Beautiful Creatures Series

Melissa sat at the bar in the Mausoleum, drowning her sorrows and fuming about the encounter she had with Gordon and his girlfriends. She was still infuriated that Mackenzie had dared to strike her. She was not going to let this go unanswered. Mackenzie would pay for what she did, and Gordon would suffer.

A dark-haired man in a black suit took the barstool next to her and ordered a drink from the bartender. Then he turned to Melissa. “Can I buy you a drink?”

She scoffed as she lifted her beer to her lips. “Go fuck yourself.”

“Well, aren’t you a pleasant one? No wonder your husband left you.”

She turned and looked at this man with great interest. “How did you know my husband left me?”

“I know more about you than you think… Melissa.”

She had an uneasy feeling. Was his man a hunter? He did not seem like the usual hunter type. He claimed to know a lot about her. Did he know she was a Lycanthrope? If he did, was he trying to blackmail her? If he was, he had a big surprise coming. With the mood she was in, she would not mind killing him.

Melissa looked over the man closely, trying to decide if he was a threat. His clothes looked slept in, and his square jaw was shabby and unshaven. No, she decided, she doubted he was a hunter. He did not look like one, and she was pretty good at spotting hunters.

“Ok, you have my attention. You know me. Who the hell are you?”

“Special Agent Lenard Meskler, FBI,” he introduced himself, offering her his hand. Suspicious, she shook his hand. “You came up in my investigation of your husband, Gordon Wilder.”

“Why is the FBI investigating Gordon? He is an incredibly boring man.”

“I’m not interested in Gordon. I’m interested in Mackenzie Starr, the woman he is living with.”

“Are you now?”

“You and I have the same problem.”

“Mackenzie?” He nodded. She knew her reasons for hating Mackenzie, but she was curious about what this man’s beef was with the young woman. “What do you want with Mackenzie?”

“I need her dead.”

violent death was extremely

***

usual, she was bored. She was tired. Mackenzie stood up, which drew Gordon’s attention from the man he was working on. “I’m

I’ll go with you,”

an hour. I’m just going to walk over to the grocery store and visit with

wandering off alone,” he objected.

The grocery store is two

I

tattoo studio. She started the walk to the grocery store and stopped halfway when she saw a dark car pull up next to her, the tires screeching. It stopped right next to her and out hopped Agent Meskler and Melissa. Agent Meskler opened the trunk of the car, and Melissa punched Mackenzie in the face, and while she was dazed, dragged Mackenzie off the sidewalk

had no idea if he could hear her. Agent Meskler punched her,

***

quality of his work. He knew Mackenzie got bored sitting here all day, but he had to work, and he did not want her home alone. She had stopped taking clients on when she found out she was pregnant. She had simply been too sick and irritable to deal with couples. Mackenzie had not walked out the door more than a minute ago when Gordon heard

job, and he waited to hear it again, and he did only seconds later. Gordon dropped his tattoo machine and left his

a speeding car. As he ran past each shop, the others stepped out to see what was going on. He would never catch them as a man. His eye lit up, and Gordon let the change take him. In seconds he was on all fours and faster than he had. His torn close already miles behind him. As soon as the other saw Gordon chasing

it and slammed his shoulder into the driver’s door, throwing his full weight against it. The impact sent the car swerving out of control and slamming into the side of the mountain, caving the front end of the vehicle. Gordon ripped the driver’s door right off and threw it out into the road behind him. Meskler was screaming and pulled his service revolver

and dragged the screaming man from the car. Gordon shook his head violently, ripping Meskler’s left leg clear off, tearing it from the socket. Then he did the same with the left leg and both

breaking the latch and tearing the heavy lid clean off the car. He threw it aside and reached in for Mackenzie. She was crying as she sat up and allowed him to remove her from the trunk. He carried her in his arms a few feet away from the

Gordon’s vision became askew. His arms became weak and fell away, no longer holding her. He became dizzy and then collapsed on his side in the middle of the road. He could hear

***

point that she saw he was wounded. He had six bullet holes in his chest, and a pool of blood was forming beneath him. She recalled hearing gunfire, but she had thought Gordon had been missed. Mackenzie looked around at the empty road. She began to scream for help hoping the pack

The back had come when she called. The shared looks as if communicating by thought. A tanned wolf laid down on its belly right next to Gordon’s body while a pair of brown and grey wolves nudged at Gordon’s body until he was draped over the tanned ones back. The tanned wolf rose then took off down the road toward Feral. The white wolf next to Mackenzie nudged her with its nose. Mackenzie assumed the wolf wanted her to ride it back to Feral.

by one, gabbing Gordon before he fell on the ground. They carried him inside to the dining room, where they laid him on his back on the dining room table. Mackenzie hopped off the white wolf that had carried her back and watched as the wolf was replaced by Aurora. Mackenzie was awkwardly aware that she was the only one dressed. Everyone else was naked, but not one of

men and Aurora ran around the house searching for tools they could use in Gordon’s care, Mackenzie ran up to the bedroom and came down with five pairs of Gordon’s pants and one of her dresses and a shirt from the linen closet. Returning to the dining room, she offered each man a pair of pants and Aurora the dress. They each thanked her as they put on the clothes. She assumed they dressed for her comfort, not theirs. Mackenzie draped the sheet around Gordon’s waist to offer him some

a pair of needle nose plyers in the garage and a knife in the kitchen. He then stood over Gordon and pushed the tip of the knife

don’t get the bullets out, he’s