I groaned and threw my head back. I was knackered; I'd only had a few hours kip last night, and today had been busy. All I'd wanted to do was crawl into my sleeping back and snore till dawn broke tomorrow.
"Come on then, let's get this over with." I muttered, gesturing for the other two to follow me as I left our new den.
"I wanted to find a den of my own." Gwenna complained, sending a longing look down the tunnel to the rest of the camp and her mate.
"He wants our help to figure out who helped free the alpha. It's pretty important, because if we have a mole in our midst-"
"The packlings will be nipping at our heels before the day is done." I finished for him with a heavy sigh. We came to da's den, me going in first. He had an old electric lantern on the battered table he had carried in to use on a desk, giving off enough light to completely destroy our night vision the moment we entered. He was sat behind the table, pouring over lists.
"Come, sit down." He ordered us. As we got closer, I noticed that there were lists upon lists of names, a lot of them struck through.
"What's all this, then?" I asked, trying to pilfer the list directly in front of him, but he slapped my hand away.
"It is a list of everyone who was in camp last night. It was one of us who helped the alpha get away, because no other rogue group was close enough to get in and out, no lones are in the area, and it sure as hell wasn't a pack wolf. I need you lot to tell me who you saw about last night." Da explained, scowling at the list and fiddling with his pen.
"And help you strike names off! We can do that." Nathan finished for him. Gwenna leaned forward, resting her elbows against the table.
"Right, so you've already struck out your name, though I'm not sure why you felt the need to write it in the first place. You can also strike out our names, and Ada's too, because she was with me all night." Gwenna told him, tapping where our names were written. Da looked at the three of us, and didn't move to cross out our names. I bristled.
"Da!" I yelled, annoyance clear in my voice even though I was beginning to feel a little frightened. Did he really think I did it?
"I can't count the three of you out just because you're my kids." He told me patiently. Gwenna snorted, shaking her head in disbelief while Nathan looked horrified and hurt. I just stared at him until his eyes flashed gold and he sent me a warning to drop my gaze.
"That's bullshit! Do you seriously think we did it?" Nathan demanded, clenching his fists so hard his knuckles went white. Da sighed.
"No, I don't honestly think that any of you did it. However in times like this, I can't show blatant favoritism, not when tensions are so high. I'll extend you the same offer that I'm going to extend everyone else; let me look through your memories of last night, and I'll strike your names off of the list." I stiffened, too scared to speak. Images flooded my mind, of da breaking into my mind and sifting through my memories, laying bare what I had done and why. Getting driven out of the rogue groups, forced to become a lone, or worse, go to my mate and become a pack wolf. Before I could bolt or argue or attack or do anything to defend myself, the other two kicked off.
"No way in hell are you getting in my head! I was with Ada all night, why do you want to see that?" Gwenna yelled, looking equal parts embarrassed and disgusted at the idea. Da's own face screwed up in repulsion, but before he could rebuke her, Nathan joined in on berating him.
"That's a pack wolf strategy, you can't do that!" I drew in a sharp breath; comparing a rogue to a pack wolf was a good way to get yourself punched, and da wouldn't go easy on him just because he was his son. Sure enough, da bolted to his feet, reaching over the table and collaring my brother. Immediately, my wolf riled, half wanting to step in and half wanting to stay quiet lest we get da's wrath.
"Careful what you say to me, boy. I won't force anyone to let me into their mind, its just an offer if they want to clear their name without being investigated." He warned Nate in low tones. My brother nodded and set his jaw, sinking back into his seat when da finally released his grip on him. Da slowly sat back down, turning his attention to me, the only one who hadn't spoke. I shook my head.
"I didn't have anything to do with it, da, and neither did they, but you ain't getting in my head. I like my privacy, but that don't make me guilty." I protested, feeling bad for lying for pretty much the first time in my life. Lying was the name of the game for rogues, but I had never done something so wrong before. But da just nodded.
"That's fair. I won't assume that anyone is guilty because they won't let me into their heads, its just an opportunity to clear your name." I sighed with relief and rubbed my hand over my face.
"Alright then, what did you call us in here for again?" I asked. Da gave me a tight lipped smile.
"Sometimes your attention span worries me, Natalia. I want both of you to tell me who you saw when and where." He went through each of us in turn, starting with Gwenna. Her main answer was Ada, mentioning a few people she saw earlier in the night before she got drunk and retired with her mate. Nathan named most of the same people, seeming to forgot pretty much everything after I left due to the drink, mentioning a few others he saw just before the raiding teams returned when he was puking his guts up in the latrines. I told the truth up until the moment I retired, at which point I said that I stayed in my den for the rest of the night. I was glad that Nate had gone before me, because I knew that he had crashed near the latrines instead of returning to the ruins. No one could contradict my story.
Finally, we were dismissed, though it was only so he could give us a little bit of money and tell us to go into Lothersdale. They had a good chippy, and da gave us enough money for our entire raiding team to get something. Nate linked them and got their orders, and then we set off. A general rule, when we were approaching human settlements, was to take a looping path so we actually came from the opposite direction.
Tired though we were, we went ourselves. The promise of fresh, fried food was always enough to motivate us, and getting it hot and fresh was worth it. It was a Thursday, so it wasn't too busy, but there were still a few kids fresh off the school bus lining up to get their dinners. We joined the queue, because we had to follow human rules when we're in their world. Didn't make my wolf any less pissy, not when I knew I could probably take them all down at once if I needed to.
We'd long since gotten used to the stares of humans when we mixed with them, judgement clear in their glares and not so quiet whispers. Nate started up a loud conversation about our hike, and how much further we had to get home, in an attempt to explain away our muddy clothes and haggard appearance. It was enough to stop them trying to talk to us, thank god.
The employees looked at us suspiciously when we entered, until we flashed the cash and placed our order. We had to wait around for them to fry everything up, and I felt physical pain at handing over the money they charged for the food. If it was my money, I would have been more tempted to rob the place than pay that much.
Three bags of food were handed over the counter, and away we went, going the long way round. Naturally, we were moving a lot slower than we had been to get here, because we each broke open our own tea's and tucked in. It was nice; relaxing. It felt like old times, before we turned eighteen and everything started going downhill. While we were walking and eating and teasing and stealing food, I didn't even think about Sebastian.
Until, of course, I did.
As soon as his stupid name came into my head, I felt my mood sink and my heart ache. I hated it. I'd barely had one conversation with him, and now I couldn't get the damn alpha out of my head. I kept wondering about him, if he hated the snow but loved the rain like me, when his first shift was, if he found it as hard to live without a mother as I had. But I needed to stop thinking about him altogether, because I wasn't going to ever ask him those questions.
No matter how much my thoughts kept circling back to the number he had given me.
"Jeez, Nat, you're beginning to remind me of Gwenna with all your moping." Nathan muttered, looking between the two of us with exasperation. I jerked myself out of it and scowled.
"I'm more like you than Gwenna, Nathan. She's the only one of us who's found her mate." I lied, relieved to see the dark outline of the quarry loom out of the twilight, because that meant I could disappear to bed soon.
"You know, it's actually like a fifty fifty chance that you manage to find your mate while your eighteen. I mean, its still disproportionate, but it isn't unusual to find your mate later in life so the two of you really shouldn't be worried- ADA!" Gwenna cut herself off in the middle of her little speech when she saw her own mate, waving her free arm around and yelling. Ada turned, waving back and running over the fields to greet her.
"I feel sick." Nathan muttered as the two collided and began to kiss. I nodded my agreement and we both passed them. I paused only long enough to liberate the food from her grip before continuing on, leaving the two of them to do whatever while we went to feed the rogues. I was set upon the moment I entered the camp by the pack of children. They were only a quarter of the number as they were before, but they were still vicious little buggers. I raised the bags over my head, only to have a few of them try to climb me like a tree and the others start jabbing at my knees to try and bring me down.
Luckily, the adults had been alerted by the chaos and came to my rescue. Well, no, they didn't come to my rescue, they just waded through the children and grabbed the food, but that was good enough. The kids followed the food, leaving me and Nathan behind with muddy footprints on our clothes.
After that, I decided that I needed to stay up and join in on the new camp game, in which all the raiding teams got drunk and played a bastardised mix of football, rugby, cricket and tennis until we all passed out. The children were all put to bed before we started, because we tended to get quite rough with each other, and the little scamps always went for the booze if we let them get too close. I played with the same gusto I always did, until I finally staggered back to the den and crashed out for the night.
But I didn't sleep well. Sebastian's face kept swimming through my dreams, and I kept thinking about his number. About calling him. I kept waking up, thinking about calling him, hearing his voice, talking to him. It was ridiculous, but I couldn't sleep. It didn't help that I knew I had a wallet full of change tucked into bottom of my sleeping bag and I saw a payphone in the village.
Finally, my willpower broke. I took the money, I took the number, and I set off to the village.