Mason's POV

5 hours and 15 minutes later

The tense atmosphere in the kitchen simmers down after Melody leaves the house. All ten of our shoulders sag in relief, undoubtedly thankful that she didn't pick up on the tension. Or she did and just decided to ignore it being too focused in her own world. Either way I'm thankful.

"We got real fucking lucky, that she asked no questions" Mumbled Ash over mind link.

"Why are we mind linking?" Asked a confused Grey, when the rest of us hummed out our agreement out loud.

Ashton grumbles in response, "The walls have ears, ears who have no business knowing what we are discussing."

"Huh?" Grey vocalises

I faced palm from my position against the kitchen counter, "Other pack members may hear what we are talking about. Ash does not want to cause any panic. So instead of letting a pack member over hear us discussing a rogue out loud we're doing it over mind link. Understand now." I ask him after spelling it out.

Zander snickers at my annoyed tone. Liam shakes his head in disbelief, the rest of our cousins are blatantly ignoring Grey waiting for orders from Ashton. All the while Grey's mouth opens and closes like a fucking fish.

In my mind's eye I see my wolf anxiously pacing backwards and forwards. The threat to our little sister ruffling our feathers beyond comprehension.

"Are you all done? Can we get back to the major issue at hand?" Ashton demanded condescendingly.

After Ashton asked the rhetoric questions I felt his anger rise. I'm certain we all felt his anger rise. Chase who was standing opposite me noticed my eyes shift and he nudged Austin, who nudged Liam and suddenly their attention was split between Ash and I. Their stances changed from relatively relaxed in our home to being tense and on guard. Grey gulped when he saw my eyes shift to a dark midnight blue.

My wolf stood still in my mind's eye, his tail flagging behind him. He stood tall with his ears perked upwards and his right front paw was standing out slightly. His entire being buzzed with alertness as he felt the strong emotions fall off of his brother and Alpha in waves.

"You good?" I asked Ashton privately over our own mind link.

"I'm fucking pissed." replied his wolf.

"Good, save that for the rogue. We worry about Mel after we have found out all that we can about the rogue situation. Reel in your anger for now Alpha." I tell him calmly, not wanting to set him off in any way.

Ashton let out a deep breath and leaned both his arms over the kitchen counter. Closing his black eyes he inhaled deeply before he exhaled once more. I felt my eyes shift back to their natural colour and I knew my brother had found something else to focus on other than the raging emotions he was feeling.

Our cousins eyed Ashton wearily, not making any sudden movements. None of them wanted to set his wolf off unnecessarily either.

"Tell Chris to head to school today. No warrior training. Tell him to keep a close eye on Melody." Ashton commanded me privately, I nodded in reply.

I eyed my brother for a moment longer, before my eyes fogged over as I mind linked Chris,

"Chris, you're excused from head warrior training today. Go keep an eye on Mel, there's something brewing with the rogues."

"Okay Beta Mason. This is because of the rogue you caught this morning isn't it?" He asked.

I sighed in annoyance, slightly irate that he needed to ask. But, I also understood that he needed to know in order to protect Melody so I chose to let it go instead.

"Yes. She doesn't know anything about it Chris. Don't give her a reason to worry, not yet."

"Understood."

I noticed Ash still trying to calm himself down after I finished giving Chris his instructions so I took over momentarily.

"We're going back down to the cells. All of us." I commanded.

"Chris known?" Ashton asked me through mind link as he straightened and headed towards the back door where he led the way to the cells.

"Yes Alpha."

All of us followed behind him.

. . .

We all squeezed into the relatively small room the rogue was left in. Hunter carried a bucket of water along with him and walked up to the rogue chained to the wall and threw the water at his sleeping face. This caused the obvious immediate reaction of the rogue jolting awake in surprise.

The rogue shook his head, like a dog trying to get dry after a swim, as the chains binding his wrists and legs to the wall shook.

He looked up at us with a crazed expression, unlike earlier.

Ashton walked up to him and silently undid the chains. The rest of us stood silently watching Ashton, not knowing what his next step would be. I stood in the doorway blocking anyone from entering or exiting. The rogue looked up at Ashton in confusion as his body fell towards the floor after being held up by silver chains for over five hours. I watched with interest as the rogue struggled to get to his feet, and when he finally managed to do so on wobbly legs he rubbed at his raw wrists. They must have opened due to him struggling in the chains.

The rogue looked up at Ashton in silent question. Time stood still for about five to ten minutes, all my cousins and I on high alert, waiting for something to happen.

"You will fight me. If you manage to pin me down for 60 seconds I will set you free." Ashton declared shocking the shit out of all of us.

My shoulders tensed as the words left Ashton's mouth. A growl escaped me before I could stop myself. The entire room tensed. Ashton looked over his shoulder and I immediately understood. This rogue wasn't being given a chance to escape. He was being sentenced to his death. Rolling my shoulders I nodded at Ashton, silently telling him I understood.

"You'll let me go?" The rogue inquired skeptically.

Ashton nodded in response. Apparently the nod was all the rogue needed for his claws to descend and for him to try and strike at Ashton. Only no Alpha leaves himself vulnerable, so Ashton jumps backwards successfully blocking the attempt. A murderous smile pulled onto Ashtons face as the rogue withdrew his hand to strike again. Only this time his fist is blocked by Ashtons hand, which he uses to twist the rogue's arm so that it is constrained against his back. Then Ashton uses his other hand to drive it into the rogue's back. Swiftly he retracts his hand from the rogue, enclosed in his fingers is the rogue's spinal cord. The body falls face first towards the floor. Dead.

Ashtons wolf looks up at us from behind his human's eyes and says, "We promised to protect Melody, we are not breaking that promise."