by Juniper Hart
Lips encircled an erect nipple and a finger made its way inside her already damp core.
“You are lovely,” he breathed, his teeth nipping at her taut skin.
Summer only moaned, bucking upward slightly as his finger slid in and out of her deliberately.
It was in that second that Damon realized he was already naked, having not covered himself up after the shift he had endured fighting with Ty.
Lower his face moved, his nose pushing aside her silk panties, and Summer’s trembling hands wrapped into his hair.
His finger still slowly working, his mouth met the throbbing nub of her button, pulling her legs around his shoulders before delving into her velvet opening fully.
Summer cried out, her thigh clenching about his head.
Her frame bucked ever so slightly, encouraging his tongue to work more feverishly, instinctively feeling her climax begin to rise. Hotter her center grew, and suddenly Summer emitted a long, primal scream that caused him to become rigid with desire.
Damon could barely contain himself as Summer gushed about his face, but he waited before propping himself between her wanting legs and staring deeply into her bright blue eyes. The passion he saw in their depth drove him to plunge inside her deeply and without reservation, filling her intensely.
Her mouth parted and he rocked into her, leaning down to crush his lips to hers. Eagerly, she accepted his kiss, her ankles locking around his head.
Deeper he worked, his movements intensifying in a frenzy of hard, fluid movements.
Damon’s body began to quiver as his sack hardened, slapping against her smooth bottom, and they erupted simultaneously.
They clung to one another, Damon’s fingers tightening against Summer’s ribcage as they shuddered in unison, hot juices spilling over each other.
A deep silence followed. The only sound was their labored breathing.
Damon’s moment of euphoria was interrupted as Summer began to sob softly.
He jerked up and stared at her face in concern.
“Why are you crying?” he asked, withdrawing from her in sudden shame. “Do you regret it already?”
Did I take advantage of her?
Summer shook her head, quickly wiping the tears from her face.
“No,” she whispered. “It was incredible…”
He regarded her, waiting for her to finish her thought.
“What is it?”
“I’m afraid,” she breathed. “I’m so afraid. I wasn’t even going to go to work today and now I’m…”
Damon shook his head, leaning forward to meet her lips again.
“No,” he told her softly. “There is no need to fear. Nothing is going to happen to you.”
Summer looked at him as if weighing his words for validity.
“You heard what Ty said,” she murmured. “He’s going to come back and kill me.”
“He’s not!” Damon snapped hotly. “He’s talking out of his ass. You are under my protection and no one will hurt you. Do you understand?”
She nodded but shifted her gaze away.
She’s not sure, he realized, and it infuriated him. It was as if everything else had become secondary and he had a new purpose in life. I must protect this woman at all costs.
He was going to need to put Ty in his place once and for all.
I just hope I don’t have to kill him.
Chapter Seven
Summer spent the night in Damon’s arms, on the battered sofa in the front room of the tavern. They made love and talked, murmuring sweetly to one another as if they had rekindled a romance from another life.
She finally built up the nerve to ask about the pack and their workings. Eventually, the conversation swung around to Ty.
“Why does he hate you so much?” she asked, peering at Damon’s handsome face. Damon chuckled, though his eyes were clouded with anger.
“It’s a long story.”
“I have time,” Summer replied dryly.
“I suppose that’s true,” Damon laughed. “Fine, I’ll tell you.”
He propped himself up to stare into her face, and Summer was again overwhelmed with a sense of peace and comfort as she stared at him. She could not understand how meeting a man, a half-beast, in those circumstances could result in such intense feelings in such a short time, but she would not question it.
The feeling was euphoric, magical.
Is this what it feels like to be in love? Summer wondered, but she dismissed the silly thought. He was her captor—her gorgeous, sexy, and formidable captor.
“Lycans run the world,” he began, and Summer could not stop her eyebrows from bolting up in skepticism. She wisely said nothing, waiting for him to continue. “We are everywhere in all walks of life, but no one sees us—if the pack leader is running things well.”
“How many of you exist?” Summer asked, her heart racing at the revelation.
“No one knows the number exactly. There is even some question about how we came to be, but we are here and we are everywhere.”
Summer listened, her eyes wide.
“A few years ago, a strange designer drug started making its way into our school system. Children were dying almost weekly in Bismarck, and the police did little to find out what was happening. They just didn’t have the resources to follow through. That’s when I stepped in.” Damon paused, his head moving slightly toward the door.
“What?” Summer asked shakily. “What is it?”
He pressed his finger to his lips and they were silent.
Damon shrugged.
“I thought I heard something,” he said dismissively. “Anyway, I put out an order to the pack. I wanted to find out who was responsible and end it.”
“Why?” Summer asked before she could stop herself.
Damon stared at her in confusion.
“Why what?”
“I just mean… I mean, why do you care?” she stuttered, and to her dismay, Damon’s emerald eyes glinted with anger.
“Because I live in this town and I care about what happens to the kids in it.”
It was not the answer that Summer had expected. Werewolves are not compassionate, they are evil and hell spawned… Aren’t they?
Yet as Summer watched Damon’s face, she could read no demons in his attractive features.
That’s what you get for reading too much popular fiction, she thought wryly. Out of nowhere, Tonya’s words echoed in her mind. You can’t always judge a book by its cover, Summer. Don’t forget that. Sometimes the nicest people are the darkest inside and vice versa.
“But you’re right,” Damon conceded. “There is another side to it.”
Summer waited.
“If outsiders come into our town, we run the risk of exposure. We must control who is coming in and out of our communities.”
“What happened with the dealer?” Summer asked. “Did you find out who was responsible?”
“The drugs were being run through the Canadian border in Manitoba, and we were able to intercept shipments and find low level dealers, but we never found our kingpin. He has managed to evade us for years.”
Damon sighed and cleared his throat.
“Recently, two more kids have died from this new manufactured drug. I decided it was time to step up our game a little bit, draw out the man responsible for heading the operation.”
“What did you do?”
The pause was long and deliberate, as if Damon was deciding whether Summer could be trusted with the information.
“I issued a kill order.”
The words sent terror through her, and she stared at him uncomprehendingly.
“A kill order?” she echoed. “What does that mean?”
“It means anyone caught dealing drugs in Bismarck will be killed. That was what you saw last night. Jake and Ty were ridding the town of one more dealer.”
“Rich was a dealer?” she gasped, trying to reconcile the easy-going patron as a drug pusher. Again, Tonya flashed through her mind. Tonya kne
w what he was and that’s why she warned me about him.
“Oh, you knew that man?” Damon asked, cringing. “Were you close?”
Summer shook her head. “No, he was just a regular at the bar where I work.” She hesitated before speaking again. “Won’t a slew of dead bodies bring on that unwanted attention you hope to avoid?” she asked delicately, and Damon looked at her in surprise.
“What dead bodies?” he asked innocently, and Summer’s eyes narrowed.
“You just said—”
“I haven’t heard of any dead bodies, have you?”
Summer realized that if what he was saying was true—and she had no real reason to doubt him—she had not heard a breath of it. She couldn’t remember the last time she had heard of a murder in Bismarck. And Bismarck was not the place where a murder would go unnoticed.
“That doesn’t explain the friction between you and Ty,” Summer pointed out, and Damon nodded in agreement.
“No, it doesn’t. The pack is against the policy I enacted. They don’t think it’s their job to police the community so violently. They fear detection, they fear reprisal.”
“They feel fear? Why? What can anyone do to you?”
She thought of the bullet that the wolves had taken, and yet neither man was even slightly injured. She had not noticed a scratch on them.
Damon’s face went solemn, and Summer could see something dark had crossed his mind.
“If they know enough about us, they can do a lot to us,” he replied quietly. He shook his head as if trying to shove the image from his mind. “Ty has always vied to be pack leader, but he is not cut out for it. He needs to be stronger, faster, and abler.”
“He seemed pretty able to me,” Summer mumbled, recalling how Ty had ripped Rich’s throat clear out.
She did not notice the look of annoyance that crossed over Damon’s face.
Summer’s went pale with a horrifying realization. “If no one knows Rich is dead, then no one knows I’m missing,” she gasped.
Damon did not respond, staring at her pensively.
“My roommate…”
“What about your roommate?” Damon asked.
Summer bit her lower lip and she untangled herself from Damon’s naked form.
“She… she’s in trouble,” she sighed.
Damon’s eyebrow arched in interest. “What kind of trouble?”
Summer felt disloyal discussing Lara, and she clamped her mouth closed, forcing a tight smile onto her lips.
“No one knows I’m missing, do they?”
Damon clicked his tongue against his teeth and sat up as well. “Summer, I don’t like the fact that you’re playing the damsel in distress card right now,” he told her in a clipped tone, and Summer found herself stung.
“I am not playing any card!” she retorted hotly. “I am just wondering if anyone is looking for me.”
Damon rose, his naked form rippling against the morning light filtering in through the dirty windows. “Who should be looking for you?”
Again, Summer shook her head.
He’s right. There’s no one to look for me. No one cares if I’m alive or dead. Lara probably thinks I took off to clear my head or something. But work…
“I’m scheduled to work today!” Summer declared excitedly. “They’ll wonder where I am!”
Damon’s face contorted into a mask of anger. “You’re hoping we get caught!” he growled.
“No!” Summer protested, but even as she spoke, she knew she was lying.
He can’t expect me to live out the rest of my days in this abandoned building, she thought, terrified. She would be deceiving herself if she said that she hadn’t wanted what had happened with them to occur, but she was still afraid of the rest of his pack.
After what she had seen in the alleyway, she knew that they would kill her without regret, and she had a target on her back if Ty was around.
Am I afraid of Damon too?
It was a valid question. When she looked into his eyes, she saw nothing but his desire for her, but who knew how the beast inside him would operate if he felt threatened?
She desperately wanted to believe that he would protect her, but she could not be sure. Summer could not be certain of anything except that she was in danger every minute that she spent locked away.
And what if I get away from here? Damon said that Lycans are everywhere. They could easily find me anywhere I ran. There is no escape now.
“Why do you care so much about what is happening in the outside world?” Damon demanded.
Summer shook her head miserably. “I am just trying to wrap my mind around everything that’s happening, Damon.”
Her words seemed to soften him somewhat, but he still didn’t look convinced.
“You do realize I had a life before your men kidnapped me, right? You can’t really believe that I am excited about living out my days in a rundown building.” Summer sighed. “Are you going to keep me here?” she asked timidly, and a look of understanding crossed over his face.
He nodded slowly. “You’re right. You can’t stay here,” he agreed. “I will have to take you somewhere safe and secure.”
Summer did not know whether to be relieved or terrified by the concession.
Damon scoured the floor for his clothes, finding the tattered remnants of his outfit strewn about the lodge, and Summer quickly followed suit, dressing hastily.
“Come on,” he told her, gesturing for her to follow.
They walked back into the storage room, where Damon picked up the ropes to retie her.
“Wait!” she gasped. “What are you doing? I’m not running anywhere, Damon, I promise.”
He shook his head sadly.
“This isn’t because I’m worried about you taking off,” he sighed. “I’m worried that the others will return and see you roaming about. It won’t look good.”
“Then take me with you!” she begged. “I will be quiet and—”
“You must trust me. You have to stay here for a little while longer, but I will bring you somewhere safe and more comfortable.”
Summer swallowed another protest and nodded, not wanting to anger Damon.
“Okay,” she whispered, fighting back the urge to ask him how long she would be tied to a dirty floor.
He fastened her bonds securely and stood back, his face etched in concern. “Are they too tight?” he asked, but she shook her head.
“No.”
“When I come back, I’ll bring some first aid supplies for the cuts. I’ll also bring some food. I bet you’re starving. I won’t be long.”
Again, Summer bobbed her head, but she couldn’t speak. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at him imploringly.
“Trust me, Summer,” he urged. “I will be back as soon as I can. Stop looking at me like that.”
She couldn’t. As he leaned forward to kiss her, she was filled with a terrible sense of foreboding. She didn’t want him to leave her, not then or ever. The combination of her fear and yearning was almost suffocating as she watched him walk away.
“Wait!” she called after his retreating back.
He paused to glance back, his face darkening with mild irritation.
“What is it?”
“What if Ty comes back to kill me like he promised?”
Damon scoffed.
“He won’t,” he promised. “I told you, he’s all bark, no bite.”
His voice exuded confidence, but Summer could not stop the dread from filling her as he slipped out of her view.
Damon has promised to protect me. I have nothing to worry about, she repeated to herself over and over. She fixated on the way he had touched her over the past hours, the things he had whispered in her ear.
Never had she felt such strong emotions toward anyone, and she could not deny something was otherworldly about the connection she had found with Damon.
I am safe, she assured herself, picturing his deep, green eyes staring into her soul.
She swallowed
heavily, and suddenly she was unable to move. The events of the past forty-eight hours had finally done her in and exhaustion flooded her body. Even from her uncomfortable position on the floor, her eyes grew insurmountably heavy, and she could not fight the temptation of sleep overtaking her.
It's so quiet out here, she thought as she slipped into darkness. I will wake up at the first sound. I’m a light sleeper and I will hear if anyone comes back here. I’ll just sleep for a minute…
As her body slumped against the crates at her back, she thought she saw a shadow slip through the room.
Bright sunlight streamed in through the dusty panes of glass, casting a dim light on the inner storage room.
Summer didn’t know where she was when she woke, and panic seized her heart instinctively as she bolted upright. As she slowly became aware of her bound hands and feet, the memory of what had happened overwhelmed her like a physical blow and she gasped, settling back against the boxes.
How long was I asleep? Where is Damon? Summer wondered, suddenly acknowledging her vulnerability once more. The dreamlike quality that seemed to have held her in a fragile sense of security was gone with the intense sun beams.
She began to wriggle her wrists against the ties, knowing that she had to get free. Her mind slightly clearer, she realized that she should never have agreed to let Damon leave her in such a terrible position.
I don’t care what he says. Ty wants me dead. I can hear it in his voice.
She grunted slightly as a cut opened and began to bleed, but Summer quickly realized that the wetness would give her more traction with the ropes.
If I get free and someone finds me here, I can tell them I escaped myself. Dammit! Why didn’t I just suggest that to Damon in the first place?
One hand slipped from the knots at her back and Summer exhaled in relief, throwing the binds aside and working on her feet.
Should I run or wait here for Damon? Her mind worked frantically as she freed her feet. She was torn in her decision. Her instinct was always flight, but in that case, flight could mean lying low and hoping Damon came back before Ty.
She tried to recollect the sense of ease that Damon’s face brought to her, but her heart raced too wildly. She jumped up, her legs slightly wobbling as the blood settled, and she looked around.
