Chapter Two

Karter

This morning I got up and surprisingly things were already handled. No one came to my office to bother me or ask any questions and no meetings were scheduled. I decided instead of sitting around like a bump on a log to take a walk around the grounds. I can’t remember the last time I was able to just take off and survey my land and it feels good to take it all in.

After walking away from the white three story Victorian home we call the pack house, I took a stroll out to the stables where I keep my horses. I haven’t been able to come and visit them in weeks so I know they’ll be happy to see me.

I grunt as I pull the reinforced steel doors back to open the stable up. I like to make sure my horses are protected from us when we turn.

Bullet, my chocolate brown Mustang neighs loudly when he sees me, waking up Princess, his all white mate. I feed them a few carrots and rub them. I admire everything about Mustangs, their strength, speed, their agility, as tacky as it may seem I even drive a black mustang convertible.

After securing the doors and lock on the barn I decide to go for a quick run before heading back to the pack house for dinner. I run into the woods and strip down before shifting. The pain that normally comes to new wolves from shifting is like second nature to me with minor discomfort. As soon as I’ve shifted to my light brown and black wolf I take off like a bat out of hell.

The feel of the earth beneath my paws is indescribable. Nothing makes me feel more whole than when I’m running free like this. My vision and hearing are sharper and everything I feel is more intensified. It’s in these times that I can come and reflect and deal with the thoughts and feelings I keep locked away. With everything that happens on a day to day basis in the pack I can’t show any weakness.

I shift back to my human form and lay out in the clearing overlooking the city that Derrick and I would always come to. It’s a little spot sticking out of the back of the mountains surrounding the area, if you aren’t looking for it you won’t find it. I laugh out loud recalling the first time Derrick and I came here.

We had just turned sixteen and it was a few days after our transition ceremonies. I begged my parents for weeks to let me come and visit him alone and finally on the day of my ceremony they told me they would allow it. I drove here as fast as I could in my old 66 Mustang the minute my ceremony was over. As soon as Derrick and I saw each other neither of us could stop talking about how much stronger we felt and how cool we were, sounding like gossiping teenaged girls. After dinner we went on our first run together and neither of us realized how much pain we would be in for our first change.

He and I both passed out mid-change and woke up hours later in our wolf forms. Something about the smell of the flowers on this clearing brought Derrick here and I followed behind him. We sat here for hours looking at the city through our enhanced vision until we decided to head back.

Once we got to the pack territory I shifted first fully expecting for my clothes to magically still be on my body only to find that they weren’t thanks to Derrick’s loud barks. He had fallen over onto his back and was rolling around on the grass laughing at me, still in his wolf form. I turned as red as a tomato all over and ran behind a tree to hide until he came back from the house with clothes for me to put on. Every time I visited him from then on we went back to this spot accept I remembered to bring my own change of clothes.

After my walk down memory lane, I shift and head back to the pack house for dinner.

“Hey ma what’s for dinner?” I ask the minute I step in the back door.

She rolls her eyes and finishes fixing my plate.

“You’ve got a nose can’t you smell?” she asks jokingly, her heavy Creole accent shining through.

I roll my eyes dramatically and try to walk away quickly but not quick enough before I feel the playful slap to the back of my head.

“Roll your eyes again at me boy and I’ll be pulling them out and putting them in this jambalaya,” she quips with a laugh.

I turn and stick my tongue out at her before running into the dining room to sit down with the rest of the family.

My dad, Phil, Grandma Mae, my former beta and his wife, Grey and Denise, Connor, my current beta and his mom Raina and dad Greg are already seated and in the middle of a football discussion. Everyone is enthralled in the conversation besides Grandma Mae, she doesn’t say much but when she does everyone listens. I get a lot of my brooding silent attitude from her, we get each other.

I sigh loudly as I sit down hoping they’ll shut up but to no avail. Being six foot one, an Alpha, and extremely strong and athletic, you’d assume I was into football but honestly I don’t see the point. There’s always been something about it I just didn’t like, maybe it’s the high risk of injury all for silly points on a score board, but whatever it is it just doesn’t float my boat.

I notice Connor’s withdrawal from the conversation as soon as I walk in the room. It happens every time we’re around each other. There’s still tension between us from his brother’s death but we move past it most of the time and put pack issues first.

Once dinner is done I decide to pull Connor aside and have a talk with him. He stared at me all through dinner gritting his teeth as if he had something he wanted to get off of his chest so I figure we might as well hash it out now.

We walk to the back porch and I hand him a beer as we take a seat on the rocking chairs.

“So what’s going on with you man?” I ask him once we’ve both taken a sip of beer.

I can’t read his thoughts through the pack link unless he allows me to or I command him so I have to rely on his answers.

“Nothing,” he shrugs, taking a gulp from his bottle.

The thought to command him to tell me the truth crosses my mind but I calm myself and try to think of what Derrick would do in this situation, speak softly and carry a big stick ideology and all.

“Look man…I know it’s something. You’re my Beta, you can talk to me about anything…we’re like brothers.”

His eyes bulge slightly at my statement but he doesn’t say anything, just grips his bottle tighter.

“So that’s it? You miss your brother?”

Again he doesn’t respond but he doesn’t have to, I know that look on his face. That’s the same look I had for months after D died, it’s the same look I still get now when I think too hard about it all. Pure guilt is the emotion clear across his face.

“You know…it’s okay to miss him. I do, every day.”

His eyes finally meet mine and I see the glossy texture of them shine in the moonlight but I don’t acknowledge it, I won’t embarrass him.

“He’d be so proud of you Connor. He loved you so much and I do too. You’re both the brothers I never had.”

Everything I’m saying is the truth, even though Connor and I aren’t anywhere near as close as D and I were, I still love him and want what’s best for him.

He takes in a deep breath and stands up, “Thanks for that Karter. It was just what I needed to hear.”

I stand with a smile and give him a hug, patting his back roughly.

“I’m glad. Now give me this bottle and take your young ass to bed, you aren’t old enough to drink yet and I can’t have people thinking I’m a bad influence,” I joke ruffling his hair as we walk back into the house.

He laughs and nods before heading upstairs.

Three flights of stairs and a shower later and I’m lying down in bed to finally get some rest. I look over to my phone and check my texts to stop the flashing alert light. I have a few texts about meetings in the morning and one from Zoe, my ex and occasional fuck buddy. As busy as I am, I’m still a mate-less male wolf and an Alpha at that. Zoe meets my needs and I meet hers, no strings. I quickly shoot her a text back saying I can’t hook up tonight because of meetings in the morning and roll over on my back to sleep.

After what seems like a few minutes of rest, my ears perk up to the sound of creaking wood floors. A lazy grin spreads across my face, Zoe just couldn’t stay away. I wait until I hear her open the door before I send her on her way. I really do have meetings back to back in a few hours.

“You know a bull in a china shop would’ve been quieter Zoe,” I joke, slowly cracking my eyes open as the door eases open.

The next thing I see peak through the sliver in the door makes my heart stop and then literally burn.

The sound is quick and quiet, like two puffs of wind and as the door flies open wider the intruder steps further into the room and continues to fire.

Before I can think it through, I leap out of the window to the ground to evade being hit again. My ankle stings but not nearly as bad as the pain in my chest and now back.

I don’t scream, I can’t, my throat is closing with every passing breath and I can see the end nearing but I don’t stop running.

My vision is beginning to blur and I can feel myself wobbling so I run onto the first porch I see and knock strongly. At least I assumed my knocks were strong, but the lack of movement inside tells me a different story. I try to cry out and knock on the door again as I sink to the ground and into the darkness.

Dylan

Today has been the epitome of routine. I woke up, went to work to pick up an extra shift and I’m still here. Since Brenda called in sick I have to cover her shift, not that I mind, I like working with the elderly patients the best. Most of them are just lonely and want someone to talk to.

“Have you been doing your physical therapy like you’re supposed to Mr. White?” I ask in a scolding tone as I write his vitals down on his chart.

He has stage two colon cancer and broke a hip last month.

“Well I’d be a lot keener on doing them if all of the lassies down in the physical therapy center looked like you,” he jokes suggestively making me roll my eyes.

I inform him that without his physical therapy he’ll be stuck here for months on end with Lucifer Lydia.

His eyes bulge and he jumps into action right then rotating his rickety hip slowly like they showed him at the center making me laugh loudly.

“Yes Dre I will come over tomorrow and we can catch up on Pretty Little Liars,” I promise my best friend for the third time. The Ford-Sync Bluetooth feature that connects to my phone makes it easy to respond to her pleas to spend some quality time with me. I do feel bad for not hanging out with her but lately I haven’t had time for anything besides work.

“If you don’t come over by six you should be expecting me at your house by six-thirty,” she threatens and I know she means every word of it.

That’s just the way Andrea is, when she wants something she gets it no matter what. I’ve always secretly envied that about her.

“I hear you Dre, I’ll be there with bells on,” I murmur, slightly distracted as I get out of the car and head to the porch of my townhouse.

“Bitch don’t bring bells bring wine! Oh! And chocolate! Lots and lots of chocolate!” she exclaims as I close the front door behind me.

I can’t help but laugh as I remind her that I don’t eat chocolate and she calls me weird. I ready a comeback when I hear what can only be described as slurred knocking at my front door. The knocks aren’t abrupt or sharp, they sound like someone is knocking while dragging their hand down.

My sharp intake of breath doesn’t go unnoticed by Dre and she asks me about it. I don’t answer as I strain my ears for a sign of any other movement but to my appreciation all I’m met with is silence.

“Those damned birds are flying into my door again, scared the shit out of me though,” I say with a laugh.

We end the call and solidify our plans for tomorrow.

As I take my shoes off and start to walk towards the kitchen the same knocks are heard but this time an almost muffled noise comes along with them. I suddenly wish and pray that I kept Dre on the line with me. I creep towards the door and my attention is drawn to the photo of my father sitting on the table beside my door. Instantly feeling bolder like my dad would've been, I take a deep breath and confidently stride to the door.

“It’s just birds. It’s just birds. It’s just birds,” I chant over and over in my head as I yank the door open quickly to get it over with.

I look out in front of me before taking a step and nearly tripping over something that is most definitely not just a bird.