Devil Hills: #2 Luna & Lydia

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  “I do not want to go with him, Sage,” she said softly.

  “Do you think you can trust me?” He knew she was concerned, but there wasn’t fear of him. But there was the smallest twinge and a loud shout that he was no better than her father, taking advantage of her trusting nature.

  “I trust you. I know you wouldn’t hurt me. But I don’t know how to stop worrying,” Luna wrapped her hands around the cold glass of orange juice.

  “I’ll take care of that part. Do you think you could act as if we’re a couple?”

  “A couple of what? I think we could be good friends,” she said easily. “You aren’t bothered by my questions.”

  “A couple, Luna. A man and a woman,” he took a breath while their breakfast was laid out on the table. “Thanks…” He held up his cup and the waitress nodded. “Have you ever given a thought to…” He floundered over a word that wouldn’t sound crude.

  “My father told me he would present my husband to me when he felt I was ready.”

  Sage felt a surge of fury but at the same time, for the first time since the drugs had begun to fade, he could feel the slightest wave of anger rolling off her when she mentioned her father.

  “That bothers you,” he said simply.

  Her eyes flew to his from the fork and knife she was wielding. But she stayed silent.

  “Yes, I can tell. You can sense my anger, too, can’t you?” Sage prodded.

  “Yes,” her voice had fallen, her head turned and looking around the small restaurant. “You can…is it feeling…it just feels like it’s suddenly there…you know that someone is in pain or…or afraid…or…”

  Sage watched her eyes widen when the waitress came to their table with the coffee pot. She blinked, flushed bright red and lowered her eyes to her plate, quietly eating until the young woman was gone.

  “Luna? What is it?”

  “You can’t tell?” She whispered with a tiny swallow, glancing at the waitress working the room before going back to watch him.

  “You’ll learn to ignore some of it over time,” he shrugged, opening his senses. “Oh. Sexual attraction is a very strong emotion.”

  “Do you know her?” The tiniest hint of annoyance in her tone.

  He shrugged and began eating. “I work between here and Devil Hills. I eat here now and then.”

  “I think she’s also angry that I’m here with you.”

  “Neither one of us can control the thoughts of emotions of other people,” he ate in silence for a few minutes. He could tell she was examining all the sensations coursing through her. “Jess had said it would take as long as forty-eight hours for the drugs to clear your system. It’s my guess that it’s why your father always worked quickly to get you back with him. How did you evade them?”

  “I think determination. And a lot of luck. Grandmother has only been dead two weeks. I…I needed to be in her house, even for a little while,” she felt the tears stinging her eyes. “She shouldn’t have been alone.”

  “Another mark against your father that makes you angry. We’ll find you something strenuous to do to work that off,” his head shook slightly. “You don’t want to hold the anger inside, trust me, it’s not healthy.”

  “It…it heats your blood,” she glanced at her hand, quickly putting it beneath the table and practicing the visualization that he had shown her the night before. She sighed as the claws vanished.

  “It gets easier, baby, I promise. This is all stuff your mother would have guided you through when you were…maybe eleven, twelve. But we’ll get through it,” he assured her, inhaling slowly. “Back to my plan to keep your father from throwing legal problems at you. To stop that, I want you to be my mate.”

  Okay. Drop a bomb at breakfast, smooth move, Sage.

  He bounced to his feet and rounded the table, lifting a glass of water and clapping her on the back at the same time.

  “It’s okay…Luna…alright?”

  Wider than he’d seen before, brilliant emeralds stared at him like he’d grown a second head on his shoulders. Okay, so not his slickest move ever.

  She shook her head, waved him to his seat.

  Luna put her hand on her mouth and swallowed now that the choking had come to a stop.

  “You want what?” She cleared her throat several times before the words would form in her brain and her mouth would speak them.

  “I spoke with Lucas this morning. You’re American, regardless of the time you’ve spent in Canada. Your birth certificate is registered here. If they push things, pull some legal stunt, we can’t stop them from taking you and I can’t keep them from drugging you if you’re not near me,” he watched her digest his statement. “However, law on both sides of the fence acknowledge the over-riding law of a mate.”

  “Why would you do this to yourself?” She stared at him. He was sexy. He was dark and handsome and he talked to her. More importantly, he listened to her.

  “I’m not your father, Luna. I don’t want anything from you in return and you will never be forced to so anything you don’t want. Welcome to free will,” he liked the little smile playing over her lips as she ate hungrily. She was too thin and he wondered what the effect of the drugs had been on her appetite.

  “I didn’t know he was drugging me,” she ran her tongue around her lips. “I think I had begun suspecting the last few years…the moments without fog were becoming more and more often…and lasting longer. This is the longest…the thoughts and questions and feelings…it’s like coming out of a deep, deep sleep with all this knowledge and excitement inside me finally being free.”

  “Then take the next step and make certain he can’t take you against your will,” Sage heard her breath hitch, watched her finish eating and lay the silver across the plate.

  “No one’s ever asked me to be their mate before,” she glanced at the waitress. “That’s what she wants from you, isn’t it? To be your mate?”

  “I honestly don’t know,” he answered carefully. “I’m not attracted to her.”

  “I think I’m attracted to you,” Luna said after a quiet moment. “What must I do?”

  He lifted his mug of coffee and dropped money on the table. Sage stood up and took her palm, frowning for the first time as he seemed to notice something.

  “Where’s your shirt? Your arms will be cold.”

  Luna shrugged, her palm immediately going to his. “It was shredded on the back. I threw it away.”

  Chapter Eight

  He remembered. He remembered the fury when he’d seen the lash marks on her back that had left thin lines of angry red. With the drug in her system, she didn’t heal as fast as she should. But as it faded, so did all the cuts and bruises she had.

  Sage spotted a clothing store and guided her there. “Let’s get you something for under the vest then I’ll explain.”

  “I don’t have my pack,” she said suddenly, stepping into the warmth of the shop, the bright colors and styles immediately drawing her. “I don’t have money.”

  “You have some in your pack?”

  “I told you. I know where father keeps his spare cash and…then there was the guard. I…I stole his cash, too,” she said, keeping her head up and refusing to feel sorry for hurting the man who’d been one of her guardians for several years. “These are beautiful.”

  “Pick out what you want, Luna. I’ll take care of it,” Sage promised, sinking to the sofa and pulling his phone out. He scrolled through messages, looking up to see her staring at him. “We need to move a little faster, Luna. Pick out what you like and let’s go,” he winked at her. “I got a job to do…it’s how I make money to afford my new mate.”

  “You can be annoying,” she murmured, selecting several tops and a pair of jeans, going to the back and into the dressing room. The owner of the shop, a short woman with curly red gold hair smiled at her.

  “Most of the males are, sweetheart. You train them and get used to it,” she chuckled. “He called you his mate but you’re not marked.”


  “Marked?” Luna pulled the tag from one of the long sleeved tees, handing it to her. “I’m going to wear this one, please.” She stopped when the woman pulled the collar of her shirt to the side, a set of puncture marks and a small bite mark on her shoulder cap. “The scar?”

  “Oh, it’s more than a scar. My husband did that over eight years ago,” she sighed with a smile.

  “You love him,” Luna said with a return smile, opening the vest and pulling the tee shirt over her head, tucking it quickly into her jeans before she replaced the vest.

  “Very much,” she met the curiosity in the green eyes. “You love him. You fit together well.”

  “Did it hurt?” Luna wasn’t sure what she was feeling. She couldn’t isolate all the mixed bag of emotions that had begun to filter into her since yesterday. But if being happy with Sage was love, she liked the feeling a great deal.

  “A little…but only the first time,” she had known Minerva St. Germaine. And she knew the story of her daughter’s death and the grand-daughter that had been taken away. So she knew the younger woman didn’t have a mother to explain the basics to her. “It becomes extremely sensitive and lets the world know you have a mate who would always be yours.”

  Luna felt all the moisture in her mouth suddenly gone as she tried to swallow, tried to understand what Sage wanted her to do to keep herself safe from her father.

  “I think that’s all, thank you,” she struggled to breathe and walked with her to the counter. “Sage? I need money, please.”

  He’d listened to the conversation while answering emails and replying to Lucas and his concern for Luna. He pulled his wallet out and handed the woman his credit card, not even looking at the total before signing the ticket.

  “Thanks, Grace. See you next time we’re out this way,” he took the bag in one hand and Luna’s palm in the other. “Time to go. Lucas is not the most patient of Alpha’s when it comes to dealing with things he’d rather rip to shreds.”

  Luna sat quietly in the SUV, watching him start the vehicle. She frowned and blinked at the large empty parking lot in front of the lake. There was no wind today, just a hazy sun peering down over the lake, a light steam rising from the surface that made the coating of thin ice and frost glisten.

  “Why are we here?”

  “Luna, do you understand about the mating mark?”

  “I…I suppose,” she stared out the front window.

  He raised the leather arm rest between then and slid closer to her. He knew what he could smell. He knew she was his. Every time he inhaled near her he felt like he was drowning in the fog she had described. He’d read accounts from people about what struck them when they found their mates. An oddly erotic collection of torture and pleasure.

  He had known it the instant he lifted her from the bench and she’d stroked her face against his throat before settling against him. Trusting, even in her unconscious.

  Sage felt the low growl deep inside him when his palm touched the side of her face and her eyes closed, her face tilted further into his palm. Just as she had done that first time he held her. He moved closer, his hands going to her waist and lifting her to sit over him, one leg on either side of his thighs.

  Surprised filled her face, her hands up and on his shoulders to steady herself. His hands went to the crook of her knees, pulling her closer with a low smolder in his eyes.

  “Sage?”

  “A kiss. I need to kiss you, Luna…” His palms stroked over her thighs.

  “I like kissing you,” she whispered candidly, her palms moving with an innocence betrayed by her eyes. She let the strong pulse at his throat strike her hand as she leaned closer. “I can smell you now. You’re attracted to me…” Her hips moved closer, the unconscious need blossoming and bursting free.

  Sage groaned when her mouth settled over the pulse in his throat, nipping and moving along the column toward his ear.

  “Luna…you’re my mate…can you feel it…sense it…”

  “Yes,” she whispered, surprise in her gaze seconds before her mouth covered his, soft lips moving across his, now and then her tongue out to stroke and tease. Uncertainty, he realized as she learned her way through the physical world between a male and female. But there had been excited honesty in her answer. The only answer he needed. He could feel it; heating his blood and sending the necessary drugging hormones into his brain.

  “Mine,” came the softest of growls, his fingers tugging at the neckline of her tee shirt. Her hips rotated against his cock, hard and demanding at the same time a pleasant mewl came from deep in her throat. He knew his canines had extended, just enough to ignite a flame of desire in them both.

  Luna felt the breath freeze in her lungs at the sharp, sudden pain. Then the pain was replaced and her body thrust against him. It hurt, a brief flashing pain that had shifted almost instantly into a blind sexual need. Her hands stilled on the strong shoulders, her breathing jagged and gulping when his hands gripped her hips and pulled her hard against him.

  His body jerked slightly, thrusting his cock against her, their jeans an annoying interference.

  “Mine,” was the hot whisper of his breath when he was finally able to release her, his tongue sweeping in and soothing, tasting and sharing. “You never belonged with the full humans, Luna. You belong here,” he wrapped one arm around her waist, the other stroking over her head when she lay it on his shoulder. Both shuddered but neither moved for a long few minutes.

  “I didn’t know it would feel like this. To need someone. To need to just be with them. It’s unsettling and wonderful at the same time,” she whispered against his throat.

  “I won’t hurt you, Luna. I promise. Once we get rid of the people trying to take you back, we’ll have time to get to know one another better,” Sage had control. He’d been trained in control and he refused to risk losing her by giving up that strand holding him together. “We have to get back,” he lifted her to the seat and shook his head.

  The last thing he expected. A cat. He kissed her while she stared before he slid behind the wheel.

  She buckled herself in and tried to look in the outside mirror, squinting and blinking at the reflective sunlight through the mist and clouds. Luna jumped when he reached over and lowered the visor in front of her, revealing a mirror.

  It looked red and sore. She looked around, opened the glove box and found a stack of paper napkins from fast food places. She took one, moistened it and dabbed, her face scrunched at the tingling bits of pain accompanied by that odd heat that flowed straight to the vee between her thighs.

  “I’m sorry for that…if it makes you feel any better, when the urge strikes, you can return the favor,” he saw the surprise and suddenly pale cheeks. “Luna? It’s alright.”

  “I could hurt you. I…I don’t have control of that…” Her head shook back and forth.

  “You’ll learn in time. A little patience,” he told her with a chuckle, finally feeling the throbbing between his thighs ease up after adjusting himself and his jeans. They were headed back to Devil Hills. He’d never expected to be slammed like that with a craving for more he hadn’t had since he was a teenager.

  He was the first to admit the last twenty-four hours for her had been an intense roller coaster. The world opened up and welcomed her inside. And he’d just managed to complicate everything inside her.

  “I’ve read books about sex,” she said after a lengthy silence. “And I’ve watched movies and videos. Nothing was withheld from me, I suppose, except the right to make my own choices about things.” She sighed and glanced over at him, quizzical. “I really like kissing you. The feelings are…intense. Very different from others.”

  “You went to a normal school?” Sage asked, his voice a little strangled sounding.

  “I did. I wasn’t permitted to have friends at our home. Father said it was because of the security risk with his position in the government. But I know I would have had more fun as I am now,” she glanced over at him. “Boys flirted and made pa
sses. I’m sure I came across as an emotionless doll.” She shifted to the side. She liked watching him. He had a scar on the side of his face, his nose wasn’t quite long enough for his face, it seemed, and no matter how he shoved at it, his hair was managing to annoy him when it touched his eyebrows.

  “I don’t want to make you angry, Sage.”

  “Angry? I’m not angry at you,” his brows knit, his gaze swung momentarily from the road to her.

  “You become angered when I speak of certain things.”

  He pulled in the slightly chilled air seeping through the window he’d cracked open.

  “Yeah…yeah, I do…but it’s not at you, Luna. You know that.”

  “Being angry at him…” She sighed and shrugged. “I should be. I know I should be. But what would be the point? It’s my energy inside me now, not a drug or someone’s orders and instructions. I can see the difference. I can feel the difference. You’re very tolerant and patient. I’m not used to having someone to talk to and not be told enough.”

  Sage reached for her hand, something he swore he’d never do, and carried it to his lips. The urge, the need to simply touch her was a new sensation coursing through his veins. He still tasted her blood in his mouth; the sweet scent of her stronger to him now. Stronger because he knew she belonged to him. Stronger because he knew she wanted to be his mate. Her fingers curled around his and he grinned at her.

  “I can’t stop the anger, Luna. I can’t. What he did was…beyond wrong.”

  “He’s found me. He always finds me, Sage.”

  “You sound resigned. Just because he finds you doesn’t mean he has you, Luna. I won’t allow it,” he told her coldly, barely containing the hint of fang pushing below his lips.

  She just sighed and looked down at the two hands together on the arm rest between them. His so much larger, so much…more, she thought. She’d been all over the world yet knew she’d seen so little of it.