An English Rogue

Even Rogues have to eat.

Home at last! Somehow today felt like it would never end! Lena was exhausted as she climbed to the top floor of the small block of flats and rummaged in her bag to find her keys.

“Honey I’m home” she called jokingly.

“We’re down here” came the reply.

“Ok, be down in a mo” called Lena the tiredness showing in her voice.

Lena kicked off her shoes and walked to her bedroom, she’d planned on having a long bath when she got in, but now she was home all she could think about was snuggling on the sofa with her favourite people and a cup of tea. She changed quickly into some loose joggers, a comfy top and complimented the outfit with some fluffy panda socks, and padded downstairs to find something nice to eat.

“We’re in here” called a welcoming voice and Lena let her tired feet follow it to the sofa where her best friend Anna is curled up with baby Juno asleep in her arms and Kerri next to her.

“She’s so peaceful when she’s asleep, I couldn’t bear to put her down” Anna chuckled quietly not taking her eyes off the little face.

“I just can’t believe how much she’s grown, she was such a little thing when she arrived, she’s doing so well!” Kerri whispered lovingly touching the cheek of the sleeping child.

Juno was the latest little one to join them in the flats, when she had been found both her and her mother were half dead and on the verge of turning completely wild with fear and starvation. It’s a very hard life being a rogue on the run, never being allowed to settle in one place and wolves often lost themselves completely. When they had found the baby and her mother they’d tried so hard to bring them in together but she was too exhausted to heal herself and hadn’t survived her injuries. Anna had named the baby Juno and taken to the role of mothering the little one like the honour it was, knowing that Juno surviving at all was a miracle in itself. Usually the children they found were much older, and often like Lena, didn’t know they were wolves at all until they were brought into the group. It had been a long time since they’d had a such a little pup with them and all of them adored her.

Lena looked at her two best friends doting over the little one. They couldn’t be more different, she thought to herself. Anna had such warm gentle soul, she was a natural mother and did such a good job of looking after them all. With her petite frame and hazel hair, cropped short into a pixie cut she somehow seemed so much smaller than her younger friend. Kerri on the other hand was bold and daring, she was the adventurous one of the group and really their unspoken leader, Kerri was the strongest, bravest, and most loyal friend. “I’m going to put the kettle on, who wants one?” Lena asked happily.

“No thanks, I’m going to put this little one to bed and settle down myself, I just wanted to be up when you both got in” Anna explained, she wished them both a good night and tiptoed across the hall with the sleeping pup.

Lena headed to the kitchen, flicked on the light and decided to forgo the kettle for half a bottle of red wine she spotted in the cupboard. She poured Kerri and herself a large glass each and headed back to the sofa.

“I have some news” Kerri started after a moments pause. “I’ve had some intel from one of my contacts and I really need to check it out.” She explained.

“Aww you’ve not long been home! It only seems like we’ve had you here five minutes!” I said not being able to hide the disappointment in my voice.

“I know, I know. But you know me, I get restless and there isn’t a lot for me to do around here at the moment.” She protested

“You could always come and help me out at Nox!” I suggested hopefully. “You could help organise some of the clubs themed events!”.

“Kerri chuckled. Well I’m not going to be gone long this time, I’ve got some leads to chase up and then I’ll be home, couple of weeks, maybe a month tops, depending on how everything sorts out. Then I’ll come and help you organise some kick ass events that’ll blow the minds of the gentle pack folk.” We both laughed at that. Werewolves were a traditional bunch by nature.

“I’ll be off early tomorrow” Kerri explained. I had a chance to see all of the pups earlier I just wanted to see you properly before I headed off” she said giving me a small smile. I wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding my disappointment at the news. She took a small sip of wine and then unceremoniously tipped the rest into my glass.

“Love you Lea” she said kissing me on the top of my head as she got up and headed down the narrow internal staircase to her own flat that she shared with Mia on the floor below.

What a day! I thought to myself. Tala whimpering in her mind somehow missing Kerri already. In fact it has been more than a crappy day! It had been a pretty eventful year with no signs of things slowing down. She flicked through her schedule as she sipped her wine, trying to take her mind off Kerri’s news. Appointments, appointments, meetings, memo’s to phone the caterers. She signed feeling more tired than ever. The running of the business wasn’t really the hard part, and Anna took charge of the running of the house, so she couldn’t say it was that either but somewhere deep down it just felt like something was missing, that things didn’t need to be so hard all the time.

“We need our Mate” said Tala quietly in the back of her mind. Tala had been sulking all the way home, and Lena wasn’t really in the mood for this frequently-brought-up conversation all over again.

“Please drop all this mate crap Tala! If we meet him we meet him! If we don’t… well, let’s face it it’s been 11 years since we shifted for the first time, chances are we aren’t going to!” She shouted inside her head. She hated hurting Tala, for all of her tough wild side Tala was the romantic one of the two of them, Lena thought of herself as the realist. Life was complicated enough without adding fated Mates into the equation.

“He would love us ya know” Tala added in as a quiet after thought. “Moon Goddess chose him just for us, our perfect other half, to make our souls complete” she added with more passion.

“And what about training? And what about the family? And what about our mission?” Lena was tired of this argument, but not tired enough to give in. “Can we drop it, please Tala, he isn’t here, he’s not even a thing we need to argue over!” Lena added in a softer voice.

“He would be our perfect Mate” Tala added quietly.

She drank the rest of her wine hungrily and stalked back into the kitchen to check the fridge, Anna had left a plate of lasagne and salad but it wasn’t really what she wanted, she wanted junk food, and lots of it! Whether it was the weather, or the unspoken worry she had for Kerri, something had to break soon. She needed a change. She has two big events coming up in the diary. “Maybe I should plan a trip for us all?” She thought to Tala who paced restlessly wanting to stretch her limbs and run. Living in a city offered them so much protection, and the chance to build a normal life but it wasn’t the same as having wide open spaces and the chance to run free!

Lena went back upstairs and grabbed her trainers and a long coat. She quickly pulled her sleek auburn hair into a messy bun and grabbed her purse and keys off the side table. She had a craving for pizza and nothing else would do!

POV: Anna

“What a day!” Anna thought to herself as she carried little Juno to bed. She had stayed up to wait for Lena to come home mainly because it felt like so long since it had been just the three of them. But as soon as Lena was home, it felt right that her and Kerri should have that time together.

“I miss mind-linking” said Rose in the back of her mind “things would be so much easier if we had an Alpha of our own, and turned our family into a pack” She had been thinking more and more about the distance between them, as their lives seemed to be becoming more and more separate.

Anna couldn’t help but agree, she had grown up in a pack and although the dissolution of it had been the reason she and her mother became rogues, the thought of being tied together in a pack was in her blood and a need to belong that neither her or Rose could ignore.

Anna tucked little Juno into her sleep bag and lay her gently into her cot, got into her pyjamas and settled down in bed. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day with Lena out all day with an event and school classes for the pups. Sometimes it felt never ending. Between looking after the little ones, and keeping an eye on the twins and then there was Mia who was really rebelling as she waited impatiently for her wolf. Sometimes it felt like it was too much. That she wasn’t strong enough for all of this.

“We are strong enough, Moon goddess has put us exactly where we need to be. It seems so hard, but we are just tired” Rose said quietly, “Sleep now Anna” she said soothingly, Anna closed her eyes and soon drifted off into a dreamless sleep.