A Twisted Anthology: A Twisted Design Book

The Rogue’s Initiation Part 17

The next day went smoothly. We woke and had breakfast, then went to the office to work. I was frustrated to find the internet was down and tried restarting the router, to no avail. Sunny didn’t seem terribly upset, she just wanted to focus on work.

I wrote while she drew. We decided the inside of the front cover would be a scene of children tucked into a bed and the inside of the back cover would show three puppies where the children had been, but sleeping. The outer cover was a scene of children riding werewolves with the title surrounded by a full moon.

She drew while I made lunch and we chatted about Queen Bellamy’s suggestions for the colors. I loved working with her in this quiet time. The businesslike attitude she had about her work, the passion she had for her art, all of it made me love her even more than I already did.

Sunny was a perfect match for me in that regard. Focused and passionate. I wanted to share everything with her.

After lunch, I pulled out some meat to thaw for dinner. It was a perfect night for a thick and hearty stew with some fresh rolls. I wish I could say I made them myself, but I kept premade roll dough in my freezer. I pulled eight out and set them up to rise before heading back to the office.

We’d decided on working until five, then taking time tomorrow to go into town if I got the call that the road was clear. It would take an hour or two to shovel out the driveway and unbury my truck, then we could go to town.

Not long after four, I hit a wall with my writing. Usually, I’d go work on something else for a while to get my flow back. I figured it would be a good idea to get the brownies started. It would have dessert done early, but I thought Sunny could use a sweet treat after working so hard today.

“I need a change of scenery. I’m gonna go make the brownies.” I told her.

“Have fun.” She mumbled as she kept her focus on what she was drawing.

Leaving the office, I headed to the kitchen. I started mixing the ingredients for brownies as soon as I got them all out. My mind wandered as I worked, like it normally did.

Why did Sunny only date pack born wolves? Was I the only rogue born she’d ever been involved with? How could I get her to see I was better than them? Only Sunny knew why she thought she wanted pack born wolves. The real reason, anyway.

I poured the brownie batter into the pan and scraped the bowl. The oven had just finished preheating. This was one of my favorite desserts. I was looking forward to sharing it with Sunny.

After I put the pan of brownies in the oven and set the timer, I decided I’d try to get Sunny to tell me why she wanted pack born men over rogue born. She may not answer me, so I might have to be sneaky.

-

When I got back to the office, Sunny was working away. She was so focused and intent on her drawing. The room was big enough that I decided I’d set up a work station in there for her when she moved in. A place she could draw and edit. Somewhere near me, so I could look over and see her whenever I wanted. I sat at my desk and returned to the scene I was stuck on with a renewed focus.

At five o’clock, we saved our progress and left the office. I started the stew cooking while Sunny looked at my bookshelves. She picked up a book and went to the couch to read. When the brownies were done, I pulled them out and dusted the top of them with crumbled graham crackers, then I placed big marshmallows on top and put it back in the oven for a minute or two while I got the plastic wrap off the rolls.

After pulling the brownies out again, I put the rolls in and grabbed my cooking torch. I carefully toasted the tops of the marshmallows, then cut a couple large brownies for me and Sunny. We were adults, it was fine to spoil our dinner a little.

When I put the little plate with her brownie on the coffee table, she slid onto the floor between the coffee table and couch. She pinched off pieces of brownie with her fingers, but was careful not to use those fingers on the pages of the book. I appreciated her consideration.

It was a homey feeling, sitting in the living room and eating while she read. There was a peacefulness about it. I could imagine us spending every winter like this.

“You know, Benjamin Yeats looks a lot like you…. Did you do that on purpose?” Sunny asked.

I looked at the book in her hand. It was the first book in my series. She was reading my book. Goddess, that was hot. That was probably a little vain… nah.

“He actually looks like my brother.” I replied nonchalantly.

“Oh. I see it now. The attractive twin. Definitely a better choice.” She nodded.

“Naturally. I was jealous of his good looks for most of my life. Using him as my main character helped me cope with being the talented, yet hideous twin.”

“So your personality with your brother’s looks. No wonder my client is obsessed with him.” Sunny sighed.

“Do you like the brownie?” I asked.

“It’s so good.” She moaned as she took another bite.

Not going to lie. That sound did things to me. From the sparkle in her green eyes, I could tell she knew it.

The timer went off and I headed to the kitchen to take the rolls out and get the stew served up. I set the bowls, rolls, and our drinks on the table. Sunny left the book on the coffee table and came to sit at the dinner table.

She took a careful bite of her stew and smiled a little. How did she not realize how precious she was?

“If you keep staring at me like that, I’m going to develop an eating disorder.” She muttered as she looked at her bowl.

“I have no idea what you mean.”

“You look like you’re waffling between ravishing me and crying. Frankly, both options make me different levels of uncomfortable. Eat your dinner. Are we going for a run tonight?” Sunny asked.

“We can. It wasn’t really warm enough that I need to worry about snowmelt washing away my marks. We can just go out and play in the woods.” I answered.

“That would be great. Living in the city means I don’t get to shift and run very much. Being on probation meant even more restrictions. We may be stuck, but, for the first time in years, I don’t feel trapped.” She said quietly.

“You’re able to be free here because there aren’t any other people to force you into certain roles. No one to dictate your schedule or your life. You can do what you like without judgement. None of them have to know what happens in this cabin. No one is watching you. Just me, and only because I love you so much I can’t bear to look away.” I told her.

She took another bite of her stew, and looked thoughtful. As if there was something coming together in her head. I tried not to watch her while I ate, but there were times when I couldn’t resist it.

“No one knows…. Maybe….” Sunny whispered.

“Look, I want you to think about this. My cabin is far enough from town that people don’t just pop by because they were in the neighborhood. There are no werewolves in town, except you and me. No other supernaturals. The nearest pack is a couple hundred miles away. We have at least three weeks, I know, you’re going to spend four days with Kelly, but, I feel like almost three weeks will be enough. While you’re here, Sunny, give in to your rogue urges. Don’t decide what to do based on what a pack wolf would do. Don’t focus on what other people would say or think. We’ll run when you want. Eat when you’re hungry. Anything you want. I was raised as a rogue, you weren’t. Let me give you this time when you can be yourself without fear.” I offered.

“When you say, give into my rogue urges, you mean have s*x with you.” She snorted.

“No. I mean, if you want to. I don’t want a couple weeks of s*x with you, Sunny. I want a lifetime of making love to you. I want to mark you, marry you, have pups with you. I don’t want a dalliance. I want a mate.” I replied.

“Why do you keep pushing this?” Sunny asked.

“Because it’s all I know. Persistent rogues get their prey. They gain resources. They reach their goals. They survive and live better than the ones who give up. One day, I’m going to say ‘I love you, Sunny’ and you’re going to say you love me, too. Promise me you’ll give into your urges while you’re here. I want you to feel even freer than you do right now.” I urged.

“Fine. It seems like you’re just gonna keep going if I don’t agree.” She laughed.

“I am. I don’t need to threaten or demand. I’ll just annoy you into doing what I want.”

“You are a pro at annoying me.”

I put my hand over my heart and gasped. “You wound me. I’ve only ever wanted to give you my heart and this is my repayment?”

“See, like that.” Sunny scoffed, then winked at me.

Shaking my head, I focused on my food. I didn’t know if she was really going to take me up on the offer of letting her follow her rogue urges, but I hoping she would. Sunny deserved to have time to really be a rogue. That meant controlling her life without other people telling her what was and was not appropriate.

Pack wolves were more cautious about things. Their lives were safer than ours. Even in a collective like Queen Bellamy’s, there was a better chance of rogues dying than pack wolves. People could still challenge for resources. Hunters attacking a pack was less deadly than them attacking rogue houses, especially since most of us chose to live pretty far from others. I was one of those.

If hunters came, I wouldn’t be much of a match, depending on how many there were. More than two and I was dead meat. More than one and there was a good chance I wasn’t making it out alive. Their weapons made it much deadlier.

“Let’s run after dinner, then. And… you sleep in the bed with me tonight. With shorts on. I don’t like sleeping alone and it’s been a while since I last got to have someone sleep with me platonically.” Sunny said.

“I’d love to sleep with you, Sunny. Goddess, I love how that sounds. I’m sleeping with Sunny tonight.” I smiled and sighed.

“…. Maybe you should sleep on the couch…. You’re weird.” She replied, scrunching her face.

“I’ll cuddle you so good.”

“…. The couch isn’t far enough. You sleep outside tonight.”

We laughed and finished our dinner. I took our bowls to the kitchen and rinsed them before ensuring the oven and stove were off. I didn’t want anything to happen while we were out.

When I turned around, Mira was dancing around by the back door. She was eager to go play. I took off my pants and opened the door. She raced out and jumped off the porch again. She really loved getting herself buried in the snow and barked happily as she rolled around, trying to get out. I shifted into Ezra after closing the door.

Mira seemed a lot freer than she had yesterday. I guess Sunny was honest about letting her rogue side out more. We wandered around, chasing shadows, rolling in the snow, investigating everything, and playing as much as we could.

After a long time, we headed back for the house. Mira lagged behind and Ezra turned to find her. He didn’t like her being out of our sight any more than I liked Sunny being out of mine. She seemed to be having an internal conflict.

She huffed and started stalking back toward the house. I guess she’d lost the argument. I wondered if Sunny would tell me what it was about. If she didn’t, I’d just assume it was about me and feel flattered.

As we approached the house, I heard people talking and saw lights from in front of the house. Ezra gave a low, growling bark to Mira and she went to go hide at the end of the porch. I made my way to the edge of the woods around the house and stayed low in the bushes while I headed toward the front. We’d run for town if it was hunters. I really hoped it wasn’t.