The Blacklisted Rogue
Chapter 21

Sally POV

Alex appeared from a room on the left and came running towards me. "Sally!" He squealed.

He pulled me into a hug. I quickly hugged him back.

"It's good to see you, Alex." I laughed.

Alex released me from the hug and beamed at me.

"George said that you found your mate. Congratulations!" He sang.

I really like this side of Alex. Last time I met him we were planning their escape from the pack and Alex had been worried and serious. The whole situation had taken a toll on him. It made me happy to see Alex so carefree now in their new pack. "Yes. This is Elijah, my mate."

Alex gave Elijah a once over.

"Moon Goddess really gave you quite the gift." He smirked.

I glanced at Elijah and saw red scattered on his cheeks.

Was he blushing?

That amused me more than it should have. Elijah was the cheeky one of us. During the past few weeks, he had been teasing me a lot and made me both laugh and blush several times.

George put his arm around Alex and chuckled.

"Come on, Love. Let's get some dinner ready while they clean up."

Alex nodded and took off for the kitchen, muttering something about making pasta.

George showed us to the guestroom. The room had a queen size bed with a light blue duvet matching the walls of the room. Behind a door on the opposite side of the bed was a white-tiled bathroom with a large bathtub.

I couldn't remember the last time I soaked in a bathtub. The last time I bathed I quickly dipped myself in a pond with freezing water.

"Thank you. This is amazing." Elijah mumbled, staring wide-eyed around the room in awe.

Elijah rarely talked about his life in the Midnight pack, but I could tell that this kind of room was luxurious to him.

George shrugged.

"It's no bother. I'm really happy to have you both here. You are my sister's mate, so that makes you my brother too now."

Alex's voice echoed from the kitchen.

"George, could you help me out here?"

"Coming!" George shouted. "Get cleaned up, dinner will be ready in half an hour or so. I already mind-linked Avery and asked her to bring some clothes for you, sis."

George and Elijah headed over to the master bedroom to replace some clothes for him while I closed the door to the bathroom and started to undress.

For the first time in months, I looked at myself in an actual mirror. I stole glances of myself in windows, but the reflection didn't reveal the same details as the large mirror I found myself staring at.

I had changed a lot since I left Red Ridge. My hair was matted and lifeless and my eyes were dull with dark circles around them. I noticed that I had lost a lot of weight, accentuating my ribs and collarbone.

I noticed traces of dirt on my arms and face and I had small twigs sticking out of my hair. I usually dyed my hair dark brown, but a more reddish shade of my natural hair could easily be seen at the top of my head. A haircut was long overdue.

I stepped in the shower and sighed when the water poured down my body, relishing the warmth.

After a very satisfying shower, I stepped out of the bathroom wearing only a towel. Elijah was sitting on the bed, looking at me with a shocked expression.

I frowned and looked down at myself.

"What?"

Without a word, Elijah got up and closed the space between us. He buried his face in the crook of my neck and inhaled sharply.

"You look amazing." He murmured.

I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck while pushing myself against his chest to keep the towel from falling off.

"Now that we're safe and we have an actual bed to slepp on, maybe we should talk about replaceing a good time to mark each other?" I said huskily while slowly rubbing my breasts against his chest. Elijah's eyes darkened and he visibly gulped.

I glanced at the bed where a pile of women's clothes was sitting.

I smirked and pulled my body away from Elijah, but kept my arms around his neck. My towel fell to the floor and Elijah instinctively looked down.

His eyes darkened and he slowly caressed my waist with his fingertips. He lowered his head to kiss me when I snickered. Elijah raised his eyebrows.

"I didn't mean now, the dinner's getting cold." I scolded.

I pulled away from him and walked over to the bed to put the clothes on while Elijah groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I was looking forward to a hot shower. I guess I'll have to settle with a cold one."

He rubbed his groin and waddled off to the bathroom while I giggled.

"Tease." He muttered over his shoulder before he closed the door.

The clothes that Avery brought me were a little big, but after a bit of shuffling through drawers I found a belt in George's dresser in the master bedroom that I put on to keep the jeans in place. When I was ready I entered the kitchen where Alex was busy stirring meat and vegetables in a pan. The smell wafted towards me and my mouth watered.

George was setting the table and smiled at me when I walked in. I grabbed the stack of plates to help him.

"What are you making?" I asked Alex.

"Just some pasta." Alex shrugged. "It's nothing fancy, but I can't say that I'm any good in the kitchen."

"You're good at other things, babe." George said while wiggling his eyebrows.

"Come on." I gagged.

George winked at me and laughed.

"Just wait, sis. You and Elijah will be just like us in no time."

I looked back in the sizzling pan on the stove to hide my blush when a scent of chocolate filled my nostrils. Elijah's arms snaked around my waist and he planted a kiss on my temple.

*

*

Elijah POV

Sally looked amazing in a pair of black jeans and a baby blue long-sleeved shirt. Her damp hair flowed down her back and I noticed the cute blush that coated her cheeks when George and Alex teased her. I hugged her tightly to my chest and kissed her. "Cooties!" Alex shouted and George burst out laughing.

We settled around the dinner table and George filled us in on what had been going on since they left Red Ridge, how he became Jordan's Beta and his encounter with Luke while trying to form an alliance.

I really admired Sally's relationship with her brother. You could tell from a mile away that they were really close, sharing embarrassing stories about each other.

"Tell you what..." George said, popping a piece of mushroom in his mouth. "There was a time we pulled this prank on Luke. He was studying for his finals in school and fell asleep on the couch. We smeared his face with mom's foundation and wrote 'a*s' on his forehead with lipstick-"

George's voice broke and he started wheezing from laughter, the rest of us laughed with him.

"The problem- The problem was that when he woke up and saw it, he tried to clean it off. But the lipstick was waterproof and still left a mark on his forehead. Goddess, he was so mad he chased us around the packhouse. Mom had to pull out some special concoction and rub his forehead with it for it to disappear. But he still had to go take his finals with the lipstick still faintly showing."

Sally buried her face in her hands, shaking as she laughed. My heart soared hearing her laugh.

"It was so mean." She sniffled. "We didn't know that it wouldn't come off. We were like 11 years old."

I happily listened to every one of their stories. I never had any siblings, so the kind of things they described wasn't really something I could relate to.

When I grew up, my father encouraged me to hang out with Alpha Richard and Beta Rafe. The two were inseparable and they were a few years older than me. Most times I had trouble keeping up with them and they always had fun at my expense. If I ever complained about it, my father would punish me saying that I was going to be Gamma of the pack and I needed to learn to be a part of their team. If I wasn't strong enough, they would replace someone else that was.

So I trained.

But it was never enough. Not for Alpha Richard and especially not my father. I wasn't strong enough to live up to their expectations and after my first shift, all my dreams of becoming Gamma went down the drain. Sally's yawning broke me from my trail of thought and we quickly decided to call it a night.

When we came back to the bedroom, I hesitated. We had been sleeping huddled together for warmth. Sleeping in a bed was a little different. Maybe Sally wouldn't want to share the bed with me.

Noticing my hesitation, Sally wrapped her arms around my neck and searched my eyes.

"Penny for your thoughts?" She asked quietly.

I fidgeted with a strand of her hair, not daring to meet her gaze.

"Now that we don't sleep outside anymore, do you still want to share the bed with me?" I blurted, afraid of her answer.

Sally huffed softly.

"You're my mate. Of course I want to share the bed with you. Don't you feel the same way?"

"I do." I quickly replied. "I just don't want to pressure you with anything."

Sally gently pecked my lips and disappeared into the bathroom. I waited patiently for her to come back. When she did, my breath hitched.

She had removed her clothes, leaving her only in her undergarments. She tiptoed to the bed and pulled the covers aside.

"You coming or what?" She winked at me.

I quickly scurried to the bathroom. Someone has left a toothbrush for me to use. I quickly brushed my teeth and pulled off my pants and shirt.

Sally had turned the lights off, leaving the room dimly lit.

I started walking to the bed when I heard her snoring softly. The sound almost made me laugh.

Seriously?

This beautiful woman teased me for half the night and then fell asleep when things were about to get interesting.

Shaking my head, I silently made my way over to the other side of the bed and lied down beside her.

I carefully pulled her slender body to myself and felt her stir slightly before making herself comfortable in my arms. I buried my nose in her hair and inhaled her scent, making me relax and fall asleep instantly.