Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 40168 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 201(@200wpm)___ 161(@250wpm)___ 134(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40168 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 201(@200wpm)___ 161(@250wpm)___ 134(@300wpm)
Stellan moved closer, his hand still outstretched. “I am not who you think I am.”
This had Tolcan’s curiosity and interest piqued. He lowered his weapon. “And who exactly are you?”
“Let me show you.”
“This way,” Stellan said in a deep voice.
He led them deeper and deeper into the cave, the air chilling, the earth smelling damp, musty from dirt. They must have been traveling for the last couple of hours, moving deeper into the cave, and going hundreds of feet below the surface of the ground. The air was chilled, and Greta pressed closer to Tolcan, knowing she had nothing to fear, but her awareness picking up at the unfamiliar situation.
She reached out for Tolcan’s arm, curled her hand around it, and breathed out. Jayce was on the other side of her, and when she looked at him he gave her a smile of reassurance.
They walked for another ten or twenty minutes, but she honestly didn’t know how long it actually was because her nerves were a wreck and all she could think about was what the future held. And when the narrow tunnel opened up to this large cavern with many different caverns branching off from it, she was stunned to see the sight before her.
The main cavern had crudely made tables set up, with electronic devices on top of them. But they weren’t the advanced technology that she’d come to see with the Rogues, and instead looked homemade, different pieces put together to create a large object. But it was the Rogues and humans working together that shocked her.
Stellan walked into the center of the cavern, turned to stare at them, and held his hands out. “Welcome to the underground resistance.”
“Stellan, what the hell is this?” Tolcan asked, still keeping her close to him.
“I’ve been working with the resistance for the last decade. I bring intel back to them while working on the inside. We’ve rescued many humans, recruited Rogues that wanted change, and it’s an ongoing fight that we won’t give up on.”
This entire production was being worked on deep underground, right under the Rogues’ feet.
“Ever since I realized the Rogues didn’t want to live with the humans peacefully, and that they wanted the enslavement and abuse to continue, I knew I wanted to make a change. It’s been slow going, obviously, and we’ve only been able to get out a few handfuls of humans, but we won’t stop until things are different, until the Royals are taken down and the earth can be co-habited by both species.”
The room grew silent as the Rogues and humans stared at them.
“So, now you know what I truly am, Tolcan. Will you join us?” Stellan asked. “Will you help us take down our kind, our brethren, the ones that mean to hurt your mate and enslave her kind?”
Tolcan looked around the room, then looked down at her. “I want to be able to be with Greta without anyone trying to stop us, to try to destroy her.” He looked back at the male and female Rogues and humans. “And if that means joining the resistance, then count me in.”
And it looked like that was that. They were joining in this underground organization to take down the Royals, and create a world that could be peaceful for both species.
24
Six months later
Time had passed in a blur, and although they hadn’t been able to save all of her family that had been in the cave, they’d at least started with Jayce, and they had found a few more over these last few months. They’d taken them from their captivity, but it was a slow, dangerous process, and they had to be careful, and plan accordingly so no one in their party got hurt.
But with Tolcan and Stellan working with a resistance of Rogue males and females, all of them working underground to over throw the Royal family and the depravity they stood for, Greta knew the other humans from her camp would be free. It might not be tomorrow, and would certainly be a long road, but she was glad they’d found help in Rogues to help put a stop to this. For thirty years humans had been nothing but cattle to the stronger species, and even in hiding, even knowing she couldn’t walk around with Tolcan and show the affection she had for him, she was thankful to be alive.
Tolcan and Stellan couldn’t even be around their own kind right now, not unless they were part of the resistance, and because of that they were hunted, tracked … just like humans. It was strange how things had turned out, changed for the male who had been the one going out and hunting humans.
She looked over at Tolcan sitting at the table cleaning one of his guns. It was an older model, one that had been tweaked by resistance members to work differently, more efficiently. Although they didn’t have the technological access that other Rogues did, they made do with what they had.