Wolf Blood

|4| ROGUE, the will to be

Nikolai came to a halt in a courtyard surrounded by houses which I could only assume belonged to the pack. I slid off his back and landed on my sore butt with an 'umph' to which Nikolai chuckled in his wolfish form. He locked eyes with me and then nodded to the trees we had just emerged from. From my experience with Wolfe kind, I guessed that he was trying to tell me he was going to change. I nodded and he disappeared.

I took this time alone to gather my thoughts. My cover name was Katie Pierce and I was cast out by my pack because of my inability to shift. For years I wandered the forests in survival mode but eventually after years of lone travelling I just gave up on life and decided to hell with it. Thus, we arrive at today's events. While I know they will be furious at a rogue who trespassed on their territory hopefully the fact that I can't shift will make them see me as harmless. So it was either I died, escaped or they accepted me. I was fine with whichever one so long as I was never going back to my brother again.

"Alrighty, let's go," Nikolai said as he stepped out from behind the tree where he had changed and came to join me. He led me into a wooden cabin which I figured to be a guesthouse since I couldn't see a single soul. We went up a story and he pointed out the bathroom to me before disappearing.

I almost screamed at the sight of myself in the mirror. It was ghastly. My clothes were ripped several places, there was blood on my shirt and I had dirt and leaves and God knows what else in my hair which shared an uncanny resemblance to a bird's nest.

"My thoughts exactly," Nikolai said from behind, startling me as he gestured to my reflection in the mirror. Scowling, I took the towel and clothes he handed me. "Bad day, okay?"

He snorted and shook his head saying, "Nope. Horrific day."

I was just about to shut the door in his face when he stopped it with a single hand and said gravely, "Don't do anything stupid, Kate. I'll be nice if you are and trust me when I say, you don't want to know me when I'm not being nice."

I stared wide-eyed at him and nodded as I felt the power that dripped from his words. Was he the beta or something? The impish grin returning to his face, he gave me a suggestive wink. "Let me know if you need a hand with anything."

Rolling my eyes, I slammed the door in his face. Half of an hour later I stepped out of the bathroom feeling fresh and ready to take on whatever the Alpha of the Dark Moon Pack had to throw at me. Not really, but at least I was clean. 

Jogging down the stairs when I didn't see Nikolai, I was about to call for him when he suddenly appeared behind me and said, "Ooh, Kate, you clean up nicely."

I shook my head and exclaimed, "Don't scare me like that!"

He laughed and shrugged. "I keep forgetting you're not all Wolfe."

I snorted. "You mean I'm not at all Wolfe."

He chuckled and took me by the arm, leading me out of the house. "Time to meet the Alpha." And we both knew that depending on how that meeting went, I would either walk away or breathe my last.