Chapter 40
Chapter forty
Luna
Morning light filters through unfamiliar curtains, and for a heartbeat, I don’t recognize where I am.
The sheets smell different, expensive, with that crisp hotel-like scent that screams money.
But beneath the fresh linen is his cologne.
Vanilla and amber mixed with musk, woodsy, and masculine.
The scent winds through the fabric, through my hair, and across my skin.
Damien.
My pulse speeds up even as I hover between dreams and wakefulness, responding to the dangerous edge woven into his smell.
My nipples tighten against the expensive cotton. Blood pounds in my ears, between my legs, everywhere his scent reaches, which is everywhere.
The memories crash over me like a tidal wave. Of the way Damien made love to me for hours, his hands and lips on my body, gentle at first, then demanding as my wolf rose to the surface. The way he let me make love to him, using every part of my body to vow ultimate devotion.
But now, as I shift and the lingering aches in my body protest the movement, I wonder how long I’ll be able to survive him.
I prop myself up on my elbow and look down at him, letting my eyes trace over his body.
In sleep, the hardness leaves his face, making him look younger and almost vulnerable. His dark lashes cast shadows on his cheeks. His full lips are parted, and one powerful arm flings over his head while the other still grips me close, even in unconsciousness.
Sunlight creeps across the floor through the gap in his curtains, the beam stretching longer as the sun climbs.
Minutes blur together, and time loses meaning in the quiet as I watch him sleep.
Then, as if my gaze alone triggers something in him, Damien stirs.
His eyes open and lock on my face in the same breath, going from asleep to fully alert in an instant, another reminder of his predatory nature.
“Morning, beautiful.” His voice is rough with sleep, and his hand finds mine where it rests on his chest. “How long have you been watching me?”
“Not long,” I admit, unable to suppress a smile. “You look almost harmless when you’re asleep.”
A slow grin spreads across his face, and he cups the back of my neck, pulling me down for a kiss. He brushes his lips against mine. Now that he’s let himself kiss me, it’s like he can’t get enough.
“You’re still here.”
“Did you think I’d run?” I trace patterns on his chest just to have an excuse to keep touching him.
“The thought occurred to me.” His free hand trails lazy circles on my bare shoulder, then down my back to the curve of my ass, raising goosebumps and making my breath hitch. “People tend to see things differently in the light of day.”
I catch his wandering hand and bring it to my lips, pressing a soft kiss to his palm. His fingers smell like me, like sex, like claim and ownership.
“I meant what I said last night.”
His eyes darken. Heat floods those blue-gray irises, turning them stormy. “Which part? The ‘fuck me harder’ part or the ‘I’m yours forever’ part?”
A warm laugh escapes me. “Both.”
His hips shift beneath me, his body stirring to life.
“Keep talking like that, and you won’t be getting breakfast anytime soon.”
I run my fingers along the sharp line of his jaw, marveling at the fact that I can just touch him now. “I wanted to ask you something.”
“What?”
“Did you pay off my mortgage and student loans?”
He doesn’t even hesitate. “Yes.”
The casual admission makes me want to both smack him and kiss him.
“What about the donation for Titus’ enclosure?”
He doesn’t bother with words this time, just raises an eyebrow.
“Why?”
“Because you’re mine to take care of now. And don’t fucking look at me like that. This is how it’s going to be. Get used to it.”
“I’m annoyed at the presumption.” I brush my lips against his. “But thank you.”
When I start to pull away, his hand fists in my hair, holding me in place. “More.”
I laugh, the sound trapped between our mouths, but I give in.
The kiss goes on until my chest burns and my head swims. When we finally surface, both pulling in ragged breaths, he’s wearing this look—satisfaction bordering on smug, like he’s just conquered the world.
My heart kicks hard against my ribs, expanding until it feels too large for the space it occupies.
Then his smile fades, and he brushes a lock of hair behind my ear, his fingers lingering against my cheek. “I’m not an easy man, Luna, and that’s not going to change, no matter how much I love you.”
“I know.” I sit up, clutching the sheet to my chest. “I’m not asking you to change. But I need to make sure you understand, Damien. No matter how much I love you, I won’t tolerate any more manipulation or secrets.”
He shifts beside me, sitting up and settling back against the headboard.
His hand finds the edge of the sheet. With one tug, the fabric slides down, pooling at my waist. Cool air hits my skin.
His gaze travels over my exposed breasts, my stomach, lingering on every inch.
I suspect I'm going to spend most of my time naked now that I’m in a relationship with my wolf.
“What about my work?”
The euphemism almost makes me laugh. His work. Like he’s an accountant instead of a vigilante who leaves bodies in his wake.
I take a deep breath, having thought about this while I was watching him sleep.
“I won’t ask you to stop. I don’t have the right to ask that, and I’m not sure I would even if I did.”
Surprise flickers across his features. “Most women would demand I give it up.”
“I’m not most women.” I reach out, tracing one of the warped human figures climbing up his arm.
The ink is beautiful and terrible, just like the man wearing it.
“But I need to understand. What I saw the other night, that cold rage, that capacity for violence—is that always there? Just beneath the surface? Is that what allows you to do what you do without remorse?”
He’s quiet for a long moment, his blue-gray eyes never leaving mine. “Yes.”
I appreciate that he doesn’t try to soften it.
“It’s part of who I am. Has been since that night. The only difference now is that I’ve learned to channel it, to control it rather than letting it control me.”
I lean forward, pressing my lips gently to his. “Thank you.” The words brush against his mouth. “For telling me the truth.”
He pulls back to study my face. “And does the truth change how you feel? Now that you’ve seen what I’m capable of up close?”
I witnessed his violence firsthand, the cold, calculated way he incapacitated Caleb, causing the injuries that led to his death. I should have been terrified and repulsed. Instead, I felt protected. Even God help me, aroused, though not until later, by the raw power he commanded with little effort.
“No. But I can’t be a part of what you do, Damien.
I can look the other way because I know for some of these animals, the only justice they’ll ever receive is the one you mete out for them.
And while part of me says it’s wrong, that no one has the right to take another life, no matter the justification, the other part… ”
“Understands the necessity,” he finishes for me. “Recognizes that sometimes the system fails, and someone has to step into that gap.”
“Yes.”
The admission unlocks something inside me, like opening a door I’d kept bolted shut.
“Having dark thoughts doesn’t make you a bad person, Luna.”
“Maybe. But there’s a difference between having dark thoughts and acting on them.”
“A smaller difference than most people realize.” His thumb traces the curve of my cheek. “We all have the potential for violence, Luna. The only question is what catalyst will bring it to the surface.”
Damien reaches for me then, pulling me onto his lap with ease. I straddle his thighs, his hands settling on my waist.
“I’m not going to stop, Luna.” There’s no room for debate in his voice. “But I won’t be reckless about it either. No more gifts. When someone disappears without a trace, that’s how you’ll know. And you can choose to acknowledge it or look the other way.”
It’s a compromise. More than I expected him to offer. Less than the world would say I should accept. But we left the world behind somewhere between the mask and the blood.
Now we’re just two broken people finding completion and safety in each other’s darkness.
“Okay.”
The word barely makes it out before I’m kissing him. Sealing it. Making it real.
The gentleness lasts seconds before heat takes over. His palms move over my skin, and my body responds with a shudder that starts deep in my core.
“I need you.” I breathe the words into his mouth, the aches in my body forgotten, morphing into another kind of ache entirely. “I need you inside me.”
He lifts me like I weigh nothing and settles me onto the bed. Sunlight streams across the mattress, across us. He moves over me, blocking out everything but his face. For the first time, I can study him in full light. See everything he’s feeling written in his expression.
“I love you.”
I pull him down to me.
“Show me.”
He starts with soft kisses along my jaw and down my throat, taking his time to worship every inch of exposed skin.
His stubble scratches against my sensitive flesh, a perfect contrast to the gentleness of his lips.
When he finds that spot where my neck meets my shoulder, the one that makes me gasp and arch beneath him, he lavishes attention there until I’m purring.
His hands trace my body like he’s memorizing it all over again, but this time without the urgency of our previous encounters. Every touch is deliberate and meaningful. When he takes my breast in his mouth, I arch into him and hold him closer.
“Damien.”
His name escapes my lips on a gasp, and he moves to the other breast and devotes himself to it with the same hunger.
“Love hearing my name on your lips.” His words vibrate against my nipple. “Say it again.”
“Damien.”
He smiles against my skin.
When at last he slips inside me, it’s with a slow stroke that makes my spine curve, my thighs tighten around his hips, and my walls clench around him, drawing him in. We both groan.
“God, you feel incredible.” His forehead drops to mine, his breath hot against my lips.
“Look at me,” I whisper as his eyes drift closed, and when they meet mine, I see everything there. His love, his vulnerability, and his complete surrender to this moment between us.
The pace that builds is gradual, our bodies slick with sweat, every nerve ending alive and singing.
“Come with me.” I dig my nails into his ass. “I want to feel you lose control.”
He begins thrusting deeper, and the world shatters. My body seizes around him as his name rips from my throat. My thighs shake against his hips as waves crash through my core, my orgasm tearing through me. He groans, pulsing inside me.
My muscles clench and release, and his hips jerk, his cock twitching as he empties himself. His mouth finds mine, tender in the aftermath of our frenzy, and his hands glide over my skin, his touch gentle where it was bruising moments before.
Every kiss, every caress, every whispered endearment is a promise between two damaged souls who found salvation in each other.
As I drift in the aftermath, I can’t bring myself to regret a single choice that brought me to this moment.