Just a Rogue

Amelia

The combat training is still going on when I report back to the conference room. Janine stays out there, helping all the she-wolves with the room deodorizer bottles, and explaining how they differ from the real thing that is in the case in the Alpha’s room. They can’t practice with the genuine silver weapon, there’s a limited supply and furthermore it’s really too dangerous.

When I get back to the command center, my eyes happen upon a pile stacked in the corner of the supplies left over from when we were in here putting together the surveillance equipment for Corinne to bring with her. It kind of bothers me that I haven’t had the chance to tidy up, but we’ve just been so busy. After it’s all over I’ll get everything put away.

I sit down in front of one of the laptops tracking the audio feeds, and prepare to start transcribing again. Then my eyes go back over to the pile of crafting supplies in the corner. The blue surgical gloves are there, which we were all wearing to prevent any trace of our scent from contaminating Corinne’s equipment.

Darlene asks, “How’s it going out there?”

I smile. “Good. Janine has them practicing with little squirt bottles to imitate the silver dust weapon that Dark Woods has developed. The rogues aren’t going to know what hit them.” I chuckle. “Alpha Ross demonstrated, and everyone thought he was joking with how melodramatically he howled and collapsed when Janine squirted him in the face with room deodorizer.”

She chuckles. “I wished I’d seen it. I felt it happen, though. He has a hidden talent for acting….” She breaks off with a secret smile, and I wonder if there is some private acting that they have shared together. Oh my, how inappropriate of me to be speculating about such a thing!

I add, “I’ve thought of something,” and she looks at me with her eyebrows raised. I get up and grab the box of surgical gloves. “Do you think that our wolves should be wearing these? It looked like the silver dust is super dangerous, maybe this will prevent them from getting injured by it in the fight?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s a really good point.” She pauses for a second. “Probably masks too, just to be safe. Do you have any of those masks here that everyone was wearing during the pandemic?”

I nod. “There must be some downstairs. We only used them if we were going out in public where humans would see us, so they didn’t think we were being unsafe. I’m sure we have plenty left over.”

She understands. Human illnesses don’t really affect wolves, but we do try to blend into human society. “Why don’t you go grab them, and I’ll let Ross know to tell everyone that we’ll be distributing gloves and masks before they leave tonight.”

Theo

Oh man what I wouldn’t give to have this foolish cast off my leg and be preparing to go out there tonight. I have an appointment with Dr. Hughes tomorrow, maybe it’ll come off and I’ll be able to take part in the real battle. Fingers crossed.

In the meantime I’m still fixated on this audio feed from the cave. What a turd that rogue leader is. When we all heard him casually assigning the she-wolves like they are nothing more than sex toys, I think we all just about hurled. Disgusting. I am so glad that we are taking out this pack of vermin.

The combat training goes on for hours, probably until both Alphas are convinced that everybody taking part is comfortable with the role they are going to play, and competent to do it. That’s the secret to any combat, repeated practice. We train once or twice a week as wolves no matter what, so we’re always ready for that kind of battle, but urban combat in human neighborhoods is a specialty thing, and needs to really be drilled.

Finally, long after it has gotten dark, the leaders of both packs come back into the command center. I’ve been here all day, along with Amelia and Darlene, but some other folks have come and gone.

Beta Malcolm comes over and stands behind me. “How’s it going?” he asks.

I indicate the screen where I’ve been taking notes from the audio feed. “That asshole is getting ready to send his team out. He said they should leave around nine p.m. I guess he figures by that time most of the activity in town will have calmed down and they’ll be able to find any wolves walking alone.”

Kanen nods, having heard that. “Okay, that gives us a couple of hours to get everyone in position.” He looks around at the room. “I hate to ask this of you, Amelia, and Theo, I know that you’ve already had two shifts, but I’m wondering if you could stay on here tonight. I’d like the drone teams to stay where they are as well.” We know that a second drone team has deployed to Arcata, ready to take over the feed there if the trailhead team’s drones don’t have sufficient range.

Kanen goes on, “I don’t want to change shifts in the middle of the action like this, and you’ve all demonstrated your competence. Let’s just keep everyone at their posts for another few hours. We’ll switch to the overnight shift after we see how things unfold in Arcata.”

I nod, and Amelia adds, “Of course. Shall I have some dinner brought in?”

Darlene says, “How about we take a break for an hour to go get dinner and stretch our legs, then come back. We’ll have someone monitor the feeds and let us know if anything happens, but it sounds like they are just going to finish eating and get ready for…” she grimaces with distaste … “‘bed’ before their team leaves.” Nobody wants to have to listen to those poor girls be sexually abused. Ugh.

“What about the drone teams?” Amelia asks.

Darlene smiles at her. “Tell Dom we’ll have pizza delivered to the trailhead.”

Seth

Xavier wants us to wait until nine before we leave, but that means that people are already pulling the girls to their sleeping areas with them. Thank god Xavier seems to be planning to wait until after we go. I genuinely don’t think I could stay in the cave during that.

But he is watching, unusually carefully, as Lynette and Nova are pulled over to their assignments. Amir and Micah have to move their sleeping spots closer, since the girls are still cuffed together, but they soon have started. Normally everyone tries to look away during sex. All smashed together in a cave like this, it’s the only privacy that is possible.

Xavier, though, is openly staring as Micah pushes Lynette to his blanket. Not as though he is horny or watching porn. I realize that he’s evaluating. He wants to know whether Lynette is going to keep her word and not cause any more trouble.

She keeps her promise. She silently submits to whatever Micah wishes, not fighting or even grumbling. She just permits it. I guess that anybody will break eventually with that much torture. I don’t think she would have survived much more of the contact with that silver, and she probably realized that it was going to kill her unless she just started cooperating.

When it is clear that she is under control, Xavier turns to me. “You can go ahead and bring the silver collar with you into Arcata,” he says, and I realize that this is what he was waiting for. He wanted to see whether he’d need to use it for Lynette, or whether we could bring it. It will be an incredibly useful means of controlling any hostage we are able to abduct from Arcata.

I might loathe Xavier, but I have to admire his strategic mind.

Once he has taken care of this last bit of business for the evening, his gaze shifts over to Corinne.

“Wyatt,” I say immediately, grabbing my backpack that has the gloves and collar in it, “time to go.” He looks up and nods, standing, ready. Blake and Finn are right behind him, and we all quickly leave the cave. I can’t get out of there soon enough.

Thank god I’m out before I see or hear anything that Xavier does to Corinne. I have to put it out of my mind, too. I can’t be distracted while we go into town to conduct our recon, maybe even confront some pack wolves.

We start walking west towards where the car is parked.

Dominic

We’re tired, but pretty well revived by the huge stack of delicious pizza that is delivered to us here at the little parking lot by the trailhead. I’ve told Amelia that none of us mind staying right where we are to keep tracking the pack with the drones.

Nothing has happened for hours. Since sunset, we’ve moved the drones closer to the cave, since they won’t be seeing them up overhead in the dark. Nobody has come out of the cave since the wolves returned, except for occasional potty breaks when people come outside to relieve themselves. At least they aren’t doing that inside the cave. Nasty. Although to be fair I myself peed all over eleven of their other caves, I think, smirking.

Amelia reacts with a little mental snort. “Gross!” she thinks.

“I was just following orders, Ma’am,” I intone, and we snicker together for a moment.

It’s becoming so smooth, talking to her all the time. It’s only been a few days since we finalized our mating, but the feeling of really just being one mind is settling in. If we put any effort at all into it, we can converse and share images, but even if we aren’t doing that, it’s a constant background thing. I always feel her. It’s like she’s standing right next to me all the time, whispering in my ear, sharing her feelings. The only thing that is missing is her delicious scent. And body.

I’m tracking the drone feed on my phone app, just to keep an eye on whether there is any activity at the front of the cave. It’s actually easier to watch the screen at the packhouse through Amelia’s eyes, but she hasn’t been looking at the video feed since the rogues arrived, she’s been focused on the audio. But the phone screen is sufficient to alert me when there’s movement, and suddenly there is.

“Oh!” I think to her. “The rogue team has left the cave!”

I can tell that she swiftly turns to watch the video feed, since I start seeing it in my mind, much more clearly than on my little phone. Four men have left the cave, and are walking back towards where their car is parked.

“Alpha Ross says to follow the car as far as the drone can go towards Arcata, then the drone team there will take over in town,” she tells me. “You can come back here afterwards.”

“Will do,” I agree, and immediately start wondering when we’ll be able to spend some time alone together.

She is amused. “Sproing?” she thinks to me.

“Oh, yeah.”

Evan

We’re all in place. Six teams are scattered throughout Arcata, ready to be directed by the drone feeds to the best places to lay our traps. We are so ready. The whole afternoon of training was exactly what we needed, and I am very sure that we will be able to lure the rogues, incapacitate them and push them into our cars so quickly that no humans will even notice that anything has happened.

The fact that the rogues intend to only attack pack members who are alone and in isolated areas is to our advantage. Humans won’t be around wherever this goes down.

I look forward to tearing some rogues apart.

I know I have to be speedy and quiet, though, while we are in the dark streets of Arcata, so I guess that the tearing apart will have to wait until later.

I’m driving Kanen and Janine. She insisted on taking part as one of the bait she-wolves, and Kanen of course insisted on being there to protect her. I pity any rogues who lay hands on her. They’re going to have my fury and the Alpha’s protectiveness both land on them like a ton of bricks.

This is gonna be fun.

Wyatt

Seth gets us into town, and we split up into two teams. Blake and Finn head in one direction, and hopefully they’ll quit grumbling about having been assigned recon rather than females tonight. They need to focus.

We are going to head the other way. “Wanna split up or stay together?” I ask Seth.

He looks around the deserted streets. “Let’s split up,” he says. “I think that I should stay here close to the car, just in case any of you get back with a hostage.”

Good. We’re planning to rendezvous back here at midnight, or earlier if we are able to capture a hostage. I’d just as soon work alone. I’m one of the biggest of our group, definitely in wolf form, and even in human form. I’m nearly as big as Xavier. Seth would just slow me down.

I start quickly striding down the street, soon leaving him behind me, parked in a dark alley behind some closed businesses. I am keeping careful track of the street names, and of any scents I can detect. We have to stay human, and my nose isn’t as sensitive as it would be in my wolf form, but I’ll know when I cross the scent of any pack members. At the very least I want to be able to provide a full report to Xavier of the areas where pack members live and work in the town.

After about twenty minutes, a fresh scent attracts my attention as I cross a deserted street. I turn to follow it, rather than proceeding straight as I had planned. Walking quickly, I follow behind a person I see moving up a couple of blocks ahead.

Oh, this is fucking perfect! My heart starts pounding with exhilaration, adrenalin pumping to prepare me for the chase. It’s a girl, walking all by herself in the dark, probably completely confident that she is safe here in this town full of humans and pack members. How wrong she is!

God, she’s sexy too. Look at that slim body, that long dark hair swaying along with her little round hips as she walks. It reminds me of Corinne. I am not the only rogue who resented Xavier for keeping her to himself. Having her back reminded me, and now this hot little she-wolf is just inviting me to snatch her away. I’m going to tell Xavier that I claim her first use, since I’m the one who’s bringing her back to the cave.

I duck behind a building as she turns another corner, half a block ahead of me, to make sure that she doesn’t catch a glimpse of me, then continue stealing down the street after her, gaining on her. Look at this, she’s fucking oblivious, her phone up in her hand, staring at the screen, paying no attention to the fact that I am almost upon her.

When I am just a few feet away, I dash forward, reaching out my hand. I plan to yank her head back by the hair and pound her in the head with my other fist, to stun her, so that I can quickly bundle her back down the street to the car. Hopefully I’ll be able to get the half mile or so back to the car without anybody noticing and calling 911, but by the time the police have responded we can be long gone. Seth can come back to collect Blake and Finn later.

This is working out so well. Xavier is a genius to have arranged it.

I think she might sense me behind her, but before she has managed to turn and look behind her I grab a big fistful of her long, dark hair. It stops her in her tracks, and she starts spinning fearfully as I am lifting my other hand to clobber her.

And…

PAIN! Oh my god my eyes are on fire, my face is burning, I don’t know what happened, I start coughing and hacking, barely able to breathe, and I stagger backwards, looking wildly around, starting to run back the way I came, and an enraged gigantic man who looks like fucking Thor is slamming his fist straight into my face.