Chapter Six

A back seat driver.

Ricardo wasn’t kidding. I wasn’t allowed to leave the palace for the rest of the weekend and if I exited Lance’s bedroom, I had to be accompanied anywhere else in the palace. Again not wanting to be a burden…I mainly stayed in the room. The physical affect on my body of becoming a rogue was extraordinary. It was difficult to explain, it felt like a constant sharp pain in my chest that was only getting more frequent in its spasms and stronger in its ache. Maybe I always had this pain but having the, albeit cold at times, warm feeling of being joined to a pack overshadowed this pain. Maybe this is what true anxiety felt like. The feeling of displacement since I was twelve but I had never allowed myself to feel it before. Never stood still long enough.

Except for watching the television and going on Lance’s laptop, there wasn’t much else to do. I should really be training on his home gym but I would rather be watching Lance train from the comfort of his bed. Lance wasn’t here to watch, so I stayed in the comfort of his bed and slept. Literally slept.

Being a rogue was very draining on my wolf and she hadn’t even done anything yet. I didn’t even class us as rogues yet as we had food readily available at every meal time and freshly laundered clothes. She and I must admit I, were really going to struggle when the true test of being a new rogue came knocking.

I was up the earliest on the Monday morning. Woken by another bad dream at 4.30am. I hadn’t been allowed to see Colette this weekend but Ricardo gave her permission to teach me to drive after all. I don’t know who would be more excited, her for actually being allowed to do something within the pack, or me for actually being allowed to do something after the boring weekend. By 6am I had prepared breakfast for everyone but mainly for Brennan, Emmett and Jake. I felt guilty that their lives had been turned upside down to come and assist in Lance’s absence. And on Brennan’s first Aida Watch shift, I was attacked by the she-Lycan I was trying to help.

Apparently Jake was chaperoning me to the training base after breakfast. I could tell by Ricardo’s humorous mood this morning, that he was the great spark behind that idea. As long as Jake didn’t expect to get in the same car as Colette and I, then we should be fine. Although I didn’t actually plan to do too much driving.

I didn’t want to keep Colette waiting and Jake was now on his third helping of breakfast.

“Jake, we need to leave.” I plea, edging my way closer to the doorway.

“We’ve got plenty of time. I need a good solid breakfast to start my day.” I can barely understand him as he talks whilst eating.

“No talking with food in your mouth!” Lorrel reprimands him as she picks up her plate and carries it to the dishwasher.

“Thank you for breakfast Aida. Good luck with your first day back.” She kisses the side of my face before she heads out of the kitchen door.

“Jake…” I make my voice whiny.

“Aida…” He mirrors my whiny tone.

“I’m going to be late. You can catch me up!” I spin on the spot and follow Lorrel out of the kitchen and head towards the palace’s back entrance.

“I’m coming!” I hear Jake shout as he rushes to catch up with me, cursing under his breath.

We make it to the training base’s car park where Colette and Mav are already waiting for us. Baby Rayna is happily snuggled in her daddy’s arms as she blissfully sleeps away her morning milk feed. I am so excited to see Colette that I run up to her and wrap my arms around her. Here was a woman who would never know the difference between me being a rogue or a pack member, and there was something about that lack of judgment that I just loved more about her.

“You haven’t got long. Morning report is 9am for the new recruits.” Mav updates me. That was usually normal on the first day of training. Breakfast is served in the canteen at 8am after training which starts at 6.30am. In stage two training, I had either been skipping breakfast or eating quickly in between training and my driving lessons with Lance. Tomorrow’s 6.30am start and most likely lack of breakfast was going to hit me hard.

I walk to a car with Colette, we have approximately forty-five minutes together before I need to be back for Alphas welcome back briefing.

“What are you doing?” I turn to Jake who is following us, following me.

“I need to have eyes on at all times.” He shrugs before reaching for the back door of the driver’s side.

“Jake, I can’t concentrate with you in the back.” I sigh, not wanting an audience right now. It was bad enough Colette, an experienced military driver, was now teaching me.

“It’s him or me?” Mav enjoys adding as he plants a kiss on his wife’s lips.

“Are you actually going to drive?” Jake comments from the back seat. I hate back seat drivers.

“She is showing me her gear control, give her time.” Colette politely responds picking up on my frustration.

“I just want to see what this car can do.” He whines. I had to pick a sports car didn’t I? I glare at Jake in the rear view mirror before starting the engine and pulling off at a low speed.

Colette is a calming influence. She doesn’t rush me and allows me to get used to being behind the wheel again. This was the first time I was driving without Lance in the car, this was a big deal for me. I was working hard on keeping my breathing under control so that Jake didn’t pick up on my anxiety through my quickened heart rate.

“That’s it Aida very good. Now can you hear that noise?” She asks with a slight amusement to her tone.

Yes, it’s hard not to hear it. A loud revving.

“Erm…yes.”

“That’s the car telling you to go up a gear!” Jake moans from behind.

“I thought this was an automatic?” I respond in jest, if anything to wind up Jake even more. I smirk at him through the rear view mirror when his eyes glaze over into a mind-link.

“Stop the car!” He orders at me.

“What?” I scoff playfully.

“Stop the car!” He yells which causes me to slam the breaks, the ignition cutting out from me doing an emergency break incorrectly. I curse internally at him before a low growl leaves my chest. I look at him through the rear view mirror to see his eyes glazed over, that he was in a mind-link conversation.

“Jake?” I huff at him.

“What’s wrong?” Colette turns to Jake before looking back at me.

“Nadine has killed a guard and escaped.”