Chapter 23: FERAL SECRETS / 1


    Aspen Colorado…


    Katelyn shuffled along as her fiancé Nigel walked her through the house he had bought them. He had


    wanted it to be a surprise, and this was the first time she saw it. He had secured the mortgage and


    furnished it with all new furnishings before even telling her he had bought it. They had been dating


    since she was eighteen and engaged for thest year. She had been living at home with her parents


    until now. Nigel insisted they move in together.


    He hadnded a new job as the head manager of the most prestigious hotel in town. He was now


    making money hand over fist, and he had promised to finally give her the lifestyle she deserved. Of


    course, this new responsibility meant his work schedule was heavy, but he promised her she would


    adjust to it.


    Nigel had blindfolded Katelyn when he picked her up. She got in the car, and he had instantly covered


    her eyes. They had driven some distance, so she was pretty sure they were out of town. Living out of


    town was fine with her. Aspen was far too touristy for her liking anyway. Plus, she was a wildlife


    photographer. She sold her pictures to various stock photo websites and collected them when


    someone leased one of her images. Living out of town would give her ample stomping grounds to


    explore and photograph.


    Nigel held on to her arm as he coaxed her to follow him. They had gone up a few steps, and through a


    door, she suspected they now stood inside the house. “Ok, you can take the blindfold off,” he told her


    as he stood behind her.


    Katelyn took off her blindfold, and she looked around. Her brow furrowed as she looked around. There


    was some furniture which was mostly covered in dust covers. There were workbenches and tools,


    along with various stacks of supplies. To her left was the kitchen table, and to her right… no kitchen.


    The cupboards were off the wall, and the granite counter was leaning against a wall. The drywall was


    missing, there were no appliances, and the kitchen sink was still in a box.


    Katelyn went silent as she looked around. “Now I know it doesn’t look like much,” Nigel said,ing


    around her when he saw the horrified look on her face. “The kitchen was seriously dated, and I had to


    gut it,” he exined. Katelyn turned and walked into the living room. It was all covered to protect it from


    the dust from the construction. “The guy is going to gut the bathroom and theundry room also,


    and…” He said, jumping in front of her. “I’m going to have him build you a walk-in closet,” she nodded,


    not as stoked about their new home as he was. “It is only going to take a few months. I promise Kate


    when this ce is finished. It is going to be the house of our dreams.”


    “You want me to live here during construction?”


    “It is not that bad. The guy will just work around you,” she was not impressed. Nigel took her hand and


    dragged her to a set of ss sliding doors. He slid the door open and dragged Katelyn out onto the


    deck. “Look at this view.”


    Katelyn looked around. They were surrounded by trees and wilderness. Down in the middle of the yard


    was a huge water feature which she had to admit was very pretty. She supposed the ce had


    potential. “Only a few months?” She asked.


    Nigel grinned. “Five tops,” she scowled. “But, I’ll offer him a bonus if hepletes the job sooner,” he


    promised. Katelyn looked at his hopeful boyish grin and the light in his dark eyes. Nigel was a good-


    looking, clean-cut business type. He was almost always in a suit, and he spent more time primping in


    the mirror than she did. Always making sure his dark hair was just right, and his shaving job was


    perfection. She supposed it was what made him so sessful.


    Kate rolled her eyes and gave in. “Ok, I suppose I can tough it out for a few months. Did you at least


    research this contractor before you hired him? Is he reliable? Competent?”


    “He came highly rmended.”


    “Where did you find him? Website? Phonebook? Sign on a bus?”


    “No, I was talking about the job at work, and one of the desk clerks said that he had worked on her


    house and that he was very good. I contacted him and, of course, checked his references. Everyone


    had rave revues.”


    “How do you know they were actual clients and not friends and family lying their asses off for him?”


    Nigel went silent as he thought about her argument. Katelyn closed her eyes and sighed. “I swear you


    have the word sucker on your forehead.”


    “Look, he’s been working for thest week, and frankly, so far, he has been doing a fantastic job. Give


    the guy a chance,” fine. She supposed she could just go with it. At this point, the house was destroyed.


    Be it this guy or another. She was going to be forced to put up with some contractor to put it right.


    “Alright,” she sighed.


    Nigel leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Perfect. Now I’m going to shower, and we will have dinner. But it


    is early to bed for me as I have the early morning shift tomorrow,” he said, walking off.


    ***


    Feral Colorado…


    The wind whipped through his fur as Darrell Savage raced through the woods. He leapt over some


    raised roots and pushed off arge boulder with his hind legs as he rounded the tree, his prey mere


    feet ahead of him. The deer had given him a workout, but the buck was growing tired, and Darrell was


    closing in. He nipped at the buck’s heels but missed. Darrell pushed harder and jumped into the air


    tackling his prey.


    His mighty jaws mped down on the buck’s neck, and the weight of his massive body dragged the


    deer down. It struggled at first, but Darrell gave it a violent shake breaking the animal’s neck effectively,


    putting it down. His pulse was pounding as Darrell took a step back and rxed as the rest of the


    hunting party joined him. The moonlight filtered through the branches of the canopy above. The wolves


    circled their kill with a few snapping at one another still worked up from the chase.


    A low growl rumbled in Darrell’s throat, putting an end to the squabbling. Darrell was a young would-be


    alpha wolf among omegas wolves. He did not run the pack yet, but he was next in line. But even now,


    the pack followed his lead, and as the future alpha, he had first picks of everything. With his blood still


    burning from the rush of the chase, Darrell howled at the moon, and the others joined in. It was a sound


    that could be heard for miles, a sound that could chill the blood of those who heard it.


    They would have been a frightening sight, four massive dire wolves dragging a dead buck through the


    woods. They were no ordinary pack. They were members of the Night Stalkers. Lycanthropes. Mystical


    beings that could change shape at will. From man to beast. Like wolves, they stood four feet tall and


    nearly six feet from snout to tail. With the exception of the pr bear, they were thergestnd


    predators in the world. They lived in secret, having been hunted to near extinction by mortals hundreds


    of years ago. There were only a small number of them still walking the earth hiding among the mortal


    world, living like men.


    Though they lived as men, the moon still held its sway. When the moon was full, it was difficult to keep


    the beast at bay. When the moon was full, they ked their bloodlust. In the past, they had to hunt to


    survive, but in the modern world, with food so readily avable, they only hunted for sport, though they


    did eat their kill.


    Lycanthropes lived in small numbers. One or two scattered all over the world, but just outside Aspen,


    Colorado, they congregated in arge pack. There had not been a den of this magnitude in four


    hundred years. They lived together in an old off-roadmunity they had built decades ago, which the


    surroundingmunities called Feral.


    Their numbers were notrge enough to qualify as a town. They were more of a Hamlet (amunity


    of less than 100 with only a few buildings besides private homes). To the world outside their


    community, themunity of Feral and its residence were unfriendly to outsiders, and given they had


    limited services, not too many outsiders would visit. Hell, they were not even on the map. It was a ce


    to be feared and avoided at all costs, but to the men, women, and children within themunity, they


    were a family — amunity of Lycanthropes, the first pack in hundreds of years.


    Nearly thirty years ago, a few old dogs had founded the Night Stalkers to bring together their people,


    and over the years, Lycanthropes all over the world immigrated to Feral to find others like themselves.


    Darrell and his sister Charlotte were some of them. After the death of their father six years ago, Darrell


    and his sister had moved from Texas to Colorado in search of other Lycanthropes and found the Night


    Stalkers.


    The Night Stalkers had grown fifty strong and had moved out of the nearby cities to escape the mortal


    world. They bought some unwantednd and turned it into a home for all Lycanthropes. A ce where


    they could be themselves. A ce where they could befortable and live without hiding. Where they


    could nurture their cubs and teach them to master their powers without the fear of being discovered,


    outsiders were not weed, and those that did stumble on their property were runoff and, in some


    extreme cases (if they were Lycanthrope hunters), killed to protect the pack’s secrets. They did not like


    to kill mortals, it raised too many questions, but when it came down to the mortals’ lives or the safety of


    the pack, they were not above shedding some blood.


    The pack leader Gordon Wilder had taken an interest in Darrell moulding him for leadership and the


    day Darrell would takeover. Still, a lot of the younger men did follow him. In Gordon’s absences, Darrell


    called the shots.


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    Reaching the grounds of theirmunity, the men reverted back to their human forms. Darrell grabbed


    up the jeans he had abandoned earlier that night when he had changed for the hunt. He was zipping up


    the fly when Charlotte held out his broken-in tanned hat with a smile. “Wee back,” his sister said,


    ncing over at the dead deer and the other men as they got dressed. “It is a big buck this time.”


    “It gave me a hell of a chase,” Darrell said, tucking his t-shirt into his belt. It was a hot summer’s night,


    and after that workout, he was already hot and sweaty and did not feel like putting it on.


    “Hey, Charlotte, you want to cook this up?” Teased Lewis Hall, one of the men Darrell called a friend.


    As a man, Lewis stood six feet even with short brown hair and a nose that looked like a beak, which led


    his friends to call him Vulture when they were teasing him… how he hated that. He was a thin man but


    wiry and fast, and he had a thing for Charlotte, but that romance was one-sided because Charlotte


    could not stand him.


    “I’m not your personal chef,” Charlotte snapped back. She was a pretty little thing with long blond hair


    and a curvy figure. She was very popr with younger men.


    “Hey, Darrell, a little help?” Called Keh Wright as he dragged the buck across the ground. Keh


    was older than Darrell. He was not very big, but he was tough. He was a brte with fine features. He


    had stolen Darrell’s girlfriend from himst year. Darrell did not hold grudges. He had only been ying


    with her anyway, so when she left him for Keh, he had been fairly ok with it. Besides, he liked


    single life better anyway.


    “I killed it. You clean it,” Darrell said as he stepped into his boots.


    “I’ll get it,” grumbled Stanton Bradshaw as he stalked over to Keh and lifted the buck up over his


    shoulders. Stanton was a big brute with an abrasive personality. He was not friendly by any means, but


    despite his many faults, he and Darrell were friends. Stanton was not so bad. He was an intimidating


    sight with his short straggly copper hair and one good eye. He had lost the other in a fight a few months


    ago, but it did not seem to hinder his abilities in any way.


    “When you are done with that, let’s go into the city. I feel like dancing,” Darrell said, taking Charlotte in


    his arms, leading his sister in lively music less two-step, which made Charlotte giggle.


    With a yful grin, Charlotte extracted herself from her brother’s arms, and they started to walk away


    from the hunting party. “The Mausoleum?” Charlotte suggested as they strolled through the streets.


    “Where else?” He smiled.


    “I’ll round up the girls,” Charlotte said, leaving her brother on the street.


    “You do that,” he said, spotting another of the pack’s females. Aster Wilder was justing back from


    a walk to themunity mailboxes up by the convenience store owned by one of the pack members.


    She looked sensational as usual. She was the pack leader’s only daughter. She was a luna and very


    likely his mate when they were both ready to settle down.


    Right now, they were just friends. Good friends. In fact, Aster was almost like another sister. Almost but


    not, she was easy-going and fun to torment. He liked to flirt with her because he knew how to push her


    buttons. She resisted him at every turn, and he never expected anything toe of his flirtations; it


    was just harmless fun.


    Aster was a drop-dead gorgeous blond with a full bustline and curvy hips. He loved to walk behind her


    so he could watch her hips sway side to side as she struts her stuff. Darrell crept up behind Aster and


    pounced her from the rear. His arms wrapped around her waist, and he nipped yfully at her neck.


    Aster squealed and struggled against him. “God damn it, Darrell, you scared the hell out of me,” she


    hissed and pped his hands. “Let me go.”


    Darrell released her with a chuckle. “Quit ying like you don’t like it,” he said, stepping back. Aster


    turned to face him with an annoyed look. “We are all headed into Aspen; you want toe?”


    “Sure.”


    “I’m just going to shower and change before we go.”


    “Good, you need one,” Aster teased. “I could smell you a mile away.”


    Darrell grinned. “When are you going to go hunting with me?”


    “Why so you can try to mount me from behind?” She grinned.


    “You know one day, you and me….” He said as he walked backwards, heading for his cabin, “it is going


    to happen. You best believe it,” she just smiled and waved goodbye. Darrellughed; it was going to be


    a good night. He could feel it.


    ***


    After dinner, Katelyn had taken her camera and gone for a walk in the woods. In the dead of summer,


    the sun stayed up until quitete in the evening, allowing her to see and navigate the woods. She had


    been crouching behind some bushes to go unseen so as not to scare off the small white rabbit fifty feet


    away.


    Katelyn zoomed in with her lens and tried to focus. She had a perfect shot when a buck raced passed


    frightening off the rabbit. Katelyn looked up from her camera and watched as a massive tanned wolf


    launched itself off the trunk of a tree and took the deer down. Its massive jaws mped down hard on


    the buck’s neck. The beast gave the buck a few violent shakes killing it.


    With the deer dead, the beast stepped back, and Katelyn had an amazing view of this incredible beast.


    Katelyn lifted her camera to phonograph the wolf. She had taken pictures of wolves before, but this one


    was like no other. It was easily four times the size. It was six feet from snout to tail and stood at least


    four feet from the ground to shoulders. It looked as if it was all lean muscle beneath tanned fur. The


    beast turned his head in her direction, and Katelyn was speechless. It had eyes as she had never seen


    before; they were a bright amber colour. This beautiful creature was magnificent.


    Katelyn took a few more pictures and then ducked down even more when three other wolves the same


    size but with different colouring showed up, praying they did not notice her. They were all snarling and


    growling at each other, and then they howled. Katelyn looked up at the sunset. The sun was almost


    down, and the moon was alreadying up on the opposite horizon. Not long after, she watched in


    awe as the wolves dragged their kill off. She had no idea that wolves did that?


    Alone in the woods once more, Katelyn looked down at her camera screen, looking through the


    pictures she had taken. A smile curved her mouth. They were great pictures. These were going to sell


    very well.