The Rogue & The Alpha

Chapter 3 - Checking Up

Natsu's POV

It was the next morning and I woke up earlier than usual to check on Lucy. I hoped she was feeling better this morning. As I was leaving my den, I accidentally bumped into Erza. She looked shocked, "you're up early Alpha" she stated. "Ah...Well you know I have Alpha duties to do" I replied as an excuse. It's true I have Alpha duties but I usually sleep in and do them later. I can't tell her I'm waking up early to go see an injured Rogue. She would kill me!

"Right, anyway since you're up, you need to assign patrols for the week" she said. Every week, I assign wolves to patrol the border. Patrols are the first line of defence when other packs or rogues are trying to attack our pack. They will howl at the sight of any enemies.

An idea appeared in my head, I figured out the perfect way to see Lucy every day without my pack being suspicious. Erza and I went to the centre of the pack and then I howled for everyone's attention. The entire pack except for Laxus and the Thunder Legion gathered in front of me and Erza. "Alpha is going to assign patrols!" Erza announced and I stepped forward.

"Gray and Loke, you will patrol the South" I first announced and they both paw-bumped each other. I noticed Juvia in the back crying with her ears pinned back but that was normal when I don't team her up with Gray. "Levy and Gajeel, you will patrol the North" I announced. Gajeel turned to Levy and smirked. "Gihi looks like you're stuck with me Shrimp" he said to her. "Don't call me Shrimp!" she shouted back to him. I chuckled before continuing, "Cana and Mira, you will patrol the West. You can also gather some berries at the same time" I announced. "Woo-hoo! I'm going to get drunk on Beer Berries!" Cana cheered. "Make sure you don't get too drunk on them or you might see two enemy wolves instead of one" Macao joked and everyone chuckled. "Lastly, I will patrol the East" I announced and everyone tilted their heads in confusion.

"All by yourself Flame Brain? You know we always patrol in groups" Gray spoke up. "I can handle patrolling the East all by myself. Plus I can howl if there are any enemies so I don't see the problem" I replied. "Are you one hundred percent sure you're ok with patrolling the East by yourself?" Erza asked. I nodded firmly to show that I was committed. "Ok, you all heard the Alpha, those are the patrols for the week" Erza said to everyone and then the whole pack dispersed. The wolves assigned to patrol walked towards their side of the border.

"Thanks for helping earlier Erza. I'm going to the East to do my patrol now. See you later" I said before running off before she could say anything. As I ran through the forest, I checked the position of the sun to check the time. "That patrol meeting went way longer than I thought" I said to myself. After a few minutes of running, I arrived at the place where the beautiful blonde wolf was hiding. As I walked around the bush, Lucy stiffened and whipped her head around to me before relaxing when she saw it was me. I was relieved to see she was still alive since I was worried she wouldn't survive the night because of her injuries. She looked like she had regained some strength overnight because she was laying comfortably on her stomach instead of her side and she could raise her head.

"Sorry I'm late Lucy. My pack had a meeting" I told her as I sat down next to her. She nodded her head, "that's ok Natsu" she replied with a kind smile. "So, how are you feeling today?" I asked. "A lot better thanks to your healing" she replied and bowed her head in thanks. "I'm happy to hear that" I said and then began to pull the leaves off her wounds. From my experience, Wendy would always take off the leaves after a day and lick the wound clean. "What are you doing?" Lucy asked in confusion as I began licking her wounds clean. "Wendy used to do this whenever I got hurt so lie still while I clean the berries and blood off" I said before continuing licking. The berries make the blood taste sweeter than usual.

When I was finished cleaning her wounds, I checked all over her body to see if some of the scratches have healed and most of the small ones had. Based on the size of the other ones, it will take about another week or so until she's back to full health. "You should be fully healed in about a week" I said. "How can you tell?" she asked and I shrugged. "Been hurt enough to know" I replied. "So I guess, I'll be staying for a week and then I'll be out of your fur" she said a little sad.

"What's wrong?" I asked with concern. I didn't like seeing that sad expression on her face. "It's nothing" she said but I knew it wasn't nothing. "It's not nothing. Come on, tell me" I insisted. "Well...It's just that I've felt lonely while being in the Outlands and you've been the first wolf I've become friends with in years" she replied honestly. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. I had my pack with me to support me but she had no one. Suddenly I had an idea, "what if you didn't have to leave forever" I said and she tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean?" she asked, "well how about after you're all healed we meet right here every full moon?" I suggested and her tail instantly wagged happily. "Really?! So we can stay as friends?" she asked with stars in her eyes. "Yeah, we'll be friends forever" I replied with a smile and she smiled brightly back.