Just a Rogue

Seth

I park the car in the spot under the trees, off the road. I have to get out and move the broken fence out of the way myself this time since nobody is in the car with me, just one more annoyance. This entire situation is so aggravating.

I walk back to the cave heavily, feeling that each step is taking me closer to doom. Xavier is going to be livid. With any luck he’ll be asleep when I get there, though, and I’ll be able to slip past into my sleeping area, and at least delay the inevitable until morning. But I know that his rage is going to be incandescent, and he’s probably going to take it out on me. I’m the one who managed to lose three rogues.

Even more than all of that, I’ve been getting the creepiest sense of being watched all day. Ever since we got back to the cave. When I was there in the cave, I suspected that it might be Corinne glancing over at me, that her eyes on me are what gave me that feeling, but I never looked back at her to confirm. I don’t think that’s what it was, though, because I’ve felt it the whole evening too. Walking back from the car to the cave in the middle of the night, alone, I feel the hair on the back of my neck standing up, the sense of being observed becoming more and more tangible. I even swing my head behind me a couple of times to check that I’m not being followed, but nobody is back there.

It must just be the entire situation that’s keeping me on edge. Chasing all over northern California to find the one cave that the pack hasn’t discovered, Corinne returning unexpectedly, learning that she’s carrying my child, the three rogues abandoning me during our mission in Arcata. No wonder I feel paranoid.

I enter the cave as quietly as I can, trying not to jostle the bushes concealing the entrance. I can hear nothing but the deep breathing of sleep, including Xavier’s snoring. Thank goodness. Let’s keep it that way.

I move as stealthily as I can to my sleeping spot along the wall, staring at Xavier as I pass by, willing him to stay asleep. He has Corinne clutched to him, holding her captive while he sleeps, and even this hurts for me to see. God, I’m never going to be able to endure this. I have no idea how to change it though.

I stop in my tracks when I realize that Corinne’s eyes are open, and she is looking straight at me as I try to sneak past. Of course she can’t sleep while he has her trapped there. Her eyes meet mine in the dark, just a bit of moonlight filtering in from outside. Then I see her gaze shift to the entrance, and when nobody comes in after, her eyes come back to me. Other than the movement of her eyes, she is entirely motionless.

I keep walking. I can’t try to communicate with her in any way and risk Xavier waking up, or even worse, realizing that there is something between Corinne and I.

Before I drop to my blanket, I glance back and see that Corinne’s eyes are still open, staring straight ahead, obviously resigned to her night of being Xavier’s unwilling teddy bear.

I lay down, but I’m not sleeping. I’m just waiting for the confrontation with Xavier that I know is coming.

Corinne

When Seth returns without the other three, I think that it must have begun. The pack has something to do with this. I know what Xavier sent them out to do in Arcata. But what nobody else knows is that this whole cave is bugged, and I know that in the River Moon packhouse they are hearing every plan that gets made here. There’s no way that they didn’t have something waiting for the rogues when they got down into Arcata.

It gives me hope, and makes me afraid. Xavier isn’t going to just be angry. He’s going to be suspicious. I had expected the pack to strike all at once. I thought that the whole thing would be over in one blow. I hadn’t expected that it would be a piece at a time. I hope that Xavier doesn’t get paranoid and decide to move us out of this cave before the pack has the chance to strike.

There’s nothing I can do but watch, and wait, and hope.

When Seth meets my eyes, then continues walking, I don’t know what to make of that. I won’t have any opportunity to speak with him. I can’t alert Xavier that there is anything going on other than exactly what I told him. Xavier has to think that I’m here because I brought his baby back to him.

So far I think it’s working. Other than beating me when I first got back, which I expected, he hasn’t been cruel to me at all. Even sex tonight was far less brutal than usual. I could tell that he was holding himself back, and I wonder if it is because he was actually worried about doing anything that would hurt the baby.

“I think so,” my wolf comments. “And the baby is still just fine.”

I’m very grateful for that. It was my biggest worry coming back here. But the sex was more mechanical than violent, Xavier taking just long enough to climax, and I made sure to hold him to me, rubbing against him, to sigh and moan just enough that he was assured that I am where I want to be.

And now I just have to wait for morning. I doubt I’ll sleep. Xavier has me pressed against his chest. The blanket we are on does nothing to shield me from the hard rock of the cave floor. After spending a week sleeping on a soft bed, I can’t adjust to this. His arms are crushing me, heavy on top of my chest. His beard is scratching the back of my neck, his snores are loud in my ear, his hot breath blows across my skin.

I remain perfectly still. I won’t do anything to disturb him, or bother him. My goal in life right now is to keep him happy while I’m waiting.

Just long enough for the pack to get here. I hope they don’t wait too much longer.