by Juniper Hart
She closed the doors in his dumbfounded face.
Is that the old me he was looking for? she thought with smug anger. I hope he enjoyed the final leer he got in there. It’s the last time he’s going to see me.
It had taken some painful soul searching to realize what needed to be done to mend her wounded soul but Liv had finally reached a decision. She was retiring from her position on the team, the one that she had worked so tirelessly to achieve. Her life had revolved around making it into the Cabal and in that, she had sacrificed so much else.
And for what? For money or power? For beings who have no problem throwing me to the wolves to protect their own money and power? What was I thinking? I was never going to be one of them.
The lift doors opened and Liv put a heeled boot forward, her lithe form following as she headed toward the front doors.
“Miss Hemmingway?” Harry called out. She paused to look at the security guard but as she turned, her heart stopped. Damon stood next to the concierge desk, dressed in an expensive Gucci suit, his hair freshly cut and face smooth.
“D-Damon,” she stuttered. “W-what are you doing here?”
She waited for him to unleash a barrage of angry words upon her, but he only closed the distance between them.
“I came to talk to you,” he said, his voice reserved. “Do you have a minute?”
She swallowed visibly and nodded vigorously, shooting Harry a look. Harry grinned broadly and gave her a thumbs-up sign as if Damon were a Tinder date and she had hit the jackpot.
But Liv had no such illusions. As much as she had missed Damon over the past weeks and had longed to see him, she didn’t expect that their reunion would be anything short of explosive.
Yet she could not deny the instant attraction she felt for him as they shuffled toward the waiting area in the lobby, decorated with two fat, leather sofas.
Damon perched on the couch and patted the spot beside him. Liv took a deep breath and joined him, distinctly aware of his nearness to her. She wanted nothing more than to reach out and cup his face in her hands, to beg him to understand that she never meant to withhold the truth from him. But she kept her mouth shut, afraid that anything she might say would make matters worse.
“I’m glad you got back to the States safe,” Damon said.
“Of course,” Liv replied quickly. “I do a pretty good job of—”
“Taking care of yourself. Yeah, I heard that about you.”
Liv blushed and looked down at her hands.
“I’m glad you’re safe too.”
They sat in silence for a moment until Liv raised her eyes and stared at him imploringly.
“Damon, I—”
He shook his head and held up a hand.
“No, let me say what I came here to say,” he insisted. “Before I lose my nerve.”
Liv felt her back stiffen but she nodded.
“Go ahead.”
Damon sighed.
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking over the past couple weeks,” he confessed.
That makes two of us.
“I just replayed how we met and what I know…none of it really adds up in my mind.”
Liv pursed her lips together even though she wanted to yell out.
“It made me realize that maybe I reacted without thinking back in Bogota but… but I was in survival mode for more reasons than one.”
Liv’s brow furrowed.
What does that mean?
“But I wasn’t honest with you either,” Damon continued in a low voice. “And if I was being fair, I would admit that I withheld the truth from you too.”
“About your father?” Liv asked, confusion setting in.
“No…” he paused. “About my real reasons for being in Bogota.”
“You said something…” Liv trailed off. “What were you doing in Bogota?”
Damon shook his head ruefully.
“I really can’t tell you,” he replied. Disappointment swept through Liv in a wave and she nodded, again shifting her eyes away.
“I understand.”
“You don’t but I don’t expect you to. You’re an agent of the Cabal. You only know their way.”
Liv laughed shortly.
“You say you’ve been doing a lot of thinking? So have I,” she said with a slight bitterness. “And I realized that I’ve had my priorities wrong for way too long now. I’m resigning my position tonight. I won’t be working for your father anymore.”
“W-what?” Damon choked. “Seriously?”
Liv shrugged and smiled weakly.
“You opened my eyes to what I really want and it’s not this life.”
Their gazes locked and Liv’s pulse quickened when she saw a familiar expression in Damon’s eyes.
“What do you want?” he murmured. Liv sighed.
“I think you know the answer to that,” she muttered. “But you don’t trust me.”
Damon didn’t speak for a moment but suddenly, he reached out for her hand.
“I think you and I met at the wrong time and the wrong place,” he offered softly. “If the circumstances were different, I think we’d still be together right now.”
The words squeezed at Liv’s heart.
“Maybe,” she mumbled. She shook her head. “I really wasn’t in Bogota for you, Damon. I know you might not believe that but it’s true.”
“I believe that now,” he said. Hope welled inside her and she met his eyes evenly.
“Then you’re not mad anymore?” she asked. He shook his head.
“I think I was more heartbroken than anything,” he confessed. “I’ve never felt about anyone the way I do you.”
For a long moment, they only looked at one another until Damon blurted out, “Liv, I think we should give this another shot…but not until we lay everything out on the table.”
She nodded eagerly, returning his grip on her hand.
“Yes! But it’s just like I told you. I was there because I was doing work for the Cabal, but I’m done with that. I don’t want to be a part of that anymore. I know you were there to escape your father and I swear, Damon, I never breathed a word to him that you were there. I wouldn’t.”
He nodded but a strange expression overtook the warmth on his face.
“I know you didn’t,” he replied quietly. “I’ve been home for a week now.”
“Oh…” she inhaled. “Does that mean that you’re back in the family line again?”
Damon shrugged and nodded.
“Yes,” he replied. “Which is why I think you should reconsider your position on resigning.”
This one-eighty was perplexing but as Liv studied his face, she knew there was much more going on behind the scenes than she could see.
“You want me to remain on the fixer team?” she asked slowly.
“In a manner of speaking,” he replied vaguely.
She stared at him, reading the light in his eyes.
“Will we be working together?” she murmured. His smile broadened and he nodded slowly.
“Yes,” Damon replied. “In every possible way.”
It was all the answer she needed and finally, Damon leaned forward to give her the kiss she had been pining for all along. The sweetness of his mouth shot through her entire body, warming her from head to toe.
Fate is going to give up on us if we don’t make this work, she thought wryly but this time, she knew there was nothing holding them back.
Epilogue
The ballroom was filled to capacity, a sea of vibrant colors in every available shade as far as the eye could see.
“This is quite the turnout,” Lucien cooed in his son’s ear. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think that everyone is happy to see me retiring.”
Damon swallowed a smile.
“You know as well as I do that your peers will go anywhere where there’s free food and drink,” Damon said lightly. “Excuse me.”
He edged away from his father toward Cass, who stood in a radiant,
shimmering dress of silver near the piano.
“I don’t know how you convinced him to do this,” Cass muttered. “But it’s about damned time!”
“I didn’t do anything,” Damon replied honestly. “He’s the one who asked me to succeed him.”
“Yeah, after you disappeared. He was terrified that I was going to be the next in line to be head of the pack. Can you imagine? A woman pack leader?”
The sarcasm in Cass’ tone was not lost on Damon.
You’d do a better job than me—or at least by Dad’s standards, Damon thought. Of course, they have no way of knowing that I have an agenda to bring this elitist coven to its knees.
The ploy was ballsy, reckless even. If Damon was caught infiltrating the Cabal, his judgment would be nothing less than a beheading. But if it worked…
He thought about how he’d gaped at Anatoli when she’d brought him back to the compound, her new plan in motion.
“You’ll succeed your father in the pack and eventually, in the Cabal,” Anatoli had told him. “You would be the first of the Sleepers to get inside, to actually see how they work. We have our ways of learning their schemes, but we have no one to witness their endless crimes firsthand. You could be that pioneer, Damon.”
It wasn’t a sense of loyalty that gave Damon reservations, nor was it the danger. What troubled him was the people he cared about who were part of that world.
Namely, Liv.
But that’s not an issue anymore, he thought, his eyes trailing toward the far side of the ballroom where his mate stood among some of her peers. As if she could feel him staring, Liv raised her teal eyes to meet his gaze evenly. From the distance between them, Damon saw the half-smile play on her lips.
“Excuse me,” Damon said but Cass reached out an arm to stop him.
“Damon, you know you shouldn’t…”
His head whipped toward his sister, his eyes narrowing.
“I shouldn’t what?” he growled. Cass sighed.
“I’m just saying as pack leader, certain things are expected of you,” she muttered defensively. “Mating with a demon—”
“Half-demon,” Damon corrected her. “She’s got bear blood in her now.”
“Illegally,” Cass sniffed. “Imagine being turned by a gang member.”
“Accidentally,” Damon insisted, shuddering at the reminder of how Liv’s DNA had been inadvertently altered by Roderigo. “And please don’t talk to me about legalities.”
Cass exhaled again.
“I’m just trying to protect you, brother. If you want to fill Dad’s shoes, you’re going to need to make more choices like he did.”
Automatically, Damon’s eyes moved toward his mother, who hovered nervously nearby like a wounded bird. No one stood near her and she seemed oddly out of place in her own home.
Damon would never have to worry about breaking Liv the way his dad broke his mom or tried to break Damon and his siblings.
Damon returned his attention to his sister.
“You should be happy,” he reminded her. “With me in charge, you’ll be able to date finally.”
Cass’ sour expression sweetened and her eyes lit up at the reminder.
“You better make good on that,” she muttered. “It’s been a hundred years.”
Damon laughed and slid away from her, ambling to Liv’s side. He slipped an arm around her waist and drew her close, his mouth inches from her ear.
“You about ready to blow this pop stand?” he whispered.
“Hell yes,” Liv muttered back. “Back door?”
They managed to slip away unseen, and when they entered the bustling kitchen, Liv kicked off her heels.
“Can I go upstairs and change out of this?” she asked, waving a hand over her little black dress.
“I have to make an executive decision and say no. Sorry,” Damon laughed.
“Pervert,” Liv teased. “All right, let’s go. I thought we were going to be stuck in there forever. I could barely breathe with all the ego in there.”
“Welcome to my world,” Damon muttered as he led her into the back lot. He pulled a key fob out of his pocket and unlocked the Aston Martin. In seconds, they were exiting the back gates and riding through Back Bay toward the center of Boston.
Damon cast Liv a sidelong look as they drove, marveling at her endless composure. Despite the game of chance they were playing, working against the Cabal, she was unflappable.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Liv asked without turning her head.
“Because you’re beautiful,” Damon replied honestly. “Do I need another reason?”
She turned her head and smiled at him.
“We’ve come a long way in six months, haven’t we?” she mused. “Any regrets?”
Damon smiled wistfully.
“I miss Bogota,” he confessed. “I wouldn’t mind going back one day, when this all dies down.”
Liv giggled.
“How many times have we made that same promise? When it all dies down. If we’ve learned anything, we should have learned that we should seize the day.”
Damon eyed her warily.
“What are you saying now?” he demanded suspiciously.
“You’ll see,” she replied mysteriously.
They pulled up in front of an old apartment complex in Hyde Park and the couple climbed out. They buzzed on one of the broken intercom buttons and were allowed in without comment.
As they climbed, Liv giggled.
“This reminds me of my place in Bogota,” she commented.
“I’d rather not think about that place,” Damon grumbled. Liv paused and smiled at him.
“Or you could just remember the first time you were there,” she suggested coyly. Damon couldn’t help but grin.
“What are you two doing on the stairs!” a voice yelled down to them. “Come inside. The food is getting cold.”
Together they raised their heads to grin at Miguel, who waved at them furiously, and finished the climb.
Inside, the apartment was a comfortable combination of tantalizing spices and children laughing, putting Damon at ease instantly.
“Ana! They’re here!” Miguel yelled to his wife. Instantly, Ana poked her head out of the kitchen to smile at the couple. Her eyebrows raised as she took in their attire.
“You didn’t have to dress up,” she teased. “Siente.”
Damon took Liv’s hand and led her to the sofa as Miguel hurried to get them a drink. In less than a minute, a plate was in Damon’s hand, a beer in the other.
“I will take empanadas over watercress sandwiches any day of the week,” Liv sighed, pressing the pastry between her lips. Her eyes closed and she exhaled.
“Mm! Ana, you are a goddess.”
Ana reappeared, shaking her head.
“You can thank my cousin, Marta, for that recipe,” she chuckled but Damon didn’t miss the wistful sound of her voice.
She misses her family, her pack. They might be safe here but they’re away from everyone they know.
“I’m glad you brought up family,” Liv said after she swallowed. “I have a present for you.”
Ana frowned and looked at her husband.
“No, no,” she said, shaking her head. “You have done enough for us, Olivia. You and Damon.”
“Well, it’s a present for Damon and me too,” Liv explained, reaching for her clutch. Unclasping the purse, she withdrew six plane tickets. “How about a trip back home next week?”
Damon’s jaw dropped as far as the Santos’ as they stared at Liv.
“What?” they chorused, looking at the tickets in disbelief. She waved the tickets about and flashed them a winning smile.
“I took the liberty of booking us a little vacation,” she explained. “Don’t worry, Miguel, I spoke with your boss at the docks. He says if anyone is owed some time off, it’s you. Your job will be there when we return.”
Gratitude and worry twisted on their respective faces.
“Is it safe?�
�� Ana murmured. “I mean, Los Asesinos…”
“You aren’t going to tell anyone you’re coming home so the gang won’t learn about it but honestly, the last I heard, they’re too busy trying to stay afloat to worry about exacting dated revenge for two of their runners.”
Damon chuckled.
“I’m in,” he said, reaching for the tickets. “When do we leave?”
Ana and Miguel also reached for theirs, thanking Liv profusely.
“It’s just as much for me as it is for you,” she assured them but Damon could see how pleased their happiness made her.
She reclaimed her spot at Damon’s side and he kissed her cheek.
“You’re going to be really hard to buy for on your birthday,” he joked. “It’s hard to one-up a trip to South America.”
Liv giggled and sank her head against his neck.
“Oh!” she cried, standing again. “I almost forgot. I have presents for the kids in the car.”
“I’ll get them,” Damon said, pulling the keys from his pocket. “I put them in the trunk last night.”
“Thanks,” Liv chirped as he moved toward the door. Walking down the stairs, a slow, joyous smile formed on Damon’s lips.
This is what it’s supposed to feel like, he thought. No mistrust. No suspicion. Friends and travel plans…almost like we’re normal.
Of course, he knew that nothing could be further from the truth, that their lives would never be normal, not when they continued to live lives rife with danger, but at least he knew he wasn’t in it alone anymore.
And he wouldn’t be again.
He pushed open the door to the courtyard and climbed down the steps to the street where he’d parked the car.
A flash of déjà vu overcame him as his eyes scanned the road, his brow furrowing for a sign of his vehicle.
But it was gone, just as his Renault had been stolen in Bogota, the event that had sparked the chain that had brought Liv into his life.
Unexpectedly, Damon unleashed a raw laugh, shaking his head in amused disbelief.
There’s fate at work again, he thought wryly. Yet he didn’t care, not as he had in Colombia. There was no pressing urge to find the culprit, to show some young punk who was boss. All he wanted was to retreat into the warmth of Miguel’s home to spend time with those he cared about.
