Chapter 11: 9

It had been a week since Stanton had spoken to Aurora. She had fallen right back into her old survival habits. She had not come back to the Feral. She had not just left him but the pack. It was unheard of for a Lycan to prefer to be alone than to stay in the pack. But she had given up pack life just to avoid him. She had gone right back to working the street right outside the bar across from his work site. He assumed she did so as a way of rubbing it in his face that she could survive without him and that other men were getting what was supposed to be his.

He had thought about going over and thrashing some of the guys that picked her up, but he never got out of his machine. She had left him, and he was going to have to accept her choices, but he found himself distracted during work. And on his breaks and after work, he spent all his time sitting in his SUV across the street watching her. When she would get picked up, he would follow them to whatever sleazy motel they ended up in and simply sit outside in the parking lot, gripping the wheel and fuming about what he knew was going on inside.

One night a week after Aurora had left, Darrell had suggested going out for drinks, and Stanton suggested the pub. They took a seat near the window, and Stanton spent much of his time staring out the window.

Darrell whistled and waved his hand in front of Stanton’s face. “Please tell me you picked this place because of the draft beer and not because you are stalking Aurora?”

Stanton looked at his friend. “I’m not stalking her.”

“You have become obsessed with her.”

“No, I’m just making sure she is safe.”

“That girl survived eighteen years without you. Face its Big Boy. She doesn’t need you. Besides, it’s your dumbass fault she left you.”

“My fault?”

“Yeah, your fault. Had you not accused her of stepping out on you, she wouldn’t have left your ass.”

“You didn’t see what I saw,” he defended himself.

“No, I didn’t. But I know Gordon, there is no way in hell he was making a move on your girl. You had to be mistaken about what you saw.”

“How do you do you describe what I saw?”

“Did you ask her?”

“Yeah, she said she couldn’t tell me.”

Darrell sat back in his chair and waved down the waitress. “I don’t know, man, but you got to be wrong.”

“How come every time there is a fight between a man and a woman, the woman is always right, and the man is always wrong?”

Darrell shrugged with a big smile as he folded his hands behind his head. “Just lucky, I guess,” they both laughed. He had to leave it to Darrell. He always managed to make Stanton laugh. The waitress brought them two beers. She smiled flirtatiously at Darrell and then scowled at Stanton, but he was used to it. Darrell was attractive, and he wasn’t. Women didn’t like him the way they liked Darrell. As the waitress walked away, Darrell leaned forward. “Why don’t you quit with the creepy stalker shit and just go over and say hello to her.”

“She doesn’t want to talk to me.”

Darrell looked out the window, and his smile faded. “Oh, I think you may have missed your opportunity,”

Stanton looked out the window to see a cruiser pull up, and the officer got out of the car and approach Aurora. “Looks like she’s getting busted.”

Stanton watched as the cop started getting aggressive. He grabbed her by the arm and dragged Aurora into an alley against her will. “No,” he said, standing up, “I think something a lot worse is about to go down.”

“You want some backup?” Darrell asked, making no move to get up as Stanton headed for the door.

“Nope, I got it.”

“Sick ‘em, Big Boy.”

***

Aurora rolled her eyes when the cruiser pulled up in front of her. She hated when the cops hassled her.

The middle-aged officer got out and stepped up on the curb, eyeing her like a dog with a steak. Great, a dirty cop, they were even worse. “Aren’t you a pretty one,” he said, coming close to Aurora. “The other girls that work the street don’t usually look like you.

“I’m not doing anything.”

“Yeah, right,” he said, checking out her leg. “Look at those legs. I should run you in,” he said, touching her hair. “Unless you ask me really nice not to.”

“Not a chance,” she snarled.

He looked up at her with angry eyes. “You think you’re too fucking good for me? You dirty little whore,”

he grabbed her arm and forced her into the nearest alley. “If you don’t want to rot in a cell for a few days, I suggest you drop to your damn knees and wrapped that sassy little mouth around my cock.”

Aurora smiled. “Oh, I would if I could find it.”

The officer drew his hand back and slapped Aurora so hard she fell to her knees. As she stared at the ground, her eyes lit up, but he couldn’t see her as he grabbed her wrists and handcuffed her arms behind her back. He grabbed her arms and hauled Aurora to her feet, then slammed her back against the side of the building. His hand around her throat. “You should be nicer to me because I can make your life very hard.”

Aurora’s gaze lifted as she spotted Stanton standing behind the officer with a look of violence on his face. He’d witnessed the whole thing. Aurora started to laugh as the cop glared at you.

“You find this fucking funny bitch.”

“I’m not scared of you.”

“Is that a fact? Why not?”

“Because she knows what is standing behind you,” Stanton growled. The cop clanked over his shoulder and then backed up against Aurora, staring wide-eyed at the massive, intimidating man standing behind him. Stanton’s eye began to glow, and he snarled, baring his fangs.

“Holy shit!” The cop gasped.

Aurora followed suit. Her eyes lit up, and her fangs descended. “Still want play with me?” She growled, drawing the cop’s attention back to her. He jumped back with horror.

“What the fuck?”

“Leave,” Stanton growled, and the officer made to run past him and back to his cruiser. Stanton grabbed his arm, stopping him. “Keys,” the officer took the handcuff keys from his belt and tossed them on the ground at Stanton’s feet. Then he ran off. Stanton turned to face her, looking like a man again.

Aurora relaxed, and she reverted to her human form.

Aurora turned around, presenting her bound hands. “You think you could take these off.”

Stanton bent over and picked up the keys. She could feel him unlocking the handcuffs. “You know, if you really wanted to, you could probably break these.”

“I thought our kind tried to stay on the down-low.”

“We do,” he said, taking the handcuffs. Aurora turned and rubbed her wrists.

“Should we really have shown that cop what we were? Aren’t you afraid he will go tell everyone?”

Stanton chuckle. “Who’s going to believe him?”

“You didn’t have to do that. I had things under control.”

“Yeah, I could see that. By the way, you were on your knees.”

“Most men like me on my knees,” she snapped back and watched as Stanton bit back his anger.

“How long are you going to do this?” He asked.

“Oh, I don’t know. Until some wealthy workaholic businessman gets lonely, falls in love with me, buys me a new wardrobe at a store where I can tell off the snooty clerks, then strut down New York streets with my bags while everyone in the streets breaks into song and dance singing Pretty Woman,” she said sarcastically.

Stanton looked up at the sky, and Aurora did the same. She could sense the storm coming just as well as he could. The sky was cloudy with thick black clouds. It would start raining in another hour or so.

Stanton reached out for her, but Aurora slapped his hand away, surprising him. “Don’t touch me.”

His expression turned angry again. “All week, I’ve been watching guys touch you, but me, you slap?”

“They pay,” she snapped back.

“Oh, that’s it? It’s all about the money?”

“Yup,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. She was trying to stand her ground.

“Ok,” he said, taking his wallet out of his back pocket. Aurora watched As Stanton counted the cash in his wallet. “$50 to ride the attraction, right?”

“$300,” she blurted out.

He looked up at her, surprised. “$300? What happened to $50?”

“Inflation.”

He smirked. “Inflation? Ok,” he looked back in his wallet and held up a wad of cash. “How about $500, and you spend the whole night with me,” she looked around, unsure if she wanted to do this. “Come on. It’s going to rain. $500, a bed to sleep in, you get out of the rain, I’ll even order pizza.”

“You pay for the hotel.”

“Hotel? What’s wrong with my cabin?”

“I ain’t going back to your cabin,” she said very matter of fact.

“Ok, I’ll pay for a hotel. Do we have a deal?” Aurora looked up at the ever-darkening sky and sighed.

She snatched the money from her hand and tucked it into her bra. Great. My SUV is unlocked. Go wait for me while I tell Darrell I’m leaving,” Stanton walked Aurora to the vehicle and waited to see her get in and then he went into the pub.

***

Stanton walked back into the pub and found Darrell had a pretty young waitress sitting in the chair next to him. He was leaning over his hand on her thigh as he was whispering in her ear and making her giggle. “Nice to see you missed me,” he said, standing beside his friend.

Darrell sat up and looked up at Stanton with a grin. “Oh, that was fast. Stanton, this is Amy.”

“Aly,” she corrected him.

“Right,” he said with that tone that meant he didn’t really give a shit what her name was. “Um, Annie and I…”

“Aly,” Stanton corrected him again. Really the girl had just said her name. How hard was it to remember?

“Right,” Darrell said again. “Aly,” Stanton tried to laugh. There was no way Darrell was even going to make an effort to remember her name. “We’re going to split. She’s never been to the country, and I thought I’d show here the backroads,” show her the backroads, that was Darrell’s code for fuck her in a field on the tailgate and then drop her off at her place and never see her again. Darrell would fuck humans, but he never associated with them beyond shallow gratification. Stanton really didn’t blame him. It had to be hard to sustain a relationship with someone who can never know what he really was.

“You don’t mind if I split, do you?” He asked, standing up.

“Nope, have fun,” he said as Darrell said as he took Aly’s hand and spun her around, pointing her at the door. When she wasn’t looking, Darrell mimicked smacking her and then practically danced out the door with her. Stanton laughed. Darrell was such a horn dog. Then again, if he looked the way Darrell did, Stanton would probably fuck everything that moved too.

Well, that was easier than he thought it would be. Stanton returned to his SUV and climbed in. Aurora was watching Darrell as he opened the truck door for the woman he was leaving with. “Cowboy got himself a girl, did he?” She chuckled.

“I never understand it. He never makes any effort to learn their names, but these girls will drop to their knees to suck his dick.”

Aurora turned to him. “Jealous much?”

“Not really. Bimbos aren’t exactly my bag,” he said, reaching out to take her hand, but she pulled it out of his grasp and looked back out the window. Clearly, she was still pissed at him. “Oh, this is going to be fun,” he muttered to himself as he pulled out into the street headed for a low-rent hotel he had dug the foundation for just three years ago.

***

Stanton slipped the key card into the lock and pushed the door open. He stepped aside to let her go in first. Aurora went in and looked around. It was a nice enough room. Big bed, and a big tv. She pushed open the washroom door and peeked in. the towels looked nice. She dropped her bag to the floor. “I’m going to have a shower,” she said, going into the washroom. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“No,” he said, standing in the washroom door watching her. “I’m going to order pizza, any requests?”

“Something with a lot of bacon on it,” she smiled.

Stanton grin. “Now, girl, you are speaking my language,” he said, taking his cellphone out of his pocket and wandering off to make the call.

Aurora shut the door and turned to look at her reflection in the mirror. She looked away. She’d been unhappy with the woman staring back at her for years. This is not what she thought she would be when she was little. She turned away and started to get undressed. She turned on the shower and stepped under the hot water. She closed her eyes and turned her face up to the water, letting it wash away the filth. She reached for the shower gel bottle and began to scrub, thinking about everything in her life that led her to this place.

The more she thought about all the men she let touch her, Aurora closed her eyes and let the tears fall.

She sunk to her knees in the tub and buried her face in her hands, sobbing. She always cried. Sit in the shower after every john. Aurora would sob with self-loathing. In fact, Stanton was the only man who had ever touched her that hadn’t left her in tears when it was over.

Getting it all out of her system, Aurora stood up and turned off the water. It was time to put on her game face. She stepped out of the shower and towelled off. She looked at herself in the mirror again, trying to make sure her eyes weren’t bloodshot from crying. She didn’t put her clothes on. The man had paid for a service, and she just wanted to get it over with. She stood with her back straighter and squared her shoulders. She put a smile on her face and then opened the door and stepped out into the room naked.

“You were in there a long time,” Stanton said as he was changing the channels with the remote. “He had yet to look at her. “I thought maybe we could rent a mo-vi-e..,” he trailed off when he looked at her.

Aurora smiled; that was the desired response.

She walked toward him slowly, and then she placed her hand on his chest and pushed him, so he was now sitting on the foot of the bed. She looked into his eyes as she ran her hands over his broad shoulders. Suddenly she saw concern where she should have seen lust.

Stanton’s hand came up and caressed her face. The pad of his thumb wiping away the moisture from her eyes. “Have you been crying?” He asked. Aurora stood up and took a step back. Here she was naked and ready to please him, and all Stanton saw was the sorrow in her eyes. Stanton stood up and took the fluffy white robe from behind the washroom door. Aurora didn’t know what to do as he helped her put it on, and then he stood in front of her and closed the robe, tying it shut for her. He touched her face and then leaned in and placed a soft, tender kiss on her forehead.

Aurora’s eyes fluttered closed at the feel of his lips touching her skin. It was the kind of kiss that said he cared for her, that she would always be safe with him. Stanton pulled Aurora into his arms as he wrapped himself around her engulfing her tiny frame as if he thought he could protect her from the world. This time instead of pulling away, she melted into his embrace. She was trying to be strong, but she found herself weak. She needed the comfort he offered.

She wanted to stay like that forever, but a knock at the door ruined things. “That’s probably dinner,” he said, letting her go. He reached for his wallet and headed for the door. Aurora wiped away her tears and sat down on the bed.

She looked to the door and saw the delivery guy looking around Stanton to get a better look at Aurora.

Stanton offered the kid his money and had to clear his through to get the boy's attention. The boy looked at him and then back at her. “God Damn, man, how did this happen? That girl is smoking hot.”

Stanton forced the money in the boy’s hand and slammed the door in his face. He turned around with a scowl, and Aurora smirked. She knew he was annoyed. He walked over and placed the stack of pizza boxes on the bed, then opened it. Them. “And how many of these are mine?” She asked playfully.

She watched him blush. “So, I have a big appetite. You think I can maintain this body a single slice?”

“You going to bite me if I try to take a piece?” She laughed, taking a slice.

He smiled at her. “If it were anyone but you, yes. But Hummingbird, I would give you anything,” he said, taking a slice of his own.

They sat and ate their pizza. Aurora was amazed to see how much of that he packed away at one time.

In the time it took her to eat three pieces, Stanton had eaten a whole large pizza by himself as he channel surfed. While he watched TV and ate, Aurora watched Stanton. She sat back on the bed with her back against the headboard, watching Stanton. He seemed engrossed in the game he stumbled across.

“I’ve seen you,” she said “What?” He asked, not turning away from the TV.

“I’ve seen you following me.”

Stanton then tensed and hit the mute button. He turned in his seat at the foot of the bed to look at her.

“I wasn’t stalking you,” he said. “I just… I wanted to make sure you were safe. What you do is dangerous.”

“You don’t think I can take care of myself?”

“I know you can,” he nodded. “But I still want to protect you. I know you have been alone in this world for so long, but you’re not alone anymore,” his gaze fell to his hands, which were fidgeting again. “You don’t have to believe me. You don’t have to be my girl. Just know I will follow you to the ends of the earth. Lurking in the shadows, making sure none of those guys step out of line.”

“Why do you even care?”

“Because you’re my mate,” he said nervously.

“Your mate?”

He cast his eyes down. “I know you don’t believe me. The first moment I saw you from my machine. I knew at that moment that you were my mate. I can sense it. I feel deep inside. I can’t explain it. I know I’m not what a woman like you would want. But I’ve been in love with you since the moment I saw you.

There is no one else for me. Even if you never touch me again. I will protect you because even if you never love me, I will always love you.”

“Why would you love me?” She asked, trying to hold back her tears. No one had ever loved her.

He smiled at her. “How couldn’t I?”

Aurora shifted onto her hands and knees and crawled across the bed. She straddled his lap and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She kissed his lips softly. “I think I love you.”

“How could you love me? I’m a beast.”

She smiled. “Every beauty needs a beast.”

Stanton lovingly brushed her hair back off her shoulder. “Give up this life. Let me take care of you. Let me give you the life you deserve.”

“Wolves mate for life, right?”

“Right,” he smiled. “Do you want to seal the deal?”

“Get married?” She giggled.

“No, something much deeper.”

She had no idea what he was talking about. “Like what?”

Stanton reached up and framed her face with his hands. “Look into my eyes.”

“I am.”

“No… really look,” Aurora looked into Stanton’s eyes, and something happened. He looked deep into her eyes, and it felt like Aurora was caught up in a whirlwind of memories that weren’t hers. She could see Stanton as a child with his loving parents. She could see him stand over their grave. His struggles as an adolescent. She saw Gordon smiling at him with pride. She was overwhelmed by feelings she couldn’t explain. She saw his whole life, and then she saw herself from his eyes. She felt the love he had for her, the uncertainty he felt about his ability to keep her and all the self-doubt he had. In seconds she knew his entire life and how he felt. She could feel his soul.

Stanton released his hold on her, and the visions and feelings ended, and Aurora was breathing hard as was he. She looked at Stanton, confused. “What was that?”

“I imprinted with you.”

“I saw everything. I felt everything?”

He smiled. “Me too. I saw all your memories. I felt all your pain. I saw your soul,” he caressed her face.

“And it’s as beautiful as you are.”

She smiled at him. She rose up on her knees and kissed his lips softly. “You are a handsome man.”

“You are a dirty liar.”

She shook her, and as she smiled at him. “You’re beautiful to me.”

Stanton smiled. “So, have we made up?”

“Oh yeah,” Stanton then reached into his back pocket and lifted his hand to show her the police handcuffs dangling from his finger and then he wiggled his brows at her suggestively. Aurora laughed and took the handcuffs from him. “You got it, Big Daddy.”