Beautiful Creatures Series

Darrell was sanding down the cabinet door he had been working on when Katelyn returned. She placed the bag of food on the table along with two medium sodas. “I hope Jimmies is ok,” Jimmies was a fast-food burger joint in town. It was non-franchised, but the food was cheap and really great. They had the best burgers, and Darrell really enjoyed the yam fries.

“Oh, my God!” Katelyn gasped as she looked at her computer. “What happened?”

“Something wrong?” Darrell asked, pretending not to know what happened.

“My computer, it is all frozen up,” she said, taking a seat at the table, trying to fix the problem. Darrell leaned against the workbench, eating the burger she had brought him.

Katelyn groaned. She could not fix it, so she was forced to shut the whole system down and start it up again. “Do you know anything about computers?” She asked, hopefully.

Darrell frowned, “I know how to check my email; that’s about it,” he lied.

He watched as she struggled to get everything going again. It took her 20 minutes, but she got the laptop working again. Katelyn searched for her pictures. “No… no… no!” She growled. It sounded like she could not find them. Darrell tried not to smile. He had succeeded in destroying the pictures she had of him.

“Troubles?” Darrell asked.

“I had the most amazing pictures, and now they are gone,” she said with a pout that was just too cute. He could not help but snicker. “What?” She asked, annoyed.

“Sorry, you are just super cute when you pout,” she was smiling now and blushing a little. Darrell knew she was taken, and he should not flirt, but there was something about her he liked. Usually, when he wanted a woman, he had her, but he would respect the fact that she was engaged. Still, the way she was smiling at him told him were she not another man’s fiancée. She would be his.

The sound of the front door opening broke the moment they were sharing. Darrell quickly went back to work, trying to look innocent. Nigel came into the room. “You are home early,” Katelyn said as her fiancé walked over to the table to kiss her.

As Nigel walked past him, Darrell’s heightened sense of smell caught the faint scent of a woman. It was not perfumed; it was a signature scent specific to one individual. Everyone had one, but it was not Katelyn’s scent. It was the scent of another woman. The only way for that scent to be all over Nigel was during sexual contact. What a scumbag he was cheating on his fiancée.

Some people would say that Darrell was jumping to conclusions, and he had no real proof, but the truth was he did not have to see it with his own eyes, he did not need a confession, his nose was better than pictures. As a Lycanthrope, he could sense things humans could not. This guy was a fool. He had a beautiful sweet woman, and he was screwing around. Nigel did not deserve Katelyn. A smile turned up the corner of Darrell’s mouth. His infidelity changed things; in Darrell’s mind, he was green-lighted to make a play for Katelyn guilt-free. This jackass was about to lose his girl so fast it was going to make his ancestors dizzy.

“My night manager up and quit on me today, so I have to cover the night shifts until I can hire someone,” Nigel told her. “I came home to shower and put on a fresh suit.”

“You are going to be gone all night?” Katelyn complained.

“I’ll be home at 8:00 AM.”

“You are going to work all day and then all night? When are you going to sleep?”

“I’m the manager, Baby. I can do what I want. I’ll just take a quick power nap in one of the empty suites.”

Darrell shook his head and bit his tongue. Wow, this guy was bold. Sure, he had been in bed, but Darrell doubted he was going to be alone and sure as hell not sleeping. He must have snickered because both Nigel and Katelyn turned to look at him. Darrell lifted his closed hand to his mouth and cleared his throat a few times. “Sorry… something in my throat,” he lied, and they disregarded him, going back to their conversation.

“Look, Kate Baby, if I had any choice, I would be home with you, but the hotel pays me a lot of money. I have to do the job they are paying me for,” Katelyn said nothing. She rolled her eyes. Darrell grinned. She was not buying his bullshit either. He had more respect for this girl; she was no fool. Nigel took an annoying step back. “What?”

“What is her name?” Katelyn demanded. Oh, shit was about to go down. Darrell was trying so hard not to appear as if he was listening, but he had been wiping the wrench with his shop rag since Nigel walked in.

“This shit again?” Nigel snapped, indignant with Katelyn for daring to suggest he was doing exactly what he was doing. “You think I’m screwing around?”

“No, I know you are screwing around,” she barked as she stood up to confront him. Darrell leaned against the workbench. He was not even bothering to pretend he was not listening. Nigel looked at Darrell, who made eye contact while he picked up his soda and sipped it like he was in a movie theatre. He was not worried about getting fired at this point. He had a feeling after this fight they would not be completing the project anyway, regardless he got 2/3rds upfront, and his signed and notarized contract clearly said no refunds. So, he was going to enjoy the show.

“Can we not do this in front of the help?” Nigel asked quietly.

Darrell said with a playful wiggle of his

cheat?” Katelyn snapped. “Always so concerned about what others think of you. I’m sick of this shit when we got engaged. You promised you would stop,” there

down in her seat with tears in her eyes, and Darrell felt bad for her. Not only was her man cheating on her, but he had also basically told her she did not mean enough

heard the door upstairs slam, followed by the sound of running water. He knew Nigel was in the shower. Darrell took the paper napkin from his meal and took a seat next to Katelyn, offering her the napkin for her tears. She accepted it and dabbed her eyes. No tears had fallen yet; she was clearly

to see that,”

said with sympathy as he reached up and brushed her hair

time it happened,” he agreed. Darrell never understood why otherwise smart women would put up

what you need? You need to go out and have some fun. I cashed your boyfriend’s cheque last week. I say we go get stupid drunk on his dime.”

him was wise. After all, she had just had a fight with the man she lived with. Darrell leaned in and folded his arms on the table. He

come on, Baby, I’m c-u-t-e, you know

heard the word,

she laughed again. “Check it,” he said, leaning back and lifting the front of his shirt to show Katelyn his rock solid six-pack. “Look at that, that’s going to drive him fucking crazy. Go on, touch it,” he offered when she bit her bottom lip. Katelyn reached out and

not?” She gave in.

the site with all his property because he would probably get a call tonight cancelling the project, and he did not want this lowlife holding his tools hostage. He had some rather expensive tools, and replacing them would cost a fortune.

***

down. Katelyn knew taking off with Darrell was a petty thing to do, but she was so sick of Nigel’s lies and betrayal. She wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine. See how he liked it when she stepped out on him. Who better to do it with than

his truck and headed for a bar he said was the best one in all of Aspen, someplace she had never heard of called the Mausoleum. It turned out to be some little local pub off the main drag. A dingy little dive bar, certainly not the kind of place tourists or even most locals would go into. She sure as hell would have never gone in had she not

a small table near an old jukebox. Katelyn had not thought bars still had these. The waitress came over, and Darrell gave her five hundred dollars in cash, telling her to keep the whisky coming until they either passed out or ran out of money, whichever came first. Katelyn grinned; he had not been joking when he said they were going to

topics that did not allow her to get to know him in any meaningful way. When she would ask

he had a knack for putting her at ease… then again, maybe it was the endless drinks she had ingested. As it got later in the day, Katelyn mentioned that perhaps they should soak up some

sat on the table between them as it rang. Nigel’s name and picture on

smile. “You know what you should do, though.

she leaned into him. “What

one arm around her shoulders as he held the phone out in front of them to take a selfie. He

a way of getting back at Nigel. I think this is just your way of stealing a kiss,” she purred as she brushed her lips over

to

“Do I?”

brushed his lips against hers in return. “Come on, Baby.

softly. His lips tasted like whisky. When he kissed her back, it made her head spin… or was that the whisky? The flash of her camera ended their kiss quickly, and Darrell was grinning triumphantly as he looked into her eyes. He then offered her back her phone, and she saw the picture

on, send it to him. I

long blond hair jumped on him from behind, startling both of them. Her arms wrapped tight around his broad shoulders. “Fancy seeing you here,” she giggled and then stood up and stole his hat, placing it on her head as she pulled up

shook his head. “Can’t you see I’m on

a date?” She laughed. Then she looked at Katelyn. “He’s just trying

was succeeding until you

your

cramping my style,” he smiled, and she rolled her

is this?”

a sense of relief washed over Katelyn when

target for the night,” she said with a teasing look at Darrell, who just

by six more people. They all said hello to Darrell, and Katelyn assumed they were all friends. The women were all very pretty, intimidatingly so. And one of the men made Katelyn tense with fear. He was a huge man, and he was scary-looking. He looked like a serial killer that could rip the arms of his victims off with his bare hands. The most confusing part was the young woman with who he had his arm around. She was breathtakingly beautiful. They seemed to be together,

of him. Katelyn could not understand why. He looked just like any other guy, but the whole table was fixated on him like they knew something she did not. A look passed

Katelyn turned around to see the man notice them. The stranger and Darrell shared a look, and Katelyn saw raw hatred coming from both of them. The man exited the bar quickly, and then Darrell took