Gabrielle Demonico (19 page)

“
Fuck you asshole! How
dare you
insult my friend like that?” Kim fired back.

“
Kim. It’s okay.” Jessi said softly.

Jessi was embarrassed and enraged all at once. The truth was that she wanted to shift and tear his arms off. But she couldn
’t shift even if she wanted to do it. Outside of their territory it wasn’t possible for bears to shift and the Sidewinder was three miles too far north. Luckily, before the situation could escalate much further, two of the man’s friends reached in and grabbed their would-be leader by either arm.

One of the two said, “
Eli, come on man. Forget about it. It’s not worth it.”

He angrily pulled his arms away and said, “
Get off me.”

He then turned back to the women and said, “
You two
better watch it.”

The women scowled in quiet disgust.

He laughed sarcastically and then said, “Have a nice night,
bitches.
” The group then turned and headed back towards the bar.

“
So ridiculous.” Kim said.

“
Yeah. Good thing that wasn’t awkward at all.” Jessi joked.

Kim laughed for a few seconds but then her mood turned dark once again and she said, “
God, I don’t even feel like being here right now. It’s already 10:30 and they aren’t here yet. Can you try calling or texting and see if they are still coming?”

“
I don’t have a signal. I haven’t had one since we left town. Do you?” Jessi replied.

“
No.”

Jessi said, “
Okay, well. Let’s give them a little more time. Maybe a half hour? Can we please?”

Kim pursed her lips and replied, “
Fine. A half hour. That’s it. I don’t want to be here one second longer than that.”

“
Alright. Thirty minutes.” Jessi said.

To pass the time, the women trie
d to make small talk in the midst of all the chaos that had unfolded moments earlier. Finally, after the allotted time had nearly elapsed Kim said, “I don’t think they’re coming honey. I’m sorry but do you mind if we just go?”

Jessi was disappointed but no
t surprised. Anyway, it’s not like it was a date and she’d been stood up or something. That was the truth even if in some small part her mind she’d hoped it could have been more than a causal get together.

“
No. That’s fine.” Jessi said.

The women collected
their belongings and on the way out took care to avoid eye contact with their drunken suitors. They emerged from the bar into the cool air of a partially moonlit night. They walked in silence to the far end of the lot where they’d parked behind an old storage building.

Jessi felt
creeped out
for some reason. Maybe it was what happened with those guys in the bar, maybe it was the stillness of the night air but something was putting her bear on edge. Frankly, the sooner the night would end at this point, the better. The whole thing had been a big mess anyway.

As they continued walking, the only sound beneath their feet was the crunch of loose gravel. As they neared the area where their car was parked, out of her peripheral vision, Jessi saw Kim stumble.

“Damn it!” Kim exclaimed.

Jessi turned to see her friend struggling to stand upright. “
What happened?” she asked as she rushed over to help her.

“
Ohh, I think I broke my heel in this hole here.” Kim said.

Jessi spun her head around to search for the indentation
in the ground when something else much more ominous caught her attention.

“
Oh no…” She said.

“
What?” asked Kim.

“
It’s those assholes from inside. They’re coming.”

“
Shit! Come on, help me…” Kim said urgently as she spun her head around to see what Jessi was talking about.

Awkwardly, Jessi attempted to assist her friend hobble towards the car but the men had seen them scramble and were now running in their direction. They
’d gotten almost all the way to the vehicle when a voice from behind said, “You bitches didn’t think you were getting away that easy did you?”

Horrified, Jessi steadied her friend against the driver
’s side door.

“
Kim, hurry! Get the keys…” she said in a loud whisper.

But no sooner had she spoken those words then the men were upon them. The bi
ggest one grabbed Kim by the upper arm and snatched her from Jessi’ grasp.

“
Let her go!” Jessi shrieked.

As she reached to pull Kim back a thick palm flew against her face and struck her to the ground with a violent thud.

“Back off!” the big man said.

The blow rattled Jessi. Her cheek throbbed from the strike. It was landed with such force that she could feel her heartbeat in the side of her face
. Through tearing eyes she looked up to see that they had started to drag Kim off in the opposite direction.

“
Jessi!” Kim shrieked.

Jessi scrambled to get up when out of nowhere, two large shadowy figures suddenly appeared between her, Kim and Kim
’s kidnappers.

“
Let her go dirt bag.” One of the voices said.

Jessi shook her head and looked upwards. Her eyes still watered from the strike moments earlier but there was no mistaking the voice. It was Daryn. And standing right next to him, Theo. Somehow, Jessi managed to get on her feet and peek between their broa
d shoulders.

The big man stopped in the midst of his friends. “
Or what?
What the fuck
are you two gonna do about it? We’ve got you outnumbered six to two.”

“
Don’t make us say it again. Let the girl go.” Theo growled.

“
Why don’t come make me?” the big man dared. He then quickly passed Kim into the hands of two other men. As he did, Kim defiantly kicked dirt and gravel in his direction.

Daryn warned, “
You are making a terrible mistake man. If you don’t let her go, we will have no choice but to force you.”

The
large man raised his right hand up towards the brothers, flipped his fingers back towards himself in a rapid motion and said, “Let’s go. I’m ready when you are pussies.”

What happened next was unlike anything Jessi could have imagined in her craziest of dr
eams. For no sooner had the big man spoken those words than an
unimaginable
transformation happened right before her eyes.

In a matter of seconds the bodies of both brothers started to contort and buckle violently. They fell forward towards the gravel bene
ath them and hit the ground with a heavy thud. Except that the thud was not them collapsing on the ground in a heap but the end result of eye popping metamorphosis - from man to
beast
.

Without so much as a sound, the men had shifted from their human form i
nto the two largest wolves Jessi had ever seen. Daryn turned in Jessi’s direction and moved his enormous skull towards her. His communication was clear… back away. Her bear instincts kicked in and she did as was told.

As Jessi moved away one of the men hol
ding Kim yelled out and said, “Fuck! What is that Eli?”

“
I… I… Shit I have no idea.” The big man stammered.

Just then, Theo let loose with a blood curdling howl. Its shrillness pierced the night air and the men surrounding Kim turned ashen white. Frantical
ly, they scattered in all directions and released her as they did.

But rather than pursue them, the wolves remained still. Neither Daryn or Theo gave chase. Theo walked towards Kim who collapsed against his enormous fur frame. Daryn turned and walked back
in Jessi’s direction. Seconds later, the wolves returned to their human form.

Daryn rushed to Jessi and said, “
Are you alright? Are you hurt at all?”

“
No… He just slapped my right cheek. That was all.” She replied.

Without speaking, Daryn wrapped his hands
around her face. Gently, he turned her head towards him to examine where the injury had occurred. Yes, Jessi was still in a daze but his touch… it just took her breath away. Through his hands she could feel not only physical warmth but a deep caring for her.

It was typical for Jessi to read more into a situation than she should but for some reason, it didn
’t seem as though she was misinterpreting the meaning of his attention. But, her bear sensed that the look in his eyes expressed much more concern than it ought to for some random girl he’d met in a small town diner.

He gently stroked her face and said, “
It doesn’t look too bad.”

She smiled and he helped her put her arm around his shoulder. He turned towards Theo and said, “
Is Kim okay?”

“
Yes, she’s fine.” He replied.

Daryn walked towards them with Jessi in tow. As they neared Kim and Theo he said, “
Okay, I am going to drive Jessi home. Kim, would you mind if Theo drove you back to your house?”

“
No.” she said. “Actually, I would appreciate that
very much
.”

“
Alright then,” Daryn replied. “Theo, text me once you drop Kim off. I’ll be waiting for you at Jessi’s.”

“
Sounds good.” Theo said.

Moments later, the two couples split up and headed back to their respective vehicles. As Daryn and Jessi walked, he turned t
o her and said, “I’ll drive if you don’t mind.”

“
That’s fine.” She answered. “Besides, I have a few questions for you.”

Daryn chuckled a little and said, “
I thought you might…”

***

A few minutes later they’d pulled out of the Sidewinder’s parking lot. They drove along in silence for a little while until Jessi’s curiosity had gotten the better of her.

“
Alright… so Daryn… I think it’s pretty clear that there’s more to you and your brother than meets the eye. Would you like to just tell me what’s going on or do I need to start guessing? We have about a half hour drive ahead of us so if you don’t start, I will.”

Daryn smiled and replied, “
No, that’s fair enough. I realize we’ve both been behaving a bit cryptically since arriving in town but there’s plenty of reasons for that.”

“
Like what?” Jessi asked quickly.

“
It’s… family stuff mostly.” He replied.

“
What do you mean?”

With his left hand on the steering wheel, Daryn stroked his chin with his right and said, “
Well, I’m not really sure how to explain it.”

“
Try me.” she replied.

“
Alright… Uhhm, I don’t know how it is with
your kind
but with wolves, it’s expected that our mates will be chosen for us by the pack leader. At least, it was that way for a very long time until my great grandfather found his true mate - a human female named Gwendolyn.”

Jessi nodded her head in understanding - true mates were not a foreign concept to her. Although among bears, they were incredibly rare.

Daryn continued, “Anyway, my great grandfather went against the pack and stayed true to feelings that his wolf told him were right. However, it caused a split in the pack and ultimately he was shunned. But, a few members believed in his strength of character for following his convictions and so they left with him. You have to understand that this simply isn’t done. Blood bonds and kinship are all that matter to us. The only exception to this is when a wolf is called to his truemate.”

Jessi listened quietly and then said, “
What happened to him?”

Daryn replied, “
Well as the years went on, his pack grew and over time the old tradition that had been was replaced with the new one, that is, the choice to seek out one’s truemate -
alone
.”

“
I see. And, this is something you don’t believe in?” Jessi asked.

“
No, to the contrary. My great grandfather’s story is only the beginning…”

“
Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you.” She replied.

“
That’s okay, no problem. Well, as I was saying, the new tradition was strong with the next two pack leaders - my grandfather and my father. The pack thrived under it until the time that my father was killed by accident on a hunt.”

“
Oh my God, that’s terrible. I’m so sorry to hear about that.” She said.

“
Thank you. I was very young at the time so I don’t remember very much about it. Only that he and my uncle were out on a hunt. He slipped into a ravine and died. Since then our uncle raised us as his own and as the only blood heir, he assumed control of the pack.”