She had been careful to park the van out of the sight of cameras. She was saddened that she could not feed from the woman, but it would have been too risky, so instead, she had strangled the woman and left her in the back of the van. If someone found her, maybe they would think she was one of the women going truck-to-truck. A truck driver would be blamed for the death.
Back in the motel, Catherine loaded all the guns and put them in the car. It was getting close to dusk, and with her vision, she would not have a problem seeing and exploring the area around the house. Maybe she would get lucky and the men would all walk outside; shooting them from a distance seemed the best plan.
Two hours later, she was ready to scream. Tears streamed down her face. It was not fair—she had been so close. She had seen the ship landing in the yard when she had returned, though she did not recognize it as she got close to the house. She was not close enough to hear what had been said, but she had recognized the woman who had stepped out of the ship with two unknown men. Dracula’s sister Mela, or Melanie, as she had informed Catherine.
They had not even gone inside but had spoken in the yard near the ship. As frustration had clawed at her guts, she had watched one of the thugs come out of the house with her baby girl and hand her off to one of the men from the ship. Everyone had hugged, and then that witch Mela and the man holding her daughter had returned to the ship, leaving the other man behind. Before she realized it, the ship had lifted and was zooming away with her daughter inside.
She had not even tried to shoot anyone. She had been too busy looking at her daughter and trying to figure out how to get her back to realize that with everyone outside, she could have taken them all out in seconds. The appearance of a ship had also been a distraction. She had started planning how to steal the ship, instead of killing everyone. She had failed her daughter, and now her daughter was gone. The men had gone inside, four now instead of three. She needed a better plan. The urgency was gone now that her daughter was gone. She knew where the men were living.
But for now, she had a promise to keep. Two hours away was a sleepy little town with several people who needed to die. She would start by tracking down the man who got away. By the end of the night, the people of Golden Meadow would know terror she vowed to herself. And Dracula had no one to blame but himself.
After she was done destroying the town, she would go to her home in New Orleans. When she returned here, it would be with a plan, one where she lived and everyone else died. When that ship returned, she would be the mistress of that house. And when the ship again left this back-water planet, she would be the pilot.
yone else died. When that ship returned, she would be the mistress of that house. And when the ship again left this back-water planet, she would be the pilot.
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Introduction
This story certainly contains spoilers if you still haven’t read the series. Hell, the introduction contains at least one spoiler itself. Continue at your own risk or read to book 5 in the Safe Haven Wolves then come back here.
Australia isn’t ready for the three females Edward and the others brought back but they better get ready to make some changes anyway because those three aren’t real happy with the life the males have planned. They aren’t especially happy with the food. And they certainly aren’t happy with the way the men are running the packs. They have plans and those plans aren’t making the men happy. But happy females are the key to survival and if the females can come up with something that works, well the men better be prepared to make some changes.
On a different note, the story of the food is modeled after my own surprises when I visited the land down under. And let me tell you, there were some shockers! And yes, that is how they eat their burgers. Yes, the red stuff is hard to find. Don’t even get me started on their pizza!
Time for Change
The three females jumped at the loud noise. Dennis started swearing as he rounded the corner and headed toward the door after shooting a brief glare their direction.
Trisah, seeing the glare, didn’t hesitate to glare back as she informed him. “Not my fault.”
“This is not going to work.” Dawn muttered.
“Don’t be silly. You say that every time. Trevor called ahead, like always. We know he is the one on the other side of the door. Edward gave permission for him to come over today. Don’t worry about Dennis. He will get over it. He better get over it.”
“But Dennis will be in a bad mood the rest of the day.” Dawn pointed out with a slight head tilt toward Julie.
Trisah’s eyes narrowed as she turned to stare at her sister. “True. But that is not our fault. Not mine, not yours and certainly not Julie’s. They need to work on their attitudes. All of them. Edward will be in a bad mood for the rest of the day too. Julie will avoid him. Edward will blow up at Dennis. Dennis’s mood will get worse until he ends up sleeping on the couch. By midnight he will be standing beside the bed begging me to forgive him and swearing next time he will welcome Trevor politely.
Dawn’s brows slowly rose as the three females listened to the snarling greeting between the males.
Trevor visited at least twice a week. The three thought after a few times Dennis and Edward would warm up to Trevor. They both claimed to have nothing against the male other than he was an Alpha from another pack. The two men even claimed to like Trevor, from a distance. Julie and Dawn had been and still were disappointed. After so long in the prison together they didn’t want to be separated. Considering how much they had lost combined with moving to a different country they clung to each other. Dawn clung to Trisah also, probably more than she should have since Dawn would one day be part of Trevor’s pack.
But of the three females Trisah was the only one with any experience being part of a pack and the only female they felt comfortable with so far. Most of the females didn’t have much to do with Dawn. They had nothing against her other than Trevor’s visits. The entire pack knew when Trevor was expected over due to Edward and Dennis’s moods. Julie didn’t have much to do with the other females yet, still too wary of strangers and without the pack bond the others were little more than strangers. That wouldn’t change until November when she reached her majority and could bond to Edward.
Small scuffling noises sounded from the front door causing Trisah to jump up and run toward the noise. Julie on the other hand shrank against Dawn with a small whimper.
“It is going to be alright. No one is going to hurt you. They would have to deal with Edward. Do you think even an insane person would want to deal with Edward?” Dawn, with one arm around Julie, rocked gently for a moment as she listened to the furious voices coming from Dennis and Trisah and Trevor. “Did I ever tell you why the jerks who had us bailed out so fast?”
Julie gave a slight nod, but Dawn barely paused in her story. The story had been told before and would be told again and again. She had noticed the first time she told the story Julie’s posture had gotten a little straighter and her eyes had brightened.
“So, there we were, me and you and Allison in the medical wing with Kate, out like a light and bleeding. Jonus, may he burn in hell, laying dead wherever they stashed his body. The guys who were holding us arguing about what to do when Adam, that’s the sorry piece of crap who thought he would get me, came running in the room. The fear on him was so strong I don’t know how it didn’t bring Kate awake. Anyway, Adam started yelling they had to go. I don’t remember the exact words except for one thing. He said, Kill you first, ask questions later, Gammon. Those men were absolutely terrified of Gammon. I knew if they were scared of Gammon then I wanted to get to the man. Well, I didn’t manage to escape them then, that wasn’t until later. But when we made our escape, I didn’t have any idea where I was going but I had a goal. Get to Gammon by any means necessary. Edward may not be Gammon but there isn’t another man a
nywhere I would want protecting my pack.” A slight growl sounded from the doorway. Rolling her eyes Dawn drew in a deep breath and shook her head. “Of course, I mean if I were you Julie. You have, from what I understand, the largest Alpha in the entire world besides Gammon. The men at the prison called Gammon a mountain. Your Edward isn’t any smaller than his brother. You are surrounded by the best pack in the world.”
This time a snarl started but a small scuffling noise followed by an abrupt whoosh of air cut the snarl off. Dawn glanced over to see Trevor with a grimace of pain on his face and a slight bow to his body cupping his privates. His color was slightly off. Dennis held Trisah off the floor with his body between his mate and the other Alpha while she could see Edward behind them scrubbing his face with one hand while the other arm was curled around Kurt holding him away from Trevor.
Dawn looked between the men before turning her attention to Trisah who held up both hands. “Don’t look at me. I didn’t do it this time.” She nodded toward Kurt.
“Your son learned that from you.” Edward told her.
“Well, yeah, but I didn’t think he would actually head butt him there. I didn’t head butt him before.”
“No, but you are the reason he thinks it is appropriate to take a man down by his nuts.”
Kurt, who hadn’t said a word spoke up. “He was upsetting me new mum. Dad said we don’t let anything, or anyone upset mum again cause he don’t like the couch. I like the couch, but they won’t let me sleep on the couch. He could stay up and watch tv if he sleeps on the couch. But his feet are too big.”
“No, son, my feet hang off the couch.” He lowered Trisah to the floor and reached for his son, but Edward shook his head.
“No. He is going to spend the rest of the day with me. We are going to have a discussion about how a male deals with another male. Especially if the male is an ally to our pack.”
“What is an ally?” Kurt asked as he stroked Edwards beard and snuggled against his shoulder.
“Two hours, Trevor. You have two hours. My wolf won’t take much more of you here today.” Edward said before turning toward the door with Kurt. The others could hear him explaining to the young boy as the front door closed behind the two just exactly what an ally to the pack meant.
Trevor’s breathing was starting to even out as he held up a basket to show Dawn. It took him three tries to get the words out, but he told her, “I thought we could have a sort of picnic on the back porch. I brought some chook and—”
Dawn interrupted him, “You brought what?”
“Chook. Fried chook and—”
Dawn held her hand up and looked at Trisah who shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I have no idea what a chook is. Came on the same plane you were on. They have all sorts of animals here we don’t have. Might be a fish, kinda sounds like some sort of fish.”
Dennis, leaning against the door frame didn’t utter a word as Trevor held the basket higher. “Chook. You know, chook.” He turned to look at Dennis, “You don’t eat chook?”
“I eat chook. Love chook.”
Julie, who hadn’t said a word, laughed and Dennis remembered a time before when he was courting her how her mum had fried some chicken one night. He and Kurt had occasionally had a problem with communication with Julie and her parents and that night happened to be one of those times. Her mother had asked if Kurt liked chicken and his son had flat out refused to even try it until Dennis told him it was chook. He knew Julie was remembering that conversation.
Dawn and Trisah turned to look at Julie who shrugged, “Taste just like chicken.” She giggled a little as she said it.
“So, what is it? Some kind of small animal? Is it cute? I don’t eat cute animals.” Dawn told her.
Julie chuckled and repeated “Taste like chicken.”
Dawn narrowed her eyes at Julie before turning to Trevor. “I don’t eat chook.”
His lips twitched as he said, “But you heard her, she said it taste just like chicken. You like chicken, right?”
Dawn stared at him before turning her attention to Dennis, who was clearly holding back laughter. Glancing over at Trisah she said, “Look it up. You have your phone?”
Holding her phone up Trisah told her, “Way ahead of you.”
Dawn watched as her as she typed it in. A few seconds later Trisah half turned toward Dennis. “Seriously? You couldn’t tell me?” Glaring at Trevor then Julie she finally turned her attention to Dawn. “They are right. It does taste exactly like chicken. In fact, it tastes so much like chicken you would swear it was chicken.”
Dawn rolled her eyes and shoulder bumped Julie. “It’s chicken isn’t it?”
Trisah nodded.
“Well, at least it isn’t beets.” Dawn pointed out.
“What’s wrong with beets?” Dennis demanded.
Dawn shrugged. “I don’t care much for beets. Even if I liked beets, they don’t go on hamburgers.”
Dennis blinked as a look of confusion filled his face. “Well, you don’t have to eat them on your burger.”
“No, you don’t understand. They don’t go on burgers. Not, I don’t like them leave them off, more like, are you insane, you don’t do that, what kind of satanic ritual are you trying to preform?”
“Yes, they do.” Trevor told her.
“No, they don’t. Beets do not go on burgers. If you want something red on your burger you put a tomato on it.”
A look of revulsion filled the men’s faces as they took an involuntary step backwards.
“And that’s another thing, butter does not go on burgers either.” Trisah told them.
“Yes, it does. Otherwise the burger is dry.” Dennis told her.
“Jessica invited us over yesterday and fed us the most revolting food imaginable. She buttered the bread, and do you know she didn’t even have a clue what ketchup was? We had to eat plain fries.”
“Please tell me you did not insult her by telling her that. Jessica is a good cook.”
“For you maybe. But when you offer me a hamburger with no mayo, and you stick a beet on it. Then you tell me not only do you not have ketchup for the fries but aren’t even sure what ketchup is, you are not a great cook.”
Trevor shifted the basket behind him as he shuffled sideways. “Maybe the picnic wasn’t such a good idea.” He leaned toward Dennis. “What the hell is ketchup?” he whispered.
“We can still hear you.” Trisah told him.
The two men looked at each other before looking back at the three females. Trisah had stepped closer to the couch where Julie and Dawn were sitting. Crossing her arms, she glared at Dennis. “Do you know what ketchup is? Because I haven’t found any in the kitchen. I thought, since it was just you and Kurt for so long, maybe you weren’t so good at doing the grocery shopping. I have it on my grocery list. Australia does have ketchup, right?”
Dennis took another step backwards. “You know, I think we should let Trevor have some time with Dawn. It is selfish of us to monopolize her time like this. I think I will check on Edward and see how Kurt is doing.”
“Freeze buster. Don’t even think about moving another step. This is important. Maybe not in the grand scheme of things, but food is important. I haven’t seen any mayo in the fridge, no ketchup, and a few other things. Do you know what ketchup is and why don’t you have mayo? You have mayo at your house, right, Trevor?”
The Alpha shifted from foot to foot while his eyes widened. “Um, maybe?”
“You don’t have mayo either?” Dawn asked.
“What do you do with it? I mean, I might? I don’t do the grocery shopping for my house.”
Dawn’s voice, when she answered, had a touch of frost. “Oh, really? Who, exactly, does your shopping for you? And the answer better not be another female.”
“Wait now, Dawn, come on, give the man a break. Alphas, single ones, don’t really do the shopping. Edward doesn’t do his own shopping.” Dennis told her.
“Hold up, wait a minute. Stop the train and back the truck
up.” Dawn, arms crossed, glared at the men. “What exactly did you drag us into down here.”
Trisah broke into a laugh. “No, no, I have to stand up for the guys on this one. The Alpha, and the Betas too for that matter, are usually too busy putting out fires in the pack to worry about the day to day operation of their household. Not only that but Alphas, by the very position they hold, are usually adored and loved by the rest of the pack. No one sees it as an imposition to do things for the Alpha. If anything, they have a problem getting pack members to not do something for them. And it isn’t to curry favor that pack members do things for the Alpha. They have a stressful job, and a good pack will do what they can to lessen the stress on their leader. If that means bringing them a meal or doing the shopping, cleaning their house, little things you know?”
“Edward cleans his own house. He doesn’t like the scent of others inside. He can cook also. But someone usually brings him a meal.” Dennis told them.
“So, you, all of you, really wanted a maid? Being a rare female is just a bonus?” Julie asked.
“How in the actual fu—um hell do you figure that. How did we go from not knowing what ketchup is to wanting maids?” Trevor demanded.
Trisah, doubled over in laughter, tried to speak. It was a moment before she could get the words out. “No, no. They can’t fake the mate call. The two of you wouldn’t feel safe with your guys if they were not your mates. Nor could they zero in on you wherever you are at any given time. Gammon and Mia have been together years and he still has pack members sneaking in his house and cleaning behind Mia’s back or dropping food off because Gammon looked stressed and they wanted Mia to have free time to cheer him up. I am telling you; a good pack will adore a good Alpha and his mate and will treat them like royalty even if it drives the Alpha crazy. And trust me, it can drive Gammon crazy. I would imagine Trevor and Edward go through the same thing.” She paused a moment, eyes narrowed, before turning to look at Dennis. “Which would probably explain why the day Trevor visits someone always drops food off for us. They aren’t trying to help us so much as they are trying to free up my time to spend with Dennis and improve his mood.”
Blood of the Wolf (Safe Haven Wolves Short Stories Book 1) Page 10