Defying the Rogue Alpha
Chapter 200: Whisper

Chapter 200: Whisper

He did nothing but whisper.

Her hands gripped the sheets. Her head fell back. Her toes curled. Her mouth parted with silent pleas.

She was losing her mind, and he hadn’t even moved.

"I want to make love to your soul," he said, brushing a knuckle over her cheek.

He already had her falling apart with love alone.

"your essence is intoxicating, I smell you, baby. Almost there...cum for me, Love."

As if that was all the permission she needed to come crashing down, she did with intense and blinding high.

Only then, did he kiss her again.

*****

Kade stood at the boundary line, staring at the grim sight before him. The body of Sarah, limp and swaying ever so slightly from the tree branch, was more than just a dead rogue. It was a message. A statement. And it wasn’t subtle.

The type and colour of the rope around her neck had been too deliberate, too precise for a desperate woman supposedly driven to suicide. Her body hung at the very edge of Alpha Lucas’s territory, toes barely brushing the boundary grass. A rogue’s death wasn’t rare, but this? This was theatre.

Kade’s jaw clenched as he scanned the area with sharp eyes. There was nothing to indicate a struggle. She hadn’t fought because she hadn’t expected it.

"Fuck," Kade muttered under his breath. He hadn’t liked Sarah. Hell, she’d betrayed the pack but this? This was bait. A trap.

Two black SUVs pulled up behind him. The gammas stepped out with grim expressions, already scenting the tension in the air.

"I need two people with me. Now," Kade barked, eyes still locked on Sarah’s lifeless form.

A pair of warriors stepped forward without hesitation.

"The rest of you," he continued, turning at last, "cut her down and bury her. Do it with respect. She may have betrayed us, but she is my sister’s mother."

"Beta Kade!" one of the Gammas called out. "The Alpha couldn’t... could he have?"

Kade stopped mid-stride, turned with fury. His boots skidded on sand as he pointed a sharp finger at the younger Gamma. "Now is not the time to doubt your Alpha," he barked. "Now is the time to protect him! You hear me? You do not...under any circumstances...leave his side. Not to piss. Not to sneeze. Not even if the Moon Goddess herself calls you for tea!"

The Gamma gave a hasty nod, visibly shaken but obedient.

Kade didn’t wait for further questions. He threw open the door of his SUV and leapt in. The engine roared to life, and sand sprayed behind him as he made a U-turn, tires screeching into the silence left in his wake.

Cowards. Whoever staged this was a coward.

His hands gripped the steering wheel like he wanted to rip it in half. His mind ran like wildfire through every possible angle. There was one thing he hated more in all his years as a soldier, it was warfare waged in shadows. Poison. Whispers. False truths, dressed up in just enough fact to seem real. It didn’t need swords or claws. Just a rumor. A noose. And enough people willing to believe it.

And damn if it wasn’t working.

Kade’s jaw clenched as the fortress came into view, standing tall and impenetrable.

He remembered the way the rope had looked around Sarah’s neck. It wasn’t just any rope. It was thick, rough, braided. The same kind Lucas had given to King Herod, an offering of a little mercy.

And yet, that truth had warped in the mouths of others. Rumors had slithered through the ranks like vipers: Lucas submitted him... Lucas whispered madness into his ears... Lucas drove a king to the end of his rope, literally.

"Bullshit," Kade muttered, slamming his palm against the steering wheel. "You give a man peace, and the world calls it murder."

Facts didn’t matter once doubt took root. Especially now that Sarah had been hung in the same way. It wasn’t a coincidence. It was choreography.

Someone was using the rumour as a weapon. And they’d done it knowing exactly how it would look...how it would smell. That rope was a signature, and someone had forged it in Lucas’s name.

Kade’s knuckles whitened as he sped through the final bend toward the fortress gates.

By the time he parked, slammed the car door, and marched toward the alpha’s office, the fire in his eyes was hot enough to scorch the very walls.

Kade wasn’t stupid. No, far from it. This was a quieter kind of warfare. Political. And the target?

Alpha Lucas Raventhorn.

The most formidable Alpha the East had ever known.

Kade stormed through the winding halls of the fortress. He said nothing to the Gammas trailing behind him, but his clipped steps and seething energy were more than enough warning. He halted at the corridor leading to Lucas’s office. "You... east flank, windows. You...outside the west entrance. Do not blink. Anyone that so much as sneezes without clearance, I want to know about it."

"Yes, Beta!" the Gammas echoed, peeling off to follow orders.

Kade didn’t wait for formality. He rapped his knuckles on the thick wooden door once, then pushed it open without waiting for a reply. He’d earned that right.

Lucas was behind his desk, the picture of effortless control. He was mid-spin in his chair, eyes sharp and expectant. "The urgency in your footsteps," Lucas said dryly, "Something is wrong."

"Sarah is dead."

Lucas’s chair stilled. "How is that a problem?" he asked coolly.

Kade stepped further into the room, the door clicking shut behind him. "It is a problem, Alpha."

Lucas raised a brow. "Explain."

Kade exhaled and crossed his arms. "She was found hanging just past the boundary line. Same kind of rope that used by King Herod. It looked like suicide. But it was staged to mirror Herod’s death."

Lucas leaned forward now. "And the implication is...?"

"That you had something to do with it," Kade said flatly.

Lucas didn’t respond immediately. He sat back in his chair, interlacing his fingers beneath his chin. "You think someone wants to smear me?"

@Addicted2fantasy: Thanks for the pizza)

(shout out to: ayesha_riz, nolegirl)