An English Rogue

When the doing gets tough…

Lena

Tala howled in my head as we walked and walked hoping for some rest bite from the emotional wreckage of the previous night.

Neither my wolf nor I had wanted to be in the flats when Anna returned, so we’d made our excuses and left early, our tails between their legs. Now we stalked the streets more than walked them, or dark mood felt like a physical entity surrounding us. We had no plan on where we were heading we just knew instinctively that we needed space from everything and everyone. We headed for the train station and bought a ticket for the earliest northern train we could find.

It had always felt so comforting being in the city, but now when we needed to run it was a curse.

We boarded the train with throngs of humans going about their normal lives. It felt so strange to think that I used to be one of them, but now I felt worlds apart. Our lives weren’t all that different when it came down to it.

“We’ve always been worlds apart” Tala replied. “Even when you were younger and you thought you were human, I was still here, we were always different from them”.

It’s no wonder really that I had never really fit into my human life, when I think back to everything I’d been through, all the loneliness and different foster families, being bullied at school. It felt like my life had only truly started when I’d met Anna and her Mum, then Kerri. When I learnt the truth about my heritage everything seemed to snap into place.

“I’m miss them” whined Tala. “I miss my pup”.

They couldn’t stop their mind circling back to their issues, what if they’d lost them? What if they could no longer be part of their little pack? What if Anna had rejected her mate because of Lena and was now heartbroken? Only slightly worse was the thought that Anna and Geraint would be setting up a home together and once again Lena would be left out. Unwanted and unneeded.

“Would she choose him over us?” Lena asked quietly.

“The mate bond is the strongest bond next to mother and child” Tala confessed unhappily.

They looked out of the window as the train sped through station after station and the city scene they were both used too turned from factories and tower blocks to fields and hedges.

Finally she couldn’t wait any longer and got off the train at the next station, and started to run in human form. She used Google maps to head to the most remote direction but really it didn’t matter to them where they went. They just needed to be alone. Even running as a human felt exhilarating and Lena whooped to herself as she picked up speed, running faster than she normally bared and loving the feel of her leg muscles stretching as she propelled herself faster and faster. Tala chomping at the bit to have her turn.

Finally they reached the top of a large hill, the valley bellow them stretched with deep woodland as far as the eye could see. Lena jogged behind an old tree and looked for a handy place to hide her clothes and the few belongings she had on her.

After finding a satisfactory nook, she took off her shoes and stripped off all of her clothes carefully folding them so that her ID and underwear were tucked inside safely. Now for the hard part. Lena had shifted so rarely over the last few years she was dreading the pain.

She got down on all fours and allowed Tala to push forward feeling ripples of pain instantly start to wash over her. As much as her and Tala were at odds with each other she trusted her wolf to get her through this. Lena arched her back as her muscles tore and her bones popped and crunched. She clenched her teeth and held in the scream she was desperate to release as her skin burnt and she dug her fingers into the damp earth of the forest floor to help ground herself. She felt her back break and reform and she felt her fur push from her skin as the shift was competed. It had been so long since their last shift she only had herself to blame for the pain it caused her now.

Tala sniffed the air as her olfactory receptors started to paint a picture in their minds of everything around them. Finally she was free to run and that’s exactly what she planned on doing! Her burnt red fur blurred between trees as she picked up speed running faster and faster. Pushing Lena and all of their problems and worries to the back of her mind and letting her senses take over she used her sense of smell to guide her. It told her everything she needed to know and the world came alive around her as her perception changed and the swooping and curling colours of scents guided her around this wild land. She ran happily for some time just enjoying the feeling of her muscles as they moved and responded to her gaining strength as she ran. She was in her element, she felt one with nature and had no intention of spotting anytime soon. As she ran she yipped with excitement, pushing herself harder and harder, she startled a family of rabbits and gave chase, although she was fast her bulky body made small flighty prey hard to catch and she revelled in the chase as she dodged around trees and through under growth chasing the panicked rabbit until she lost it down a hole. She carried on allowing her senses to guide her one until she she caught a change in the air and dodged left to join the side of a large wild lake.

She slowed her pace and and came to a halt under a large tree where a shallow beach ran down to the waters edge. She could feel it all around her, the pull of the wild, the call of the run and she had to resist the urge to lift her head and howl in joy. She watched the different scents swirl around her and felt the history of this place in her very bones. She smelt the scent of the trees as they shed their autumn leaves, as the wind changed and ruffled her thick fur she recognised the scent of her timid rabbit friend who had nibbled some grass at the waters edge hours before. She recognised the earthy scent of a small herd of deer, maybe five and one fawn who smelt of earth and her mothers milk.

She allowed Lena to come forward and they shared control as they shifted back into human form and stretching naked walked down to the waters edge. They cautiously dipped their toes in before taking the plunge and catching their breath as they waded out into the icy water. They used their strength to swim out enjoying the pull of their arms as they moved out into deeper water and stopped to float on their backs, their long human hair spreading out around them in tendrils.

“Maybe we stay here?” They thought together, “maybe there’s nothing to go back for anymore?” They took a deep gulp of air and spun around in the water using their arms to pull themselves under and their strong legs to kick as they swam down and down into the dark water. Just as suddenly as they’d dived Lena relinquished control to her wolf and they shifted under the water. The weightlessness was exhilarating and as they rose through the water bursting up to get a fresh lungful of air their felt for the first time a peace between them that they had never had a chance-or desire to find before.

Tala was a strong swimmer and soon had them back on land, shaking the water from their thick fur she started the run again. Unconsciously circling back the way they had come in a large arc that took them through the heard of the old wild forest. As the autumn sun began to set, and their shadow began to elongate along the leafy floor they smelled a smell that was oddly familiar and comforting and headed towards it curiously. In the hollow of an old tree they found their long forgotten clothes and ID, and reluctantly they both knew what they needed to do now.

POV: unknown

We had run further out than usual but we needed the exercise, and the adventure. We had all shifted and ran together as a pack of four letting the miles disappear behind us. The world was so simple in wolf form, you eat when you’re hungry and sleep when you’re tired.

The wild lands always called to me and I let the wind carry all of the information I needed through the scents in the air.

We carried on running criss crossing paths and enjoying the freedom. We had met small herd of deer some miles back and feasts on their tender flesh, our snouts still stained with blood we ran on enjoying the strength in our legs.

I now ran through the trees chasing a scent I couldn’t quiet catch, it was a couple of days old and the recent rain made it hard to follow as it snaked through the trees. As I pulled up under the branches of a large tree and I looked out across the lake. Sniffing deeply at a marking patch-there was no mistake she had left behind. In my human form I wouldn’t have dreamed of smelling someone’s piss, but as a wolf it told me everything I needed to know. The others joined me as I wandered towards the waters edge looking out across the lake. They sniffed her scent too but unlike me they were repulsed by what they found.

“Rogue!” They exclaimed and gnashed their teeth together as if they were cracking her bones between their jaws “Death to Rogues!” They called together, and usually I would have joined them, but tonight I just listened as their ugly voices mixing together in the night air.

When they finally slept, I left them and made my way back to the lake side. I picked up her scent again further on and followed it as best I could, delighting in her spicy, almond fragrance. My heart raced as I ran faster feeling like I could catch her if only I sped up feeling like I missed her around a tree or around the next. I was infatuated by her scent. I needed her and I needed her now! I ran on, not caring where I went as long as I could smell her. As long as I felt I was gaining on her.

Suddenly my ears pricked and I sensed the danger my pack was in! I turned on my heal and ran back as quickly as I could through the dark forest. Mind linking I could only feel their panic as they fought for their lives. With a sudden pain in my chest I felt one link shut down and knew my pack brother was lost forever, as my rage built I was able to pick up my speed further but I was already running as fast as I could. I felt the pain again and I put the devastation to one side and let the rage fill me. As I reached the clearing where we’d settled for the night, I careered into the side of a shaggy old wolf who was standing over my fallen friend and as I twisted around him he fell to the floor, his throat in my mouth and a pool of blood quickly spreading out around him. Without thinking moved to the next, my stomach lurched as I saw what he was doing! He was busy eating from the body of my pack mate, tearing his flesh and muscle messily and gulping it down. He barely had time to look up at me with his psychotic eyes as I jumped on his back and tore his head from his stinking body.

As I flung it away I felt a sharp rip at my hind leg as the third Rogue sunk his canines into me. I had more skill than this rogue but madness made him wild and unpredictable. Although my pack mate was severely injured he used his last strength to bite hard into my attackers leg in return! The rogue had no choice but to let go of me, yelping he turned and snapping fatally at the throat of my injured friend. As I felt that last link close in my mind I ripped the throat from the last rogue.

They were gone. All gone. I was surrounded by death. I was death himself. “DEATH TO ALL ROGUES” I said meaning every syllable.