Episode 56: Work Like a Dog

Genre: Horror
Characters: Kaya, Caleb, Charlie, Connor, Lobo, Ulrick, Eli
Word Count: 2,494
Rating: R
Type: Series
Summary: Ulrick informs Lobo and Kaya of the bad news surrounding both the band and the police's suspicions of Rafe. Connor and Eli settle into their new homes in Shadowvale and Caleb and Charlie talk about plans for the upcoming ceremony and his relationship with Kaya.
Warnings: Language, suggestive material, violence, strong sexual content, adult content, adult situations, nudity -- Fluff chapter as I organize the next few events, super short and sorry for the delay!

“‘Body of Night Shift’s Bad Boy Found Mauled’,” Ulrick read the headline as he dropped the paper to the table in front of Lobo. Kaya eyed the angry expression on both men’s faces and sighed as she moved closer to where they stood and scooped up the journal to read.

“Police suspect foul play in the recent death of Night Shift’s drummer, Bane Lockhart, as new evidence is uncovered at the gruesome crime scene and phone calls continue flowing in from concerned citizens. One such witness to events leading to the musicians death that night claims he heard what sounded like a wolf howling just moments before a blood curdling scream caused shivers to crawl up his spine. He is quoted as saying ‘something monstrous was in those woods that night.’ He doesn’t know the half of it,” Kaya expressed and kept herself from smiling as she thought about Bane drawing his last breath. 

“The band is about to get hit with a media frenzy over this. It seems to be our pastime now losing a member under strange conditions. We’re going to have to postpone the tour for a little while, maybe even cancel completely. Not to mention the number of investigators who will be in and out of this place until they confirm for sure whether or not this was an accidental death.”

“What do the police know?” Lobo asked and leaned forward in his seat glancing up at his old friend before he dropped into the chair in front of him.

He shook his head in dramatically thinking about the work he had in front of him and sighed. “Nothing as far as I can tell; the article from what little I read only goes as far as to claim some wild animal did him in but there are reasons to believe that his death was caused by unusual circumstances.”

“Like what?”

“The fact that Bane’s chest was ripped into and his heart cleanly removed. No animal could do what happened to him. There were no bite marks on his body indicating a mauling; his ribs were pushed inward by force, one clean thrust. No animal tracks, no scent, no dwellings or by products of any kind pointing towards a bear or wolf or cougar.”

“Uh oh,” Kaya exclaimed and sat up sharply. “That’s not the worst of it. It seems Bane was looking into Rafe’s past and his association with Jax Shedwick.”

“That guy that came after Rafe at the autograph session?” Lobo asked and was quickly confirmed by Ulrick’s nodding head. “How would the police know about that?”

“Well as part of his dying decree, one of those ‘if something should happen to me’ packages, he sent evidence of some kind to the deputy sheriff in Haven Hills. Apparently the evidence is so damning they list Rafe as a suspect and believe he was going to meet with Bane that night to discuss things.”

“Great!” Ulrick growled and jumped up from his chair. “Now not only is the drummer dead but heavy suspicion now looms on the bass guitarist whose going to come up missing if they go looking. Perfect. Well I hope he is sure he wants to be Caleb because thanks to Bane, he’s made damn sure he’ll never be a free man as Rafe again.”

“Have you spoken to him lately?” Lobo asked without looking up still finding himself unable to say Caleb’s name or truly finding peace with the idea that he now shared a familiar connection with him. Kaya understood his process and tried her best to help him work through it by not mentioning her mate in the last day or two. Lobo was fully aware of the fact that by nightfall, she would be heading back to Shadowvale and there was a probability of not seeing her for a few weeks as she settled into her life as a Luna in her new home pack. For now he wanted to keep the idea of his little girl his while she was a guest in her old bedroom.

“Not since I got back here to see you. He’s respectful of the time I needed to say my goodbyes. He’s making arrangements back home for the upcoming celebration and helping our newest members move in as well.”

“Well when you do talk to…him, tell him I said the Council will be making a decision about Bane’s death. And while I know he has no affiliation with the traditional pack laws, he won’t have to worry about them; I’ll take care of it.”

Kaya smiled brightly at her father and he diverted his attention away from her watery gaze as she held back her tears of joy. ‘Taking care of it’ was his way of telling her that he accepted their union but he couldn’t come right out and say it. She nodded her head and silently thanked him and Lobo cleared his throat, quickly changing the subject. “And how are Eli and Connor adjusting to life in the Shadowlands?”

“Well it’s slow going for Connor. He says that the constant staring makes him a little uncomfortable but I can only imagine Eli won’t have a problem at all. He’s just overly charming that way.”

“So I can choose any room in this joint that I want for myself?” Eli asked and twirled for the fourth time in the large hall. “Any room I want?”

“I think you’ve got the basic idea now,” Connor chuckled as he followed behind him up the stairs. He’d been at this since they got to the manor over four hours ago. After meeting Charlie and getting reacquainted with Caleb, he explored the grounds a little and realized he had to find some place to call his own.

“Well I want something close to you guys but not so close that I have to hear um…you know.”

“You don’t have to worry about that Eli. Much like Greymane the walls are reinforced. You’d have to be making a great deal of noise like the magnitude of world war.”

“Or a kick ass drum solo! By the way, you uh, you talk to Ky for me about you know…joining the band? I mean I know you have a lot of people in line for the position and shit but Dude just think about it, keep the band all wolfy and in the fam right? I’d be like the most perfect person ever for the job!”

“I think she has someone in mind already E.”

“Damn that blows,” he sighed dismally and stopped in front of another door. Noticing it’s range to Connor’s and the kitchen he jumped and turned to face the redhead. “Is this one taken?” He rushed inside without waiting on an answer and found it to be empty. “HELL YES!” he yelled and moved towards the bay doors and out to the balcony. “This shit is boss man! Nice view, nice distance to the grub hub and the perfect place for my drums right in that corner.”

“I’m not gonna have to worry about not getting sleep am I? I mean as much fun as it is listening to you well…talk I do love dreaming too.”

“Naw Dude I’m like a mouse when I’m not all excited and shit, you know that. Plus I’m kinda like out of my element here anyway; takes me a while to warm to people. Hey you didn’t happen to notice them like staring and shit did you? I mean I know I got boss hair and all but I can’t be worrying about the savages biting my style right?”

“No Eli I don’t think you have to worry about that. Besides I’m not so sure they were really staring at you.” Connor sighed and leaned against the wall as Eli found his way back inside from the railing. “They don’t have a general trust of outsiders and I’ve been feeling the cold mostly since I got here myself. But who knows, you might just get on well here. You have a pretty likeable personality.”

“Aww gosh, you just know all the right things to say,” Eli pretend to blush and laughed as Connor rolled his eyes. “Alright so is there anything else I need to know? Like, oh! Who is like second in command around here?”

“Well everything like that will be announced at the party in a few days.”

“Ah come on, do I even get a hint?”

“Sure. The party’s going to be huge!”

“Man you know that’s not what I was talking about. I’m betting I already know the answer but I’ll just try and act surprised when they say your name. K’s got your back like that so I know what’s up,” he winked and gave Connor a playful shoulder bump. Connor caught him around the neck and ruffled his hair a bit before the two got into a match of air boxing. Eli’s stomach growled and he took a step away in laughter and rubbed it consciously.

“Does that thing ever get satisfied?” Connor asked quizzically and started out of the room.

“Hey what can I say? I’m a growing boy!”

“Right. How are things with Brooke?”

“Ah she’s cool man. I told her I was going away for a bit you know and she was ok with that; said she’d cook me something special when I got back.” His wink didn’t go unnoticed by Connor who simply offered a laugh as they rounded the hall towards the kitchen.

“Whoa, where’s the fire?” Charlie stepped back quickly as he was nearly run down by both Connor and Eli.

“Well if we don’t feed the monster growing in E’s belly, you’ll definitely get to meet it.” Connor laughed as his stomach again growled and Charlie’s expression changed as he followed the sound to the wolf’s abdomen. “It can get bad. I think he has a tapeworm or something.”

“Damn, we can’t have him eating us out of house and home.”

“No just the pantry and fridge; and from the sound of things the cabinets too.” The two older wolves laughed at Eli’s expense and  he turned to them with an annoyed glower.

“Dudes! I’m like standing right here!”

“Right, well just so you know, we own a few acres of land out there, a lot of it has wild animals for lunar days. If you two ever want to just go out and hunt, you always have that option. Hit me up some time, I’d show you the best spots for the wildest games; keeps the beast inside sated for a while.”

“Thanks man, we’ll do that.”

They entered the kitchen and Charlie gave them one last look over his shoulder as he started into the study in search of his brother. Things were so crazy the last few days with the monster he’d encountered that he was doing his best to avoid running into it. Caleb seemed lost without Kaya by his side and Charlie wasn’t sure what that meant as far as his wolf yearning to break free. He opened the door in grand fashion and nearly knocked Caleb over who was standing behind it. “Sorry, I didn’t know you were there,” he spoke and shut the door behind him. “Then again I do owe you for the incident in the woods.”

“Charlie, how many times do you want me to apologize for that before you forgive me? I told you I had no control over that thing.”

“Yeah I know what you said. I don’t know if that makes it better or worse though. Having no control over something that big and scary is a little frightening in its own. You could seriously hurt someone around here and there would be no coming back from that, like Kaya for instance.”

“Kaya? I’d never do anything to hurt her.”

“You wouldn’t but that thing is another story. That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about. I smelled her blood on you the morning after. You said you didn’t kill anyone but you must have at least cut her.” Charlie looked him over as he waited for him to respond. Caleb’s expression grew morose and he nodded his head to confirm his brother’s suspicions.

“It wasn’t her I was aiming for though. She jumped into the way as I was charging for Connor. I really didn’t like seeing them together in that form.”

“You don’t like seeing them together in any form Caleb.”

“Yeah but I could really smell her on him and that just agitated me to the point I wanted to kill him.”

“That’s not good and exactly what I mean. You said you’d never hurt her but what do you think harming her best friend would do to her? You already have a track record for injuring those around you and those she loves, unfortunately. You have to be able to control that thing if you ever expect the two of you to be on good terms.” 

Caleb closed the book up on the desk that he’d been reading and leaned back against the sofa cushions. “Kaya and I have our issues still but she’s slowly coming around. You do notice who you’re talking to right?” Caleb asked in reference to his face. “She kissed me in this form and told me she accepts it. I didn’t feel any hesitation in her behavior but I can still sense her sadness. Kaya is trying for me and I will continue doing the same. We’ll get past all of this because she loves me, I’m confident of that.”

Charlie moved towards the bar and pulled a glass from the cabinet underneath. Tossing a glance over his shoulder at Caleb he sighed and shrugged as he thought over their situation. “So uh, Eli,” he grinned and poured himself a drink. “What’s the deal with him?”

“Eli,” Caleb laughed and took the drink Charlie offered him as he took a seat beside him on the couch. “He’s a fun guy from what I remember. He has this little crush on Ky…”

“Uh oh, should I be ready to separate you two like I had to with you and Connor?”

“No it’s not like that. His is more of an admiration because of who she is, Kaya Villalobos, lead singer for Night Shift. He’s a huge fan of her work. Although when he first came around he was following her like a lovesick little puppy and THAT made me jealous. She was pushing me away and hanging out with him more it seemed.”

“Aww and poor Caleb wanted his belly rubbed?”

“Something like that,” he smirked and sipped from his glass before replacing the drink to the table. “I think they’ll really help Kaya become more comfortable here; a small piece of her former life to remind her of who she is.”

“She’ll be home soon.”

“Yeah and I want to do something special for her.”

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