The Darkness

Chapter 41

I giggled twirling the pink thong around my finger.  The thong was totally worth it!  That was great payback for the nasty breakfast he purposefully destroyed when he and Dylan lost the bet. I pulled the hanging clothes off the branch and shaking them in case any bugs tried to hitch a ride.  Placing the dried clothes in the bag, I couldn't wait to escape the little hideaway.  The combination of the smell and my imagination of bugs crawling on me was making me antsy.  I sniffed my underarm and reeled back from its musty smell. I was desperately in need of a bath and the thought that I would be walking around with Colin smelling musty was depressing.  Ugh. I wished I packed some cleaning wipes in my bag.  Who knew I would be stuck in the forest overnight sleeping in the dirt with a hot guy.

All thoughts vanished when I heard the snapping of twigs around the tree.  I held my breath praying it was Colin.  The branches moved and Colin's face appeared.  I let out a gush of air smiling relieved that it was Colin.  

"Come on, its safe.  There's no one around."  Colin reach his hand in, I gratefully took it after putting the backpack on my back. I crawled out of our safe cave thankful to stretch my legs.  "I found a spring not to far from here where we can rinse off."

"You are reading my mind. I feel so grimy and sticky. What are you wearing?" I almost forgot that Colin didn't have on any clothes when he left, but he showed up in clothes twice his size.  He had on a stained, faded t-shirt that swallowed him up, if that was possible, and a pair of baggy, camoflage shorts that was held up by a piece of rope.

Colin looked down at his assemble and shrugged his shoulders.  "I found a hunter's cabin south of here.  Let's say that the owner is a hefty guy."

"Were they home? Did they have a phone?"

"No the place seems to have been vacant for a while.  It's not hunting season, yet.  Actually the word 'cabin' is stretching it a bit.  It was more like a shack with no electricity, no plumbing, and definitely no phone."

"Well if you found a place, then that means a road which means civilization."

"No, it's accessible by the river.  No boat was present."

"Did you figure out where we are?"

Colin didn't answer at first and we walked for about a minute silently.  "Celeste, I don't want to alarm you but we are on unclaimed territory."

"Well that doesn't seem bad, right?" Colin grabbed my hand squeezing it a bit as we continue to walk toward his spring.

"Yes and no.  We don't have to worry about intruding on another alpha's territory without permission.  But we have to be careful of rogues."

"Rogues?" The word in itself didn't sound inviting.

"Rogues are what we call wolves that don't belong to pack, either by choice or force."

"So Rogues are bad?"

"Yes and no.  A better way  to look at it, is that they are not trusted.  Because they don't belong to any pack they are not held by rules that govern those in a pack.  You can say their like rebels.  Lawless rebels."

"You said they can be force  out.  Why?"

"A number of reasons, committed a crime against the pack, didn't follow rules govern by the pack leader or by werewolf  laws in general,  or causing turmoil within a pack."

"So the pack leader makes this decision by himself?"

"It varies among packs."

"Can you spot a rogue?"

"Yes, their scent is off, a pack bond won't be present."

"You can see a pack bond? How?"

"I don't know, its just something we can sense.  It's part of our makeup.  It works the same way with us being able to tell when we enter a different territory, or recognize our mate. We just know."