Siren -Editing-

Chapter Fourteen

Not every day is a great day, but every day does have the potential to be OK; a sentiment I strove to live by.

As a rogue, it was easy to forget how good life could be while fighting for basic needs a pack wolf just had at their disposal. There were days when I couldn't remember the good there was, the long days spent running from one territory to the next, the days were food was scarce, or the weather fought against us having a space to sleep.

But there were the great days when we had plenty, or when we met a friendly pack that let us stay the night on their land, or the days we could spend in No Man's Land outside of any pack territory.

We'd stay there for good, but it had its challenges, just like entering any territory, it was mostly the feral wolves that were thrown out of their packs that caused problems. But the days we normally spent in the abandoned land were spent restocking our supplies and finding a real bed to sleep in.

Every once in a while, we'd find a small clearing and find the time to relax. Where we'd stretch out our legs and pretend like we didn't fight for every scrap that we had on us.

I loved being a Rogue, even with all the bad. Even with every fight we lost. With every chase. Every escaped meal. We still had great days.

We even came out with lots of OKs.

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I grew more on edge with every step I took in the south wing. Everything dripped with Father's presence, even after realizing he had nothing to do with Thea being in the closet.

The south wing was less of a part of the pack house, as it was a separate storage warehouse. We had to take a brief walk outside, past where our patrols would train their close combat and keep the little supplies they needed, and up a step before we entered the "wing."

It was a large shed where three wolves would keep track of every supply that we had and deliver what was needed to various parts of the house. It held everything: food, toiletries, towels, stationery, books, records, anything, and everything that the pack and our schools would need for any reason.

Thea's mom and I had many conversations about the wing and the goings-on of where supplies normally went or how requests were made to receive anything on the inside. She was the one who had been in charge before Alec, Father, swooped in to help them build the emergency supply back up.

I'm still not sure what he was doing; it was already being rebuilt naturally as we got shipments from outside.

Not every wolf worked inside the pack; some had jobs that gave a paycheck. That's where the human money we had came from, at least that's what Thea's mom explained to me; they gave some of their pay as rent, and we used that rent to supply the pack with more than we could have made on our own.

"Thea?"

"Momma!"

She ran into her mother's arms, forgetting I was even there for a moment, "Tyler's a meanie. He pushed me into the closet." She immediately started the story without being prompted, spinning a wild tale of what she had done all day, and Tyler pushing her out of nowhere.

Tears were streaming down her face by the time she was done with her rollercoaster of a story and all the emotions that came with it. I watched her Momma console her while trying to save some grace for her older son; it didn't sound like something he would do, but it didn't seem like Thea was lying.

"Ah, Lillian, it is so nice of you to join us." Alec's voice broke through the girl's sniffles to my right. I barely had time to look toward him before he was pulling me aside, down the rows of storage racks, and loudly recounting everything that they had been doing until he was satisfied that he didn't have anyone else's attention. "You ignore me too often, Siren."

"Only as often as I want to."

"You wound me."

"Since when do you talk like that?"

"You'd know if you stayed home, like you were supposed to."

"We both know I'd be just as dead as everyone else if I had stayed."

He stared at me, studying me as I folded my arms. "I wouldn't have let you die then."

"Then? You would have caused it everything that killed me."

"I still can."

I was itching to have the final word, to finally cut his voice like he had mine, to finish him before he killed anyone else. But that was a mess I didn't want Thea to see. Instead, I just nodded and turned my back on him, returning to the pair briefly before going to meet my mate for the date he had excitedly made for us to enjoy.

His red eyes bore through my back long after I closed the door behind me. His final words still rang clear as I sat on the porch to wait out the rest of the hour and breathed in the fresh air untainted by his overwhelming presence against the tough fabric of the fancy bench normally taken by some of the older pack members, but it was too cold for them.

I loved winter, and Blake was quickly learning that. It was like, after autumn, I couldn't feel the cold anymore, and the air that swirled around with the potential for snow felt more like a cozy blanket to me than the icy knife Jes found it to be.

Every cold winter day got extra points towards great day for the weather, no matter how bad the day was. Those points would sky rocket if the wind joined us on our journey to wherever it was that we we were heading.

I was easy to please out on the road and sharp, chilled, air expressed every feeling I had felt up to that point. It had a gentle caress to it that bit if treated wrong, just like I wished I could bite at every inconvenience I came across.

Air had the freedom I missed from my rogue days. It flowed wherever it pleased, allowing itself to be pulled in and pushed around like there was nothing else. It saw sights I couldn't imagine, it soared to great heights, and sank into abandoned pits unseen for centuries.

Air never had to worry about an experimental father showing up and upending the peace it had built over years of work. It just was, no fear, no pain, no agony.

On bad days, I wished I could join it on its adventures and enjoy the empty space it held.

"I still can."

The words echoed as I forced myself to relax. I didn't want to know what he had in mind for the rest of his time here. I wanted to enjoy my date and forget about everything else that I normally would have gone through every possible meaning of.

Blake wanted me to relax with him and enjoy the rare free time we found ourselves with. I chose to relax instead of preparing for the battle Alec wanted.

I wish I were air.

~

Edited