Chapter 34 #2
Shadow growls louder, positioning himself between Luna and the threat, but Pearson’s focus remains locked on her.
“You think you’re so fucking righteous. But you’re just a stuck-up cunt who—”
He lunges for her arm, and rage explodes out of me. I move without conscious thought, grabbing Pearson’s outstretched arm and twisting it behind his back. Using his momentum against him, I drive him face-first into the ground, my knee pressing into his spine with enough force to make him grunt.
“Touch her, and it will be the last thing you ever do.”
Pearson struggles beneath me, but I increase the pressure until he whimpers like the pathetic piece of shit he is. Shadow’s massive frame vibrates with contained violence beside me. The surrounding crowd has gone silent, staring in shock.
“Damien.” Luna’s voice cuts through the red haze clouding my vision. “Damien, that’s enough.”
I blink. The festival comes back into focus—the crowd, the families, the children staring. I’m supposed to be Damien Wolfe here. Not the version of myself that knows how to make a man stop breathing.
I release Pearson and step back. He scrambles to his feet, nose bleeding, and eyes wide with fear.
“You’re fucking crazy.” He backs away, gasping. “Both of you.”
Two deputies push through the crowd. “What’s going on here?”
Luna steps forward, composed despite what just happened. “This man was threatening me and attempted to assault me. Mr. Wolfe intervened.”
“I saw it too.” Maren steps up beside Luna as she glares at Pearson. Several other bystanders chime in, confirming the events that took place.
One of the deputies looks at me while the other escorts Pearson away as he complains that he wants to sue me for assault. “Sir, I’m going to need you to come with me to the station to make a statement. You too, Luna.”
He gives her a look like this isn’t the first time she’s had a run-in with an overbearing asshole abuser.
“Jerry, I can’t leave the booth right now. I can stop by later.”
“I can handle it for a while.” Maren rests her hand on Luna’s arm. “Tate should be back with our lunch in a few minutes anyway.”
“No, I’ll stop by the station after the festival ends.”
Jerry gives a reluctant nod, then his gaze returns to me. “Since you were one of the participants in the altercation, I need you to come now, sir.”
“I’ll follow in a few minutes.”
“Now, sir. I don’t want to arrest you, but I will if I have to.”
“Do you even know who this is?” Maren asks with disbelief, and if I wasn’t so amped up over Pearson, I’d chuckle.
“I don’t care who he is.”
“Jerry.” Luna says his name again, and I don’t like the familiarity in it. How well do they know each other? “Damien is an upstanding member of not only the Aspen Ridge community but also Denver. You can trust him to follow if he says he will.”
I pull a business card out of my wallet. “I’ll be right behind you, Deputy.”
He glances at my name, and recognition flashes in his eyes before he looks at Luna.
“Don’t make me chase you down for that statement, Luna.” He tucks my card in the front pocket of his shirt and looks pointedly at me. “I’ll see you at the station shortly, Mr. Wolfe.”
After he walks away, Luna looks at me, and everything inside me goes still. The look on her face freezes the blood in my veins. Recognition, confusion, suspicion. She saw what I did. The speed. The violence. How natural it was for me.
“Are you okay?” I try to rein in the beast still snarling beneath my skin, not wanting her to see him.
She nods, but her eyes never leave mine. “That was intense. I’ve never seen that side of you before.”
She has, just not with this face.
“I have zero tolerance for anyone who threatens women.”
Luna takes a small step closer, studying me with an intensity that makes me want to run. I stand my ground as she searches my face.
“There’s something familiar about the way you moved just now. About the way you sounded.”
The wheels are turning behind those beautiful eyes, and I need to get out of here before she pieces together what she’s really seeing.
And before she says yes to my dinner invitation. What the fuck was I thinking? The whiplash of my dual identity is going to be the death of me.
“Well, I should keep my word to Deputy Jerry and head over there.” I suppress my distaste as I say his name. “Do you intend to press charges against Pearson?”
I hope not, because I have much bigger plans for him. Not that it will interfere. I’ll just have to be more strategic in my approach.
She shakes her head. “He didn’t touch me, so probably not. That’s not the first threat I’ve gotten, and nothing ever comes of pressing charges.” Worry shines in her eyes. “I hope it won’t be a problem for you, though.”
“My lawyers eat people like Pearson for breakfast. You’re my concern. I don’t like that he threatened you.”
“Happens all the time in my line of work, unfortunately.” She shrugs, but there’s heaviness in it. “I’m sorry you got mixed up in it.”
“I’m not. I’m glad I was here.” My fingers brush her elbow, drawing her gaze back to mine. “I’ll give you a call soon, Luna.”
I force myself to walk away, but my body fights the distance growing between us. The need to stay close to her and protect her digs claws into my chest.
My mind is already calculating as I disappear into the crowd. I memorized Pearson’s face and his name. I know what he did to those horses. He was already on my kill list, but now he threatened Luna.
That just bumped him to number one.