Wolfsbane

Chapter 9

Hades hadn't stopped staring at me since we made it back to the car. Even with werewolf strength, it was very difficult lugging a Rouge body the handful of miles back. We had shoved the Rouges body into the back of the SUV, though the awkward disjointed angle the Rouge had ended up in made me feel slightly bad. I had put a silver collar and chains around its neck and body in hopes that it would keep the Rouge subdued for the majority of the ride back. Consequently the backseat of the vehicle now smelt faintly of burning flesh. 

I was keeping my hands firmly on the steering wheel, hoping that it would keep me grounded in the moment ad not let me drift back to what happened in the cave. I had given Hades two more syringes filled with wolfsbane. The mixture was a creation of Doc's. Regular tranquilizers had no affect on us, and wolfsbane was a poisonous flower to our species. Doc had found a way to dilute it down to a tranqulizer for us rather than a poison. I had felt a small bit of satisfaction when Felix had stupidly volunteered to be Doc's test subject. I was glad for the foresight I had to bring the latest batch Doc had sent to me on this hunt; otherwise the ride home might have been severely unpleasant. I highly doubted in this moment that a Rouge being awake would be worse than the awkwardness of the behemoth Alpha staring me down. I would have rathered Hades annoying flirtations or invasive questions or anything besides the silent treatment that he was currently giving me . I briefly wondered how long this quiet game would last between us, but I didn't have to wait long for my answer. 

"Have you told your Alpha about the beast that you're bringing home like some common house pet?" The rage was evident in his voice and his flashing golden eyes. 

I kept my face blank, hiding the panic that was starting to bubble up. I didn't much like the comment about the Rouge being a pet, but Hades did kind of have a point. What was I going to tell Zeke? It wasn't like taking a Rouge hostage was common practice. Considering that the Lycan King had mandated that Rouges needed to be killed. This had been a rash decision that would put my pack in danger if I wasn't careful. My thoughts had been so jumbled that I couldn't pull one thought from the next. The Rouge had mindlinked with me! This was uncharted territory that I was unsure how to handle. There was no good explanation for any of this. I had what was the equivalent of a vegetarian Rouge in my backseat, and assuming that I got it back to Wyoming without anyone noticing the body on the road, all I had to go on was that it talked to me in my head. I had to be crazy to think that anyone let alone my Alpha would believe me. After all a unfeeling beast that had no control over itself couldn't possible muster the concentration that it took to establish a mindlink.

"I don't know how you run things in your pack Alpha, but Zeke runs ours based on trust and respect. Zeke is well aware that I would never do anything to put my pack in danger without a damn good reason." I tried not to cringe at my obvious dodge to his question. The tone I had used clearly meant I was not going to discuss this further, and hopefully that would give me enough time on the way home to come up with some excuse to give Zeke. 

~~~

It was dark when we pulled into the driveway to the pack house. We hadn't stopped except to quickly relieve ourselves after about six hours of driving and once to give the Rouge a second shot from a syringe when it started to wake up. Hades was still giving me the silent treatment and that suited me just fine. I had nothing to say to him. My limbs were happy to stretch once I removed myself from the car. My muscles were stiff and uncoordinated from sitting for so long. A few seconds later Hades lumbered out of the car as if he hadn't been cramped in a small space for the last several hours. I had already opened the back hatch and was carefully avoiding the silver chains as I pulled the Rouge out of the car. Hades stood to the side, watching me with a clear disinterest in helping me. I rolled my eyes at the temper tantrum that he was clearly still throwing. Alphas were like toddlers when they didn't get their way. To make matters worse, I wasn't part of Hades pack, so it wasn't like he could just tell me what to do to get his power trip.