Page 17 of Bound to the Dragon (Wild Fated Shifters #3)
MADISON
T he rogues are reluctant to accept me, and I understand it. I had been expecting some pushback, but I’m willing to go the distance. I hope that every moment that I’m there stalls Vigo’s and the others’ fates.
If it means getting Vigo and the others back, I will hold onto this facade as long as it takes, even if it’s gnawing away at my stomach.
“You brought the Shadow Pine Luna here?” The leader of the rogue faction is livid with Virginia. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“She’s nothing like her father!” My friend is willing to vouch for me, but it’s not enough. “And we have never had a problem with Shadow Pine.”
I’m going to have to speak up for myself. I step forward in the Silver Glade packhouse.
“I know how this looks,” I offer tentatively, careful to choose my words so they come across as sincere, but it’s hard when my heart is thumping so furiously.
“But you have to know that I always hated what my father did. If I had known beforehand, I would have done everything in my power to stop him.”
There is a flurry of scoffs throughout the room.
“What could you have done?”
That’s a fair question. “I don’t know. I was a child. I never had any real influence on him, if I’m being honest. He and Granger have always had their way of doing things. But maybe if he knew that there was more opposition, he would have done things differently.”
I have all their attention now, which is an improvement. I might be getting through to them.
“But what are you doing here?”
“If they sent you here to negotiate?—”
“They didn’t,” I interject. “No one knows I’m here. I came to join you in ending this, to right the wrongs of my father. But you have to leave Shadow Pine out of this. I’m going to remove myself from them, so you have no reason to go after them anymore.”
The leader glances around at the other rogues with her clear green eyes, and they appear to consider the proposition seriously for a moment.
She sweeps a whisp of silvery gray hair away from her finely lined face.
If I had to guess her age, I’d put her in her late fifties, but she’s not familiar to me. I don’t know what pack she belongs to.
“You want to join us?” She lets out a bitter laugh. “Do you even know what we’re fighting for? What your father took from us?”
I shake my head, suddenly realizing how little I actually understand about their cause.
“We lost everything,” she continues, her voice growing heated.
“Your father didn’t just betray an allied pack—he handed over our territory, our ancestral lands, to your enemies.
We’ve been homeless for years, scattered like true rogues, while strangers live on the land our families built for generations. ”
The weight of her words hits me like a physical blow. “I... I didn’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t.” A younger male steps forward, and I recognize him as someone from Silver Glade. “Many of us from your own pack have joined them because we were disgusted by what Granger and your father did. We want no part of a pack built on betrayal.”
Virginia nods beside him. “That’s why I’m here, Maddi. I couldn’t stand by and watch Granger profit from stolen land while these people suffer.”
I glance around nervously. “But how are you meeting here? Doesn’t Granger know?”
The leader’s mouth twists into a grim smile.
“Your precious Alpha has been too sick to leave his estate for weeks. And half his enforcers have joined us anyway—they’re the ones who gave us access to the packhouse.
” She gestures toward several faces I recognize from Silver Glade.
“It’s amazing how many of your packmates were horrified when they learned the truth about what Granger and your father did. ”
The leader’s eyes bore into mine. “We’re not just seeking revenge. We’re trying to reclaim what’s rightfully ours and form our own pack on our ancestral territory. But first, we need to weaken those who took it from us—starting with breaking Silver Glade’s alliances.”
“How do we know you’ll honor your deal? You’re mated to the Alpha. That’s reason enough to kill you right now.”
My heart pangs so strongly with the question that it almost brings tears to my eyes. But now I understand their pain, their loss. “I understand why you feel that way,” I concede. “But if I really were going back to the Alpha, wouldn’t I have just brought him with me?”
There’s another muttering of agreement amongst the group, and I finally manage to sell my point. My stomach flips as I realize the magnitude of what my father had done—these people lost their home .
“Are the Beta and the others still alive?”
The leader arches an eyebrow, the suspicion returning to her green eyes.
“For now. We were going to use them to make a trade… for you.” The leader’s expression hardens. “But that hardly seems necessary now, does it? Unless you prove your loyalty, I guess we can just kill them.”
“No! Wait! Why? Just send them home! You have me! You attacked to stop Silver Glade from gaining new alliances. If I am not the Luna, there is no alliance.” The threat of death shatters my thin charade.
“We don’t trust you!” She spits the words bitterly at me, and I stifle a sigh.
“What do you want me to do to prove my loyalty to you?” I instantly regret the question as it leaves my lips, and a cruel smile forms on her face.
“Kill one of the shifters in our holding.” She doesn’t hesitate, as if she had been anticipating the question.
I should have expected something like that, but it still takes me aback. How can they be this callous with life?
“Why?” I blurt out the question before I can stop myself.
Virginia nudges me roughly. “Just do it, Maddi. Don’t you want to help us get the land back?”
I straighten up, determined to show them that there’s another way. “They’re not a threat. They have nothing to do with the land theft. Let them go. You have me, and Shadow Pine isn’t a part of this anymore. Focus on reclaiming what’s actually yours.”
“You see?” The leader turns to Virginia. “She’s not one of us.”
“She is!” Virginia insists, elbowing me again. Blood drains out of her face, and I realize I’m putting my friend in jeopardy by defying the leader.
“I am,” I agree quickly, eager to diffuse the tension mounting in the room.
“I just think we should focus our energy on the real enemies—the ones who are actually living on your stolen land. Give me someone worthy of justice, and I’ll do it.
Find me someone responsible for the betrayal.
No one from Shadow Pine deserves to pay for what Granger and my father did. ”
Her eyes narrow as if she’s considering my proposition. “Fine,” she relents. “But if I bring you a real traitor, one who profited from our stolen territory, you can’t hesitate.”
I gulp. That won’t make things any easier, but I can’t very well refuse when everyone is staring at me. They were my terms, after all.
“Okay.” My voice is barely a whisper.
“The Shadow Pine Alpha is here!” The panicked cry comes from outside the packhouse, and my heart leaps into my throat.
How? How could he have known to come here?
The leader’s head whips toward me accusingly. “I knew it! I knew you couldn’t be trusted! Take her to the barracks with the rest of them!”
Several of the rogues move in to grab me, but there’s no time for the seizure as the door bursts open, and Blaze bursts through fully in his beast form, nostrils flaring with smoke. The other shifters can’t morph fast enough to escape his stream of fire.
Screams flood the air before an eerie silence ensues. Scuffling of feet meets my ears as the others rush for cover.
I barely manage to swoop out of harm’s way in my bird form as his blue-gray head swivels, looking for his pack members. He doesn’t need to say a word. Everyone in the room knows why he’s here.
“Where are they?” I know that tone, calm, cold, calculating. He’s ready to end them all if they don’t give them exactly what he wants.
For a moment, I think she might be stupid enough to defy his request, but I exhale through my beak when she points a shaking hand toward the back of the packhouse. “In the barracks.”
“They’d better be in one piece. Every last one of them.”
His eyes travel toward me, the hurt in them palpable, but I can’t explain it to him now.
All I can do is relish in the relief that he found them and that the prisoners are about to be released.
Explanations are for another time when Vigo and the rest are safe and far away from the Silver Glade packhouse.
The rogues start to follow him, readying for an attack, but I shift back and stop them. “Don’t. He won’t hesitate to end you all.”
Whatever they see in my face must make them believe me.
The leader nods, a grimace touching her face. “Let them go. She’s right. We don’t need them. We still have her.” She juts her chin toward me.
Blaze returns with the members of our pack that were taken. They all look a little worse for wear, but I’m relieved to see that they’re relatively unscathed otherwise. I hadn’t been a hundred percent convinced until right now.
I release a small breath of air.
Vigo casts me a sidelong look as he shuffles past, and I have to hang my head in shame.
I can’t imagine what they all think of me, but I don’t have time to think about it right now.
I still have to play the double agent for a while longer to keep Shadow Pine safe.
As long as the rogues think I’m with them, I can keep my mate and his pack out of harm’s way.
“When can we expect to get our people back?” The leader’s voice fires out from behind a smoldering overturned chair.
Blaze’s head jerks back, and he glowers at her bold question. “Are you really asking me that after two attacks?”
The leader balks. “Well, your negotiator here has agreed to stay, so I will assume your alliance with Silver Glade is non- existent. If you let them go, you won’t have any more problems with us.”
Blaze’s hazel stare locks with mine, his shock tangible. “Has she?” he drawls. “In that case, you can expect them to be released immediately.”
I want to call out to him and tell him that I haven’t betrayed him, but the words stick in my throat. I can’t say anything without blowing my cover and shattering everything.
He spins away, leading the rest of his pack out of the packhouse, and I’m left alone with a heavy heart.
The only question is, where do I go from here? I genuinely have no idea.