Rogues

Ten

Alexie:

We all talked for a while. Hearing my brother's voice was like a breath of fresh air as well as a kick to the stomach. He sounds so happy where he is and the fact that he's going to be a father just makes all of this so much better and worse somehow. I can talk to him over the phone but having him in front of me would be a whole different story. Sofia and Sloane had gone to bed. I stayed on the phone with my brother a little longer. I plugged her phone in and was about to head back to my apartment when she stopped me.

"Stay," she demanded. "You don't have to, but I'd like it if you do,"

She didn't have to tell me twice. She didn't mind me stripping down to my briefs. She curled into me as soon as I lied down with her. The other night neither of us had slept. We had stayed up talking about everything and anything. She's a perfect combination of a fighter and a girl who wants more than just killing. Pink and glitter. That made me smile.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked looking up at me with her sleepy eyes.

"You," I answered.

"Surely you have something better to worry about,"

"I'm not worried and no. There's nothing better,"

She raised herself onto her elbows looking at me. She had pulled her hair back into a braid after she had showered earlier. I can see her face. All of it and enjoy the beauty of her high cheekbones the structure of it. Those eyes. They drive me insane.

"Did you enjoy talking to your brother?" she asked.

"I did. I hadn't heard from him since he left four years ago," I said.

"Why wouldn't you reach out to him? He's missed all of you," the Lance she knows and the Lance I know are two different people.

"I didn't think he would want me to," I said truthfully. She put her arms on my chest resting her chin on her hands. Just looking at me.

"It's because of him I came here," she said.

"What?" I asked looking down at her.

"Yeah. When he came into our lives. I was assigned to kill him. I took him from my best friend. He put up a fight even in the chains she had put him in. I released him. My brother and her dad held her back when we fought. No one had ever challenged me in the way he had and I knew he was holding back. He didn't want to hurt me. It was the first time I disobeyed my father's orders,"

"Why?" I asked.

"He wasn't fighting for himself. He was fighting for Sofia. Her reaction kept him from killing me. I took him to the dungeon. He had wanted to leave. To come back here. My father said the only way he was coming out of that cage alive was if he pledged loyalty to the pack. He refused,"

"Then what happened? Why did he change his mind?"

"Sofia was hurt when he refused. She's guided by her emotions. She's very empathetic. When it comes to her so am I. Her mom basically raised us as sisters. When I wasn't in training or in school. I was with them. I was assigned to guard him during the night. It was my punishment for disobeying. I got very little sleep then.

"He was the first rogue to live in the dungeon for as long as he did. The place reeked of his emotions. Most days I wanted to put us all out of our misery and kill him. So, I did what any desperate sister would. I opened the cell and I beat the crap out of him and he let me. I wanted it all to end so badly. I wrapped my hands around his neck and just as I was going to end it, all of his pain rushed through me.

"I think he knew what was happening before I did. I started crying for the first time in a long time. He sat there with me until I was done. I was embarrassed. We talked constantly. He said he was able to think clearly and he accepted my dad's offer with the condition that we'd let him go home. So his family didn't come looking for him. My dad said no. I obviously let him go anyway. I was arrested and put in the same cell he had been in until he returned. My dad swore he wasn't going to come back but he did.

"Sofia and I are a little bit of a package deal. We got close after she marked him of course. Right under his earlobe so that it reminded everyone who he belonged to. Since I was so willing to give him a chance I had to train him. I think he taught me more than I taught him. I basically just taught him the laws. Gave him a sense of military based coordination because his idea of attack was simply that. Attack with no plan. Almost got me killed twice,"

"That sounds just like him," I smiled.

"He never told me about Ash. He hardly talked about any of you. I think it hurts him,"

"When my mom was pregnant with Ash, Lance was strangely attached to her. Do you know that we have a sister?"

"Raziel," she nodded.

"Okay," I nodded. "Everyone says when my mom was pregnant with her I was very protective of my mom. So naturally, everyone thought that my mom was going to have another girl. Raz and I can't stand each other. I think my fondest memory was when she was sent off to boarding school in England. Lance and Ash were inseparable from the moment mom let us hold him. Everything was always about Ash. We'd come home from school or running errands for dad and the first thing he did was look for him. Ash found his mate, Elena when he was twelve. Lance loved them both. He was so proud of our brother. Their bond was stronger than any of ours. It was like he was Ash's dad.

"When Lance disappeared. Ash wouldn't come out of his room. We had to bring tutors for him. My dad beat the s**t out of him constantly. He lost so much weight in the four months he was gone. They were a few months shy of turning eighteen. Elena was already pregnant when Lance disappeared. His depression hit them both so hard she lost the baby. It was so much harder for him to try and cope with anything.

"When Lance returned and told us what had happened and what he was going to do. Ash took it very hard. Lance tried to reason with him but Ash just couldn't deal. He disappeared. A few weeks later, Elena got very sick. The mark on her neck opened up. Ash had started his transition into a vampire. When it was over, she knew that they wouldn't be together again. She stayed with us a little while before she moved back with her pack in Oregon. She'd call frequently and talk to my mother. Just recently she moved on. She's mated to a hunter in her pack now,"

"I see," she said sitting up rubbing her arms again. "I see why there was so much of it. Ash was nothing like Lance. There was anger in Lance. Lots of it. There is no anger in Ash. Just pain and regret. In quantities of many. He could divide his pain into ten people and they'd all still suffer greatly. I want to hug him and tell him everything is going to be alright,"

Her voice broke at the end, bringing tears to my eyes. I pulled her into me wishing I could do something for my little brother. I felt her tears drip onto my stomach and it made me wonder how it was she held it in when she had taken it from him. I had seen the expression in both their eyes. There was so much relief in Ash but then there was worry. He had pushed his drink to her like he knew she should have broken down in that second. Her words. I want to hug him and tell him everything is going to be alright.

"Hey," I said making her look up at me. I wiped her tears away and held her face in my hands.

"You Victor men sure know how to show a girl a great time," she said sarcastically. I couldn't help but laugh.

She pushed herself up sitting on my lap wrapping her legs around me. Her left arm came up around me so she could reach the back of my neck. Her head resting on my shoulder. She began to hum the f*cking Game of Thrones theme song while she brushed her nails softly against my skin. I had never been so intimate with anyone like this.

"Can I?" I asked taking the end of her braid. She nodded. I pulled the band out took the braid apart letting the semi-wet waves fall loosely over my torso. The coldness of it sent chills through my body making me shiver.

"What is it with you and my hair?" she asked.

"I don't know," I said honestly holding the ends of it. "It's just so f*cking long. I've never seen hair this beautiful,"

"It used to be a lot longer," she said.

"Really?" I asked thinking how the hell she could have had it longer. There is so much of it.

"Yes, I cut it a bit shorter than this after my first real fight when I was seventeen. An older beta male got a hold of the length of it dragged me through the pack house. I clawed his hand off and ripped him apart after I was able to shift. It was the first time I ever killed anyone and the first time I ever experienced real pain. I don't ever want to cut any shorter than it is now,"

"Not that I mind but can I ask why?"

"I look just like her. She had this short pixie haircut. It exposed most of her neck but it was long in the front. My dad hated when I first cut my bangs. They weren't like this they were long when I would put my hair up without pulling them back he couldn't stand the sight of me. So I let my hair grow out again and I cut my bangs like this to try and look different from her. It used to hurt me because I didn't understand. I've only just met you but the thought of you not being here terrifies me,"

She tucked herself into me. Her nose pressed against the curve of my neck. For a while, she was awake and humming but then she relaxed. I lied back keeping her on top of me. The thought of her being gone never occurred to me. She has such an enormous presence. Even when she's not with me I feel her around me. I crave to have her this close. I'm protective of her, yes but only because I don't want someone to hurt her.

This girl has been in my life for a few days now. Not even a whole week and I can't imagine a world without her in it. I don't want to remember a time she wasn't here. I had been angry with Lance when he left us. I couldn't understand why he would turn his back on us for a pack dog. The moment I laid eyes on Sloane. I think I forgave him for leaving. Just like she never understood her father's pain. We get it now.

Her movement woke me up. She was struggling but trying to be very discreet.

"F*ck," she whispered annoyed. I looked down at her or at least I tried. She froze laying her head back on my chest.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I have to pee," she said never disappointing me.

"Okay?"

"My hair is stuck in your arms," she said softly. I chuckled lifting them.

She untangled herself from me. She sat up straddling me pushing the mane of hair behind her. My body completely responded to her. All she has on is a pair jogging short and a fitted t-shirt and I'm willing to be there's nothing under all of that. She stretched to the sides popping her back and neck before she put her hands up. The sight of her fair smooth skin made this so much worse.

"Is that the tattoo from the first Jeepers Creepers movie?" I asked trying to find anything that would stop me from claiming her. She looked down raising her shirt to reveal the rose curved around her belly button.

"Yeah, it's Sofia's favorite movie. She made me get it with her when we graduated from the academy. I have more," F*ck. "Would you like to see?"

"Yes," I said without hesitation.

"I need to use the restroom first and brush my teeth and my hair,"

She climbed off and walked away without looking back at me to which I am completely thankful for. She was out of the bathroom faster than I thought she would be. It only gave me time to readjust myself. She jumped back on the bed and climbed back on top of me. Thank goodness for the blanket between us. How had I not noticed before? Her entire right arm is covered with a full sleeve tattoo. In my defense, she's always wearing a long sleeve and her jacket.

"I got this one right out of high school," she said showing me her forearm. At the bottom close to her wrist is a three-dimensional compass with roman numerals around it. The time read six fifteen and the dial pointed southwest.

"What does it mean?" I asked pulling us both up so I could sit down and have a closer look.

"Time and place of origin," it pointed her home and she was born at six fifteen.

"That's creative,"

Behind it, on the top part of her arm, it read Vanderbilt in dark old English lettering. At the top it said, Raymond in red and the bottom read Sloane in a soft blue. The names are written in the most beautiful script, I had ever seen. At the top of her arm, there are three wolves. All of them have the same silver eyes. The one on the center is pitch black. The one on the left is light almost a white, pale, gray and the one on the right is a dark gray. The two darker ones are bigger than the one on the left. They're running through the snow. The detail of the wolves and the scene around them is beautiful.

"My dad, my mom, and my brother," she said pointing them out.

"What color is your wolf?" I asked and she smiled.

"White. I can lie in the snow and my fur would blend in with it," I reached for her hair.

"You hair is pitch black," I said and she nodded.

"So was hers. It's a signature thing in the woman of my family on her side,"

"Sloane Jacoby," I said and she nodded.

"Your mother was a werewolf princess?"

"Yeah. The twelveth heir," she said.

"Any other surprises?" I asked.

"Just one," she said.

She leaned into me and pressed her lips to mine unsure of how I would react. I didn't want to fight this and I had to keep myself in check but this I can do. I gripped her thighs pulling her into me and rolled us over so I was on top. She giggled into my mouth and I took the opportunity to take complete control of the situation. This is what she's going to be for me, always. A situation. This troublesome girl is going to get me killed one day and I will be nothing more than willing.