The Blacklisted Rogue
Chapter 18

Sally POV

The abandoned hunter's cabin felt like a blessing in the cold fall weather. Every night we slept huddled together to stay warm, but it was very few nights that we actually slept with a roof over our heads. I tried to save as much of Luke's money as I could, hoping that it would be enough to settle down somewhere.

The cabin was located on a hill outside of the city. We had been traveling for almost three weeks to get here. In the city was a huge science center named Caroville Science Park. My dream was to try to get a job there and we could build a life here the human way. Elijah had rarely left his pack territory, so he was just happy to go wherever I wanted.

I noticed that even if we were constantly traveling, rarely had any place to stay and usually had to ration our food, Elijah started to warm up. I could tell that despite the harsh conditions we were living under, he looked healthier for every day that passed. But when darkness fell, I also noticed his nightmares. How his face contorted and he looked like he wanted to scream. When that happened I pressed my forehead against his. That usually calmed him down again.

I just hoped that one day we'd be able to replace a stable home and heal our wounds that our previous lives had given us.

Through the broken window, the sun started to rise. I turned my head and looked at Elijah. He was still sleeping with an arm wrapped around my waist.

Carefully, I detangled myself from him without waking him and started to rummage through the backpack where we stored our food.

Elijah stirred and I quickly looked back at him. His eyes were open and he was looking right at me with hooded eyes.

"You're awake." Elijah said with a hoarse voice.

I smiled.

"Hungry?"

"Sure." Elijah replied and sat up against the wall.

We slept on the floor by the fireplace. We were able to make a small fire when we got here one day earlier and even though the warmth quickly escaped through the cracks in the house, it was the first time since we left the Midnight Pack that we didn't have to sleep outside.

I carried the bag over to Elijah and settled beside him on the floor. I picked out a piece of bread and pieces of sliced ham that we managed to rescue from a restaurant dumpster.

"I've been thinking." Elijah said between mouthfuls of bread.

"About what?"

"This cabin is on the outskirts of the city. If you could actually replace a job here, maybe we could try to persuade whoever owns this cabin to let us stay here." He said. "You want to live here?" I frowned.

Elijah stood up and reached out his hand.

"Come on, love. I'll show you what I mean."

With a smile on my face, I took his hand and stood up from the floor.

Elijah walked over to the door that only had one hinge left and carefully pushed it open.

On the small porch outside, there was a view of the city. The sun was coming up and cast a beautiful glow over the tall buildings.

Elijah pushed my hair to the side and put his chin on my shoulder.

"Imagine waking up to this view." He whispered. "We can make this place anything we want it to be. Imagine watching this view while drinking your morning coffee." He spun me around so that I faced the cabin.

"We could make this place bigger. Rebuild the fireplace properly and have a bedroom with an actual bed."

His words sent shivers down my spine and I looked at him, a smile stretching across my face.

"That actually sounds nice. I like it." I agreed.

Elijah smiled and bent down to peck me on the lips.

I put my hand on the back of his neck and pulled him down before I crashed my lips on his.

Elijah traced the seam of my lips with his tongue, deepening the kiss further. My hands roamed his chest and he gasped.

Elijah broke free from the kiss and trailed kisses down my neck. When he kissed the marking spot a jolt of pleasure ran through my body and I dug my nails into his back from the sensation.

I wanted him to mark me. A werewolf bites their mate in the neck to show to other wolves that they're taken. It was instinctual and usually happened when werewolves mated. Most mates usually marked and mated each other right away, but we hadn't done it yet. Elijah pulled away when he noticed my eagerness and cupped my cheek.

I must have had a disappointed look on my face, because Elijah looked apologetic.

"Believe me, there's nothing I want more. I just want to make it special for us. Right now we're basically on the run, sleeping outside and eating food we found in the trash. That's not the life I want for us. You deserve better. So I was thinking that if we could replace the owner of this place and convince them to let us stay here, we could celebrate that for once our lives are not going totally downhill."

I nodded.

"I agree with you. We are both living in survival mode right now and we should probably wait until we're relaxed enough to actually enjoy it." I chuckled. "But Goddess, this mate bond makes it hard to resist!"

Elijah laughed and kissed me again. His hands gripped my thighs and lifted me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist without breaking the kiss and he carried me back inside.

He put me down on the floor where we had slept and let me go, still sitting in front of me on the floor.

His brown eyes met mine and I felt instantly warm.

"I am so happy that I found you." He said.

"Me too." I replied. "Thank you for not rejecting me and leaving me to die in that cell."

Elijah shook his head.

"Never."

After we packed up our things, we decided to walk to the city to replace out who owned the cabin we had just spent the night in.

The city was awake and there were people everywhere on the streets. I snatched a newspaper from a stand and saw that it was Wednesday, which explained the crowded streets in spite of it being 8 o'clock in the morning. We decided to try City Hall first, maybe they had some records that could help us.

We walked hand in hand, Elijah carrying the backpack and me studying a map of the city. The people we passed in the streets frowned at us. I looked at us in a window that we passed and had to stifle my laugh when I realized how unkempt we both were. My hair hung in a tangled mess over my shoulders and my black jeans had a more brownish look because of the mud left on them since our escape. I was still wearing the hoodie Elijah gave me when we escaped, which was way too big for me. I glanced at Elijah and realized he looked just as scruffy as I did. A piece of mud was caked in his short locks and the sleeve of his jacket had been ripped when we tried to hunt down a deer two days ago.

We looked like two homeless people.

A correct assessment though. We didn't have a place to live just yet.

I looked briefly at the map and realized that we were close to City Hall.

"We're almost there." I told Elijah and pulled him aside.

Elijah raised an eyebrow.

"Okay. Should we go in there?"

I scrunched up my nose and scratched my forehead.

"Maybe not like this. We kind of look like vagabonds."

Elijah looked down on himself and laughed.

"Yeah, you're right. Maybe we should buy ourselves a new change of clothes so we can look more presentable?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, they might take us more seriously."

"I saw a Goodwill store a while back. Maybe we can try there and we don't need to spend more money than we have to." Elijah suggested. "Let's do that."

Hand in hand, we went to cross the street when my gaze fell upon a man staring at us with a smirk on his face.

My blood ran cold and I stopped in my tracks.

It was Rafe. The Beta of the Midnight Pack.

"Elijah." I whimpered and squeezed his hand.

Elijah stopped.

"What is it?"

He followed my line of sight and I saw the blood drain from his face.

'Run." He whispered.

I didn't need to be told twice. We sprinted down the street, not daring to look back.