Just a Rogue

Ruby

Well damn. So ends Xavier, I guess. Good riddance, but that sure wasn’t what I was expecting to happen. Corinne has such a tender heart, and I’m worried that it’d bother her, but nope. She clasps my hand with a firm grip, and I can tell that she feels vindicated. We’ve both had our revenge, I guess. Thanks to the Alphas, another very unexpected development. Who could have predicted I’d be grateful to Alphas?

And I’m glad that Xavier heard at the end that it isn’t his baby, it’s Seth’s. Surprising, and I have no idea how they managed to accomplish that with how tightly Xavier controlled Corinne, but good for them. I’m glad that nothing will remain of Xavier, not even his spawn.

The doctor calls in some orderlies, and tells them to wheel Seth’s bed into a different room. There’s a mess to clean up in this one. We follow him in there, and Corinne and I get the chance to have a little chat with him while Theo and Evan stand back behind us. Seth even tries to laugh a little when I make some insulting remarks about Xavier’s demise. He can’t smile though. I’m not sure that face will ever be able to smile again.

I think he’ll be okay, though. Ugly, maybe, but he’ll live.

I wonder what happens next. For him, for me, for Corinne. For the other she-wolves. For the rogues down in the cells. I keep getting this feeling like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The Alphas stay at the hospital when we leave, probably needing to fill out paperwork or something about what happened.

Theo drives us back to the packhouse, and I sit up in the front seat with him again, admiring him and still finding it strange to be in the front seat of a car. Although last time that happened was just yesterday, wasn’t it, when I went shopping with Hugh.

Time feels like it has both compressed and expanded in a very strange way.

When we are walking back from the garage, Corinne and I together behind Theo and Evan, we realize that Lynette and Nova are sitting outside again, at the nice patio area we had been chatting at yesterday, before I met Theo. Amelia and Dom are with them, and they have a bunch of food set out on the low tables next to the outdoor sofas and chairs.

“We thought a picnic might be nice,” Amelia greets us with a smile. “Have a seat!”

“How’d it go?” Lynette asks me.

“Um,” I say, and meet Corinne’s eyes, and we burst out laughing. Boy do we have a story to tell. The guys help us recount how Xavier just died, adding a lot of their own embellishments, and after the astonishment wears off we are all laughing hard about how it went down. Is it wrong to laugh about somebody’s death?

Naaaah!

Lynette is exultant to hear that Xavier is gone, but Nova is just quiet, thinking. She’s always thinking, that one.

“So, what now?” I ask, leaning against Theo who has an arm around me as we sit together on the outdoor sofa. It seems very strange to me that we are just sitting here having a picnic while the future still looms with a giant question mark across it.

“Well,” Amelia answers, “the Dark Woods pack is going home tomorrow.” I see Evan meet Corinne’s eyes, and they both seem uncertain about what this means for them. Amelia can see that too. “Dom and I are going with them, but we’ll only be there a couple of days. I need to meet his family,” she explains.

She watches Evan as she continues speaking. “We’re coming back here then, because the packs have decided to open an office here, probably in Arcata, to conduct the investigation into the rogues and organize the tribunal, and then later look into contacting other packs to put together some mutual regulations regarding rogues. They want to see how many packs would be willing to sign a treaty to standardize the laws which can be used in exiling pack members. There is even going to be a rogue outreach effort, so that rogues can request asylum.”

Huh. Apparently we aren’t the only ones who had a busy morning.

Amelia goes on, looking straight at Evan. “And they want you and me to run this office.”

His eyebrows go up. “What?”

“They want you to live here, in River Moon territory, and help run the program. They’d like Dom and Corinne to work there too.”

He stares at Corinne, his mouth gaping open, and her hands cover her face. So this is working out perfectly for them. Evan won’t move away, and he and Corinne will both have jobs working for the pack.

There is a lot of animated discussion about this, what it means, what will happen. I don’t have anything to add, though. It doesn’t involve me. I still don’t know what the future holds for me, what being mated to me will mean to Theo.

He sees that I am withdrawn, and he whispers in my ear, “Want to go take a walk?”

I nod gratefully, and I’m not sure how much the others really even notice when we get up. They continue their excited conversation about the new office being established.

Theo holds my hand and leads me over to a door in the fence, and we walk through the woods behind the packhouse grounds. We are soon far enough away that we can’t see or hear the packhouse any longer, and we walk in silence for a little distance, enjoying the peace of the forest. It is funny how much more foresty it smells with him in it, his delicious pine scent enhancing the natural smell of the actual trees.

We come to a little clearing beneath an overhanging rock wall. I can tell by the lingering scents here that he’s been here before, with some of the other people from the pack. Even with Corinne. I suppose I’ll hear that story some day. He pauses here, and kisses me against a tree. I respond to him with passion, his touch always igniting a fire within me.

But he can tell that my response is muted, and he pulls back and whispers, “What is it?”

I sigh. “I guess I’m just worried about what is going to happen with me.”

“You’re just going to stay with me, obviously,” he says, sounding like he can’t imagine how I can be confused about this point. “We can stay in the packhouse for now, but we might want to get a place of our own in town.”

“I might not even be allowed to stay in pack territory,” I point out, “after the investigation.”

“Pfsh. Yes you will.” He pauses, and looks into my eyes, and seems to realize that he shouldn’t belittle my concerns. “Look, even if you had to leave, it wouldn’t matter to me. I’d just go with you. You’re my mate. Nothing else truly matters.”

I don’t know if I will ever get used to mattering this much to somebody. “But,” I whisper, all of my insecurities climbing to the surface, “I’m just a rogue.”

“No,” he corrects me, and kisses me, then caresses my face and continues, “You’re just a mate.”

~~~~

End of Book 2 of Just Wolves