Devil Hills: #2 Luna & Lydia

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  “But I…”

  “You were startled. The drugs they’ve been giving you are leaving your system. I think Addy’s tea is helping with that, too. Listen to me, Luna, never feel sorry when you defend yourself,” he wanted to talk more with Jess and find out about the things they’d been putting into her. She’d described the fog, but he knew there was more. “You have a right to be safe.”

  “I’m sorry I hurt you, Sage. You’ve done nothing but try and help me. I…I was so lost in thoughts about so many things,” her head shook, her eyes on her hands, remembering the long, lethal claws that had been there. “It’s all so…mixed up.”

  “Luna…look at me…” He waited until the green eyes rose. “A lot of that will become…routine and fade to the back of your mind. Be patient with yourself. Lexi can help you ease into the other side of you and you can learn from her…she and Scarlet have already said when you return to Devil Hills, they can help you.”

  “I remember them,” she said softly. “I saw them.” Her eyes sharpened, her head shaking. “Return? I can’t go back there, Sage. I can’t. You don’t understand. The people he travels with…him…he’ll…” she stopped, her nose twitching and brow knit curiously. “You’re angry.”

  “Lessons, Luna,” he said tensely, too aware of the change at her response. “Tell me how you knew.”

  “Your smell changed,” she said very softly, her eyes going to his hands, expecting to see claws.

  “I’ve been in control since I was twelve. You’ll learn how to call them at will, along with these,” he waited until she looked up, her eyes suddenly saucers. She sucked in a sharp breath, staring. One hand rose slowly, a fingernail touching the elongated enamel he’d called into place. He laughed, her hand was snatched back when he made the fangs recede.

  “Oh, my.”

  She wasn’t frightened. He’d know. Fascinated. Curious, like a child.

  “You played with the cougar, didn’t you, Luna? When you lived here with your mother and grandmother,” he saw the instant evasion. The child would have told them. Because she’d miss it. She’d know. And repressed it all for fear of being punished. He let the silence settle around them for a moment. “Luna…no one is ever going to punish you again for speaking what’s inside you.” Her head rose slowly, green eyes searching his. “I promise.”

  “I don’t remember a time when I did not play with the cougar,” she said very softly, blinking as the tears ran down her cheeks.

  “It’s how parents orient their kids, Luna. So you know that it’s just another part of you, that it’s nothing to fear or hide from,” his palm went to the side of her face, his thumb swiping at the tears. “It’s how you become accustomed to their scent, their presence.”

  “I was always in the woods and at the lake with her,” she stared off at the window. “Either my…they were both my mother…she said she would show me, teach me. I don’t think I understood…or maybe I didn’t believe…it feels like those memories belong to someone else. I wasn’t allowed…” Her head shook.

  “I imagine as a child you had a very busy brain,” he teased.

  “When they first came here and took me from grannie, I was so scared. He had people with him from one of the government agencies. I heard them talking, but I don’t…”

  Sage went still when she just unfolded from his side and stretched out beside him, her arm across his chest. She didn’t move. There was no savage crying, nothing. He wasn’t sure which he would have preferred. At least the emotions wouldn’t be shrouded with drugs now.

  “Luna?”

  “Yes?”

  “Done talking?”

  “I suppose.”

  “Tired?”

  “No…no…thinking. Worrying. Afraid.”

  “I’ll take care of you. You can’t stay here alone. This is the first place they’ll come to look for you,” Sage said logically.

  “They’re on their way. I’m sure they’ve already asked questions in Devil Hills,” she sighed. “He hates me because…I thought…I believed he was strict to…to shield me. That he was protecting me. Or because he cared…but he doesn’t.”

  “I’m a cop, Luna. I don’t know the man. But I know you don’t drug someone…I know you don’t drug a child and take away their willpower…their curiosity and rights,” he said quietly. “And it might be difficult to accept, but that isn’t love. You had love with your mother and grandmother. I think you know the difference.”

  “There isn’t fog around me now, Sage. I felt it when I first was in the clinic and woke up. So many thoughts and emotions came rushing into me…and there was nothing stopping it. They were mine! All mine! No one was ordering me to…to think a certain way, or behave a certain way. These are my feelings. My anger. I’m angry at him. But afraid, too. I’m afraid for you and the people who helped me.”

  “Let us worry about that, Luna, believe me, Lexi and her friends are very skilled at taking care of themselves. And they’ll teach you those skills, too, if you want them. Your anger is justified, don’t deny it. But I think you also need to see Jess and make sure all that stuff…whatever they were doing to you…is out of your system.”

  “You people don’t know me.”

  “We do now. Are we supposed to pretend you’re not in trouble and need our help?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What do you do?” Sage chuckled when her head tilted against his chest. “With your day.”

  “My father is a high level politician in Montreal. I’ve been trained to act as his hostess. I read and take classes. I handle his calendar and schedule as well as his correspondence.”

  “Do you choose the classes?”

  “Some. Some are chosen for me,” she rolled to the side and onto her stomach, her head resting on his stomach and eyes curious. “Why do you think it matters that he keep me?”

  “I don’t know. Do you think he’d answer honestly if you asked him?”

  “I don’t believe he knows honesty. I know I was…I was very upset when they took me. Perhaps he drugged me for that reason.”

  “It’s not justified, Luna. You console a child; you don’t drug them into submission.”

  “I know. I believed them when they said I had allergies. But sometimes…the fog would clear enough for me to…to wonder and want to claw my way out because I felt I was missing something. But I didn’t know how.”

  He was silent. Her eyes had been drifting lower and lower and in his silence, the sleep finally claimed her. Sage adjusted the blanket to keep her warm and stared for a long time at the dark ceiling.

  He had to smile. She never once questioned her ability to see him clearly. And the change in his scent had fascinated her, not frightened her, as he would have expected. He suspected her exposure from birth to whenever her mother was killed was ruling her now that she could think clearly.

  Sage felt the acute change in himself at the thought of the man who had drugged his own child in the name of genetic purity. He had definitely lied about having control, his eyes on the claws that had sprouted suddenly. He focused and forced them to recede, closed his eyes and didn’t have to search long before sleep captured him.

  Chapter Seven

  Daylight surfaced shortly before eight the following morning but it wasn’t until almost nine that they moved. Their position hadn’t changed much. She had curled a little closer, pale champagne strands falling over her eyes.

  Less than twenty-four hours and he knew he was in trouble. Not because he felt responsible for her. He’d done the white knight thing and wouldn’t repeat that in this lifetime. He recalled the fire in her eyes when she told him about her escape plans. On how often the drugs had released her enough to think clearly and desperately want to search for more. In need of rescue wasn’t how he saw Luna St. Germaine.

  Protection, now that was a totally different matter.

  Is this how it struck the Daniels’ men? Like a brick wall falling on their heads. Thirty-five and suddenly his body was taking on a
mind of its own. He hadn’t felt his claws extend from just anger in ages, especially while having a conversation with someone. He might be lying to himself, but something told him that would happen to him a lot if someone dared threaten Luna.

  He watched her stretch, her head rolling and tilting before her eyes opened, blinking and letting the surroundings register. Sage briefly questioned his sanity but brought his palm up to caress the sleep in her cheek, brushing the strands of hair behind her ear.

  Recognition dawned, his gaze locked on the full bow of her lips that tilted at him. His body shifted, his palm slid behind her head, fingers spread and savoring the strands of champagne. Her eyes didn’t close when his mouth settled gently against hers. A soft breath filtered free when his tongue stroked over her lower lip and slipped between them, teasing and urging hers to play.

  Sage felt himself sinking when her palm rose, mimicking his, moving gently over the side of his face. A nights growth rasp softly against her palm, her fingertips following the line of his jaw and around his ear, delicate and wisp like before pressing to his throat and onto his shoulder. There, her fingers moved on their own. Lifting thick strands and allowing them to sift through over her skin.

  Luna liked the feel of him, his scent racing through with all the newly discovered sensations she was being treated to. She let her mouth open, her lips returning his kiss. She heard her heart beating, felt the heat filling her, sending messages throughout her body.

  Luna moved beneath the blanket, shifting closer to him at the same time he rolled to his side, one hand buried against her scalp while the other one moved to her waist, the quilt all that separated them. She listened to his growl, his palm stroking heavily onto her hip, pulling her hard against him. She pulled her mouth from his with a soft laugh, trailing the kisses he wanted along his jaw.

  Sage let his head fall back on the bed, his eyes closed as he worked to level his breathing. She did not kiss him like a woman who’d spent her life controlled.

  “That’s a very interesting way to wake in the morning,” Luna pressed against his chest, sensing his withdrawal. “Have I upset you?”

  He met the curiously innocent gaze with a low groan.

  “You’ve been kissed before?”

  “My father escorts me to state dinners and functions. We also hold dinners and gatherings for dignitaries from around the world,” she told him without hesitation. “Often he would introduce me and I would dance or carry on lengthy conversations with them. There were males of varying ages who felt I was attractive enough to walk with through gardens or on the patios. Some felt it was part of the evening to kiss me.”

  “When did you begin doing this? Acting as hostess?”

  “He began taking me to functions when I was fifteen, I think,” she considered this and nodded at the memory. “He warned me about allowing boys to take liberties, that my studies and his reputation were very important to his career.”

  Sage squeezed his eyes tightly shut. He hoped to god he never met the man, but he had a feeling that wish wouldn’t be granted. He had to wonder how many other ways he had used her.

  “I’ve never had sex, if that’s what you’re asking,” Luna moved quickly back, almost losing her hold on the quilt when his body came upright on the bed at the same time his phone made old-fashioned ringing noises from the nightstand.

  “Um…” Sage held up a hand, exhaling slowly and reached for his phone. He watched her slide from the bed to find her clothing on the chair. The bathroom door closed and he opened the phone. “What’s up, Lucas?”

  “Where the hell are you?”

  Sage looked at the snarling phone. “Problem? We’re still in Morning Star. I think we’ll be heading back in an hour or so. What’s wrong?”

  “We have some Canadian officials here looking for their missing heiress,” Lucas pushed the words between his teeth. He definitely did not like the man attempting to bully his way through his town.

  “Missing heiress? Luna?”

  “Did you know her father is one of their high ranking cabinet officials?”

  “She mentioned it. So what? She doesn’t want to go back with him. She’s twenty-nine years old, for Christ’s sake.” He saw the claws peeking and growled. “Have you talked to Jess about what he found in her blood work?”

  “Yeah…he told me…and you, as the sheriff, have the right to refuse him his demands. He’s here with a couple body guards asking questions.”

  “He knows where she is. He knows where she’d go, he’s not stupid,” he reached up with his other palm, stroking over his neck. “Who’s he talked to?”

  “People saw her, Sage. He tried getting Scarlet to talk…” Lucas chuckled.

  “I can imagine how that went, especially since all of them saw the marks on her back,” Sage felt himself tense again, his hand stretching.

  “How is she? Jess said she’d never shifted before.”

  “I think she’ll be okay. Calmer than I thought she’d be. The shaking and snarling in her sleep stopped after two hours, then she just wanted to talk. How can they force her to go somewhere?”

  Lucas paced his office, watching the large official looking SUV part in front of the hotel. “From what Jess says, probably the same way they’ve controlled her most of her life. I’d advise her not to let him touch her, Sage. If he injects her with something…” He let the comment trail. “Jess is ready to tear his throat out, let’s not mention how Lexi and Lily feel about it.”

  “We’ll grab some breakfast and head that way,” he stopped at the edge of the bed. “Does shifter law cover it if she’s mated?”

  “Nothing will stop him if he drugs her to flat out takes her, Sage. If she’s unconscious, she can’t very well scream for help and protest. He could claim he’s taking her home for medical reasons, even if Jess says she’s in excellent health,” Lucas dropped his head forward, feverishly thinking. “The key thing is to literally keep her away from them. But yeah…yeah, it would establish her choice. Her decision.”

  “Thanks. Get Kelly on the line, would you? Have her draw up a restraining order just in case.”

  “I don’t know the grounds you have, other than Jess’s report, but I’ll call her. And believe me, Jess wrote up one defamatory report of what he found in her blood stream. Be careful coming in, Sage.”

  “Thanks for the heads up, Lucas.”

  Luna stood in the doorway when he looked up. “There’s a problem.”

  “Did your grandmother drink coffee?” He was praying as he stood up, her scent weaving around him, teasing and inviting.

  “I can have some for you,” she nodded and went to the door, looking at him once more before going down the hall and the stairs.

  She knew something was wrong. It still amazed her that there was a whole other part of her that she had forgotten. A part of her that had been taken from her, hidden and forbidden. She had measured the grounds that she found in the fridge and prepared the coffee when she realized her claws had peeked out. She stared at them, using one to press the start button.

  Sage came around the corner of the back stairs and stood watching her. Nothing could have halted the grin on his face. She was seated on one of the stools around the breakfast bar and had spilled sugar on the counter, using one claw to scrape and draw through it. He saw her head tip and knew she had scented him, her eyes up with a childlike grin on her face as she showed him the claw she’d been playing with.

  “Be careful with those things,” he laughed, finding a large empty mug waiting for him on the counter. “I’ll pour a cup then we can go grab some breakfast and head back to Devil Hills.”

  “Was the phone call about me?”

  “It was. Lucas is…concerned.”

  “Who is Lucas?”

  “Do you recall the three women in the hospital with you yesterday? Scarlet is the one with the dark, short hair? Lucas is her mate,” he could tell his word choice had puzzled her and was getting used to her facial expressions. “We can marry our mates an
d sometimes do. Or we can simply mark them, so others know they’re taken. Mated with another.”

  “Interesting,” she stared at her hand, smiling to herself when the claws vanished. “Why is Lucas concerned, Sage? They’re there, aren’t they?”

  “Yeah…he’s there,” he took a big mouthful of coffee and swallowed, steeling himself for the next question. “Do you want to return with him, Luna? It’s your choice.”

  “It isn’t…not really,” she held up one finger when his lips opened. “I was taught to obey and follow instructions. No one ever asked what I wanted. No one ever cared what my thoughts were or if I even had any. I think a part of me believed that was normal. I do not want to return with him, Sage. But I cannot, in good conscience, put you or your friends in danger because of my choice.”

  “Don’t you believe that should be our choice,” he finished the coffee and took her palm. “Let’s go get some food. Lucas is prepared to stop him from taking you, Luna. Jess said to tell you not to allow any of them close enough to inject something in you again. Which means no hugs. You greet him standing next to me.”

  “You want to make the choice to help me?”

  “Yes.”

  He knew she was thinking about it. She was starring ahead as they walked, chewing on her lower lip. He guided her to the restaurant and held up two fingers when the waitress looked their way. She gestured them forward to a booth and handed him two menus.

  “Morning, Sage,” she smiled at Luna. “Miss St. Germaine.”

  “Good morning,” she answered, pulling herself into the moment and accepting the menu.

  “Something to drink?”

  “Coffee, black. Luna?”

  “Orange juice, please.”

  He waited until they were alone. “I have a plan.”

  “Why?”

  “Why do I have a plan?” He leaned back and met her gaze without hesitation. “Because I don’t want you to leave.” He knew he was counting. He’d never been afraid of taking chances before but he knew this was a risk to his ego. Was it male arrogance that told him she was sexually interested in him? Or more?