Beautiful Creatures Series

It was seven in the evening when Darrell walked through the door. He knew Katelyn was home when he saw her car parked in the driveway. As he came into the house, he was assaulted by a strong smell of baked goods and his mouth watered. He walked through the living room and into the kitchen. He came to an abrupt stop, his eyes wide. Everywhere he looked, there was baked bread and sweet treats. His kitchen looked like a high-end bakery.

Katelyn was just filling a tray of cupcakes with pastry cream with a piping bag he had not known he had. It must have been something that came over in her belongings. “How was your day?” Katelyn greeted him with a smile.

“Clearly not as productive as yours,” he said, picking up an éclair. He took a big bite and grinned. “Hey, that’s damn good,” he looked around at all the treats. “It is a good thing my metabolism is super high, or else get fat eating like this.”

“I know I went overboard. I just find baking therapeutic when I feel bad,” she said, filling a clean piping bag with icing. “We can freeze most of this, and it will taste fine when defrosted.”

“So, you bake when in a poor mood. Interesting,” he had to know. “Why are you upset?”

She began to ice each cupcake. “I went to the hospital today as I promised.”

“Was Nigel awake? Did he pick a fight with you?” He asked, concerned.

“No, he never regained consciousness. I made sure he never wood. I unplugged the life support.”

Oh, he understood now. She had killed a man that afternoon. He knew how rotten he felt when forced to take a life. He could imagine Katelyn hated herself right now. “Did anyone see you do it?” He wanted to know if he should expect the police.

“No.”

Darrell walked back into the living room, searching for the remote. He turned on the TV and searched until he saw the news. It was a little late for the evening news and too early for the late-night news. He wanted to see if Nigel’s death had made the news. He had no idea because he had missed the end of the news. He would have to wait for the late-night news. In the meantime, he had to worry about whether or not he and Katelyn should go on the run. He would not allow the police to take her when she was only trying to fix his mistake.

He looked up from the TV and saw Katelyn standing in the archway, watching him with concern on her face. “I did the right thing, didn’t I? I protected the pack,” he turned off the TV and rose to go to her side. He lovingly rubbed both her arms and took her in his offering her the comfort of his body. “Are we going to be ok?” She asked, gazing up at him.

“We always are,” he lied. Darrell only told Katelyn what he knew she wanted to hear. The truth, he had no idea how this was going to play out. “Why don’t we make some dinner and watch a movie? I’ll even help you make the meal.”

“Ok.”

“But first, let’s pack up some of those tasty treats before I eat my way into a diabetic coma,” Darrell suggested.

They spent the next hour packing up the food. They froze half. They would keep some of what they left out and give away the rest. Then they made some homemade burgers and fries. Once the meal was made, they sat in the living room enjoying their meal, a cold beer and selected a movie. Before they put the show on, they stopped to watch the news. There was indeed a brief mention of an Aspen man who had been involved in a highway accident only to die later at the hospital, having never regained consciousness.

It seemed good until the anchorman mentioned that foul play was suspected, and they both stopped breathing when they played a very grainy hard-to-make-out surveillance video from the hospital. It was said that no hospital staff had seen the suspect but that from the video, the police felt that the suspect they were looking for was a white female but that thanks to the poor quality of the image, they could not identify the suspect but that the audio-video forensic team would be processing the video to see if they could clean up the picture. Nigel was most certainly dead this time, and it was looking like they had a whole new problem.

“I didn’t think about security cameras,” Katelyn said nervously. “They are going to come to get me, aren’t they?”

“I won’t allow that,” Darrell promised. “Come on,” he said, changing the channel. “Let’s just watch the movie.”

***

The following morning Darrell got up and showered, getting ready for his workday. He was doing his best to remain quiet so that he did not wake Katelyn. He was out in the driveway tossing his lunch and bag into the cab of his work truck. He was about to get in when Gordon pulled his Harley into the space behind the truck. The older man climbed off his bike and walked up to shake Darrell’s hand. Hello.

“Glad I caught you before you went to work,” Gordon said. “You and I need to talk.”

Darrell closed his door and leaned against the side of his truck. “You saw the news?”

“I did. It turns out our problem has rectified itself.”

“Yeah. He won’t be telling anyone about the pack,” Darrell agreed, not wanting to bring up the real reason Gordon had come by. He was only delaying the inevitable conversation. The news had said the suspect was a woman, and Gordon knew as Darrell did that the suspect they were looking for was Katelyn.

“No, I guess he won’t,” Gordon sighed. “Enough of this beating around the bush. We both know we have a new problem. The police are looking for Katelyn. She was caught on video.”

“Yeah, but the video sucks. They will never clean it up enough to get a clear picture of her face.”

“It doesn’t matter. They had a hostile breakup. Then he ends up dead at the hand of a woman. Katelyn is going to be the first suspect even without the video. They are going to come to Feral looking for her. In a few days, this place is going to be crawling with cops.”

“I’m not sending her away,” Darrell said, putting his foot down. “I love that girl, and she just turned herself into a killer to protect the pack. She was trying to help. She was protecting people who treat her like she’s a piece of shit because she is human. I won’t punish her for that. Her heart was in the right place. I won’t abandon her.”

and raked his fingers through

to give in at all, let alone so easily. “She did protect the pack. I challenged her to prove her

you saying

calling for a pack meeting tonight. As of now, Katelyn is

if I marry her, we can stay?” Darrell asked, standing up

“Yes.”

feet as Darrell

awake, and she sat up in bed, confused as Darrell rushed the bed with Gordon coming up the stairs behind him with a smile. Darrell swept Katelyn

blinked with confusion. “Gordon is making you a member of the pack,”

smiled at Gordon, who

member ever,” Darrell

get too excited. A lot of the pack is not going to take this news with grace. There are going to a lot of them that are going to be hostile. However, every single one of them

in friendship.

arms around Gordon,

we have a wedding to

“Yes.”

wonderful baker who will make you an amazing

yeah?” Katelyn asked

owns a bakery in Aspen,” Darrell

Gordon offered. “My wedding gift

with tears of joy. “You have

on with my day and let you guys get on with yours. I’ll see you both at

turning Gordon back to look at him. Darrell’s expression became serious. “Thank you,

make me

Gordon left and then he smiled at Katelyn. “A pack member. I didn’t see that coming.

grin, which faded fast. “Do you think the rest of the

challenge it would

to take some time to understand the

Alphas. They aren’t in charge, but they will be one day, so consider them second in command. Then you have the reigning Luna, usually the Alpha’s mate. Followed by the future Luna. After that, you have Batas, which

“But in the movies….”

life. We are nothing like the movies.”

all

“Just stories.”

to take time to

tonight, and we will go to the meeting together,” they said their goodbyes and then Darrell left for the day. He wanted to get as much done today as he could. He wanted to be home early to deal with the

***

reviewing her account with the monthly payment from the various stock photo sites she was selling her pictures on. She was making ok money, but she felt she needed to add new pictures. She would have loved

she saw a few women and their children playing. She recognized them

started to scrap. Katelyn lifted her camera once more, and then there was a hand in front of

it to her. Kately watched as Charlotte deleted all the pictures. “I had some great shots,” Katelyn

can’t photography us in wolf

“Why not?”

evidence of our existence. If those pictures get out, they will draw hunters.

it. What’s

to a human daycare. They can’t control their powers like an older Lycanthrope. So these

you worked at a restaurant

making ends meet taking care of cubs. It

Do you have a problem with

her head. “No, I suppose not. As long as my brother is happy, I can live with it. You are going to have to find a new job. You can’t take

she would jump at any chance to participate in the pack. The more friendships she cultivated, the

sister-in-law and her friends. She had enjoyed spending time with the cubs. It turned out Lycanthrope cubs were very much like human children. Only when they