You&Me: Book 4

Chapter 10: Sensitivity (Archer)

I dragged my tired body down the hall to my room. Staying out so late had been the worst idea of my life. It didn't help that the herd had gone so far into the mountains. My legs felt like they were going to give out. I glanced down the hall. I need to bathe, but I wanted to sleep even more. If I slept on the floor instead of my bed, I would get anything dirty. Yawning, I shuffled inside and curled up on a fur spread across the ground. It felt amazing to be off my feet. Being this close to the floor made me notice all of the dirt. I needed to clean. But that would have to be done another day. Dragging my calendar closer, I marked off today and smiled to myself. It was going to be a full moon tonight. Closing my eyes, I smiled to myself.

***

A bang jolted me awake. I lifted my head and stared at the wall I shared with Saigon. Something else slammed into it. I flopped back down as the racket continued. A few curse words were mixed into the fit Saigon was throwing. Darius probably yelled at him for something. Red markings sure did make a werewolf short-tempered. I circled my claw around the date on the calendar. I was going to sleep well tonight and be fully recharged for the hunt tomorrow.

A crash sounded from the room next door. Rolling my eyes, I lifted myself to my feet. My joints popped and cracked. The bastard knew what it was like to be a young dominant, yet Saigon felt it was okay to make so much noise that it was impossible to sleep.

Throwing back the curtains to his room, I glared at him. Was this his version of cleaning? Chucking all of his shit into a pile?

Saigon noticed me and froze. "Archer, um... what's on your fur?"

"Blood," I stated, glaring at him.

He swallowed hard and looked around.

"Some of us worked this morning and are trying to sleep. Your grandmother would beat your ass if she heard you cursing up a storm and making so much noise."

Smiling sheepishly, he rubbed his arm. "Sorry. I got a little carried away."

"A little?" I shook my head. "Just keep it down. I'm going back to bed."

"Because you were up last night?"

"It doesn't—" I glanced into the hall. Jagger was coming this way. I straightened up.

"Did you go—"

I held up my hand. "Shut up. We can talk about it later."

Jagger gave me a nod before looking at me, concerned. "Are you hurt?"

My shoulders dropped as I picked at the dried deer's blood on my chest. "No. I haven't had a chance to bathe yet. I took a nap first."

Jagger nodded. "Go and do it then so you'll be well-rested for tonight."

"Tonight?"

Saigon perked up as well.

"Yeah, you're on the schedule."

"No," I said, trying to not sound panicked. "I looked at the list. I'm not doing patrol until Saturday."

"I had to change it." Jagger turned to Saigon. "You'll be leading a group tonight on the first shift. It runs along the border with the humans and us."

"So the boring one?"

"The safest one," Jagger stated. "I'm not going to give you the hardest route on your time going solo." He patted my arm. "Archer will be on your team."

Saigon let out a deep breath. "Okay. Sounds like a plan to me."

Jagger glanced around the interior. "You might want to pick up your room a bit before your aunt sees. Storm's been cracking down on it lately." He turned to leave.