Beautiful Creatures Series

Aurora rolled over onto her back and stretched as she opened her eyes. The morning sun filtered in through the windows filling the house with a soft, homey glow. Aurora reached out for Stanton to find herself alone in their bed.

Strange.

She sat up and looked around the house, expecting to see him up or even sleeping uncomfortably on the couch. Stanton was nowhere in sight. Aurora tossed the blanket back and placed her bare feet on the floor. She stood up and raked her slender finger through her long blond hair as she crossed the room to the door and opened it. She stepped out onto the porch and looked around the driveway. Stanton’s SUV was gone. He must have gone out.

Going back inside, Aurora looked at the clock on the stove. It was 8:00 AM which meant she had slept in, and he had gone to work.

She got dressed and then made the walk to Darrell’s to see if he were home. They still needed groceries because there was very little in the house. Unfortunately, the closest grocery store was in Aspen, and while it was the closest town, it was still too far away for her to walk to and then walk back with armloads of food. Reaching Darrell’s farmhouse, she stepped up on the wrap-around porch and knocked on the screen door. She waited, but there was no answer. She walked around to the side of the house, hoping to find Darrell’s truck in the driveway, but it was gone. He, too, must be at work.

Leaving Darrell’s place, Aurora walked along the road heading for the hub of their little community. That one small street only had a few businesses, all of which were Lycan owned. The whole pack lived within a twenty-five-mile radius of the central hub. That was their community. Their land. With the exceptions of travellers passing true and the odd person come to patron the businesses unaware of their owners’ true identities, the only people that ever walked those streets were pack members.

When she reached the hub, Aurora walked along the street, looking around. It was so inconvenient for the pack to have to go into Aspen every time they needed food. Standing in the middle of the street, Aurora slowly turned around a full 390 degrees, looking at what they had.

A tattoo shop…

A liquor store….

A butcher shop…

A gas station…

A community garden closed for the season…

… and a few vacant buildings with windows boarded up.

They really ought to build this little community up and make it a self-sustained town. Aurora walked over to a midsized building that looked as though it had been empty for a long time. Using the sleeve of her shirt, Aurora wiped away years of grime from the huge window. Placing both hands around her eyes to see better, she leaned into the window and tried to see what it looked like inside.

What little she could see, the place looked spacious. If fixed up, this place could be a quaint little community grocery store. They could stock the store with vegetables and fruits from local gardens. They were next door to the butcher shop so patrons could go from one to the next with ease. They could even knock out part of the wall between the two and build an order window so patrons could get meat and produce in one stop. Then all they would have to do was order in a few pantry products to fill a few local needs.

Someone should do it.

She was someone. Why shouldn’t she be the one to do it.

Aurora walked down the street to the Blood Moon Tattoo Parlour. Walking through the door, she found Gordon tattooing a butterfly to some college girl’s collarbone. He looked up just long enough to acknowledge her and then back down at his task. “Morning Aurora, how are you today,” the girl in the chair squirmed. “Listen, Darling, if you keep moving, this thing is going to end up looking jacked. I suggest you stay still because there are no refunds.”

The girl stilled.

a seat on one of the leather chairs along the nearby wall for people to wait

said, continuing with

one right next to the Mountain Meat Butcher Shop and across the street for the Last Call Liquor

I know

a hold

“Why?”

tapped her fingers on the leather arm of the chair she was sitting on. She didn’t want anyone to tell her that her idea was stupid until she decided if it were even plausible. She decided to confide in

to run this grocery

maybe… me,” she said nervously. Gordon paused, taking a moment to

own a grocery

grow organic vegetables and some fruits and sell them in the store. I could probably make business relationships with local dairy farmers and get eggs, cheese, and milk. The fruits I can’t grow myself I could get from the growers down the highway. I think it would keep down costs while providing the pack with a healthy, convenient

going to be cheap, and you would have to grow the stock first. You probably can’t even open your doors until next summer. After which, you will spend the first year of profit

do it?” She asked, feeling a bit

I’m just pointing out that it is going to be a lot of hard work for very little gain for a long time. I just think if you are going to do this, you should go into it with all

his question. How would she get the money? “I could

have never had

very good point. She would never get a loan. There was no way Stanton had this kind of money. She wouldn’t want it from him even if he did. This was something she

how I’m going to get the money, but I will get it,” Gordon didn’t

plan. I’ll give you a piece of business advice, from one entrepreneur to another. If you are serious about this venture, educate yourself about the business. Most businesses fail because they forgot to plan. When you have a good plan, that is when you can start seeking investors to finance your start-up, you do that, and I will put you in touch with the correct people.”

grinned. “You would help me find

but first, you need to prove you

If she wanted to do it, she should do it

***

cheap to fix it or get a new one. His new supervisor, some arrogant little twenty-one-year-old shit head fresh out of school with zero real-world experience, who probably only got the job through nepotism, insisted Stanton dig despite Stanton’s insistence the machine couldn’t

It wasn’t.

a deadline to meet and forced all the crew, Stanton included, to dig the trench by hand. They made no progress and broke four shovels. As a result, Stanton’s muscles ached, and he was covered from head to toe

a good meal. A smile curved his face as he stepped up the wooden porch steps to his front door. He enjoyed having Aurora around. She always

anything was cooking. Stanton looked to the sitting area and found Aurora sitting on the floor, using the coffee table

looked in only to find it empty as he suspected. Looking around the spotless kitchen, it didn’t look like she was prepping anything. In fact, it looked like she had

area. He wasn’t going to sit down on the furniture until

at him with a smile. “You are home