The Rogues Who Went Rogue
Chapter 49

Greg didn't answer the deputy. His sights fixed on Lucianne, giving her time to figure it out because he knew, without a doubt, that she could. Lucianne was pondering deeply before her sights went back to the hologram. She pinched the screen to reveal the whole werewolf and lycar Greg came over to tap on the 'routes' icon, and hundreds of red lines appeared on the hologram that Lucianne took a shocked breath as she stared blankly at what she was seeing, taking a step back to get a fuller view.

territory. Her eyes squinted slightly to see if there was anything underneath the familiar geographical area everyone was familiar with.

Greg murmured, "It's good news because the underground territories connected by those hidden passageways are limited. If no one saw them aboveground, then the search should expand underground. If they're not there, they're not in lycan or wolf territories." Laurent suggested, "We could deploy forces to-"

Lucianne immediately said, "No, Laurent. Once they know that we know where they are and who we're looking for, they'd either heighten security measures, throw in false trails, or even resort to blackmail. Even if they're not down there, we don't know if our presence would alert the culprits who may be in the vampire's territory. It's too risky. We need to get the vampires back, but risking more lives and alerting the rest of the...rogue population is not the best move to make." Alissa uttered, "Exactly why His Grace didn't let us do it."

Hailey continued, "Not that our numbers are enough to accomplish such a feat anyway."

"Yo! Our numbers 're enough! It's the too-many-of-us goin'-'round-at-the-same-time-and-raisin'-suspicions thing that's the problem." Desmond argued.

Greg then said, "Partially correct, Desmond. Because Hailey was right about our numbers. We're a lot but not enough to look through every underground passageway without getting caught. There are highly sensitive territories here that I won't consider sending less than twelve of you in phases of two, three or four just to get everyone back here alive. And, of course, the rogues beyond our circle who have been paying attention would recognize some of your faces, so subtlety and anonymity isn't a luxury you're entitled to anymore if you entered their turf." That got Lucianne thinking. "So...what you're saying is that it's better for us, non-rogues, to enter these turfs, using scent sprays to mask our scents?" The two cousins' eyes bulged wide open in horror.

Xandar spun her around and lifted her chin gently for their eyes to meet before he spoke in a dangerously low voice, "No. F*cking. Way. Don't even think about it, Lucy."

"It was just a suggestion, darling," Lucianne responded and looked at him with her wide doe eyes.

Greg also spoke with some anger, "My Queen, the whole point of sharing this with you is so that you're kept OUT of danger. There's no way any of us in this room is going to let you anywhere near uncharted waters. It's too dangerous. Plus, your cover would be blown sooner than you think. Everyone in our world knows your approximate size and recognizes your face."

Xandar sighed with relief when he heard that, and he pressed his wife into his chest tightly as he muttered, "Thank Goddess."

Lucianne gently pushed herself away from her protective husband's embrace and looked at Greg in disbelief, "So, the whole point of sharing this with me is for me to sit back and do nothing?"

Greg scoffed. "I highly doubt you'd be doing nothing, My Queen. Perhaps you could scare the law-abiding vampires a little so that they're more alert as to who goes in and out of their own territory."

Lucianne was quizzically-silent for a moment before she stated the obvious, "That's not within my jurisdiction, Your Grace. And their empress already suspended half of the vigils in existence. What else do you expect her to do?"

"Use the Empress's Authority is definitely top of my list," Greg muttered as he opened up a list of names to pick the most suitable followers to get information from the two rogue packs.

"She doesn't have it," Lucianne said.

Greg's finger paused on the hologram. His head turned and asked Lucianne, "She told you that?"

"Yes, and I doubt she'd lie about it. Xandar and I met her in a different lifetime, and we were close then. When she mentioned that she didn't have that power, I didn't feel any malice from her energy, only acceptance and some disappointment.”

Xandar added, "Vampire history also supports that only emperors had wielded the Authority in the past, never the empress."

Greg sights went to his cousin. "Lycan history also supports that only kings wielded that power until our queen came along to prove that damn subject wrong."

"Not true, Greg." Xandar retorted. "The first to wield the Queen's Authority was Queen Bellea."

"I suck at history but I remember that this was the one who married a commoner, and this commoner became the only king without an Authority. Their own guards assassinated them in their sleep because no one in that time was ready to kneel before a supreme female ruler." Xandar nodded. "That's the one. And that's our point. The Queen's Authority existed for lycans, but there's no equivalent of that in vampire history."

"No, cousin. This is the point: like it or not, this is the first time in lycan history that we have someone you'd never expect wielding that power - a woman; a commoner; a former wolf."

The last description got Xandar thinking, and he muttered to himself, "She started wielding it even when she was still a wolf, actually."

Greg's eyebrows raised in surprise. This was news to him.

"That means..." Lucianne began.

Greg managed to get a hold of himself on time to finish for her, "That means the Empress's Authority can exist, and can start with your bloodsucking-ruler friend, My Queen. But she might need a trigger to get it out." "Trigger," Lucianne repeated in a whisper as she recalled her first time being told that she was emitting her Authority. She was protecting the people she loved. That was the trigger.

Lucianne then continued, "But she'd have to believe that she might have the power first, though. Before Xandar told me I had an Authority, I never channeled it...not to its maximum potential, at least."

"Great. That's done." Greg said.

"Done?" Xandar questioned.

Greg tapped on four of his followers' names on the hologram, the ones he decided on sending to question the two rogue packs near the border as he responded to Xandar, "The queen is good with creatures, cousin. She'll be fine. Let her put that thought into the empress's thick, bloodless skull. If I do it, I might start a war. And I'm sure none of you goody-two-shoes want that." "Okay. I'll do that," Lucianne muttered in agreement.

Lucianne's eyes glazed over again, and Tate informed her that they were scheduled to land in twenty minutes. Once her eyes cleared, she said, "They're landing soon. We should go meet them."

They left the Cave and headed for the jet hangar. Xandar linked Christian to bring Stella and Reida along and join them there.

At the hangar, Greg and his top four minded their own business. Ivory and Desmond admired the interior while Alissa and Hailey chatted as the former chewed gum. The officers who followed Lucianne and Xandar continued keeping their guard up, just in case the rogues decided to strike.

Christian arrived, carrying Reida with one arm as he threw Greg a disgusted glare while he and Stella made their way to the king and queen. Stella scanned Greg and his people with curious eyes. Due to the distance, she couldn't smell that they were rogues like her. But there was jus something oddly familiar about the woman chewing gum.