BLACK SHEEP ❂ SUPERNATURAL

iii

Dean Winchester pouted when he was nominated by Morgan to set the table. There was one thing that bothered him about having "roommates," and that was the fact that he had responsibilities. Part of him longed for the kind of life he used to live, town hopping, one shitty motel after the next, the only piece of home being his brother and his baby. He found it annoying that back then he had dreamed of settling down to love somewhere, he loved the bunker, and he loved the people, there were just parts of it he didn't love so much.

One of them being the fact that he, a grown man, had chores. And today, it was to set the table. He was about to do it, actually, but then Alyssa almost immediately stood up to do it herself. Morgan chuckled as the young woman walked off. Dean shook his head, rolling his eyes.

The table was set, and Marina was getting ready to bring out the grand meal she prepared for the arrival of the two Rowland sisters. She adjusted the cutlery until she was satisfied. "Everyone's going to be on their best behaviour tonight?"

The group nodded, and Marina smiled. "Perfect."

Dean made a face, of course Desirae got Marina in on her master plan for a terrible time. "Is anyone going to dress up a bit tonight?" Alyssa asked as she put her glass of wine down beside where Dean sat. He glanced at the woman, about to make a snarky remark, when the ringer sounded, alerting the group of hunters that the garage had opened. Kiarra wandered into the room, and Marina called her over to help with the dinner, James figured that he should join his two sisters, and get everything set up and ready.

"Come on, you two, dirty tee shirts won't cut it," Marina chastised the Worthington brothers, and they each glanced at each other, then reluctantly stood up and headed down the hall towards their rooms to change. She glanced at Dean, and he shook his head at her. She looked at what he was wearing and nodded. "Whatever," she sighed, before turning into the kitchen.

Alyssa smiled, and glanced expectantly at Dean. "I'm not dressing up in no monkey suit for some dinner party," he grumbled, picking up his beer to take a drink. She rolled her eyes, and stood up, then headed over to the bar Marina had put into the library. "I knew you wouldn't, so I wasn't going to ask you," she said cheerily. Dean put the bottle down on the table, and glanced at Alyssa, who was selecting a bottle of wine. This is gonna be a long night. He thought to himself, finishing the last of his beer. The only thing that partially interested him, was to finally get a look at the rest of the Rowland family. He'd heard stories, and he was intrigued.

❂

Jade parked her car next to Sutton's challenger, and followed her two sisters towards a large metal door. Sutton held her jacket over her arm, and Jade only just noticed how bad her sister was injured. There was deep red blood trailing down her back, soaking up in the back of her grey tank top.

"So what is this? Some sort of fallout shelter?" Sutton asked, as they entered the building.

"Welcome to the Men of Letters Bunker," Desirae said to the girls, as they entered a tiny hallway. She opened a small door to the left, and the three of them walked in. She turned the light on, and Jade blinked at the immediate brightness. "Sit there, I'll fix your stab wound so you don't scare away your hosts."

Sutton took the place in once more, shot Jade a look that she couldn't decipher, and sat on the stool at the tall metal desk. Seconds later, Desirae had the needle threaded and started stitching the gash back together, using expert, medical technique.

"When did you learn that?" Jade asked her, watching as the youngest sister continued her work. Sutton sat there expressionless, not even flinching as Desirae poked the needle into the back of her shoulder. To say that Sutton had been hardened due to the hunters life was putting it lightly. She had to give credit to eldest Rowland sister. Being both the parent figure and a hunter for as long as she had changed her more than it did both Desirae and Jade combined.

Once Sutton was all stitched up, Desirae tossed her a spare shirt. Sutton stripped the bloodied tank off her body, and threw it on. She glanced down, it was a plain white v neck, and was too tight. She shrugged, trying to figure out if her bra was going to show through. It did. But it was better than nothing.

Desirae led the girls out of the room, and further down the hall. Sutton threw her leather jacket on over her top, covering the obvious wardrobe malfunction, and pulled her hair out of the ponytail it was in. Jade realized that she herself, had made no effort to look good for the dinner, and automatically felt like she should have thought this whole thing through better.

Desirae was dressed in a nice knit sweater and jeans, and even though Sutton was battered up, she still looked pretty once she threw on her jacket and combed through her blonde hair.

The feeling of being dressed down got worse once they entered the library, where a large dining table was set up, and a small group of men and women sat around it. A woman stood at the bar, picking between bottles of wine, she was pretty, with light blonde hair was dressed in a flowery dress that made her look like a first grade teacher, and two men had just sat down, both dressed in chambray shirts pushed halfway up their forearms. They appeared to be brothers, and were both ridiculously handsome. Another attractive brown haired man sat at the table, wearing a clean crewneck sweater, his hair nicely kept.

She immediately recognized the Winchester brothers, both of them dressed in flannels. She couldn't tell which one was which, but she figured the tallest one with the longer, nicely parted hair was Sam, he looked kind, and more welcoming than the other. He did fit the brief description that Desirae had given her. She smiled at him, then glanced at the other, who sat beside the one in the teacher dress. She figured that that one must be Dean. He was more underdressed than the rest of the group, his flannel wrinkled, unbuttoned over a worn black shirt that fit tight over his broad shoulders. He looked serious, almost pissed off even. Like the other men around the table, the two Winchester brothers were very attractive.

"Guys, this is Jade and Sutton," Desirae introduced to the group. "Jonathan and Morgan Worthington, Austin Leblanc, Alyssa Schmidt, and Sam and Dean Winchester."

They all nodded and smiled at the two newcomers, and the women were invited to join them at the table. Sutton and Jade each picked a spot apart from each other, and Jade gave Desirae a warning look to not sit near Sutton. Jade found herself sitting across from Dean, with Morgan beside her and the spot adjacent to her, the head of the table was free.

"What's the preference for tonight?" Alyssa asked, holding a bottle of Syrah in one hand, and a bottle of Chardonay in the other.

"Red wine is fine," Jade and Sutton said unanimously, before glancing at each other. Jade would've laughed if it weren't for the circumstances. It was a little bit funny that Alyssa had taken so long to pick between two only half decent wines.

"Dinner is ready!" A small brunette announced, carrying a large tray of plated, fresh of the stove waygu into the room. Behind her, was another blonde, petite but still had the build of a hunter, followed by a tall, handsome blond haired blue eyed man, holding a large tray of flatbread. He immediately caught Jade's attention, and for a moment she felt like the quiet high schooler captivated by the captain of the football team. He had this charming smile that if Jade still was a young high schooler, she would be obsessed with him right of the bat. He didn't look like he belonged in the hunter world. In fact, the other two women he walked in with looked the complete opposite of hunters despite their evident strength.

"Welcome, I'm Marina, this is Kiarra and James," the kind brunette said warmly. So that was the last set of family members residing at the bunker, the Hursts. And James, was the tall handsome blond. He took the empty seat right by Jade, and pulled his chair in, flashing her his charming smile.

"Enjoy, everyone," Marina said, before passing around the serving plates.