Running with Rogues

CHAPTER 5 - HOME FREE

"You good?" she asked me.

I tested my foreleg. In the chaos of the fight, I had been able to ignore it, but I could definitely feel it now. The muscle was damaged. I couldn't put weight on it, and that left me with only two working legs. I couldn't run on two legs.

"I'll live," I linked back, spitting out a mouthful of the second guy's blood to collect my knife.

She rubbed up against me, wiping her blood on my nice, clean fur, and I could only glare. "Damn right you'll live, pup. If you went and died on my watch, your mam would have my throat."

"Nah," I said. "She adores you."

"I'd rather not find out. Let's move our asses before anyone else joins the party."

Moving my ass was easier said than done. I alternated between using my injured legs and, even then, every step hurt. I was determined to keep up with Nia, but determination was only worth so much, and she had to slow down for me before two minutes had passed.

It was horrible. Running was the only thing I was good at.

Somehow, I kept moving. After a few more minutes, the pain seemed to grow distant and dulled. Adrenaline was one hell of a drug. But we weren't moving fast enough — the howls had gotten louder. By the time the bone fence came into sight, we were cutting it very damn close.

Since we'd retraced our steps, we crossed the border at the same place. I paused for a moment in front of the wolf skull, and all of a sudden, I didn't feel so bad about kidnapping that woman. She couldn't be entirely innocent while she belonged to this pack of pup-killers.

***

A mile across the border, Lily and Devin waited on the side of a road. Our getaway car — a Honda with tinted windows — was parked there, every single one of the doors open, and I could see the woman we'd abducted lying unconscious on the back seat. The rest of Nia's raiding team were sitting on the bank and throwing grass at each other.

I was over-excited from the running and the fighting, so I tackled Lily's wolf, and I was probably a bit too rough. She let out a surprised yelp. Teeth closed around my scruff and hauled me backwards. I'd pushed in line for a greeting, and while I hadn't actually hurt Lily, Nia had no way of knowing that.

She lifted a lip and growled at me. In human form, I could've ignored it, but my wolf had a healthy respect for authority. She sank onto her haunches, half-rolled over and showed her throat. Our tail thumped against the ground in apology. Nia, who probably would've been satisfied with a duck of the head, pushed her muzzle into my throat and sneezed, and I sighed at my wolf.

With me disciplined, Nia and Lily said hello with a wrestling match. The winner, as always, was my cousin, but she was very good at pretending that Lily was actually a threat. When they were done, I crept forwards on my belly for a snuffle. Lily rubbed her cheek against mine, telling me I was forgiven.

There was a pile of clothes waiting for us. I took a mouthful behind a tree and shifted back. They were boys' clothes, and they stank of other rogues, and they were way too big, and there was no bra, and I got blood all over them before I could even put them on, but it was better than being naked. Probably.

When I limped back out in a scratchy jacket, a t-shirt which reached my thighs and a pair of rolled-up cargo trousers, Nia and Lily had gone to shift (and probably make out). I leant against the car door and stared at the pack woman, who was drooling in her sleep.

Then someone shoved me from behind, and not gently. I whirled around to face them, one hand already darting into a pocket for my knife, only to growl at the culprit. It was the least annoying of the initiates — Charlotte. And when I said least annoying, I meant she was the only one who hadn't thrown a punch at me yet, not that I liked her in any capacity.