Just a Rogue

Ruby

I’m not sure how to do this. Am I supposed to kneel? Should I raise my hands? Should I yell that I surrender? They stare at me, and I stare at them, and now what?

Then one of them, a young black guy, says, “Ruby?”

What? Well, obviously this is the pack that Corinne was talking about. She even told them my name.

“Uh, yes,” I answer. “Um, Corinne told me I could meet you here. She said that I should, uh, submit to you. So that’s what I’m doing.”

I just stand here though, on the edge of the parking lot, not sure how hostile they are going to be. I’m half ready to just run away again, if it seems like they plan to attack me. I can still try to get by as a lone wolf.

But they all have big friendly smiles on their faces. What on earth is this? Don’t they know I’m a rogue?

“I’m glad you came,” one of the girls says, “we weren’t sure that you would.”

The black guy is silent for a moment, then he says, “Um, they want me to bring you back to the packhouse.”

Does he have earbuds in or something? Is he talking to someone on the phone? Well, it doesn’t matter. I have to decide right now whether to go or run. But nobody looks like they’re planning to hurt me. Nobody has any weapons, or even looks angry or aggressive.

Hesitantly, I nod. I think I’m just gonna go along with this. Corinne has been right so far, and I think I’ll keep trusting her. What did she tell me? Just cooperate with whatever they ask, and maybe we’ll win permission to stay in the area? Well, that’s what I want. So I’m going to trust this. I move slowly away from the edge of the parking lot towards their car, and they just watch, with interest, not with aggression.

The guy looks like he’s listening to something, and his forehead is wrinkled, and I see him shaking his head slightly. I don’t see any earbuds. Who is he talking to? He sighs, looks at the ground, then looks up at me.

“I’m Dom,” he introduces himself. “And this is, uh, Pam, and Laura and Jim.” I nod at them, wondering what the point of this introduction is. Are they just being… polite? That’s a thing with this pack?

Then he goes on, kind of wincing, “I am really, really sorry about this.” I tense up, waiting to hear what he means. “They say I have to put handcuffs on you in the car. They don’t trust that you won’t attack me while I’m driving.”

My eyes widen. Well, I wouldn’t trust me either. I’m a rogue. It’s completely rational, honestly, and seems like the first part of this interaction that makes any sense. All of this friendliness is what feels unnatural. So I shrug. “All right,” I say. I’m putting myself in their hands, at their mercy. Handcuffs won’t really make any difference.

He bites his lip, looking like he is really regretting this. “I have to warn you, the cuffs have, uh, silver in them.”

Oh. I stop. My instinct, again, is to run. I’m not going to let them hurt me. But my determination to trust Corinne, and to hope for a better life, wins out. She said to submit, to surrender. I am going to surrender to this entire experience, just like I have surrendered to everything that Xavier has inflicted on me. It’s the same thing, an effort to survive this.

“Fine,” I say, and prepare for the pain. I turn around and hold my hands behind my back, and close my eyes, waiting.

“Oh, no!” he says, “I’m not going to be that mean! You can have your hands in front, at least,” and I spin around and look at him. He looks so unhappy about doing this. I have this flash of memory about a cartoon or something that I saw once, of a parent about to spank their child, saying, “This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you,” and that never made sense to me until right this moment. This dude looks like this is really going to hurt him.

I nod, and hold my hands out in front of me. He pulls a set of handcuffs out of the car, a little different from the ones that Lynette and Nova are wearing. There isn’t a chain between them, these two cuffs are attached. I grit my teeth and wait, and he says, “Sorry, sorry, sorry!” wincing as he puts them on me.

I hiss with the pain, and feel an immediate weakness settling in. God, this is what Lynette has been feeling this whole time. Dom’s eyes are reflecting the pain that I feel.

He helps me get into the back seat of the car, tells the other people, “I’ll be back,” moves to the driver’s seat and starts the ignition.

I gaze out the window at the forest flashing past, as we move towards either my salvation or my doom.

Evan

I stare at the screen, disbelieving, watching from the drone hovering overhead as the female rogue approaches our team at the trailhead. Then, shockingly, she willingly allows Dom to put the silver cuffs on her.

Corinne has really done it. She has saved this girl. I don’t think I believed until right this second that there was a true point to what she wanted to do. I saw this as some sort of guilt trip, some self-sacrifice, some pointless charade caused by her inability to see enough worth in herself to make her believe that she was worthy of the kindness that our packs were showing her.

I didn’t think this would work. The best I was hoping for was that Corinne would be able to get away when our packs attack, and that maybe her friends would manage to not all get killed. Then I was going to have to try to comfort her after it was all over.

But Dom is driving back to the packhouse right now, one of Corinne’s friends surrendering exactly as she hoped would happen.

I think I owe her an apology. I should never have doubted her.

We don’t have a video feed of Dom’s car, there was no real point in tracking him, but Amelia has that mate bond with him, so she tells us when they are about to arrive. It’s mid-morning, and Theo has been replaced with another watcher while he’s off at his doctor’s appointment. The activity on the screens is quiet, but we anticipate there being some drama when that rogue who went shopping with Ruby arrives back to the cave without her.

Beta Nolan says, “Evan, come with me. We’re going to escort the rogue here for questioning.”

Oh! Right here into the command center? Where she’ll see everything we’re doing. It surprises me, but then I realize that it doesn’t matter what she sees. She isn’t going to have the opportunity to warn Xavier about it, and maybe if she sees all the effort we are going to on Corinne’s behalf, it will make her cooperate with any questions the leaders have for her.

When we brought the three rogues in last night, we drove around to the stairway at the back, but Dom pulls into the front driveway. Nolan and I are waiting there for them. As soon as the car stops, I open the back door, and see the rogue, a tall black girl with short hair, and an expression of pain in her eyes from the handcuffs that are binding both wrists together in front of her. It makes me feel bad. I didn’t care that the rogues last night were in pain from what we were doing to them, but this bothers me. She surrendered, voluntarily, and from everything that Corinne has described, she is nothing but a victim of the rogue males. I hope that the leaders don’t make her keep those cuffs on for very long.

She scoots out of the backseat while Dom is coming around from the front, and as she is standing, he introduces her. “Ruby, this is Beta Nolan and Evan, from my pack, Dark Woods.” She looks at him, slightly perplexed, like she can’t imagine why on earth he would be polite to her. And that’s exactly why he should. Why we all should. We aren’t animals like those rogues. Our behavior should demonstrate the contrast.

Nolan nods at her. “Hello, Ruby. Our leaders have a few questions. Please come with me.”

Dom walks next to her, and I am on her other side, as we follow Nolan through the front doors and towards the conference room. She is looking around with wide eyes, probably impressed with the large packhouse. She’s apparently been living in caves for some time, a hard existence, and who knows what her life was like before that. Probably not this nice.

I notice that she is also inhaling, sniffing the air, and I wonder if it stinks in here to her, all of us pack wolves. Just the three of us walking here with her were among the group who scent-marked their caves. She might even recognize our scent.

But she doesn’t look like she thinks it smells bad, to be here with the pack wolves. She seems to be enjoying the aroma, looking around, taking repeated deep breaths. Well, good, I’m glad she’s enjoying something, despite being a captive, despite the torturous cuffs.

When we get into the conference room, I’m sure she is intimidated by the leadership of two packs sitting in there staring right at her. She gazes down at the floor, her head bowed, and stands still, clearly fearful. I realize that she doesn’t know what to expect.

Luna Darlene is the one who takes over, probably trying to make the rogue feel more at ease. She stands up and comes over to her, and puts her arm around Ruby’s shoulders. “Welcome, Ruby,” she says. “I’m Darlene. We are all very glad that you have come to us.”

Then she frowns, looking at Ruby’s hands, and turns to look at Alpha Ross. “Surely she doesn’t need these cuffs to stay on, does she? What possible risk is there, in this room with everybody?”

I notice Janine looking at Kanen, and nodding, and he apparently agrees. But first he tells Ruby, “I am Alpha Kanen of River Moon pack. We have some questions. Are you willing to cooperate?”

She nods her head, but can’t meet his eyes, and in a hoarse voice she says, “Yes, Alpha.”

“You won’t try anything if we take those cuffs off?” he wants to clarify.

“No, Alpha,” she says, and I see a little quirk of her head that makes me think that she is silently adding, “Of course not. Duh.”

Ross gestures to Dom, and he quickly removes the cuffs. Ruby inhales deeply with relief and rubs her wrists, which I see have livid red marks on them. Damn.

Darlene says, “Here, have a seat, Ruby.” She sits in the chair next to Amelia, which is probably the perfect spot, honestly. Amelia is so sweet, it’ll be the best way for her to feel comfortable.

The rogue starts looking around for the first time, staring in amazement at all of the screens set up all over the table. I doubt that she can figure out what they are for.

“I want you to know, Ruby,” Darlene continues, “that we have grown so fond of Corinne. She is the reason that we have all of these set up.” She gestures around at the equipment covering the table. “We would have simply found a straightforward way to attack Xavier and his rogue group once it became clear that they were a danger to the pack. But Corinne requested that we help her warn you and the other females, so that you could try to save yourselves. It is so gratifying to see that her warning worked for you.”