I Didn't Know I'm a Rogue

Coming Home

I walked into his office and sat down in the chair across from him. Stark finished looking at something on his PC before giving me his full attention.

"What can I do for you, Tyler?"

Suddenly nervous and second guessing my choice to ask if I could go home, my gaze dropped to my lap. "Um... I was just wondering if-"

"You've got to speak up," interrupted Stark.

I took a deep shaky breath and the words suddenly burst through my lips, fast and jumbled together. Stark eyed me for a moment before asking me to repeat myself.

"I was wondering I could go home?" This time, the words came out even and louder.

"What do you mean, home?" questioned Stark. "You're part of the pack now. You are home." I swelled with pride at his words, but I realized how wrong and stupid my request had come out.

"I know that!" I said, just a little too loudly. I blushed and explained myself. "I mean the home I had before I was captured. I've been thinking about it and I want to go back. I just want to see it one more time, maybe get some closure."

"Is this important to you?" he asked after a moment. I nodded, and Stark sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Do you even know how to get home?" I handed him the sheet of paper with the directions, and the room was silent as he read them over. "You want to go today?" he asked, looking up from the paper at me.

"If I can, yeah," I answered truthfully. I wanted to get as far away from Bo as I could.

"Alright, I understand this is important. I'll find you a ride and you'll leave in about twenty minutes." It took a moment for what he said to sink in.

"You're really letting me go home?" I asked in disbelief.

Stark nodded and added, "Make sure to bring some homework or something to do, since you have school tomorrow. I don't want you getting behind." He gave me a serious look before sending me up to my room to get my stuff.

After about ten minutes, there was a knock at my door, and I opened it to see Anton standing there with some car keys in one hand and the sheet of directions in the other hand. "Ready to go?" I nodded, grabbed my shoulder bag full of homework, and followed him out of the pack house to the garage. As we had passed through the living room, I had sensed Bo's eyes following me, but I didn't look his way.

We climbed into a red Jeep wrangler, and Anton turned the key in the ignition, and the car roared to life. As we drove, I pretended to be focused on a chemistry review packet, when really, I was thinking about my old home.

Would it look the same? Would my parents' bodies still be there, the carved carcasses sprawled across the bloody floor? Would there be a new family living there, unaware of the people who lived there before them? Would my old house even be there?

Before I knew, Anton turned onto my old street. I watched the familiar houses pass, and I smiled sadly as I saw a neighbor I recognized walk out of her house to take her dog on a walk. Anton drove to the end of the street and took a slight right, and then there it was; my old home.

My parents had bought a house sort of separate from the rest of the neighborhood with a thick patch of wooded area in the backyard, for those rare days when my parents let me shift. The house itself wasn't all that big, and it had ice blue siding with a black roof and white trim. Just seeing it made me want to cry.

As we drew closer, I saw, to my relief, no cars in the driveway. In fact, just from looking at the house, I could tell no one lived there. There was a weather-worn FOR SALE sign tipped over in the front yard, and the grass in the front yard looked long and unruly. The garden was full of dead flowers, and the color on the siding was faded.

Anton parked in the gravel driveway and started to take his seat belt off, but I stopped him. "Can I go in by myself?" Anton looked at me skeptically before settling back in his chair and nodding. "Thanks for understanding, Anton."

"Alright, Tyler. Take all the time you need, okay?" I nodded and hopped out of the car, leaving behind my shoulder bag. I walked up the front steps and found the door unlocked, and I had to admit, I wasn't surprised. The house looked completely abandoned.

I stepped inside and was suddenly bombarded with memory after memory. I floated into the living room, half expecting to see rotting bodies. Instead, I just saw dark stains on the furniture and ground where the bodies had been, like someone had tried to scrub out the bloodstains and failed miserably.

Seeing the stains caused the nightmares of my capture and everything that happened afterwards to resurface. Suddenly feeling lightheaded, I sat down, far away from the blood, and took deep breaths.

We shouldn't have come, whined my wolf. Let's go back to the car and get out of here. Happy to oblige, I boosted myself off of the couch and turned around only to gasp and freeze.

"Why, hello there pretty thing."

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Don't you guys love cliffhangers?

Thanx to TheGirlWhoCried for the awesome new cover, and to Alexandradawn for the one on the side!!! You guys rock!!! Also, just cuz i got a new cover doesn't mean I don't want people to stop making them... if you make me one, I'll be sure to share it on the side!!!

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