Life as a Rogue

Jared, Andrew and Jonathan stood beside the train that housed two werewolves, in the rail yard. The locomotive engineer was currently taking an involuntary nap.

"I don't like this. Conner is in there servicing a freaking rogue," grumbled Andrew.

"It's not like he had a choice. She called to him; there is no way he could refuse. Rogue or not she's an alpha," Jonathan supplied.

"So is he," Andrew replied.

"She is in heat Drew," Jonathan explained.

"Yes, I noticed that," Andrew gestured at the big bulge in his pants.

Jonathan started to talk but thought better of it. It was easier to bang his head against a wall while being upside down balancing on one hand, than explain something to Andrew.

"So, what's gonna happen after the fiasco happening inside is over?" Drew asked, kicking the stones under his feet.

"Depends, Jacob might put her down. She's in St. Clair territory. It's his decision," Jon shrugged.

"Conner won't let that happen," Jared spoke for the first time since they arrived at the yard.

"Just because he's banging her, doesn't mean he has to be her shiny knight," Jonathan said, irritated.

"She smells like strawberries," Jared said, staring away distractedly into space.

"No, she smells like lilacs," Jonathan corrected.

"Now it's strawberries," Jared looked at Jon.

"This just went from a fiasco to a catastrophe," Drew rubbed his forehead, where a headache was forming.

"What? Why?" Jon looked from Jared to Drew and back.

"There just one female I know who smells like strawberries and cream."

Jared nodded at Andrew, "I'm surprised you remember, Drew."

Andrew grinned, "She's the one that slipped away."

"She's the one who was never in your league," Jared shot back.

"Enough with the mystery. Who is she?" Jon questioned.

"Amanda Knight."

Jonathan opened his mouth and closed it a few times like a guppy. "I thought she'd be dead by now. Hoped rather. Evil doesn't die easy.This is gonna mess up Conner royally. Remember when she left?"

"Hard to forget, as he nearly killed me," Jared responded.

"And Laura. Speaking of, when is she gonna be here. These pants are getting really tight." Drew walked around in a bid to ease the discomfort.

As if on cue, Jared's cellphone rang. "It's Laura."

Jared walked away as he spoke on the phone.

"What do you think she was doing in that hotel?" Drew asked Jon.

"I don't know and I don't care. That bitch ruined Conner's life," Jon's heated reply made Drew stop in his tracks.

"That a little harsh, Jon. Maybe she had a reason to run away. Hell! If I had a stepmother like Bianca, I'd run too. Besides, Conner always was irrational about her; he almost ripped my balls off when I flirted with her."

"You should have known better, Drew."

"Hey, come on! I flirted with Samantha, too; you just laughed and pushed me away."

"That's because I knew you were being a dick."

"Exactly! Conner should have known that too. He attacked the Stidolph alpha's son just because he was dancing with her."

"Whose side are you on?" Jonathan asked, a little annoyed.

"It's not about sides. I'm just not convinced that Amanda murdered her family just to run away with her lover. That story's straight out of a crappy novel. And if you'll pull your 'Conner Roy loyalty blinders' off, you'll see its all bullshit started by Bianca. Because that bitch lives to ruin lives," Andrew countered.

"Wow, Drew! I have never seen you talk for so long before. I didn't know you could string so many words together," Jon laughed.

"Fuck off," Andrew flipped off Jon.

"Try not to display this new found ability in front of Laura; she's not fond of Amanda," Jared walked back after the call.

"Are you kidding, she hates Amanda's guts," Jonathan said, sounding cheerful.

"She's here. Let's just hope she manages to control herself and not kill Amanda on sight," Jared sighed, wishing the last two hours would disappear.

"She probably won't recognize her. Amanda's changed her appearance. Unless you told her," Drew looked at Jared.

"I didn't. But it won't matter. She'll recognize her scent."

"Maybe she won't."

"Don't count on it."

"We should be worried about Amanda killing Laura, not the other way around. Amanda's in heat, she's not about to let another female come near Conner. Females in heat are extremely fierce, you should see Samantha when she... no you should NOT see Sam when she's in heat."

"Let leave it to the ladies to figure it out," Drew said, as five females came out from behind another train. Dressed in jeans, t-shirt and boots, Laura, the female head-honcho of St. Clair pack, exuded purpose and a no-nonsense attitude. The other four females were dressed similarly.

The blank expressions on their faces were a carefully created mask, so as not to encourage the men. The males from the Donovan pack were a ticking bomb that needed to be handled carefully. Amanda's heat cycle had hit them hard. The need to procreate with another female was high. The only thing keeping the three in line was the fact that the five females in front of them were mated.

"Jared, Drew, Jon," Laura nodded at them as the ladies stopped a good distance away from the men.

"Laura," Jared greeted his oldest friend with a rigid nod of his head.

"All right, let's get this mess sorted out. There is a car waiting for you outside the yard's gate. No point in you three staying here. It's going to be a bitch as it is, and I don't want any complications. So scram," Laura said, her voice unsympathetic.

If it had been anyone else telling him to "scram," Jared would have stayed just to prove a point. But this was Laura, so you did what you were told. And not just because she was an alpha but because she was scary. She was the eldest of seven children of Brendan Donovan, the brother of the Donovan alpha. Laura was considered the princess of the pack, as the alpha himself had only one child. The kids of Donovan had breathed a sigh of relief and their parent's one of regret when she got mated to Jason St. Clair. No pup in the Donovan pack had ever disobeyed her; they might blatantly ignore their parents, but never Laura. And Jared felt no shame in admitting that she always could scare him when she wanted to.

"Laura... we'll need to..." Jared left the sentence hanging, partially because it was damn awkward talking about sex with Laura, and partially because he was afraid she'd kick his ass for wanting to have sex with one of her pack females. But he really did not have a choice. If he did not get off soon, he was going to go crazy. And so were Jonathan and Andrew. Males who are exposed to a heat cycle without any relief go savage and are hard to control. Laura gave him the beady eye before speaking. "It's been arranged. The partners are waiting for you at our compound."

Anticipating the state of the males, Laura had asked her single pack females to volunteer. The response had been huge and enthusiastic, which did not surprise Laura at all.

"I can't... I don't... I'm..." Jonathan stuttered at Laura's statement. The thought of a willing female just 20 minutes away was overloading his circuits. But he balked when it registered that the one waiting for him wouldn't be his mate. Besides, he did not want to get castrated by said mate afterwards.

"You're mated, I know. It's been arranged, don't worry Jon. I talked to Samantha. We are gonna tranq you."

Jonathan groaned.

This is so not my day

.

"My sympathies, bro," Drew grinned.

"The three of you have five seconds to haul ass out of here," Laura said, looking pointedly at her watch.

"Hauling," Jared said, and they did just that.

Laura waited until she got confirmation from Dan the driver that the men were on their way, and then turned to her ladies.

"The female's gonna come at us, she'll be slow but lethal, so watch yourselves. We secure the female first, then Conner. June, I want you out front, I'll go in second, Teri, you get the tranq ready."

"Yep," Teri said as she removed two syringes from a case. One contained a double dose for the female.

"Conner might try and intervene. Carrie and Zoe, keep him down. Let's hope no one gets clawed in the face. And that this will be the last time I have to see my brother have sex."

++.++.++.++.++.++.++.

Conner trailed his hands up from her hips to her breasts. Cupping them, he watched as she rose and fell above him. "Amanda," was the only coherent thought in his head.

As time had passed, words had become scarce. The only thing that remained was the heat.

His back arched as the pleasure coiled tighter, tighter, and then snapped when her nails racked down his chest.

Her vicious growl barely registered. And suddenly she was off him. Confusion erupted, buried under pleasure, as a snarl was answered with a snarl.

He turned and watched two females struggle to hold Amanda still. Fury rose as Amanda went limp and fell to the floor. With a roar, he launched towards the enemies and was slammed back on his ass.

"Teri, he won't stay down long," Zoe shouted. She held his left arm immobile while Carrie did the same with his right.

Teri came forward with the syringe ready and injected it at the side of his neck. She watched as Conner's eyes glazed over before he fell unconscious.

A curse and a thump had the females staring at their alpha, a calm, cool female who rarely got riled.

Laura retracted her hand back from the dent she had made at the side of the train. She turned around and ignored the stares as she walked out of the compartment.

She took out her cell and dialed.

"Yo! Boss, we nearly reached the gate." Dan spoke above the screams of Metallica. "Your boys are 5 seconds from humping my seat. Ow! Hey! Why did you hit me, man?"

"Cut the music, Dan," said Jared as he took the phone and put it on speaker.

"Laura," Jared spoke as the noise stopped.

"Is it her?"

"Yes, it's Amanda," Jared sighed.

"Did you kill her?" Drew asked, concerned.

"What? Why would I do that?" Laura asked, perplexed.

"Because you hate her fucking guts?" Jon said.

"No, I didn't kill her. And I don't hate her." Laura cut the call as the four females came out carrying Amanda and Conner. She walked toward their cars and the rest followed.

She didn't hate Amanda, though she understood why people thought that. She just had never liked her. As a person, Amanda was fine. As Conner's mate... nope. Again, this was not Amanda's fault, but Conner's.

Conner always had an explosive temper. He usually contained it, but when it came to Amanda, irrational didn't cover it. He would have killed anyone and everyone without thought; he was that possessive about her. He had nearly killed Jared and her in his rage when Amanda disappeared. Conner had stayed away from them for more than two months, buried in grief and guilt.

She had seen how reserved Conner had been all these years. No matter how much he tried, how much everyone tried, Conner didn't go back to being the way he was before Amanda disappeared. But he was trying; he was coming to St. Clair pack more often to meet up with her. Going out with what's-her-name the doctor. That was possibly for Conner's father's benefit; he had refused to step down as alpha until Conner got mated. But Conner was trying.

And now Amanda was back, and it was going to screw everything with Conner. Not to mention the fact that Amanda was accused of murdering her family. She was one of the few on the wanted list in the were-community and had to be handed over to the Knight pack when caught. And Laura bet her first born on Conner opposing the hand over.

+•+•+•+•+•+•+

Jared sat, head in his hands, beside the bed in the infirmary of St. Clair pack. On said bed lay his alpha's son, and his own best friend.

What a mess!

Things had been great this morning, as great as normal could be. His afternoon was spent running errands for his alpha. He had been anticipating seeing his girl. April and he had been seeing each other for months now and he was falling for her. Things had gone up shit creek the instant they stepped foot into Grand Gate Hotel.

"Jon, get the damn doctor in here," he called out to Jonathan, who along with Andrew was standing outside the ward like a guard dog.

Three hours had passed since the train yard. Two of them had fucked their dicks out (come to think of it, those were the best hours of today), and one of them had been tranq'ed, and Conner was still sprawled unconscious on the bed. Jared didn't even know were Amanda was.

Five minutes later, the doctor stepped in. A middle aged, tall, broad shouldered woman with a perpetual 'fuck yourself' on her forehead. Icing on the cake.

"Why is he still out?" Jared asked.

"He was drugged," Mary answered.

"What the fuck did you give him that lasts for 3 hours?" Jared nearly shouted.

"Please do not use such language in front of me."

"Listen lady...." he started.

"Boy! Calm down and sit down." Jared did just that. Goddamn mother figures.

"He's sleeping," Dr. Mary St. Clair explained to the exasperated and worried beta. His face showed just how much he did not appreciate the talk down.

"Anyone can see that," Andrew butted in, impatient.

"He's been part of a heat cycle. And even though it wasn't completed, it takes a toll on the male body. This is why males sleep for nearly 24 hours after servicing a female. It helps cleanse the body of the changes the female hormones induce."

Mary went next to the bed and peered down at Conner; lifted one eyelid, then the other; and checked his pulse and various other things flashing on the monitor. "He'll be fine when he wakes up. As for when he'll wake up, it could be in the next five minutes or five hours."

Jared stared at Mary with trepidation, and then sighed; there was nothing he could do.

"Alright. How is Amanda?"

"I'm not acquainted with anyone of that name."

"The chick in heat, doc," Drew supplied.

"Ah! The rogue. She's not yet stable."

Jared watched as the doc's forehead creased in worry. His heart lurched at the tense look on her face.

"She is being closely monitored."

"Will she pull through?" Drew asked, concerned.

"That's entirely up to her."

"What's wrong with her, exactly?" Jon asked, irritated.

That rogue bitch just won't stop creating problems

.

"When a female goes in heat, she experiences intense arousal. Now, during a normal, non-heat arousal, females and even males," she gestured to the four in the room, "experience a rise in body temperature and their scent gets stronger."

Jared stared at the doctor in disbelief;

she was giving them the sex talk. How the hell did that happen?

"Now, imagine that a hundred times stronger. It becomes painful. What the males feel when around a female in heat is mild in comparison."

Jon resisted the urge to snort.

"That's why females tend to destroy things in their way, trying to distract themselves. Doesn't work," Mary shrugged, "but nothing really make sense then so..."

"That didn't answer the question," Jared stated. He had had no interaction with the St. Clair pack doctor before, but from what April, who was also a doctor, had told him, Dr. Mary was supposed to be 'truly awesome'. He had yet to find evidence to that fact. On the contrary he found her extremely frustrating.

"I was getting to that," Mary removed her glasses and wiped them with a tissue.

"Get there fast, lady," Jon growled.

"Growling at me is going to achieve nothing, boy. Now, where were we? Ha yes! A male's touch makes the heat bearable for the female. But they, Conner and the rogue, were separated, so the heat became... unbearable again. Her cycle is unstable; it will either increase exponentially or subside completely."

"Death by extreme arousal! Now that's got be a first," Jon chuckled.

"It's no laughing matter," The sudden rage on the Doctor's face had Jon stepping back. "For males it's all just a joke. Servicing a female is the best time of your lives; you have no idea the havoc it plays on our bodies. It's not sweet, intense arousal we feel, but excruciating pain. That female won't die of 'extreme arousal,' as you put it," she made quotation marks in the air; "she'll die of heart failure, if she's lucky. Her heat was advancing the last time I checked and if that keeps up, her heart won't be able to bear the blood pressure, and will explode like a balloon," Mary marched to the door. "You're mated I hear, I just hope you're not so brash with her life."

Already regretting losing her temper and revealing so much about the female, Mary walked away.

Jon didn't look at his pack mates as he stomped off in the opposite direction.

"She shouldn't have brought up Samantha. The rest was deserved," Andrew sat down on the empty chair beside Jared to wait for Conner to wake up and to pray for Amanda to survive.