Chapter 35
Chapter thirty-five
Damien
The night air bites against my skin as I stand on Luna’s porch, watching Sheriff Mills and the forensics team’s headlights disappear down the gravel drive, taking with them their questions and suspicion.
My shoulders drop and my muscles unclench, but the tension that’s been coiled inside me all night remains.
“Thank God that’s over.” Luna steps up beside me, and I turn to look at her.
Her voice sounds like sandpaper, worn thin by hours of careful answers and calculated half-truths.
In the dim yellow glow of the porch light, she looks like a ghost of herself, all the warmth drained from her face, leaving behind something pale and brittle.
She was magnificent tonight, revealing nothing that would bring more suspicion down on us. But now, watching her sway on her feet, the cost of that performance weighs on me.
My eyes drift to the bruises on her face, and the phantom feel of Caleb’s bones yielding beneath my hands sends a thrill through me that I have to suppress.
Not now, you sick fuck.
Not with Luna looking like she’s one wrong word away from shattering. I wish I could kill that bastard all over again.
“I’ve got Shadow settled.” Maren’s voice comes from the door behind us. She must have slipped in through the kitchen while we were distracted by Mills and her team leaving. “He’s all drugged up and feeling good now.”
Luna nods, running a hand through her hair. “Thanks, Mar. I don’t think I could handle this alone tonight.”
The words feel like a knife twisting in my gut.
I want to be the one she turns to, not Maren.
I’ve protected her. Isn’t that worth something?
But the truth sits there, unspoken but impossible to ignore.
I’m the reason she’s shaking beneath her composed exterior.
Not Caleb. Not what he did to her. But what I did to him.
What I am.
Maren’s gaze finds mine. The hostility in her eyes burns hot enough to incinerate me where I stand. The echo of her words from earlier rings in my ears.
This is all your fault.
She isn’t wrong. Everything was fine in Luna’s life until I entered it. Now, there’s police tape across her property and blood on her hands.
“We should check on the other animals.” Luna turns back toward the house. “The commotion likely stressed them all.”
I follow her inside, watching how she moves, slightly hunched, as if carrying an invisible weight. She grabs a jacket from the hook beside the door. Even exhausted and traumatized, she’s thinking about her animals first. It’s one of the things I love most about her.
She and Maren head toward the kitchen to go out the back door. It’s the quickest way to the sanctuary’s main building.
“I can help.” I hate how desperate I sound. Like a kicked dog begging for scraps.
Maren steps outside, but Luna pauses with her hand on the doorknob. For a heartbeat, I think she might say yes, but then she shakes her head.
“Maren and I can handle it.”
She turns back just enough that I can see her face, and when our eyes connect, the expression she’s wearing drives the air from my lungs.
“Damien, we need to talk about what happened tonight.” Her voice catches, and she stops to steady it. “And I need to know the truth. All of it.”
My heart pounds. This is the moment I’ve both craved and dreaded. The chance to reveal myself to her, and the near-certain knowledge that when I do, she’ll turn away forever.
“I’ll tell you everything.” I step closer to her. “Whatever you want to know.”
“Not tonight.” Her voice is firm. Final. “I need to process what happened. And the animals have to be my priority right now.”
Of course they do. The wounded creatures always come first with her. It’s equally admirable and infuriating.
Cade is doing a last sweep of the property before he heads to Boulder to plant the evidence in Hunter’s apartment. He doesn’t need me for that. He’s handled worse jobs on his own. And I can’t bear to leave her.
“Let me stay.” The naked vulnerability in my voice makes me cringe. I’ve never begged anyone for anything in my life, but with Luna, all my control just evaporates. “I don’t want to leave you like this.”
A softness flickers in her eyes, but resolve replaces it.
“No. I need space, Damien. Maren’s here. We’ll be fine.” She wraps her arms around herself. “I’ll call you tomorrow. I’ll come to your house, and we can talk then.”
The dismissal stings more than I want to admit.
“I don’t like the idea of you and Maren outside this late at night.”
Her laugh is sharp and humorless. “We’ll be fine, Damien. I survived thirty-two years without you.”
Ouch.
“Just promise me you’ll be careful.”
“We always are.” She pauses. “But I think the biggest danger in my life just asked to spend the night.”
I am dangerous. To her safety and to her peace of mind. I’ve already dragged her into the darkness she never asked for.
“I’ll just stay until the two of you finish your rounds outside. For my peace of mind, if not yours.”
Luna sighs, and the fight leaves her. She’s too exhausted to argue, too worn down to push back against my stubborn insistence.
“Fine. But stay out of my way, Damien. I can’t do this with you tonight.”
“I’ll just sit in my car. If you need me to help with anything—”
She disappears through the back door before I can finish.
I make my way to the front of the house. Cade is leaning against the passenger side of the Range Rover, checking something on his phone.
“Everything all clear?”
He looks up. “Yes. I need to get out of here if I’m going to beat them to Hunter’s place.”
“You think you’ll make it?”
He arches a brow.
Right. Stupid question. Cade has been handling impossible timelines for me for over two decades. If he says he’ll make it, he’ll make it.
“Are you staying here tonight?”
“She doesn’t want me here. Maren’s staying, but I’m not leaving her.”
His eyes darken at the mention of Maren’s name, but I can’t deal with that tonight, any more than Luna can deal with me. For as obsessive as I am about Luna, Cade is ten times worse when something catches his attention.
“I can turn the cameras back on, and you can watch her in your car. Though it might be too suspicious if they start working right after the sheriff leaves.”
“I don’t need to see inside the house. I just need to be close.”
He nods, understanding without explanation. It’s one of the things I value most about him. He doesn’t waste time with questions when he already knows the answers.
“I’ll call you when it’s done.”
“No, let’s keep off the airwaves for the rest of the night. Only call if you run into a problem.”
He nods and heads to the truck. After he leaves, I walk to the Range Rover. I slide into the driver’s seat, positioning myself so I have clear sight lines to everything that matters. Most importantly, I can see Luna’s bedroom window on the second floor.
Luna and Maren work for the next hour, moving from enclosure to enclosure, checking on each animal, offering comfort, and restoring order. Luna focuses on the animals, forgetting her own distress as she tends to theirs.
They finish with the last enclosure, and Luna locks the sanctuary building, double-checking the door before she and Maren cross the yard to her house. She looks my way. Even from here, her expression is clear.
Go home, Damien. You’re dismissed.
Fuck! I love this woman. Even when she guts me.
I make a show of starting the Range Rover and driving away.
But I return three minutes later, turning off the headlights and the engine as I coast in neutral back up the driveway.
I park far enough down that she won’t see me if she looks out the window, but close enough that I can still see the house.
The lights come on upstairs. In the warm glow of her bedside lamp, Luna finally breaks. She sits on her bed, and her shoulders begin to shake. Maren sits beside her, wrapping an arm around her as Luna collapses against her friend, her sobs visible even from this distance.
The steering wheel creaks under the pressure of my grip. This is the second time I’ve made her cry. I want to be the one comforting her. I want to wrap her in my arms and keep her safe from everything. Including myself. But I’ve lost that right, if I ever had it at all.
Maren strokes Luna’s hair as she cries, and Luna’s lips move, pouring out words I can’t hear. Is she telling Maren everything? About me? About what happened tonight? About what I am?
No. She wouldn’t betray me. I’m certain of it.
I stay for another hour, watching as Luna eventually calms. After changing into pajamas, she and Maren climb into bed together. Maren won’t leave Luna alone tonight, something I’m grateful for, even as jealousy burns through my veins.
Then Maren gets up and walks to the window.
For a moment, she stands there, her silhouette dark against the golden light, and I swear she’s looking right at me.
Her eyes scan the yard and driveway as if she suspects I’m here, and then she pulls the curtains closed with a sharp jerk, shutting me out.