I am Rogue [Book 1]

Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

               I had been tossing and turning all night long, so when the sun began to filter through my tent, all I could do was groan. The nervousness that had started to grow yesterday seemed only to stay with me through Nyx introducing everyone to Tanner’s wolves and Cold arriving at nearly three in the morning to let us known that Max would be joining the raid with some of her wolves, leaving her second in control of her main pack hold while she was gone. It had reminded Nyx to remind Ash not to be making plans because while the rest of us were going to be gone, Ash would be protecting the fort so to speak.

               Honestly, with so much man werewolf power willing to come along, I should have slept like a baby and been ready when the sun filtered through my tent opening and attempted to blind my bloodshot eyes. Instead I was restless and cranky. Probably not the best combination to go into battle with later on tonight, but hey, what was I supposed to do? They didn’t sell magic rainbow pills that made things all better. Everything had side effects these days.

               Growling as rustling near my tent drew my head to the swaying flaps, a breeze letting me know today was going to be a little windy and from the smell there might be a rain storm tonight. Well at least the weather wanted to work in our favor at some point. This wind was no doubt going to be a pain in the ass if it kept up. Here’s to hoping Mother Nature wasn’t on the rag.

               Looking through my tent flaps, I nearly drooled as Nyx raised an eyebrow, one of his hands holding out a steaming bowl of rice porridge, though it smelt like extra things had been added in this morning just to give encouragement on the raid. Scents of ginger, cinnamon, sugar, and coconut assaulted me, my stomach growling out in demand that I take that offered bowl. The urge had me crawling out of my tent on my hands and knees, not even thinking about the fact that I wore nothing more than a black tank top and a pair of dark royal blue booty shorts, my hair sticking to the back of my neck and falling over my shoulders as I made my way towards that bowl.

               “Hot damn! Now there is something I’d love to be able to do.”

               Ben’s annoying voice seemed to pull me from my lust for sugared rice porridge and bring me to reality, my face blushing crimson as I stood up, dusted myself off and ducked back into my tent to snag a pair of worn down jeans with holes ripped out in the knees. Finding a forgotten hair tie in one of the pockets, I grabbed my layered hair up, twisted it into a makeshift bun, and tied it into place. My stomach, during the entire time I was trying to look less like I had ‘fuck me’ written on my forehead, however, growled in protest at the lack of porridge filling it up.

               Pulling back the tent flaps, I blushed all over again as several wolves were sitting around my usually quiet eating area with faces full of smirks and lips murmuring sexual comments about my morning appearance and the ‘charisma’ Nyx must be packing to simply stand out my tent and have me crawling on my hands and knees, having been away from him for almost a day and a half. Their remarks had me so flushed Nyx flashed me a sympathetic smile, though it was combined with a worried look in his golden chocolate brown eyes as he handed me my breakfast.

               “Just ignore them, Aim. They don’t know the score around here like everyone else, remember. I won’t go as far to say I don’t have a certain… charisma,” his eyebrows did a little macho man wiggle as he grinned at me, “but everyone knows nothing happens like that between us.”

               I nodded, taking a bite of my warm sweet breakfast. The thick substance filled my mouth, coating my tongue with the taste of sweet coconut mixture and bitter bite of cinnamon, almost forcing me to moan out loud. Though with the embarrassment I was already wrapped up in, I fought back against the moan, swallowing it in another bite of the damned rice porridge.

                Something was beginning to itch in the back of my mind, something nagging and important. More so than when I was at Tanner’s and felt there was something more going on with his pack than anyone was telling. Hell, the nagging seemed more important than when I had caught that familiar scent at the gas station and just couldn’t place it. There was something, something just beyond my grasp causing my inner wolf to claw at my mind. Perhaps this was where all the nervousness was coming from.

                Sliding a hand through my hair, forgetting I had tied it up, I nearly growled as I jerked my fingers into a knot. Placing down my bowl, I ignored Nyx trying not to laugh at my idiotic moment just as Rosie seemed to dart from somewhere behind me and take off with my breakfast. Now I was stuck with a bad hair day, my breakfast being raided by a thieving pup who had no doubt her own bowl eaten and licked clean, and for some reason I felt clammy and cranky. Oh wait, that last bit may be because I didn’t get any sleep the night before.

                Freeing my fingers and ripping the hair tie from my hair, I gave up on eating and closed my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose a moment. “I’m going to go bathe in that cold ass waterfall pool. Maybe it will cool me off…” The last bit was mumbled to myself, but the first was to let Nyx know where I was off to.

                Turning before he could say anything, I headed back towards my tent to get my bathing materials. A towel, some clean clothes, and some care products that I felt a little bad about using, seeing as how it polluted the natural order, but hey, I didn’t know what else to do in aiding washing the sweat and grime away. Besides, I think Mother Nature owed me a little, after all it made me a werewolf while the race was ran by shitheads causing me to live life labeled as a criminal. Items in hand, I stalked my way towards the waterfall with its see-through blue tinted water.

                The waterfall had been a lucky find. We had been playing around and stumbled onto it, clear of claimed pack territory. Sometimes I think Nyx chose to stay here was partially because of the waterfall find. There we could collect clean water, bathe, clean clothes… Really, the water offered a lot to us who didn’t live in homes with electricity and plumbing. Best part was that the water filtered from the pool under the waterfall down a small creek into the river so that the water stayed clean despite those who used it.

               Shredding my sticky clothes, I took a breath, enjoying the smell of the running water and the sounds of birds chirping. We were really lucky it was still the beginning of fall, with the leaves changing and dropping to the ground. That meant the air wasn’t that cold during the sunshine and the birds had yet to take wing and migrate. I didn’t look forward to sleeping on the cold ass ground during winter where snow might melt into my sleeping bag.

               The water rippled as I dipped a toe in to test the temperature. Last thing I wanted was to jump in and come up sputtering and shivering because it was cold as hell. Deciding the water felt good against my flushed skin, I waded in nude until the water rose just past my navel, dropping my legs out from under me and plunging into the watery depths. Holding my breath, I ran my hands through my hair that kept floating back up to the surface, reveling in the feel of the water encasing my body and washing away the grime as well as the nervousness that had been eating away at me all night long.

               Curling my toes, I felt the burn in my chest for the need of more oxygen. Readying my legs, I pushed myself out of the water, throwing my head back to flip my long layered wet hair behind me, the usual dark brown now gleaming like shiny onyx stone as it stuck to my pale golden caramel skinned back and shoulders. If I hadn’t been in navel deep water, I knew I could have felt the water droplets that were sure to be in my hair slide free from the tips against my back and trickle their way down the two to four inches they had to go before passing my hip line.   

               Walking back to the edge, the water dropping slowly from my navel to my ankles as I bent over to retrieve my mint smelling shampoo and conditioner, I felt goose bumps rise as the cool breeze kissed my wet skin. Oddly though, I didn’t find it all that cold. In fact, as I walked back, and even further towards the waterfall, I couldn’t help but think that cool wind had felt wonderful against my flesh.