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Story: What’s Rogue Got To Do With It (Fur-Ever Mountain Pack #1)
LARKIN
The mate bond hummed beneath my skin, beating in time with my heart.
But unlike the vital organ in my chest that I mostly ignored and let it get on with keeping me alive, this was in my nostrils.
It was the sensation under my skin when I touched something and there was ringing in my ears.
Every breath carried Creven's scent and reminded me of what had happened. I couldn’t blame him because I’d been faced with the same choice every minute since we met.
His fox had overwhelmed him and marked me.
We were mated and bonded until our last breath.
Being who we were as individuals, we weren’t welcome in shifter society but now he’d marked me, we’d become targets.
Shifters, like humans, were fearful of those who were different.
I couldn’t blame them because history had taught people to be cautious.
"We can't stay here.” I stared at the pile of ashes and bone that was all that remained of Daniel. “But first we have to get rid of this.”
“Water.”
“Yup.” Like we had done earlier, we had to dump the ashes in the river, but not all in one place. And we had to disguise our scent as much as possible.
I ran to my garden that had been a source of joy and grabbed all the sage leaves and garlic bulbs. We crushed them and rolled around naked in the aromatic mess. We split up, agreeing to meet at the cabin in an hour, with each of us taking half the ashes.
Creven took off in the opposite direction to me.
I headed to a small rapids on the river but paused before tossing some of the remains in the water.
I was holding what was left of a life. I’d behaved in accordance with shifter law but being without a pack and now mated to a rogue, I doubted that law protected me.
Daniel was dead and Creven and I feared for our lives so I tossed the ashes in and tore through the trees to another section of the river, where it merged with a second fast-flowing body of water.
Two more ash dumps and I was rid of the last of him. I dove into the water and raced back to the cabin. I couldn’t call it home because that was the past. Our future was uncertain and it wasn’t here.
My mate arrived a minute after me. He had no color in his cheeks despite running for an hour and I stuffed clothes into my worn backpack, urging him to take what he needed.
"Daniel's pack will come looking for him.” We’d done what we could with the evidence but the pack would scent us in the cabin.
They’d find the scorched earth where we burned him.
Shit. We didn’t have time to disguise it so we grabbed wood from the shed and added chairs and bedding, anything from the cabin that would burn. It’d have to do.
We had to get away and couldn’t stick round disguising what we’d done and be still here when Daniel’s pack arrived. We were screwed but I didn’t say that to Creven. He was as aware as me what fate awaited us here.
“Where can we go?” Soot smudged Creven’s cheeks as he doused the flames, and I wiped it off with an old shirt, not wanting any part of Daniel on me or my mate. “Every pack between here and the coast will be hunting for us once word spreads."
I paused, trawling through memories of my folks instilling in me what to do in an emergency if they weren’t around.
As a kid, I thought they meant if they were shopping or at the movies but I’d been much older when I was aware they spoke of a time after they were dead.
Sometimes I’d wake late at night with the house in darkness and my parents were murmuring about a future they might not see.
"There's someone.” How did I explain how I came to have his details? "My parents... before they died, they gave me a name. Someone to contact if I needed help.”
Creven looked up from the box he’d stuffed with food. He was shoving his precious computer in a messenger bag over his shoulder when he asked, "Who?"
“Auden. My father said he was the only person he'd trust if I was alone.” I swallowed hard, remembering the fear in my father's eyes when he'd pressed the folded piece of paper into my hands. "I never thought I'd need it."
"Where?"
I yanked at an inner pocket in my pack, one I hadn’t opened in years. The paper had yellowed and frayed and a water stain made the name difficult to read. But I’d memorized it and the address.
I grabbed my mate’s phone using our internet connection for the last time. A small town named Stanmore tucked into the base of a mountain was where we had to go. It was remote and perfect for two runaways.
"It's about a day's drive.” I showed him the map. "Maybe more, depending on how many towns we have to detour around.
My mate studied the route. “I don’t know how many pack lands we’ll have to cross to get there. Perhaps if we take back routes, we’ll be safer."
We gathered what we could fit in the truck and abandoned the rest. The cabin that had been our sanctuary these past months was now a death trap.
Not knowing Daniel’s habits, we had no idea how soon he’d be missed.
The pack Betas could be heading here now, or if he liked to go off by himself for days, he wouldn’t be missed yet.
But Daniel didn’t appear to be a guy that enjoyed his own company. He’d needed others to prop him up, laugh at his antics, and protect him when things went sour. Him being in his fur, looking for us wasn’t consistent with who I thought he was, so his friends could be nearby.
The mate bond amplified Creven’s anxiety and coupled with my own, threatened to send me to my knees. But I was no longer a lone wolf and I had to straighten my spine and look after my mate.
I took one last look around the cabin, memorizing details of the place where my mate saved me as he started the truck. He’d spattered mud on part of the license plates which might buy us time.
As we drove away, we agreed that if we were stopped by humans, we’d say we were seasonal workers heading toward a farming community who’d promised us work.
That might satisfy a local sheriff who was bored and was hoping to fine someone for a busted tail light.
But shifters? Even ones who hadn’t been notified about us would scent our status and that could lead to a heap of trouble.
We stayed on back roads that kept us away from major population centers and wound through farmland where workers bent low picking vegetables dotted the fields. I glanced at the mirrors every few minutes but the only vehicles behind us were tractors and delivery trucks.
"Tell me about Auden.” Creven merged onto a highway. "What do you know about him?”
"Not much. My father had told me he'd been born in a pack but now lives alone, by choice.” Something Father had said made me think he also helped shifters, ones like him who didn’t conform to pack hierarchy.
The landscape changed from farmland to forest as we climbed into the foothills.
With the window down, I scented shifters.
They were more at home close to the woods and weren’t drawn to farming.
This land might have pack patrols because it wasn’t close to an urban center and strangers were rare.
My wolf was on edge, sniffing and pacing inside me, asking how much longer.
We stopped for gas and while Creven filled the tank, I grabbed snacks and drinks from inside, keeping my head down and avoiding eye contact with the bored teenager behind the counter.
"Any trouble?" my mate asked as we pulled back onto the highway.
"The cashier was human. Didn't look up from his phone."
The afternoon wore on and we didn’t say much, just listened to the crackly radio. Just before dusk we passed a diner. Though we had enough food for a few days, we wanted to save that, not knowing what was ahead.
The dust-covered diner’s parking lot was full of big trucks.
Again, the drivers would be mostly humans, as shifters preferred being close to their pack.
But it was busy enough to provide cover.
Inside, the diner reminded me of my folks' pics from the 1970s with wood paneling and vinyl booths.
We chose a corner table where we could watch the entrance and the parking lot.
Night was the most dangerous time, because if any packs ran patrols it was late in the evening or in the early hours of the morning.
Creven met my eyes across the table. "If we're going to be caught, it'll be after dark.”
“We'd better not get caught.” I hoped I sounded more confident than I felt.