14. Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fourteen
Damyr
I shut my office door behind me with a snap. Fucking Aleksey, questioning me in front of everyone like that. Who did he think he was?
I was seething. Rage boiling under my skin. Shoulders tense. Fists clenched. Back—
Cool hands framed my face, startling me out of my spiralling anger.
“Damyr?”
Serene green eyes filled my vision, and my anger faded away with the soothing motion of his thumbs across my cheeks. My chest heaved for a few more breaths, but that too, dissipated under Benjamin’s touch.
I watched him for a moment, caught in his green gaze and I felt all those harsh, angry edges of mine soften. He had no idea of the power he had over me, with just his touch. The world could be burning around us, and I’d be completely, utterly oblivious.
I blinked and stepped away, breaking our connection.
A flush crept up the side of his neck, the same shade as his jumper, and he looked away from me. I missed his eyes on me, but perhaps it was for the best. With everything going on with my mysterious benefactor, adding a mate to the list didn’t seem to be the right thing to do, right now. Soon though. I’d have to, otherwise I ran the risk of my body starting to shut down, but if Benjamin was averse to my world, would I have the strength to let him go?
“I need to go out this evening and I would like for you to join me,” I said.
Benjamin looked up at me with a confused expression. “You want to take me out of the house? Where I might run away or be seen by someone I know?”
I knew the risks, but I had to believe that the strength of our bond would keep him near me. The fact of the matter was that I just didn’t want to leave the house without him. I still had the meeting with the Council to attend and I could leave him at the bar with Acheron for company. On second thoughts, Acheron would probably get them into some trouble. Maybe I should leave him with Aleksey.
“We aren’t going far, and besides, if you run away, I’ll just hunt you down and recapture you.”
He glowered at me, and I had to suppress the urge to smile. The scowl looked so odd on his pretty face that it was almost comical. “You’re an asshole.”
“I know,” I said, heading towards the kitchen. I had to walk away just to breathe something other than the scent of him. He was covered in my body wash, no doubt Vlad thinking it a huge joke to leave Benjamin’s behind, so he’d have no choice but to use mine. He smelled too good, too tempting, and the fact that I could smell an undertone of cum as well… There was only so much restraint I could muster. When Benjamin had walked into my office, it took everything in me not to launch myself across the room and take him right there on my goddamn floor.
“So,” Benjamin said as he sat at the island. “What is it you’re doing tonight?”
I plated some of the fresh fruit that my chef, Roy, left in the fridge for Benjamin. “I’m going to meet with some people for a conversation.”
“That’s a cute name for a shoot out.”
“It’s not a shoot out, Benjamin. It’s a business meeting.”
“Where?” he asked as he wrapped his lips around a strawberry.
I had a hard time recalling the name of the hotel as I watched his teeth sink into the flesh of the strawberry. “The Julian.”
“Ooh, fancy. I’ve never been there. Is it true they serve everything on solid gold plates?”
“That’s ridiculous.” The Julian was the fanciest hotel in the city, and it probably cost more than the average persons monthly salary to stay for one night, but there weren’t that many gold plates. It was also the only building that the Three Families owned together, and it was managed by someone we’d vetted together. It was our neutral ground, and everyone was on even footing there.
“Is the hotel a secret location for nefarious doings?” He waggled his eyebrows as he ate another strawberry.
“No, Benjamin. It’s just a hotel.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Sounds like something you’d say if you wanted to keep it secret.”
“Eat your fruit. There’s plenty in the fridge if you want something else.”
“Who are you meeting?”
“The Council,” I answered.
His eyebrows twitched a little higher, as if he was surprised that I’d actually answered his question. “You going to talk about the dead body?”
“Among other things, yes.”
“How much danger am I in, Damyr?”
There was such vulnerability pouring from his eyes that all I wanted to do was wrap him in my arms and hide him away from the world. It was such an alien feeling, this need to protect, but it was as if every atom of my being screamed to be closer to his. I was drawn to him in a way that I’d never experienced before. I wanted to crawl under his skin until there was nothing separating us. Until we were one.
I walked around the island and took his face between my palms. “As long as you are under my protection, Benjamin, I promise I will do everything in my power to keep you safe.”
“Can’t you just let me go?”
My heart squeezed at the thought. My first instinct was to scream ‘no’, but I found myself saying something completely different. “If, after I’ve finished dealing with this mess, you still want to leave, I’ll let you go.”
His face lit up like the brightest ray of sunshine. “Really?”
“If it’s safe, yes.” I just had to hope, that when the time came, he’d choose to stay with me. Perhaps I did have a conscience after all and wasn’t that a novel thing to think.
***
I left Benjamin to finish his meal and get changed into something more fitting of the Julian hotel. I’d said that he didn’t need to change and that he could wear what he wanted but he said something about wanting to look the part and feel like a million dollars so who was I to spoil his fun?
However, as I stepped back into my office, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d done something wrong. Had I just made the biggest mistake in agreeing to let him go? A pain that was jagged and raw cut through my heart at the realisation that he might not stay. That he’d turn his back on me, and I’d never see him again. I couldn’t let that happen. It might be selfish of me, but I wanted Benjamin to choose me. To want to be with me, and if I had to woo the pants off him, then that’s what I’d do.
I just had to find the person trying to manipulate me and wipe them off the face of this fucking earth first.
“Is Benjamin okay?” Vlad asked as I sat behind me desk.
I nodded. “He’s getting ready to go out. Acheron, will you keep him company whilst I meet with the Council?”
“You’re bringing him with you?” Aleksey sneered.
“Yes.” I slammed my fist on my desk, the wood splintering with the impact. “What is your fucking problem?”
Aleksey looked at the others. “Please don’t tell me that none of you fail to see how this human is going to become a problem?”
“A problem?” I said, my voice a deadly whisper.
“Yes. A problem. You’re distracted, Damyr. You should be tearing this city down looking for Charlie Kent and instead you’re feeding some human and letting some hooded asshole tell you what to do.”
“Aleksey!” Vlad cut in. “Back down.”
“No,” he shouted. “Damyr needs to get his head out of his ass or he’s going to look weak.”
I exploded from my chair, leaping over my desk and slamming Aleksey into the floor. My fangs descended and I wrapped my hands around his throat, my sharp talons pressing precariously into his skin.
“Weak?” I spat. “Does this look weak to you?”
Aleksey’s nostrils flared but he didn’t say anything. Probably wise.
I squeezed his throat harder, rage pouring through my veins as I watched the vessels start to burst in his eyes. I was going to rip his fucking head off.
A hand slipped over my arm and Vlad stepped into my peripheral vision. “Damyr, stop.”
I snarled, watching Aleksey’s skin turn blotchy as the oxygen failed to reach his brain.
Vlad squeezed my arm. “He’s not fighting back, Damyr. You need to stop.”
He was right. Aleksey’s hands were relaxed against the floor in submission.
I let go of him and stood up. “Benjamin is not a distraction, he’s my mate.”
Silence descended in the room. I suppose I had just dropped a bombshell. Finding a mate in our world was rare, and for a mate to be human, it was even rarer.
Aleksey leant up on his elbows. “Damyr, I didn’t—”
“No, you didn’t.” I snapped. “Get out, Aleksey. Get out of my sight.”
I couldn’t bear to look at him. Not once had I felt like this. So disappointed in the attitude of my brethren that I had to turn away. I knew it was animalistic of me, that my base nature was dragging itself to the surface to protect Benjamin, but the rational part of my mind was taking a backseat when anything to do with my mate was concerned.
The door to my office closed with a soft click and I caught Vlad looking at me with a raised eyebrow and a hint of laughter in his eyes.
As soon as Aleksey left, it was like a fog cleared from my mind and rationality came back with the force of a freight train.
“I know, I know,” I muttered as I sat back in my chair. “I’ll apologise later.”
“He was right to challenge you,” Acheron said, still munching on some popcorn. The wizard was dressed in an electric blue jump suit to match his hair today. It made his pale skin seem to shimmer like moonlight.
“Probably shouldn’t have called the Boss ‘weak’ though,” Byron added with a shrug of his shoulder.
Vlad scoffed. “That wasn’t very wise, no. But we do need to prepare for the meeting with the Council and they are going to ask questions if you take your Benjamin with you.”
I knew that too. “If any of them make a comment then I will challenge them on it. And since I am leaving Benjamin in Acheron’s hands, if any harm comes to him well… I know wizard’s blood fetches a high price on the black market.”
“Cold, Damyr. Cold,” Acheron said with narrowed eyes.
Byron leant forward. “Ooh, can I drain him? I’ve always wanted to have a go at exsanguinating someone.”
Acheron threw a handful of popcorn at Byron. “You’re fucking weird.”
Byron just grinned that unsettling smile and chucked some popcorn into his mouth.
“Be ready to leave in an hour. We will take two cars but travel light.” We couldn’t take firearms into the hotel, but I didn’t want to leave the house without some protection. “Silver bullets. Just in case.”
One could never be too careful where supes were involved.