I pushed a few coins into the phone, punching in his number by memory. I didn't even need light to see the keypad, which was good, because it was half three in the morning and the nearest street light had gone out. The phone rang, once, twice, thrice, before I heard the click of it being picked up.
"Who's this?" Sebastian asked, voice cautiously hopeful and clouded with sleep.
"Ah, thanks for being polite this time. I always thought that alpha's should be more polite than rogues." I answered with a smile. I liked his accent, even though it was common to the area, he seemed to have a strange lilt that most didn't.
"Hello, Natalia. Tell me, do you only call people in the middle of the night?" He asked me with a yawn.
"Eh, only people I want to annoy. Why, want me to stop waking you up?"
"Nah, I prefer speaking to you than sleeping. What can I do for you?" My cheeks blushed and I scowled.
"Flattery will get you nowhere, Sebastian. And today at noon, meet me in Skipton, at that really fancy restaurant. Anything fishy happens, I promise I'll stab you before you manage to get me, alright?" I assured him, flipping my knife into the air and catching it again, smiling to myself.
"Do you mean the one near the castle? And the threats aren't necessary, how many times do I have to tell you that I don't want to hurt you?" He sighed, clearly growing a little tired of my shit, not that I cared.
"Yeah, that's the one I want to go to. It always smells really good, but its way too expensive. And I'll trust you if you become a rogue, and not a second sooner." I told him firmly. He chuckled down the line.
"That's the first time I've ever heard someone say that pack wolves aren't trustworthy." He commented loudly. I snorted.
"Then you've clearly never spoken to a rogue. So, do we have a date?" I demanded.
"We certainly do. I'll have to rearrange some meetings, though."
"Cry me a river, alpha boy. Oh, and bring some scent blocking spray. Skipton usually has a lot of pack wolves crawling about, and I'd like it if I wasn't beaten up for being there. Plus, you know, that way I won't smell of pack wolf and you won't smell like rogue." I answered with a grin, putting a friendly edge on my voice.
"Suppose that makes sense, but you can't keep it. If rogues start raiding without scents, questions are going to be asked." My grin widened.
"Yeah, course. I get that." I lied. I was definitely going to be stealing the spray. After all, wearing it could save my life, and even if he did get found out, he was an alpha. Nothing bad would happen to him.
"I'll see you at noon, then." He said.
"See you there. And remember-"
"Anything fishy and you'll stab me, I've got it." He grumbled good naturally. I laughed and hung up the phone, leaning my head back against the wall of the booth with a stupid little smile. After a few minutes of thinking over the conversation, I snapped myself out of it and left, beginning to trek back to the camp. It was a cold night, and I knew that when I got back to the den I would be best to shift into my fur and sleep curled up near my brother, or near Gwenna and Ada if they were amicable. But I was too close to the village to risk shifting here, even if I was already trembling. I picked up the pace into a dead sprint as I approached the border of the camp, trying to chase the numbness from my feet and hands, but I was stopped short by one of the patrols. One of Sadie's men, if I remembered correctly, but he mustn't have done much because I hadn't bothered to learn his name.
"Where have you been off to at this time of night, Natalia?" He demanded, positioning himself firmly in between me and the path to my den. I sighed deeply, looking up at the sky and counting back from five so I could resist the urge to punch him.
"I went for a walk and I had a piss, dude. Now move, I want to go back to bed." I snapped, stepping closer to him. The idiot didn't step away.
"Thing is, I saw you leave like an hour ago, Natalia. Bit weird that you'd go so far away from camp when a lav's already been dug." He drawled out. I felt my wolf stir, and forced her to shut up while I dealt with this.
"Oh for goddess's sake, did you forget the part where I said I went for a walk? I didn't just go to the loo you idiot, I went for a wander. Now will you please move and start keeping an eye out for pack wolves or humans and y'know, do your job?" I snapped.
"Ever since the alpha escaped, I've been wondering who did it-" I didn't let the smug little man finish his sentence. I let my wolf come roaring to the surface, forcing his into a painful submission, as I grabbed him by his collar and slammed him into the nearest tree with all the force I could muster. A deep snarl tore itself from my throat, and I had to fight the urge to shift and fight him right there and then. Although my wolf knew his accusations were true, we had acted to protect our mate, and he was threatening our place in the pack. Besides, a runt like him had no right to speak to me like that, even if he was old enough to have grey hairs.
"The fuck are you trying to say?" I growled, my nose less than an inch away from his. I could smell beer on his breath, which explained what gave him the courage to accuse me of this. It was also really against the rules, because when you're on patrol you're generally meant to be sober. I was tempted to link da and let him know, but that would be grassing and go against everything we stood for. I'd settle for warning Sadie to keep him off my back, because if I had to mess him up, there'd be a rift between our teams.
"Nothing. I ain't saying nothing." He muttered, eyes downcast. I could almost hear Nathan's smartass comment as he pointed out the double negative, but of course he wasn't here. Yet again, I was roughly made aware of how much things had changed. And how lonely I was.
"Good. I'd keep saying nothing, because the next time you start chatting shit about me, I'm going to beat you so bloody your own mother won't recognise you." At his age, his mother was probably dead, unless she was a pack wolf. Rogues rarely got old. He winced and nodded.
"Right, yeah. Sorry." He murmured. I released him and stepped back with one last snarl, pushing at his wolf hard enough to make his nose bleed before leaving him be and stomping back to my den. I made sure that Nathan was properly asleep before stripping down and shifting, curling up next to his side and settling. A few moments later, he threw an arm over me in his sleep, sapping my body heat as I went to sleep.
When I woke up, Gwenna and Ada had joined us too. In their wolf forms, they were laid over Nathan's sleeping bag, curled up with me in a pile. Nathan was no doubt only still sleeping because of our heat, because a snowstorm had blown in since I went to sleep, and only my thick fur coat was keeping me warm. I untangled myself from them, padding into a corner and shaking myself to wake up. Usually, I was the first one up out of our group, but Ada had clearly been up for a while. No doubt content to just lay next to her mate.
Swallowing my jealousy, I shifted back to my human form, getting dressed in record time. Werewolves ran warmer than normal humans, but I still had to go and poke around the supplies cave to find a warm coat. The only one I found was way too big for me, because the rest had already been taken, but I pulled it on anyway. I was going to meet Sebastian today, and I couldn't exactly show up in the middle of Skipton in my wolf form, could I?
My da was already awake, sat in his office with two cups of coffee. Silently, I joined him, taking the other cup and holding it in both hands to stay warm.
"What are you doing today, then?" He asked me, not looking up from the lists he was pouring over.
"I want a new coat, so I'm going to head into Skipton. Da, did you even sleep last night?" I asked him, looking at the dark circles under his eyes.
"I didn't, I have a lot of work to do. And either steal it or pickpocket a human, don't get into a tussle with a pack wolf unless you're planning on taking reinforcements." I definitely wasn't, so I nodded.
"Yeah, sure. Any closer to figuring out who nicked the alpha?" I asked casually, eyeing the red lock box that had the camp's fund in it. Da didn't even look up, just taking it and dropping into the only whole draw of his desk.
"You aren't getting a penny, we need to do a food shop before we go for clothes. And I'm narrowing it down bit by bit, though I'll probably have to open up mind checks to rule people out." I snorted.
"You'll get like, maybe three people who agree to that." He sighed.
"Then that's three less people I have to suspect. Now finish your coffee and piss off, kid, I have work to do." He told me, not unkindly. I chugged the rest of my drink and walked out, knowing that I needed to get going if I was going to reach Skipton in time for lunch. It would honestly be easier to walk there in human form than carrying a bag of clothes in my mouth. Besides, there were too many farms around Skipton. It was hard to find a quiet route and somewhere to shift back.
I popped my head back into my den, seeing that Nathan was awake, content to stay warm.
"I'm heading to Skipton for the day. Da needs people to do a food shop, so I'd avoid him if I was you." I warned.
"Kay. You want me to come with you." I shook my head.
"Nah, I'm just grabbing myself a coat. Besides, I want some time alone." That was new. I usually hated being alone, but today it was necessary. Nathan gave me a perplexed look before a look of realization passed over him.
"Alright, have a nice time. And Nat?" I grunted. "You will find your mate. We both will." He reassured me. I forced a smile onto my face.
"I know." I lied, turning and leaving as fast as I could. When he was so worried about that, I hated having to pretend that we were in the same boat. It felt cruel.
I mulled it over as I made my way to Skipton, wallowing in self pity to distract from rising nerves. By the time I arrived, the sun was pretty much overhead, so I knew that Sebastian would be there soon enough. I tucked myself into an alley where I could keep an eye out for him. Half an hour passed and I was getting edgy, ready to just leave.
"Hello, Natalia."