"I want to know how you are concealing your presence," Talia demanded from rogues that were pressed on the ground in front of her. Those bastards sneaked on her more than once now. Even Liseli couldn't pick them up.
Seeing that no one was willing to talk, Talia stared down at the closest one.
"Speak!" She shouted, and the guy groaned as the light around Talia increased.
'Let me get into his mind,' Liseli said.
'Fine,' Talia agreed. 'Make it quick.'
With Liseli taking charge of interrogating enemies, the silvery glow around Talia subsided, leaving only her eyes to pulsate in silver light.
Talia could see images flashing in her mind, memories that were not hers. There was some rubbish, guy-talk about women and drinking, and found out that the rogue in question was planning to head to the human city tomorrow and visit a nightclub there.
Out of the important stuff, Talia picked up that the rogues had orders to come to a specific location and to wait for a signal. She saw him sneaking between the patrols of the Blue River pack, and it was obvious that the guy knew where he was going. There was a scene of a tall, dark-haired guy telling them that they will wait for the Luna of the Dark Howlers pack while showing them Talia's photo, and they needed to draw on their skin with specific paste...
The man's body spasmed as he started foaming at his mouth, and Liseli quickly got out of his mind with, 'He was weaker than I thought.'
Talia blinked at the man who was lying on the ground, and she couldn't believe that he was dead.
She killed a person, just like that.
Before Talia could process that she had committed murder, the guy's painted clothes caught on fire. It was like when a synthetic fabric touches the flame; it all disappeared within two seconds, leaving a slightly scorched naked body behind.
"What the…?" Lulu said under her breath.
Talia was equally puzzled, but she knew more than Lulu now. "Due to those painted clothes, as long as they are still, their presence will be concealed." But that didn't explain the lack of their scent or why the guy caught on fire.
"Oh," Lulu said, and then she cocked an eyebrow at Talia. "How do you know that?"
Talia was not in the mood to explain. "Can you mind-link Pierce?"
Lulu's eyes lost focus for a moment. "No." A second later, she added, "Keith, Caleb, and others are unreachable as well."
Talia pressed her lips into a line. This confirmed that these rogues had a way to interrupt not only her mind-link with Damon but to mess up the senses of an Alpha and block the pack's mind-link.
With rogues nearly undetectable, who knew how many of them were still hiding? And if they could mess with all that, even if Pierce and others found out that Talia and Lulu were facing rogues, there was a chance that reinforcements won't be able to find them. What a mess.
Rogues stared at Talia whose eyes stood out like flashlights on her body. No one told them about anything like this, and they had no idea what it was, but they knew they were in trouble.
'We need more information,' Liseli urged Talia. 'Pick another one.'
'We can just ask.'
Liseli refused. 'This is faster, and we are ensuring that they are not lying.'
Talia puffed her cheeks, 'Fine. But try not to kill him.'
'You have compassion for people who wouldn't blink while killing,' Liseli said mockingly.
'How I treat others reflects who I am, not who they are.'
Liseli didn't respond. She knew that Talia was a kind soul. The only time Talia was ready to harm others was when she was protecting someone dear to her, like Damon.
Talia saw another set of images. The same tall, dark-haired guy was telling them to drink a scent-concealing potion before heading to the Blue River pack. There was a map behind him with some dots on it, and the humid hot air filled with scents of sweat and moss was suffocating.
"Leader," one guy asked, and the scene shifted for Talia to see more than a dozen guys standing in a room that had walls covered in wooden panels. It looked like a cottage. "How do we know that Luna Talia will be here?"
The tall, dark-haired guy smirked. "I have my sources. We won't make a move until we confirm that they left together."
"Is it true that we will collaborate with Jason's and Malik's groups?" Another voice asked.
"There will be more than the two of them. You don't need to worry about it. Do your task well, and we will all get to move up from this dump."
People cheered, and the scene became hazy.
Talia blinked to see the guy in front of her spasming on the ground. Just like the previous one, the moment he breathed his last, his clothes burst into flame.
'Do you think that clothes painted on his skin can sense he died?', Liseli asked curiously.
'I told you not to kill him.'
'No. You said TRY not to kill him. I tried and failed. It's not my fault he resisted, and I had to apply more force than necessary.'
Talia couldn't believe this. 'I would twist your ear if only you had one.'
Liseli snickered. 'We can shift into wolf for you to get my ears, but then you lose thumbs, so there won't be any twisting.'
Talia didn't want to argue. They were in a dangerous situation, without a way to contact Damon, facing rogues, and she needed information.
"Who is your leader?" Talia asked, and the rogues turned to look around. Some of them looked at the guy who was talking to Talia before.
"Not that one," Talia said. "I meant the tall, dark-haired guy who was giving you instructions to come here. He was wearing a black leather jacket. Tell me, or I will make you. You know that I can suppress you with ease. Do you think that's all I can do?"
"Ah! Ah!" One rogue cried, and his painted clothes burst in flames. "Oh… Save me!… Aaaa!" A few more rogues cried in unison as they burst into flames.
Talia panicked. What was going on?
'Maybe clothes detect betrayal also,' Liseli's voice sounded in Talia's mind.
Talia raised her arms and started waving. "Stop! Stop! Stop thinking about your leader. I don't care about him!"
The cries stopped, and Talia realized that only four rogues were still unharmed.
The ones that caught on fire were dead.
'What the heck is going on here?' Talia asked Liseli.
'In the face of this information, I think that the first two rogues burst into flames because we peeked into their memories,' Liseli shared her thoughts. 'Painted clothes make them appear not naked, conceal their presence, and prevent betrayal. This explains why we got only fragments from each of them.'
Talia rubbed her forehead. How can she get information if asking or forcing mind-reading makes them dead?
"You have no use of us," the leader of rogues spoke. "Let us go. Unless you want to kill us."
It was evident that Talia was shaken up by seeing people dying in front of her, even if it was not her fault. Everyone knew that Lunas have nurturing nature. They won't kill, not on purpose, and not unless they are defending their loved ones and their pack.
