Lotus was crying uncontrollably. All the emotions she hid from others all these years were overflowing now. Her own mate bedded others so many times. Kissed other wolves, showed them off to the whole pack, whereas she was the one who deserved all those. She was the one whom he was supposed to love. But he did not. He just played with her emotions. Her wolf was torn apart. She was howling and whimpering.

“Kitten, please listen to me at least once. Don’t..” Damien tried to console her while walking towards her.

“Enough!”Evalyn shouted, hugging Lotus more tightly. “You had enough time to talk to her, but you didn’t. You fooled around with other sluts of your pack, abandoning my sister. You don’t have any more right to call her yours. And Jakob! How could you? You swore to our mother that you would protect her with all your means. Is that what you call protection? Hurting her? Betrayal?” Evalyn was at her edge. She never raised her voice to anyone before, but the pain in her sister’s eyes pushed her to the edge.

“Eva, it’s not like what you thought.”, Jakob said in a low voice. But Evalyn paid no heed.

“Lo, you don’t have to go back. I will always protect you, unlike your brother.”, she whispered in her ear, consoling her.

Lotus felt terrible. She was broken, so was her wolf.

‘Our mate never loved us!’, her wolf whimpered again.

‘I feel so weak’, Lotus replied to her. She felt betrayed by everyone. From friends, from family, from her own mate!

‘Lo, be strong! We are strong together.’, Her wolf said in pain.

‘We cannot stay here any longer. Will you be with me?’ Lotus asked her wolf. Her wolf knew what was coming, but Damien left them with no other choice. Her wolf could not take any more pain. She sighed and said, 'Let’s do it together’.

Lotus gathered all her strength and stood back. She pulled herself away from Evalyn. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath to calm herself. She opened her eyes again. They were dark brown. Almost black. Her wolf was taking control. She looked towards Jakob in his eyes.

“I, Lotus Skyler, break all my links with Moon Shine Pack, and subsequently I am leaving behind all my glory and achievement assuring the pack secrets kept to me only. Today onwards, I will be considered a rogue”, Lotus said in a cold voice.

Jakob stood there like a statue. He felt the pain of breaking a bond. He did not know what to say.

“Lo!” Eva said in pain. Lotus did not pay any attention.

She turned towards Damien. She started, “I, Lotus Skyler, reject..”. She could not complete what she started. In a blink, Damien was there holding her by her waist. His lips were pressed with hers. He sucked her lower lips like there was no tomorrow. It took Lotus a few minutes to understand what was happening. He was kissing her in front of everyone. Everyone was watching them. Elders were also there in that room. They all saw how passionately the Alpha Demon kissed Lotus. How dare he? She thought. She tried to pull back. She tried to push him away. She tried to free herself. But she could not move a single inch.

“Stop wiggling around, kitten”, Damien whispered into her ears.

“Damien, let go of me!” Lotus yelled though her wolf was happy. She purred inside her head so many times as her mate was kissing her in front of others.

“Stop fighting, kitten. There is no use. Let me tell you something very clearly. You are mine, kitten. You are mine to love, mine to tease, mine to the touch, mine to mark, mine to mate, mine to protect. You cannot escape me ever. I will always find you and bring you back where you belonged. Even death cannot keep us apart. I will chase you from heaven to hell and bring you back.”, Damien said, looking deep into her eyes, holding her tightly, caressing her face.

Her wolf was getting calmer with the touch of her mate. Her eyes changed into blue again.

“Alpha, they are coming!” Alex said suddenly in a worried tone. Jakob looked tense too. Damien did not break his eye contact with Lotus. He smiled a little.

“Since I cannot complete mating right now, you better ask Jakob to take you back in the pack.”, Damien said with a smirk on his face.

Did he say complete mating? In front of every single person standing in that room! He kissed her and then this. Lotus was so embarrassed that she turned red instantly.

“Why are you always so embarrassed, kitten? I haven’t even started doing anything!”, Damien said, holding her chin up so that she could look into his eyes. That devil was smiling.

“Now, be a good girl and do as I said.”, Damien said again softly.

Lotus pushed Damien away successfully this time. She needed to put a stop to this situation.

“Why should I do that? I don’t need any pack. You cannot control me anymore.”, Lotus shouted.

“Don’t test my patience, kitten. The storm is coming. I don’t want you to end up hurt.”, Damien said again.

“What do you mean?” Lotus could tell something was terribly wrong. “Alex, tell me exactly what’s going on.” Lotus turned towards Alex and asked in a commanding tone.

“Rogues!” Alex said in a low voice. Lotus was frozen for a moment. It was going to be ugly.

“How many?” she asked.

“Thousands of them!” Alex said again. Everyone in that room panicked at that moment. Lotus knew that this pack was not good enough to fight the rogues even after merging all ancient moon packs. She had no idea what to say.

“Don’t be worried, Kitten; your husband has taken care of everything beforehand. Just do as I am saying.”, Damien said, pulling her closer to his chest again, caressing her cheek.

“What! We don’t have time for that!” Lotus yelled again. Had he lost it this time?

“If you don’t do that, I will order all my warriors to guard you, and I will go behind the rogues by myself only. Now the choice is yours.” Damien whispered in her ears. He was joking, right? Lotus thought.

“Are you insane?”, She said in a surprised tone. “You dare to do that.”

“There is no sanity when it comes to your protection, kitten”, Damien said softly with a smile.

Lotus was looking into his eyes. They showed so many emotions. Adore, happiness, satisfaction, concern, Love! Lotus could see there was no way she could win.

“I, Lotus Skyler, wish to be a member of Moon Shine Pack. I promise to show my loyalty towards the alpha and the pack members until my last breath.”, she said with a sigh.

“Granted”, Jakob said. Lotus felt her connection with the pack again.

“Jakob keep her close,” Damien commanded. Then he turned towards Ben, “Ben, if I find her fighting a single rogue this time, you will not be alive to see the sunrise of tomorrow.”

“Yes, alpha.”, Ben said.

“No way! I am going to fight!” Lotus said in protest.

“Kitten, there is a lunatic bastard who assembled a huge army of rogues to take you forcefully so that he can breed with you. If you don’t want that to happen, stay inside and don’t do anything stupid.”, Damien said and pecked her lips one last time.

“Alex,” he called, and they both left.

So, the rogues! They were here to take her with them! Lotus was puzzled. But there were so many of them. They needed help.

“Lo, let’s go to the shelter”, Jakob said.

‘What happened to him? He should be fighting.’, her wolf shouted.

‘Our mate happened’, she replied.

‘This is crazy. We are not weak.’, her wolf said again.

‘Tell that to your mate.’, she said again. Her wolf was getting restless.

‘He is the alpha! He cannot hold back.’ Her wolf said again.

‘I know. Let me think of something.’ She said.

‘Eva, this is not right. I can protect myself. Do something!’ Lotus mind-linked her sister. Evalyn was shocked by all that happened a few minutes before. Damien knew about the rogues! He prepared beforehand. And they were all aware of the facts. But Lotus was right. Jakob was their alpha. It could affect the pack warriors if he did not fight. Evalyn thought for a moment.

‘Lo, challenge him for his alpha position.’, Eva replied to her in a mind-link.

‘What! Are you crazy?’ Lotus yelled in mind-link.

‘Trust me, sweety!’ Eva said in mind-link with a wink.

“Jakob, if you don’t want me to challenge you for your alpha position and if you don’t want to end up beaten badly with humiliation like you used to, then better go and fight with the warriors.”, Lotus said in a cold tone.

“What?” Jakob could not process what she just said.

“Are you waiting for my challenge?”, Lotus asked, raising her eyebrow. Jakob knew that Lotus could do that pretty quickly. Jakob also knew she was capable of saving herself. He did not go for any more arguments and left then and there.

“And Ben! If you don’t go and fight beside Damien, I will run towards the border and surrender myself to that lunatic. And I bet you know that you cannot hold me back if I start running once.”, Lotus said casually. Ben knew Lotus would not allow him to stay there. He knew she would push him hard. He sighed and left too.

The ballroom was almost empty. Sam led others to the shelter, whereas Eva was still there.

“Eva, I need a map of the whole area”, Lotus said to her; Evalyn nodded. They both headed to Jakob’s study. Eva searched for a few moments and then handed her a map. Lotus opened the map on a table and started to examine it. She looked at Eva once, and she could feel that Eva was talking to someone in mind-link. Her expression changed so many times. After a few moments, Lotus could feel Eva had stopped communicating.

“What is it, Eva?” Lotus asked her. Eva sighed.

“Lo, Jakob and Lawrence knew beforehand about this attack. Damien told them on the day you arrived. Three other packs are helping us apart from Damien’s.” Eva paused. “Lo, we still need a plan.”, Eva said to her.

Lotus was a little confused. If Damien knew and if others were helping, then where should be the problem?

“There are a total of around five thousand of them”, Eva said. Her tone was a little shuttered. “Even though they could not outnumber us that bad, the situation is not good out there.”

“What are you thinking, Eva?” Lotus asked her.

“I have a plan in my mind, but it will be a little risky, and it depends on your acting skill.”, Eva said to her with a smile on her face.