"What the hell are you doing, Phoenix?" A deep voice made her jump as she walked back to her den. Sighing she looked up and up and up into the annoyed black eyes of her best friend and fellow Rogue.
"Warren," she scolded, "You scared me."
"I scared you? I should do a lot more then scare you. Are you out of your mind?" he demanded, dragging her into the cave.
"Of course I am. I'm a rogue after all." She pulled free and, sitting, began to take off her shoes, ignoring him.
"I'm not playing, Phoenix! Why are you so close to that joke of a mating farce that's going on? Where were you? What are you up to now?" He ran his hand through his blue black hair in pure frustration.
Phoenix, settling back, studied him. She sighed at the tense, worried look pinching his mouth and tightening his jaw. "You're not going to like it."
His eyebrows crashed together. "Tell me anyway."
"I'll be telling you secrets that are not mine. You can't tell or use them to your advantage. And could you sit? You're making my neck hurt." She glared at him.
"On my honor." He settled gracefully across from her.
Phoenix let the breath she was holding out with relief, and gave him a small smile. She knew any pack werewolf would scoff at a 'rogue' having honor. But he had more in his little finger then Alpha Scott had in his whole pack. And she always missed him when they went their separate ways. She really shouldn't be surprise to find him checking up on her. She was supposed to be two states over by now. "Yvonne Belcourt."
"What about her?"
"She's going to be picked by that bastard again."
"And how is that your business? She has family."
"Yeah, a seventeen-year-old brother and an Alpha who was attacked and stabbed with wolfbane and silver seven days ago." She watched his eyes widen in shock and nodded. "He's alive, but..."
"But not in the shape he'd need to be in to help. It wasn't rogues. I would have put a stop to it. He's one of the good ones." He growled, black eyes getting darker, if that was possible.
She smiled, "No, I don't think it was. It was Alpha Scott. He wants her. Doesn't mind who gets hurt in the process."
"I really don't want to sound cold, but again, how is that your business?" He raised one single eyebrow.
"I'm teaching her tricks to fight him herself."
He shot to his feet and began pacing. "You are out of your mind. Do you want to get caught? No. It's too dangerous. We'll leave tomorrow."
Phoenix sighed and climbed up on a boulder to be more even with him. "Now that you're here, you can help, too."
He spun to glare at her. "Did you hear a word I said?
She met his eyes calmly. "I think Alpha Scott needs a taste of his own medicine. You can't deny beating the ever loving daylights out of him wouldn't make your week."
She held back a smile as his eyes began to twinkle. "You do know the way to my heart. How badly can I hurt him?"
"According to the law, she needs to stay in the ring with him for 5 whole minutes and still say 'no' afterwards. So he needs to believe he can win, but still be weakened, with slow reflexes." She pretended to pull out a calculator, "If you take him on the night before... Times his werewolf healing..." she punched invisible buttons. "Add both your Alpha status... Maybe divide by his arrogances. Carry to the second on how much food and alcohol he's been consuming this week. Add the square root of her being a female." She looked up with an evil glint to find him grinning back at her. "Pretty damn bad."
"Have I told you recently I adore you?"
***
"It's happening tomorrow, André. I'm not ready. I won't win." Yvonne paced around their tent in agitation, actually wringing her hands. "And then, and then." She started hyperventilating. "Then..."
He jumped up and pulled her into his wide chest, rocking just slightly. "Yvonne, you can do it. You're ready. It'll be a long five minutes, but you'll survive it. I know it. But you need to know it. too. Remember, if you think you can't..."
She drew in a ragged breath then pulled away from him. "Then you can't. So I can, but..."
A shout sounded and was followed by more and more. Luc stumbled into the tent, his eyes glowing and a huge smile on his face. "Come!" he gasped before spinning and running back out.
Following him into the center of a crowd of shocked and angry voices, they found a bloody and bruised Alpha Scott leaning heavily against one of his men. Yvonne let out a shocked gasp. He looked up with two blackened eyes. André pulled her behind him and asked with bored indifference. "What happened to you?"
Alpha Scott straightened away from his man and swayed before stiffening his spine enough to stay still. He glared at André. "The Alpha Rogue." Shocked gasps were heard. "And at least six of his biggest men, ambushed me. I could have taken him easily, or them, without breaking a sweat. But both. I was outnumbered. Still I walked back here on my own. And you should see them." The girls made appreciative noises and the men shot him looks of respect.
André's smile flashed feral, "Lucky they didn't use silver or wolfbane on you." Yvonne, watching Alpha Scott's face, saw something flash in his eyes. A murmur of agreement rose from the crowd and they led the bruised man to the medical bay. Others talked about sending out a search party for the Alpha Rogue, everyone knowing that it would be a waste of time. He was already long gone.
They turned and walked back to their tent. As the flap closed, Luc let out a whoop of delight and, picking up Yvonne, spun her in a circle. André, smiling, lowered himself gingerly into a chair.
"Little Sister, your chance of winning just went up dramatically," he said with a chuckle when her feet were once again on the floor.
"What do you mean? He'll be healed by tomorrow."
André shook his head. "From the looks of if, that was one hell of a beating. He might look all better tomorrow. But he won't be. The Moon Goddess is smiling down on you."
Yvonne felt her eyes widen. Maybe she was, but she had a very good guess who had a hand in this. She glanced at the clock, even more impatient for ten to get here than normal.