Running with Rogues

CHAPTER 5 - HOME FREE

I let go of my knife, if only because she didn't have one, and it wouldn't be fair.

"Hey, bitch," she snarled. "You stole my knife. Where the hell is it?"

Oh, she'd noticed now, had she? It had taken long enough. Maybe she had noticed yesterday and spent this long psyching herself up to ask me about it ... but I doubted it, somehow. She was taller and older than me. More likely, it had taken her this long to interrogate the other initiates and determine that they were innocent.

"You know what, Char? I have no bloody idea," I told her. I'd lost a lot of blood in the last hour — I was too tired for this shit.

She frowned, taken aback by the shortness in my tone. "Well, I want it back."

"Then you can walk your ass into Ember and get it, can't you?"

"You're the one who lost it, bitch. You get it," Charlotte said sweetly.

I felt a hot flash of irritation, and even my sheep of a wolf pricked her miserable ears up. I wasn't the type to pick fights, but I wouldn't take shit from anyone. It was the only way to survive among rogues. If you backed down once, showed weakness once, you'd get trampled on for the rest of your life.

The last few months had been a steep learning curve in that regard. Away from Mam and the Llewellyn boys for the first time in my life, I'd had to make my own name. And evidently I wasn't very good at it yet, because this upstart pup seemed to think she could come at me.

"Call me a bitch one more time, Char, and I'll use your entrails for a chew toy," I said.

"Bitch," she spat without hesitation, grinning the challenge.

Oh. I'd been banking on the deterrent, to be honest. This was ... oh, no...

Now what? Was I supposed to kick her ass? Could I?

My cousin was back. She was watching from a few steps away, letting it play out for the time being. She wouldn't let us tear into each other so close to the Ember border — she couldn't afford to. I decided to bet on that and lunged at the girl. I managed to get a hand around her neck and lodge a punch to her stomach before someone grabbed me from behind and dragged me backwards.

I'd won the bet. Nia had a firm grip on the collar of my shirt. She was pulling upwards so it dug into my neck like a noose. I couldn't break free, and I certainly couldn't go forwards, which suited me just fine. Naturally, I made a good show of struggling, and Nia just twisted my collar tighter.

Devin was holding Charlotte like a rag doll to stop her retaliating. I'd definitely got the better end of the bargain. She spat at me and muttered an unrepeatable word.

"There's a time and a bloody place, pups," Nia told us. "And guess what? It ain't here."

"She's a thieving piece of shit," Charlotte hissed.

"We're all thieving pieces of shit, Char," I said sarcastically, and she gouged bloody lines in Devin's arm trying to free herself for another go. Nia shook me.

"Eva Llewellyn," she said — a clear warning. "Not another word from you."

I settled for smirking instead. There was still blood on my lips from the fight with the patrol. The surname drop had been very, very deliberate. It was a reminder for Charlotte that we were family ... and that she was punching above her weight. It should have annoyed me that my cousin reckoned I needed her protection, but I was tired, and she was right.

A moment later, I was released with a shove. Nia went to the car and came back a moment later holding something — the pack women's purse. She threw it at Charlotte, who barely managed to catch it.

"Buy yourself a new knife," Nia ordered. "You can sit your ass in the car, little cousin. Now, please."

I did. The howls were getting uncomfortably close. The chase didn't end at the border anymore. We were at war, after all, and there was no such thing as no man's land. No time out zone. The battlefield stretched from Ember to Silver Lake — all those hundreds of acres, and not a single patch of earth where a rogue could be safe.

I sat in the back with the pack woman, which was kinda awkward, given that she was unconscious. It got less awkward when Lily and Nia got into the car, too. Lily was driving, because she was the only one of us who actually knew the rules of the road.

We pulled off as flockies started to appear from the trees. The rest of the raiders were already gone — running north, back to the camp, by the most strung-out, roundabout route they could dream up. They weren't coming to Haven with us. Haven was only for the coolest, most awesome rogues.

"And that, Eva, is the last bit of trouble you can make for me," Nia said from the front seat. She was grinning again.

"Don't count on it. There's a whole car journey between here and Haven," I muttered.

"You'll behave yourself or I'll leave you on the curb to walk home." Almost as an afterthought, she added, "And if you bleed on my upholstery, they won't ever find your body, kid."

I looked down at the red-brown stain beneath me and bit my lip, because it was a little too late. My leg was still leaking, and my left arm had left a long, messy smear along the window. By all rights, Nia should've been bleeding, too. But she healed fast — faster than Rhodri, even, and he was Llewellyn by blood. It wasn't fair.

When I didn't answer, Nia turned around to look at me, her eyes already full of suspicion and horror. "Eva...?"

"Sorry?" I offered.

She growled. Not at me, but I smiled sheepishly all the same, which was a classic appeasement tactic. Sure enough, she turned back around and glowered at the road ahead.

"Just sit on your jacket," Lily suggested as she nosed the car out of a junction. She was wearing her driving glasses, which made her look more like a suburban housewife than a wanted criminal. "Babe, are we going via Arlow?"

"If you don't mind. Better safe than dead."

The indicator started ticking away, and we turned onto the main road east. It would be a long journey — half an hour at least. I unclipped my seat belt and wriggled out of my jacket. It didn't make a very comfortable cushion, but it was better than getting my ass kicked.

I rested my head against the window and closed my eyes. I had a talent for napping. Given five minutes, I could get to sleep anywhere, anytime. Today was no exception. The second I found a place to rest my head without staining my neck, I was out like a light.