Page 19
Story: What’s Rogue Got To Do With It (Fur-Ever Mountain Pack #1)
LARKIN
The drive back to our old cabin was very different to the one when we fled our home.
We trundled over the same roads but we were no longer hiding.
When we got off the road at a rest stop, we got glances as everyone did when we walked in the door.
But after a quick once over, people went back to what they were doing.
But we were different. Creven bore my mating mark and the one from our new pack, while I was pregnant and also has Auden’s pack mark.
And though we couldn’t change Daniel’s death and that I killed him, my ending him was justified.
He’d threatened my mate. Auden had cleared this with the council but there would be resentment from Daniel’s pack and as much as I loved our first home, I wanted to be in and out. There’d be no dawdling.
"It's hard to believe.” My mate navigated around a pothole that had gotten bigger since we'd left. "A council ruling that recognizes new pack formation. Who would have thought?"
I touched the fresh mark on my shoulder, still tender but already healing as though it had always been there.
“Auden is a persuasive Alpha.” Despite the details he’d provided, I wondered if he had a history with any of the council members. Were there people who owed him favors and he’d told them it was payback time?
My mate rounded the last corner and the clearing appeared. The cabin was still standing when I’d wondered if Daniel’s Alpha had ordered it destroyed. And would the pack have trashed the insides carrying off anything of value?
The cabin was smaller than I remembered and tears filled my eyes.
It was sad we were going to leave it alone.
I hoped another lone shifter would find it and make themselves a home.
What I'd planted was overgrown with weeds but the scorch marks from the bonfire were still visible. The grass had been trampled and there was an overwhelming stench of angry shifters. Maybe they hadn’t destroyed it, thinking they might lure us back.
“What if Daniel’s friends ignore the council ruling and are waiting for us?” I stood on the porch, my hand on the door. Maybe we were foolish to have returned. I was still processing that we weren’t outlaws.
“If they value their life, they’ll keep away.” My mate took a big breath. “Hard to believe we were so scared.”
Perhaps it was because I was carrying our baby that I was more reluctant to embrace our new freedoms.
“If we were human, I’d carry you over the threshold.” He put a hand on my hip.
“Shouldn’t that be the other way round? I was your mate when we left but you weren’t mine. Not officially.”
“And none of our acting actions were legal.”
I shoved the door and we stood at the entrance surveying what had become a museum. Books were on the coffee table and night stand and there were moldy dishes in the sink. Ewww. We wouldn’t be taking those. We’d left clothes scattered over the floor during our hasty departure.
We packed our books, clothes and kitchen equipment, minus the dishes covered in ants and mold.
The chairs we’d burned in the bonfire or as I referred to it the “what remained of Daniel fire” and the closet and bookshelves were too big to transport in the truck.
But we took the bed apart and carried out tables, an armchair and some lamps.
Anything we could salvage that would fit in the truck went in, including a chopping board my mate had carved.
I wandered outside and hefted what remained of the wood in the shed. That would be useful during the cold nights in the mountains.
When we were done, we took off to the river to get clean, preferring it to a shower. I headed to our favorite spot but Creven pulled me upstream. “Not there. I got rid of some of Daniel there.”
Ewww. The part of me that had been holding on to this place let it go. It was tainted with his memory and the stench of his burning body. Our swim was shorter than we intended and after a quick wash, we headed back.
“Our little one will grow up in a pack, not fearing when they’ll be asked to leave or when an alpha will threaten them.” My mate slung an arm around my shoulder.
So far it was a pack of three, four if we counted our baby.
"I can't wait to show the baby the woods around our new home.” My mate started the truck. “We can teach them to track and hunt."
“And if they’re a wolf, my beast can show them how to take down a deer.”
Creven side-eyed me. Now we weren’t anticipating an attack, we joked with one another, something that had been lacking when we lived here.
“Oh, you think the odds favor you, huh?” He elbowed me and put the truck in gear.
“Didn’t say that. But there’s a 50% chance our baby will be a wolf.” I put my hand over his on the gearstick. “Let’s go.”
I peered out the window as my mate reversed and wound the window down. “Thank you for everything. We’ll keep you here.” I pressed a hand to my chest. “I hope someone stumbles upon you and makes a home here.”
And we were off.
On the drive back to our new home we sang along to the radio and discussed what we were going to do to the cabin. I was planning a garden and we even discussed baby names, though that ended in an argument.
“The cabin doesn’t need a new roof.” Creven was adamant it needed new shingles before winter.
I wanted to build an extension for a nursery because with my mate working from home and a baby, we needed more space so we weren’t tripping over one another. And our little one deserved their own room.
Auden seemed pleased to see us when we pulled in though it was hard to tell. He wasn’t the kind of guy that clapped and hollered when he was excited but he grinned, so I took that as a welcome.
“How'd it go?"
"Better than expected.” I climbed out of the truck. "No sign that anyone had been in there and we got everything we wanted.”
"Good. I've been thinking about those improvements you'll need." He wandered over to our cabin. “There's a hardware store in town that owes me a favor or two.”
How many people owed Auden a favor, including any members of the shifter council I’d been musing over? I liked the guy and I was forever grateful for what he’d done. As our Alpha I respected him but I suspected he was able to manipulate people and that shouldn’t be surprising. He was an Alpha.
“You’ll be needing a nursery.”
My mate and I shared a glance and burst out laughing. “We’ve been discussing that on the drive.”
Auden tapped his head. “I’m a mind reader.”
Wait what? Was he serious? Or was he just good at reading people? He’d make an excellent gambler, not that I approved of betting because people lost everything when they gambled.
But him mentioning what needed to be done to make our cabin a home and how he interred himself into our plans… well that was what Alphas did even if you didn't agree. But the flip side was that you had people around you who looked out for one another.
"There's something else.” His expression had grown more serious. "I've been in touch with some other displaced shifters. Ones who might be interested in joining us and making this a real pack instead of the three of us."
My reaction was instinctive. I’d talked about wanting to expand the pack but the thought of strangers coming in and upending our routine was unsettling. My chest tightened and I rubbed my flat belly, concentrating on the baby.
Creven paused unloading our belongings. "What kind of shifters?"
"Good people who are alone. A wolf whose pack dissolved after their alpha died without naming a successor, and there’s a bear who enjoys his solitude but would like having backup when he needs it.
" Auden glanced between me and my mate as if assessing our reaction.
"None of them are rogues but like you, Larkin, they are loners. "
If Auden said they were good people, I trusted him.
We’d be a real pack and our cub would have aunties and uncles. Maybe there’d be more kids in time, and we’d have a school and perhaps a clinic. This was what I’d dreamed of during the years on the road.
That evening we sat on our cabin's front porch enjoying the sunset. Other than our planned renovations, there was nothing to fear. We were mated and had a baby on the way. And we belonged to a pack.
"Happy?" Creven put his arm around my shoulders.
“I am. We’ve finally found where we belong.”