Torn Between Enemy Alphas

Chapter 34- Have a Good Sleep

A/N- It's a surprise mid-week update to make up for the weekends I've missed lately! Enjoy! 

They had cooked dinner over the coals of the fire and Alice was attempting to smoke some of the meat over a criss crossed grill she had made of soaked green branches. It was up about half a foot above the coals, although neither of them were sure if this particular attempt was going to be a success. She hoped it was though. But now that they were clean, they had a pile of wood that they could keep the fire going with, at least a bit of the fire, off to the side, since she was trying to smoke the meat over the coals, and the lantern was hung back in its place, casting light over their little living quarters.

Everything she'd wanted to do for the day was done as Alice pulled back the top layer of the sleeping bag and climbed inside, tilting her head in invitation to her mate.

"Oh. Do I get to join you in there? You aren't going to jump me and take advantage of me again?" He grinned at her as he walked across the stone floor, his feet bare. "You know we didn't do everything. My pants are still over next to your weird, glowly lake. We didn't wash them."

"Tomorrow then." She blew a slow breath out through her nose and raised her arms up towards him, sticking out her lower lip ever so slightly in a pout. "I need you down here with me. Not in a way like your thinking." She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm tired too. But you need to come down here and heal. And I need to cuddle you until you're better."

"That long, huh?"

Alice made a small huffing sound as he slid into the sleeping bag next to her. It was cool in the cavern, even with the fire, and it felt good to hold her against his chest. He could tell he was getting stronger and stronger by the hour at this point, especially now that he had eaten. He hadn't thought that it would make that much of a difference, but it really had.

"So you think there's a reason there aren't any rogues here, don't you?" His fingertips were tracing patterns across her skin, which was extremely distracting, but she tried to focus on his words, so that she could answer his question. He needed to know everything that she knew, or at least her theories.

"I know I've given you bits and pieces of what I noticed out here so far but yes. I've never seen or smelled a rogue out here. I mean, I guess I should start by saying I've never seen or smelled a rogue in my life. So I don't really know what they smell like. But everyone always says that they smell gross. Off. Right? There's supposed to be something rotten about their scent, isn't there?

"That would be an accurate way of describing it," he agreed. "I've fought with rogues enough times and it's not a scent I'd like to spend too much time thinking about. "It's not exactly like any one thing. It's a bit like rotting. Like sulphur. Rotten eggs. Vegetables that have been too long in the fridge."

"Now to be clear that isn't the case for every rogue wolf. Wolves can leave their packs and become Lone Wolves and not lose their minds. It doesn't happen all that often, but it does happen. They're the ones that usually go and live amongst humans in towns and cities. But when a wolf goes rogue because he or she has gone mad, that's when you get the scent. Usually it's because there is an element of pain or sometimes they've rejected the human part of themselves altogether and gone entirely wolf.

"But wolves don't smell like that." Fin smiled at the way Alice tapped her fingers against his chest as she tried to think of the reasoning behind all of this.

"No, you're right, they don't. But wolves haven't let a part of themselves die. Or worse yet, they haven't killed a part of themselves, which, I think, is the case some of the time. That death has a cost and in the case of rogues, it often has a scent."