Chapter 82 Like Animals
Reed ran to get in front of Rogue again, then repeated herself, slowly. “What. Did. You. Just. Say.”
Rogue stopped and looked around, then she turned back to Reed and pointed at her chest. “You talking to me?”
“Yeah, you,” Reed snarled.
Rogue shrugged. “No idea. I talk so much crap, I don’t even remember.”
Reed gave her a ‘you’re-fucking-kidding-me’ look and stalked toward her, hands clenched into fists. Rogue laughed again and stuck her hands in her pockets.
Reed got in her face, tilting her head back, because Rogue was a full head taller. Rogue only watched, her expression and manner relaxed.
“Keep your mouth shut about Troy,” Reed told her.
An amused smile grew on Rogue’s face. “Or what?”
Reed shook her head, then said in a low voice, “You’re a bitch, you know that?”
Rogue snorted. “Go eat a dick, you’ll feel better.”
Timber laughed. So did Crew and Dahlia. Canyon chuckled softly. Heather covered Kendra’s ears and glared at Rogue. Sage could only stare. Troy moved closer to Reed, trying to put his arm around her, but she spun away from him, holding up a hand.
“Stay out of it, Troy. I know she doesn’t bother you, but she bothers me. There’s no reason for her to make fun of you.”
Troy kept walking toward her. “Snookums,” he said.
Rogue snorted a laugh. Reed looked at her sharply, then she looked back at Troy, pointing at the ground. Tree roots exploded up from under Troy’s feet, meshing together and lifting him a few inches, spinning and growing around him like a jail cell.
Dirt flew and the rest of them backed away from Troy. Sage backed against the cabin, and Canyon and Timber moved to be near her.
“Oh shit,” Crew said, half-laughing.
Reed turned back to Rogue. “I’m not scared of you,” Reed hissed. “You need to learn how to keep your thoughts to yourself.”
“What, you gonna teach me?” Rogue drawled.
“Are they fighting?” someone shouted, drawing Sage’s attention down the aisle between the two rows of cabins. It was Ella, running fast, the wolf pup in her arms. “Someone stop them!”
“Maybe we should stay out of it,” Dahlia said, pointing to Troy in tree-jail. He was holding on to the wooden ‘bars’ of the tree cage, a wolfish smile on his face, his eyes on his mate.
“Petal!” Troy shouted, shoving his hands between the bars, open and grasping for Reed who was about a foot out of his reach. He wore a pleading expression but was also smiling like he was having a great time.
Canyon and Timber looked amused and relaxed, ready to watch a fight. Heather stepped closer to Ella, and the wolf pup and the fire baby stared into each other’s eyes, neither moving, like they were speaking some secret, silent language.
“Everybody stays out of it,” Reed snarled, jabbing splayed fingers their way. “This is between me and Miss Judgy Bitch.”
The ground split open with the sound of roots and dirt tearing, and rocks falling in a cascade. Roots meshed together and shot into the air, putting a living fence between Reed and Rogue and the rest of them.
“Reed, no,” Ella called. “It’s not worth it.”
Rogue surveyed everyone caught on the other side of the fence coldly.
She reached her hand into her right sleeve and unbuckled something, drawing out a knife.
Sage gasped, but Rogue threw it to the side, sticking the blade in the ground.
She did the same with her left sleeve, throwing another knife into the ground, and then she put her fists up. “Let’s go then.”
“Rogue, she’s pregnant,” Ella shouted.
Rogue dropped her hands, but Reed moved in like a cat and swung on her. Rogue blocked the punch and put her fists back up, and the two females circled like boxers.
“I’ll only hit her in the face,” Rogue snarled.
Ella gasped and so did Dahlia.
They circled and circled, but Rogue didn’t advance. Reed tackled Rogue around the waist but couldn’t take her down. Rogue pushed her to the ground. Reed bounced up and circled Rogue again.
“Troy,” Ella urged. “Talk to her.”
Troy looked back at Ella, then shifted inside his clothes, sat on his haunches, and howled. “Aroooooooooo.”
From the direction of the house, a tiny, “Arroooooo,” answered, and then a black blur streaked down the aisle between the two houses.
Troy shifted back into a man, righting his clothes, shouting, “Go to your mama, Track.”
Track ran to Ella and jumped straight through the ‘bars’ of the tree cage. Ella caught him, and pressed him to his sister, talking fast. The two pups turned their attention on Rogue and Reed.
An invisible hand grabbed Rogue around her left ankle and lifted her into the air.
“What the hell?!” she shouted, flailing.
Reed was also lifted but stayed upright, then fell backwards like she was on a giant, invisible pillow. The pillow set her gently on the roof of a cabin, while Rogue was deposited on her head in the grass and had to somersault away. She got to her feet, brushing herself off.
Sage stared, mesmerized. She clutched Canyon’s hand with both of hers, her midsection tight.
“You two need a time out,” Ella scolded. Track and Treena swung their furry faces towards her, their heads cocked and their ears flicking. Ella shook her head. “Not you two. It’s Aunt Reed and Aunt Rogue who need a time out.”
“What's going on here?” a male voice said.
Sage looked that way, adrenaline spilling into her gut when she saw Deputy Chief Wade Lombard and Lieutenant Trevor Burbank walking their way, big males, tall, broad, and strong looking.
Trevor was in his 30s, wearing a KSRT uniform, and Wade was twice that age, wearing the department dress blues uniform, his badge on his chest.
Troy’s tree cage sprang open like a gate at a racing track.
He jumped out and ran to help Reed off the cabin.
The tree fence sucked slowly into the ground, leaving a grassy rip in the earth as a reminder.
Sage moved behind Canyon. He reached back and took her hand, then pulled her beside him, giving her a sweet smile.
“My bosses,” he said, his voice low.
“Wade Lombard and Trevor Burbank,” she said, her heart triple-timing in her chest.
Wade saw her. His face tightened and he headed their way, a sneer on his face. When he got close, he stopped short, his nostrils flaring. All eyes were on them, and everyone was silent. The tree cage hung unnaturally open.
“She doesn’t scent like a foxen,” Wade said, his expression suspicious.
Sage pulled herself up to her full height and released Canyon’s hand. She took a step forward, looking up at Wade, suddenly incensed. He hadn’t even greeted her or addressed her. “I’m Sage White, and I’m foxen, whether I scent like it or not,” she snarled.
Wade dismissed her and addressed Canyon, his hands behind his back, his expression hostile.
“Have you claimed her?” he asked, his voice low and brimming with threat.
Canyon only stared at him, his lip curling. Sage thought maybe he was replying in ruhi.
“What’re you waiting for, permission?” Wade snarled. He extended one hand toward Canyon’s face, fingers pressed in a hard, bladed line, and said, “Permission. Not. Granted.”
“I don't need your permission, Chief,” Canyon replied, his voice a mirror of Wade’s. “I only need my wolf’s.”
Wade nodded. “And you don’t have it. Your wolf is showing sense because she's foxen.”
Sage gasped.
Canyon growled and advanced on Wade until they were nose to nose. “Out of line.”
“Insolent pup,” Wade growled back, “She was sent here by the witch and you’re too blinded by tail to know it.”
“She wasn’t,” Canyon growled, “And you’re too blinded by your own bullshit to know it.”
“Is she your mate?” the older male growled.
“Seems like it,” Canyon drawled, bumping his chest against Wade’s.
“Seems like it?” Trevor asked, stepping forward. “That means no.”
Sage panicked, not wanting Canyon to get in trouble because of her. There hadn’t even been a discussion! Before she could do anything, Timber moved in front of her, and then the robot rolled in between Wade and Canyon, right over their boots.
:Time for Timber's bandage change—
Wade took a step back and so did Canyon. Trevor moved between them. “Bandage,” he said, his hands out toward Wade and Canyon, but his eyes on Timber. “What bandage?”
Timber rolled up his sleeve and showed his bandaged arm. “The report’s on its way, but right now, we gotta go. I could die if we don’t change this quick.”
He pushed Canyon and Sage between the rows of cabins, and they ran for it, the robot wheeling quickly behind.