Chapter 29
Chapter twenty-nine
Luna
Three days of silence stretch behind me like an open wound. Three days of ignoring Maren’s concerned glances and pushing away the mountain of Chinese food she keeps forcing on me. My stomach churns at the thought of eating.
Three days of replaying that confrontation in my living room.
The words echo in my head on an endless loop.
His confession, his justifications, his promises that sounded more like threats, and the possessive heat in his eyes when he declared he wouldn’t let me go.
They tangle together until I can’t separate the lies from the revelations and can’t tell which hurt more.
The deception or the truth underneath it.
I bury myself in work instead, spending extra hours with the fox family that are now permanent residents of the sanctuary.
Physical labor helps keep the thoughts at bay.
I shovel snow, muck out enclosures, repair fences, and haul feed bags until my muscles scream.
By nightfall, I collapse into bed and sink into exhausted sleep, my body drained enough that dreams of him can’t find me.
The oblivion is deep enough that I don’t remember the way his hands felt on my skin or the way he whispered my name in the dark.
But the questions follow me like shadows.
How could I have been so stupid?
What does it say about me that I miss him, both versions of him, with an ache that feels physical?
How can I mourn losing someone who was never real to begin with?
On the fourth morning, Karen’s cruiser rolls up my driveway just as I finish feeding the resident owls. It’s Sunday morning, so I’m alone. I’m the only one here on Sundays, unless Maren stays over Saturday night.
My stomach drops as her SUV comes to a stop in front of the house.
Did Damien kill again?
She climbs out of the driver’s seat dressed in civilian clothing. “Morning, Luna.”
“Karen.” I wipe my hands on my jeans, trying to appear casual while my stomach ties itself in knots. “Coffee?”
“Please.”
Inside, I busy myself with the coffeemaker while she settles at my kitchen table, right where my life fell apart less than a week ago. The memories once left me breathless. Now they just hollow me out from the inside.
No. I can’t go there right now. I can’t let the ghost of him haunt me.
But he’s everywhere in this house. He took me in every single room, claimed every surface, every corner, it seems. There isn’t one place I can go to escape the memory of his touch. And I hate him a little for it, for making my own home feel like a shrine to our destruction.
“How’s everything going?”
The question grates on my raw nerves. I’m not in the mood for small talk. Not when my world has fallen apart.
I set a steaming mug in front of her and take the opposite chair, my hands wrapped around my own cup to hide their trembling. The caffeine won’t help my anxiety, but I need something to anchor me.
“Karen, I don’t want to be rude, but why don’t you just tell me why you’re here? We both know it’s not to chit-chat.”
The shift in her expression is instant. Off duty or not, she’s putting on her cop face.
“Luna, I’m going to ask you something, and I need you to be straight with me. I’ve known you almost your whole life, and you’re an honest person. I need your honesty now.”
“Okay.”
“How well do you know Damien Wolfe? Really?”
A cold sweat breaks out on the back of my neck.
“We’ve been over this, Karen. I told you we’ve been seeing each other casually for a few months.”
The word ‘casually’ almost makes me laugh. Or cry. There was nothing casual about the way he possessed me, the way I gave him my complete surrender. There was nothing casual about the way my heart broke when I discovered his lies.
“Are you really stuck on this idea that Damien is somehow connected to all these murders?”
At one time, I worried Karen was on the wrong track and would try to pin murders on Damien that he didn’t commit. But I was wrong. He is guilty. He’s my wolf. He’s a serial killer. And Karen’s suspicions are right. Have been all along.
She sips her coffee, watching me over the rim.
“Something just doesn’t add up, Luna. Eight people connected to animal abuse cases that came to your sanctuary have turned up dead in the past three months. Another eleven have gone missing without a trace.”
My heartbeat quickens, hammering against my ribs.
“And there are all these other unsolved missing persons cases, all accused animal abusers, nationwide. It’s like they just vanished into thin air.”
“Okay.” I swallow, hoping she doesn’t notice. “So, what does that have to do with Damien? Other than the confrontation with Odell Pearson, the others were people he didn’t know or have any contact with?”
“Well, he just happened to show up in town right before all these bodies dropped, and the other missing individuals disappeared after he bought the Morrison Place.”
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
I force my expression to remain neutral, even as panic claws at my throat.
“Really, Karen? You’re a better cop than this. That’s circumstantial at best.” I’m surprised by how steady my voice is, considering the silent scream trapped in my chest.
“Maybe. But my job is to notice patterns, and this one gnaws at me.” She sets her mug down. “Especially since his company specializes in surveillance, which would make covering tracks easier.”
The observation strikes a nerve, reminding me how easily he watched and stalked me and how effortlessly he covered his tracks.
A faint sound escapes me, the ghost of a laugh that never quite forms. “You think Damien is what? Some kind of vigilante killer?”
“Not to insult you, Luna, but I think it’s a hell of a coincidence that a billionaire tech CEO takes an interest in a small-town wildlife sanctuary and its owner right when dead animal abusers start showing up.
” Her eyes soften with something that might be concern or pity.
“And I think you’re too smart not to have noticed the timing yourself. ”
The accusation fills the silence. She’s right. I figured out my wolf was the killer almost immediately, even before he admitted it to me. And I chose to protect him anyway, first as my wolf and now as Damien. I chose lust, then love, over justice, and now I’m drowning in the consequences.
But how smart am I really when I didn’t, or refused to, see what was right in front of me?
“Do you have any evidence?”
“Nope. I can’t tie him to any of them. Not one here or anywhere else in the country.
I didn’t tell you before, but forensics found tire tracks at the site where Odell Pearson’s body was discovered.
The lab identified them as the model and size tires found on Range Rovers, and Damien Wolfe just happens to own four of them. ”
My heart stutters.
“Now, there are plenty of people who drive Range Rovers, over thirteen hundred registered in Colorado alone, but…” She trails off as she looks at me, almost as if waiting for me to argue.
But I can’t speak over the lump in my throat.
“They also found some unidentified DNA near Pearson’s body.”
Now my heart stops. DNA evidence. Damien wouldn’t be that sloppy, would he? But even he’s human. Even he can make mistakes.
What if they match it to him?
“And?”
I hope my voice doesn’t sound as strangled as I think it does.
“There was a screwup in the lab, and it never got tested. It was just sent to Denver on Friday.”
I look away, unable to hold her gaze, afraid she’ll see the truth written across my face.
“Luna, if you know something, if you’re protecting someone, you need to consider what that makes you.”
An accessory. An accomplice.
The words hang unspoken between us, but they might as well be carved into the air.
“I don’t know anything about those deaths.”
It’s not a complete lie. I don’t know the specifics, the how, or the when.
But I know who.
Karen sighs, and for a moment, she looks less like a cop and more like the woman who used to bring me cookies when I was a grieving ten-year-old and comforted me when Grandpa died.
“You’ve been through a lot in your life. I know that. Your parents, then your grandfather. You’ve had more than your share of loss. I’d hate to see you throw your life away for someone who might not have your best interests at heart.”
The words sting. Damien deceived me, lied to me, and made me fall in love with two different versions of himself. But even knowing that, even hating him for his betrayal, I can’t stop loving him. And I can’t stop protecting him, no matter how hurt and angry I am.
“Is that all?” I ask, my tone cool.
She studies me for a long moment, those knowing eyes taking in every micro-expression, every tell. Finally, she nods and stands. “For now. But this isn’t over, Luna. Whatever’s happening, it’s going to come to a head soon. I just hope you’re on the right side when it does.”
I lean against the kitchen counter after she leaves, my hands shaking so hard I have to grip the edge to steady myself. She’s right. This can’t continue. Sooner or later, someone will put the pieces together. And when that happens, both Damien and I will be exposed.
I’m not so worried about the tire tracks with all the Range Rovers around Estes. But DNA evidence. Unidentified DNA.
Shit!
My mind races through possibilities, each one worse than the last. What if they get a warrant for Damien’s DNA? What if they search his properties? What if Karen digs deeper and finds something that connects him to the murders?
Everything between us is shattered. The lies he told, the trust he broke, and the way he ripped my heart apart. It still bleeds from what he did to me. But that doesn’t matter. He needs to know that Karen still suspects him. He needs to know about the DNA evidence.
And we need to figure out what the hell we’re going to do if she finds something that connects him to those murders.
The thought of losing him to prison or justice or consequences steals my breath. All I can think about is protecting him, keeping him safe.
I can’t change what I know. The truth has lodged itself in my chest like a shard of glass, and ignoring it won’t make the cutting stop.
And no amount of denial will erase what I’ve learned.
All I can do is warn him and hope we can find a way to navigate through this nightmare before it swallows us whole.
I reach for my phone, my fingers trembling as I scroll to his contact. Three days of silence, and now I’m about to break it with a warning that could destroy us both.
But I don’t have a choice.
I never really did once I chose to love a killer.