Chapter 29 #2
She gives me that look, the one where her eyes narrow and she’s cataloging every detail. The way I’m holding my shoulders, the turtleneck in seventy-degree weather, and the rasp in my voice.
“You okay?”
I turn toward the sink, desperate to avoid her scrutiny. My hands shake as I reach for the soap dispenser. “Just tired. What’s the deal with our new patient? Is it a buck or a doe?”
“Buck. And I don’t think anything’s broken, but there might be something with the right rear hoof. Deborah tranq’d him with xylazine, so he’s out. I was just about to clean his cuts.”
I step into the exam room, and the young buck is lying quiet and still under sedation. Dark patches of dried blood mat his golden-brown coat, and road debris clings to his flank.
With him unconscious, I can see the full extent of his injuries.
“Poor guy. What did Deborah say happened?”
“Hit by an SUV. Driver called it in immediately. Said he rolled right off his hood and ran into the woods. Took Deborah and Roger an hour to track him down and dart him.”
I pull on latex gloves and fall into the familiar rhythm of my work as I begin my exam.
Working on a conscious deer would be nearly impossible. They’re flight animals, and even injured, they can seriously hurt themselves and us trying to escape.
I begin cleaning the worst of the scrapes, my mind drifting against my will. The way my watcher called me “little doe” with such tender possessiveness, watching me with those intense eyes behind his wolf mask.
Like we were predator and prey, hunter and hunted.
“Luna?” Maren’s voice cuts through my thoughts. “I asked if you wanted me to start him on antibiotics.”
Heat floods my cheeks. “Yes. Some fluids, too. And let’s plan on some pain meds once the Xylazine wears off.”
Maren nods, but she’s studying me. “Are you sure you’re alright? You seem distracted. You didn’t find another dead body, did you? ‘Cause I swear to God, if you did…”
“You’d know if I did.”
“Then what’s got you off your game today?”
I hesitate, my hands stilling on the buck’s fur.
Should I tell her? She’s Maren. I’ve always been able to tell her anything.
We don’t keep secrets; at least, we never have before.
But how can I tell her I spent half the night bent over my kitchen table, surrendering to a masked stranger?
That every muscle in my body aches from positions I didn’t know I could twist into with my wrists bound behind my back?
I know how she’ll react. She’ll love it.
She’ll eat up every dirty detail, eyes sparkling with delight.
Until she finds out he’s the man who’s been stalking me and leaving corpses on my doorstep.
Then she’ll drag me to the nearest psych ward.
After she schedules me an emergency appointment with my OBGYN.
Oh, shit! I forgot about that. My birth control won’t protect me from STDs. I need to start a course of antibiotics, just to be safe.
“I didn’t sleep well. I’m fine.” I focus on inserting the IV catheter, knowing that telling her would be like setting myself on fire.
I can’t tell anyone.
She doesn’t look convinced, but she drops it, busying herself with preparing the medications. Until she can’t.
“Are you sure? Because you look like you got ridden hard and put away wet. And that can’t be true. Otherwise, you’d be sharing those details with your bestie.”
Her eyes rake over me like I’m a specimen under a microscope. She’s always been way too observant for her own good. I need to throw her off the scent.
“Maren, I haven’t even left the sanctuary in five days.”
“So? That doesn’t mean you’re not partaking of the escort service in Estes Park.”
“There’s an escort service in Estes Park? Since when? Do I want to know how you know that?”
She gives me an innocent smile that’s anything but. “A girl never tells her secrets. And nice attempted diversion technique, by the way.”
Shit!
“There’s also your hot new billionaire neighbor. He was still here when I left yesterday.” Her eyes widen. “Did you and he…”
“I didn’t have sex with Damien Wolfe.” The words snap out sharp and defensive. But I am getting railed by a different wolf. “He’s coming by today.”
“Why? I thought he was letting his team finish up.”
“I don’t think I armed the system right last night.”
“Didn’t he teach you how to do it yesterday?”
“Yeah, what’s your point?”
Maren raises an eyebrow, handing me the antibiotic syringe. “That maybe the good doctor just wants to see the hottie neighbor again.”
I inject the antibiotic into the buck’s IV line, watching the clear fluid disappear into his bloodstream.
“You have too active an imagination.”
“Methinks she doth protest too much.”
“That’s not the right quote. Why do you always butcher quotes? Why not just use the real ones? I know you know them.”
“Stop trying to deflect.” Maren snorts. “Seriously, though, you have that exhausted-sex glow all over you. I don’t care what you say.”
“I just need some uninterrupted sleep.”
“I can start staying up here more often if you need me to. JT’s only home for five days, then he’s back on the road for two weeks. Give me a couple more days to get my fill of his magnificent cock, and then I’ll come stay once he’s gone.”
My stomach clenches like a fist. As much as I love Maren and her company, that’s not what I want. My watcher can’t come to me if she’s here.
Shit! Do I want him to come back?
“You don’t need to, Mar. I’m fine.”
“No, seriously. I don’t mind. You didn’t make the spare bedroom mine for nothing.”
“Let’s see how it goes.” I adjust the IV drip, then smile at her. “You focus on JT while he’s here, and we’ll circle back to this when he leaves.”
She shrugs, but concern still flickers behind her eyes.
“Okay. Let me get the portable X-ray in here.”
We finish up with the buck and get him settled in the recovery den. He’ll need to be here for only one night. He’s very lucky.
The door chime Damien installed yesterday echoes through the building.
“Showtime.” Maren’s lips curve into a knowing smirk. “Try not to jump his bones in the lobby.”
I flip her off as I head toward the front, finding him standing there, tall and commanding in another impeccably tailored suit.
His dark hair is perfectly styled, and his blue-gray eyes find mine the moment I appear.
Something flickers in his gaze. Relief? Hunger?
The intensity steals the air from my lungs.
“I’m sorry I’m late. My meeting ran long.” His voice is smooth, sending a shiver through me.
I remember Maren’s comment about my disheveled appearance, and I smooth out my shirt.
“That’s okay. I was just finishing up with a new patient. Thanks for coming by.” I lead him toward the house. “I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.”
“Not at all. I was planning to head back up after my meeting.” His gaze travels over my face like he’s memorizing every detail. My pulse hammers against my throat. “You said you were concerned about the system?”
“Not concerned, but I wanted to make sure I set it correctly last night.”
He goes straight to the security panel, his fingers dancing over the touchscreen. I watch him work, struck by how at ease he seems in my space. His movements, the way he carries himself, tug at the edge of my mind.
“Everything looks fine with how you armed it,” he says after a moment, still studying the screen. “But it was disarmed at 1:07 AM and then rearmed at 1:08 AM. Then disarmed again at 4:16 AM and rearmed at 4:17 AM.”
My heart races. Those must have been the times my masked watcher came and left. Three hours. He was inside me for three hours.
Jesus. No wonder my thighs shake when I walk today.
“Oh.” I clear my throat. “I couldn’t sleep, so Shadow and I went out to the porch for some fresh air. We were both a little restless last night.”
The lie slides out with disturbing ease.
Damien’s eyes find mine, and I feel exposed under his stare. “Was there anyone outside? The system didn’t register any perimeter breaches.”
“No, just Shadow and me.” My cheeks warm under his scrutiny, and I resist the urge to touch my face. “Did the cameras catch anything?”
“Nothing unusual.” He turns back to the panel, but I catch his reflection in the screen—still watching me.
“But only the perimeter cameras were operational last night. It was more important to get the inside spaces wired yesterday. My team will be here shortly to finish installing the rest of the exterior cameras.”
I nod, my thoughts spinning like leaves in a storm. How did my masked watcher get past the perimeter cameras? He always comes through the woods beside the driveway. The pieces don’t fit, but Damien’s presence scrambles my ability to think straight.
“Thank you again for donating all of this.” I gesture to the security panel. “It’s incredibly generous.”
He turns to face me, and the space between us feels charged. “I have a vested interest in keeping you safe, Luna.”
The possessive, almost hungry way he says my name sends a shiver down my spine.
He’s standing so close that his cologne wraps around me, and my body wants to sway toward it, toward him.
His gaze drops to my mouth, and for a heart-stopping moment, I think he might kiss me.
Part of me wants him to close the distance, wants to lose myself in something that makes sense instead of this twisted desire for a man whose face I’ve never seen.
Damien looks conflicted, tension pulling at the corners of his mouth. Then he lets out a soft sigh and steps back, shattering the moment.
“Luna, would you like to have dinner with me?” The question tumbles out fast, and he blinks, like he’s catching up to what he just said. “There’s a new restaurant in Estes, a farm-to-table place I think you’d enjoy.”
The invitation catches me just as off guard. “I don’t know, Damien. You’ve already done so much for the sanctuary.”
“This has nothing to do with the sanctuary.”
Part of me wants to lean into this, into whatever this pull is that vibrates in the air when he’s near.
But the other part recoils, shrinking back.
Last night my watcher made me come until I cried.
The ache still pulses between my thighs.
How can I sit across a table from Damien when I’m still feeling the ghost of another man’s touch?
“Damien, that’s very sweet, and I appreciate it. I do. But I—”
“Just dinner. No obligations, no expectations. How about Friday?”
His face opens up, eyebrows lifted, and his mouth curves in a hopeful smile that makes him look almost boyish.
“Okay.” The word slips out before I can stop it. “Dinner. Friday.”
He grins, the expression spreading across his face and softening every hard angle. But before the smile settles, something else ripples across his features. His expression goes flat for a fraction of a second. Cold. Then warmth floods back in so fast the transition feels like whiplash.
My breath catches, and the hairs on my arms stand up.
What was that look?
“Well.” I take a step back, needing distance from whatever just passed between us. “Thanks again for checking the system.”
The strange look melts away, replaced by warm concern. “Of course. Anytime, Luna. I want you to feel safe.”
He moves toward the door, then pauses. “And Luna? Make sure you set the alarm properly tonight. I’d hate for anything to happen to you.”
On the surface, it’s thoughtful. Protective, even. But tension radiates from his shoulders. That wasn’t advice. That was a warning wrapped in velvet.
I stand there long after he’s gone, my heart racing with confusion that makes my head spin.
I stumble through the rest of the day, staring at the volunteer schedule until the names blur into meaningless shapes, feeding the animals without remembering which ones I’ve already done, and forgetting why I walked into the supply closet.
Every time I try to concentrate, my thoughts splinter in two directions—to my masked watcher’s hands on my body in the dark and Damien’s eyes burning into mine in broad daylight.
Two separate men, but something nags at the edge of my awareness. A similarity I can’t pin down. The way they both look at me, maybe? Or could it be the way my body responds to each of them with that same pull low in my belly?