by Juniper Hart
Hot and cold washed over Liv in unison.
“What?” she choked. “What did you say?”
“Damon? Our oldest brother?” Laz grumbled, suddenly looking annoyed that he’d brought it up himself. “Too bad no one knows where he is.”
Damon… Damon is Damon Wilder. That’s why he seemed so familiar. I’ve seen pictures of him online before.
What did she know about Damon Wilder? He had been enlisted in the Bear Army for decades, jumping from one war to the next. He was next in line to take over not only his father’s title as leader in the pack, but also his place in the Cabal.
And Liv had just shared a bed with him, not twelve hours earlier.
This complicated things far worse than she could have imagined.
Dizziness blurred Liv’s vision for a solid minute as she tried to grapple with what she’d just learned.
“Liv?”
She shook her head, willing herself to be calm and clear as she tried to figure out how to handle the bombshell that had just been dropped in her lap.
“Y-your brother is missing?” she asked weakly, hoping that somehow, some way, this was all a big misunderstanding and she was not involved with her superior’s son.
Not just sleeping with him, lying to him!
“Cass says he’s just re-enlisted but I don’t think that’s what happened,” Laz said confidentially, leaning closer to grin wickedly. “I think he just had enough and took off.”
Liv was suddenly finding it very difficult to breathe. She rose, fumbling for her purse to throw a few pesetas on the table.
“Hey! Where are you going now?” Laz yelled out after her but she couldn’t be bothered to turn around and address him. Her pulse was racing. Outside in the pouring rain, Liv stood, looking from one direction to another as if seeking guidance.
How did I manage to stumble upon Damon Wilder here? What are the chances of that happening?
Suddenly, she didn’t think that fate was being kind to her. She knew it was laughing directly in her face.
9
Damon stared at the text for a long time, wondering what it meant.
Revenge for what?
He texted Liv back but she didn’t respond before he left for work and when he showed up on the site, he told Miguel what had happened the previous night.
“Jamie, that bastard,” Miguel sighed. “He knew about this, didn’t he? That the gangs had their mitts in our tools?”
“He warned us,” Damon agreed. “I just wasn’t expecting an attack.”
“That’ll teach you to stay after dark. And pendejo, next time, just give the tools away. They aren’t yours anyway. Why risk your own neck?”
“That little shithead said the same thing,” Damon growled. Miguel gave him a weak smile.
“Well, he’s not wrong.”
Damon returned to his job, his mind shuffling as to what Liv meant. By lunchtime, she still hadn’t returned his text and he tried again.
Are you playing hard to get now?
He watched as message bubbles appeared, a slow smile spreading on his face, but as he stood there, no message materialized and the bubbles eventually disappeared. His brow furrowed.
What was going on?
He inhaled and looked around.
“Are you going to eat?” Miguel demanded, opening his lunch pail. “You should enjoy the freedom of not having the foreman breathing down your neck for once.”
Damon shook his head.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he said. “Cover for me if anyone asks.”
He shuffled off as Miguel called out to him, demanding to know where he was going, but Damon didn’t respond. If he ran, he would be at Liv’s apartment in less than ten minutes and back before their lunch break ended. He just wanted to ensure that she was okay, if only to put his mind at ease for a few minutes. After what they’d shared, it was strange that she would text him and not respond. Something felt off.
He sprinted through the streets, weaving in and out of body traffic until he found himself at the stoop of her building, looking up toward the window. He looked around the block for signs of the Kia he’d seen Liv driving but there wasn’t one around.
Maybe her new friends stole it, he thought sarcastically, noting that his stolen Renault was also gone. It unsettled him to know that Liv had been alone with the thugs after he’d left.
I should have stayed longer, he thought, remembering the hour he’d spent camped out in the shadows after he’d left.
He debated whether to knock on the door of her apartment but before he could decide, the door to the stairwell swung open and Liv appeared.
They stared at one another in shock but as a grin of wonder formed on Damon’s lips, Liv’s eyes widened in horror.
“You can’t be here,” she hissed, pushing him away. “Go! Now!”
He froze, stunned at the about-face.
“Damon, you need to get the hell out of here,” Liv growled, stepping off the curb and into the street.
At that moment, his Renault pulled up and Damon instantly turned to walk instinctively away. His pulse roared in his ears as he watched Liv climb into the passenger seat of his vehicle and squeal away, leaving him to stare after them in disbelief.
She was just trying to protect you, he thought slowly but something told him that her tone was laced with something else, something accusing almost.
Was she on to him and why he was there?
He swallowed as the Renault disappeared around the corner.
Now what?
He wondered if that was going to be the question constantly playing in his mind for as long as he was a Sleeper in Bogota.
His phone didn’t stop ringing and eventually, Damon put it on silent, knowing that it was Miguel demanding to know when he’d be back. The trouble was Damon had no idea when that might happen. He remained across from Liv’s apartment, waiting for her to return from whatever excursion she’d been on.
In my car with that bastard. The thought angered him even more.
It wasn’t jealousy he was feeling but a sense of helplessness that rendered him furious. He wanted to wrench Liv out of that life and bring her home with him, to keep her safe, but he already knew that she wouldn’t react well to such a gesture.
No more than I would respond to my father coming here and bringing me back to Boston.
The unexpected thought bothered him. It had been a while since he’d thought about Lucien or what he’d left behind.
The earlier rain showers had faded away to unleash a blast of bright sunshine, but it began to fade over the horizon, making Damon realize that he was wasting his time.
I need to get back to the site before I lose my job, he thought, finally allowing some sense to overcome him. He barely recognized himself over the past twenty-four hours, like Liv had dropped a veil over his eyes and he wasn’t seeing clearly.
That’s what you get for getting involved with a demon, Damon thought with some bitterness. Isn’t that what Dad would say?
Again, he cringed at the thought of his father. He was beginning to feel like his subconscious was bombarding him with warnings he had yet to comprehend. Liv wasn’t like other women. That much was clear. Whatever she was, she was not someone who would want to be stalked, not when she had plainly told him to leave.
What was he doing? He needed to get back.
When he bolted back to the site, Damon paled to see that Jamie had decided to check in on their progress.
Dammit. Today of all days the boss has to come. I should have known, he thought furiously.
“I tried to warn you,” Miguel muttered when he returned. “I called you ten times. He showed up five minutes after you left—two hours ago.”
The foreman stalked toward him,
“Where the hell were you?” Jamie growled. “I give you a good gig and you take advantage of my trust?”
“My stomach,” Damon lied without thinking. “It’s upset today.”
Jamie stared at him, a
slight sneer forming on his lips.
What kind of stupid story is that? Damon grumbled to himself. He was glad that no one from the compound was around to hear such a flimsy lie. All his improv training had flown right out the window.
“You’re a bear, aren’t you?” Jamie hissed, his eyes flashing. “You mean to tell me that you’re getting sick?”
Damon instantly realized his mistake, but it was too late to backpedal now. No matter what he said, he looked like a liar.
“Go home and be sick,” Jamie barked at him. “I have no use for weakness on my crew.”
“Oye, wait!” Miguel cried out in Damon’s defense. “He’s here now. He’s fine. He won’t do it again, right, Damon?”
“Do you want to join him?” Jamie interjected, scowling at Miguel. Damon shook his head at his friend.
“It’s fine, Miguel,” he said quickly, not wanting to drag him in any deeper than he’d already gotten. “I did this to myself.”
He turned away from the site, frustrated and embarrassed.
I’m going to get myself caught out here. Anatoli is going to flip when she learns I got fired.
He ambled toward the tool shed to put his tools away, his mouth curled into a frown. In less than a day, he’d allowed his perfectly crafted life to fall apart and for what?
Dropping his toolbelt in the shed, he shot a look to Miguel over his shoulder. To his surprise, his friend had followed him to the shed.
“Damon, what is going on with you the last few days, amigo? You’re not even here. Where did you go today?”
Damon gave him a weary smile and shook his head.
“I just need to get my head on straight,” he told Miguel.
That much is true, he reasoned, refusing to feel guilty for not telling Miguel more. He was already in too deep with Liv and he had no idea what was happening with her. He didn’t understand her abrupt change in behavior. Had the gangs learned about him? Was she in some kind of trouble she couldn’t communicate?
If she didn’t speak to him, he had no way of knowing.
But she went willingly with him. She’s focused on her story, not me right now. I should respect that and stay away before I blow her cover.
“I’ll call you later,” Damon promised his friend, clapping him on the back and making his way off the site before Miguel could press him more.
Jogging to the bus stop, he debated going back to Liv’s place but he stopped himself.
She knows how to reach me if she wants to, he thought, his confusion only mounting by the ominous silence from Liv’s end. Whatever was happening, he was sure Liv could take care of herself. But that didn’t ease the unrest growing inside him and he was sure nothing would until he came into contact with Liv again.
10
“Why do you keep looking at your phone, chica? Expecting a call?”
Roderigo forced Liv’s attention back on him. She gave him a half-smile that she wasn’t feeling. She wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to smile again after what she’d learned that morning. Her body felt like it was being pulled in three different directions and she could hardly compartmentalize her thoughts.
In one section, there was Los Asesinos and the job she had to do. It was proving almost impossible in her place among these low-level idiots who did nothing but steal and smoke pot all day. She had been hoping to meet their superiors but now she knew that the next step was Santiago Cruz and she couldn’t risk him seeing her.
She needed to abort this assignment and regroup with the others. Maybe she could just run things from behind the scenes.
Which brought her to the second thing weighing heavily on her mind. Lucien Wilder. If he found out that she had bombed the opportunity to disassemble the rogue bear gangs like she had so cockily assured him she would, she could kiss her position in the Cabal goodbye.
Not to mention the fact that she knew where to find his AWOL son and she kept that information from him.
Bringing her to the third and most pressing situation on her mind: Damon and how to deal with him.
Seeing him outside her apartment had stolen her breath just as he always did but she knew that he couldn’t stay and she certainly wasn’t equipped to deal with him, not when Roderigo was on his way. She was grateful that he’d left Joaquin at home or else the younger bear might have recognized Damon from the site if he’d seen him.
I’m very lucky so far that none of my worlds are colliding but how much longer can this last?
She didn’t remind herself that she still had Laz and Orion Wilder in Bogota and the chances of them encountering their “lost” brother was high, even in a city with a population of seven and a half million.
Their circles were all too close. She needed to get a handle on all of this.
Logically, Liv knew what she had to do. She needed to talk to Damon and tell him that she knew who he was and that she worked for his father. After all, one day, she might end up working for him too, when he took over the Cabal. The issue, of course, was that he now knew how badly she had screwed up the operation and might report back to his father.
Then again, he did just disappear. Maybe he’s not as forthcoming with his father as I think, she thought.
There was really only one way to find out the truth and that was by coming clean with Damon, but before that happened, she needed to end this charade with Roderigo.
“Well?” the little punk demanded, flashing a gold-toothed grin at her. “Who are you expecting?”
“No one,” she sighed. “I was just looking at the time. When are you dropping me off at home?”
They had been driving around for two hours and she was getting annoyed sitting in the car.
“Home?” he repeated. “Nah, mami. We’re going to pick up Joaquin and get those tools tonight, remember?”
Liv paled slightly at the reminder.
I need to forewarn Damon, she thought, swallowing quickly as she considered her options.
“I need to get something from my place before that,” she insisted. “Can’t we make a quick stop?”
Roderigo leered at her.
“Oh, I see what you’re saying,” he purred, placing a hand on her knee. “You just need a couple minutes with me, huh, baby?”
Liv could barely suppress the sneer as she moved his hand off her bare knee.
“Actually, never mind,” she sighed. “I’ll make do without it.”
Roderigo scowled but Liv pretended not to notice, her blonde mane fanning as she peered out the window. Dusk fell over the city and the deeper into the barrio they drove, the less unsettled she felt.
I’ll do this stupid trip with these morons and go home to pack up shop, she decided. I’ll regroup the others and devise a new plan of attack on the gangs.
After that, she could sit down somewhere safe and unwatched with Damon and find out exactly what the hell he was doing in Bogota and why his father didn’t know about it.
She didn’t think about what would happen if Lucien happened to learn of his son’s whereabouts before she told him.
“Same pendejo,” Joaquin muttered, peering into the darkness at the construction site. “I can tell.”
“You go distract him,” Roderigo reminded Liv, gently pushing on her shoulder. She whipped her head around to glare at him, her teal eyes flashing. He was surprised by her expression, seeing her dark side for the first time. Liv didn’t bother hiding her true character now. She knew in a couple hours, she’d never have to lay eyes on these fools again.
“Go!” Roderigo growled.
She didn’t bother to argue, knowing that the sooner she dealt with this, the sooner she’d be on her way.
Yet as she stepped from the car, she immediately froze, her eyes taking in the man on the site. Even in the dark and with the distance between them, Liv could tell the man wasn’t Damon. She turned toward the car, her mouth opened to tell them, but she realized she couldn’t say anything.
Her plan had simply been to approach Damon and warn him about what was i
ncoming. She was sure that he could handle himself without issue, the memory of how he’d taken on Santiago’s crew still fresh in her mind.
This man was going to be blindsided by two blood-thirsty idiots. She had to warn him.
Her heart raced as she sauntered toward him, her peripheral sight watching as Joaquin and Roderigo also slid from the car to sneak away in the other direction.
They intended to attack from behind, but Liv wasn’t about to allow that to occur.
“You,” she hissed in Spanish as she neared the stocky bear, still putting his tools away from the end of the day. “You need to get out of here.”
He looked up in surprise at her arrival, his teeth baring as he recognized her as a demon.
“What?” he demanded, his brown eyes angry. “You shouldn’t be here, lady.”
“You’re about to be jumped,” she warned. “Get lost.”
He snorted and ignored her, slamming the work shed closed with a bang. He didn’t stand a chance as the two younger bears leapt on him, fully in animal form.
The workman released a yelp of pain as the first set of teeth sank into him and Liv watched in horror for a second, the attack stunning her. For a fleeting second, she hoped that Joaquin would realize that he had made a mistake and back off but if he did, he made no move to release the stranger.
She had to do something.
The worker tried to shift but the assault was too brutal for him to move, a flash of claws and razor-sharp teeth deterring him from properly morphing as he attempted to ward them off. Liv flew to attention, her body landing on Joaquin’s back. Without hesitation, she sank her elongated teeth into his neck and watched his eyes glaze over from her lethal bite. He fell back, gasping for air as Roderigo spun to confront her. The shock on his face was evident and he unleashed a feral howl to shake the earth as he pounced on her.
Liv was knocked back, her head smashing against the concrete below her. The bear on top of her was fueled by rage and she tried to sink her mouth against him, but he had her firmly restrained.
“You bitch!” Roderigo hissed, gnashing. “You’ll pay for this!”
