~ Chapter Thirty-Four ~

Time away from Dimitri was already killing me - it was killing us both. I hardly made it far after starting the car before I felt the incredible urge to swing back around and go back to him. But I stuck with the drive and made it to the village shortly after leaving. I found it to be pleasantly empty, most of the rogues sent to prominent homes they could fit into. Gina was less busy than I'd ever seen her, but only slightly angry about it.

“Do I have to make these wolves rogues myself or something?” She glared at her window. “I have nothing to do, Erika.”

I smiled as I pushed my research across the table toward her. “Well, maybe this can make your situation even worse.”

She was dumbfounded that she’d never heard of the pack I brought forward before and got right on the phone to speak with the alpha. I spent that time with Henry, catching up on what had been going on lately; the whole village had seen a soar of packs willing to take rogues on, all because of Gina’s ethic for this whole campaign. She’d worked harder than ever the day after I left, only to be abandoned by her work for the last couple of days because she’d done such a good job. It was more than amusing to hear about what she’d been doing to occupy herself.

When she returned to the house, she slumped into her chair and said, “I’ll have to take a trip down there when you’re gone, Keller. That was a great find - and just what I need right now, thank you.”

“Cheers for me?” I suggested, raising my glass of water. Gina and Henry both raised something, neither glasses. We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to forget about our responsibilities, or at least I spent it trying to ignore the huge hole in my chest left behind from leaving my mate at home. It was difficult to pretend I wasn’t hurting inside, but I was determined to be a part of the group and not vacant, longing for my mate. Dylan *was* unfortunately right; now that we had gotten closer, it was harder to be apart.

My trip to the village ended late the next day, after an extended farewell period with those I recognised from the last time I had been there. These were the people who didn’t want to be a part of a pack, so stayed behind in the village, living their life without really any authority except for Gina’s extensive bodyguards and warriors she’d picked up over years of campaigning. Everyone was trusted and seemed to like me, which felt good. And then I got into my car and started to head back to Dimitri’s pack.

Along the way, I noticed something strange about the bushes, a sort of shadow that couldn’t be missed moving perfectly in pace with my car, give or take a couple of miles per hour. When I got faster, it fell behind, and when I slowed down, it slowed down with me. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being followed, but when I caught the slightest ray of sun across a section of reddish brown fur, my hesitation turned into a twinge of anger. *Of course he couldn’t send me without sending a spy with me,* I thought, swerving my car toward the trees where the figure ran. *He could have at least not picked Dylan!* The more my body realised I was closing in on the pack grounds, however, the less I cared about Dylan following me, and the more I started to fantasise about seeing my mate again. I hated myself for it, but I wanted to see him again after a night without him. It felt wrong - just like, in my head, it felt wrong that I wanted to see him so much. My reaction was on-par with if I ever got to see my mother again… with some mateship adjustments.

I parked next to the same big vehicle Dimitri had taken me on a date in, and soon the door was opened, hands pulling me out like an excited child waiting to see their favourite person. I stepped out of the car into Dimitri’s chest and wrapped myself around him, my arms clinging to his neck. He dug his face into my hair for my scent, inhaling loudly, slowly,

“You sent spies to watch over me,” I accused without pulling away.

He hummed into my hair.

“I’d say I’m mad but… baby steps, I guess.” I leaned just my head back and pulled his face up with one hand, holding his cheek. He leaned down as I titled upward, our lips connecting softly. Suddenly just having his arms around me wasn’t enough, just being close to him wasn’t enough; I wanted more than just a kiss or a hug, I wanted *him*. But that was the bond talking.

“Did the trip go to plan?” Dimitri murmured as he pressed our foreheads together.

“It was great. Gina’s not so busy lately. She deserves some time off.” I tugged at the neckline of his shirt. “Was everything okay while I was gone?”

He shrugged. “Nothing really happened.”

“And is that the story you’re telling the rest of the pack, or is it the truth?”

“Nothing really has happened,” he insisted, “but we did *hear* about something nearby that should be looked into. If you’re… if you’re really serious about being my *equal* then maybe we should get Jess and talk about it.”

I smiled. “I’d like that, but not tonight. That’s a long drive.”

Dimitri reached around me, slamming shut the car door, and I moved out of his embrace to pull my newly empty backpack from the backseat. I locked the car with a click, then turned toward the house. “Where’s Xanthe? I need to give her keys back.”

“She got a new car yesterday,” Dima explained, taking my hand in his. I tried not to shiver at the tingles that spread through my body like wildfire.

“She did? Why didn’t she mention it?”

“She knew you liked that car so she wanted you to enjoy it without thinking you’d stolen it from her.” Dima smiled, just a little.

I nudged his shoulder. “You give her a hard time but you like Xanthe, don’t you?”

His smile slipped, but he didn’t deny it.

“She knows her place in the pack and she adapts to it.”

“I think you like that she cares for everyone - right now, especially that she cares for me.”

We walked through the house, which was almost as quiet as the village, toward his room upstairs.

“I have to say, even I like that she’s so good at caring for people, and I’m not that sort of person.”

Dimitri opened the door for me, and I took my bag straight to the closet to shove it under the rest of the unused bags in there. The second I turned around, I was against a chest. The atmosphere shifted into something a lot hotter, as my slow steps forward pushed him backward, until he had reached the bed. Glancing at the closed door, I leaned forward, and Dimitri dropped obediently onto the sheets. My knees pressed into the mattress either side of his thighs, then I kissed him just as he wanted me to. But this wasn’t the kind of kiss I was growing used to, it was gentler, filled more with meaning, a *real* welcome home.

/////

“Hello, Keller,” Jessica greeted when I sat down with her in the living room, alone except for my mate beside me. “Did you enjoy your trip?”

“It was great, Jess. How about life without me?” I gave her a small, teasing smile, and to my surprise she replied with a similar grin.

“Awful, Dimitri was in a terrible mood until I forced him to go for a run.”

I chuckled. “But that fixed him?”

“It always does. A little physical activity and the guy turns euphoric. I like training, but even I don’t get that.”

We laughed, and Dimitri cleared his throat. “Ladies, serious issue nearby.”

I quickly turned serious, remembering that Roger could be involved in something; starting his attack on us days after he’d sent his threat. I’d never heard about other packs, so I couldn’t tell what his strategy would be, whether he would wait us out or attack unexpectedly. I wasn’t excited to find out.

“I’ll give you the brief,” Jessica suggested to me, her smile gone. “There’s a pack nearby who we’ve collaborated with before that’s been attacked. They believe it was by rogues, but there were no casualties, nor were there any captures, so they can’t tell for sure. They’ve been going around warning everyone that the rogues seemed to be coherent, nothing like usual. Big groups, not just little twos or threes.

“Of course, as quite a large pack with a reputation, we’re going to be a target if the rogues are starting to fight back. I wanted to ask you, as you’re close with Gina Morone, whether either of you have heard anything about this?”

“I’ve heard nothing at all,” I said honestly. “If I had, you know I’d already be worried about it. But what could be the cause of the rogues banding together like this? It can’t be Roger, he hates them too much to ever work with them.”

“Enough that no one would expect them to work together?” Dimitri suggested, leaning into the conversation. I looked at him worriedly, and he placed his hand on top of mine in a silent gesture of comfort. My wolf immediately settled, but the thoughts in my head were still racing.

“Maybe,” Jessica agreed, “but I think he really does hate them too much to stoop to that level.”

“He needs warriors right now, Jess,” Dimitri pointed out.

“It’s plausible, it’s just not *so* likely. I think it’s far more likely that the rogues realised one of the biggest threats to their existence can be taken down, so they’re getting cocky. Word spreads fast, Dimitri. I wouldn’t be surprised if Roger’s downfall spurred on a new wave of angry rogues who just want to be accepted and think the only way to do that is to fight back.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

I frowned. “Is it?”

Both the alpha and beta looked at me weirdly.

“Well, the more passive route hasn’t gotten them anywhere. Sure, Gina travels around finding places for them to hide, but that’s not having them accepted, that’s making them conform to being in a pack. Even in the village, they’re following the same sort of pack-like structure, with her in charge and everyone else following her.

“In a situation like that, campaigning might not even be enough anymore, they’d have to do more. Like Jess said, if they saw that someone like Roger - clearly notorious for killing them off - can be taken down, they could get excited and jump onto the movement.”

Dimitri’s jaw locked, and Jessica looked away. I felt a sense of pride that I had thought of something, but in the back of my mind, I hated myself for not seeing the patterns sooner, what with the rogues not at the village. There weren’t nearly as many there as there should have been, no matter how hard Gina was working. They weren’t running to her anymore, they were running to something else.

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