Just a Rogue

Amelia

“Let’s sit back down,” Janine suggests, and the three of us take seats again at the big conference room table. I wait expectantly to see what she needs.

“It’s starting to become clear to me that the key to this is going to be Corinne,” she says, and I nod. She’s right, and I’m so pleased that the Luna recognizes that. I’m not sure the male leaders would make that connection.

Darlene adds, “She’s been so helpful already, and if what you say is true, that she wants to protect her friends, I think she’ll be motivated to continue cooperating.”

“Absolutely,” I confirm, “I know that she is very eager to keep them safe. I think she’d like to rescue them before the battle begins if it’s possible.”

Janine purses her lips. “I don’t know how we’d do that, though. What I was thinking is just getting all the information we can from her about the she-wolves, so that when the battle begins, all the warriors will be briefed about what to look for, and try not to injure them during the fighting. If the females can survive the fight, we can sort it out later whether they wish to ask for amnesty.”

I’m worried that this won’t be enough to truly protect them. “Won’t the females be ordered to fight, too, though? They’d have to shift and take part in the battle, and there’d be no way for our wolves to avoid engaging them.”

Darlene seems to agree. “I feel like we need to coordinate more carefully, and to do that we need to talk to Corinne. Maybe as we’re gathering more information, it will start to become obvious how to approach it.”

I agree completely. As I have seen over the last couple of weeks with Dom, it is amazing what can come clear if you take things one step at a time.

Darlene continues, “I tell you what. It’s almost lunchtime, how about if we invite Corinne to come upstairs to my suite, and we can eat and talk.”

“Sounds great,” Janine says, and stands.

“Um,” I hesitate, and they both look at me. “Will, uh, Alpha Ross be there? I think that Corinne might be more comfortable with just us.”

Janine waves her hand dismissively. “Oh, don’t worry about that. Kanen has asked Ross and both Betas to do some training together. They’re all shifted out in the woods engaged in mock battles.”

Darlene grins. “Ross couldn’t resist the challenge. Boys will be boys. They do love their fighting!”

I smile and look down. I think about Dom. We haven’t really talked about this, but I know he was in that battle with the rogues the day we met. I wonder how he felt about it. Did he enjoy the fighting? I’ll have to remember to ask him about it later. Well, I could ask him now, but I can’t be constantly interrupting whatever he’s doing.

Something else occurs to me. He should be at the hospital right now. I am going to interrupt him after all. “How’s Theo?” I think to him through our mind-link.

“Good,” he responds immediately, and sends me the image of Theo laying on the hospital bed, laughing, his right leg immobilized in a bulky cast, but at least in one piece. I smile at the sight. What a relief.

I come back to reality and realize that the Lunas are both looking at me. “Were you linking with Dom?” Darlene asks knowingly. She looks over at Janine and tells her, “We’ve had some discussions about how the mate bond works. I wasn’t sure how strong their mind-link would be, but apparently it is sufficient for communication, right?”

I nod. “Yeah, I was asking him how Theo is doing.”

“Oh!” Janine says. “Right, they’re visiting him! How is he?”

“It looks like he’s doing fine. They’re in there laughing with him, and his leg looks like it’s in a big cast. Nice and straight - much better than how terrible it looked all twisted and mangled after the accident.”

I intend to move on and suggest that I go order some lunch and bring Corinne up to the guest Alpha suite, but they both have strange expressions of confusion on their faces.

“It… looks?” Darlene asks. “Dom told you how he looks?”

“Um, yeah, he showed me.”

“What do you mean he showed you?” Janine asks.

What? “Well, just that he told me Theo is doing good and then showed me what he looks like laying there in the hospital bed. He looks happy, I’m sure he’s glad that Evan and Dom are visiting him.”

“But, ‘showed’ you?” Darlene clarifies. “A visual image? You actually saw it?”

Why are they making such a big deal out of this? “Um, yeeeessss….”

They look at each other. Then Darlene looks back over at me. “I suspected that your mating bond would be very strong, blessed since you met your mate on your actual 18th birthday. But I didn’t realize how truly powerful it would be.”

I shake my head and lift my hands. I have no idea what she’s talking about.

Janine says, “I haven’t been able to exchange visual images with Kanen.”

“Me neither,” Darlene adds. “Ross and I share thoughts, feelings, words even, but not images.”

Really? It seems perfectly natural to me. “It’s just part of our mind-link, I guess?” I shrug.

They seem overly obsessed about this. I want to redirect this back to the actual business at hand. “How about I go to the kitchen and order some lunch to be sent up to your suite, Darlene, and then I’ll bring Corinne up and meet you there?”

She nods, strangely stunned. “All right, Amelia, see you upstairs.” They’re staring at each other again as I turn around and leave the conference room.

It makes me smile a little, though, to think that the bond that I share with Dom is extra special. Of course it is, it just reflects how much love I hold for him.

Corinne

I’m bussing dishes, clearing the tables for the folks that have started to come in for lunch, when Amelia enters the cafeteria. I straighten up from the table that I’m wiping down, and watch as she looks around, spots me, and comes over.

“Hi Corinne,” she smiles at me. “Luna Darlene and Luna Janine are going upstairs to have lunch, and wondering if you’d be willing to come up and answer a few questions about your friends in the rogue pack?”

My heart starts pounding, but I say, “Of course.” I look down at the tray of dishes, unsure if it’s all right to leave this here.

“Oh, carry on,” she tells me, “I have to order some food, it’ll take me a couple of minutes." She goes to find Barbara to talk about getting the Lunas’ lunch together, and this gives me the time to finish with this table, bring the dirty dishes into the kitchen, and try to pull myself together.

There was a leaders meeting this morning, and now the Lunas want to talk to me? Well, Amelia isn’t acting like anything dire is happening. Hopefully I’ll be able to answer their questions. And as far as I can tell, nobody but Evan has any idea that I tried to run away last night. I’m so grateful to him for finding me and convincing me to come back. He’s right - trying to save the she-wolves alone would never have worked.

“Okay, Corinne, ready?” Amelia asks, poking her head into the back of the kitchen. I nod, and follow her out, and we go up the stairs.

She is kind enough to see how nervous I am. “The Lunas would like to talk to you about the plan for rescuing your sisters from the rogue pack. I think they will want you to tell them everything you possibly can about their situation, so that we can formulate some kind of plan. The leaders are having another meeting in the morning, and hopefully we’ll have all the information we need for them to decide what to do next.”

“Thanks,” I whisper. “I really mean it, Amelia.” She pauses walking for a second and looks straight at me. “You’ve been so nice to me, I just want you to know how much it means to me. No matter what happens next, thank you for everything you’ve done.”

Her blue eyes fill with so much compassion, and she actually reaches her arms up and gives me a hug. She’s shorter than me, so I dip my head down to reach around her and hug her back.

Even more than with my she-wolf rogues, this feels like sisterhood.