Scent of A Rogue

Chapter 5 - Uneasy Pairing

Riva

I made the wolf stay the night. Yes, he was the same one who almost gnawed my shoulder off and the same one who broke through the spelled perimeter. Even then, he stayed in the living room, and I locked myself in my bedroom with a gun on the bedside table.

Gideon made a promise to go on his way in the morning. He needed my help, he said, with disguising his scent. His grey eyes, which could grow cold any minute, could also be compelling and almost trustworthy. Almost. I saw how he looked me up and down, and I was aware of wolves’ s****l appetites. It somehow did not bother me. I was used to men looking at me that way, and I knew how to use it to my advantage.

The Coven had me ready for almost anything, but I bet they had no idea I would go against what they had taught me. Against all common sense.

Never trust the wolves!

You might be a witch, but they are strong enough to maim you with one pounce that you cannot even lift your hand to cast a spell.

Right now, I could not care less about what they said. The Coven had driven me out in my time of need, still shivering from a bite. Its members could have at least checked my wound for infection. But, no. I was banished. Nobody even ran after me. Even Willa had not followed me to this house, a house she had been very much aware of since we were children.

You’ve just proven why you deserve it.

The wolf will kill you if it does not ravish you first.

The only reason the Big Bad Wolf was still there was that I might also be in danger. It was better to have him as an ally at this point, before I set off for the city. He had already left some of his scent here. Who knew if his pack was truly hunting them down? I would be better off if he were still here. I could spell the immediate perimeter and take away his scent, but I would not be able to do that to the whole path he walked or ran to get here. The wolves could still trace him up to a certain point. He would have to run and lead his pack to where he was going – away from my home.

Of course, I did not want to take any chances. Before eating dinner that night, I focused on disguising his scent. The spell I had to use was a variation of healing.

“Will that work?” Gideon asked as he sat on one wooden chair in front of a cold bowl of tuna and corn, only fit for a starving cat.

“You’ll have to trust me the same way I am getting rid of all good reason by letting you stay here tonight. This spell working will not only save your hide but mine, too. You just spread all your scent all over my territory.”

“Fair enough,” he muttered as I continued to pass my palms a few inches away from his body. I muttered chants that seemed to have been stored in my tongue, ready to be invoked.

“I sure hope it works. I must do the living room and the yard next, tracking where you’ve set your dirty feet on.”

He only grunted at that. I could feel his tension from the way his muscles bunched up and his back going rigid. When I moved closer to him, I could swear I saw his nose flared. He was sitting too straight, and his eyes squeezed shut, like a child pretending to sleep when his mommy did the bedroom rounds.

I did not tell him I had to use some invisibility spell to hide the house. It was the only one in the area. If the scent stopped near it, the wolves would be at my door because they would know that the house could be the only logical place they could find Gideon. I did not want to tell my wolf guest because he would know that I was weakened for the night – with all the powers I was using. Some might say that I could send him on his way and then apply the invisibility spell – but I feared I did not have the physical strength to fight if he shifted into his wolf. I could still remember the resistance of his hand as he held the door I was trying to close.

After I was done, I went back to the unappetizing dinner we would be sharing. The beer poured into glasses somehow eased it up a bit – but not quite. I scratched at a bit of smudge on the glass I was using. It had been a while since I was here.

“So, how does this Alpha thing work if you leave? Will someone take over?” I asked while trying to swallow the cold, greasy tuna. On the other hand, Gideon was almost done with his bowl and was eyeing the third tuna can I opened just in case.

“Someone should,” he shook his head a little as if trying to dispel a thought from his head. It was almost as if he had never thought of it. I wondered if he had planned things clearly – set up a Plan B. Of course, he did not. Why else would he be here?

Then, he took out his mobile phone from inside his jean pocket. He looked at it and frowned.

“There’s no signal here?”

“Do you want signal here? I bet not. Not really. Do you want your pack tracing you the modern way? If you felt you had to leave them, things could not have been good. I will not be surprised if your phone has a tracking app.”

He frowned at that, revealing too much in that split second. Again, it seemed that he had never thought about it before – these thoughts that I was posing on him. He left a structure that he had been part of all his life. In that sense, we were alike. I stopped myself. I had to remind myself not to come up with too many of these parallels.

“You’re right. Maybe it’s better if the signal turns on when I’m far away.”

“Then, ditch that phone for something else when you’re in the city – or beyond it.”

“Will you do that, too, Riva?”

“Me? Why me? I’m not the one running away. I was banished.”

“So, you’re still hoping that they will contact you?”

I took a deep breath. Maybe I was hoping someone would try to invite me back, saying it was all a mistake. The Hotchkiss mission was impossible. No witch could ever have taken down the mayor alone.

“I guess I am,” I admitted.

The rest of the dinner was more mundane than I expected from a wolf. He was mostly quiet. If I were right, he seemed to be having one hell of a headache like me. His fingers kept going up and down the bridge of his nose to the middle of his forehead.

“You want a paracetamol?” I asked, not really knowing what wolves needed. Didn’t they heal fast and on their own?

He laughed at that, his fingers flying off his forehead.

“No. I’m just tired – and at a loss.”

“I thought Alphas do not ever get tired and always know what to do.”

“Not really, no. It may appear that way, but no. We do heal fast. Is it paracetamol that you used for your wound? It looked a lot worse hours ago.”

His tone was somehow in the middle of teasing and being somehow – concerned.

“It was a lot worse,” I admitted, surprised. The shivering also abated a little. I was no longer sure if the chill I felt was from an infection or night falling on the forest edge. It could be the chill of being on uncertain ground, with someone who could still decide to kill me after he got what he was after – a night’s protection.

“Do you have candles?” he asked, also feeling the gathering darkness. His eyes were starting to flash amber; the question was more for my vision than his.

“I see you’ll be fine,” I remarked. “I have a flashlight somewhere in my room.”

“The dark does not bother you?”

“Not yet, apparently,” I said, scanning the room. Was the moon full that night?

The Big Bad Wolf was no longer scary in the domestic setting. He seemed to be bothered by something else, shaking his head from time to time. When he got up to help me with the bowls, I saw that he had a little limp. I did not know how to address it without encroaching on his privacy, without stomping a little on his pride, but somehow the words slipped out of my mouth.

“Y-you have a limp?”

He was on the way to the sink, but he turned to glare at me. I felt I had touched on something more than just about Gideon not healing as he should.

“Yes, witch. I have a limp.”

I did not know what to say. The wound on the nape of his neck was practically gone. Only a slight reddening was left behind, but the limp seemed to have become a part of him if I judged his reaction correctly. Somehow, he was still fast. I remembered his reflexes and overall movement. I did not notice any limp until then.

He insisted on washing the bowls and glasses as I proceeded to lock my room. I heard loud cursing as he realized that there was no water. I was not going to go back there to help him out.

My bedside table had a gun, a dagger, and a flashlight. It was going to be a long night. I piled three pillows under my head, one on top of another. This way, I could quickly launch myself up if needed. At least, that was the plan.

There was a knock at my door. The knocks were loud and insistent, creating deep echoes in my ears. I wondered if I had a concussion.

“Stay away, wolf!” I cried, my hand already fumbling for my gun.

“So, I’ll just leave the unwashed dishes in the sink?” he asked through the door.

I rolled my eyes. So, that was the big emergency?

“Yes! Leave them. Go to sleep.”

I heard his breathing through the door, almost as if he was next to me. Then, Gideon retreated. I knew he could have just pushed the door, and it would give way, but he went. It was a small consolation.

Sleep still took me not too long after the knocks at the door. Exhaustion and blood loss had taken over. The blanket did not do too well to warm me that night, but I still slept.

Then, morning came.

The bright sun’s rays reminded me just how ridiculous the house design could be in the morning. To my left is the east. I had slept in this house several times before, but the rays were incredibly annoying that morning. I had to squint and run to dress myself. Showering would have to wait. There would be enough water in my condo apartment in the city. My body seemed ready to face the day, feeling much better less than 24 hours after being attacked.

I went out of my room, already dressed for the road and carrying a duffel bag. Gideon was seated on the couch, seemingly deep in thought. He was so tall he seemed to crowd the whole living room. What a thought. He was even more intimidating when he was a wolf, but it was probably the canines that made it seem so. I knew both men and wolves would be afraid of the man sitting in my living room, limp and all.

“Why haven’t you left?” I asked.

“I want to make sure you are okay before I go,” he said, getting up and lifting his duffel bag.

“So, you’ll walk?”

“I guess. I could not possibly take my car. It was parked right inside the facility gates.”

“Let’s go, then. I have a long drive.”

It would take me about two hours to get to the city. It was time to face a new life as an ordinary human. The lump in my throat urged me to rush out of the door, away from the wolf who watched me so intently. Was he a mind reader, too, like Madame Lidia?

“Okay,” he said, not in the mood for talking, either.

“Bye then, wolf,” I said, getting into my car.

“Bye, witch,” he said, walking towards the same route I was about to take.

I was tempted to give him a ride but reminded myself that I had been generous enough. I gave him what he needed, somewhere to stay the night and something to disguise the scent. The engine started, and I was ready to go.

I was about to rev the engine and get me going as fast as possible, but something made me look in the rearview mirror.

Shit.

I could see three figures running at full speed behind Gideon. Wolves. I fired the engine and backed up so fast that I was practically burning rubber.

“Gideon!” I called.

In my mind, I was urging him to hurry. Look at me, damn it.

Then, our eyes locked together and he ran.