Chapter 22: Theo
288 Vouchers.
Chapter 22: Theo
I grabbed Will and we ate quickly on our way to the sheriff’s office. We went straight to the cells where McCabe was waiting for us. The first rogue we had questioned all night was still tied to the chair, slumped over limply. We had kept him thoroughly sedated after I broke him. It was a mercy at this point. But we still had the other two.
The sheriff was waiting outside one of the rooms.
“We put them together for a few hours after you left this morning,” McCabe said as we approached. “This one seemed to be keeping the other in line.”
“Are you thinking he may know more than the other?” Will asked.
“I think it’s worth starting with him,” McCabe replied.
“Alright,” I agreed. “Let’s get started.”
As McCabe opened the door, I braced myself against the sour smell of rogue that wafted out. The male’s head shot up, and he tensed up as we walked in. I could see he hadn’t slept since he had been here. I wasn’t sure how long it had been since he had bathed. Either way, the room was unpleasant. But his eyes held an intelligence that led me to agree with McCabe’s assessment.
I sat in the chair in front of him, and we took each other in for a few
moments.
“What’s your name?” I finally asked.
He didn’t respond.
288 iVouchers
“You know how this is going to go,” I stated. “The more you fight, the harder this will be.”
Still no response.
“Tell me why you attacked our pack,” I commanded.
His jaw tightened, and his b*dy tensed as he fought the command, but it didn’t seem too difficult for him to handle. He was stronger than the last one. I needed a different approach, or this would end up taking all day. And I really didn’t want that.
“Sheriff, were you able to figure out exactly where the rogues came from?” I asked.
“We believe so,” McCabe replied. “We followed their trail all the way to our border and then a mile past our lands. We’ve also got a human contact who is sending us information on rogue activity in the buffer zone. He mentioned something about tent cities popping up over the past month. It supports the movements we’ve been tracking as well.”
“So they are organizing,” I said.
The rogue scoffed.
“It appears that way,” McCabe said. “For the past twenty years, they’ve rarely seen more than two or three together at a time. And even then, they never stick together long. Now, they are grouping more and more.”
Rogues had a general aversion to each other. The nature of their existence made it nearly impossible to trust one another, so relations were often tense at the best of times. They would occasionally group together in certain areas or at certain times of the year for safety or extra resources. But would go their separate ways before things got aggressive.
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“Well, someone has to be behind their sudden ability to work
together,” I said. I pushed out a command toward the male in front of me. It was subtle, but there was still power to it.
“What makes you think it’s sudden?” he blurted out.
“We would know if rogues were congregating so close to our borders for so long,” McCabe insisted.
The rogue realized he had let my command affect him, but not before a smug look crossed his face.
“Unless they weren’t at our border,” I said. The rogue’s eyes started darting between us. “Something had to have brought so many rogues to this location. I’m guessing most of them came from the same area. Am I correct?”
His face turned red as he fought against the stronger command.
“Where did you come from?” I commanded strongly.
“Ss… Sssablemane… border…” he grunted out with his effort to stop himself.
“And when did you start focusing on Sablemane?” I commanded as I stood, leaning over the table. Kieran was pacing anxiously and angrily.
“Thr… three months ago.”
‘Mate,‘ Kiearan growled, rushing forward.
It’s what I feared as well. There would be only one way to know for sure. I pushed every ounce of power and authority I had forward. I even felt Will and Sheriff McCabe step away from the intensity.
“Are you looking for the Blessed One?”
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Chapter 22: Theo
288 ¡Vouchers
“Well, someone has to be behind their sudden ability to work together,” I said. I pushed out a command toward the male in front of me. It was subtle, but there was still power to it.
“What makes you think it’s sudden?” he blurted out.
“We would know if rogues were congregating so close to our borders for so long,” McCabe insisted.
The rogue realized he had let my command affect him, but not before a smug look crossed his face.
“Unless they weren’t at our border,” I said. The rogue’s eyes started darting between us. “Something had to have brought so many rogues to this location. I’m guessing most of them came from the same area. Am I correct?”
His face turned red as he fought against the stronger command.
THE
“Where did you come from?” I commanded strongly.
號
“Ss…Sssablemane… border…” he grunted out with his effort to stop
himself.
“And when did you start focusing on Sablemane?” I commanded as I stood, leaning over the table. Kieran was pacing anxiously and angrily.
‘Mate,‘ Kiearan growled, rushing forward.
It’s what I feared as well. There would be only one way to know for sure. I pushed every ounce of power and authority I had forward. I even felt Will and Sheriff McCabe step away from the intensity.
“Are you looking for the Blessed One?”
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Chapter 22: Theo
288 Vouchers
The rogue’s mouth fell open but nothing came
His entire b*dy
tensed so hard that his veins began to bulge under h
his skin as his face
turned red. He started to shake and his nose started to bleed. He wasn’t
the one fighting the com.
He couldn’t answer.
Someone had put him under the same command Randy had been. If I
didn’t relent and pull back the
Command.
this bastard would die a slow
and painful death. The rage that they were attacking my territory –
attacking my people
to get to Ayla made me want to watch every
second of it.
“Theo,” Will called. “What the hell is going on?”
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“They’re after Ayla,” I said through gritted teeth. “He can’t answer the
question, but I don’t need him to.”
“Pull back the command, Theo,” Will insisted.
I hadn’t told him everything about Ayla and who exactly she was. He didn’t understand. He didn’t know how dangerous it
was to let this bastard live. My hands itched to wrap around his throat. Kieran was on the edge, pushing me to finish him off and send him back to the other rogues in pieces.
‘Send a message,‘ he snarled in
my head.
“Theo,” Will yelled. He grabbed my arm and yanked me back, breaking my eye contact with the rogue. “Pull it back. We need more
information.”
Kieran growled aggressively through me, sitting so close to the surface that I thought he would take over the shift.
“Kieran, stand down,” Will said forcefully.
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I pushed him back. Working to settle my breathing as I tried to control my anger. But the smell of the rogue was too much. Kieran’s instinct to kill him was still too strong. I pushed past my cousin and McCabe, getting out of the small room to clear my head.
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