Ryker flipped to another page, slammed the book closed, and stormed out of the house. He appeared at the backdoor and stripped his shirt. My heart raced at the sight, and I crouched behind a tree. I couldn’t believe that I was doing this.
Once he surveyed the woods, he stripped his pants. My gaze raked down his body. Nothing was physically different about him, but something was off.
Something had always been off about him. Making me go behind Roman’s back to become a Lycan. The sudden influx of rogues after he became leader of the Lycans. Telling me to go directly to the packhouse instead of to my mate when I was going through heat. It was like he didn’t want me to be with Roman.
He stepped into the moonlight and shifted into his large brown wolf. He gazed around once more, then sprinted into the woods. I waited a few moments and ran after him, keeping a good distance. I wanted him to take me wherever he was going.
But he didn’t run in any unusual direction like I thought he would. He took his normal route through the pack. The one he took every night, passing my room, passing the packhouse, passing our training area. We must’ve run for an hour.
I didn’t know if he knew that I was following him, so I slowed my pace. And, finally, he ran off of the property. We trekked through the woods, going deeper and deeper into uncharted territory, known only in myths as Rogue Territory.
There were vines and jagged rocks that were hidden in the unkept grasslands. The ground was wet, like a dirty swamp. We ran through it, mud matting my fur and hiding my scent.
He continued to run faster, navigating like he had run through here a million times and making it difficult to keep up, but again… he wasn’t about to leave me like that. I was going to uncover the truth.
We ran for another fifteen minutes until a stone wall appeared over the grass. He slowed by it, sticking his nose to the ground and sniffing. I stayed back, hiding behind a tree.
Was this the rogue hideout? Did he know where it was this whole time?
My brows furrowed, and when he gazed in my direction, I ducked my head behind the tree and waited a few moments. He let out a low growl, one that was supposed to intimidate whoever was watching him, but he didn’t intimidate me. Not anymore.
After a few moments, he shifted, walked to the wall, and pulled out one of its stones. A clean pair of clothes was sitting on the other side. He tugged them on, the material fitting him perfectly. What the—
He gazed around again and waited another five minutes for a rogue to appear at the gate connected to the stone wall. It opened, and my eyes widened.
It was true. It was all true. Ryker knew the rogues. Hell, he could’ve been working with them if this was what I thought it was.
When they were safely inside of the hideout, I crept up to the wall and leaned against it, ear pressed onto the cold stone.
“You got what we need?” the rogue asked.
“Release them. People are catching on,” he said.
My heart pounded. Me. I was the one catching on. Nobody else, because they all trusted him. I trusted him at one point, but he had tested that trust, time and time again.
The rogue growled. “We had a deal. I supply you with idiot rogues that don’t know what the hell they’re doing so you can kill them, I get my money.”
“Deal’s off,” Ryker said.
From somewhere deep within the borders, a whole pack of rogues growled, trying to intimidate him. I crouched even lower, my heart racing. There were so many of them. So many that could easily overpower anyone—even Ryker.
But it all made sense. From learning rumors of Ryker’s past in Roman’s journal to snooping around in Ryker’s office to figure out that it was true… he turned out to be the one hiring the rogues sohecould reap the rewards, so he could clear his name, so he could make the nasty rumors of him raping a woman and getting her pregnant during her heat go away.
And… I could’ve been just like that woman, just like Michelle if I hadn’t been careful.
“If we don’t get our money, then I’ll have to keep them, kill them even. They’ve been so fucking annoying anyway with all that lovey-dovey shit.”
The rogue was talking about Jane and Raj. Were they mates? Maybe they were acting that way to get out, maybe Raj had a plan.
A branch snapped, and I turned around to see a rogue standing behind me about to leap at me. Drool was dripping from his bare teeth.
Before I had the chance to kill him, he stuck his nose to the air and gave the most vicious howl, alerting the others.
My heart pounded. Everyone could hear it. Every single rogue around. Even Ryker.
He would know that I followed him.
He would know that I really knew.
