Luna of Rogues

Part 8 - And So It Begins

Dedicated to ljcaples for your comments and votes.

I'm very sorry that this took so long, but maybe you'll forgive me if I do my best to upload again within a week?  Hope you enjoy.

The next morning dawned dull and hazy, with cloudy skies but plenty of dampness left over from the night's rain. I sat up to unfamiliar surroundings and for a brief second, completely forgot where I was. A ceiling of rough stone and dripping moss above me brought back a rushing tide of memories: finding the cave and rogues, drinking with them, and finally, Rhys's story.

I was alone except for Leo, who was already awake and watching me blearily from a corner, while poking at the smouldering remains of the fire. His eyes had a hangover look about them, unsurprisingly.

"I was hoping you'd wake up," he muttered. "Your snoring was getting on my nerves."

I flipped him off and threw the nearest thing I could find, which happened to be a rock. Once a hiss of pain told me I'd hit the target, I started stretching my aching muscles. Sleeping on a solid rock floor doesn't exactly do wonders for your joints.

It looked like the others had gone to get breakfast, seeing as they'd left their backpacks, jackets and shoes. They were hunting in wolf form, then. Leo answered my unasked question by nodding at a pot heating up on the embers to cook whatever they brought back.

There wasn't much left to do except wait for them to return, so I decided getting to know Leo might be a good use of my time. My wolf certainly approved. She liked him more than the other two rogues. So did I, for that matter.

"What's it like in Australia? I'm guessing not much fun for a werewolf."

Leo winced slightly at my voice, probably because of a serious hangover, but squinted at me and replied at the same volume. "I was too young to remember much. Real dry, few shifters and far too warm is about all I can come up with."

I moved onto a slightly different subject to see if I could get him to open up anymore. Even having only known him for a night, I could tell that Rhys genuinely respected this guy. So naturally, I was curious about what made him stand out.

"And when you were in the west, did you live by the sea? Because I've never been to the coast in my life."

That seemed to hit the spot, Leo stared at me like I'd just told him I didn't know who Harry Potter was (which incidentally, I didn't). "You've never seen the ocean? Ever?"

I just shook my head truthfully. We'd never had reason to leave the inland forests and mountains, especially because most of the coastal land was claimed by packs.

"Yeah, we lived by the sea alright. Beautiful coastline over there, but it does tend to get overcrowded with tourists in the summer. You get any tourists up here?"

"Only the ones who want to walk in the national park. Most of them head over to Snowdon rather than come here." I was about to explain that they all want to climb the highest mountain in the range, but I was interrupted by Rhys bounding down into the cave in wolf form.

He held three-quarters of a rabbit in his jaws (which is even more disgusting than it sounds) and his tail was held high. In other words, he was extremely proud of himself.

"Breakfast is here!" Callum announced happily, appearing behind Rhys. Fion was with him. Both of them had done the smart thing — shifted and got dressed outside. Between them, they held several squirrels and a trout.

"But Jacob isn't?" Leo asked in concern, as Rhys dropped his prize triumphantly at my feet so I could gut and skin it.

I guessed that Jacob was the last of the three rogues, who hadn't spoken at all since I'd met him. Rhys went back outside to find his clothes while I set to work on his catch, a messy and smelly task that required a distinct lack of squeamishness.