A Rogue For The Quadruplet Alpha's.

Noah.

I stood beside the cot, staring down at Maria’s quiet, sleeping face. Her skin was warm now, but she was still far too fragile, far too broken from the poison Vincent had fed her.

I looked up at Damien and Adrein, my fingers tightening slightly over the edge of the leather mattress.

"We can’t stay here," I said, my voice low and hard, scraping against my sore throat. "I am so sure that the Lycan prince’s scouts are already combing the lower ridge. The moment dawn fully breaks, this cabin is going to be surrounded."

Damien leaned against the wooden table, his arms crossed over his chest, his grey eyes narrowed as he looked at me. "We know. We’re moving higher into the mountain pass. We’ll hide in the caves until Aidan and Davian draws the Lycan prince’s main army away from the border."

"No," I cut in sharply, shaking my head. "That’s a mistake. Moving her deeper into these freezing mountains is going to kill her. She needs real medicine, proper care, and a secure perimeter." I took a breath, looking both of them dead in the eye. "I’m taking her back to my pack territory," I said. "I’ll carry her myself."

The quiet in the cabin instantly shattered.

Damien straightened up so fast his chair nearly flipped backward onto the floorboards. "What the hell did you just say?" he barked, his face twisting into instant disbelief and fury.

"You heard me," I replied, standing my ground despite the dull, throbbing pain in my ribs. "My territory is less than three miles west through the river pass. My pack house has fully stocked infirmaries, elite guards who aren’t compromised by Daniel’s men, and a boundary line the lyacn Prince wouldn’t dare cross or bridge easily without declaring a full-scale war against my entire line."

"Are you out of your mind?!" Damien roared, taking a heavy, aggressive step toward me, his Alpha aura flaring bright and dangerous. "She’s our mate, Noah! We just pulled her out of the Lycan prince’s hands, and you want to march her right off into your territory where we don’t have control? Absolutely not! She stays with us!"

"Look at her, Damien!" I snapped back, pointing down at Maria’s pale face. "She’s barely breathing! Every second we sit here arguing or dragging her through snow-covered mountain caves, the Lycan prince’s poison is eating away at her wolf! My pack doctor knows how to treat wolfsbane toxicity. She’ll be safe there!"

"I don’t give a damn!" Damien growled, his fists clenching so hard his knuckles turned white. "I am not letting you take her away from us!"

"He’s right."

Damien froze, blinking in absolute shock as he whipped his head around to look at Adrein.

Adrein was standing near the hearth, his face drained of color, his dark hair messy and sticking to his forehead. He didn’t look angry. He just looked exhausted, his dark eyes fixed entirely on Maria.

Damien stared at him like he had just grown a second head. "Adrein? Are you insane?!" Damien yelled, his voice cracking with pure disbelief. "Did you lose your mind while I was checking the perimeter?! He’s talking about taking our mate to his pack!"

Adrein didn’t flinch. He didn’t even look at Damien. He just took a slow, heavy step toward the cot, his voice quiet and completely devoid of pride.

"Noah is right, Damien," Adrein said, his tone flat, stripped of all the arrogant dominance he usually carried. "Look at her. She can’t handle a mountain trek. If a storm hits while we’re hiding in those caves, she won’t survive the night."

"So your bright idea is to just hand her over to him?!" Damien shouted, throwing his hands up in the air as he paced frantically across the dusty floorboards. "After everything we went through? After Daniel betrayed us? We don’t even know if Noah’s territory is fully secure!"

"My territory is completely clean!" I growled, stepping between Damien and the cot. "Daniel didn’t have access to my inner guard! My men are loyal to me, and unlike your pack right now, my perimeter hasn’t been breached by a sniveling traitor!"

Damien ignored me, stepping right up into Adrein’s space, grabbing him by the shoulder and shaking him hard. "Adrein, pull yourself together! Think for a damn second! If he takes her to his territory, we lose our leverage! We lose our pull on her!"

Adrein reached up and shoved Damien’s hand off his shoulder. It wasn’t an aggressive shove—it was just tired, heavy, and firm.

"I don’t care about leverage anymore, Damien!" Adrein shouted back, his eyes shining with unshed tears as he finally snapped. "I don’t care about control! I don’t care about who gets to hold the leash! Did you see her hand earlier? She was freezing to death! Her bond thread was literally tearing apart in my chest!"

Damien opened his mouth to argue, but Adrein cut him off, his voice dropping into a desperate, furious whisper.

"If we keep acting like possessive bastards, trying to keep her locked in our sight just to satisfy our own pride, she is going to die," Adrein rasped out, his chest heaving. "I forced her once. I pulled on the bond when she tried to run, and it nearly destroyed her. I am not going to let her die in a cave just because you’re too stubborn to admit Noah has the better setup right now."

Damien stood completely frozen in the center of the room. He looked at Adrein, then looked over at me, his jaw working silently as he fought against his own fierce, territorial Alpha instincts. He was breathing heavily, his broad chest rising and falling, his hands hovering near his weapons as if he was desperately searching for a reason to fight us both.

"This is insane," Damien muttered, shaking his head, though the sharp edge of his anger was beginning to crack under the weight of Adrein’s words. "If Aidan and Davian find out we let him march off with her—"

"Aidan and Davian are busy drawing the Lycan prince’s main army into a trap at the border," Adrein interrupted quietly. "They want Maria safe, and this... this keeps her safe."

Adrein turned to face me fully, stepping aside to give me clear access to the cot. The tension between us was still thick, but the silent understanding was there.

"Take her," Adrein said, his voice raspy as he looked me straight in the eye. "Get her to your pack house. Get your doctor to flush that damn poison out of her system."

I nodded sharply, giving him a brief, respectful inclination of my head. "I will."

"I’m coming with you," Damien growled instantly, stepping forward, his golden eyes blazing with unyielding determination. "Don’t even think about saying no, Noah. I don’t care if it’s your territory or your infirmary. I am not letting her out of my sight."

"Fine," I replied without hesitation. "Grab the fur wraps. We leave through the back ridge right now."