The Rogue Anthology

Appendix 13 - The Rogue Alpha’s Return

~ Conner heads on a road trip with his son, Roman, to offer a home in their pack to a wolf male and his two pups (Jaxon, Nolan and Eli from Appendix 2), a decade later after fixing their roof. Conner would be around 33, Roman would be 5.~

It was neither a sliver of morning light finding its way through the crack in the curtains nor the alarm I had set on my phone that stirred me awake, but the gentle murmur of a little heartbeat.

I blinked a few times to clear the sleep from my vision and noticed the abandoned bed next to mine, the cover pushed back and trailing to the floor from where it had been dragged by the occupant. He had been safely tucked under the blankets last night after his bath, and he had been asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, well before I could open the book for his bedtime story.

When did you sneak in without me noticing? I smiled down at my five year old pup – my eldest, Roman – sweeping back a little chestnut curl from the tiny forehead nestled in the crook of my arm.

‘I think you mean how. You’re losing your edge, human,’ Colt mumbled through a yawn, stretching out his hind legs and flicking his tail, feeling awfully smug in himself.

‘He snuck up on you too. I’m not the only one losing their edge, wolf.’

That jab was enough to shut Colt up. My wolf and I had perhaps gone a little soft in our seven years of living under the luxury of a roof with a family of our own, rather than living in the wilds as a lonely rogue. My senses were still sharp, but, I would admit, they had dulled without the constant threat of death dangling over my neck if I let my guard down.

I caught the time flashing in red from the clock perched on the square table between our beds. It was roughly a half-hour before my phone would start to chime, so there was little point in me going back to sleep.

“Did I make a better pillow?” I nuzzled the top of Roman’s head, soothed by my pup’s scent of forest rain.

His small fists tightened in the fabric of my t-shirt, and he mumbled a reply that only my wolf ears would have picked up. “I didn’t like my bed.”

“Even for one night?” I slid up to lean my back against the headboard, carefully cradling his drowsy body to keep him from being jostled.

His pale jade eyes, the mirror of mine, peeped open, and his mouth opened for a tiny, and drooling, yawn.

“It was too big.”

That one was my fault. The drive north from our home pack in Tennessee to see an old acquaintance of mine was going to be a long one, especially with a five year old in the backseat. I knew the trip couldn’t be done in one sitting, so I had pre-booked a cushy hotel room that came with two super-king beds because it was the only one available. Initially, Roman jumped up and down on it, excited to have a ‘big boy bed’. Clearly, the novelty wore off quickly, and my poor pup had been swallowed up in the huge mattress. But I wouldn’t grumble about the surprise bedtime cuddles.

“Are you still sleepy?”

His eyes were already closing and his breathing was starting to slow down, yet he managed to nod, going limp and drifting back to his slumberland.

“Ok.” I kissed the top of his head and rolled him back onto his side, his body curling into a cute, tiny ball. “You sleep a little longer. I’m gonna go to the bathroom”

When I emerged from the en suite, scrubbed and dressed, Roman was sleeping soundly and had migrated to the centre of the bed, the little mound emitting soft snores. I silenced my phone before it could go off to give my son a few more minutes and ordered us some room service breakfast of blueberry waffles and fresh fruit.

While I waited for breakfast to arrive or Roman to wake up – whichever came first – I texted my peach good morning, as well as a few dirty messages in response to what she promised me as a welcome home. And goddess, had I missed Eden’s soft skin draped over my chest, and her baby bump held protectively in my hands as we slept. Our third pup, our daughter, was on her way, but she had a few more months of cooking time before she was ready for the world. Our second son, Yarrow, or Row as we usually called him to prevent confusion with his grandpa, was too young for the trip I was undertaking. A whirlwind of a two year old Alpha pup that I would have to handle solo, with his brother, in a confined space, broke a wave of mild panic over my head. Ever since that pup had learned to walk, it was a battle to get him to be still for more than three seconds, let alone keep him strapped into a car seat for hours.

It wasn’t until the quiet knock at the door and the clatter of a trolley crossing the threshold that my Roman sat bolt upright, not from fright but because he knew food was here.

“Come on.” I closed the door behind the waitstaff and turned to untangle him from the comforter he had gotten himself tied up in. “Pee time and brush teeth. Then we can eat.”

My son pretty much had a handle on his morning routine and had gotten the hang of brushing without me checking to make sure he had gotten his back teeth, though I still needed to check his lower front incisor that was coming loose. I popped his head through the top of his t-shirt and pulled his sweater on, trying to get him to stop wriggling in his eagerness for food, a battle I was always going to lose.

Once he was dressed, minus the last sock I had given up on, he jumped up onto the closest chair at the dining table, waiting for me to plate up. I plopped a full blueberry waffle on his plate, filled a small bowl with cut fruit and left him to pop the straw of his juice box because, and I quote, ‘he was a grown-up and knew how to stab a straw’.

Instead of cutting up his waffle, Roman tried to pick the whole thing up on his fork, causing the butter to dribble down his hand to his elbow. Thank the goddess above that I hadn’t made a rookie move, and had rolled his sleeves up in anticipation of a mess.

“You want me to cut that up for you, champ?”

“No, I got it.” He gnawed away, smearing blueberry juice all over his face and up his nose.

‘He’s getting more of that on him than in him.’ Colt chuckled.

I couldn’t take it any longer, and we were one slip away from the waffle down his front. Taking hold of his wrist, I lowered his fork before he choked and cut it up into more manageable pieces, trying my best not to fawn in pride at his little disgruntled growl. He was too young to growl properly, but his Alpha wolf instincts were there.

My wolf was beaming, eager to be let out so he could lick and nuzzle our son. ‘There isn’t an inch of this pup that isn’t ours.’

I would have argued that the fact that Roman looked like a miniature version of us was the biggest giveaway he was ours, but Colt was so proud of every aspect of our two pups, soon to be three, he’d probably celebrate them having a monumental bowel movement.

After we were finished, my short-term relief that Roman’s sweater was spotless and I had won against meal stains was dashed when I saw his pants. But that was what the mandatory spare clothes were for. His face had taken the brunt of the blueberry smears. What a napkin didn’t clean, the damp washcloth from the bathroom did.

“There you go, scruffy pup.” I smothered kisses all over his clean cheeks, squeezing his sides to make him squeal and giggle.

I helped him put on his coat and dragon backpack – he was on a big dragon kick at present – and took his hand in mine, carrying our travelling bag to leave. Once we were checked out, I gave Roman the car keys so he could run ahead to the SUV and unlock it. He loved making the car flash as it unlocked and seeing the wing mirrors open up. He jumped for me to lift him up into his car seat and instantly grabbed at his dragon blanket, along with his dragon picture book; at some point on his next potty break, I’d be asked to play a dragon movie on the tablet in the back.

A small cloud of dust kicked up from the hotel’s gravel parking lot as the back tires propelled us forward. It had been a decade since a man had opened up his home to a gruff and dirt-covered rogue, offering me a sense of security – a favour I planned to return to him and his two sons.

*

*

*

All these years later, I still remembered the quirks of the landscape. The town had expanded, but I recognised the lumber yard, which was larger than the last time I had paid a visit there. The tree that grew over the boulder at the fork in the road to my turn-off had died back, leaving behind a stump. Despite the fact that the undergrowth of the surrounding trees had thickened and some of the forest had thinned, I knew where to turn off for the cabin’s private drive.

On the hills in the distance behind the cabin merging into view, they were capped with white as the only reminder of the winter melting away. Crisp spring-green shoots were popping smatterings of colour and encompassing the dwelling that looked exactly the same as when I had left, albeit a little more weathered in areas.

Our SUV came to a halt a ways back from a silver pickup that was more beat-up than I recalled from a decade ago, and all I could see was a pair of brown work boots connected to a pair of jeans under the front bumper. I silenced the GPS pinging that we had arrived, and I glanced in the rearview mirror to see Roman stir from his nap, his tiny blanket-covered fist wiping his face.

Upon hearing my car door shut, the pair of boots shimmed the attached body from under the chassis, revealing a young man wiping his hands from the grime and oil of the undercarriage of the truck. I could barely recognise the man as he had changed so much from the young pup I last saw, but his mess of ginger hair tied back gave him away: Nolan. He had filled out like a shifted wolf, and the light stubble grazing his chin gave him a more mature appearance than the rest of his features suggested.

“Dad?” he shouted, turning his head slightly to the house, but never taking his eyes off me. “Can I help you, sir?”

“Nolan?”

“Yeah, uh, Alpha?” His eyes narrowed, though not in suspicion; he was working it out. “Wait… the rogue… Conner?”

“One and the same.” I rounded my SUV to let my son out of the car since he was knocking on the shaded window for my attention.

“Holy shi—” – Nolan stopped himself, spotting my pup when I planted his feet on the ground – “—oot. I can’t believe it! Dad!” he yelled again with more insistence.

“You ok, kiddo?” I whispered down to my groggy boy.

“Yeah,” he murmured through his yawn, and reached up to take my hand, his tiny palm engulfed in mine.

He was always tired after long car rides. The fresh air would wake him up in no time.

Just as Nolan was about to step closer, the familiar footfalls of boots on wooden stairs creaked their way down from the porch. “Need help with that oil change after all, Nola—”

His recognition of me was instant, given how his eyes widened, and thankfully this time, he was without his hunting rifle.

“Well, there’s a face I wasn’t expecting today. And an Alpha? That bit I can’t say I’m surprised.”

I remember him saying as much on that very roof above that we fixed. Back then, I had to hide every aspect of myself, training my inner wolf to suppress our aura in order to fit in, as ridiculous as it sounded – not the easiest of feats for a 6'11" Alpha.

“Hey, Jaxon.”

“Conner…” He stepped forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with his eldest son, a warm and welcoming smile stretching under his salt-and-pepper beard. “And who’s this little guy?”

His gaze cut to my pup, who was clinging to my leg. Roman was always somewhat shy around strangers, but he tended to warm up quickly with some encouragement.

Stroking the back of his head and comforting his soft curls, I introduced him. “This is my son, Roman.” I crouched down to his level. “Are you gonna say hello? This is the man who was very nice to me and let me stay. His name is Jaxon, and that’s his son Nolan.”

“Hi,” Roman peeped, a little braver, but still hiding in my chest.

“Hello, little Alpha. So you found your mate?” Jaxon lifted his line of sight to me and to the mark popping above the collar of my coat.

“I did.” A dreamy smile spread just thinking about my peach waiting for me back at home.

‘And you said you couldn’t see a she-wolf accepting you,’ he mind-linked, chuckling smugly because he was right.

When I first laid eyes on a certain pale-haired goddess with silver irises, my whole world sang then crumbled in the same excruciating second. I was convinced Eden would reject me on the spot, not wanting a homeless and penniless degenerate as a mate when she was a powerful Alpha of a reputable pack. How wrong I had been.

“I have another son at home.” I stood back up straight and pushed the back passenger door closed. “He’s only two, about to turn three, so the journey was a little much for him.”

“Toddler years. Those were fun.” Jaxon chuckled, shaking his head at what I could safely assume were memories of his pups running him ragged.

“That they are.” I joined his gentle laughter, in both good humour and weariness. “There’s a third on the way, my daughter’s due in a few months.”

“Three pups?” His brows met his hairline. “You have been busy.”

‘Best hours of my life.’ Colt slid his snout against his mental compartment and rolled on his back, losing himself in a haze of lustful memories.

“Come on in; I’ll get a fire lit.” Jaxon inclined his head towards the house and slapped his son on the shoulder. “Nolan, you can leave the truck for now. It ain’t going anywhere.”

Nolan silently followed behind, beaming quietly. His character hadn’t changed much in that regard.

‘I never did tell dad about the saw,’ he mind-linked, confirming he had shifted, along with his muskier scent.

I didn’t need to ask what he meant when I glanced over my shoulder and spotted the cheeky grin plastered across his face. Back when I was fixing the roof, his younger brother, Eli, had found one of the huge saws I had left lying around and proceeded to wave it about over his head, asking if he could use it. I had almost s**t a brick in panic that I had been so careless to leave sharp tools lying around and that I was about to be greeted with the barrel of Jaxon’s hunting rifle if he caught the spectacle.

Inside the home, a few things had changed: new furniture, for one. Family photos donned the walls instead of children’s artwork, and a new bookcase to the side of the TV proudly displayed team pictures and sports trophies from ice hockey and baseball.

Jaxon touched a long lighter to the kindling in a familiar-looking potbelly stove sporting a new coat of black paint, and he disappeared into the kitchen, the smell of fresh coffee following not long after.

“How old are you now?” I asked Nolan, lifting Roman onto my knee as soon as I sat on the L-shaped couch, knowing he’d be tugging at me for it. “You gotta be nineteen or twenty by now?”

“Twenty, two months ago. And shifted four months now. I’m still living at home, but I’m saving up for a place of my own in town.”

“Your brother Eli must be seventeen, right? Where’s he at anyway?” My head swivelled around, noting that it was far too quiet for that pup.

It was a Saturday, so he couldn’t have school. And I doubted that kid had become the calm and reserved kind.

“Yeah. He’ll be in town at weekend practice. He plays baseball for the high school team.” Nolan squinted up at the wall clock. “He should be home any minute.”

“Your boy ok with cookies?” Jaxon called from the adjoining kitchen, his head poking around the edge of the archway.

“Sure. Him and sugar mix fine. It’s my other one where sugar is the issue.”

“Lemme guess.” He reappeared with a rattling tray filled with three mugs of steaming fresh coffee and a small cup of apple juice. “Roman here is the angel, and your other pup was the eye-opener that you ain’t got parenting down as well as you thou—”

The front door opened with a bang, and in breezed a dark-haired cyclone of energy dumping a duffle bag, several bats and a catcher's mitt on the wooden floor.

“Aww man, practice was wild, but I’m killing shortstop this season.” The kid hadn’t even clocked that there were two new additions to the house when he reached into his bag and grabbed a water bottle, chugging its contents, burping loudly and blasting through his recount of the day at a breakneck pace. “Those batters don’t know what’s about to hit ‘em. I swear, that right fielder, Jake, is gonna be catching some hands if he don’t stop bitching about my slide into base. You accidentally kick a guy in the nutsack one time and—”

“Eli!” Jaxon cut him off before my son could hear any more profanities. But, in all honesty, they were said at such speed that I doubt they even registered.

“What?... Oh,” he stopped mid-sentence, finally noticing he wasn’t as alone with his family as he thought he was. “Hey. I didn’t know anyone was coming round today, dad?”

I slid Roman off my knee as he clung onto a cookie larger than his head and stood, towering over the teenage wolf by a near foot. “You don’t remember me? Getting lost in the woods?”

The penny must have dropped because his change in expression from confused to exuberant was instantaneous.

“s**t. Conner! The giant rogue!” he cried out and slapped his hand against mine to pull me in for a hug.

“Eli, watch your mouth!” Jaxon repeated in a hushed yell. “There’s little ears around.”

“Damn, my bad— I mean, dang.” Eli quickly corrected himself. “But this is wild! What you doing back here? How you been all these years? Is this your kid? You bring your mate too?”

The pup’s quick pale-hazel eyes darted around every which way, and I hadn’t the first clue which question to begin answering. Eli hadn’t changed in the slightest.

‘And still wired up to the same unending battery,’ Colt added, bracing himself for another deluge of energy.

“It’s just me and my son, Roman.” I opted to answer the easiest question to begin with. “Roman, this is Eli.”

“Hey, bud.” Eli kindly smiled, but my pup was a little too overwhelmed by the hectic whirlwind of a teenager to respond and went back to his shy hiding behind my leg.

To his best nature, Eli took no offence and turned his attention back to me. “So what are you here for?”

“Well.” I perched back down on the edge of the couch, pulling Roman to stand between my legs. “I was hoping to offer you a new home like you guys did for me; if you want it… in the pack my mate and I are Alphas of.”