Animal Instincts (4 page)

“Get
the hell out of here, or I swear to God I’ll kick your nuts so far up you’ll
choke on them.”

He
hissed out a curse, and before she knew what was happening he had his hand on
her throat, and had her turned so her back was now pressed to the wall. “You
stupid fucking cunt,” he said in a low voice, his anger clear. She brought her
leg up, trying to kick him in the crotch, but even as drunk as he was he
blocked her assault, and wedged his knee between her thighs. Lifting his leg up
and pressing his knee to her body, she struggled. She should not have worn the
skirt, because it now gave him this unobstructed access to her.

Danika
opened her mouth to scream, but he slapped her across the face. The instant
feeling of her lip splitting, and the metallic flavor of her blood in her mouth
had her spitting in the fucker’s face.

“You
stupid bitch,” he hissed out again, and when he used one of his hands to wipe
the blood and saliva from his cheek she felt the small gap in his hold that
allowed her to use her martial arts training to get the upper hand.

  
Bringing her arm up, she was able to punch
him in the throat hard enough that he gasped out and moved back a step. The
bathroom was tiny, and the small confines would make trying to get out of this
difficult. She might have two years of Tae Kwon Do training, but in the grand
scheme of things it wasn’t enough to make her an expert in the least,
especially when this drunken fool outweighed her by at least fifty pounds. She
also wasn’t stupid, and so while he was trying to suck in air she turned, about
to leave the bathroom and get out of this fucking house. He grabbed her hair as
soon as she had her hand on the doorknob, and yanked her backward. She cried
out from the sudden pain and fell into his body.

“I’m
going to enjoy this, bitch,” he said in a low voice right by her ear.

She
slammed her head back against his face, twisted in his arms like she’d been
taught in training, and went to push him back, but before she got to the latter
the bathroom door opened and Hayden stood there.

“I
heard you shout…” Hayden said, but his words trailed off as he looked at her
face, and clearly saw the busted lip she sported. Danika felt the blood drip
onto her chin, but just wanted out of here and didn’t bother cleaning it off
with her shirtsleeve. Hayden looked at the asshole again, cursed low, and
grabbed her arm to haul her out of the bathroom. She thought they would just
leave, but Hayden went into the room, slammed his fist into the other guy’s
face over and over again until he fell into the bathtub, and only then did
he
back up. Her best friend breathed hard, acting like he
wanted to go after the guy again, but she grabbed his hand and pulled him back.

“Hayden,
let’s just go.”

Hayden
spit on the ground by the asshole’s feet. The guy was now half in the bathtub,
drunker than hell, bleeding from his nose and mouth, and groaning.

“You fucker.
I should kick your ass until you
aren’t breathing anymore for thinking you could put your hands on Danika like
that, or any woman for that matter.” He cursed out again, turned and faced
Danika, and said in a low voice, “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

They
moved out of the house, and she stared at all the people that were watching
them with surprised and interested expressions. The music still pumped through
the house, but she just wanted to get the hell out of here and put this
experience behind her.

Once
they were outside and by her car Hayden breathed out and ran a hand over his
hair. “I am so fucking sorry, Danika.”

“It’s
not your fault, Hayden.” She wiped the blood from her lip, winced at the
soreness of it, and watched as he continued to pace in front of her for a few
more seconds.

He
stopped, stared at her, and the defeated look he gave her broke her heart. “I
brought you to this damn party, and should have never left you alone.”

She
placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled softly at him. “Hayden, guys like that
motherfucker—” She chuckled, and he did the same. She tried to make this
situation a little lighter even though she was feeling anything but. “Guys like
him try shit like that no matter what.
You
are not responsible for that,
I
am
not responsible for that, and we can’t blame ourselves.”

But
that was a lie, because she did feel responsible, felt like if she hadn’t
started shit with him, threatened to kick in his balls, maybe he would have
backed off.

Stop thinking like that.

She
pushed her thoughts away, knowing she needed to be strong, to get through this,
and that dwelling on it wouldn’t help.

“God,
Danika.” He pulled her in for a hug, rested his hand on the back of her head,
and stroked her hair. “Your dad will kill me when he sees your lip.”

She
shook her head, but closed her eyes and stayed right where she was. “No, this
wasn’t you’re fault, and he knows you’d never put me in harm’s way on purpose.”
She pulled back. “You can’t help how an asshole will act.”

He
smiled, but it was forced. She pulled away, patted him on the chest, and tipped
her chin toward her car. “I have to go anyway. I’m meeting up with my dad and
his friend for dinner.”

“You
sure you’re okay to drive home?”

She
nodded.
“Of course.”

“Because I’d feel better driving
you there.
We
can pick up your car tomorrow, Danika.”

She
shook her head before he even finished. “No, it’s okay, really. I’m okay.” She
pushed him gently toward his car parked a few feet away. “You’re okay to
drive?”

He
nodded. “I’m good. Just text
me
when you get home so I
know you got there okay.”

“I
will, and you do the same if you get there before me.”

He
smiled, and this time it was genuine. She watched him get in his car. And then
she went over to the driver’s side and climbed in. After starting the engine
she watched in her rearview mirror as Hayden pulled out of the driveway. But he
didn’t drive away, and she knew he was waiting for her to leave as well.

Once
she was on the road, driving away from the party and the situation, she felt
herself crumble, felt herself break inside. The tears flowed down her cheeks
despite her trying to stop them. When Hayden went in another direction and was
no longer behind her, she pulled off to the side of the road, let her tears
consume her, and didn’t know how in the hell she was going to keep it together
when she got to her father’s house.

Chapter
Four

Damien
had stayed away for four years … four fucking long years. To say that was one
of the hardest things he has ever done was an understatement. Danika was his
mate, his
too
young and inexperienced
mate. She was also the daughter of his best friend, Tyler, and that should have
had Damien backing off and realizing that being with her, mate or not, was a
bad idea. Tyler was like family, like his brother, and mating with his
daughter, imprinting on Danika, would complicate things.

He
should have left for good though, should have just forgotten about everything,
packed up his shit, and gone far away. That would have been the right thing to
do, the safe thing. But he couldn’t, no matter what was the best route for
everyone. His body was pulled toward her now in a way that wasn’t just about
taking care of her, protecting her.

For
the first two years he had stayed away, wanted to give her until the age of
maturity so she could be told what she was to him. He’d traveled the country,
visited old military buddies, seen his mother and father, and tried to center
himself for his return to claim his mate. But when he’d come back to her it was
to find out she’d left for college. There had been a sliver of relief that
she’d gone and done something with her life. But the bigger part, the imprinted
part of his animal, had paced to bring her back, tell her what she was to him,
and claim her. When a shifter found their mate it was instant, consuming, and
had all other thoughts and needs becoming basic and primal. The shifter was
only focused only on making sure that the female they had imprinted on was
theirs irrevocably.

Now
she was twenty, and he’d been back in town for the last two years, staying in
his own world, working toward trying to figure out how things would work out
with Danika. But he knew from Tyler that she had her Associate’s degree now,
and had a job offer in town. He was outside beside his truck, pacing back and
forth as he counted down the minutes until when he was supposed to head to
Tyler’s for dinner. He had yet to tell his friend that Danika was his mate. But
he was going to tell Tyler and Danika tonight, let them both know that he’d
waited for the last four years for this, and he wouldn’t be denied. He’d never
force Danika into a mating, but for him there was only her. There would only
ever be her for him. His need for her was unbearable, but it helped that she’d
been gone, away from where he was.

“This
is it. Don’t be an asshole, take this situation nice and slow, and hopefully
this won’t change everything for the worse.” Bracing his hands on the driver’s
side door of his SUV, he lowered his head and closed his eyes. “Fuck,” he said
in a low voice, feeling like he was about to break in two from the
anticipation, nerves, and the tension in his body.

He
pushed away from the SUV, stared up at the sky, and felt his lion move inside
of him, impatient, needy, and so territorial at the thought that he was just an
hour away from seeing his mate. “Calm down, you bastard,” Damien said, breathed
out, and got into his car. Once he had it started he sat there for a moment,
staring out in front of him, his hands wrapped tightly around the steering
wheel. This was it, the moment he had been waiting for since he had come back
to settle down four years ago. The imprinting desire may have started out as
only wanting to protect Danika and make sure she was safe, but for the last two
years it had continued to grow to this blistering need of arousal. Going this
long without claiming his mate should have been some kind of record. But the
truth was he’d never met another male that had gone through the imprinting. He
had heard about it plenty of times, but the men he’d associated with had been
SEALs, the same as he was, and they had been focused on fighting. There had
been no claiming going on while he had been serving his country, no desire to
have a female for more than just a few hours at a time anyway. And since
meeting Danika, for the last four years, he hadn’t been with anyone. Once an
imprinted male found his female he couldn’t even get an erection for another
woman. But that was how Damien wanted it because Danika was the only female
he’d ever want.

****

Danika
pulled her car into the driveway of her dad’s house, cut the engine, and looked
at the house. She saw the SUV that she assumed was Damien’s, and wiped her cheeks
again, trying to stem off her anger and hurt. After pulling over on the side of
the road and crying, she’d forced herself to get back on the road when her
tears weren’t body wracking. But she still had tears that were a steady flow
down her cheeks. Was she in shock, pissed, sad, so disconnected that she didn’t
know what in the hell was going on?

With
one more deep breath, she grabbed her purse and opened her car door. Heading up
the steps and entering the house, she wanted to just tear down the hallway and
lock herself in the bedroom.

“Is
that you, Danika?”

She
wanted to ask her dad who else would it be just walking into the house, but she
was in a strange mood and kept her mouth shut. She went down the hall to the
bathroom and shut the door behind her. Looking at her reflection had her
wincing at the sight. She lifted her hand and lightly touched the scabbing
split lip she sported. Her eyes were red-rimmed, her cheeks pink from crying,
and all in all she looked a hot mess. After splashing some cold water on her
face, and taking one more deep breath, she stared at her reflection again. She
would have to explain her face to her dad, and what made this worse was the
fact his friend was here, and would witness the whole awkward exchange.

Danika
didn’t want to talk about what happened, not now, and maybe not ever. Her
martial arts training hadn’t been enough to stop the asshole that forced
himself
on her, and if not for Hayden this night would have
ended very differently. She fixed her hair, putting it in a loose ponytail,
because leaving it down wouldn’t conceal her face, and hiding in her room would
just have her dad worried more, and making a bigger scene of talking to him.
She’d just get this out of the way.

Leaving
the bathroom and walking down the hallway and into the kitchen, she heard her
father speaking to Damien. Just thinking about the lion shifter had her body
feeling electrically charged. She couldn’t describe the sensations moving
through her, or why she had this weird feeling whenever she thought about him.
She’d only met him that one time four years ago, and he probably didn’t even
really remember her. She rounded the corner and saw her dad leaning against the
counter, a beer in his hand, and speaking to Damien, who had his back to her.
Her dad started laughing after he told some old war story, and when he realized
she was standing there he glanced her way. His smile faded slightly when he
took in her face, and then he was cursing and moving toward her.