An English Rogue

What’s next.

POV: Lena

I had a shower but I couldn’t stop my mind racing over what Anna and I had spoken about earlier. I didn’t feel guilty about my argument with Geraint, although I had to stop myself being so easily provoked, I needed to be the bigger person. I mustn’t let him get under my skin like that again. Anyway more importantly than Geraint was the Kerri problem! We needed to do something but I just had no idea where to start. Instead of pyjamas I put on my jogging bottoms, loose sweater and slippers and tied my hair up. “Right Tala what’s first?” I asked

“We should go out and hunt her down!” Tala said excitedly

“What just run around the city hoping to pick up her scent? Sounds likely!” I snipped sarcastically. “We need a solid plan, and we need to know which direction to start in at least! When the time comes your nose will be vital, don’t worry.” I said in a softer tone. I knew that Tala was missing Kerri as much as I was. “I’ve always wanted to make a crazy wall like in films!” I suggested suddenly with in a wild determined tone.

We headed down stairs and picked up more of the pups A3 art paper and some blue tack on the way and we carried on going all the way down to the ground floor where Kerri lived with Mia. As I stepped out into Kerri’s living room I couldn’t help the shiver that ran down my spine. The whole flat felt unloved and abandoned and if it wasn’t for the fact that I knew Mia was in her room I’d say know one had been in here for months.

I knocked on her door and popped my head in when I heard her call. “Hia lovely, I’m just in the living room sorting paperwork, do you need anything, fancy a coffee?” I asked happily. She declined so I headed back to the living room.

I drew the thick curtains over the already-shut blinds and turned on the light. Even though we shared the flats we still had our own way of living and it felt like a real invasion of Kerri’s privacy to be here without her. I started to blue tack the four large sheets of paper horizontally along the one wall. This was the only thing I could think to do to start. I got one of the pens out of my joggers pocket and wrote on the far left sheet, ‘Kerri left flat 7am Thursday 14th September’ in clear print. This would be the start of my time line to try and work out the sequence of events. But I couldn’t stop staring at the date of just written had it really been so long without Kerri? That was nearly two months ago now. Guilt washed over me that we hadn’t started this sooner. I buried my feelings and instead headed to the wall safe. It was digital, like the one in my room and I ran through all of the combinations I could think of before realising it was a dead end. Maybe Anna could help in the morning? Instead I headed to Kerri’s room to see if there was any scrap of evidence I could find. Anything to point me in the right direction. I had a quick scan around her room, but it felt so weird, like I was going to get caught that I couldn’t do much. I headed back upstairs exhausted. For once Tala and I were on the same page emotionally as she howled and whimpered in the back of my head. “Kerri we’ve failed you” was all I could think. I crashed onto my own bed not even knowing how I got there and fell into a restless, dreamless sleep.

POV: Anna

I woke up this morning with a renewed sense of determination. I’d had a great night sleep thanks to Rose my wolf who’d used our bond to sooth my worries. The relief of finally expressing myself to Lena was great, but really it was the fact that we were taking action towards getting Kerri home that meant the most. Not even the argument last night could dim my mood.

“I know she’s still alive I just know it. Goddess I wish we could mind link her” I thought to Rose as we got ready for the day ahead.

We cracked on with the morning routine, got the twins up for school and checked on Mia. I hated her being down stairs on her own but I know how much she likes her room, and I can’t blame her there. She didn’t have classes until 10.30 so would make her own way to 6th form which would be a help.

I checked in with Lena and let her know that I planned on leaving Oliver and little Juno with her. Geraint had left early for work and I was mildly relieved to have him out of the way today, I could only cope with one of them at once.

“Right you two, are you ready?” I asked hoping to miss some of the traffic by getting going on time for once. I gave them a check over to make sure we had everything, although Jody was always organised it was Jack who seemed to struggle more with routine. I couldn’t help but give them both a kiss on the cheek. They are beautiful children inside and out. Their little faces both framed by their beautiful soft Afro curls. Jody had asked for bunches today and I marvelled at how alike they looked. We headed out to the car and set off for school as planned. On my way back I decided I’d pick up some coffees and pastries to get the morning started.

POV:Lena

I heard Anna getting the twins ready for school and had to chuckle as they went through the morning routine, Jody was ready and looked so lovely with little Pom-Pom bunches, Jack looked like he’d been through a hedge backwards as usual. His shirt was hanging out of his trousers at the back, one trouser leg was tucked into his sock and he only had one shoe on. I loved watching my family when they don’t know I was there, and I wish I carried a camera to take a snap of these little moments before they slip away. I also loved seeing how patient Anna is with them all, Jody doing her best to mother Jack out of habit, it’s lovely to see her acting her age more often as she learns to trust her adoptive family more.

I fetched Juno’s travel cot and carried it and her down stairs to Kerri’s flat, calling to Oliver before I go. He loves to be helpful and follows me with an arm full of toys for them both. I’ve explained that we have some sorting to do today and Anna and I need his help. He rarely gets to go down to Kerri’s flat so is a bit nervous as we head down the narrow staircase together, wanting to hold my hand even though I don’t have one free.

We set up the cot for Juno and then head back upstairs to collect more supplies ready for a busy day with two little ones. I grab the Minions DVD off the side just incase we need it and some more pens and paper and I also grab the baby monitor and Juno’s changing bag. Once again we head back down the stairs.

“Right little one, you go in here” I said to Juno putting her in the travel cot as she babbles away happily. It’s not the best solution but it’ll do for a short time.

“We have some jobs to do down here, and then we are going to do something exciting” I promised Oliver, loving how wide his little eyes go in anticipation.

“Can I see Mia?” he asked

“Yes you can, but you must knock on her door and wait for her to answer before you go in” I said reminding him.

“Ok I will” he said happily “Miiiiiiaaaaaa come and playyyy!” he called happily and I heard the unmistakable sound of him running straight into her bedroom. So much for the knocking I chuckle.

“Right Tala let’s get down to business!” I found Kerri’s laptop and plugged it in giving it time to charge. Then I looked around the room hoping for inspiration. I heard Anna return home, and was pleased to be able to smell coffee.

“Down here!” I called to her, even though I’m pretty sure she knew where we’d be.

“How have you got on?” She asked positively. She passed me a coffee and went to plate up the pastries.

“I’ve had a bit of a look around but true Kerri style there isn’t much to see really. I’ve put her laptop on charge but haven’t a clue what her safe combination is!” I said, the frustration showing in my voice.

“I had a thought on the way home” Anna said looking thoughtful. “Does Dominic still have a wolf contact at the council?”

“I think so. But the guy is pretty low level, and I doubt he’ll stick his neck out for us”. I said reluctantly.

“I just think it’s time we went all guns blazing. We don’t have a way to find her but the council would. I know it would cost a lot but I have money tucked away” she said determinedly.

“It’s not about the money! We can’t put a price on getting Kerri back, it’s just whether we can trust them?” I said. I have a natural mistrust of large organisations, how can they ever do any good when they have their own agenda. But Anna had been raised in a pack and was the complete opposite.

“I just can’t see why they’d help” I said, not wanting to sound negative.

“We’ll it’s their job isn’t it. Even if we think about it hypothetically, and we pretend for a minute it’s not Kerri we are talking about. The most important thing to the council is that the law not be broken, if there’s a wolf out there lost, injured, or even killed the council has a responsibility to find them before any humans do. We pay into the system like every everyone else. The council enforce these rules and are here to help us too. It works both ways, for the protection and continuation of our kind.” Anna spoke almost misty eyed and the ore she felt for the werewolf council was impossible to miss. My feelings we almost as strong but in the opposite direction!

“I think we should still see what we can find here first” I suggested, “but it’s great to have a plan!” I didn’t want to sound like I was dismissing her idea straight off the bat.

Whilst I went to check on Oliver and Mia, Anna had a go at the safe sure she would remember the combination at some point.

I knocked on the door to Mia’s room and waited until I heard her reply. I popped my head around the door to see Mia and Oliver lying back on her bed whilst she showed him photos on her phone. “Hia you two, sorry to interrupt, Mia I’ve got something to put to you. I think we are going to have a bit of a move around upstairs and I was hoping you’d move upstairs to Anna’s floor. Just temporarily whilst Kerri is away. I just hate you being down here on your own, and it would be great to have you upstairs with the rest of the family.

“Closer on-hand to baby sit, you mean?” Mia replied curtly.

“Have a think about it anyway and we’ll see what we can do. I know Anna would love it.” I said smiling hoping that mentioning Anna would seal the deal. I’d never really managed to win Mia over no matter how hard I’d tried I felt like she kept me at arms length and I had to admit it hurt.

“We remind her of her past” Tala said knowing how I felt. “We were the ones to find her, she’s never forgiven us for taking her.” She said sadly. “But I think it’ll all change once she gets her wolf” she said trying to sound more upbeat. “Her wolf will help her make sense of everything” she said smugly.

“Right Oliver, I think it’s time we gave Mia a chance to get ready for college” I said looking at my watch and holding out my hand to the little boy. He gave Mia a kiss and ran to me happily. Tala practically purred at the feeling of his little hand in ours. We headed back to the living room to check on Anna and baby Juno.

“WOOO BABY!!!” Hollered Anna standing in front of the now open safe! “I knew I’d get it open!” she said triumphantly.

I settled Oliver on the floor with his toy cars and helped Anna carry some of the files to the table, before heading back to fetch the others.

“I didn’t realise Kerri was so into record keeping!” I said, having a brief flick through some of the papers. Some of it seemed to be about Nox, which confused me, as I kept all of the records up to date for the club and the event nights. It wasn’t something Kerri dealt with. “What was she up to” I wondered quietly to Tala.

“Right let’s try and get this in some kind of order, any luck with the laptop?” Anna asked

“I’ll have a look at it now” I said feeing more curious about the paperwork relating to Nox.

I opened the laptop and turned it on. The screen quickly flicked to the login page. This wasn’t going to be easy.

“I think know that one” Anna offered noticing I was stuck. She came over with a post-it. “Try this”

I looked at the post-it… WOL6_61M9LY. Does that say what I think it says? Oh Kerri not a very subtle password!

“Has it worked?” Anna asked glancing over my shoulder.

“Yes! we’re in” I said pleased. “Now all we have to do was work out what I’m actually looking for!!”.

I looked though the list of files, but most of them seemed to be completely unrelated to anything we were looking for. I think this is going to take a lot of looking over! Anna looked exhausted too and the children were getting restless. “Let’s call it quits for now and I’ll make us all lunch. I think this is going to be more of a puzzle than we realised!

On our way out we both glanced at the date written on the paper sheets. Time felt like it was slipping away!