Hunted Derick

Chapter Four - Bubble Gum Diner

★ Derick ★

“Rogues,” Carter screeched out in complete and utter fear. It is at this moment that I know I have to do everything in my power to protect him. I can see the look in his eyes as he turns to face me. I can see that he trusts me, that he is expecting me to protect him and I nod my head once. When Sally arrives at the table with our milkshakes, she seems to notice the five men standing outside, except she doesn’t realize that those five men aren’t exactly men.

“Woah, those guys look like they could use a shower,” she pointed out. Conner chuckled at her.

“Both of you stay here,” I order as I stood up and faced Sally. “Lock the doors,” I said before I rush outside. The first thing that I notice is the way they smell. Obviously, personal hygiene isn’t something they do since the smell coming off from them is revolting. Their clothes are torn, dirty and downright disgusting. The biggest rogue snarls before they all just start to shift. The process is so quick that in a blink of an eye, I am now staring at five wolves. Even in their wolf form, they looked dirty. Their fur looked as if it is caked with mud, dirt, and grime. And who knows what else is tangled up in their fur, but they just looked quite gross. Their snarls and growls revealed their yellow teeth, although still sharp. I didn’t hesitate to shift, allowing Parker to take over completely. The shift is no longer painful and happens so quickly, just in the blink of an eye.

★ Carter ★

Derick shifts and his wolf is beautiful. I’ve always thought so, his fur is pitch black and it shines in the sunlight. I watch as he starts to move, almost circling them. I’m worried though, there is five of them and only one of him. I want to go and help but I am not stupid, I’d die. Sally didn’t bother to lock up, like Derick had told her too, no, instead, she had just gone to the back to finish preparing our food.

“Do you think he will make it?” Conner asked and I quickly nodded. I had no idea if he would, but I had to remain positive that he would. I did not want to lose Derick. “I think I should help him,” Conner mumbled out, just loud enough for me to hear. “My wolf is going crazy,” he added as he stood up. He looked down at me and smiled. It was at times like these that I wished more than anything that I wasn’t weak, that I wasn’t the runt of the litter and that I could be useful and help. “Don’t worry little one, we will be right back,” before I could stop him, he was gone. He went out the door and I spotted his soft brown wolf join Derick. I didn’t want to watch, yet, I couldn't stop. Two against five, the odds were slim, but once again I told myself I had to be positive. Suddenly their growls got louder and I watched as three of the five charged towards Derick. The other two charged at Conner. I held my breath as I watched them fight. Conner managed to dodge the attack and counterattacks by sinking his teeth into one of them. The loud yelp of pain howled out sends shivers down my spine, but I cannot tear my gaze away. Derick tackles one of the three wolves to the ground and tears into the rogue’s neck. The rogue wolf goes limp and Derick quickly turns to the other two. One down, four to go. Conner is struggling to defend himself and although he is getting some attacks in, it is clear to see that his fur is matted with blood. His and theirs. I cringed at the sight and made a quick decision. I would join them. Help them as best that I could. Sally came over and I frowned as she placed the three plates onto the table. Was she not able to see what was happening out there?

“Here you go, three sloppy joes,” I noticed she glanced up, but she didn’t react to the wolf fight happening right outside her diner. “My money is on the rogues,” she said distractedly. I frowned and shifted to the corner. Her money is on the rogues?

“W-who are you?” I asked. She turned her attention to me as she tucked a stray blonde hair behind her ear, her cold blue eyes roamed over my small frame and she smirked.

“What are you? A mouse?” she laughed at her own stupid joke. “Don’t worry boy,” she said as she suddenly grabbed me by my top and pulled me out of the booth. “You won’t get to see who is going to win anyway, come on, let's go,” she started dragging me away and I struggled in her tight hold, she was definitely human, I could smell it. I opened my mouth to scream out, but she abruptly banged my head against another table. “Shut up runt!” I heard her growl out before it went dark. Damn it.

★ Derick/Parker ★

I moved out of the way, barely dodging the attack, I was already tired. These rogues where relentless. One lay dead but the other four were giving it there all. They were strong and I spotted Conner out of the corner of my eye being ganged upon. I made a quick decision and charged towards them. I managed to knock them off their feet, giving Conner a chance to get back up. I could see that the wolf was in pain, limping as he glanced over at me.

“Go and get help!” I shouted out through our mind link, but Conner shook his big wolf head.

“No!” he shouted back and before I could even think to argue, I felt the searing white-hot pain shoot through my neck as one of the wolves sunk their teeth in. I growled out as I tore myself away, Conner and the other wolves disappeared from my view as I focused on the wolf in front of me. I didn’t hesitate as I charged towards him, overpowering him with my weight as I ripped into his neck. The rogue whimpered before I twisted, snapping his neck. He lay limp for a moment but once again I was being attacked. I was pushed around as they tried to nip and bite at me. The parking lot was filled with our growls, howls, and snarls. Three wolves left, two were now trying to get me down while Conner was busy with the other one. I had only one goal. Protect Carter. Protect Carter. I chanted this as I dodged their attacks. I wanted this fight to be over with, I wanted to be by Carter’s side. I heard Conner yelp out in pain, and I looked over to see him down, the rogue on top of him. I felt the dread fill me up as I saw the life spill from the young wolf. My heart clenched as I rushed to him, but I didn’t make it as now all three wolves charged towards me. Holy s**t. What the hell am I going to do? I was physically tired and these three looked as if they could just keep going, I glanced back at the diner, but I couldn’t see Carter. I turned my attention back to the wolves and cringed, was this the end for me?

★ Candice (In the meantime) ★

I could not shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. It taunted me, almost as if my inner self knew something was going to happen. My wolf tried to talk but I shut her up as I did the one thing I only ever did when I got this kind of feeling. It was as if my senses, my gut was telling me that Carter is in danger. I pulled out my phone and called Keith. I wouldn’t call Carter or Conner for that matter, I never wanted them to know what I was doing, or where I was. I had enough enemies.

“Hello?” Keith answered after the fifth ring and I sighed out in relief.

“Keith, how are you?” I laid back on the bed as I cradled the phone between my ear and shoulder.

“Candice, hi! Um…” I sat straight up the second I heard his voice. Something was off. I damn well knew it.

“What is going on?” I demanded to know.

“Look, don’t worry about it ok? Derick is on it,” he said.

“Derick?”

“Yeah, our Alpha,”

“Wait, what happened to Alpha Ramon?” I asked, completely confused.

“Well, if I had a way of contacting you or you know if you’d contact me a lot more instead of once or twice a year, then I would be able to tell you that we moved,” Keith explained. I rolled my eyes at his nagging, but I did feel better that they had moved packs. Alpha Ramon was on my hit list. I was going to rip that asshole to shreds when I got the chance and now that I knew my family was no longer in that pack, I no longer had a reason to wait on killing the bugger.

“Ok, whatever, so where did you move too? And tell me about this Derick character,” I lay back down, getting comfortable.

“We are still in Savana but now we’ve joined a new pack in Ashcester Forest,” I smiled when I heard that. I had always thought Ashcester Forest would make a nice home for a pack. “Derick, our Alpha, well…”

“Just tell me, Keith,” I pushed. I wasn’t interested in him beating about the bush.

“Right so, Derick was a hunter, a human hunter,”

“WHAT?!” I screamed out in horror. “How the hell? Wait, what? Explain!”

“I was going to explain before you shouted in my f*****g ear, relax female,” I could hear the slight aggressiveness in his voice, but I brushed it off, relaxing as he had so politely requested. “Anyway, so Derick was changed and spent the last four years serving his time at the council prison for his crimes. Kaila, you know her, right?” he stopped and waited for me to answer and I rolled my eyes. Again.

“Keith, you know that I am familiar with the council members, so please, carry on with your story,” I snapped out annoyed.

“Right, ok, so anyway, Kaila helped Derick because even though he wasn’t born of Alpha blood, when he was changed, it became obvious that he is of Alpha blood. Anyway, so she helped him, and the word spread about a new pack. are you telling me you didn’t hear about any of this?” he suddenly stopped his story to ask me that. I thought about it and shrugged, even though he couldn’t see me.

“Possibly but I don’t really pay attention to that kind of thing,”

“Ok, well, the whole council supported Derick, Dimitry even sent some wolves over to help us set up camp and develop our village. It's done now you know? And it looks awesome, plus Derick made me the official Beta of the pack, how cool is that?”

“Very,”

“Well, I know you didn’t call to hear about that kind of thing but yeah, we moved here, and everything has been going good…” his voice trailed off and I knew that I had been right. Something was wrong.

“Tell me,” I demanded.

“Now, now, don’t get all worried and s**t, Derick and Carter have this weird connection kind of thing, but the twins ran away for some reason,”

“WHAT?!” I shouted out again, sitting up and nearly dropping the phone.

“Relax Candice, Derick went out to get them and he literally just called me about twenty minutes ago to let me know he found them both. They are going to have something to eat and then head back home,” I felt waves of relief wash over me but still that nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach taunted me.

“Give me the address of where they are,”

“Sure, I’ll text it to you, so Cand-” I interrupted whatever he was going to say as I hung up and waited for his text message. This whole thing was getting out of hand, I just knew it. I felt it. If anything happened to Carter, wolves were going to pay. With their lives.

Keith – Message Received ★ Bubble Gum Diner: Savana, good luck and let me know what is going on. I can’t get hold of Derick or Conner.

Oh, great now the changed Alpha wasn’t answering his damn phone. I reckoned I was about three hours away. Huh. Nice. I got up and grabbed my case and headed out to my car. I didn’t bother locking the motel room that I was staying at since I had all my personal belongings in my car or my case. My phone chimed again, and I quickly checked it before driving off.

Phoebe – Message Received ★ Send me your location, I have a job for you.

I growled out and quickly responded.

Candice – Message Sent ★ Heading to Savana to save my brothers, I’ll text you when I am done.

Phoebe – Message Received ★ Ok, good luck, let me know when you are ready for the job.

Candice – Message Sent ★ Ok, thanks, talk soon.

I shoved my phone in the glove compartment and headed to the diner in Savana.

★ ★ ★

“You have arrived at your destination,” the computerized voice on the GPS informed me and I turned into the parking lot. Bubble Gum Diner, as well as the motel, looked pretty much deserted. However, as I put the car in park, I could see four bodies lying in the parking lot in front of the diner itself. I quickly took out my all-time favorite handgun and carefully climbed out of the car and slowly made my way towards the bodies. My heart dropped and tears filled my eyes as I glanced over Conner’s lifeless body.

“Ah no, Con,” I mumbled as I blinked away the tears. Now was not the time to get emotional. I needed to focus and make sure no one else lurked around. I took note of the other three lifeless bodies and pushed open the doors of the diner. Soft pop music filled my ears as I looked around the very empty, very quiet diner. In the corner against the window, I spotted a table with drinks and food. I moved through the diner fairly quickly. Checking behind the counters, the kitchen, storeroom, office and finally the bathroom. Empty. No sign of anyone. I picked up on a very faint scent that belonged to Carter. Wherever he is, he isn’t here anymore. Putting my handgun away, I headed back outside and quickly retrieved my phone from my car. I dialed Keith’s number.

“Hello?”

“Conner is dead!” I cried out, finally giving in to the pain of losing my younger brother. I heard Keith cry out and him crying as he gave Jody the bad news. At some point, the line went dead, but I wasn’t too worried about it, Keith would call me back if he needed too. I knew that he and Jody were very close to Conner. They needed time, just like I did. I went to the back of the car and popped the hood, grabbing a blanket, I went back to Conner. His body was bloody, bruised and I could clearly see the tears in his skin. Anger filled me as I glanced over at the next body. Also, bloody, bruised with tears in his skin. He was dirty though and smelt terrible. “Rogues, ugh,” I quickly and gently wrapped Conner’s body in the blanket and took him back to my car. Making sure I didn’t break anything, I placed him in the boot. I felt terrible as I closed the hood. Damn it. Carter is still missing but the big question is, where the hell is this Derick wolf? I went back to the bodies and grabbed the hands of the one that was laying right by Conner. I dragged his body across the road to the wooded area. “Good riddance,” I said before I headed back across the street. No one needed to see three naked bodies laying in front of a diner. I grabbed the hands of the next body and dragged him across the street, right next to his buddy. “Ugh, why do you stink like that?” I asked out loud. Not expecting an answer, of course, I headed back across the road and just as I was about to grab the hands of the last body, my wolf decided now was the time to speak up.

“Listen,” she said, and I stopped and listened. I dropped the last body's hands and stood up straight.

“He isn’t dead?” I asked.

“No,”

“The others?” I turned in the direction I had dumped the other two bodies and wondered if they too were alive.

“No, they are dead,” my gaze shot over to my car. “No, he is dead,” she said before I could go and check if Conner is actually dead. I went back to the car anyway to get another blanket for the rogue that was still alive. I may not care about them but if he is still alive then I can’t just leave him there. I gently wrapped his body in the blanket. As I turned him onto his back, I froze. “Mate! Mate!” no way that could be possible, could it? The smell of blood and lemongrass filled my nose and I tilted my head in question as I stared at the wolf.

“Mate?”