Just a Rogue

Amelia

“See ya later,” Dom says through our mind-link. It’s crazy how easy this is. I mean, not easy, it’s never easy to see him go, but it feels doable. We’ll be together no matter where he goes, I’ll feel him and hear him and know him. We won’t miss anything. And we’ll see each other soon. I send him the mental image of myself licking him, and he thinks, “Sproing!”

“Sproing?” I think back. “What is that? More vocabulary?” He sends me the mental image of his dick springing up hard as a rock, and I try not to sputter out a laugh while both of the Lunas are standing right next to me.

“Later,” I tell him, and try to re-focus on what I’m doing.

“Let’s sit down for a minute and talk,” Janine says, gesturing back to the table. I see that her mark on her throat is still a vivid red, having been renewed at the ceremony last night. My fingers reach up and caress Dom’s mark on me.

Her eyes follow the movement, and she touches her own throat. “Congratulations again, Amelia,” she tells me. “Dominic is such a nice guy, and I’m so happy for you both.”

“Thanks,” I smile. “He is so nice. I am so lucky.”

She grins. “I’ve known him almost our whole lives,” she points out. “If you need any background, I’m your girl!”

Darlene laughs. “How convenient!” she says.

I smile at Janine. “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind. I’m getting to know him already, we’ve spent as much time together as we can.”

She quirks her head to the side. “How did that even work?” she asks curiously. “I mean, didn’t you meet him when we got here? That first night? Me and Kanen found each other right away.”

I have to laugh a little. “I remember,” I say, “I was standing right in front of you, and I thought he was walking towards me. I was so confused!”

She grins. “I barely remember anything about it, just that I smelled his scent, and couldn’t understand what was happening until he was there. Everything else is nothing but memories of him. I couldn’t think about one single thing except him for days.”

Darlene points out, “Amelia and Dominic found each other at the same time.”

Janine says, “What? Really?”

I nod. It’s kind of funny now that the waiting is over. “Yep. I could smell his scent, while Alpha Kanen was walking to you, and he passed me by to get to you, and I was so confused that I started getting dizzy, then Dom was behind me holding me up.” Mmmmm. What a memory.

The Lunas look at each other, and I’d expect them to laugh since it’s such a silly way for us to have gotten started, but they don’t. Darlene says, “It’s remarkable, isn’t it? Two matings at the same moment, in the same place, and nobody realized it.”

I shrug. “I didn’t want to interfere with you, Luna Janine. That’s why we waited until after your mating ceremony. We didn’t want to get in the way.”

“But,” she protests, “how did you…?” She breaks off, looking completely baffled.

I don’t really know what to tell her. We just got through it. Darlene puts in, “I’ve been watching her cope with this since then, and it has been amazing.”

“You knew?” Janine asks.

She nods, “Yes, I figured it out, and we talked about it. I knew why they were waiting. To be honest, I didn’t think it would be possible, but they managed it.” She looks back over at me, and adds, “Did you know that was also Amelia’s 18th birthday? Their mating is blessed.”

“Really?” Janine looks astonished.

This is starting to get uncomfortable. I’d like the conversation to move on to something more important than me. “So,” I ask Janine, “what was the idea that you told Alpha Kanen you are working on?”

The Lunas look at each other meaningfully again, then Janine shrugs. “It’s a strategy to approach the rogues, and I’d like to get your input. I think we might need to ask Corinne to help us again.”

Ah. Good - the more helpful they perceive Corinne to be, the more likely she’ll achieve her goal of protection for herself and the other she-wolves.

I nod. “What can I do?”

Dominic

Evan and I climb into one of the Dark Woods cars back in the garage behind the River Moon packhouse. I get behind the wheel, of course. That’s one of my roles.

“Which way to the pack hospital?” I ask him.

He stares at me. “How should I know?”

Oh. Duh. Um….

“Why don’t you pull around to the front of the packhouse,” he suggests, “and I’ll run in and ask someone for directions.”

I start to agree, then realize something. “Hold on…” I tell him, then I mind-link Amelia.

“Sorry to disturb you in your big important Luna meeting,” I think to her, “but Evan and I need the address of the pack hospital, so we can go visit Theo.”

“Ah!” she thinks back to me, and I love the feeling of her mind brushing up against mine. It’s as pleasurable as any of her other touches. “Hold on….”

I grin over at Evan. “Amelia’s getting it for me,” I tell him.

“What? You’re mind-linking her?” he asks in astonishment.

“Don’t miss much, do you?” I tease him, and he rolls his eyes.

She does the impossible and comes back and gives me an address in Arcata. I tell it to Evan. He starts punching it into his phone to get the GPS directions, all while he is shaking his head, probably thinking that this whole thing is totally bizarre.

He’s not wrong. She’s my Impossible Girl, my dream come true. It’s like I’ve slipped into an alternate timeline where I get everything I want. I send her a flood of gratitude and love, and feel her sending it right back to me.

“So,” he says when he’s ready to direct me, “are you going to explain what on earth happened?”

“We already told you,” I say. “We met on the solstice, and waited to mark each other until last night.”

“But, but, but,” he blathers.

“Dude, what else is there to say?” I ask. I laugh a little as I turn the car down the road out of the packhouse grounds. “It was kind of funny at first. Amelia was standing right in front of Janine when Kanen found her, and I thought for a second that he was coming for Amelia to claim her, the expression on his face was so obvious. I thought I was going to have to fight him for Amelia!”

That gets him laughing. “You? Fight Thor? Ha! Good luck with that!”

Seriously. I’m, like, as big around as one of his biceps. “Well thank goodness I didn’t have to. He was just trying to get around Amelia to reach Janine.”

He grows more serious. “I really don’t get how you waited. Kanen and Janine were stuck like glue to each other, even when we went out to the lodge and were exploring the rogue scents. I didn’t think it was something you could just ignore.”

I nod, my hands on the wheel, my eyes on the road. Thank goodness the weather is fine again, I’m not sure I’d be up to another drive through a storm right now. “We didn’t ignore it. But she wanted to wait until after the ceremony to finalize everything, so we waited. I’d do anything for her.” He has no idea how true that is.

“You just waited? Like, you didn’t touch her?”

“You nosy asshole! I’m not giving you the gory details!” We both laugh.

“Fine, fine,” he gives up, lifting his hands. “I’m curious about how it works, but you don’t have to tell me anything private.”

“Good!” I say. “Honestly, though, we didn’t know how it works either, we just figured it out as we went along. Someday you’ll do it too, when you find your mate.”

Evan

I nod, but will I though? I’m not sure I’ll ever find my mate. That seems very distant. Unlikely. Even irrelevant. Corinne might not be my mate, but I am getting to be more and more obsessed with her.

I can’t stop thinking about her. Her gray eyes, her long dark hair, the way her slim body felt in my arms last night, the taste of her mouth. Her quiet voice, her scent, her haunted expression. I want her. I wonder what she’s doing right now, and find myself envious of Dom all over again. He just demonstrated that a rumor about fated mates is apparently true - they can even mind-link with each other. It’d be so nice right now to be able to talk to Corinne. I’m starting to feel like no matter what happens, I’m going to have to find a way to be with her.

We spend the rest of the trip to the hospital in silence, probably both dreaming about our ladies. Dom pulls into the parking lot of what looks like a standard office building on the outskirts of the town, with no markings to indicate that it is a hospital. That’s pretty much the way most packs do things - wouldn’t really want to advertise what we’re doing here. If a human thought it was a human hospital and came in I’m sure they’d be treated and sent on their way, but this facility is for wolves.

We ask a security guard in the lobby where Theo’s room is and follow his directions to the second floor. Walking down the hallway to his room, we hear laughing, so that’s a good sign.

An older couple is in the room with him, and this has got to be his parents, right? The man looks like Theo in twenty years, and the woman is sitting on the bed with him, pretending to spoon food into his mouth. They’re all laughing.

Theo looks up when he sees us come in. “Evan! Dom! Welcome to my cell!”

Walking over to him, I ask, “Hey man, how you feeling!” His leg is over the covers, with a big cast on, but at least it looks like it isn’t bent in twelve different ways like it was last time I saw him.

“Better than anyone admits,” he answers. “Guys, this is my Mom, Roberta, and my Dad, Theodore.” They get up and shake our hands, smiling, while he tells them, “Evan and Dom are here from Dark Woods.”

“Nice to meet you,” Roberta says. “We were so pleased to hear that an alliance has been finalized.” I realize that none of Theo’s family would have been at the ceremony last night where it was announced, they were busy helping him here.

“Me too,” I tell them, “it’s going to be great for both packs.”

Theodore says, “We’ll leave you to talk with your friends,” and they start heading out the door.

“You’re going to get lunch, aren’t you?” Theo accuses them. “Without me? Will you smuggle me back a hamburger or something? Fries?”

I realize that the tray in front of him has soup and crackers on it. I lean down and in a stage whisper tell him, “Don’t worry, we’ll hook you up with something better.”

His parents shake their heads and go, chuckling.

Dom’s been standing by the door, but he comes further into the room, and before he can sit in one of the chairs, Theo whoops and points at his throat. “What is that?!?!”

He grins. “Amelia’s mark,” he says proudly.

Theo looks back and forth between us. “I KNEW it!” He looks at me with a smirk. “I never did think you had a chance with her, and apparently I was right!”

I roll my eyes. “Shut up.”

He grins. “So, tell me everything. What’d I miss?”