Damian Read online

  Thor released his son and faced him. “Then perhaps you aren’t paying close enough attention. Xavier has been extremely clear about his feelings.”

  “Yeah, well.” Damian shrugged his shoulders and tilted his head slightly. “I can’t change it. It happened.”

  Thor inhaled deeply, then sighed. “This is really difficult for me. As I envision the words swimming around in my head, I’m still struggling with my decision.”

  “Please, just say it,” Damian said as he widened his stance.

  “Despite the unbelievable pain this will cause your mother and me, I think it’s what’s best for you. You may not realize it now, but you will one day. Or at least I hope you will.”

  He looked into Damian’s eyes and saw the little boy he had been so proud to announce to his pack shortly after his birth. The little boy he’d cradled in his arms and protected with his life. The same little boy who loved running through the woods with him. The little boy he taught to hunt. The little boy who used to curl up next to him each night and fall asleep before he was carried off to his bedroom and gently placed in his own bed.

  Thor’s heart broke, and he fought back his emotions at the thought of the message he was about to deliver. He swallowed hard and took a deep breath.

  “I’ve always wanted nothing but the best for you, son. I’ve raised you to be a great leader, and I know you will be.” Thor extended his arm so his hand grasped his son’s shoulder. “It saddens me, Damiano, to have this talk. Patience is not your strong suit. It never really has been. I understand. You’re part of the instant gratification generation. But this pack can’t have two Alphas, and I won’t be relinquishing my position anytime soon. I don’t want to feel like I’m holding you back, and I don’t want there to be any more bad blood between us. I cherish our relationship far too much for us to come to blows. And it’s for those reasons, and in an effort to help you become the leader you were meant to be, that the time has come to let you branch out on your own.”

  Damian shrugged his shoulder, trying to remove his father’s hand. The grip Thor had on his son was relentless.

  “You’re throwing me out?” Damian asked.

  “No, son. I’m not. I know you want to be Alpha, and with your own Pack you can be. Take Maverick and Jordan as your Betas. They’re loyal to you and always will be. If there’s anyone else you’d like to take, let me know. We can work something out so you have a strong base to begin your endeavors.”

  “Does Mother know you’re throwing me out of the Pack?” Damian shrugged twice more and Thor’s hand fell to his side.

  “Son, you need to listen to what I’m saying. I never said I was throwing you out,” Thor said. He straightened his spine and shoved his shoulders back.

  “Maybe not, but that’s basically what this is,” Damian huffed. “Fine, you want me gone, then I’ll leave. I don’t need anyone by my side except my two best friends. I wouldn’t want to take any of your precious Pack mates with me. I don’t need your spies reporting back to you about everything I do.”

  Thor rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, then stared at his son. Instead of replying to Damian, he chose to remain silent. Continuing the banter back and forth would quickly turn the direction of the conversation sharply to the south.

  Thor was thankful they hadn’t escalated to hollering at each other like they had so many times in the past, but he knew his son was upset and hurt. That wasn’t what he’d hoped for. He’d hoped Damian accepted his opportunity, that it was time to be on his own and to forge ahead with his own life. And, more than anything, time to grow the fuck up.

  Thor told Damian about a few log cabins that he’d inherited when his father died. They were situated along a common area with a huge parcel of land several miles from where they currently resided. It had been a long time since Thor had been there, and he wasn’t sure what shape things were in, but he assured Damian he’d help get everything restored and in working order. He wanted to make sure Damian had a safe, comfortable place to begin his reign, and eventually live with his soul-mate. Damian scoffed at his father’s comments while shaking his head.

  After a forced hug, Damian slammed the front door behind him. Calista walked into Thor’s office.

  Calista’s warm hand rubbed across Thor’s stubbled jaw. “One day, sweetheart, our son will understand the gift you bestowed upon him.”

  Thor inhaled a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “He’s a stubborn young man, and I love him with all of my heart. I hope you’re right, my love. I was so close to not doing it. He’s our only son. Our only child. I never want him to think I’ve turned my back on him.”

  Thor wrapped Calista in his arms and held her tight against his chest.

  “We had this conversation, Thor, my love. This was best for all of us, but most of all for Damian. Yes, it will be difficult for everyone, but in the long run he will be better off, and will finally realize his full potential as Alpha. And when he does, he’ll thank you. Mark my words,” she said. Her arms wrapped tight around Thor’s waist.

  “I hope you’re right.” He kissed the top of her head. “Goddess knows I hope that.”

  Chapter 7

  “Can you believe he did that?” Damian asked his Betas. He’d given them his version of the conversation between his father and him.

  “I’m shocked he just threw you out like that. Not just out of his house, but out of the Pack, too,” Maverick replied.

  “He’s giving you a chance to be an Alpha. That’s what you always wanted, right?” Jordan questioned.

  “That’s not the point! He threw us all out of the Pack,” Damian huffed. Pangs tore through his abdomen, making him feel like his stomach was turning inside out. “Shit!”

  “Are you okay?” Maverick asked. “Maybe you’re getting an ulcer.”

  “Probably all the stress,” Jordan said. He stopped short of finishing his sentence. He wanted to let Damian know his lifestyle was the cause of what just happened. He knew his own father would have ensured he met the same fate a lot sooner had he behaved like Damian.

  “Let’s go find some women,” Maverick said. “They’re always a welcome distraction.”

  “Or not. I’m done with them. They’re nothing but trouble to me,” Damian said.

  “Yeah, right.” Jordan twisted his mouth and rolled his eyes. He knew Damian’s comment about giving up women was made out of frustration, and was far from the truth.

  “I’m starving. Let’s hunt while we find this place my father so graciously is giving us.”

  All three shifted. Their Wolves were large and impressive. Maverick and Jordan’s Wolves were both grey with grey eyes. Damian’s wolf was larger than his friends and his coat was stark, pure white. His eyes were a piercing blue, and he looked dangerous to any onlooker.

  I hope there are rogues holed up on this land. I feel like ripping someone to shreds, Damian said through his link to his friends. Fuck, I’m starving!

  What’s gotten into you? You’ve been hungry a lot lately, Maverick asked.

  If it’s not stress or an ulcer, maybe he should be hunting for his soul-mate, not food, Jordan quipped.

  Yeah? Speaking of soul-mates, how’s sweet little Mindy these days? Oh wait, you’re a drunken douchebag and she’s not into you, Damian replied. He felt horrible for his words as soon as they left his mind. He had no idea why he’d talked to one of his best friends in that tone. I didn’t mean that. Well, not like I said it anyway.

  Jordan tilted his head before he spoke. Don’t sweat it, boss man. I know you’re not yourself. You just got into it with your dad and you’ve probably got that Hunger disease. And just an FYI, since that night, I haven’t had one drop of liquor. Next time I see her, mark my words, Mindy will be mine.

  Are you two done kissing and making up? Doe and her fawns at two o’clock, Maverick said. You can start taking out your frustrations by ripping the throat out of your unsuspecting meal.

  Without any hesitation, the three charged full-sp
eed toward the deer family. As Damian’s jaws wrapped around the doe’s neck, a whirring sound buzzed above his head and then he heard a thump. The deer bucked and jerked so hard she wiggled her way free of Damian’s grip before running several hundred feet. Damian took off right behind her and wrangled her back down to the ground where she collapsed and died as Damian ripped her throat to shreds.

  Within seconds, while diving into the meat of her carcass, Damian heard another buzzing sound fly past his head.

  What the fuck is going on? Damian asked. He looked over and saw his friends making quick work of their kills. Neither of them looked up.

  He ripped a chunk of meat loose from the doe and glanced over toward his friends just in time to see something tear through the flesh, causing blood to spurt out of the wound. He heard the dull thud as it entered the fawn Maverick was eating.

  Watch out! We’re being shot at again, Damian hollered.

  Without warning, the three took off running toward a nearby cave where they’d played several times as children. Once they caught their breath, they changed back to their human form and found the clothing they’d left there months ago.

  “This is bullshit! Why are we being hunted? And by whom?” Jordan asked.

  Damian’s stomach roared. Maverick and Jordan looked at their friend.

  “What? I’m fucking hungry, remember?”

  “It’s not safe to hunt until we figure out who’s hunting us,” Maverick said. “I guess until we get to the bottom of this, we’re going to have to spend more time at The Watering Hole or cooking our own meals.”

  “I’d rather spend my time at The Canteen,” Jordan said.

  Damian began walking out of the cave, Maverick and Jordan following closely behind him.

  “I’m sure you would. I’d prefer to hunt. This is insane that we’ve become the hunted.” Damian’s stomach growled. “Fuck it, I’m starving. Let’s go get something to eat before I eat one of you.”

  Maverick and Jordan both looked at each other, then back to Damian. When Maverick looked up, he saw what appeared to be the same buck that was standing near the lake when Jordan had been shot.

  “Hey. That fucking deer. Is that the same one?” he started to question. “No fucking way.”

  Damian and Jordan both stopped in their tracks when their eyes locked onto the buck. Seeing what appeared to be the same buck was unnerving. His long, powerful legs looked like he was ready to spring into action. His dark brown coat was wrapped tightly around his thick torso, and his head and antlers were tilted forward. But it was the half-dollar-sized, deep black eyes that made him appear ominous and dangerous. He never moved from where he stood, but he was excreting his pheromones to signal not to fuck with him.

  The trio quickly walked nearly a mile along the road, past the lake into a tree-dense section, and stopped suddenly when they heard a faint whimper in the distance.

  “What was that?” Jordan asked.

  “I don’t know. It sounded like a pained cry,” Damian said.

  They all heard the noise again.

  “Did someone just call for help?” Maverick asked.

  “I’m glad I’m not the only one who heard that. I could have sworn I heard the same thing,” Damian said.

  “That makes three of us. I heard it, too. It sounds like it’s coming from over there.” Jordan pointed into the forest where the wooded area was so dense it was nearly impassable.

  “Come on,” Damian said. He began trudging through the brush and bushes with his Betas on his heels. His stomach continued to rumble loudly. So loud, it was difficult at times to hear the faint voice.

  As they approached a clearing, they saw who was responsible for the noise. Their eyes locked as she looked over her shoulder.

  “Help me, please,” she cried. Tears streamed down her face. She was holding her leg, and that was when Damian saw the barbaric trap biting into her ankle. Dried blood had caked onto her skin, while fresh blood oozed where the teeth held her hostage.

  Damian rushed over to the young girl and immediately began pulling the jaws apart to free her. Maverick pulled the girl free, and Jordan stuck a large stick into the trap where her leg had been.

  The girl cried. Happy for her freedom, happy to have been saved, and in excruciating pain from the thing she’d never seen before that day.

  “Thank you,” she sobbed.

  “Anytime. Who are you?” Damian asked.

  “I’m Leia. My grandfather is Xavier. Do you know him?”

  “I do. We need to get you safely back home,” Damian said.

  He lifted Leia up and put her on his back, piggy-back style, being careful not to touch the sensitive, raw skin where the trap had dug into her flesh.

  As they made the trip to the Mountain Lion Pack, Leia talked to her rescuers. She told them she was only twelve and how she ended up in the trap. She had just learned to shift to a Lioness, and had been playing with other cubs from the Pack. They were called to come back, but when she ran, she heard the loud bang of the trap being set off and felt the beast clamp tight on her leg. She shifted back to human form in hopes the pain would subside, but it got worse.

  The last few hundred yards, Leia lay her head on Damian’s shoulder and closed her eyes. The pain had become so intense she felt nauseated. Tears eased from the corner of her eyes, soaking Damian’s shirt.

  “Stop right there. You aren’t welcome here, Damian!” one of the guards barked.

  “We’ll see if Xavier agrees. Let him know I have his granddaughter and she’s hurt pretty bad. She needs to see your healer right now.”

  “Always up to your shenanigans, aren’t you? Go away, Damian, and take your side-kicks with you.”

  Without warning, Damian growled so loud he could have easily been heard miles away. “Go. Get. Xavier. NOW!”

  Damian didn’t wait for the guard to walk away before he and his Betas approached the fence and stepped across the threshold he knew he could get killed for. But that wasn’t his concern. He knew Leia needed to be seen by the healer to make sure she didn’t get an infection in her leg from that trap.

  The guard walked in Damian’s direction, and Maverick threw him several feet from them against a tree.

  “Should have listened, fuckwad,” Maverick said. The trio continued walking, unsure which direction to go. Jordan jogged ahead of Damian, asking anyone and everyone for Xavier or the healer.

  “Why are you on my land? Why are you looking for me, Damian?”

  Damian knew that voice all too well. Xavier had made a lasting impression when he visited his father after Damian’s first lust-filled encounter with a sexy Cougar from the Mountain Lion Pack.

  Damian lifted his eyes and was staring into the angry depths of Xavier’s.

  “I, we, all three of us, we found your granddaughter in the woods.”

  “Of all the absurdities. What did you do to her? She’s only a child, you know!” Xavier bellowed.

  “I promise you, we did nothing to harm her. We rescued her from a trap. Her leg was stuck.” Damian lifted the bloody leg to show Xavier what had been done.

  “Oww!” Leia cried. She squeezed her arms around Damian’s neck tighter. “Don’t touch it, please.”

  Damian slowly let her leg back down. “We brought her right here. She needs your healer. I’ll put her down, so she can be treated, and then we’ll leave your property. I promise, we meant no disrespect.”

  “Bring her this way. And be careful, please.” Xavier walked to where a thin woman with wire-rimmed glasses and thinning hair was standing. “Take her in there. Harley is our healer. She’ll take good care of her. Once she’s settled, we should talk.”

  Damian didn’t give pause to Xavier’s comment. Instead he took Leia in to the bed Harley was pointing to. With the help of Harley, Maverick, and Jordan, they lowered the child onto the bed and helped her lie down so she could be tended to.

  “Damian, don’t leave me,” Leia begged. She sniffled.

  “I need to talk to the Al
pha. I’ll be right outside.”

  “But --” she said.

  “Hush, child. You need to focus on your leg. Lie back and let me take a good look,” Harley said in her soft, purring voice.

  “But Damian,” she whispered.

  “I’ll be back to see you before I leave, if your grandfather will permit it. I can leave Maverick and Jordan here for now if you like.”

  Leia smiled, and nodded her head. Each of them found a chair along the wall so they’d be out of Harley’s way, and Damian smiled before turning to find Xavier.

  As soon as he stepped outside, he saw the Alpha Cat with two guards beside him.

  “Come, let’s talk. I need to know exactly what happened.”

  Chapter 8

  Damian’s stomach growled incessantly while he explained how he and his Betas heard the faint cry, then searched the woods until they found the child. When he told Xavier the details about the trap, he could hear a roar rumbling up his chest cavity.

  “Damian, you’ve been a thorn in my backside for quite some time. But your actions today are beyond admirable. Thank you for rescuing my granddaughter. I don’t know what I would do without her. I’ve been raising her for the past five years, and love her as if she were my own child.”

  “Are her parents --” Damian started to ask. He was curious why Xavier was raising his granddaughter, but lowered his head when he saw the look in Xavier’s eyes. “It’s none of my business. I’m sorry I asked.”

  “It’s okay. We suspect her mother was killed by poachers. She’d gone out to hunt and we think she got trapped and may not have been able to escape.” Xavier turned his head away from Damian. “We heard her howls, and scoured the woods, but never were able to find her.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Damian said.

  “I hadn’t realized my little Leia didn’t come back. And none of her friends said a word. I’ll have to deal with that, but that’s not anything for you to be concerned with.” Damian’s stomach continued to rumble. He wrapped his arms across his midsection. “To show my appreciation for bringing my precious little one back safely, I’d love it if you and your friends would stay and have dinner with us tonight.”