Chapter 31: 9

It was early afternoon when Katelyn woke. Darrell was still in bed lying next to her, his arm wrapped around her holding her close. She was surprised to find him next to her. She thought he had to work, yet here he was. She knew Nigel had fired him, but she would have thought he had other jobs lined up waiting for him to start. Katelyn smiled contently. She liked the way he felt pressed up against her.

Katelyn rolled over to face Darrell. Her movement woke him. Through a sleepy haze, he smiled at her, and she smiled in return. “Good morning, Dove,” he said and then yawned.

“Good morning?” She returned. “Don’t you have to work?”

“As my own boss, I work when I want to. After last night I just didn’t feel up to it,” he said, pulling her closer. Darrell nuzzled her neck and nibbled on her ear. “Besides, I can think of a few things I would rather be doing.”

Katelyn giggled and tried to push him away. “No way. I’m still sore from last night,” Darrell pouted, and Katelyn grinned and pushed him away again. “I think you will live,” she said, getting out of bed and finding her clothes.

“Ok, I’ll give you some time to rest,” he said, sitting up in bed and watching her dress.

“Oh, how thoughtful of you,” she said, dressing and went to the window. Peeking out, Katelyn sighed.

“It is such a nice day; it is a shame we are cooped up inside,” after last night, it was clear that she could not simply walk around freely in Feral. The pack would likely try to kill her again.

“You want to go out?” He asked, getting up. She did, but she feared setting foot outside the door.

Katelyn watched as Darrell dressed for the day. He was a man that looked good in anything he put on or took off. Donning his ripped jeans and t-shirt, Darrell grabbed his hat off the floor and placed it on his golden head with a big shining smile. He made redneck look good.

Katelyn could not get over the fact that he was now in perfect condition when just last night, he nearly died. “Don’t you think after last night you should maybe rest a bit?”

“Aww, you are concerned,” he smiled and kissed her forehead. “That’s so cute but unnecessary. I’m as fit as a bull in the cattle corral,” he said, flexing for her. “See… strong.”

She could not stop giggling. Katelyn ran her hand over his bicep and grinned. “Yes, I can see that. Tell me though you challenged your leader, are you not scared he may still want you dead?”

Before he could answer, there was a knock at the door. Darrell looked at Katelyn, then they both walked downstairs, heading for the back door in the kitchen. Opening the door, they found Gordon on the other side. The older man looked Darrell over. “You are looking recovered,” Gordon said.

“You too,” Darrell replied.

“I have come to finish what we have started. I would call last night a draw. If you want to replace me, you still have to beat me. It is the law of the pack.”

“Gordon, I don’t want to replace you.”

“You challenged me.”

“I just want you not to kill Katelyn. I don’t want to be the leader. I’m not ready for that burden.”

Gordon looked past Darrell at Katelyn. She could feel his eyes boring into her. “She’s a big liability.”

“I can keep her out of trouble. I’m asking you to trust me. If I’m to be a leader one day, you and everyone else are going to have to learn to trust my judgment,” he said.

Gordon looked back at Darrell. “Ok, she can stay in Feral, but she’s your responsibility. I hope I’m not going to regret this.”

“You won’t,” Darrell assured him. Gordon gave in and left.

“Why didn’t you take the chance? You could have been the leader,” Katelyn did not understand why he did not want that kind of power. He would have been able to protect her better if he were the pack leader.

“I’m not ready for that responsibility. I’ll be leader soon enough when Gordon gets too old to do the job.

Until then, I’m content being second banana,” he said, closing the door. He smiled at her. “You are afraid I can’t protect you,” he said, reading her mind.

“Yes, a little bit,” she said as he crossed the room to her. Darrell reached up and brushed his knuckles over her cheek. “What if someone else challenges you. You can’t fight them all. You barely survived the fight with Gordon.”

“I don’t have to. There’s a certain chain of command around here, and besides Gordon, I’m at the top of the food chain,” he assured her. “Now, do you still want to go out?”

She did. Katelyn nodded, “But is it safe?” She asked, pulling on the handcuffs.

“You should trust me,” she supposed she really had no other option but to trust him. As it stood, Darrell was the only thing keeping her alive.

“I trust you,” she lied.

He lifted one brow skeptically. “Do you really? That’s not what you are thinking.”

Katelyn became alarmed. “You can read my mind?”

Darrell snickered, and she felt like an idiot. “No, but I had you going, didn’t I?”

“It is not fair to play mind games. How am I supposed to know what is true when you kid like that? It is hard enough to be surrounded by monsters. How am I suppose to feel safe when you fib.”

A hard-angry expression claimed his otherwise handsome face. “Monsters? Is that what you think we are? Is that what you think I am? A monster?”

Katelyn instantly regretted her poor choice of words. Darrell’s eyes lit up with rage, and Katelyn took a cautious step back, putting distance between them. She had seen what he was capable of when angry.

“Humans are the real monsters. So arrogant and self-righteous. Thinking they own the world. We kill to survive, but humans kill for fun and for domain. Humans are the reason so many animals are extinct.

You are like a fucking plague on the world sweeping across the globe, so convinced of your own superiority destroying everything you dislike or are too stupid to understand. You are destroying the world and taking everything else down with you, but do we hunt you? No. We mind our own business, but you hunt us for sport. I’m not the God damned monster you are,” he growled and then stormed out of the house, leaving Katelyn alone and feeling two inches tall.

***

Darrell took his shot and sank two stripes in the corner pocket. He had left Katelyn at home and gone for a drive to the city with the gang to shoot pool and get drunk. Darrell now had a shot at the eight-ball, and he took it. He sank the ball in the side pocket and then took his beer from the table and took a big swig.

“I’m sick of playing you,” Kenneth complained. “You always win,” Darrell held out his hand, and Kenneth placed twenty bucks in his palm and then complained his way back to the table.

“Who is next?” Darrell asked, looking around at his friends.

“I’ll play you,” Stanton offered.

“Rack them up,” Darrell said, draining his beer. He then smiled at Aster. “Hey, Baby, what do you say you go fetch me another beer?” He asked sweetly.

“Do I look like your fucking lapdog? I don’t fetch anything. Get your own damn drink,” she snapped.

“You should have brought Katelyn. She’s the only one likely to do your bidding.”

Darrell frowned. “I wouldn’t want to inconvenience her Majesty,” he said sarcastically.

“Oh, I sense trouble in paradise,” Lewis snickered.

“No trouble. She just clearly pointed out that I’m a monster,” he said, lining up his shot and taking it.

The cue ball cracked against the others and scattered the balls across the table. “We had a real beauty, and the best thing going on last night, but come to the sobering dawn of a new day, I seem to have lost my appeal,” he snapped, taking his next shot and sending the ball skipping across the table.

“Like her being mortal somehow makes her better than me,” he snapped, hitting the cue ball hard and sent it flying off the table and hitting Stanton in the thigh.

Stanton jumped, nearly missing his manhood, and he glared at Darrell. “Dude, keep the balls on the table.”

“I think you might be wound a bit tight tonight,” Kenneth noted. “How about I go get another round for everyone, and you take a deep breath and calm down,” Kenneth said, getting up and heading to the bar.

Darrell took a breath. Kenneth was right. He was letting this woman get to him. He knew what he was.

Who cared what she thought of him? He did, but why? “Since when do you care what people think of you?” Aster asked. “Your utter disregard for other people’s opinions is one of your most endearing qualities.”

“I agree,” Aurora said, jumping in on the conversation. “The fact that you do whatever you want without the regard of others is what makes you alpha. Your confidence is why people follow you. You can’t start questioning yourself now because some snobby mortal called you a nasty name.”

“She should be grateful to you,” Charlotte added from her seat in the corner. “You defended her last night against all the odds.

“Gordon could have killed you for challenging him,” Lewis said “Actually, I don’t think he could have,” Charlotte contradicted him. “Cowboy was holding his own pretty good Gordon had to be carried out of there last night. His days are numbered,” she said with confidence. “I think it might be time for some new blood to put the old dog down.”

“That old dog is my father,” Aster snarled. “And he’s not washed up.”

“Look, there’s no use fighting over it. I don’t want to take over,” Darrell said, lining up his next shot. “I’m way too selfish to have the weight of the whole pack on my shoulders. As far as I’m concerned, Gordon can keep his place for a few more years,” he said, hitting the cue ball.

“Heads up, we got some fresh meat walking through the door,” Kenneth said, returning to the table with a handful of beers.

Darrell looked up at the door and noticed three mortals walk in. Katelyn’s ex Nigel and two he did not recognize. “Hey, you,” Nigel called to him.

Darrell looked around and then pointed to himself. “Are you talking to me?” He asked as he leaned on his cue stick. “You can’t be talking to me because if you were, you would be speaking with far more respect, or I would have to take this here stick and shove it so far up your ass you would resemble a scarecrow.”

The small group paused, and a look of cautious fear graced their faces, but Nigel did not back away.

“Watch your mouth,” he snapped.

“Where is Katelyn. I have asked around, and nobody has seen her since she left with you. She’s missing.”

Darrell kept a straight face and shrugged his broad shoulders. “Sorry, not ringing a bell.”

“She is my fiancée, and she went missing after being left alone with you. “Nigel growled. “I suspect you have something to do with that.”

“You must be mistaken.”

“I know you know where she is,” Nigel said firmly.

“Sorry, no one knows who you are talking about.”

“But-”

“She’s not here,” Darrell said, cutting Nigel off. “So, maybe you should leave.”

Nigel glared at Darrell. “I know you know what happened to her. I promise you I’ll find her. I’m going to the cops to file a missing person’s report,” Darrell had a new respect for this man. He actually showed a little backbone. He could be a problem.

Darrell laid his cue stick on the table and stood a little taller, bringing himself to his full towering height and squared his shoulders, making himself big and intimidating. “This is the wrong place to be making threats. I suggest you walk out those doors while you still can walk,” Stanton, Kenneth, and Lewis stood next to Darrell, flanking him as a show of force.

Nigel backed away. “We are leaving, but I will be back. I’m not giving up, and nothing you can do to me will change that. I will find her,” they watched as the small group left the bar.

“If they are coming back, we are going to have a problem,” Aster said, coming to stand next to Darrell.

“We may have to kill them.”

Darrell looked at Aster. Normally he would agree with her, but for some reason, he was having some reservations about doing so. It would draw far too much attention. “We don’t kill people if we don’t have to.”

Aster looked him dead in the eye. “Why do I get the feeling you are thinking with the wrong head? The pack comes first.”

“I know the pack comes first,” he growled. His eyes began to glow in a warning. He did not like people telling him what to do when the decision was his. “Back off.”

Aster growled back. Her own eyes were glowing. She was the only one among them that would challenge him being a Luna herself. “I’m not the enemy, so don’t growl at me.”

“We are not killing them. That’s what got us in this trouble in the first place.”

“Not killing that girl is what got us in this trouble in the first place,” Aster snarled. “I’m starting to question your objectivity.”

Darrell wrapped his hands around Aster’s throat and forced her back against the pool table, his eyes flashing and his face twisted. “Question me, and it will be you I kill.”

Her fingers clawed at his as she struggled for breath. Stanton and Lewis pulled on his arms, trying to get Darrell to release Aster. They pulled him back, and Darrell let go. Aster’s hand went to her throat as she coughed and tried to catch her breath. “Have you lost your bloody mind?” Aster snapped.

“Ok, it is time we go,” Kenneth said, getting up. “Boys’ night out,” he said as the guys ushered Darrell to the door. “We will see you girls tomorrow,” he said as they walked out into the parking lot and over to their vehicles. Kenneth punched Darrell in the shoulder. “What is wrong with you? Gordon would rip your damn throat out if you hurt Aster. You need to calm the hell down. I don’t know what has gotten into you tonight, but you better get a grip.”

“I got an idea,” Stanton said. “Let’s go on a pub crawl. We will get good and drunk, get rowdy in bars, and hassle mortals. That always makes you feel better. Let’s go raise a little Cain.”

“I’m in,” Lewis said quickly. “That is if our fearless leader wants to blaze the way.”

Darrell paced the parking lot. He was worked up and looking for a fight, but the boys were right. He had to focus his anger on the right people, some pansy-ass posers and girly men. They would bust into the place, shooting whisky and start a few fights. Get the violence out of his system before they went home for the night.

“I’m in,” he said. They all hopped into their vehicles and tore off down the street, looking for trouble.