A/N- It's a surprise mid-week update to make up for the weekends I've missed lately! Enjoy! 

They had cooked dinner over the coals of the fire and Alice was attempting to smoke some of the meat over a criss crossed grill she had made of soaked green branches. It was up about half a foot above the coals, although neither of them were sure if this particular attempt was going to be a success. She hoped it was though. But now that they were clean, they had a pile of wood that they could keep the fire going with, at least a bit of the fire, off to the side, since she was trying to smoke the meat over the coals, and the lantern was hung back in its place, casting light over their little living quarters.

Everything she'd wanted to do for the day was done as Alice pulled back the top layer of the sleeping bag and climbed inside, tilting her head in invitation to her mate.

"Oh. Do I get to join you in there? You aren't going to jump me and take advantage of me again?" He grinned at her as he walked across the stone floor, his feet bare. "You know we didn't do everything. My pants are still over next to your weird, glowly lake. We didn't wash them."

"Tomorrow then." She blew a slow breath out through her nose and raised her arms up towards him, sticking out her lower lip ever so slightly in a pout. "I need you down here with me. Not in a way like your thinking." She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm tired too. But you need to come down here and heal. And I need to cuddle you until you're better."

"That long, huh?"

Alice made a small huffing sound as he slid into the sleeping bag next to her. It was cool in the cavern, even with the fire, and it felt good to hold her against his chest. He could tell he was getting stronger and stronger by the hour at this point, especially now that he had eaten. He hadn't thought that it would make that much of a difference, but it really had.

"So you think there's a reason there aren't any rogues here, don't you?" His fingertips were tracing patterns across her skin, which was extremely distracting, but she tried to focus on his words, so that she could answer his question. He needed to know everything that she knew, or at least her theories.

"I know I've given you bits and pieces of what I noticed out here so far but yes. I've never seen or smelled a rogue out here. I mean, I guess I should start by saying I've never seen or smelled a rogue in my life. So I don't really know what they smell like. But everyone always says that they smell gross. Off. Right? There's supposed to be something rotten about their scent, isn't there?

"That would be an accurate way of describing it," he agreed. "I've fought with rogues enough times and it's not a scent I'd like to spend too much time thinking about. "It's not exactly like any one thing. It's a bit like rotting. Like sulphur. Rotten eggs. Vegetables that have been too long in the fridge."

"Now to be clear that isn't the case for every rogue wolf. Wolves can leave their packs and become Lone Wolves and not lose their minds. It doesn't happen all that often, but it does happen. They're the ones that usually go and live amongst humans in towns and cities. But when a wolf goes rogue because he or she has gone mad, that's when you get the scent. Usually it's because there is an element of pain or sometimes they've rejected the human part of themselves altogether and gone entirely wolf.

"But wolves don't smell like that." Fin smiled at the way Alice tapped her fingers against his chest as she tried to think of the reasoning behind all of this.

"No, you're right, they don't. But wolves haven't let a part of themselves die. Or worse yet, they haven't killed a part of themselves, which, I think, is the case some of the time. That death has a cost and in the case of rogues, it often has a scent." 

"I like to think it's the Goddess' way of warning the rest of us of how dangerous they are, but that's probably not it. I don't know the real reason for it, but I'm thankful it's there because those fuckers are dangerous and it makes it harder for them to sneak up on us. Did you know that their saliva is actually corrosive? It doesn't turn us rogue, like some people say, but it hurts like a bitch if you get bitten and you need an antidote."

"You've been bitten?" She could tell by the way he described it how badly it hurt when he had been bitten.

"Two or three times." As he answered her question she nestled her head closer to his chest, breathing in his comforting, forestry scent.

"I hate the idea of you being hurt. Even if it was a long time ago." His hand came down to stroke her cheek, as she lay with her head on his chest, the time a few weeks earlier when she thought she might not have a mate, suddenly seeming light years away.

"I know that we have a nice setup here, but I'm already feeling much stronger than I felt yesterday. I didn't expect to heal as quickly as I have. I think having my beautiful, strong mate by my side is helping me heal even faster than I have in the past."

Alice swallowed nervously at this news, feeling as he spoke as if the world outside the cave was very large and very dangerous, and the world inside the cave was the only place that was left where the two of them could be safe.

"Tomorrow I want to take you home. I'll introduce you as Luna of my pack. I'll tell them what happened. Everyone there knows that Cadman is an evil fucker. And I'm their Alpha. They'll stand by me."

"But Fin. We don't know whether or not you're still a suspect in Luna Emery's disappearance. The royal guard might flood into Obsidian Moon the minute we set foot in the Pack House."

"Baby, we can't spend our lives hiding underground. This place is beautiful. I promise you, we are going to come back here. We're going to bring our pups back here. By the way, how many do you want to have?"

"How many-" her eyes were huge as she stared at him.

"Pups?" He watched her, a smile lighting up his face as he looked down at her.

"Yes, pups. I always thought seven or eight would be a good number. Maybe eight because it's an even number?"

"Eight?" She practically shrieked the word and he pulled her up on top of his chest, laughing at the shocked look on her beautiful face.

"Well you weren't really giving me any guidance, so I thought I'd throw a number out there and see how you reacted. But I did always want a big family. Do you think you'd be up for that, Princess?"

Rolling her over so that she was under him he found his mark and nipped at it lightly, before grinning up at her hugely as he waited for her response.

"Ugh, so not fair Fin. I can't even think with you laying between my legs, nibbling on my mark." But even as she complained he felt her pelvis rise to press against him as her hands came up to run through his hair. Her head was tilted back, giving him as much access as he could ask for to her mark.

"I mean I guess we don't have to decide right now, Princess. But what else do you think we should do? That meat your smoking is going to take ages to cook. And it won't take that long to pack." Bending forward he swirled his tongue around her mark, loving the way she squirmed beneath him, before pulling away and rolling back beside her. There wasn't much room to move in the sleeping bag, but he thought that he was really making it work.

"Oh fuck." he heard her mutter, but didn't look in her direction. "You are so frustrating, Alpha Fin Nowak."

"I'm really glad you don't know my whole first name yet or I'm sure I'd be hearing that all the time. And I'm not sure we're there yet." He glanced quickly over at her, before looking away. He definitely had captured her interest.

"Wait, everyone calls you Fin. That's not your whole name?"

"Nope." He stretched and closed his eyes as if he were about to go to sleep.

"And no one, particularly you, thought to tell me that?"

"We've been kind of busy, Princess." His tone was so condescending that she thought she might break out in hives.

"It's your name, Fin."

"That one seems to be working out pretty well for you, doesn't it?"

Alice glared at him, and took a deep breath. "So you aren't going to tell me?" She shot him a glare that had withered quite a few strong men of the course of the last year.

"Oh Princess, that's one of those need to know sort of things, and you just don't need to know just yet. Understand?"

Alice's eyes flashed before she cuddled up right next to him and he suddenly wondered how and when she was going to get him back for the silly little game he was playing. Because as she looked at him and licked her lips he was filled with a cold nervousness he hadn't felt before. His little mate was in a league of her own and he had a sudden feeling that she knew how to get her way when she wanted to.

"Oh yes Alpha. I understand. I hope you have a good sleep tonight, Love. See you in the morning."

And that response ratcheted up his nerves by at least ten fold as she lay her head down against his chest again and drifted off to sleep. 

A/N- I hope you are enjoying this story! If you are I'd love it if you'd comment and click that little star button to vote for it.

This is Chapter Thirty-Four and I will continue posting weekly updates here until the entire novel is finished. You can now read the entire novel, all sixty chapters, on Patreon! And for those of you who want more stories, long and short, right this second and who want to read Patreon exclusive short stories, you may also want to check out the link below:

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