Full Moon on the Lake

by D. M. Angel

  Michael walked over and opened the door to find a young boy standing there smiling nervously. He handed a bottle to Michael, “Doc said to give these to Jacob every four hours and to call if you need more.” Fidgeting he looked up at Michael with a serious face, “Sir, is Jacob ok? Is he in trouble?”

  Jacob hearing the small innocence in his voice answered, “Marc, I am fine.”

  Little Marcus peeked around Michael, “Jacob!” he said excitedly until he saw one cuff still on Jacob’s wrist. He looked up confused between Jacob and Derrick.

  Derrick turned to Jacob smirking impishly and in his most demanding voice announced, “Now Jacob, if you behave we will not have to put you in cuffs again.” Derrick smiled unlocking the cuffs.

  Jacob smirked back with that ‘I’ll get even with you later’ look, “Yes Sir, Sorry.” Looking down in as close to pitiful as he could muster with a smile on his face.

  “Now,” Derrick started out, “You are grounded to this room until you can behave, understood?”

  “Yes sir.” Jacob answered peeking over to Marcus who was staring eyes wide with his mouth open.

  Derrick turned facing the front of the cell and looked at Marcus as he walked to the door with an unyielding look on his face. Marcus suddenly felt he needed to be somewhere else, waved to Jacob turned away quickly and ran out the door. They all busted out laughing as the door swung shut. Caleb opened the cell door letting Derrick out. When it shut again with a ring of finality, the seriousness of Jacob’s situation came back. Derrick turn with an apologetic look at Jacob. Jacob just nodded that he understood and Derrick locked the cell.

  12

  Derrick walked down the hall and up the stairs taking two steps at a time with the intention of talking to Kyla about whatever seemed to be bothering her. It was now starting to really bother him and he didn’t even know what the problem was. Walking through the kitchen Derrick sees Jasmine fixing up a tray of food. “Where’s Kyla?” He asks impatiently.

  Jasmine continues fixing the tray, “She said she had to go talk to Leisa and Emily and would be back later. She asked me to tell you that lunch is in the fridge when you’re ready for it.”

  Derrick ran his fingers through his hair wondering if Kyla was trying to avoid him. Shaking his head and sighing, he decided ‘no’ they were always busy, just more so right now. “Thanks,” he answered, “if you see her will you let her know I am looking for her?”

  Jasmine replied, “Sure, no problem.”

  “Thanks, I’ll be in my office.” Derrick informed her stealing some meat and cheese off the tray and left the room.

  Having already read the copy of the police report Michael had left with him, Derrick started on the other pack paperwork he had not been able to get to for over a week now. He was working on the packs financial books when there was a tentative knock on the door and Caleb came in looking resigned. Taking the seat in front of the desk he tossed a folder of papers on the desk.

  Derrick picked up the papers looking at Caleb’s disturbed face. “That bad?” Derrick asked.

  “You are gonna have to read it; it makes for some, ahh… interesting reading?” Caleb smirked, “I don’t envy you having to be the one to explain this to the mating council. There are two parts, one if the mate is wolf, the other if she is human. I would read the human part and skip the other. I read them both they are about the same.” Caleb cleared his throat. “The human part of the instructions are extreme to say the least.” Caleb rose turned to leave then paused saying,

  “You may wanna grab a drink before you get started.” laughed uneasily and left.

  Derrick opened the folder, reading the title and the first paragraph, set the papers down. Looking at the door Caleb just walked through in shocked confusion, rose and walked over to the cabinet. Opening the glass doors, he grab a bottle of whiskey, and downed a couple of gulps before grabbing a glass and walked back to his desk. He set the glass down on the desk filling it, took another swig then slammed the bottle down sloshing the contents around violently in the bottle.

  Derrick stared at the folder in disbelief for a few minutes wishing the contents would change. Picking up the papers again, he skimmed through them quickly and thought, ‘you gotta be fucking kidding me!’

  Reading through the papers a second time, he was foolishly hoping to find a little yellow post –it with the little message saying, ‘ha ha, got you! Just kidding!’ Derrick’s phone choose that moment to ring interrupting his thoughts. “What!?” Derrick answered discouraged. “Oh! Yeah. Ok, be right there. Have him take a seat in the living room.” Hanging up Derrick closed the folder and sighed. For some reason, Derrick thought laughing to himself, he had forgotten all about the interview with the sheriff.

  Derrick walked into the living room seeing a man in his late-30’s standing by the couch looking out the windows. He was just starting to gray a bit at his temples, turning looked at Derrick with gray-green eyes. He walked confidently toward Derrick, rubbing his hand on his uniform pants, then reached out to shake Derrick’s hands. “Hello Mike Jamison, Waverly Sheriff.” He said with a firm grip.

  “Derrick Lycan,” Derrick said nodding back in acknowledgement, then waved toward the couch. “Have a seat.”

  Jamison nodded then sat. “We have all the information we need but, I wanted to confirm some of the incidences with you and Ms. Bentley.” He starts pulling out a notebook from his top shirt pocket.

  Derrick notices the man has experience that has aged him in the wrinkles etched around his face. The shadow of too many deaths lay hauntingly deep within his eyes. “Military service?” he asks, already knowing the answer.

  “Yes,” Mike looks up, “you as well.” inquires more as a statement than a question. He looks back to his notes not expecting an answer. Thumbing through the pages he stops and looks up, “To confirm Ms. Bentley was taken against her will?”

  “Yes, in the middle of the night.” Derrick starts, “One of my security employees, Serena Johns, was hurt during the act.”

  “Yes, I have already talked to her.” The officer stated, as he flips noisily looking through the pages. “Kathleen Bentley is here on the property?” At Derrick’s nods as he continues, “How long has she been here?”

  “Several weeks.”

  “Uh huh” Sheriff Mike sounded as he kept reading his notes. Without looking up he asked Derrick, “Can you tell me to the best of your knowledge, exactly what you understand happened that night?”

  “I don’t understand, I know what happened.” Derrick said, a slight growl emphasized his statement. Mike’s head jerked up to stare at Derrick. Derrick took a deep breath to calm himself, “Sorry this has all been very hard on all of us. Daniela has become part of our family and were dismayed by the whole incident. When Daniela, Ms. Bentley” Derrick corrected, “moved here we greeted her as neighbors, we began interacting and became close. She became a part of our society. She explained who she was; only a few of us know her real name by the way.” Derrick volunteered to explain the name differences. “Daniela and Serena were at the cabin sleeping when they heard a noise outside. Serena went to investigate. It was then that she was shot with the tranquilizer and knocked unconscious.”

  Derrick continued feeling a need to explain, “We are an agrarian society and most do not understand we like to live off the land as much as possible. We do not believe in fences and hold no one against their will. But there are those that think we are some sort of cult so we have people who walk the perimeter to protect us from vandals.”

  Mike nodded when Derrick paused in thought, “Understandable.”

  “When she told us who she was and her fears, we increased our security. Most of the men and some women here are ex-military with families and long for the isolation and peace from the rest of the world.” Derrick saw the understanding and longing for that kind of peace in Mike’s eyes,

  “Continue.” Was all Mike said into the silence, remaining professional.

  “After Kate was abducted, w
e had a team look for clues as to where they may have taken her. We found a spot on the other side of the lake from her place, where they had been camped, watching her over several days. With our experience and the evidence we found, we determined they were in an SUV, black for stealth and surmised they would be in Waverly. We made some calls to other members who live outside the uhh…,” Derrick stutters a second then continued, “the area and found out where they had taken her. We rescued her from their hotel room and brought her back to our compound to be seen by our Doctor.”

  Derrick watched as Mike scribbled notes in his book. “The perpetrators are not talking and you think it was her ex-husband that is behind all of this?” Mike asked looking up from his paperwork.

  “We had our suspicions, and when our head of security talked with them after we got Ms. Bentley back they claimed they did not know who had hired them.” Derrick replied factually.

  “Mr. Lycan,” Mike inquired looking around the room, “Why didn’t anyone call us when Ms. Bentley was missing?” closing his notebook he looked straight at Derrick. Derrick returned the look.

  After several moments, Derrick finally breaking the silence volunteered, “Ms. Bentley is part of our community, therefore, is under our protection. We needed to act fast and we are trained to handle such emergencies.” Continuing in a matter of fact attitude, smiling boyishly. “We did call you after Ms. Bentley was rescued.”

  Mike stared at Derrick, shook his head and stood, “Yes you did but, do me a favor. Next time call me before you go rescuing someone.” Smiling he lightened he reprimand, “It is my job you know.”

  “I need to speak with Ms. Bentley; I was told she is here?” Mike questioned.

  “Yes,” Derrick stated as he stood, “she is upstairs in her room. She is staying here until she recuperates and we are sure she is safe.” Derrick walked toward the stairs gesturing Mike to follow. As they started to walk up the stairs, Mike laid a hand on Derrick halting him.

  “There is one thing you need to be aware of before we see Ms. Bentley.” Derrick turned around to face Mike. Mike looked at Derrick with regret in his eyes as he ran his hand over the short crop of hair on his head. “The kidnappers have been bonded out.” Sighing in frustration, “We do not know who or where the bond came from or how they worked so fast, but we thought you should know.”

  “Thank you, we may want to keep this information from Daniela until she is feeling better.” Derrick placed his hand on the officer’s arm in friendship. “We will increase our security.” Derricks mind worked rapidly over all the security measures they were already taking.

  Mike seeing the worry cloud Derrick face slapped him on the back, “Just remember to call me if trouble comes again.” He wasn’t sure why but he felt a kinship to Derrick and he knew Derrick felt the same.

  “This way.” Derrick said as he walked the rest of the way up the stairs and down the hallway, he stopped and knocked on one of the doors.

  “Come in.” Kate said tiredly as she turned to open her eyes.

  The door opened with Derrick leading another man through the doorway. Derrick walked over and stood by the bed, “How are you feeling Daniela?” He asked as he took her hand, looking at her face for any signs of stress.

  “I am feeling much better thank you and everyone else for all you did to save me.” She said wearily, “Kyla was with me all morning, she left just a few minutes ago.” She added when she saw Derrick glancing around the room expectantly.

  Derrick nodded then spoke, “This is Sheriff Jamison; he would like to talk to you. Do you feel like answering his questions?”

  Kate looked from Derrick to Mike, “I can try but it is all kind of fuzzy still.”

  Mike stood observing the bruises on the woman’s face as a rage started to build inside him. What kind of man could someone hurt a woman like this? Derrick’s head came up at what could have sounded like a very low growl emanating from deep in Mike’s chest and stared intently into Mike’s face. Mike saw Derrick’s confused look and took a deep breath calming himself then cleared his throat. “Ms. Bentley, I won’t keep you.” He started calmer. “Do you think this was in anyway something your ex-husband had perpetrated?”

  Kate shivered remembering the threat Garret made the last time she saw him and the letter she had received just a few days ago. She look up sheepishly at Derrick, “Can you hand me my purse over on the dresser please?” Derrick looked a Kate suspiciously, then turned around and grabbed her purse handing it to her, holding it in his grasp a second looking at her in question and reprimanding. Kate lowered her eyes, “Thank you.” She whispered.

  Opening her purse she handed the officer an envelope. Derrick shook his head and looked over Mike’s shoulder as he opened the letter,

  I told you I would find you. You were warned.

  Was all that the note said. Mike looked at the envelope turning it over then at the letter again, “Smart. No return address, no signature and no post marking.” Looking up at Derrick then to Kate, “And I will bet there will be no prints other than yours Ms. Bentley and the postmaster’s.” Mike ran his hands through his hair in what Derrick now understood was Mike’s tell of frustration.

  “Well, that is all for now Ms. Bentley.” Mike Reach out and shook her hand then turned to leave. When he reached the door he turned back looking at Derrick then to Kate, “Next time you get something like this you might want to let Derrick or myself know right away.” then walked out the door. Derrick gave her that ‘we will talk about this later look and followed Mike out closing the door firmly behind him.

  “Thank you for the information you shared with me.” Derrick stated, looking at Mike trying to figure out why his wolf was on guard. Mike turned back standing at the front door and shook his hand firmly,

  “Sharing information could be beneficial to all of us.” Then turned and walked out the door leaving Derrick wondering as he closed the door.

  Derrick turned around looking at the room wondering and trying to process everything he had learned about today, wondering how he was going to get control over everything. He hadn’t even figured out what was wrong with his mate yet. Damn, where was she? Was she deliberately avoiding him? No, he has been busy with pack business and she had probably been too, it was just fate that kept them apart.

  13

  Derrick looked at the clock seeing as he had missed lunch and walked to the kitchen. Leisa was busy making dinner and looked up, “Looking for Kyla? She just went to Maryanne’s with Jasmine, she is in labor.” Derrick sighed, “Well that will be cause for celebration, not that wolves need an excuse.” Derrick snickered and smiled back. Leisa turned to face him handing him a ham sandwich she made knowing he was hungry, “So when are you and Kyla going to bless the pack with a new member of your own?”

  Derrick chewed the bite he took and looked at Leisa swallowing, “Not sure Kyla is ready for the next step in our relationship.”

  Leisa looked intently into his eyes, the wrinkles on her face from a life lived to the fullest. Laugh lines of all the happiness she had shared with others, scrutinized his face, “The question is Derrick, are you ready?” she asked him then turned not waiting for him to answer.

  Derrick paused mentally wondering if she was right; was he ready? He decided to check on Kyla walking into the community room he found it empty. Testing his link he pushed to make sure she was alright, not wanting to intrude, he just needed to feel her safe. The line connected right away, a powerful feeling of love broke through, a love so strong his knees started to buckle almost knocking him down to the floor. As Derrick braced his hand on the wall as he closed the link thinking this is what he had been missing. This connection was what he needed. If this was how she felt with someone else’s baby, maybe he was holding her back. Maybe it was time to start a family.

  Derrick felt he needed a run to relive some of the tension that was building inside of him. He needed to sort through all the information running rampant through his mind. He walked through the community room t
o the large sliding glass doors and out to the back with the intention of going to pack rock, undressing and running. Instead he stood there dumb founded when a soccer ball hit him in the chest.

  Holding the ball in his hands he looked around curious to see a group of preteens standing together looking very guilty. ‘Why not?’ he thought laughing to himself as he walked over toward the kids. This was certainly one way to burn off steam; and it had been a very long time since he had interacted with the pack kids. He looked over and saw Eric walking toward the pack house, “Eric!” he yelled in his alpha voice. The kids cringed thinking they were in deep trouble.

  Eric turned, walking toward Derrick eyeing the ball in his hands then toward the guilty faces of the kids. He looked at the smile in Derrick’s eyes and smirked back.

  “Yes sir, how may I help?”

  “You busy right now?” Derrick said with his back to the kids, smiling.

  “No sir, do we need to teach these young pups a lesson in respect sir?” Eric asked looking hard at the kids behind Derrick a smile in his eyes.

  “I think we must show these young pups proper control. Don’t you think that would be a valuable lesson for them?”

  “Oh, yes sir!” Eric grabbed the ball from Derrick yelled for five of the biggest boys leaving Derrick with three girls and the two youngest boys. The kids gathered laughing at what they now realized was a challenge and not a reprimand. Derrick laughing at Eric shamelessness, threw down the gauntlet,

  “What? The sides are so uneven? Won’t you feel at a disadvantage??”

  Kyla held the newest member of the pack, the love inside came overflowing out of her heart. A tear slid slowly down her cheek, the joy she felt so over whelmed her. Was it for this new life she held in her arms or was it for the baby she carried? She feels Derrick’s touch for a moment in her mind. Her heart erupts even more with love abounding through like a sudden flood. How is she going to tell him?