Page 33 of What's Rogue Got To Do With It

The cabin was smaller than I remembered and tears filled my eyes. It was sad we were going to leave it alone. I hoped another lone shifter would find it and make themselves a home. What I'd planted was overgrown with weeds but the scorch marks from the bonfire were still visible. The grass had been trampled and there was an overwhelming stench of angry shifters. Maybe they hadn’t destroyed it, thinking they might lure us back.

“What if Daniel’s friends ignore the council ruling and are waiting for us?” I stood on the porch, my hand on the door. Maybe we were foolish to have returned. I was still processing that we weren’t outlaws.

“If they value their life, they’ll keep away.” My mate took a big breath. “Hard to believe we were so scared.”

Perhaps it was because I was carrying our baby that I was more reluctant to embrace our new freedoms.

“If we were human, I’d carry you over the threshold.” He put a hand on my hip.

“Shouldn’t that be the other way round? I was your mate when we left but you weren’t mine. Not officially.”

“And none of our acting actions were legal.”

I shoved the door and we stood at the entrance surveying what had become a museum. Books were on the coffee table and night stand and there were moldy dishes in the sink. Ewww. We wouldn’t be taking those. We’d left clothes scattered over the floor during our hasty departure.

We packed our books, clothes and kitchen equipment, minus the dishes covered in ants and mold. The chairs we’d burned in the bonfire or as I referred to it the “what remained of Daniel fire” and the closet and bookshelves were too big to transport in the truck. But we took the bed apart and carried out tables, an armchair and some lamps. Anything we could salvage that would fit in the truck went in, including a chopping board my mate had carved.

I wandered outside and hefted what remained of the wood in the shed. That would be useful during the cold nights in the mountains.

When we were done, we took off to the river to get clean, preferring it to a shower. I headed to our favorite spot but Creven pulled me upstream. “Not there. I got rid of some of Daniel there.”

Ewww. The part of me that had been holding on to this place let it go. It was tainted with his memory and the stench of his burning body. Our swim was shorter than we intended and after a quick wash, we headed back.

“Our little one will grow up in a pack, not fearing when they’ll be asked to leave or when an alpha will threaten them.” My mate slung an arm around my shoulder.

So far it was a pack of three, four if we counted our baby.

"I can't wait to show the baby the woods around our new home.” My mate started the truck. “We can teach them to track and hunt."

“And if they’re a wolf, my beast can show them how to take down a deer.”

Creven side-eyed me. Now we weren’t anticipating an attack, we joked with one another, something that had been lacking when we lived here.

“Oh, you think the odds favor you, huh?” He elbowed me and put the truck in gear.

“Didn’t say that. But there’s a 50% chance our baby will be a wolf.” I put my hand over his on the gearstick. “Let’s go.”

I peered out the window as my mate reversed and wound the window down. “Thank you for everything. We’ll keep you here.” I pressed a hand to my chest. “I hope someone stumbles upon you and makes a home here.”

And we were off.

On the drive back to our new home we sang along to the radio and discussed what we were going to do to the cabin. I was planning a garden and we even discussed baby names, though that ended in an argument.

“The cabin doesn’t need a new roof.” Creven was adamant it needed new shingles before winter.

I wanted to build an extension for a nursery because with my mate working from home and a baby, we needed more space so we weren’t tripping over one another. And our little one deserved their own room.

Auden seemed pleased to see us when we pulled in though it was hard to tell. He wasn’t the kind of guy that clapped and hollered when he was excited but he grinned, so I took that as a welcome.

“How'd it go?"

"Better than expected.” I climbed out of the truck. "No sign that anyone had been in there and we got everything we wanted.”

"Good. I've been thinking about those improvements you'll need." He wandered over to our cabin. “There's a hardware store in town that owes me a favor or two.”

How many people owed Auden a favor, including any members of the shifter council I’d been musing over? I liked the guy and I was forever grateful for what he’d done. As our Alpha I respected him but I suspected he was able to manipulate people and that shouldn’t be surprising. He was an Alpha.

“You’ll be needing a nursery.”

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