Then another set of memories flooded into his brain.
The Demon slipping from his control.
Muscles stretching and contracting.
Claws ripping out.
A scream.
“No!” He snarled and pushed away from her. “I can’t …” Not again. The air in his lungs rushed out, leaving an ache in his chest. Slow breaths. Slow breaths. The oxygen slowly returned, and he pushed those memories away. “I … Anna Victoria …”
To his surprise, she didn’t run away right then and there. But she was still pushed up against the wall, her hands clutching her ruined blouse together.
“Fuck!” he growled. No, he couldn’t do this. Not to her of all people. “Damn you!” he said to The Demon. “Ruined my life …” He glanced back at her again, and this time, he could smell the fear from her. See what you did? You can’t keep doing this!
His animal roared back in protest, and pressed its claws at him.
I’m a bastard. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Life was unfair, he knew that, but he hadn’t hated how unfair it was until this moment. To have what he wanted within reach, but knowing he could never have it.
The Demon clawed at his skin from the inside, and he knew there was no turning back now. “Get away!” he screamed at her. “Go!”
She let out a yelp, then ran past him. He wanted to follow her, make sure she was okay, but it wouldn’t be safe. So, he ran in the opposite direction, through the line of trees, making it just in time before The Demon tore out of him.
Chapter Six
Anna Victoria tossed in bed for what seemed like the thousandth time. She had tried everything to fall asleep—a hot bath, drank some milk, counted sheep—but nothing worked. Her mind refused to shut down, and her body … well, it was like it had never felt more alive after Damon touched her.
I shouldn’t have gone to the party.
But J.D. had invited her to go, and since it had been a long week, she deserved some R and R. It seemed strange to celebrate the birthday of someone who had passed away, but she understood that you never really got over losing a parent. Her own mother had died of breast cancer when Anna Victoria was only ten years old.
Besides, J.D. said it was only going to be a few people who had been close to her father, but she should have known Damon would be there. The smart thing would have been to turn around and leave after she saw him, especially after the hurtful things he’d said that afternoon. How dare he imply that she invited unwanted male attention because of the way she dressed? What kind of chauvinistic bull crap was that? Oh, why did he have to be so awful?
But then … that kiss …
She’d never believed in such things as earth-shattering or soul-shaking, but nothing else came close to describing it. It was like her world had turned upside down. One moment, she was enraged at Damon and telling him off, and the next, they had had their mouths and hands all over each other. The feeling was nothing like she’d felt before, and even now, thinking about it got her hot and bothered.
But then he’d acted like a jerk again. No, he wasn’t even close to jerk-like. He’d acted like a monster.
Damn you.
Ruin my life.
Get out.
Go.
Did he hate her that much? The thought of it made her chest ache something fierce. Tears sprang in her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. If it wasn’t apparent before, Damon obviously despised her. He probably kissed her to scare her away.
It should have worked too. Except her stupid, hussy of a body wanted more.
I’m hopeless.
Flopping onto her back, she gave up trying to sleep. Outside, the sky was turning pink. She slunk out of bed and headed to the bathroom. After finishing her business and washing her face, she reached for her sports bra, spandex top, and leggings hanging on the hooks behind the door. At least she had her gym clothes in her car when she left. Exercise would help her clear her thoughts. Endorphins were the one thing she could count on.
She tied her hair up in a ponytail, put on her running shoes, and then headed out of the bathroom, making a beeline for the front door.
“Hey, where’re you going?”
“Jeez Louise!” Anna Victoria jumped back, clutching her hand to her chest. “J.D.? Are you okay?”
J.D. sat on the couch, still wearing last night’s clothes, her arms stretched out over her head as she let out a deep yawn. “I’m great, thanks for asking.”
“How are you feeling? Hungover?”
“Pshaw.” She waved a hand dismissively. “Shifters don’t get hangovers.” Getting up from the couch, she raked her fingers through her disheveled blonde hair. “What happened to you last night?”
“I sent you a text,” she said. “I wasn’t feeling too well. Bourbon doesn’t agree with me.” After Damon had torn her blouse, there was no way she was going back in there. Besides, he told her to leave. So, she ran all the way to her car and drove home.
“I was so drunk, hon, I couldn’t even see past my own face. So, where’re you going?” J.D. nodded at her exercise clothes.
“Out for a jog,” she said.
“Jog? This early?”
“I like to get my day started early. So, if you don’t mind …”
“Actually, I’d love to join you.”
“Join me?”
J.D. blinked and rubbed her eyes. “Yeah. I haven’t exercised in … well, not ever. But, maybe I should, you know?”
“Er … okay.”
“Don’t worry,” J.D. said with a chuckle. “I’m a shifter. I can keep up. Besides, you’re not familiar with the area, I don’t want you getting lost. Give me five, and I’ll meet you outside?”
“All right.” Reaching for her coat, she put it on. “See you in five.”
Soon, J.D. joined her outside. “Lennox Park is a couple of blocks away,” she said. “There’s a jogging trail around a man-made lake. It’s really pretty any time of the year, even now in winter.”
They walked a few blocks east until they reached the park and said jogging path. J.D. was right—it was beautiful out here, especially now just after dawn. The sun was already peeking from behind the mountains, bathing everything in a soft light. There were still patches of snow everywhere, which added to the winter wonderland feel of the place. She could almost forget about her problems and about last night, but it seemed like thoughts of Damon kept creeping into her mind. And when she did start thinking about him, she pushed herself harder.
Albuquerque never got this cold, but running definitely helped get her warm. After completing the jogging trail, she was sweating underneath her coat, so she unbuttoned it to let some cool air in.
“Woo, girl, you must be in good shape,” J.D. remarked. “You’re only winded now.”
“Thanks,” she replied. “It must be nice to have that shifter physique.” J.D. wasn’t even sweating, plus she was only dressed in a T-shirt and shorts.
“Yeah, it has its perks,” she said. “But we’re not all the same. And I’m not so flexible, plus I know I could be in better shape, like you. I mean, wow, how much do you work out?”
Anna Victoria laughed. “Exercise is kind of my thing.” If there was one thing she was proud of, it was her physique. She didn’t have the body of a weightlifter or anything, but she was in tip-top shape. “I got my B.A. in physical education from NMU. I thought it was an easy degree and would be mostly blow-off classes. But my teachers were pretty tough, and I found I liked it.”
“Really? What other things did they teach you?”
“Well, I’m actually certified to teach Pilates and yoga,” she said. “Though I’ve never really held a job in my field.”
“Sounds like now is the time to put that degree to use.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll be your first ever yoga student. I know the perfect place too.” J.D. dragged her across the park, toward a frozen lake. They walked across a wooden bridge where there was a gazebo in the middle of the water
.
“Oh, this place is nice.” The gazebo was covered in glass on all sides, and it was warm inside.
“C’mon, yoga teacher,” J.D. said. “Teach me, I’m eager to learn.”
She chuckled. “All right, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
The two of them stood side by side as Anna Victoria led the flow. J.D. did well for her first time, though she wasn’t flexible enough to do some of the more advanced poses.
“Rubber limbs aren’t part of the shifter package,” J.D. said with a laugh.
“You’re pretty good, though. It’s like you have the balance of a cat.”
J.D. grimaced, and Anna Victoria suspected it wasn’t just because they were in a One-Legged King Pigeon Pose. “Maybe you can show me how to put my leg behind my head. I bet that would make me popular with the boys.”
Anna Victoria guffawed. “Maybe.”
When she declared the session over, J.D. collapsed on the floor. “Whew. That was a real challenge. Thanks. Have you ever thought of doing this for real?’
“For real?”
“I mean, as a job. You could be an instructor.”
“Huh.” She’d never really thought about it. “Does Blackstone even have a yoga studio? Or a gym?”
“A gym wouldn’t make money here,” J.D. said. “Not with so many shifters.”
“Yeah, everyone’s pretty fit and hot around here. It’s kind of distracting.”
“Oh?” J.D. sat up, a sneaky smile on her face. “Is there a particular fit and hot guy that’s caught your eye?”
“What? No!” She quickly turned around before J.D. could see her face burning. But the entire time, her brain—or maybe another organ—was screaming, Damon.
“Did you really go home by yourself last night?” J.D. teased. “Don’t think I didn’t notice that Damon went after you, and then you both disappeared from the party.”
“Wait, what? He didn’t go back?” She thought he had told her to leave because he didn’t want her there.
“So, you were with him!” J.D. said, excited. “Tell me what happened!”
“I—” Though she tried to scamper away, J.D. reached out and grabbed her hands to prevent her from escaping. “It was … meant nothing okay?” Oh, how was she going to get out of this?
“What meant nothing?” J.D. squeaked.
“Er …” It was too late. And J.D. practically had her in a death grip. “We, uh, kissed and—”
“Holy. Freakin. Shit!” J.D.’s eyeballs looked like they were going to pop out of her face. “You and Damon kissed! I knew it!” She hopped to her feet excitedly. “I knew it!”
“Knew … it?”
“When Gabriel told me who you were, and Damon acted weird around you …” Her mouth clamped shut. “I mean …” She cleared her throat. “Let’s just say Damon hasn’t, uh, dated much in the last couple of years. Not since he came home from the Special Forces.”
“Special Forces?” Damon had been in the Army? Well … that did make sense, with the way he was so organized and didn’t waste time with pleasantries.
“Yeah.” J.D. sat back down in front of her. “It was … it’s not my story to tell, but let’s just say, when he came back from deployment… it was like he was a new person. Stuff happens over there, you know, things that we could only imagine. And since then … it’s like nothing makes him happy. Or sad. Or even excited. It’s like he’s come back as a shell of himself. Gabriel and I tried everything, but nothing worked. He’s better now, at least, we can drag him out once in a while, but for the most part, he prefers to be alone.”
Her chest tightened at the thought of Damon being lonely, as well as what could have happened to him while he was deployed. While she knew nothing about the military, if he had to leave, it was probably serious. “I didn’t realize.”
“He’d never show it or say anything. That’s just the way he is. But … you … it’s the first time he’s shown any emotion toward anyone or anything.”
She frowned. “Yeah, well, I wish he would show his hate toward someone else.” Her shoulders slumped.
“Hate? What makes you say he hates you?”
“I …” His words came back to her mind, but she couldn’t say it out loud without her throat closing up. “Just … trust me, he’s not interested in me.”
“But he kissed you!”
“Please don’t tell anyone.” She buried her face in her hands. “Maybe … maybe I should quit now. I’m sorry, J.D. I can leave by Monday. I’ll find a way to pay you back—”
“No way. Look at me, Anna Victoria.” There was a fierce determination in her amber eyes. “You’re not going to quit. You are not leaving Blackstone.”
“But—”
“At first, I kind of thought you were one of those snotty girls who would laugh at me because I was such a tomboy, that I was nothing but a grease monkey’s daughter. But no, you showed me how genuinely nice you were. And I know you love Blackstone already, and you want to live here.”
J.D. was right of course; the more time she spent here, the more she wanted to stay.
“So, why don’t you finish your two weeks? You just have five days to go right? Hmm …” She scratched at her chin. “I have an idea.”
“Idea? What?”
“I’m not one hundred percent sure yet, so you’ll have to give me time. Give me until the end of the week. I might be able to line up another opportunity for you, but I have to check on a couple of things. Then you can tell me if you still want to stay here, okay?”
“I … why would you do this for me, J.D.? I’m no one to you.”
“I don’t know, girl, but … let’s just say I have a feeling about you.”
She stared back at J.D., flabbergasted. Gabriel had said the same words to her when they met. “I … suppose I could wait another week.” Going back to the station would be torture, but she would do her best to get through it.
“Great!” J.D. hopped to her feet and helped her up. “Now, I think we deserve a couple of slices of pie after this workout, what do you think?”
Anna Victoria laughed. “I think so too.”
Chapter Seven
Since that disastrous night, Damon did all he could to avoid seeing Anna Victoria. Taking Matthew Lennox’s advice, he put himself on the schedule for patrols. He also arrived at the station early in the morning before anyone else on the day shift did and left late in the evening to finish off his paperwork and other administrative work.
One good thing about this was being outside did him and his bear good. After last week’s disaster, he realized that maybe he was also being too hard on his animal. It needed to get out too, and keeping it cooped up for too long would lead to more uncontrollable shifts, like what happened last week at The Den. He couldn’t believe how he nearly … almost … shifted in front of her. Not again. What happened that night was evidence enough he should stay away and forget about her.
However, despite all his efforts, he couldn’t completely eradicate Anna Victoria from his thoughts. It was like she lingered everywhere, especially around the office. He could smell traces of her sweet scent when he passed by her empty desk after she left for the day. The paperwork she left on his desk had handwritten sticky notes telling him what needed to be signed, but all he could do was stare at her loopy, feminine handwriting.
And of course, the memory of her taste was burned into his brain. Every spare thought he had was of her. And he was getting damned tired of it, so he did everything he could to distract himself, working himself till he was so exhausted, he couldn’t think straight.
Even now, it was Saturday and his day off, he was still working. Though this particular task wasn’t strictly on the schedule, it still had to be done, and it was a good excuse to get deeper into the mountains and away from anything and everything that reminded him of her.
The cabin in the distance came into view as Damon trudged through the snow. It had been an old, abandoned ranger station that had been retrofitted to become liva
ble again. Currently, it only had one occupant, who was sitting on the porch steps. Of course, said occupant already knew someone was approaching.
“Hello, Damon,” Milos Vasilakis greeted, his voice low and deeply accented.
“Hello, Milos.”
“Long time no see.” He got up and stretched out to full height. “I thought maybe you don’t have time for visit, now that you are big-time chief, huh?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, they keep me busy. But I’m here now. How are you?”
Milos peered at him with his one good green eye. The other eye was missing and covered in scar tissue. “I’m well as can be. Would you like to come in and have a coffee?”
“Sure.” He followed Milos into the cabin. It was large and clean and had all the basics. He noticed the half-empty pizza box on the kitchen table. “Was Petros just here?”
“Yes.” Milos went to the counter and poured out coffee into two mugs. “But he had to leave because he was bringing his mate and child to some Winter Carnival.”
Right. That was tonight. “Why didn’t you join him?”
He shrugged as he put the mug on the table. “Would you go to such a thing?”
Damon winced. He supposed he deserved that; though he had never shared what happened to him with Milos, it was obvious that his wolf had sensed the same thing from Damon’s bear—a brokenness that ran deep.
Milos had come to Blackstone about a year ago to seek revenge on his former friend and packmate, Petros Thalassa, a recent transplant to town from Greece who had mated with a local female wolf. Damon didn’t have the details, but Milos had blamed Petros because he’d been captured by a nefarious anti-shifter organization who had tortured and performed experiments on him. Although he’d been caught and subdued, Petros had begged Matthew Lennox to spare Milos and that instead of sending him to shifter prison or back to their former pack, allow him to stay in Blackstone and get help. The Blackstone Dragon allowed him to stay deep in the mountains, as long as he didn’t harm anyone.
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