1 Renegade

Fated soul mates are a gift, given to us by the Eildera gods. Unlike popular interpretation. Soul mates aren't the coming together of two halfs separated at eternity. Soul mates aren't incomplete when they meet. Soul mates aren't lacking in any way that requires completion. No, soul mates are the coming together of wholes to make more.

Your soul mate will recognize you in whatever form you bear and in whatever shape you carry. Your soul mate is the perfect person for you. In a world of uncertainty, a soul mate brings stability to your life and your mind and your power.

You can marry someone else, you can bond someone else. But no matter how successful or happy you are, you would have been a thousand times so with your soul mate. Knowing this, how could I possibly want any less.

As a child, I watched the love my parents had for each other and it put light in my young heart. I often thought they loved each other more than they loved Levi and I. Because I loved them I didn't mind this. I knew even all those centuries ago, that I wanted a love like theirs

So many other stop waiting long before they reach my age, the thoughts of spending decades and even centuries unmated would send shivers up the strongest of spines.

But how could I bond or love someone else when I already love her? Whoever she is. My men think I am crazy, I am not. My faith in the goddess is unshaken even after all these years of waiting.

My mate is out there, somewhere. Waiting for me as I search for her. One day I will find her, and I will make her mine.

Mallon Everglade, Prime of North America, Alpha supreme.

The moment Elina lifted the police rope and stepped on the lawn of the stately mansion, she knew there was a dead body inside. She might have frozen for a second but no one was looking so she carried on. She nodded at several police operatives, giving them nods as they gave her wide eyed hesitant stares the moment their eyes met her badge.

Her organization was still new, so many humans couldn't understand why any human at all would want to work with and for the Dark Denizen. She had her reasons, none she wanted to ever discuss with anyone.

She threw a quick gaze around, trying to get a clue of what could be waiting inside the picturesque mansion. The lawn was manicured to a fault, beautifully and well grazed flowers lined the edges. The Drive way was cut stone instead of asphalt. The building itself was an old world stone monstrosity. None of the environmentally conscious Breek in view. The owner had to be one of the oldies still set in the old ways.

There was a closed garage and the only cars in the wide circular drive way were patrol cars. She reached Detective Louis Espinoza, her police informant, and took the gloves he was stretching towards her.

"What do we have?" she asked as he led her inside. The foyer should've been brightly lit. From the outside it was all windows. On the inside though those windows were covered with heavy duty drapes that blocked out ninety percent of the hot daylight outside. It was chilly, she also noted, when goosebumpsimmediately rose on her arms.

"Nothing good, smell that?" he asked as they passed under an arched doorway and headed…down? She raised her normal human nose and sniffed. Recoiling as the smell she hadn't perceived until then assaulted her nose. She covered her noseand threw him a glare. He shrugged.

"How long has it been dead?" She knew there was no need pretending she didn't know that was a dead body.

"It is a he, and our witnesses are refusing to cooperate. M.E puts him at three to four days though." The finally stopped going down the absurdly long flight of stairs and arrived at a whole new level of the house. There were more than five doors.

"This is insane. Is this even legal? To have such an extensive underground structure in this sector?" She asked as she slowly moved forward with a light pointing at all the doors in the large hallway.

"No, this guy's house has been standing for more than 200 years. Guess his family was powerful enough to circumvent the no basement law." Louis looked like he was going to spit.

He headed towards the only one with a lamp lighting above it, he opened it and stepped in a small room, this was where the smell was coming from. She reached into her pocket and took some smelling salts and smeared them on her nose. That pungent smell usually overrode the one of a dying corpse.

This was so not how she had wanted to spend her free day.

She took in everything at once. In the center of the room was an extremely old man, obviously dead. His head lay at an awkward angle, his glazed eyes wide open. He was only wearing a creepy why nightgown. Stained horribly with things she didn't even want to know. To the left, squeezed into a corner, were four children.

Two very young ones looking away from the damage, two slightly older ones, a boy and a girl, looking at all the adults in the room fiercely. The oldest count be older than ten.

The room was musty and smelly. An inhumane prison. There was a small window at the top of the wall, too high for two adults to reach not to talk of children. The light was bad too, only the powerful lamps the cops has constructed illuminated the space.

"Louis," she choked as she took hold of his sleeve and he paused his conversation with the two officers that had been dropping evidence markers. "What the hell happened here?" Her heart rate had risen considerably, because even as she looked she could piece it together.

Small children, locked in an old man's basement. Not too difficult to arrive at certain conclusions.

He turned to her and blanched when he saw she was shaking. He led her outside. "Why didn't you tell me it was a possible ICAsituation." She griped as she leaned on the wall to catch her breath.

"Shit El, I didn't think. You okay?" he came to touch her and she raised a hand to stop him.

It took a bit to acclimate herself. Give her a ten-foot wolf shifter causing damage any day. She would take it rather than cases like these. She didn't know why she had always reacted so strongly to them. She absolutely refused to dig deeper in the maze that was her childhood memories. She wasn't in a hurry either. Unlike those who were in foster care with her, she was in no hurry to find out anything about her past. As far as she was concerned she had managed to carve out a satisfying life for herself, her parents, whoever they were, be damned.

"I'm fine." She breathed as stood up. "Next time give a girl warning okay?"

"Sorry," he apologized. He had been her partner back when she was on the force, it was a situation he always privy to but never asked about which she was grateful for. Embarrassed about her lack of professionalism she stomped back into the room and stared down the two police men now putting a cover on the body.

"Why is it still here?" she asked. Hey both gave her wide eyed looks and then stared at each other.

"We don't know, we just got here."

She decided not to take her anger out on two rookies and turned back to Louis. "Has anyone tried to talk to the kids? Did they do this?" she whispered and he nodded subtly.

"Seems so, the contusions on his neck match the chains the older kids had had on." He said and she frowned as she turned back to look at them.

"I don't see any chains."

"That's the only thing they let us do when we got here. None of the officers has been able to get a word out of them."

"Well, did you have a female try?"

He froze. Of the six patrol cars that had responded there were no females present. "Oh."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, oh. Get this body out of here and then tell me exactly what happened.