Beautiful Creatures Series

Chapter 15: 13

When they reached the restaurant, Aurora felt like a queen. The restaurant’s dining room lights were dimmed, and every table had a tea candle centrepiece and wine-red linen tablecloths. The hostess showed them to their table, and Stanton pulled out her chair, Aurora. As she sat down, he slid her closer to the table then took the chair next to her instead of the one across the table so he could be closer to her and they could talk.

When the waitress asked what they would like, they ordered the most expensive thing on the menu. Aurora might have felt bad about the cost of the evening if she hadn’t known that Stanton made damn good money. Besides, it wasn’t like she demanded this kind of pampering all the time but every once and a while, a little pampering was deserved; and the goofy grin on Stanton’s face and the way his thumb traced circles around the back of her hand as he held it told Aurora he was enjoying their night out as much as she was.

They had enjoyed their dinner and the lavage dessert that came after. They drank a whole bottle of wine between them. They sat close, holding hands and whispering to one another. They had been sitting at that table for some time, the world around seeming miles away. It was a perfectly beautiful moment. “You look remarkable tonight, Hummingbird. I can’t wait to get you home and watch that silk fall to the floor,” Stanton whispered to her.

“You say the sweetest things,” she giggled.

“I’ll pay the bill, and we can get out of here.”

“Ok, I’m going to go freshen up, and I’ll meet you at the door,” she said, standing up. After a bottle of wine, she needed a few moments in the ladies’ room. She had been in the washroom for mere minutes, and when she exited, she found herself blocked by a man on his way to the men’s room.

She stepped to the side to go around him, but he stepped in front of her. He was a good-looking, clean- cut business type, but she disliked the sleazy grin he had. “How much?”

“Excuse me?” She asked, shocked. A million men had asked her that question, but usually when she was half-naked on the street. Tonight, she was the picture of class in a reparable restaurant. Why would he ask her that?

“I asked how much?”

“For what?” She still couldn’t believe this was happening.

“To fuck you, Sugar Tits,” he said as he placed his hand on her hip.

Aurora was shaken by this unexpected advance. She could feel panic. She pushed him away, knocking him into the wall so she could get past him. With him out of her way, Aurora made a discrete dash for the door. She stepped out the front door and into the night air. She paused on the sidewalk and tried to catch her breath. She was horrified by what had happened.

“Hey, Hummingbird,” Stanton purred as he wrapped his arm around her, and she jumped, pushing him off her.

Surprised by her sudden rejection of him, Stanton stepped back and looked her over. “What happened?” He asked, his expression becoming hard when he saw the tears in her eyes. “Something happened, don’t tell me it didn’t.”

“I just want to go home,” she barely managed. She didn’t want him to know why she was upset.

“Fine, let’s go,” he said and started toward the SUV. Aurora took a few steps to follow, thinking of the man who had propositioned her. She paused as her embarrassment became a rage. Oh, hell no, he wasn’t getting away with that shit. Aurora turned around and stormed back to the restaurant. “Where the hell are you going?” Stanton asked, following her back into the restaurant.

Aurora pushed past the Hostess, who tried to stop her. She spotted the offensive man at the bar in the lounge, and she marched herself right up to him. He smiled when his friends pointed her out. “Well, look at this. Did you reconsider?” Aurora walked right up to him and slapped him so hard in the face she knocked him right out of his chair and onto the floor. She then stomped one foot down on his throat, the spike of her heel pressed painfully against the hollow of his throat. His hand reached up and grabbed her calves, trying to move her legs, but as a Lycanthrope, she was much stronger than this asshole. If she applied pressure, she could drive the heel of her shoe right through his neck and watch him bleed out.

Stanton grabbed Aurora by the arm and pulled her off the man beneath her. He pushed her back a few steps and stood between her and the object of her rage as the john got up off the floor with his friend’s help. “Hummingbird, stop. What the hell are you doing?”

“Stupid fucking whore,” the other man growled now that he was on his feet.

“Oh, hell no,” Stanton growled as he turned to face the man drawing himself to his full monstrous height. “Now, you have me to deal with.”

The offensive man backed up until his back hit the bar as Stanton approached him in a threatening way. “Are you her fucking pimp?” Aurora felt her anger grow, as did her evil smile as she heard the low growl rumble in Stanton’s throat.

Out of fear, the offender grabbed the bottle of beer he had been drinking by the neck and slammed it against the bar shattering the glass and then he turned it on Stanton, who was unconcerned with the makeshift weapon. Stanton snarled as he lunged, and the other man drove the broken bottle into Stanton’s face.

Aurora screamed in fear as her hands covered her mouth as Stanton wailed in pain and turned to face Aurora, both his hands over his face, the broken bottle lodged in his face right into his left eye. “Oh, my

God,” Aurora panicked when she saw his other eye begin to glow. His anger and pain consuming him. He was going to change and tear this man apart in front of a hundred witnesses. Aurora grabbed Stanton’s face and forced him to look into her eyes. “No, don’t go, wolf… don’t go wolf… not here.”

She managed to calm him just enough. She urged him to follow her out of the restaurant. Holding on to his arm, she walked him quickly to the SUV.

“We need to get you to the hospital,” she said, opening the passenger door and helping him get in. She was going to have to drive.

“No hospital,” he rejected the idea.

“Damn it. This is not the time to be tough. You have a fucking glass bottle in your eye.”

“I’m a Lycanthrope. Hospitals run tests. They will realize I’m not human.”

“What do we do?”

“Take me to Gordon,” he ordered. “Turn here. His studio is not far.”

Aurora followed Stanton’s direction, and they pulled into a parking spot just outside a tattoo parlour. The sign in the window read “Blood Moon Studios” The lights were on inside. Aurora hopped out and rushed around the front of the SUV to open the door and help Stanton out. She took his arm, and they walked to the door and went inside. As the door opened, it chimed, alerting those inside that someone had come in.

Gordon came out of the backroom and paused with a shocked look when he saw Stanton. “Good God, what happened?” Aurora helped Stanton into the tattoo chair, and Gordon inspected the broken glass spilling out of Stanton’s eyes. The whole site was raw and bloody.

“He was defending me, and some asshole stabbed him in the face.”

“Take it out,” Stanton growled.

“No,” Aurora said, stopping them, “It’s in his eye. You can’t take it out. He needs to go to the hospital.”

“No,” Gordon shot down her, “that is the quickest way to get us all killed. Ok,” He said, touching the bottle lightly as he moved around, trying to examine the bottle at all possible angles trying to decide what was the best way to remove it. “If we can get it out without popping his eye out, he can regenerate and heal.”

“If you pop his eye out, can he grow it back?” Aurora asked.

Gordon gave her a funny look. “We are wolves, not lizards. We can heal, not regrow body parts,” he inspected the wound once more. “Ok,” he said, getting a good grip on the bottle. He placed his free hand on the wound, doing his best to hold things together. “I’m going to pull it out. This is going to hurt. Take a deep breath.”

Aurora held Stanton’s hand as he took a few quick breaths and braced himself. Gordon very carefully pulled. The bottle slowly slid back. It only took a few seconds. The last of the glass was removed from his eye. Gordon placed the broken bottle on the closes counter and then came back and inspected the damage done to Stanton’s face.

“Oh God, the glass sliced your eye right in half,” Gordon said as he examined it quickly. “I don’t know if that is going to heal. Give it a try.”

Aurora watched hopefully as Stanton’s good eye began to glow. Slowly the gashes around his eye began to mend and heal. The halved eye grew back into a single round organ once more. Aurora bit her bottom lip and hoped it would heal more, but as his glow faded, Aurora noticed the wound healed into a jagged scar across his eye, and the eye itself was different. The colour was gone from the iris and had become a foggy milky white.

“Damn,” Gordon shook his head. “It didn’t heal right. He held up three fingers in front of Stanton. “How many fingers do you see?”

“Three,” Stanton replied.

Gordon moved his hand to the side of his injured eye and held up two fingers. “How about now?”

Stanton shook his head. “I can’t see your hand at all.”

Gordon frowned. “Well, I’m not a doctor, but I think it is a safe bet to say you are blind in that eye. That’s going to fuck with your peripheral vision and your depth perception.”

Aurora walked over to the bench by the wall and sat down, her head hung. She covered her face and sobbed. She felt terrible that she had been responsible for Stanton’s injury. Had she not lost her temper, he wouldn’t have lost the use of his eye.

Stanton climbed out of the chair and walked over to Aurora. He squatted down in front of her and took both her hands in his huge calloused hands. And looked into her eyes. “Don’t cry, Hummingbird.”

“It’s my fault you are blind,” she sobbed.

“No, this isn’t your fault.”

“If we had just gone home, you would still have both eyes.”

“And let that asshole get away with what he did, not a fucking chance,” he reached up and wiped the tears away. Don’t cry. I love you, Hummingbird, and I would happily pluck both my eyes out to defend you.”

“What happened?” Gordon asked.This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

Stanton stood up and turned to Gordon. “Some jackass was talking to her like she was a prostitute. When I tried to set him right, he stabbed me,” Gordon did not say anything, but he looked thoughtful.

“Ok, kids, why don’t you head home and rest,” Gordon suggested. He then leaned in and whispered something into Stanton’s ear. Stanton nodded, and then he and took Aurora’s hand in his urging her to stand.

“He’s right. Let’s go home. It’s been a long night,” Aurora did not know what Gordon had said, and she had a feeling that Stanton was not going to share it with her.

Aurora drove them home, and they had a drink as they watched some TV in an attempt to relax. Eventually, Aurora fell asleep on the couch. While in a sleepy haze, Aurora felt Stanton lift her in his arms and take her to bed. He laid her down and tucked her in. She started to doze once more when she heard the front door open and close. Aurora opened her eyes and noticed she was alone. She got out of bed and went to the door. She looked out to see Stanton’s SUV missing. Now, where the hell did he go?

***

Stanton stood outside a large impressive house. Gordon and the boys were standing next to him on the street as they all stared at the house. “He’s in there?” Gordon asked.

“I can smell him,” Stanton confirmed. They had gone back to the restaurant to see if he could catch the man’s scent. Stanton was able to pick out his scent from all the others, and they tracked the scent to this house.

Darrell adjusted his hat and then grinned at the rest of them. “Well, I say we knock and say hello.”

The small group walked up to the house, and Stanton knocked. It was late, well past midnight, and he was certain the homeowner was sleeping. He knocked three more times, refusing to leave. He could

hear someone complaining on the other side of the door as a light came on inside. The door opened, and Stanton was facing the man that had insulted Aurora and blinded him.

The man looked Stanton up and down and then looked around at the other men with him. “What the fuck is this?”

“Payback,” Stanton growled, and the man’s eyes widened in horror as he watched the faces of every man change into something monstrous. Their hands became claws, and their fangs descended.

Gordon stepped forward. “If I were you, I would run,” he snarled.

The man tried to slam the door, but Stanton kicked it open, and they all went inside, shutting the busted door behind them so no one could see the pack rip him apart.