Romance: Military Romance: Protected by the SEAL (Contemporary Hero Bad Boy Navy SEAL Romance) (New Adult BBW Alpha Male Virgin Protector Short Stories) (32 page)

*****

When she woke – at 5.a.m, she saw, when she checked her phone – Dorian and Tooth lay beside her: human Dorian and Tooth. They snored lightly and looked almost childlike with their hands draped over her, their chests rising and falling in satisfied slumber. Daisy tried to sleep some more, but by half past five she knew it was no use. She got dressed and just watched them sleep for a while. She was too wired to sleep for herself. She had just had sex with Wolves!

It was madness, considering that not so long ago she hadn’t even known that Wolves existed, and now she had had sex with two of them. She tried to tell herself that it wasn’t all some mad dream – that she hadn’t gone completely crazy – but the telling was unnecessary. If this was a hallucination, it was so vivid, so real, that it might as well have been reality.  I think, therefore I am, and all that.

Soon Tooth and Dorian were awake. They sat in silence for a time and then Tooth and Dorian got dressed. Then they all sat on the couch together, not having to speak. After a time, Dorian said: “Daisy, I have something to ask you.”

Daisy listened with as much attention as she could muster after such a night, but as he talked, she had no trouble mustering more. “Daisy,” he said. “I think you might have Wolf blood in you. That’s phrasing it wrong.” He pursed his lips. “I know you have Wolf-blood in you, or we wouldn’t have Scented you. But I think you have more Wolf-blood that we originally thought.”

“So?” Daisy said, unsure of where he was going with this.

“So,” he continued, as Tooth sat placidly by. “I think you may have enough Wolf-blood in you to be changed by the Council of the Brethren by the Old Way.”

Daisy giggled: couldn’t help but giggle. “And what’s the Old Way?”

“Wolves are made in the normal way, like we were,” Tooth said, in his slow melodic voice. “Or they have ancestors who were once Wolves, which means they can be changed by the Council in a ceremony that does not require them to be scratched or bitten or harmed in any way. Wolves of the Old Way can also change whenever they want, are faster than people, are more inhuman, I guess, than most Wolves.”

Daisy laughed uncomfortably. “Why are you telling me this?” she said. “Why would I want to be a Wolf?”

Dorian shrugged. “I just thought I’d let you know,” he said. “You should have the choice, should you not? And if you do decide you would like to become a Wolf Prime – that’s another name for Old-Way Wolves – then Tooth and I can take you to the Council.”

“What, so I can become a Wolf once a month?”

“Oh, but you’ll be so much more than that,” Tooth said. “I’m jealous. I’ll tell it true. I’m jealous. I wish I’d had Wolf-blood in me. But I hadn’t. My Maker checked.”

They parted soon after that, and Daisy gave it little thought until she was at work the next day. Become a Wolf? Ha, it was crazy! Why would she trade in her normal, plain life for the life of the Wolf? Why, indeed?

She had been feeling happy as she came into work that day, because she had seen Dorian through the window. She had been half-afraid he wouldn’t be there: that he had gotten what he wanted and would now return to wherever it was that Wolves roamed. But he was sitting there, talking on the phone. Daisy seated herself and was about to start work when she looked up at her computer screen – how had she not seen it before? – and saw that it was plastered in sticky-notes.

Childish writing was scribbled all over them, and she sat up and saw that some of the guys in the office were sniggering. They read: Lover girl; Sexy office girl gets taught a lesson; Can I have a go?; What’s so special about him?; To be fair, you have got a great rack. She cleaned the notes away calmly and put them in the bin, keeping the rage and resentment that was building behind her calm exterior locked safely away in some deep dark pit. The guys in the office looked annoyed when she didn’t react, and soon went back to work.

But all that day, Daisy was thinking on it, turning it over. This was the great Humanity then, was it? This was the men humanity had to offer? Enlarged schoolboys scrawling pathetic notes? Jealous sexless cretins with flaccid cocks and even more flaccid wit? This was what she was aligned with? If an alien race came down, she’d have to say: “Yes, we are the same species, he and I.” What sort of sick world made her share the same label as them?

And that’s when Dorian’s offer came back to her, so hard she was sure she might fall from her chair. She didn’t have to be the same species as these morons. Of course, it was a silly reason, really, to change one’s entire makeup. But why not? Why not say F-it and fly into the light of Something Else? Why not just break the whole damn parameter into so many pieces her mother’s voice would never be able to return to her?

She paced across the office to where Dorian sat. “I’ve thought it over,” she said, ignoring the eyes that surrounded her, seeming to scream at her. “I want to become a Wolf,” she went on, heart thumping. “I want to become a Wolf. I don’t want anything to do with humanity anymore. I want to distance myself. I’ve been divorced twice, my mother was—wasn’t well. These…” And she swept her hand around the office. “These are the men of my species, and you are the men of the Wolves. I would much rather have you for kin. When can we leave?”

He was looking at her with more seriousness than she’d ever seen on his face. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she said. “I’m certain.”

He rose to his feet. “Then we can leave right now,” he said. “We’ll pick up Tooth on the way.”

*****

That night, a casual observer might have seen a woman and two men drive West out of the city, going a leisurely speed; because these people were in no rush. The observer may or not may have seen the expression of complete calm on the woman’s face. The observer may or may not have seen that the man with the tooth around his neck and the long black hair was looking longingly up at the not-quite-full moon.

And the observer could never have guessed what was in that car: that all of non-humanity was in that car. Daisy was to be a Wolf; and then what?

And then what?
she thought, as her eyes closed against the night, a wide smile ushering her to sleep.

THE END

Bonus Story 6 of 17

The air smelled of fresh wood and smoke, the sounds of the bustling village providing a soft background noise to his thoughts as Dallin worked to form a sturdy wagon wheel to match the one he’d just finished.  Already calloused from years of work at the tender age of 19, Dallin’s hands moved skillfully over the nearly finished piece, smoothing bumps and knots to make it perfect. 

In the six years that he’d been his father’s apprentice, Dallin’s work was already being praised by the locals.  Cannon Upchurch was a patient teacher, but he never let Dallin cut corners or sell shoddy work.  Cannon’s standards were high and as a result he made more than a typical woodworker.  The father and son drew customers from neighboring villages as well, keeping them busy year-round.

They still struggled, living in a single, wood shack with the rest of the lower class members of South Ungerland.  But they had everything they needed, and there was always food on the table.  In a time when many people struggled to find their next meal, Dallin was happy to have the life he had. 

He continued working, thoughts drifting off as he did.  The shop was open on three sides, with the back being solid wood boards held tightly together with thick twine woven between the boards.  Dallin rolled his eyes every time he thought about the back wall and its construction.  He wanted to use nails, but his father was a miser.  With nails being relatively new to the villages outside of the more populated cities, Dallin had been frustrated when his dad balked at the price. 

“Father, why not use nails when they’re less than a single pence for one hundred?”

“I have lived since 1620 and never needed a nail.  I do not intend to start now.”

Just like that, the discussion was closed and Dallin was dismissed.  He tried to argue with his father that he could do so many things that were otherwise quite difficult to manage, but his father was set in his ways.

“But Father, with nails I can produce so much more.”

“Speedy is not equal to quality.  If it can be done without nails, we haven’t need to be wasteful.”  His father turned back to his work, signaling that the discussion was over.  “I’ll not suffer another moment wasted on the topic.”

And just like that, Dallin was left to follow his father’s lead as always.

Unlike his father, whose woodworking talent leaned toward carpentry and cabinet-making, Dallin was a talented wheelwright.  With the popularity of phaetons rising, the demand for his wheels was increasing steadily.  Since a phaeton had four wheels, he made twice as many per customer than he would for a chaise, which only had two wheels. 

Dallin was distracted from his musing by the sound of footsteps passing by in front of their stand.He watched the ground in front of him, listening to the two women as they came closer.  Dallin didn’t have to see them to know that it was Esther and her mother coming around the corner.

He kept his eyes down, waiting until they’d nearly passed by to look up.  Esther walked on her mother Hannah’s left side, putting herself between Hannah and Dallin.

As her mother spoke, she turned her head slightly and gave Dallin a shy smile.  Her green eyes twinkled merrily.  Pale-faced with a light dusting of freckles across her pert nose, her curly red hair fell around her face and framed it perfectly.

The sight of her took his breath away.  He smiled back and quickly went back to work, looking from side to side to see if anyone had noticed their exchange.

“She’s out of your league, Boy.  You’d do best to remember your station in life,” Cannon said, his voice low but without anger.

“She isn’t royalty and people should be able to marry for love.”

“She is beguiling to be sure, but how would you be paying your portion for her hand in marriage?”

Dallin sighed, going back to work and leaving the question unanswered.  Esther’s family was wealthy in their own right, though far from nobility.  His father was right, but Dallin didn’t care.  He would work every hour of the day and night to provide Esther with the life she deserved, even if it killed him.

He put the finishing touches on the wheel and gave them to his father to inspect.  The old man looked them over with a critical eye for a moment before returning them.

“That’s fine work, Dallin.  Your mother would have been proud of you, Son.”  Cannon wiped his face with a handkerchief, hiding the unshed tears from his only son. 

Genevieve had disappeared when Dallin was twelve, leaving Cannon to raise their son alone.  She’d never been found, and it was something that weighed heavily on both of them.  There was always talk amongst the villagers about what could have happened to her, but they would never know.  Her body had never been found and no trace of her had ever turned up.

It was like she’d vanished into thin air.

Dallin hefted one wheel in each hand and headed to sell his latest work to the wainwright. 

***

Esther sat at the dinner table, trying her hardest to hold her temper at bay.  With her mother sitting across the table, chattering away without noticing that Esther was silent, it was hard to keep from exploding.

“And then there’s Abraham in Bradenton, who is quite brave and a good provider.  He’s already offered quite a portion for you, and tis much more than most men can afford.  You’d have a comfortable life and want for naught with him as your husband.”

Esther pushed her food around her plate, ignoring her mother’s chipper voice as she went on incessantly about the pros and cons of each man.  Esther dreamed of marrying her prince charming.  All this talk of suiters was exhausting her.

“Darling, are you ill?” 

Her mother’s voice jarred her out of her thoughts, forcing her to engage in a conversation she wanted to avoid at all costs.

“No.  I’m just tired.” Esther shook her head but kept it down, hoping her mother wouldn’t see the telltale pink in her cheeks and realize that she was angry.

“Well if you must, retire for the night so you can rest.  We have a busy day tomorrow.”

Esther was shocked. 
A busy day
? 

“Whatever do you mean, Mother?”

“Our phaeton will be finished on the morrow and we need to find a second horse to pull it.”

“What do we need with a bigger carriage?  Tis only you and I traveling around town in it.”

“Darling.  It isn’t about need.  The phaeton is all the rage in the city and we’ve the best wheelwright in the region.  It’s a solid investment and I thought for certain that you would be happy with a second horse and more room in our carriage.”

Esther resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and focused on the task of pushing her food endlessly around the plate.  Hannah didn’t understand her daughter and probably never would.  The nice clothes, the constant accumulation of material possessions to keep up with what was fashionable now was too much for her.  Esther had a simple heart and simple desires.

And the last thing she wanted to be was a kept woman for some old man in another village where she was a virtual stranger.

“May I be excused?”  She asked quietly.

“Yes, of course.  Shall I accompany you?”

“No Mother, I can make it to my bed.”  She stood slowly, though she wanted to flee from the room.  She bent low and kissed her mother on the cheek before shuffling off to bed.

She measured her pace so that her mother held onto the notion that she was tired and possibly ill.  It would be easier to avoid all this talk of suiters and she could avoid the shopping trip into town altogether if Hannah thought Esther needed her rest.

Esther slipped under the large, hand-made quilt and pulled it up to her chin.  She turned on her side, facing away from the door.

It wasn’t long before Esther heard her door creak open slowly, the light of her mother’s candle casting a soft glow on the room. 

Hannah stood for a moment, watching Esther sleep.  When she was satisfied that Esther was indeed asleep, she closed the door softly and went to her room for the night.  The big, empty bed awaited her, and she was counting the days when her husband would return from the latest battle, or if he would return at all.

But fighting the growing vampire population was necessary work, and Nathaniel Hawkes was doing God’s work.  Because of his leadership, vampires rarely were able to make it beyond the front line of the human resistance.  As long as brave souls like Nathaniel and his men continued the good fight, the rest of the world could rest easy.  The empty bed was lonely, but it was worth the sacrifice.

In the other room, Esther listened quietly through the wall.  She could hear her mother moving around in the bed, trying to get comfortable.  She waited for a few minutes until she was certain that her mother had fallen asleep.

Quietly, she moved the covers back and slipped out of bed.  She was still dressed, wearing a heavy gown in deep red.  She slid her feet into her slippers and turned to the bed.  With pillows lined up just so it was easy to believe she was still lying in the bed.  Unless her mother came all the way into the room, she would never know that it wasn’t Esther lying so snuggly beneath the heavy quilt.

She climbed onto the low dresser and out her window.  Esther was careful to push the shutters closed completely, making it appear that they were locked from the inside.

Keeping to the shadows, Esther crept along the side of the house and through the rows of modest houses.  From a few houses came the sound of quiet laughter or boisterous conversation, but most of the houses were dark and completely quiet.

Esther left the narrow row of homes and stole through the village proper, careful to stay deep in the shadows to avoid detection.  She heard footsteps and quickly ducked into a narrow space between stands and waited.  She held her breath as two guards passed, talking to pass the time while they protected the tiny village from intruders while the townspeople slept.

“I’ve heard tell that they’re going to start making duty compulsive.”

“That will never work.  Some men aren’t born brave.”

“They haven’t a choice.  More and more, the vampires are breaking through the ranks and making their way into the villages and woods beyond the battlegrounds.  It won’t be long before they’ve made their way here in droves.”

Their conversation faded as they continued, and Esther realized she’d been holding her breath as she listened.

Vampires?  Here?
  She wondered how much of that was simply idle chatter among the men.  Here and there, a vampire had slipped through their defenses, getting closer to the villages than anyone was comfortable with.  But, for the most part, the evening patrols were able to catch and kill them long before the villagers were ever in danger. 

Esther was willing to bet this was just a case of two young people trying to one-up each other.

She moved on, slipping through the gates and out into the clearing between the main fence and the forest. 

When she reached the forest’s edge, she picked up the pace.  She knew this area like the back of her hand so the soft glow of the moonlight was sufficient to guide her way.  She came upon a small clearing and her breath caught when she saw a man step out of the shadows.

***

Dallin stepped out of the shadows and Esther threw herself into his arms.  He kissed her warmly, pulling her tightly against him and inhaling the sweet scent of her.

“I’ve missed you,” he whispered softly against her ear.

“And I you.” 

He held her close and she closed her eyes, leaning into his warmth and strength.  His touch erased the strain of the day and she finally felt at peace.

“Did I keep you?”

“No.” he shook his head.  “My father was restless and took some time to fall to sleep.  I was worried that you would be alone, waiting for me in the woods.”

“For you, Dallin, I would wait an eternity.”

“As would I, my sweet.”

The kissed once more before Dallin led her further into the woods and trough a thicket that led to a small clearing. 

They were surrounded by closely growing trees on all sides but the sky was open above them.  The soft gray light illuminated their bodies as well as the ground before them.  Dallin had spread a thick quilt on the ground before them. 

Esther sat down, pulling Dallin down beside her.

She leaned against him, staring at the night sky and letting out the deepest sigh.  He wrapped one arm around her and pulled her closer, kissing the top of her head gently before resting his cheek there.

Esther knew she didn’t need to speak, and that Dallin would just be there, at her side with no explanation needed.  But her mother’s words wore heavily on her and she couldn’t hold the pain inside.

“Mother wishes to marry me off to a man in Bradenton.  There is another, but this man has piqued her interests.  No matter what I say, she just continues as if she’s doing me a favor.”

When Dallin didn’t say anything, Esther continued. 

“Is it wrong of me that I would rather leave this world than marry a man I do not love?”

“No, of course not.”

“I know that I said before I don’t wish to run away, but Mother is leaving me with little option.  My words fall on deaf ears and my wishes do not matter to her.  It’s like I’m simply a prize to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.”