Rogue of Obsidian: The Ultimate Key

Chapter 7

It had been a few days since Audra realized that Saux was stalking her in the bushes.

He often came after her, pestering her to tell him the secret for her strength. She often escaped his grasp, but he found her again easily.

The lad's control over her was a cage easy to break yet ever so insanely more easy to rebuild.

Audra felt herself come close to tearing every follicle of tangled blond hair out of his scalp. But he probably could end up dodging her anyhow. Knowing his, Audra decided there would be no point in attempting.

This morning, Audra hoped her patrol would play out differently. She hoped Saux would get tired of following her around, or something.

Originally, Audra banked on the Aura Invisibilus leaving to take care of their own pack. Maybe Saux would leave then.

However, that wished poofed away when Beta Monilia revealed her plan to stay with a few fighters, an elite group of huntresses, and many construction workers for a while. She wanted to stay to make sure the building of the spot towers continued smoothly and completed in a way that made both of the alphas happy.

Then, Audra considered asking Beta Stanley if she could switch back to night patrol, but she still felt unready after the encounter with Arnold Cortez. Besides, there seemed to be more warriors on patrol at night, too. Audra shuddered to think of what might happen if one of her packmates caught her bleeding.

No, that would never do.

Audra decided to stick it out, brave the annoying boy, and hope he would not scare off any intruders. Well, she hoped that she hoped, anyway.

Head drooping, Audra slogged through the muddy ground, kicking up small chunks of dirt. Her eyes looked like they should blaze a hole through the ground, the way she stared at it.

She was late for patrol, but Beta Stanley was too "busy" to care about those sorts of things. She planned to get it done nevertheless.

She gritted her molars as she heard a faint sound of footsteps coming up behind her.

"Audra." He nodded, "I had already gone ahead, but you weren't there. Why are you late?"

Audra kissed her teeth.

"The answer is right behind me," she muttered under her breath.

Saux scoffed in mock offense.

"Well, now it's right beside you!"

He then whisked from behind her to her side. Though Audra could refused to look at him, she felt his triumphant smirk, regardless.

"Don't you have anything better to do?" Audra growled weakly.

Saux shook his head.

"Nope. I already helped re-draw an area of a faulty architectural design last night, so Beta Monilia gave me the whole day off."

Suddenly, Audra felt less motivated than before to go on patrol. Knowing Saux's likely choice would be to follow her and torture her until she spilled the beans made her want to turn back on the spot.

Unfortunately for Audra's over-fried braincells, some hunters were close to the border chatting with Beta Monilia's huntresses, and she felt even less desire to arouse suspicion than she felt being around Saux.

A couple of them nodded their heads to her, their dark, hooded clothes making them look menacing. Another waved.

Weary, Audra greeted them with a slow nod and hurried along the edge of the border.

Then, she repeated the phrase she tried on Saux the last few days, even though she expected no obedience from it.

"Don't talk when I'm patrolling. It'll scare off intruders."