over. Guadalupe and I sat across from one another in a little dining room off the kitchen. While we ate, I asked her about the Rogue Missions in America Alcaeus had mentioned earlier that both Mateus and Raul had apparently taken part in. I got the sense those missions were critically important to Alcaeus and the others for some reason. Unfortunately, I’d fallen asleep before I could glean what they were about.
Guadalupe explained that rogue werewolves were considered an unnatural, defective form of the species. She claimed they were unruly creatures, incapable of assimilating and adapting to the pack law other werewolves lived and survived by. They were the ultimate of loners and discards. Supernatural outcasts .
“They lack obedience. They have no innate drive to belong or seek acceptance from a pack.”
“Sounds like a good quality, given the circumstances,” I muttered. “I think I’ll be a rogue.” Turning into a dog was one thing. No way was I joining a Cujo pack.
She snorted and bobbed her head. “You’re thinking like a human still. Wait. Your needs will change.”
“I very much doubt that.”
She shrugged. “I look forward to saying, ‘told you so.’ You won’t be a rogue, Miles. And you wouldn’t want to be one. Theirs is not a happy existence.”
“Can’t be worse than being mated to Alex,” I grumbled over the steak in my mouth.
“That I might agree with,” she said with a solemn nod of acknowledgement that was not at all reassuring. “But all rogue werewolves eventually go insane and self-destruct. And when they do”—she paused, her eyes abandoning focus—“they do terrible things,” she finished quietly.
She looked lost in her own thoughts. A quick shudder ran through her small frame as I asked, “Why do they go mad?”
The green eyes that returned to me were blank. Her tone was equally emotionless as she told me, “Even though they have a lesser need to belong, they still crave some basic level of connection. Ultimately, they go mad without it.”
I was almost afraid to ask. “So … what happens on the Rogue Missions?”
“They track down reported rogue werewolves, kill them, and eliminate all loose ends related to their existence and destructive behavior.” She said this as if she were reporting on the weather, and proceeded to cut into her steak.
My jaw found the tabletop.
“Every pack does it, Miles.” She raised a cynical brow along with her shoulders. “It’s not a practice exclusive to the Reinoso clan.”
I lost what was left of my appetite as she went on to relay that because rogues were viewed as possessing the potential to expose and endanger all other werewolves through their unpredictable and uncontrollable behavior, they were routinely, systematically snuffed out across the globe by all werewolf packs in the name of preserving the status quo and upholding the greater good.
“But if every werewolf and werelock pack does it, why would Alcaeus worry about the Rogue Mission being compromised by Raul’s alleged defection? Why would he care about that information being shared with the Salvatella clan?”
“Because”—she raised her fork—“he’s hunting for the fabled Rogue who will beget all rogues. They’re searching for the Rogue . ”
I was unable to stifle my groan. “Another prophecy?” I guessed.
She nodded and rolled her eyes in commiseration, before going on to reveal the werewolf legend about a mythical Rogue , the prophesied firstborn of a new and errant breed of werewolf, whose rise to power, it was foretold, would herald the extinction of the human race.
Awesome. I needed more good news today.
“Prophecy says that a rogue werewolf will come to be that is unique from all other rogues before it,” she imparted, “and that this fabled Rogue will be capable of long-term survival on its own in a manner in which no other rogue was ever successful before.”
“So it won’t go mad just because it’s a loner?”
“No. It
Guadalupe explained that rogue werewolves were considered an unnatural, defective form of the species. She claimed they were unruly creatures, incapable of assimilating and adapting to the pack law other werewolves lived and survived by. They were the ultimate of loners and discards. Supernatural outcasts .
“They lack obedience. They have no innate drive to belong or seek acceptance from a pack.”
“Sounds like a good quality, given the circumstances,” I muttered. “I think I’ll be a rogue.” Turning into a dog was one thing. No way was I joining a Cujo pack.
She snorted and bobbed her head. “You’re thinking like a human still. Wait. Your needs will change.”
“I very much doubt that.”
She shrugged. “I look forward to saying, ‘told you so.’ You won’t be a rogue, Miles. And you wouldn’t want to be one. Theirs is not a happy existence.”
“Can’t be worse than being mated to Alex,” I grumbled over the steak in my mouth.
“That I might agree with,” she said with a solemn nod of acknowledgement that was not at all reassuring. “But all rogue werewolves eventually go insane and self-destruct. And when they do”—she paused, her eyes abandoning focus—“they do terrible things,” she finished quietly.
She looked lost in her own thoughts. A quick shudder ran through her small frame as I asked, “Why do they go mad?”
The green eyes that returned to me were blank. Her tone was equally emotionless as she told me, “Even though they have a lesser need to belong, they still crave some basic level of connection. Ultimately, they go mad without it.”
I was almost afraid to ask. “So … what happens on the Rogue Missions?”
“They track down reported rogue werewolves, kill them, and eliminate all loose ends related to their existence and destructive behavior.” She said this as if she were reporting on the weather, and proceeded to cut into her steak.
My jaw found the tabletop.
“Every pack does it, Miles.” She raised a cynical brow along with her shoulders. “It’s not a practice exclusive to the Reinoso clan.”
I lost what was left of my appetite as she went on to relay that because rogues were viewed as possessing the potential to expose and endanger all other werewolves through their unpredictable and uncontrollable behavior, they were routinely, systematically snuffed out across the globe by all werewolf packs in the name of preserving the status quo and upholding the greater good.
“But if every werewolf and werelock pack does it, why would Alcaeus worry about the Rogue Mission being compromised by Raul’s alleged defection? Why would he care about that information being shared with the Salvatella clan?”
“Because”—she raised her fork—“he’s hunting for the fabled Rogue who will beget all rogues. They’re searching for the Rogue . ”
I was unable to stifle my groan. “Another prophecy?” I guessed.
She nodded and rolled her eyes in commiseration, before going on to reveal the werewolf legend about a mythical Rogue , the prophesied firstborn of a new and errant breed of werewolf, whose rise to power, it was foretold, would herald the extinction of the human race.
Awesome. I needed more good news today.
“Prophecy says that a rogue werewolf will come to be that is unique from all other rogues before it,” she imparted, “and that this fabled Rogue will be capable of long-term survival on its own in a manner in which no other rogue was ever successful before.”
“So it won’t go mad just because it’s a loner?”
“No. It
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