The Rogues Who Went Rogue
Chapter 100

Greg had just come out of the elevator onto the subway platform, waiting to catch the next ride when his watchers' report came in, telling him that his suspicions were right, that they were the ones being watched all along. He asked his watchers to bring in Dormant Little Red, J.J. and Bundy, and the duke called off the watch duty immediately. The new assignment was to start looking for Klementine and her assistant, Feva. After that, Alissa's link came through. Greg said nothing throughout the report, even when he stepped into the public transport. When Alissa was done, he ordered, 'Get to Polje for our practice with the bloodsuckers as usual. We'll fill the queen in if the defense minister continues keeping silent about this affair'

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That night, Lucianne wasn't even subtle in sighing with relief when she saw Greg and Ivory emerge on Polje. Alissa approached the duke, and handed him a white envelope containing the pictures she took from a distance using her camera contact lenses. 'Good work, Alissa. When Gregs spotted Toby, he got Ivory to greet the queen first as he himself went for the defense minister, who was approaching the king and queen's circle.

Greg didn't even bother checking the pictures before he slammed the envelope on Toby's chest as he said in a low voice, "You tell her, or I will."

Toby looked at the envelope, then back at the duke, recalling his skills and network before the defense minister eventually guessed what the envelope contained. He took the envelope and was not surprised that those were pictures of him and Ella. He was so ashamed of admitting to himself that he was already missing her.

Greg's stern voice brought him out of memory lane, "The last thing the queen needs is a mole in her circle, minister. My people and I swore to protect her, and we'll keep her safe even if it's from her own allies, even if it's from y—"

"If you didn't hear the conversation between us on the beach, Your Grace, don't act like you know everything. It's making you look stupid. I have watched Lucy's back long before you showed up, and I have no intention to stop anytime soon. You're more than welcome to protect her, but don't attack me or any of us while you're at it. She may be your queen but she has been my sister-figure for almost a decade. Just as she'd kill to protect us, we'd kill to protect her. I am no exception."

"Even if it means killing your own mate?" Greg pressed mercilessly.

Toby scoffed sadly. "Somehow I'm questioning whether I should call her that."

Greg was going to tell Toby that that didn't answer his question, but they were stopped by Lucianne who yelled, "Toby! Greg! Everything alright?!"

Toby looked at his best friend and muttered at a volume that only Greg could hear, "No, it most certainly is not, Lucy."

He dashed to her, as did Greg, and Lucianne wrapped Toby in a bear hug like she always did. He squeezed her but Lucianne felt the unusual tightness in the embrace and some sadness from his energy. She looked between him and Greg, and declared, "Okay, things are definitely NOT okay with you, Toby. What happened?"

He took note that all the alliance members were present, as were the top mavericks from both sides and the vampire rulers, and he told everyone everything, down to the smallest detail of Gerella's eye color. "Not like dark blue or sky blue but like pale blue, like sky blue mixed with grey."

Lucianne was holding onto her breath throughout the tale with Xandar stroking her waist with his thumb before she was eventually the first to speak when she said, "She sounds really pretty."

Toby appreciated that Lucianne didn't just completely flush away his attempt to keep things lighter than it actually was, and said, "I guess hybrids have the best genes from both species."

Christian found himself saying something going through everyone's minds, "Why you though?"

"Christian!" Lucianne hissed, knowing fully well where the duke was going with this.

Tate spoke next, choosing his words carefully, "It just looks like a mistake now, Toby. It might not be one."

Toby looked at Margaret, then back to his Alpha before he said, "I'm not sure if I'll get that lucky, Alpha. My mate, her family and the creatures cooperating with them are basically the ones we're hunting down." Greg was, by far, the least empathetic one when he said, "Funny you didn't link for back-up when you realized who she was."

Lucianne's eyes widened in ferocity when she addressed Greg, "That's enough, Greg. Retreating was the only way to guarantee his own safety. She might not have killed him, but I don't think we can say the same for her family."

Seeing that he angered her, Greg's head tilted downwards by a few inches as he murmured, "Of course, My Queen."

Lucianne sighed in frustration before she declared, "Let's just focus on replaceing solutions now. Ella gave us...a lot to go on...assuming that whatever she said was true."

Juan cautiously asked Toby, "Did she look like she was lying?"

Toby bit the inner walls of his mouth when he replayed their exchange before he said, "Not to me. But it's hard to say. I've only met her once, and I don't know if hybrids feel the mate-bond as strongly as we do to actually feel uncomfortable lying...and I already began questioning he conscience anyway, so...I don't know."

With a hand on his shoulder, Lucianne assured him gently, "We'll figure it out together, Toby." He forced a smile, and was immensely grateful that she was giving him the support he so desperately needed at the moment.

Lucianne then did a recap of facts, "So, her family are hybrids, who hid in the Forest of Oderem because the late Emperor Kosh killed their leaders' family. They don't trust wolves or lycans either because of the conflict with the vampires. They're working with three scientists...whose names we don't have yet. The abductees are in their lab...which only the leader knows where. And the current plan is to...manipulate Xandar to...gain control."

No one dared say the ultimate plan was to make Xandar kill Lucianne, even though everyone knew it. Xandar's lycan had been growling in anger, and its human's breathing got heavy as Lucianne's thumb stroked the back of his hand, letting the sparks calm him as her animal cooed to his through their link.

Pellethia tried desperately to meet Lucianne's gaze, and when their eyes locked, Lucianne knew exactly what she wanted to ask, so she gave a firm nod. The empress glanced at Toby before she linked all 26 vigils to give them the hybrids' location, and instructed, 'Take the available custodes with you and arrest every one you replace. Kill only for self-defense.'

'Yes, Your Majesty'

When she ended her link and registered that it was still silent, she decided to get the ball rolling again, "What this woman said about my late father killing a hybrid isn't true. He killed a vampire who married and marked a lycan because the lycan was part of the conspiracy to end Rosalie's life and put Reagan in solitary confinement. The reason was never that they defied the laws of nature or anything like that. He was avenging an ally.” Tate asked, "Then why kill one of the children?"

Pellethia replied, "That's where it gets even more erroneous. There were no children. That was why father had no remorse for doing what he did."

A long moment of silence passed before Toby whispered to Lucianne, "I'll believe whatever you believe, Lucy. I don't know what's real anymore."

Lucianne was not doing any better, being equally confused. "Pelly, how was Emperor Kosh...sure that there weren't any children? How did he get the information?"

"Like any ruler before him, he sent the vigils to investigate," something came to her mind, and she added in a low murmur, "Maddock was in-charge.” Lucianne looked at Toby and said, "That's our next point of investigation for the child issue then."