The Alpha's Little Rogue| ✓

1| homely

Never take a single day for granted, that is the first lesson I learned when I escaped a fate worse than hell. The second lesson? Never take your best friend for granted. Ever. Or takeout. I would put takeout over best friend though. Hunting deer in the woods was great, but being able to order food that was not bloody and raw, was an absolute game-changer. I scarfed down a piping hot bowl of noodles that had miraculously appeared in front of my table. Okay, maybe it wasn't miraculous. I knew James had left it there. A quick look at the clock after the aroma of chicken broth pulled me out of my sleep, made me aware that I was woken up just in time for dinner, in the nicest way possible. Almost no one got close to me as I slept, well aware that sometimes the nightmares that plagued my mind made me react aggressively in my sleep. Although it had been almost a decade since I had escaped, the memories that took up a significantly large space in my head had not faded. The cries and the tears, the blood and the fear, all those thoughts still made my heart pound.

My mother always told me that neither good, nor bad times lasted forever, and life was like a rollercoaster. Deciding whether we wanted to enjoy the thrill of the rise or anticipate the fall was our own choice. I don't think that at that time my mother realised that never having seen a rollercoaster, that piece of advice hadn't made any sense to me. But today I understood that it meant that life is thrilling, only if you're not afraid of it. And being prepared for the bad times didn't have to be as anxiety inducing and mind numbing as one would expect.

"Rosie!" A strong, comforting voice called. Deep in thought, I had drifted over the border of the packland. And by how the sky was slowly losing its colour, it had been a while since I was here. My hand was resting across tree that bent gracefully over a little stream. There were no deers, but the lingering scent hit me with a pang. I was standing at the very same spot where I had begun my new life, looking into the questioning eyes of the very same man who helped me build it.

Back then he was a tall and lanky boy, newly hit with a growth spurt that he wasn't yet used to, which made him awkward in an adoring way. His gorgeous eyes and a crooked smile that used to make my heart flutter, made me smile unconciously. His hair that used to be messy and long was now short and cropped, and years of training had his body develop defined muscles to match his height.

"Hey stranger." I slowly making my way towards my best friend who wrapped his arms around me in a comforting hug. The physical distance between us that had been created by my own insistence, did nothing to diminish the bond between us forged by trust.  

"How long have you been standing here?" He asked me, his eyebrows quirking up in concern, refusing to let go. He playfully pinched my sides that made me squirm.

"Not long." I shrugged, but he caught my lie and held me a little away from his body to look into my eyes.

"Who are you lying to?" His rhetoric question made me bite my lip and look at him sheepishly.

"I think a little over an hour."

"Rosie." He sighed. 

"Sorry, this place just makes me a bit nostalgic. If that is the right word to describe the way I'm feeling right now." I wiggled out of his hold and turned to start walking towards the pack house, not looking back at his face.

"You have nothing to apologise for." He caught upto me and slung an arm around my shoulder.

"I know." I smirked, starting to feel more like my usual self as we moved away from the border. "You on the other hand do!"