Wolves of Haven: Lone

by Danae Ayusso

  But she needed him for more than simply a release.

  “Damn it,” Akia grumbled and hurried after Beowulf. “Father, please don’t think badly of me,” she pleaded, entering the dining room then stumbled to a stop.

  “Good morning.”

  Her eyes were wide and mouth had fallen open. “Am I still dreaming?” she whispered. “A dream within a dream…that would be extremely awkward.”

  Damian chuckled, shaking his head before taking a drink of his coffee. “Manning requested that I assist you with the case in Haven in order to properly reflect Boston’s finest to the media when the case is closed.”

  Absently she nodded, still in shocked disbelief that he was truly there, sitting at the dining room table having coffee and muffins with Seff, Louvel and Beowulf. He looked like a waking wet dream in his gray Hugo Boss suit, white dress shirt, purple and blue silk tie, and polished Italian shoes. His hair was styled and looked like polished obsidian in the overhead lights, skin smooth and face clean shaven, slight gray circles rested under his eyes, but she knew that was from lack of sleep and nothing more, but he was still the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

  “Daughter, join us,” Beowulf said, motioning towards the seat across from Damian.

  Again, she absently nodded then sat.

  “Eat something, please,” Damian said, pushing his plate towards her.

  She took one of the muffins then shoved it in her mouth, her eyes never leaving him.

  He gave her a look. “Are you okay?”

  Akia started to nod then stopped and shook her head.

  His face dropped. “I know, we need to talk, but it can wait. Your family has been very hospitable and offered me a room in their lovely home. Is that okay?” he asked, keeping up appearances, but it was near impossible to keep the smile threatening to fill his face from doing so and from dragging her across the table before capturing her mouth with his. “They pointed out that there are limited accommodations in town, and that they would most likely not be to my liking. And since you spend nearly all of your time at the station, I would be as well… Will you say something?” he demanded, irritated since she was apparently dumbstruck; her fingers caressed over the pendant hanging around her neck, her eyes moved over him many times as her teeth gnawed on her bottom lip.

  “Hey,” she finally offered getting an eye roll and smile from Damian and chuckles from the other three in the dining room.

  Faelan joined them, rubbing his fist against his eyes to rub the sleep from them, and stretching with the other as he walked. “How in the hell did you sneak out of bed?” he grumbled. “I swear you’re part ninja…” his words trailed off, and he sniffed, his head snapping in Damian’s direction. “Holy shit, he smells even better in person and helluva hotter than I initially gave him credit for.”

  Damian cocked an eyebrow then smiled when Akia giggled.

  “Please, oh please,” Faelan pleaded, sliding into the seat next to his baby sister, “tell me he has a bi-curious nature, or at the very least, an equally hot and well hung brother.” He batted his thick, auburn lashes and pouted his bottom lip out, trying to look adorable despite his bed head.

  “A few brothers,” Damian said, “regrettably none of them will publically announce their sexual orientation if it differs from what Father deems acceptable.”

  Akia’s head tilted to the side; that was the first she had heard something so open about his family, especially in the company of strangers.

  “I am assuming you’re Fae,” he continued, and Faelan nodded with a pout.

  Connell, Rafe and a completely naked Ulrik joined them in the dining room.

  Akia’s eyes widened before she groaned and buried her face in her hands.

  “Told you I had hair on my balls,” Ulrik taunted as he grabbed a muffin then flopped down in his chair. “Like what you see?” he asked, looking to Damian then wagged his brows at him.

  “Someone kill me, please,” she grumbled under her breath.

  Connell sat down on the other side of her then threw his arm over her shoulders. “Where would the fun be in that?!” he beamed. “What’s worse than the naked child strutting his limited attributes like a bald balled peacock in heat was waking up to Rafe and Ginger Bear spooning. That was a traumatic experience that no amount of medication can scrub from my memory.”

  Rafe rolled his eyes and flopped down on the other side of the table. “It was unintentional spooning, you know that. You’ve done it before.”

  He smirked. “True, but my finger wasn’t in his ass when we cuddled.”

  “It was not!” Rafe shot back then sniffed his fingers. “They were not!” he repeated causing his brothers to roar with laughter.

  Again, Akia groaned and reddened with embarrassment.

  Beowulf chuckled at her expense.

  “Will you please make them stop,” she pleaded, embarrassed that her family was acting like children in front of Damian of all people. It didn’t matter if he was her boss or not, they should have some sort of self-control when it comes to reverting to children in front of company. Damian’s family, she knew, didn’t act like that, and it made the embarrassment that much more severe. His family was high class and regarded highly in society. Comparatively speaking to how her family was acting at the moment, they were more like trailer trash that lived in a nearly three-hundred year old manor.

  Louvel clapped his hands, trying to get the attention from the two that ended up wrestling on the floor while the other two took bets on who would win; Rafe or Connell. “My apologies, Niece, but they will not listen to me,” he said with a chuckle.

  She glared at him. “Yes, because that was so terrifying,” she retorted and grabbed the pitcher of water from the table then dumped it on them.

  They yelped and scrambled away from each other.

  “Not nice,” Connell scolded, pushing his wet hair back from his face.

  “And making me look as if my family is full of special needs children in front of my boss isn’t?!” Akia shrieked, throwing the silver pitcher at him. “Ugh! Grow up,” she snarled before storming out of the dining room.

  They all looked at Damian, and he simply shook his head. “By all means, don’t let my presence keep you from beating on each other,” he said then stood. “Continue,” he dismissively said, tossing some money on the table. “My money is on the M.E., not the one with stinky fingers,” he said with a chuckle then headed out of the room, following the path Akia had taken.

  It wasn’t hard to find Akia; she was sitting in the garden, spinning a flower between her fingers while she looked out over the sprawling estate to the thick forest beyond the protective stone and rod iron fencing.

  Damian took his time joining her. She looked beautiful sitting there in just a pair of panties and one of his dress shirts, her hair slightly disheveled and sticking up from a restless night’s sleep, knees pulled up under her as if she were a child, and only the gray circles under her eyes blemished the picture perfect image of her. To him she was perfect, had some major explaining to do, but was perfect nonetheless. His brothers all had, what their father considered, acceptable trophy wives. They didn’t work, were educated but knew that their place was at home raising their children; they were commercially beautiful with personalities that were fake and grated on his nerves. Damian wanted no part of that type of trophy wife mentality especially since it didn’t work out well for his father and any of his wives.

  Being the youngest child, Damian had bought his time when it came to prolonging the evitable, but then he accidentally fell into bed with Akia and his world changed. He had purposely made sure that his family didn’t know about their relationship, and didn’t know about her at all, but the anonymity couldn’t last forever.

  “I’m so sorry,” Akia mumbled, plucking each petal off of the flower in her hand.

  Damian chuckled and joined her, kicking his legs out in front of him. “For what?”

  She rolled her eyes and made a mocking face. “My
family, what do you think?”

  “I think they’re hilarious, and now so much about you makes sense,” he said and she looked at him with wide eyes. “I like your family,” he continued, his attention across the rolling estate towards the thick trees beyond the fencing. “There is something about them, even the naked kid with blue hair and balls of bald steel,” he said, trying to keep from laughing, but couldn’t help it. “They are different than my family and I like that.”

  Akia continued to look at him in disbelief. “You never talk about your family, not like that. What’s going on?”

  He smiled and looked over at her from the corner of his eye, and she whimpered when their eyes met. “I don’t talk about my family because they aren’t worthy of accolades that don’t pertain to law enforcement since that’s the only redeeming quality any of them apparently have. Now, if I had a family like yours, I would have been much more open about them because I think they’re hilarious. Now so much of your personality makes sense.”

  She sighed, shaking her head. “So I’m infantile like the two that are most likely still trying to give each other atomic wedgies, that’s just great.”

  Damian chuckled. “That, that right there is solely because of your family. You have a great sense of humor, and usually I’m the only one that gets to see it, but being at your home, even if just for a few minutes so far, you let that guard down around others, and I clearly get to see you. But,” he said, turning serious, “I’ll admit that I’m conflicted on that. If you were more open and like this back in Boston, you would have grown tired of me by now and moved on.”

  Akia pushed him over, shaking her head with a smile. “You’re ridiculous. I’m surprised you haven’t moved on by now.”

  He smiled and sat up. “But you were just starting to warm up to me. Why would I bail now?” he teased. “Grab a quick shower, take your pills, we’ll grab breakfast on the way to the station, and you can make introductions. We’ll call it an early night and talk more.”

  She cocked an eyebrow. “That sounds ominous.”

  “It should,” he said in a deep tone, one that was heavily laced with sarcasm. “Go, you stink like sweaty brothers,” he teased.

  Akia chuckled. “I suppose I do. I don’t think I’ve slept with all of them in one bed before…it’s not nearly as exciting as it sounds,” she assured him when he shook his head.

  They headed back towards the manor, each struggling to keep their hands to themselves, but it was a losing battle.

  “When I was younger,” she said, trying to distract herself from his scent and the warmth radiating from the man walking next to her, “I used to sneak into one of their rooms at night and curl up into a ball and sleep at the end of their bed. I’d wake up covered and with a pillow, but they never mentioned it and always acted as if they didn’t know what I was talking about when I apologized for sneaking into their rooms uninvited. They really are great brothers, and I care for them very much.”

  Damian nodded. “I know you do. You shouldn’t stay away from them anymore,” he said, surprising her. “They are a very important part of your life, and they should be allowed to be part of your current life. I know that you had a falling out with them. I’m completely at a loss as to what happened though since they are not what I was expecting in the least and love you very much…it isn’t my place to say, but after all these years, I’m going to voice my opinion on it; you need them as much as they need you. It’s time to heal the wounds, okay?”

  Akia shook her head, throwing the back door open. “Some wounds can’t be healed, and that’s all I’m going to say on the topic. I’ll meet you in fifteen,” she said then hurried up the back stairwell.

  Softly he growled under his breath. “Stubborn as always,” he grumbled, taking his time to follow, but stopped halfway up the stairs then turned around. Since he was being forced to show his hand, he was going to force her to show hers as well.

  When he ducked into the dining room, those gathered turned to regard him.

  “I’m sleeping with your daughter,” Damian said pointblank, speaking to Beowulf. “I have been since before she was transferred to my precinct. Yes, I’m her direct superior, but we’ve kept our professional and private lives separated. We live together, I love her, and even if the stubborn woman doesn’t say it in return, I know she feels it as well. There is much that I have been keeping from her, and now I know that she has been keeping even more from me, but that is of very little consequence because I love her. I don’t want her to continue to keep herself segregated from her family. I don’t know why she has been, but she needs to figure some shit out and get over it or past it.”

  Everyone turned to look at Beowulf with wide eyes. That wasn’t what they thought he was going to say, and the fact that their sister and niece had been in a long term relationship with her boss, someone that she had apparently kept much from, and he’s now telling them, which was most likely against the rules of their arrangement, meant that he actually loved Akia.

  “I’ve never done this before,” Damian admitted. “For being as old as I am, and from the family I am, expressing the sentiment in which I have towards a member of your family will most likely get me an ass kicking and time out. I might be sleeping on the couch once we get home for a month, but I’m willing to risk her wrath in order to have your blessing in regards to our relationship. Akia needs to have you all in her life, and I’m starting to think that I might have been part of the reason why she stayed away so long...please forgive me for that. It wasn’t my intention, I swear it. I know that the risk is great, especially from my family, but I’m willing to risk it, all of it, for her… Akia is worth risking everything for, so I’d like your blessing on continuing our relationship out of the shadows when in the presence of her family.”

  The others looked at each other before turning back to the leader of the family. They all knew that the risk was much too great, and that if Eve made an appearance and Damian was caught in the battle of wills, Akia would never forgive herself. And they also knew that cardinal rules were not something to be broken, and being with someone who those rules were created in order to protect wouldn’t work. Akia held the law above everything else, and that included the additional laws that rested on her soul simply because of who she is.

  None of them needed to say it aloud to know the others were thinking the same: it needed to end, and now. The black moon quickly approached, as did the peak of Akia’s cycle, one that they had already started to sense—a first for them—and it was calling out to the beasts within them. The risk to her was great, but it was a million times greater to Damian.

  Beowulf pushed his hand through his falling hair. “I am glad to hear that you love her, not pleased to know that you are sleeping with her, but what father would be?” he rhetorically asked, trying to find a way to put an end to this before things got overly complicated and possibly deadly. “Akia is very special,” he tried to explain. “And there are things about her that…” his words trailed off, not entirely sure how to say it without breaking the rules himself.

  Damian raised his hand to stop him. “I am well aware of the risk,” he explained, and the others gasped; Akia broke the rules? He pulled a ring from his inside pocket, a ring that he refused to wear because of the ties associated with it, and tossed it to Beowulf, whose hand snapped out to catch it. “She doesn’t know that… My apologies, Sir, but I’m a member and heir of the Lykos of the Northeast, so I know the risk,” he said with a nod of submission before turning then hurried from the room to find Akia.

  The others looked at each other then back to Beowulf.

  The older man shook his head, eying the crest on the ring, a crest that he and every other in their world knew, one that solved one problem, but just created a hundred more. “Two problems remedied,” he eventually said; the black moon and approaching peak of her cycle would be difficult, but only for Akia now. “Boys, finish eating then get everything cleaned and readied since we’ll be having company.”
>
  ****

  After easily finding the guest room Damian was staying in, Akia decided to use his shower since she still refused to go into her room and her brothers were in desperate need of showering themselves. She hastily scrubbed her hair, mumbling under her breath about annoying men and how they didn’t know anything. Damian was a very stubborn, proud man, she knew that and loved that about him, but he wouldn’t understand why she can’t simply forget and get past it. Where he grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth, she was traded like a slave from vile piece of shit to vile piece of shit before being rescued by Beowulf. Then, just when she was starting to learn to live and experience freedom and safety, they had to ruin it. She expected that from Eve, but not him. Never did she expect it from him. And yet he did….

  Akia can’t simply forgive and get over it. She had tried for the past ten years with little luck, but she was trying. It wasn’t until Damian whispered S’Agapo in her ear as she came down from a mind blowing orgasm that she realized that the past was just that, and that he was her present, and if lucky immediate future. Yes, Akia wanted to smack him for speaking Greek gibberish during sex, but the sincerity in his tone and the tenderness of his touch, it kept the words biting at her tongue back. Later, after she Googled it while Damian was showering, he came out of the bathroom to find her curled up in the closet crying. No one other than her family had ever said they loved her before. It’d been years since she hid in the closet—there was a sense of familiarity with the cramped, dark space that put her at ease when mentally not in a good place—but he didn’t ask. He simply pulled a shirt and boxers on then joined her until it was out of her system; his patience pulled her back from the edge of losing it.

  It wasn’t easy, not that either of them expected it to be, but they both made an effort; a first for each of them. Trusting Damian Nikas unconditionally was a surprise, especially after everything she had gone through. Never once had he pushed her, pressed for explanations, questioned when she had mini, and a few mega, breakdowns, or thought of her any differently over the years. She needed to give him the benefit of the doubt, and trust that he wouldn’t hurt her, but it was so much easier said than done. And now that he was there, in her family’s home and had met her questionable brothers, and with the black moon approaching, and her cycle nearing its pinnacle, Damian would indubitably get hurt. She wouldn’t be able to control it or protect him from her, and if that happened she’d never forgive herself.