Hunted Derick

Chapter Eleven - Crush

★ Carter ★

The rogue situation had been dealt with and things had gone back to normal. Or at least, as normal as it could. The relationship between Candice and Derick was growing on a daily basis and I wasn’t against it, but I did feel lonely. I was working on getting to know Candice and trying to rebuild or actually in our case, just to build our sibling relationship but it wasn’t easy. Once again, I was laying on my side under my favorite tree in the forest, paging through the hunter's book I had taken from my sister. It was interesting and informative. Yet, I couldn’t help but wonder how Derick fitted into all of this. There was a lot I could understand but then again, a lot confused me. I let the book close and I turned onto my back. Derick would be angry if he knew I was here. He didn’t like me leaving the pack grounds unless he was around. Very protective over me. That was ok and I smiled thinking about Conner. He would be teasing me right now, my crush on Derick was very much misplaced but there wasn’t much I could do about it. My Alpha had saved my life and protected me as much as he could, and I was forever grateful.

“What are you doing?” well, that happened a lot sooner than I had thought it would. I glanced up at Derick and gave him a sheepish smile. “What am I going to do with you?” he asked fondly.

“Love me forever!” I sang out making Derick chuckle as he sat down next to me when I sat up and leaned against the tree. Derick spotted the hunters book and I almost panicked, but then I thought this might be the perfect time to ask him about it.

“Tell me about your days being a hunter,” I basically demanded. Derick glanced over at me and then groaned as he looked away.

“Really? Is that really something you want to know about?” he asked, and I quickly nodded. “Well, I am not proud of who I was Carter, I hurt a lot of people and wolves,” he started but I remainded silent, giving him the time to talk. “My father introduced me to it and honestly, at first it was not something I wanted. But, as time went on and my family continued to push me into it,” he paused then and ran his fingers through his hair roughly. I felt bad but my curiosity was killing me. I loved hearing his voice and enjoyed his stories, even if they were horror stories. “You see Carter, my father was an avid hunter, and one day he came home with a she-wolf and her daughter. He had forced her to marry him and that alone is sick. At the time, I didn’t even realize it,”

“And the daughter? Where is she now?” I asked.

“Laura lives with her own pack now,” he answered. “Anyway, having shifters in the house was hard but my father still continued to push me into that lifestyle. Soon, I found myself hating shifters just as much as he did,”

“But what about the two females?”

“That was different. I actually liked them and didn’t bother with them too much. Laura and I had a strained friendship, but we always looked out for one another. When my father died, they didn’t waste any time in leaving. They even asked me to go with them, but I refused. I became the leader of my father's hunters gang and they happily accepted me. We used that,” he pointed at the hunter's book. “As our guide. We learned everything there was to know about shifters. My hatred only grew,” I listened closely, and I couldn’t help but realize that right now Derick was reliving his past, although he was talking, I didn’t think he was aware of me anymore. “Back then I was Derick Howes, Detective on the police force. I loved my job. Detective by day, a hunter by night. I thought I was happy, comfortable, you know?” he turned to me then and I was surprised to see that he was actually expecting me to answer, so I did.

“Derick Howes, you had a life, a job then?”

“Yeah, I was married too,” he chuckled without humor at this and my mouth hung open.

“Married?!” I exclaimed and he nodded.

“Yes, married. I was such a family man too, but it wasn’t meant to be,” he said sadly. I wondered then where his wife was. I also could not help but feel jealous.

“Where is she?” I asked.

“Dead,” he stated, and I cringed. Damn. She was dead.

“Tell me about her, please?” I begged softly. I was now curious to know about the woman he had married and how she had ended up dead. It was quiet for so long, that I thought he wouldn’t tell me about her but then he sighed and leaned on my shoulder.

“Kamila was an attractive woman, smart and funny. We met in college and she was an aspiring artist. I had never met anyone so honest and good. I had fallen in love with her so quickly and our relationship moved quite fast. She worked at an art gallery in our town and she was doing well. When I got a job offer, she didn’t hesitate to move states with me and so, we moved, and I became a Detective and the hunter's gang just followed. Three weeks into the job, I learned about a pack situated close by. The Mayor had come to the station to talk about an alliance with the wolves. I was disgusted and sent men out to the pack to spy. At first, nothing was of much interest to me about their day to day lives but then one day…” Derick’s voice trailed off and I rested my head on his shoulder, giving him silent comfort in away. “One day my men followed two wolves into town. They where getting supplies and so on. Kamila was working at a studio not far from home and one of those wolves had met her. Now, I already knew all about mates, I didn’t quite understand it, but I was aware of it, obviously. Anyway, I later learned that Kamila was mated to that wolf. Frank Mitchel. He was the beta of that pack. I was furious, I was beyond angry with the situation and I changed towards Kamila. She didn’t realize anything at first, although she was friendly with Frank, she was still loyal,” once again his voice trailed off but this time it was because of Candice. I picked up on her scent and she soon walked into the clearing.

“Here you two are, I was wondering,” she said, and Derick shifted slightly until I moved off his shoulder, and then he stood up to greet her. I growled lowly as I watched them embrace and I rolled my eyes at their cuteness. She had interrupted our conversation and I wasn’t happy. “So, what are you two talking about?” she asked. I glanced over at Derick and he avoided my gaze.

“My past,” he eventually admitted, and I wanted to slap him. Sure, Candice should know about his past but hell, I wanted to know it first.

“Oh,” was all she said. She looked hurt actually and I figured it was because he had been talking to me about his past and not her.

“Yeah, but anyway, we should head back,” Derick said as he held out a hand to me. I smiled and happily took his hand for him to hoist me up. We walked back to the packhouse in silence, Derick in the middle. Stupid Candice, why did she have to come and interrupt.

★★★

It wasn’t till four days later that Derick found me once again under that tree and I wasted no time in recapturing our conversation.

“I knew you would be here,” he said when he sat down, and I smiled welcoming him.

“Yeah, I like this spot,” I said as I looked around. The small clearly was perfect and the sunlight reflecting off from the river seemed to warm up the surrounding spot. I loved to just sit here and watch nature do its thing.

“It’s a good spot, we should’ve put the packhouse here,” he said, and I immediately turned to give him hell, but I saw his amused smile and snorted.

“Hmm, so, are you going to finish telling me your story?” I asked, trying to act casual about it. Derick didn’t say anything, and I thought I may have overstepped my boundaries, again.

“Where did I end off?” he finally asked, and I thought about that for a moment.

“Your wife and that wolf were friends,” I said, remembering where he had ended.

“Ah yes, I had them watched and they would have coffee or conversations at the gallery. I was itching to confront both of them, but I left it. When Frank started visiting our home, that’s when I really started to worry. So, I did the right thing and set up cameras in my home,” he laughed then, a short quick angry laugh that made me flinch. “Soon after that, they started having an affair. He explained to her about mates and wolves, I think he was hoping she would leave me and be with him. Kamila wasn’t quite like that though and she stayed with me. I stopped her from leaving the house, I stopped her from doing a lot of things as punishment. Honestly, Carter, towards the end there, I was not a particularly good husband to her,” he glanced over at me and I could see the pain in his eyes. From what I’ve heard of his past so far, he hasn’t had it extremely easy.

“What happened?” I asked softly.

“I scouted his pack and then we attacked. It was meant to be a threat to scare them. To scare Frank away from my wife but…but it all went very wrong,” he explained. “No one was meant to get hurt,” he said quietly, and I leaned against him. “The Alpha and Luna were killed,” I gasped in shock. Derick quickly looked at me and once again I could see the pain and sadness in his eyes. “It really was an accident but of course, the pack didn’t see it that way and I don’t blame them honestly. It was the very next day, I was at the station talking to some of my men. I was planning to approach the pack and apologize and explain since I found out that the Alpha’s son would be taking over the pack and I was worried,”

“About?”

“I was worried he would come after me or my men, but I never got the opportunity to speak to him,” Derick paused and then shook his head. “One of my men called me and said that Frank had just shown up in town, at a motel with his wife and kid,”

“What! He is married?!” I couldn’t believe it. “And a kid! What the hell?”

“I am not sure what his situation was with his wife and kid, but she wasn’t his mate, Kamila was. Anyway, I ordered my men to keep an eye on them and Frank left the motel, and can you guess where he went too?” Derick asked me.

“To your home?”

“Yup,” he said, popping the ‘p’. “And do you know what he did when he got to my home?” he then asked, and I shook my head. “He killed Kamila,”

“He did what?!” now I was truly shocked. “He killed his mate, your wife?”

“I ordered his wife, Dora, to be taken to my home and do you know what I did then?” I didn’t answer and he continued. “I murdered her in front of him,” Derick stated. He wasn’t proud, or boastful, he was simply stating the facts of what happened. “And after that, I killed him,” so far, that was four people’s blood on his hands. No, not people, wolves.

“What happened to you, Derick?” I asked curiously. “I mean, why did you do it?”

“I lost my mind when Kamila was killed. I was so worried about that Alpha coming for me and my men that I was already stressed and then seeing Frank kill my love, yeah, it hurt. I never meant for any of it to happen. I spared their kid's life though,” Derick shifted slightly, and I looked at him.

“You spared their kid, so where is the kid now?” I asked.

“I called Laura, I asked if she would come and take the kid,” Derick explained, and I nodded. In his state of mind, he still spared the life of that kid.

“How old was she?”

“Young, maybe two, maybe three, give or take a year or so,” he said, and I thought about that poor female, her parents murdered.

“What happened then?” I pushed, eager to know.

“I made a full-on attack on that pack, locked up all the males, and made the females slaves and sluts. I am not proud of that time in my life, I was truly riddled with revenge and hatred. The new Alpha, Stephan, I claimed his wife as my own. Well, when I say claimed, I did no such thing, but I sure as hell wanted too,” I shook my head sadly, I didn’t like hearing this. “But she escaped and called for help, the council stepped in and all of that, but we got away and I planned another attack, however, this time, Stephan got me,”

“How?” I asked.

“I still don’t know how he found out, but he did, and then, well, he and his beta changed me and my men. We were arrested by the council and I was sentenced to five years,” he explained. “After four long years, I was released on good behavior,” he laughed. “K worked with me, helped me through a lot of my anger, my sadness and she really helped me to accept myself,”

“Who is K?”

“Kaila,” he said, and I nodded. “She and the council helped me get this place,” he looked around and smiled, but I could still see he was sad. “Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and not do the things I had done,”

“Yeah,” I mumbled out. “But Derick, Stephan gave you a second chance at life,” I pointed out. “I mean, not only are you the Alpha of your very own pack but you’ve met your mate too,” I hated saying it, I was still jealous of Candice. No one knew how many times I wished I had been his mate and not my sister. I should be happy for both of them, but it is so hard to ignore my own feelings.

“Yes, I do believe that he did give me a second chance at life,” Derick agreed.

“Did you ever speak to him afterward?” I asked curiously. I could just imagine how that would go down.

“I thought about it while I was in prison. Kaila had suggested that and she had even gone so far as to contact him, but I was a coward,” he bowed down in shame, or at least I assumed so.

“You aren’t a coward,” I stated simply.

“Maybe, but I definitely was during that time, it wasn’t until the last year that I asked Kaila to contact Stephan,” I was pleasantly surprised and waited for him to continue. “At first, he refused but I kept asking and Kaila kept asking him and eventually he came to see me,” I wanted desperately to know what had happened between the two of them, but I waited patiently. “He gave me a piece of his mind,” Derick laughed, and my eyes opened wide. What was funny about a wolf giving you a piece of your mind? I wondered.

“I don’t understand, how did he give you a piece of his mind to you?” I frowned as I tried to understand this.

“Oh Carter, it’s an expression, in other words, Stephan told me how s**t I was and how angry he was with me for getting his parents killed and for all the trouble I caused his pack,” Derick leaned forward and picked up a fallen leaf. I watched as he twirled it between his fingers. “But overall, Stephan is a good guy and he forgave me for everything, and it wasn’t until that moment that I finally forgave myself. I still had nightmares about my horrid past, but I have to remind myself that I am not that person anymore, hell, I am not even all human anymore. Stephan knows how much I regret what happened to his parents and he understands that when I had overthrown his pack, it was mostly because I had gone insane,”

“Oh! Had you?” I could understand why but it was hard to picture. Looking at Derick now, it was hard to picture him hurting anyone.

“Yeah, I was so blinded by revenge and hate, I did a lot of things I regret,”

“Does Candice know all of this?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“No, well, not all of it and what she already knows doesn’t necessarily come from my mouth,” he said, and I turned away to hide my smile. He trusted me, but not her. Ha! “Do you see me differently now?” he asked. I thought about this and I realized that although he had a rough dark past it didn’t change anything.

“No, you are still my Alpha, my Derick,” I said proudly.

“Do you think Candice will feel the same way after she hears about my past?” he asked. I glanced away and tried not to get upset at the idea of him confiding in her too.

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. I didn’t know my sister as well as I probably should, and I wouldn’t tell him what I thought either.

“She wants me to tell her, but I just don’t know,” he remarked. “What if she doesn’t like my past?” I wanted to point out that it wouldn’t matter if she liked it or not, I wanted to mention that I was still here for him, but I said nothing. I kept quiet. “Hey, tell me what you think, Carter,” he pushed for an answer, but I just shook my head. It was wrong of me to want Derick for myself. I knew that, but I couldn’t show support.

“I’m sorry Derick, I just don’t know,”

“Hmm, well, I guess I’ll just have to tell her and see how it goes,” he said. He didn’t look like he was going to jump up and tell her right now, so I decided that we should change the morbid subject.

“Why don’t we go for a swim hmm?” I suggested as I stood up. Derick laughed but got up too. I tried not to stare as he removed his sleeveless top and shorts. He stood in his boxers and smirked over at me.

“Checking me out huh?” he teased, and I blushed as I quickly pulled off my own top and shorts. I ran to the water and shouted out.

“The last one in is a rotten egg!” I heard him laughing as I jumped into the water. My crush was not a crush, I was completely in love with Derick Parks. Save me now.