Beautiful Creatures Series
Chapter 17: 15

Chapter 17: 15

Aurora stared blankly at the food in the cart. She and Stanton had gone into Aspen on his day off topick up some groceries. It had been three days since her nightmare, and she was having troublegetting over it. It had really messed with her head. “Which one did you want again, rosemary orthyme?” Stanton asked, holding up two bags of dried herbs he had picked up from the spice aisle.

She looked up at him, and it took a second for her to understand the question he had just asked.“Um… it was basil.”

“Damn it. I knew it was something green. I’ll go back and get the right one.”

“It’s fine. I’ll go get it. I know what I’m looking for,” she said, moving past him.

Stanton reached out and took her by the arm, stopping her and turning her back to face him. “Are youalright, Hummingbird?”

“Why do you ask?”

“You seem different lately… withdrawn… quiet. Is something bothering you? Have I done somethingwrong?”

Oh, bless his heart. She smiled and caressed his face lovingly. “It’s not you. I just haven’t beensleeping well.”

“Do I snore?”

She giggled. “No. I’ll be fine. Why don’t you go to the frozen food aisle and get us some ice creamwhile I go get the basil, and I’ll meet up with you at the cash register.”

“Ok,” she watched as he took the cart and walked away.

Aurora made her way to the spice aisle, where she browsed through the packets looking for dried basil.She would have preferred fresh, but the store didn’t have any. She looked for a few minutes but didn’treplace what she was looking for. It would seem the store had no basil in stock, fresh nor dry. Rethinkingthe spices she would use in the soup. She wanted to make Aurora made her way to the checkouts.She didn’t see Stanton, which surprised her because she was sure he would have been here by now.

She decided to go meet him by the ice cream. As she came around the corner, she paused when shesaw a middle-aged man walk over to Stanton and ask if he knew where the frozen fries would be. “Idon’t know,” Stanton said, grabbing a tub of ice cream and putting it in his cart.

“Wow,” the man said, not sounding as surprised as he was pretending to be. “Look at those eyes,”Stanton tensed. “Interesting. You live nearby?”

Stanton looked uncomfortable. Aurora was sure he thought the same thing she was. This man was ahunter. He was trying to replace out where the rest of the pack was. “Try the next aisle,” Stanton said, “Ithink you’ll replace fries at the endcap.”

The man smiled, but it was a knowing eerie kind of smile. “Thanks,” Stanton then turned and headedher way.

Aurora darted out of sight, hoping the hunter had not noticed her. As Stanton came around the corner,he saw Aurora. “We need to get the fuck out of here,” he said, pushing the full cart aside. Stanton tookher by the arm, ushering her quickly to the doors, leaving their unpaid groceries behind.

“What about the food?”

“Fuck the food. You can’t eat it dead.”

“He was a hunter, wasn’t he?”

“Yes, he is. We need to tell Gordon. The pack must be warned.”

***

They had gone straight to Gordon’s tattoo shop, where they found Gordon working diligently on somelarge fat biker’s forearm. As a middle-aged biker himself, Gordon appealed to the jeans and leathercrowd, which made up a fair bit of his clientele. He was working on a piece with the grim reaper riding amotorcycle leaving a trail of frames. Aurora had to admit it was very good. Gordon had serious talent.

Aurora looked up from the unfinished tattoo to see the fat filthy biker grinning idiotically at her. Hewinked, and Aurora cringed. She knew what he was thinking. It was the same thing every man thoughtabout when they looked at her. A few months ago, she would have slept with him for the price of awarm place to sleep for the night. She was grateful she would no longer have to sell herself to anymore filthy slobs. No man would ever touch her again unless she desired him. She was putting that partof her past behind her.

“You eyeing my girl?” Stanton growled at him.

“Your girl?” The biker laughed and looked at Aurora. “Are you blind, Honey? You should come homewith me.”

“You don’t have a chance,” Aurora told him flatly.

“If you are fucking this Neanderthal, you mustn’t be that picky.”

Aurora smiled at him sweetly as she batted her long dark lashes. “Maybe, but at least with him, I don’trequire a magnifying glass to replace his cock,” she leaned in closer to him. “I have a feeling I can’t say thesame for you.”

Gordon choked as he did his best to hid his amusement. Stanton was grinning ear to ear, which madehim look like a rabid monster. The fat biker growled in outrage. “Listen here, bitch…” Suddenly, thebiker yelped loudly in pain as Gordon drug the tattoo needle deep into his skin, drawing a lot moreblood than usual as he scared the skin. “What the fuck, man?”

Gordon grinned at him, which made him look dangerous. “I don’t like the way you talk to my friend. Youare going to apologize, or you are going to need one hell of a coverup.”

“I’m not apologizing to this stupid slut.”

He yelped louder and tried to pull his arm from Gordon’s grasp as he started to dig black ink into hisarm, spelling out micro-dick across the whole tattoo he had been working on, ruining it beyond repair.Being a Lycan, Gordon was stronger than the human biker and was able to keep him in his seat withone hand. “You sure are a stupid fuck, aren’t you?” Gordon laughed. “Hasn’t anyone told you it is a badidea to piss off your tattoo artist?” Once his vengeance was satisfied, Gordon let him go, and the manjumped up, cradling his bloody arm. “Let’s see… six hours of work at $160/hour… you own me $960 formy work, and since you annoy me, let’s make it an even grand, including gratuity.”

“I’m not fucking paying you,” he snarled.

Stanton smacked the biker in the back of his head as hard as he could, and the biker hit the floor,slamming his head against the tattoo chair on his way down. Stanton them bent over and took hiswallet out of his back pocket. Stanton cleaned out all the cash in the wallet and handed it to Gordon,who proceeded to count it. “Pleasure doing business with you,” Gordon said as the man began to standup.

“I’m coming back with the cops,” the biker threatened.

Gordon’s eyes lit up like flames in the dark, and he bared his fangs. “That would be a bad idea,” theman panicked and rushed out of the studio.

Once he was gone, Gordon reverted back and smiled smugly as he continued to count his earnings,unconcerned about that man had seen him wolf out. “Are you sure that was a good idea?” Auroraasked. “He’s going to tell people what he saw.”

Gordon snickered confidently. “No one is going to believe him. We’ve been drinking all damn day,” hesaid, nodding his head to the nearby counter littered with empty beer bottles. “The man wreaks ofbooze. They will write him off as a drunk.”

“You tattoo that well drunk?” She asked, surprised.

“Drunk. Stoned. Juggling Chainsaws. I could, and practically have done this job in my sleep.”

“Do you make good money?”

“I do well enough.”

“Hummingbird,” Stanton spoke softly to her.

“What?”

“I think we have more important things to talk about than the economy of the tattoo business,” hereminded her of their reason for coming.

“Oh!” She gasped as she remembered. “Sorry.”

Gordon was now eyeing them inquisitively. “Is there something I should know?”

Stanton didn’t know like he knew how to tell Gordon. “There is a Hunter in town,” Aurora answeredGordon.

“Are you sure?” Gordon asked with a very serious expression.

Stanton sighed and nodded. “He couldn’t have been anything else.”

“Is he just fishing, or does he know we are here?”

“He knows. There is no mistake about that. I got the feeling he knows there is more than one of us. Heis defiantly searching for the pack,” Stanton explained.

“Shit!” Gordon growled as he dropped down into his client chair. “And now with that dick head, I justdrove out of here. He’s going to know where to replace us by morning.”

“So, we go hunting?” Stanton asked.

Gordon took a moment to think. “Gather the pack. We hunt tonight before any more pick up his trail.We got to keep this one quiet, though, no more stories on the six o’clock news. This guy disappears…no trace.”

“Understood,” Stanton said.

Aurora understood too. They were going to kill this hunter, dismantle his body and hide it. She worried.With Stanton’s reduced vision, how good would he be in a fight against someone trained to kill theirkind? He could be hurt or, worse, killed. She didn’t want him to get hurt like he did the last time. Shecouldn’t let him fight the hunter. She couldn’t watch him die.

***

Stanton stood on the porch, watching the sun go down over the trees. They would have to go huntingsoon. All he could think was he didn’t want Aurora to be there. He worried for her safety. He heard thedoor open as Aurora came out onto the porch beside him. She hugged his arm and gazed up at him.“Come on, Big Daddy, come back inside.”

“We have to go soon,” he said, taking her into his arms and lifting her off her feet, seating Aurora on therail of the wooden banister in front of him. Stanton wrapped both bulky arms around her as her legsstraddled his waist. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and nuzzled her face into his neck ashe hugged her.

“Are you worried?” She purred against his collarbone, and the sinful vibration against his skin madehim shudder.

“Terrified.”

He felt her smile against his neck. “You scared? You are the scariest thing in this town.”

He chuckled. “You know it, Hummingbird.”

She pulled back enough to look him in the face with that sexy grin of hers. “Do you know why I loveyou?” She asked as both their hand and came up, mirroring each other and lacing their fingers. Herhand looked so dainty in his beefy calloused mitt.

“Because you have an unusual liking for big dumb animals?” He said as he brushed his lips over hers.

Aurora giggled as she teasingly slid the tip of her tongue along his bottom lip. Her right hand moveddown his chest and slipped between Stanton’s legs groping him firmly the way she knew he liked it,making him groan with pleasure. “You were right about the big part. How about a little loving before wehunt?” She enticed as she gently tugged his bottom lip with her sterling white teeth.

He could never tell her no, and he never wanted to. He loved playing with Aurora. He loved that shehad a wild dominant side. He knew a man like him intimidated, and it was thrilling to be with a womanhe couldn’t intimidate. He was all power and strength, and it was exciting beyond belief to give thatpower over to Aurora and simply submit to her sexual will. He didn’t think other men would understandthe rush he got when Aurora took control and got rough with him.

Perhaps it was a twisted fetish. Perhaps he was simply a masochist? But he didn’t care what othersthought because Aurora enjoyed it and, as long as it worked for them both, the rest of the world couldkiss his ass. Stanton kissed Aurora feverishly. His mouth ate at her sweet lips like a dying man lookingfor an antidote. Never breaking their kiss, Aurora reached down between them and tugged his beltopen so she could get to the zipper and free him from his jeans.

Stanton groaned when Aurora took hold of him, stroking with a firm quick grasp. God, she was so goodat this. Eager to feel her wrapped around him, Stanton pushed her skirt up out of his way. Slipping bothhands under her bottom, he lifted Aurora off the railing and drove himself deep inside her. She threwback her head and let out a sexy groan that spiked his libido. His hands supporting her weight, Stantonbounced Aurora up and down his feet shoulder-width apart to give himself stability so he didn’t lose hisbalance.

Aurora clung to Stanton, her arms around his broad shoulders as she kissed him passionately. Heloved these moments. Every time with Aurora was wild and untamed. There was no way he would evergrow tired of her.

Stanton took her quick and hard until her eyes lit up, and he was certain she was about to lose control.As the pleasure mounted, she threw back her head and let out a cry that snapped his control, and theyreached climax together.

Stanton gently braced Aurora against the rail one more time as his muscles went limp from the force ofhis release, which had drained him in more ways than one. As they held one another, enjoying theblissful aftermath. It always surprised him how much just holding this woman pleased him. Holding herwas almost as good as the sex. It was as if Aurora was his heart, and all he wanted to do was protecther.

Stanton pulled back slightly to look into her eyes. “I don’t want you to come tonight. It is going to bedangerous.”

“I can hold my own,” she assured him.

“I know, but I still would prefer if you stayed behind. I don’t want to have to worry about it. Drunks andjohns are one thing; a bonified Lycan hunter is another thing altogether. They are trained to kill us andbelieve me. You don’t survive long if you aren’t damn good at it. I don’t want to worry about you gettinghurt.”

“Stanton…”

“Aurora…” He snapped, “please, don’t fight me on this.”

She looked up at him with those sad eyes and then offered him a weak grin. “I understand,” wow, hewas expecting that to be harder. She urged him back a few steps giving herself space to hop off therail. She reached up and caressed his face. “Why don’t I get you something to drink, replenish yourfluids before you go hunting,” she said, heading inside.

He liked that idea. Stanton followed Aurora inside, where she went to the fridge and took out two cansof beer. She turned to the cupboards to take out two glasses, her back to him. He made his way over toher as she poured them each a cold glass and then turned to face him with a beer in each hand. Sheoffered him one. Stanton smiled as he accepted it, and they both drank. He would have to leave soon.He had to meet the pack at the tattoo parlour in twenty minutes. He drained his glass in one shot, thenhanded it back to her and kissed her cheek.

“You are so good to me,” he said contently.

Stanton took a step back as he began to feel strange. He looked at Aurora, who was no longer smilingas she watched him. The world around him began to spin, and Stanton staggered, trying to keep hisbalance. Things were getting blurry, and he could feel his body weaken. Stanton looked at the emptyglass she held and then the unconcerned Expression on Aurora’s face. She had drugged him.