The northern wind stung my cheeks as I helped North find some herbs.
How are your nightmares? North asked telepathically in my mind. I still couldn't wrap my head around the idea of communicating without words but apparently for wolves, it was as normal as learning to drive a car.
Strange was what it felt like.
The herbs you give me knock me out so I usually sleep like a baby. It was a little uncomfortable to be speaking in our heads. It felt like an invasion of privacy.
That's good. North never spoke out loud for reasons I wasn't sure of. She was deaf, I remembered, so maybe she refrained from talking aloud.
North told Ever about my ability to connect to the mind-link and she suggested I practice. It was weird, my thoughts were out in the open so I had to really concentrate on how to shield them. It was difficult and I usually got headaches.
I crouched down near a bush and recalled the herbs she had told me to watch out for. My hands picked the herbs of the same pale green shade.
Can you hear everything I'm thinking?
No, the link doesn't work that way. We can't hear all of your thoughts, just the ones you want to be heard.
So why can I talk in your mind like this? Am I a werewolf like you? Secretly, I wanted to be like them, to be supernatural. To be human was normal, overlooked and boring. But to be a werewolf was extraordinary, something different. And I wanted different.
I cannot be certain. If you were, you would have had all of our abilities since birth and your scent would be apparent.
So I'm not a werewolf? I tried to hide the disappointment in my voice.
North shrugged her shoulders in a tiny movement.
Some wolves don't phase until they are almost full grown and though it is extremely rare, it is not impossible. Wolves that are half human tend to have weaker senses and their mind-link is slower to develop. I perked my ears at this, hopeful again. But your scent leads me to believe that you're human.
I frowned. I had wished to be different.
Like them.
Don't be sad, She reassured me but I wanted so badly to be something I could never be.
I asked the question, scared of the real answer, Do you think anyone's still looking for me?
North looked at me with her striking blue eyes, Your parents, sister, friends, teachers, neighbors, relatives, family friends. They're probably looking for you now.
I hoped they were but the a little part of me doubted it.
I changed the topic, not wanting to talk about me. It would only make me regretful.
How did you end up here?
I met Ever a long time ago, I was twelve or thirteen. I'd been exiled from my pack because I was born deaf, She continued quickly before I could think of something to say, They thought a deaf wolf would be useless and worthless, an embarrassment to their pack.
You don't have to explain it, I understand. I really did. I understood how quickly people dismiss you if you're just a little bit different, usually for something you can't change.
I haven't spoken in more than five years.
I stood up, my hands full of the same herbs.
That's a long time. Could I last that long without speaking? It must've been painful, to have every thought to yourself.
North nodded and stood up from her spot near the tree root.
Others have had worse.
.•*•.
Everything was starting to disappear. Reality was at the back of my mind. Fading fast but slow enough to realize it was leaving me.
Did I even care that I wasn't going back? Maybe.
It was insane, I know, to put my trust in the wolves who rebelled against their packs, essentially their homes.
But that was technically what I was doing.
I was a rogue.
I left my family, unwillingly at first but I grew to live with them. Not once did I try to run away or scream for help. Not once did I disobey them or refuse to leave.
Did that make me like them?
And was that so bad?
When they inducted me into their pack a few days ago, I wasn't 100% sure that I'd stay. I thought, I'll only stay until someone finds me or I run away and I won't ever become like them.
I didn't intend to stay for so long, I was losing track of time. What day was it? What month was it?
Was anyone still out there, looking for me?
I didn't care anymore; my biology project didn't matter, my college applications didn't matter, the dirty laundry in my closet didn't matter.
I know now who I am, I'm a rogue. I'm like them.
.•*•.
"Did you hear that?" Sabine broke the silence. Noelle stood still and listened for a few seconds.
"Hear what?" She asked, annoyed that we weren't moving.
"Shh!" Sabine snapped and covered Noelle's mouth with her hand.
Noelle rolled her eyes and smacked her hand away, "It's probably just a bird."
"Maybe," She let it go.
I kept moving, walking beside Ever. Out of all the rogues, I'd felt like I hadn't talked to Ever as much. Well, besides Harp and the other nameless rogues that came and went like the wind.
"So, how's Alpha Ares and Luna Alex? And the pack?" Ever asked out of the blue and I paused to think who she was talking about.
"Oh, they're. . . good, I guess," They seemed okay.
"How's Asher? And Archer?"
Archer, the mysterious healer werewolf, as friendly as a frigid winter day.
"I know who Archer is but who's Asher?"
"He's one of the sons of the Alpha and Luna."
I never knew they had any children.
"Archer's fine, he's pretty. . . serious. And they never mentioned Asher before." I commented, still bitter about the werewolves in that pack.
Ever sharply looked away, "Nevermind,"
"Why? Do you know them?" I asked, trying to keep up with her fast pace. Her strides were long, each one of hers equaling two of mine.
"Not personally." Ever gazed at the sky, looking a little sad. I wanted to try to use the mind-link but she probably wanted her privacy.
After walking a few more yards in the snow, Ever looked up and met my eyes again.
"Maddy, there's something you need to know." Her eyes were very serious and for a moment she reminded of someone I'd met.
"Okay, what?"
"The reason why you have the ability to use the mind-link is be-"
She was cut off by a high-pitched shriek, one that could easily break glass.
We pivoted around, shocked to see eight wild wolves claw and bite at the defenseless rogues. Their eyes were ravaged, unrecognizable, and terrifying.
Blurry figures jumped down from the trees, one standing out from the rest.
"I found her, she's over here!" It was Alpha Ares, the powerful and commanding beast of a man.
They've come for me.