Luna of Rogues

Part 34 - Playing by the Rules

No. It couldn't have been Brandon, because she would have told me. There was no way that he'd done anything like that. She would have told me. Right?

I slammed down the thought and did my best to smile, although it must have come out more like a nervous twitch. "It was probably that funny-smelling milk. I did try and warn you, you know."

"I know," she said, her eyes filled with gratitude. "And I should have listened."

Rhys narrowed his eyes. "Milk?"

How Fion managed to laugh then, I have no idea. "Yeah. With breakfast. It must have been off."

"So you're okay?" Leo checked.

"Perfectly fine," she promised.

The boys accepted that easily enough, and went back outside. But I stayed and stared at my sister, who returned to looking thoroughly miserable again. I stared at her, she stared at me, and we tried our damned best to speak without words.

She would have told me.

***

It took another few minutes to reach the cars, by which time the rangers had been tipped off to our presence. One of them squinted at our licence plates as we drove away, which were all stolen, so I could only hope he didn't have a very good memory.

The cars split off at the first junction. The fighters were going home (and Fion with them after the vomiting), but Rhys, Ollie, Leo and I headed in the opposite direction, straight through the Silverstones. I had a war to plan — true — but having dragged my mate around for weeks, I could afford to spend a few hours on him for once.

So we were going to meet the in-laws. Leo's parents, who lived in New Dawn Pack. As Jace had seemed well-disposed towards me in the packmeet, I felt safe enough to ask for permission to trespass. Because getting caught on his land while we were supposed to be allied wouldn't help anyone.

"Hey, Skye?" Rhys asked suddenly. "Should we talk about how you gave an Alpha assassination tips? Was that smart?"

I readjusted my seatbelt so I had enough slack to poke him. "Yes, thank you very much. A well-placed sniper would be the biggest danger. Hopefully now he won't dare try it."

"Isn't he even more likely to try it?" Leo reasoned sceptically. "Now he's got the idea?"

"Well ... no. Let me put it this way: if someone told you to punch them, would you do it?"

"No. I'd think it was a trap," Rhys said without hesitation.

"Exactly." I smirked, smug. "Keith would be too suspicious to try a sniper now."

Through the open car window came the overwhelming stench of packlings. This was the borderline, where they insisted on marking their territory on every tree. I leant out of the window despite the stench, searching for the visual clue to accompany the olfactory one.

It wasn't obvious at first. But my wolf's sharp eyes picked out the tag, sprayed onto oak bark near the road. The language of graffiti symbols belonged to rogues really, but packs acknowledged it when the time came to outline their borders. This one was a crude sun rising over a dark horizon. That was a clear enough message — New Dawn Pack. Keep out.

I wished I could. Because this felt weird. Using the main entrance was new enough to us without the envoy waiting for us on the roadside. Ollie had been the one to organise our permit, so I didn't know the specifics, but apparently we had to be escorted through the territory. And since Jace didn't trust us as far as he could throw us, he was the one who would be doing it.