Page 26 of What's Rogue Got To Do With It

Auden silenced my mate with a wave. “Sit.” He might be in a pack of one but he was the Alpha and his tone told Creven to obey.

"This place has been home to lost wolves for generations. My grandfather built the first cabinand there's always been an understanding with the surrounding packs. This is neutral ground."

"Neutral ground?" It sounded as though it was a place where packs met to conduct a war council.

"It’s a sanctuary, of sorts. Not officially recognized, but tolerated. The big packs are aware of us, of me, and as long as we don't cause trouble, they leave us alone." Auden glanced between us. "That half-bond of yours is going to kill you both if you don't do something about it. But running isn't the answer."

"Then w-what is?" my mate asked. Exhaustion and desperation mingled in his voice.

"I need to talk to some people. There might be a way to legitimize what you've done.” Auden drained his cup. "Give me a few days to work on it, but this is where you belong."

I repeated his words in my head.Where you belong.How long had it been since anyone had said that to me other than Creven? And we’d left the place we’d called home. Could this be where we created a new one?

“But,” my mate started before Auden cut him off.

"No arguments. Consider it an Alpha's command.”

We were being given permission to belong, even if it was only temporary. My mate hesitated but after sharing a glance with me, he nodded.

We spent the morning exploring the small compound. One cabin had been used recently as I caught the faint scents of other shifters.

"He's not lying about this being a sanctuary.” Creven examined the cabin. "I can scent at least six different types of shifters who’ve stayed here.”

"All rogues?"

"Seems like it. I can’t detect any pack scents." He examined a carved symbol on the doorframe. It was a tree with many branches and deep roots. “I wonder what this place was like when it was alive with Auden’s pack.”

If this became our permanent residence, others might join us and the cabins would be full of laughter and conversation.

In the afternoon we cleaned our cabin, saying goodbye to years of dust. We had fun using a broom to hit the mattress and rugs, using it as an outlet for our fear and frustration.

"It's temporary," Creven reminded me as I hung my clothes. “Don’t get too attached to this place.”

But I was already imagining how we could improve it by fixing the loose floorboards, getting new curtains, ones with no holes, and modernizing the kitchen.

Auden invited us for dinner and he brought out beer to celebrate our arrival. I wondered how long he’d had the bottles but it tasted okay. He regaled us with stories of shifters who stayedhere, some living the rest of their lives on this land and others who passed through.

"What happened to them?" I was intrigued about the rogues and shifters without a pack.

"Some found other packs willing to take them in and others moved on together. A few..." He pointed out the window to a small cemetery at the edge of the clearing. "…stayed until they went to the goddess.”

This wouldn’t be a bad place to live out our days but our situation had to be resolved. Creven and I would have to discuss it but we were out of options. We couldn’t go back and venturing into the world could result in my mate being captured, maybe tortured, and being put to death.

“What do you think?” We were getting ready for bed and I was at the window studying the constellations. They’d been staring at earth for thousands of years and our problems wouldn’t even register as a blip to them.

“Let’s see if Auden comes up with a solution. If everything he says is true, his diplomatic skills ensured he and the former residents were unbothered by outsiders.”

The next morning, Auden was gone.

I woke to find a note propped against the coffee pot on his porch.

Left for a few days. Look after the place. Stay put. Going to town puts all of us at risk. Back soon. A.

"Think he'll be back?" My mate was reading over my shoulder.

This place had been his home for decades, since before I was born. He wouldn’t vanish. And if he was the man my alpha fatherbelieved, he wouldn’t abandon us, leaving us to face the wrath of the surrounding packs.

"He will.”

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