Beautiful Creatures Series

Darrell carried Katelyn into his house. She was still out, but then again, it did not take him long to reach his property. He lived a good twenty minutes out of town, but he made it in ten. Of course, he had sped all the way. Darrell lived alone on a small patch of land deep in a heavily wooded area just outside their small community of Feral. Feral had a population of fifty, and they were all Lycanthropes. The pack had built themselves a little community out in the middle of nowhere. They were off the main highway, and they did not get a lot of visitors, and frankly, that was the way the pack preferred it.

Darrell had built this house with his own two hands. Perhaps it was more than a single man needed, but he had built his dream home, and he could see himself living here happily into his old age if he should he live that long. When you were a Lycanthrope, you had to learn to live in the moment because you never knew if it was going to be your last. Things could go from quiet to deadly in seconds and without warning.

Standing in his living room, Darrell held Katelyn in his arms as he looked around, wondering what he would do with her. He had to restrain her somehow, so she did not run before he could figure out what to do with her. Come to think of it. He was pretty sure he had some rope in the garage. Darrell carried her over to the couch and laid her down gently. Then he headed for the garage. As he was going through his stuff looking for the rope, he paused, his ears perked. He heard something… movement from inside the house.

Oh shit, she woke up. He grabbed the rope and ran back inside. He rushed into the living room just as Katelyn reached the front door. She threw it open and ran outside and down the porch steps. Darrell tossed the rope on the floor and ran after Katelyn. He overtook her in seconds. As a Lycanthrope, he was a lot faster than she was. Darrell tackled Katelyn to the ground and pinned her beneath him. She screamed as loud as she could, begging someone anyone to save her, but no one was coming. She could scream until she lost her voice, but no one would hear her.

Darrell got up, dragging Katelyn to her feet, and then he hoisted her up over his shoulder and carried her back to the house as she struggled. Once inside, he dropped her on the couch and pointed a warning finger at her. “Don’t do that again.”

Katelyn stared at him with fear in her eyes. He did not like that look. He did not want her to fear him, but he understood why she did. She had seen him in transition. To her, he was an inhuman monster, and she had watched him kill a man. It was safe to assume she thought he would do the same to her. How did he convince her that he was only trying to protect her?

“I understand that at this point, you must have a lot of questions?”

“What are you?” She blurted out with no thought at all. He should have known that it was going to be the first question to cross her lips. “You are not human?”

“No,” he confessed, “I’m not.”

“What are you?” She was terrified, and he wanted to put her at ease, but he knew that if he answered her question, it would likely only freak her out more.

“It is complicated,” he said.

“Uncomplicate it,” she barked.

“Ok,” he said, taking a seat in the armchair next to the couch. “Let me try to explain. I’m…” How did he answer her question without sounding like a lunatic? “I’m a Lycanthrope.”

“A what?”

“Humans call us werewolves,” he hated that term, but it was the easiest way to explain what he was.

“You are a werewolf?” She said in disbelief.

“I don’t really like that term; we find it kind of… derogatory.”

“Werewolf is derogatory?”

How did he make her understand? “Calling a Lycanthrope a werewolf is like calling an African American the N-word. It is offensive.”

“Oh, politically correct monsters.”

stopped himself quickly. He did not want to yell at her. Yelling would not help the situation. “Please don’t call me

she snapped, and Darrell took a deep breath, trying his best to

in this instance, you may think I’m a monster, but

a man’s throat out with your

killer. I’m an everyday guy. But being what I am. There are humans that hunt my kind. They track us and massacre us. All of us… men… women… children. They slaughter infants in their cribs just for being born. We call them hunters. They kill us because they think we are monsters. But we are not. We just want to live in peace. We mind our own business. We don’t hurt anyone if we don’t have to. We will kill to

“What is that?”

Scouts track Lycanthropes. When they find us, they go back to their buddies. Then they come after us in teams… and they kill everybody. I had no choice. I had to kill him before he could bring back a hunting party. He would have killed us all.

didn’t look

always as it

anxious. “Are you going

like

“Pack?

“Here… fifty.”

like she could not breathe. “Fifty? How is

dominant lifeform on this planet. Hollywood has turned us

did this happen to you? Were you bitten? Oh my God, are you going

doesn’t work like that. That’s all Hollywood propaganda. You can’t be turned. I wasn’t bitten. I was born just

looked him over. “You

is how

you tell if someone is like you or

eyes,” he told her. He knew he should not give away their secrets, but he really wanted her to understand. “Look into my eyes. Do

for

we change, no matter what form we are in, our eyes always remain the

to absorb the information she had just received. Darrell understood it was a lot to take in. She must be having trouble accepting what he was telling her despite what her eyes had shown her. “It is so

need to trust you will keep my secret before I let you go. Otherwise,

tell anyone,” she said

thought he wished to hear so she could get away. Like any other witness of a brutal murder, Katelyn would, without a doubt, go right to the police,

him. Standing up, Darrell began to pin her down as Katelyn struggled against him while he tied her down. Once he had her successfully bound on the couch, the front door burst open, and Gordon and his founding friends came in with Aster and Darrell’s friends

prisoner and his Alpha. Gordon looked Katelyn over and then glared at Darrell. “Why

is necessary to kill

the side thoughtfully. “She witnessed you in transition murdering a hunter, and you didn’t think it necessary? Have you lost your mind?

Katelyn’s face. Darrell faced Gordon once more. “No,” he might be the pack leader, but Darrell was also an Alpha, and he would not be bullied by an old

eyes began to glow, and he snarled, revealing his fangs in an attempt