The Rogues Who Went Rogue
Chapter 76

"Greg," Xandar uttered in disapproval of the duke's manner of speaking to Pellethia.

Pellethia's brows raised, waiting for him to rephrase. Greg took this as a start to practice lowering his ego and swallowing his pride when he heaved a sigh and muttered, "May I know what that means?" Pellethia began explaining, "It means that we see the number of figures and objects around you, but we don't see who or what these are."

"Really?" Xandar asked in absolute surprise.

Pellethia nodded in confirmation and elaborated, "Take our recent practice, for example. I knew the number of creatures I've set around you both but I don't know who they were or what they looked like." Greg asked, "How do you know who to use if you can't see who you were using?"

Pellethia took a moment to ponder on how to explain the manipulation process in a manner that a non-decipio could understand, and she began, "Think of your minds as compartments. Each compartment is an aspect of you or your lives - love, fear, resentment, pride, and every other aspect. When we invade the general archives of your minds, we normally pull out only one specific material to deceive what you see. Stronger decipios can pull out more than one at a time. My personal record is eight. Rafael's is ten. As great as that sounds, it's actually not tha mind-blowing if you explore the intricacies of our ability. How do I put this...uh..."

"When we pull out a specific material, we know that it will affect you, but we don't see the creature affecting you. We can guess what or who it is but it will just be that, a guess. If the point of the manipulation is to scare you, I'd pick out your fear archive and take the most extreme one to bring to life. If, hypothetically speaking, it's a spider, then I myself can see the outline of the spider but I won't see the finer details like color, the ferocity in its eyes, those kinds of fine features." "What about sounds, Pelly?" Xandar asked.

"That's also from your own archives, Uncle Xandar. You see, for it to be...real, it has to be something that you've heard before or at least something that you've imagined hearing, so that it's easier to convince you. Even when we create thin-air manipulation, I can increase or decrease the volume and pitch based on logic but I really don't hear what you hear."

Greg muttered, "That's a relief to know."

Pellethia replied, "I agree. Invasion of privacy can be disturbing, not to mention wrong if our power is abused."

After giving some thought to how little the lycans and werewolves knew about vampires, Xandar found himself mumbling, "I've got to get Yarrington to stock up on vampire material in our territory." "Uncle Lucas should have done that centuries ago," Greg uttered in dissatisfaction despite talking about his favorite royal family member.

Pellethia glanced at Lucianne and Rafael before she commented, "I'm surprised Aunt Lucy hasn't read anything about this. I wonder what's in the libraries and bookstores of lycan territory these days."

Xandar sheepishly said, "Mostly about our history and feuds, written and edited to villainize vampires. We've taken back textbooks from schools to be rewritten a couple of months ago, so those would show differently by the end of this year or the next, at the latest. There are a few books on your species's biology but not a lot. Lucy has only three of them, and she said it was pretty much the same thing, nothing as in-depth as what you just told us.”

Pellethia listened attentively and responded, "Looks like your education minister and ours have to discuss business once this ends, Uncle Xandar."

As Xandar nodded with a smile, Greg murmured in agreement, "That's long overdue."

###

After Xandar, Greg and Pellethia shared what they had learned with everyone else - to close their eyes and trust their noses. The two cousins attracted lots of shocked and surprised looks, apart from a few gaping mouths.

Christian, Toby, Lucianne and Greg's top four couldn't believe their ears when they heard that those two actually worked together and came up with that analysis and observation. Despite everyone's disbelief, they got back to practice to try out the newly-developed technique. Close to the edge of Polje, Phelton requested for a break and when Zeke started asking the decipio, Brienna about how he saw the mental walls as mirrors, Phelton made his way towards the rogue wolf he found attractive the other day on the jet. She sat a notable distance away from her wolf and decipio partner who were taking a break, scrolling through her phone.

He dropped down next to her, which made her instinctively hold her phone closer to her chest as she leaned away, even shifting more to the side to create a larger distance than the one Phelton left. "Kate, right?" Phelton began.

"Yeah," she responded suspiciously.

"I'm Phelton."

"I know. What did I do?"

"I just...wanted to talk to you."

"About what?"

Phelton didn't think of that. He shrugged and said, "Anything, actually."

Registering Kate's blank, annoyed look, Phelton chose to add, "Well, we could start with how you became a rogue?"

Kate's eyes turned defensive as she snapped, "That's personal. It's not part of the deal so I don't have to say anything."

"I'm not speaking on behalf of the government, Kate. I just want to know you."

Frustrated now, Kate asked, "Why?"

Phelton didn't even need to think before he uttered, "You seem like something special."

Kate blinked when realization dawned on her at where this was going. She stood, making Phelton panic internally as he followed suit. She then said, "I'm flattered, minister, but not interested." "Kate, I'm not playing you. This isn't some manipulative scheme to get you t—"

"I'm not saying that it is. I'm just not interested."

"Why?" Phelton asked with furrowed brows.

"You're not my type, and I'm already with someone else."

Phelton's voice took an angered and possessive twist when he asked, "Who?"

"That's none of your business, minister. All you need to do is respect my choice and never bring this up again."

Right after saying that, Kate walked away, internally relieved that Phelton didn't demand she showed him whatever was on her screen.

Phelton imagined a ton of scenarios on how that would play out before he spoke to Kate, but it had never crossed his mind that she'd say she was with someone else. He had been stealing glances of her since the day on the jet, then at Blue Crescent before the proditors attacked. H couldn't deny that she was careful not to return his gaze but that didn't stop him from trying to protect her when he noticed that her arm was being pulled by something none of them could see.

During that attack, Phelton charged at the emptiness next to Kate and successfully tore the discretus away from her before he was nicked twice in the back by another two discretus that no one saw coming. He passed out and woke up in Blue Crescent's pack clinic hours later, and the first thing he asked the doctor about was Kate. He was relieved to learn that she wasn't in the clinic with them, but was sad that he couldn't see her until he returned with the others to lycan territory.

Tonight, Phelton genuinely thought he'd have a shot at getting Kate to open up. He wondered if he was being insincere and demanding by expecting a simple thank you for what he did to save her from the venom that could've put her in a coma.

How was it possible that she was with someone else? In the numerous times he stole a glance, Phelton had never seen another male or female look at her with interest or affection, neither did she look at anyone that way. Perhaps her lover was of a different rogue pack? If that were the case, Phelton thanked Goddess that she and her lover were separated for the time being. He doubted whoever Kate was seeing was her bonded mate. If it were, she would have said so because it would have been a sure way to keep Phelton away. Perhaps Kate was lying. Maybe, just maybe, she wasn't actually seeing anyone, and she said what she did to keep him away. Did she declare she was not interested because he was a loyal deputy minister or because she really wasn't interested?

Phelton replayed their exchange, and had to come to the upsetting conclusion that it was the latter. There was not the slightest shred of interest or desire in her eyes. He'd seen two people in love before, either thanks to the mate-bond or by choice. The way two creatures who were in love looked at each other were different. One could easily see a connection that amplified when they were together. Kate showed nothing close to that with him.

"Phelton! Ready for another round?" Zeke's voice pulled the deputy minister out of his thoughts, and he jogged towards them to resume practice, but not after stealing another glance of Kate.

Neither Kate nor Phelton knew that Hailey watched their whole exchange. She and the other royal rogues didn't have to be reminded about their unspoken duty to always be alert and on their guard wherever they were. From her extensive experience of watch duty under Greg Claw, she could easily tell that Kate was hiding something.