Chapter 6 #3
“Does she? Or are you projecting what you want to see?” Cade doesn’t back down, doesn’t even blink. All our years together have earned him that right, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.
I step closer, warning flashing in my eyes. “Watch your fucking mouth, Cade.”
Something in my expression must convince him to dial it back because he just sighs, the sound heavy with resignation.
“You need to get on board with this. I’ll tell her the truth. I’m not sure when yet, but I will.”
“Are you positive you can trust her?”
“Yes. I told you she won’t betray me.”
I know this with the same absolute certainty I know my own heartbeat—because that heartbeat belongs to her now. She’s gotten into my blood, under my skin, and into places that have never been touched by another person.
Forty-six years of being convinced that I was broken at my core, that whatever’s wrong with me made loving someone an impossibility, and then she walks into my life and proves me wrong with every breath she takes.
“Promises made under duress tend to have expiration dates.” Cade’s voice carries that quiet concern that reminds me why I trust him above all others. “I haven’t seen you lose control like this since you were only starting out.”
The comparison stings because it’s accurate.
I walk back to the monitors, needing the anchor of watching Luna.
She’s moved to the jewelry counter now, leaning over a display case with interest. I’ve never seen her wear jewelry except for the small diamond studs in her ears.
A detail I’ve meant to ask about but always get distracted by other parts of her body.
“She’s different. I’m getting tired of telling you that.”
“Different enough to stand by you when she learns the truth of who you really are?”
His words press down on me, but I can’t tear my gaze away from Luna on the monitor. She and Maren leave the boutique, crossing the street to the restaurant. With quick keystrokes, I access the internal cameras, amazed as always by how lax most companies’ cybersecurity is.
Luna settles at a high table across from Maren, the snow-dusted windows creating a perfect backdrop behind her. Even through the grainy security feed, she’s breathtaking.
“Damien.” The urgency in Cade’s voice compels me to look at him.
“I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating.
Inserting yourself into Dr. Foster’s life as Damien Wolfe while visiting her as her masked stalker was reckless for a hundred different reasons.
Now you’re bringing her into your public life?
When she learns the truth, the betrayal is going to be devastating. It’s going to be a fucking disaster.”
The word “betrayal” is the only part of his speech that registers. He’s right, and the prospect of seeing it in her eyes is agonizing. I’ve let this go too far, but I don’t know how to backtrack without destroying us both.
My phone sits on the table beside the monitoring equipment, and I reach for it, pulling up Luna’s contact.
I feel like I’m spiraling out of control, and she’s the only thing that calms the chaos in me now.
She has an inexplicable soothing effect on me, quieting the savage beast that lives under my skin even when I’m buried deep inside her body and my control snaps.
I move to the sofa, angling one of the monitors so I can watch her while I type. My thumbs move across the screen almost without conscious thought.
Me
Thinking about you.
On the monitor, she checks her phone, a smile curving her lips, before she types back.
Luna
You just saw me an hour ago.
Me
Too long. I’m already looking forward to Saturday night.
Luna bites her lip as she reads my message, shifting in her seat. She types back with one hand while picking at her salad with the other. Maren says something that makes Luna nod.
Luna
Fair warning: I have no idea how to act at fancy galas. I might embarrass you.
I can already picture how every man in that ballroom will want what belongs to me.
Me
Impossible. You’ll be the most beautiful woman there.
She smiles, glancing around as if checking that no one can see her reaction before typing again.
Luna
Flattery will get you everywhere, Mr. Wolfe. Should I be worried about what kind of crowd you run with?
I smile.
Me
The kind that will be jealous they’re not going home with you.
Luna fans herself with her napkin, and I have to adjust myself through my jeans, my arousal spiking at her reaction.
Luna
You’re terrible. And I’m blushing in public.
Me
Good. I like knowing I can affect you even when I’m not there.
Luna sets her phone down and takes a long sip of water. Her lips press together, but the corners twitch upward. She’s fighting a smile.
“Are you texting her right now? While we’re discussing how to keep us all out of prison?”
I set the phone aside. Every muscle in my body coils with tension, demanding I go to her, be near her, and touch her.
“This conversation is over, Cade. You’ve made your point. I have no emotional capacity to be with her. But that doesn’t fucking matter because I’m in love with her. She’s permanent. She’ll know the whole truth soon, for better or for worse. And the gala is happening. She’s coming with me.”
He stares at me for a long moment. “I’ll go to the grave for you if it ever comes to that, Damien. You know that. But for all our sakes, I hope she’s as trustworthy as you think she is.”
He stands, grabs his laptop, and heads toward the door. He pauses with his hand on the knob.
“She’s already lied to the police for you. Already compromised herself. Now you’re going to burden her with the knowledge of your true identity? How much more are you going to ask her to carry before you’re satisfied?”
The door closes behind him with a soft click, leaving me alone with the monitors and the weight of his words.
I sink back into the sofa cushions, staring at the feed of Luna finishing her lunch.
She’s laughing again at something Maren says, unaware that I’m watching every micro-expression cross her face.
God, I love how much she laughs. The sound would be musical if I could hear it through the cameras.
Outside, the snow continues to fall, blanketing the streets in pristine white that tire tracks and footprints will soon mar. Just like the purity I’m destroying in Luna with every secret I keep and every lie of omission.
My love for her, this all-consuming need that’s devoured obsession and morphed into a force that dictates my every breath, is dangerous in ways I haven’t experienced since I was seventeen and still learning boundaries I shouldn’t cross.
Back then, it was about power and control, about making the first predators I knew bleed for what they’d done.
Now it’s different. More complicated. I’m chasing the possibility of being truly seen by another human being, the chance to lay myself bare—every scar, every kill, every twisted impulse—and have her choose me anyway.
Not despite the broken pieces, but with full knowledge of the wreckage underneath the polished version I show the world.
The man whose hands know the texture of a dying heartbeat.
I thought my obsession with Luna was overwhelming, consuming every rational thought. But this love is worse, sucking me under like quicksand.
Saturday night is another step in my careful progression of leading Luna toward the truth. My seduction of her, not as the wolf whose existence confines itself to her bedroom, but as Damien, the man who can offer her the world if she’ll accept the darkness that comes with it.
The question that haunts me, the one I can’t answer despite Cade’s concerns, is which version of me she’ll choose when the masks fall away.
And what I’ll do if she chooses neither.