracking with urgency.
My entire body stiffened. He called my name with such desperation and strangely, familiarity.
Wilder’s gaze flicked to me, his expression darkening. “See? He’s dangerous. He acts like the two of you are close. That’s all the more reason to kill him.”
However, the man kept speaking, his voice desperate. “Please–you’ll regret killing me.”
There was no threat in his tone. There was only an edge <i>of </i>terror that I couldn’t ignore.
For a moment, I hesitated, weighing the possibilities. If he was lying, then I was jeopardizing our entire territory by hesitating. If he wasn’t… then killing him would mean silencing someone who might carry answers.
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Chapter 203 Her Fire
Wilder had enough. His patience, already thin, snapped. With a sharp curse, he raised his sword and lunged forward, intent on ending it right then and there<b>. </b>
“Wilder!” I barked, stepping between them.
His de swiped downward, and I shoved against his arm, the force jolting through me as the steel skimmed dangerously close. Sparks of friction red as the edge struck against stone. We stumbled, our boots grinding into the dirt. The blind man cried out as I grabbed him by the cor and yanked him backward, out of range. My grip tightened instinctively, pulling him close against me to keep Wilder’s de from finding him.
The movement had barely settled when I suddenly felt a sharp sting slicing across the side of my cheek.
The shock of it made me still. My head snapped toward the source, my pulse pounding in my ears.
Wilder, too, stopped. I thought the blow came from him, but it didn’t.
Instead, it came from the woman I’ve been wanting <i>to </i>see all week.
She stood there, her frame small but trembling with fury, her wide eyes aze. Eyes I knew as intimately as my own. Eyes that haunted me in silence and in every moment I let myself slip into regret.
Tessa.
For a second, I thought I was imagining her. My chest tightened, the world narrowing down to just her and the way her hand hovered after striking me.
I raised my hand to my cheek, the sting of her palm still hot against my skin. The mark was nothingpared to the storm unraveling inside me.
“I swear to the Moon Goddess, Rowan,” she spat.
Her
Her chest heaved, her fists clenched at her sides, trembling with rage. alone pulled the ground out from under me, and I copsed in an instant.
presence
“If you touch even a strand of his hair,” she said, her voice breaking, filled with conviction.
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Chapter 203 Her Fire
“I’m not going to forgive you. Ever.”