Moonlight Kin: A Wolf's Tale (19 page)

“That’s all fine and well, but why did you feel the need to plant your seed in this woman?” Aidan bellowed. “Of all the females that you could’ve chosen, you picked the Hunter.” His face turned bright red and his sharp gaze bore into Damon.

Why had he done it? He couldn’t exactly tell the Elders that it had been lust at first sight. Damon faltered for a second, then stood at attention. “I did it to stop the initiation. If any of you had bothered to read the Hunter files that you sent me, you would have noticed the paragraph discussing the future Hunter’s purity status.” He took a heaving breath, trying to rein in his temper. “It states that a Hunter must be pure at the time of the ceremony for the initiation to take.”

A collective gasp was heard throughout the room.

“I wasn’t positive it was referring to her virginity, but it seemed like a safe bet at the time,” Damon said. “I did what needed to be done in order to stop the cycle—to end the Valois reign of terror.”

He didn’t bother to mention the fact that he’d planned to bed Madie with or without that tidbit of information. Or that she’d smelled so fresh and welcoming when he drove her to dinner that he had no choice but to seduce her.

Damon closed his eyes. He could almost hear Madie’s soft moans of pleasure ringing in his ears as she came during sex for the first time. He’d been her first and he’d be her only. No man was going to take his bondmate away from him, and that included her father.

“What about the murders?” Aidan asked. “Have you forgotten about your brother? Are you sure she is not responsible?”

Damon swallowed hard and his jaw clenched. “I’m sure Madie is innocent. As for my brother, I have forgotten nothing.” The tone of his voice left no doubt that he spoke the truth.

Aidan’s expression darkened. “If she isn’t behind the killings, then who is murdering our people?”

This time Damon met his gaze squarely and answered truthfully, “I don’t know. I think there may be a new player in town.”

“Working alone?” Aidan asked. “Gaston would never allow that.”

“That remains to be seen,” Damon said.

“How will we find out if that’s the case?” Aidan asked.

“I plan to investigate upon my return to New Salford.”

The Elders spoke amongst themselves, using a private communication path. There were a lot of red faces and unhappy glances sent in his direction. Damon’s heart pounded in his chest as he waited for their judgment. Finally, Aidan spoke for the group.

“You have until the moon. If we do not receive definitive proof by then of another Hunter, the pack will be ordered to carry out Lycan law.”

“She’s my bondmate,” Damon said.

Aidan looked at him. “Then I suggest that you do not fail.”

Damon bowed, even though all he wanted to do was punch his cousin in his smug face. Aidan didn’t understand. Didn’t want to understand. Hopefully someday that would change. He had little time to find who was killing members of the pack, but for Madie’s sake, he had to try. He turned to leave the room.

“Damon?” Aidan called out, stopping him in his tracks. “When the time comes, do not stand in our way. We will not tolerate one of our own siding against us. If you choose to stand with your bondmate, then be prepared to die with her.”

“I was prepared for that the second the wolf chose her as my bondmate.” Damon saw the shock on Aidan’s face as he spoke. Now maybe his cousin would understand. Damon nodded to the Elder, then left their chamber.

***

Monday morning was bright and sunny when Madie opened the door. Damon stood in the frame grinning. Her heart fluttered.

“Good morning.” He leaned in to kiss her, but she backed away.

“What are you doing here, Damon?”

His brow furrowed, but his smile stayed firmly in place. “I came to see you. I wanted to take you to breakfast.”

“I’ve already eaten.”

He shrugged. “Well then, why don’t I take you to get a cup of coffee?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so.” It hurt Madie to say those words, but she had to stay strong. He’d treated her badly. She wasn’t about to let him off without receiving a heartfelt apology and a lengthy explanation.

“Aren’t you going to at least invite me in?” he asked.

She felt herself crumble. She called herself seven kinds of stupid, but Madie still stepped aside. She told herself that asking him in was only inviting trouble, but her heart didn’t care. She was glad to see him. Her body came alive just looking at him. She didn’t know how Damon had gotten under her skin so quickly, but she couldn’t deny the fact that he had.

***

Damon walked into Madie’s living room. She was barefooted and freshly showered, dressed in a loose pair of jeans and a red t-shirt. She didn’t have any floral perfume on, but her natural scent was intoxicating and driving him to distraction. He wanted to drag her onto the floor and bury himself deep inside her until the world slipped away.

He took a seat on the couch, while she went in the kitchen to get some water. Damon watched her bend forward to turn on the tap. Her jeans tightened over her rounded ass and need hit him. In that instant, he wanted her just as clearly and sharply as he had the first night he’d taken her.

She was his bondmate.

Damon’s head dropped back onto the couch and he closed his eyes, trying to will his hard-on away. He took a deep breath and the unmistakable scent of wolf smacked him in the face. His head shot up and his body tensed. Damon’s senses went on full alert.

He sprung from the couch as if it had burned him, then turned to examine it closer. The scent was familiar, but he couldn’t place it as he mentally ran through the remaining members of his pack.

Madie returned with two glasses of water. “What are you doing?” she asked. Her face scrunched in confusion.

Damon turned, his eyes narrowing to dangerous slits. “Are you sleeping with someone else?”

Madie put the water glasses down on the coffee table with a loud
thunk
. “What?”

“I asked if you were fucking another guy?” Pain welled up inside him with such intensity that Damon thought he’d die. He’d just spent two days fighting with the Lycanian Elders to spare her life and now she did this to him. She was
his,
his bondmate. Didn’t she understand that?

Something inside him shattered and cold enveloped his limbs. His whole body went numb. He’d kill the wolf that touched her with his bare hands when he found him. “What is his name?” he ground out between clenched teeth.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Madie planted her hands on her hips. “But you need to leave. Right now!”

Damon approached her, his fists clenched at his sides. “I asked you a question.” He sniffed Madie, circling her a couple times as he did so.

“What is the matter with you?” She jerked back. “Have you lost your mind?”

He gave her a censorious glance, but said nothing. Damon couldn’t detect another’s scent on her skin, other than his own. His rage eased a fraction.

***

Madie’s body trembled with anger and awareness. Damon’s overreaction should have scared her, but instead she felt elated. If he was angry, that meant he was jealous. And he could only be jealous, if he cared. Her heart swelled in her chest.

“Are you going to tell me, who you’ve been seeing?” His voice had softened a bit, but still had bite.

“No!” She shook her head defiantly. “I don’t have to answer you because it’s none of your business.”

Damon was on her before she even saw him move. He pinned her against the wall, his big body crowding hers. “Whether you realize it or not, you are my business.”

His lips came down on hers with a hunger she didn’t think existed within him. He savagely ravished her mouth, seeking entrance with his skilled tongue, while his hard body demanded her surrender.

She should have resisted, but Madie didn’t. It felt too good to be in his arms again. Warmth filled her body, flooding her, swamping her with emotion. Madie clutched his broad shoulders. The pressure of the kiss intensified, until she felt like she was falling.

Today, Damon tasted like peppermint, sharp and sweet with a touch of heat as his tongue sparred with hers. Madie couldn’t seem to get close enough to him. She pulled at his jacket until it fell to the floor. The white t-shirt he wore was taut across his muscled chest. Her nipples tightened as she brushed against him.

Damon moaned into her mouth and reached for the front of her sweater. He pulled back, his breathing ragged and his eyes glazed. “Is this one of your favorites?” He looked down at the material filling his hands.

“No,” she whispered against his lips.

“Good,” he muttered and recaptured her mouth.

Madie heard material rip. Buttons popped, flying in all directions. The now useless garment slid off her shoulders and onto the floor, joining Damon’s jacket.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t wait. I have to have you now.” He panted. “Your scent is driving me wild.”

Damon’s heated words caused her channel to flood. She wanted him. Right here. Right now. Nothing else mattered.

He removed her jeans and panties, then hiked her up higher until she straddled his waist. Damon braced her back against the wall. He held her with one arm as he fumbled with his pants.

Madie heard the glide of a zipper a second before he spread her thighs wide. Damon positioned himself at her entrance, then thrust hard, filling her completely. Madie wrapped her legs around his hips as he pulled out.

Damon groaned and drove into her again.

His rhythm gained momentum, and pretty soon he was pounding into her, claiming her body, while branding her soul. Madie’s hips moved of their own accord, matching Damon’s frantic pace.

He shifted her even higher until he was hitting her sensitive nub with each stroke. She tossed her head back and moaned at the overwhelming pleasure coursing through her.

Madie felt the pressure building inside. Each glide of his thick shaft brought her nearer to blissful release. He was everything she’d remembered and more. And she couldn’t get enough. Higher and higher she climbed, until Madie teetered on a precipice.

He drove deep and rotated his hips.

Madie cried out as her orgasm slammed into her, driving her over the edge.

Sweat dripped down the side of Damon’s face. His hands tightened on her thighs and he rocked his hips, driving even deeper inside of her to draw out her release. Madie’s sheath clamped down on his shaft.

Damon groaned and closed his eyes.

A second later, she felt his cock pulse and warmth explode inside her. The sensation triggered another orgasm, which left her limp.

Musk from their lovemaking filled the air. Damon’s chest brushed Madie’s sensitive nipples with every breath he took. She decided she could stay like this forever in the arms of the man that she loved. Madie tensed as the thought slipped into her mind.

“Let me down,” she said, trying to prevent full-blown panic.

He slowly complied.

Once he did, she pushed Damon away.

Oh god, she loved the man. When had that happened?

Damon pulled his pants up and fastened them. “Are you going to tell me who you’ve been seeing now?” He picked up his jacket.

“Really? That’s the first thing that comes to mind after what just happened?” Madie asked. She was too shaken by her sudden revelation to discuss something so inanely stupid with him. Why couldn’t he just let it go?

Damon’s nostrils flared. “Fine! If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

“And you know where I’ll be.” At least for a few more days.

He stormed out of her house, slamming the door behind him.

Madie released the breath she’d been holding. She knew that she could have salvaged an otherwise perfect moment by answering his stupid question, but she’d been miserable since she left his house.

He hadn’t called or texted while he’d been gone. He’d let her think that he didn’t want anything to do with her. It was about time Damon felt some of her pain. She wasn’t about to call him. He could just sit and stew for a while.

Chapter Twenty-One

For better or worse, Madie’s period had always been like clockwork. She was now officially two days late.
There’s no reason to be concerned yet
, she told herself, but that didn’t stop Madie from phoning her ob-gyn and begging for an appointment.

The doctor slipped her in at noon and immediately drew her blood. Madie read every magazine in the office and chewed off all her fingernails, while she waited. An hour later, her doctor walked into the room with a smile plastered on her face.

“Congratulations, you’re going to have a baby,” she said.

And just like that, Madie’s whole world changed.

Madie drove back home in a daze, the doctor’s words ringing in her ears. One part of her was scared out of her mind. The other part was thrilled. She just wasn’t sure which part would prevail in the end.

She hadn’t spoken to Damon since their fight. She’d felt off the past couple of days, but had chalked it up to the excitement of graduation and the fact that she’d been eating more than normal.

Madie laughed. That should have been her first clue.

Who in the world has sex for the first time and ends up pregnant a few days later? Madie shook her head in dismay. She was going to have a baby. This was serious. There was no time to cling to her foolish pride.

Whether she was ready or not, she had to let the father know. Madie had no idea how Damon would take the news. She prayed he’d be happy, but they hadn’t known each other long enough for her to be sure.

Known each other long? She cackled again, sounding insane.

Before she could chicken out, Madie turned the car toward the nice part of town and drove to Damon’s house. She parked the car and sat in it for a few minutes, staring at his front door. Her hands were shaking, when she finally opened the car door and stepped outside. Her came up as she smelled smoke. That’s when Madie noticed the flames.

“Oh, my god, the house is on fire.” She screamed and raced to the front door. Madie pounded on it, but Damon didn’t answer.