Chapter 6

Nellie stared at the rogue wide eyed as he made to move towards her. Earl was quick to grab him by the hand and toss him in another direction of the room.

'What the hell is going on here?" Earl growled at Nellie, who immediately regained her composure and transformed.

'Let me handle this my own way, you are still recovering" That was all Nellie said before she charged at the rogue.

From where he sat, Earl watched the fight between the two Rogues, he wondered why Nellie was fighting one of her own and why they even came to hunt her, but he still couldn't rule out the possibility that this could be a set up. It dawned on him that he still knew next to nothing about this woman he'd brought him with him. For all he knew, she might have been left behind by the rest of Tony's pack to monitor his activities. Earl shook the feeling aside. The woman looked too independent and there was his distinct look of a damsel in distress in her eyes, even though she tried to mask it with her stubborn personality most times.

'And that is for the betrayal!" Nellie gave the already unconscious man one last blow on the upper chin, which left him completely lifeless.

'I never imagined you were this good with your fists, little Rogue," Earl came up to where Nellie stood panting.

'You don't want to know other things I'm good at, do you?" Nellie returned with a scrutiny.

'You might want to tell me before I find out myself," Earl replied accusingly.

'Calm down," Nellie chuckled. 'you are too stiff for a man who's barely 40,"

'Huh? I have witnessed just 29 moons" Earl was clearly pissed that she assumed he was that old.

'Now that is even more surprising. I mean, you are too grumpy for a 29-year-old," Nellie was clearly deriving joy from teasing Earl.

'And you are too composed for a rogue who just killed one of her own," Earl scoffed.

'Well, I know you would've preferred to see me dead so you wouldn't have to kill me yourself, I'm sorry to disappoint you but this ‘one of my own' as you put it was sent to kill me and i would have still died if he had his way" Nellie fired back nonchalantly'

'Why?" Earl wanted to know.

'It's none of your business" This time, her tone was cold.

'Really?, you are in my pact where I am the alpha, under my roof and that is all the reply you could come up with?"

'I am in your pact because you had me brought here against my will. At least that is all I got for saving your glorified life, mr. Alpha Earl" Secretly, Nellie prayed Earl should not change his mind and decided to ask her to leave his pact. She could imagine how many rogues were waiting outside to devour her.

Earl made a menacing move to where she stood and whispered coldly into her ears, 'Fine, don't tell me, but one more rogue around my pact and I will have you both skinned alive before the entire villagers" With that, he made his way out of the room.

The threat made Nellie's legs weak, somehow; she knew he could carry out whatever he'd promise he would do. Nellie only hoped more Rogues would not come to the territory of the Blood Pact as her life depended on it.

Earl's Beta, Charlie, came in with two other men who Nellie suspected to be guards. The men wrapped the dead Rogue in what appeared to be clothes.

"Make sure he's dead and buried. Take no chances with his body," Nellie said sternly.

Charlie wondered why she'd killed her own. Earl had called him to go carry the body. He shrugged and went away without sparing Nellie a glance.

Nellie went back into her room.

••••••••••••••

Earl was restless in his bed. His mind kept wandering to Nellie, she was just too bold. He couldn't just figure out what to do with him. The thought that she might be one of the setup from Tony's pack kept lingering in his mind.

He decided he was going to keep her until he figured what to do with her. And he had to get her to talk. Whatever the way, he had to do it.

His thoughts wandered to his wife, Ina, no she was no longer his wife. The image of her shameless face under that dirty rogue flashed through his mind. He shut his eyes tightly to push out the image.

It hurt so much to think that the woman he'd spent his life loving could betray him so much and leave him for dead. She'd left with that dirty rogue. She'd chosen to go with him.

How he hated them! He swore they were going to pay, everyone of them, with their blood!

Just then, he heard a knock on the door.

"Who is there?" Earl asked. He didn't want to be disturbed.

"Open the door, son. "

It was Ma'am Dodda, his nanny who'd refused to retire even after aging. She took care of him ever as a child and became almost a mother to him after The Invasion that saw the death of his parents and elder brother.

"Come in, Dodda, the door is not locked.,"

When the woman appeared in the doorway, Earl sighed, he wasn't prepared for whatever scolding Ma'am Dodda had for him.

"I heard what happened with Ina," she started.

"I'm sorry. " Earl turned to face the wall.

"No, let her go Earl. I always told you she was not the one. ,"

"But Dodda…" Earl couldn't complete his sentence as the door burst open and a woman ran straight into Earl's arms.

"Please, don't let them take me away," she begged. She held onto Earl and buried her face in his neck, sobbing.

"Who's taking you away?" Earl asked, alerted.

"Them. " Nellie merely pointed to the door without looking up.

Earl lifted his eyes to the door just in time to see the dagger that was pointed at Ma'am Dodda's unsuspecting back.

Earl made to leave the bed, but it was too late.