Luna of Rogues

Part 24 - A Brief Reunion

"I try to," Jace agreed. "Unfortunately, most of them seem to slip through our fingers."

He gave the three of us a very pointed look, and I suspected he remembered our scents from our many sorties into his land. I just hoped he didn't know quite how many times we had dodged his fighters. That many raids would earn a death sentence under pack law.

"We're not so careless," I teased, then sat back on a crumbling pillar to savour such an easy opportunity to wind them up. Something crinkled in my back pocket. "Oh, but before I forget, I have something of yours."

I pulled out the wad of photos and riffled through to find the stolen one. He took it warily and looked down at me with suspicion stirring in his eyes.

"This was in my car." He frowned. "Did you steal my car?"

"I prefer the term recycled," I said matter-of-factly. "You weren't using it and I needed it, so I repurposed."

"You recycled my car?" Now Jace just sounded confused.

"I helped," Rhys added proudly. He had been the one to drive it home in the first place.

Zach put his hands in his pockets and started whistling a Christmas carol, the picture of innocence. I got the message. Don't tell him. Return the favour. He had let us get away with it, and now we had to pretend like he hadn't.

"Look, I don't know who you are, but it seems tome that you're in charge here," the Luna spoke up for the first time, staring at me unflinchingly. She had stepped out even further, much to her mate's annoyance. "I know you probably hate Alphas..."

I couldn't exactly deny that. "Hate is a mild word. I prefer detest, or loathe."

"Fair enough. So let's talk without any testosterone present."

There was a shadow of her rogue brother in her. So faint that it wasn't obvious, but she was obviously more than a simpering pack female. I remembered Dan Rutherford with some fondness, so I felt inclined to listen to Emma. And her suggestion wasn't half bad. Talking girl to girl would sort out this mess a lot faster than arguing with Jace Lloyd about the finer details of car theft.

I jerked a shoulder towards the command rooms. "Alright then. We can talk in here." And, with a smirk at the Alphas, "Ladies only."

When she made an attempt to follow me in there, Jace suddenly grabbed her arm. "Emma, I'm not going to let you go anywhere alone with her."

She shook him off. "I wasn't asking you to let me do anything. And we won't be alone."

Ollie and Leo manoeuvred their way between the mated couple with significant effort. Free of Jace, Emma stormed over to join me, looking more than slightly pissed off. We passed under a crumbling arch and into the dimly lit rooms where the important decisions were made.

Officially, they were the command rooms. But I had spent many long movie nights curled up in a corner in a sleeping bag, with dozens of other kids. It also served as overspill for the canteen and a shelter in stormy weather. So, in short, very multipurpose.

Rhys and Fion followed us automatically. They sat down on the wooden benches along one wall. Emma was watching Rhys with some annoyance. "What happened to no testosterone?"

I shrugged. "Oh, don't you know? Rhys is a girl."

He rolled his eyes at me but didn't even bother to deny it. The Luna intervened on his behalf anyway. "I know for a fact that isn't true."

Fion and I exchanged sly smirks. She rose her eyebrows suggestively, and Emma flushed. "No, no, no. I didn't mean it like that. I just— I meant—"

"She has seen me mostly naked," Rhys explained, rather unhelpfully. "But not for fun reasons."