Just a Wolf

Evan

It is so strange how my heart leaps, seeing her timidly walk up, wearing Amelia’s slightly too short sweatpants, and my far too large sweatshirt. How does that shirt make me feel warmer on her, than it ever did on me?

Amelia gets up from her seat and goes over and gives Corinne a hug, which surprises me only a little bit. Amelia clearly cares about Corinne a lot. Maybe almost as much as I do.

The rest of us stand as well. Theo says, “The leaders believe you, Corinne. We went out and explored that cave, and your description was very accurate.”

She looks almost shaky with relief. She bows her head for a moment, her hands go up to cover her face, then move back to sweep her long, dark hair out of her eyes.

Amelia says, “Here, sit down for a minute,” and leads her back over to our little chairs. So we sit around the fire ring again, just like last night, but the embers are cool, the sun is shining behind the clouds, and things seem somehow colder than they did last night with the sparks flying and our conversation flowing.

I make sure to sit next to Corinne, and after giving her a minute, I say, “Your diagram of the cave was right on. You’ve shown that you can give reliable information.”

She looks at me, and bites her lip, like she isn’t sure what that means. Amelia takes over again. “The leaders would like to ask you for more information, Corinne. If you come back with us, and answer their questions, we can take care of you.”

Corinne says, “Am I going to be safe? If I go? I’m a rogue. I know I’m in trouble.”

Amelia shakes her head, firmly. “The Dark Woods Luna has promised me that you will be safe. She will make sure that nobody hurts you.”

Corinne exhales sharply through her nose. “The Luna?” I hear the skepticism in her voice.

“She’s my Luna,” I tell her. “I’m with Dark Woods. She is very nice, and very trustworthy.”

“But she’s a female,” Corinne shrugs. “What she says won’t matter.”

“No, no!” Amelia says. “Our packs are run differently from the way your rogue pack did things. The Luna is very powerful, and the Alpha would not want to do anything to make her unhappy. I am sure that she can protect you.”

She shrugs and looks at the pine needles covering the ground. In a very low voice, she says, “I guess it doesn’t matter. I don’t have any choice. I can’t stay out here. Xavier would just find me. And I don’t want to go back to him. A pack jail cell would be better than that.”

Theo frowns. “I don’t see you being locked up in a jail cell. Especially not if you continue providing useful information.”

She sighs, and nods. “What will they want to know?”

Amelia tells her, “They want more precise locations of the other caves. We have a lot of maps, and diagrams, and pictures that you can use, so I’m sure that we can help you figure out exactly where they are.”

Her voice is dejected but resigned. “All right.” She stands up, ready to meet her fate. I think she believes she is going to be tortured or imprisoned, despite what we are telling her, and even so she would rather that than to be back in Xavier’s clutches. It demonstrates the whole reason we have to find the rogues. He must be stopped, and she can help.

We pack up the camping gear, assuming that she won’t be coming back here, one way or the other. She watches sadly while we dismantle her little campground. I suppose it had already started feeling like a home to her. It makes me sad, and I have the urge to hug her, try to comfort her, but I don’t know how she would take it.

So I let her stand apart, huddled into my sweatshirt, waiting to be led to what she thinks could be her doom. Which she will walk to without resistance.

Amelia

We drop the camping gear next to the side door where we enter the packhouse. We’ll come back to take care of it later. We have to get Corinne to the leaders, as instructed.

She hesitates a moment before entering, taking a deep breath, as though afraid it might be her last breath of free air. I want to guarantee her that everything will be fine, that she won’t be harmed, that she will experience nothing but kind and gentle treatment.

But I can’t. It isn’t up to me. It isn’t really even up to Luna Darlene, even though I know that Ross wouldn’t want to do anything to make her unhappy. What I told Corinne was true. But I also know that an Alpha will make decisions he considers to be to the benefit of the pack. And Alphas can be ruthlessly protective.

All I can do is hope that it will all work out. I believe with every fiber of my being that Corinne is a good person who deserves a second chance.

I stay close by her side as we follow Theo into the conference room. I see that Alpha Kanen has returned, and that our new Luna, Janine, is sitting with him at the table. I don’t think he intends to be apart from her at all, and I can’t blame him. I don’t want to be apart from my mate either, but of course that isn’t up to me.

He is behind me, walking together with Evan, and I am pretty sure that he has no idea how he got mixed up in going in and out of meetings with leaders. I know he never expected anything like that. He just came here as a mechanic and driver for Dark Woods. Neither one of us could ever have expected how this week is unfolding.

Corinne, walking next to me, is incredibly tense, her hands twisting together in front of her, her shoulders hunched, her steps dragging. She is terrified. “It’ll be okay,” I whisper to her, not sure if she even hears me.

Theo nods to Alpha Kanen, and tells him, “This is the rogue, Corinne.”

She hunches even further into Evan’s big sweatshirt, and all but drops to the floor in front of the Alpha.

Kanen nods, glances at Theo, and says, “You can all go.”

What? I had pictured staying here with Corinne, helping her through this, giving her all the moral support I can. I blurt out, “Can I -” but my Alpha cuts me off.

He looks me in the eyes and repeats, “You can go.”

We are dismissed. They have no need of underlings for this interrogation. I look over at Darlene, and her eyes are full of sympathy, but she just nods to me. I know she’ll do what she can to help Corinne.

“I’ll see you later,” I whisper to the poor girl, rigid with fear, standing by my side. “You’ll be fine.”

She nods, but a single tear slips down her cheek. As I follow Theo and Evan and Dom out of the room, I see her turning to face the leaders.

Dominic

I am relieved to get out of there, but Evan’s jaw is clenched as we are sent out of the room. He doesn’t want to leave Corinne in there alone with the leaders. Neither does Amelia. She looks stricken as we go back over to where we had dumped off the tent and chairs and things.

We all grab them, and follow Theo down to the basement storage room to put everything back. He looks at Evan, who is obviously very stressed. “She’ll be fine, Evan,” Theo tells him. “As long as she is truthful and helpful, they’re not going to be angry. They just want her information.”

“She’s scared,” he says, bluntly.

“She doesn’t need to be,” Theo tries.

Evan shakes his head. He isn’t buying it. “It doesn’t matter. After everything she’s been through, she’s terrified. She doesn’t believe she’ll be okay. I wish they’d let us stay in there with her.”

“Me too,” Amelia says, “but it isn’t up to us.” She sighs, somewhat shakily. I want to pull her into my arms, but I resist the impulse. We’ll have time.

After we stow the gear, I ask, “Well, what now?”

Theo shrugs. “I don’t have anything to do until dinner. As far as I know none of you do either. I guess we all have a couple of free hours.” He shrugs, then turns to go back upstairs. “See you all later.”

Evan looks very restless and unhappy. He looks around claustrophobically. “I’m gonna go take a walk,” he says, and stalks off down the hallway, leaving me alone with Amelia.

She glances up and down the hallway, then reaches up to give me a quick peck on my cheek. “I’d invite you to come into my room,” she murmurs, “but we both know what will happen as soon as we get in there.”

Do I? Well, I might not know exactly, but I know it’ll be overwhelming and probably we wouldn’t be good for anything else for the rest of the day.

“Later?” I ask her.

She nods. “Later. Definitely.”

Hm. “So we need to find something to do until dinner? Other than, you know,” and I gesture down to the other end of the basement hallway where her door is.

“I suppose I could try to get some work done,” she says.

“How about instead you come out to the garage with me?” I ask. “I can check the cars, and you can watch!” I grin, trying to make that sound way more exciting than I’m sure she will think it is.

But she gives me one of her breathtaking smiles, and says, “Perfect.”