The Witch & The Wolf

Chapter 24

Sapphira watched the pair of wolves in silence, waiting for them to elaborate on the whole 'rogues situation'. However, she then noticed Luke's eyes glazing over once more as Angelica's did the same thing.

Sapphira's brows furrowed as she watched the pair silently communicating, they clearly didn't want her to be in the loop on this one. She debated speaking up about it, but judging by the looks on their faces she decided against it. Angelica's expression had turned dark, and somewhat, scared even Sapphira couldn't quite place it... Luke on the other hand appeared to be angry... 

Their conversation seemed to end when Angelica nodded, her eyes turning back to normal as she turned to the dishes, "I'll make you lunch and bring it to the library." She said, "Just this once." 

"Thank you Angie," Luke said softly as he put his hand on Sappihra's back, "We need to talk." 

"Uhm..." Sapphira started, somewhat confused, "I should help her with the dishes first." 

"It's alright, I got it." Angelica said, "You guys go talk." 

Sapphira's brows furrowed as Luke started gently pushing her towards the door, "Alright... Thank you for lunch." She said as they left. 

"You're welcome!" Angelica yelled after them as Luke closed the door and led them to the library. 

"What's going on?" Sapphira said as she walked back over to the couch, on which Percy was laying and sleeping. 

Luke sighed as he moved to sit across from her, "Lately the rogues seem to be acting up, we don't know why but it's been happening. Currently, the perimeter is secured, but I don't know how it will hold up... The pack has been informed and for safety, we're putting a curfew into place." 

"What?" Sapphira said with an incredulous look on her face, "I mean, can you do that?" 

"They know it's for their own safety, a run-in with a rogue is not something anyone wants. Which brings me to us..." He said leaning forward and placing his elbows on his knees as he folded his hands, "I need you to stay here with me, tonight." 

Sapphira's eyebrows shot up, "I don't know if-," Sapphira started but he cut her off. 

"I need you to stay here where I know that you're safe. Else I can't have any peace or rest, don't argue with me on this one." 

Sapphira stared at the ground for a moment, carefully debated on what to say next. To her, her cottage would be the safest place to be, protected by its spells and if needed she even had an escape route. Staying here would mean having to place new spells, accepting the myriad of people that would walk in and out continuously and just the overall business of a packhouse. Something she wasn't quite ready for. But just by the look in his eyes and what she had read about wolves so far, she knew she couldn't just say no...

She sighed, "I understand you feel like you need me close by... I mean I know that, I don't fully understand it yet, but I do know that. I just don't feel comfortable staying in such a place as this. The sheer number of people that live here, that just walk in and out, it's a lot... I just can't seem to have a full overview of everything happening around me and I cannot stand it." 

"I can tell them all to leave." Luke said without hesitation, "they can stay somewhere else." 

Sapphira's eyes went wide, "What? No! You can't tell people to leave like that." 

"Yes I can." 

"But you won't." Sapphira said, "I personally feel much safer in my own cottage..." She said softly. 

Luke's eyes hardened, "Well you're not staying there." 

Sapphira's head snapped up, "Gee I had no clue." She said sarcastically, "Look if we want to make this work we both need to compromise, not just me." 

Luke sighed in frustration, "There are some empty houses on the territory, would you feel more comfortable there, when it's just us?" 

"Yeah I guess so..." Sapphira said, resenting the fact that she wouldn't be able to stay at her cottage. "Then I just need to go and get some things." She said. 

"No!" Luke bellowed, "Mason or someone else can get them." 

"No?" Sapphira said standing up, "I'm already agreeing on staying with you tonight, and I cannot even go and grab my own stuff? You can come with me if you want, but I'm grabbing my own stuff." 

Luke shook his head, "I've got things to take care off over here, so you'll need to stay here as well." 

At that point Sapphira started getting angry, "Yeah well I've got stuff to do too, but apparently that's less important than your stuff right?" She said stepping closer to him, "I mean I'm just supposed to drop everything just because your furry side needs it, but you, you're too important for that." 

"I've got a pack to run." Luke replied standing up as well, seething, "Not some little shop nobody cares about, people depend on me."

"What did you just say?" Sapphira said grabbing her wand, "Care to repeat that?" 

Luke sighed, "I'm in an Important position, people depend on me, alright, so I need you to be a good little mate and play along alright?" 

Sapphira went silent as she was seeing red. Looking down she saw that Percy was already standing in front of her, looking about ready to leave. "Let's go Percy..." She said as a light eminated from the wand and enveloped them. 

Luke growled as he reached out to grab her but before he could, she was gone, disappearing in thin air. Immediately he contacted everyone, "Go and find her..."