Sarah took a deep breath and nodded. “I was thinking that I might still be mad at you.”
He felt his lips twitch. “Yeah?”
“Yep. You should have come to me years ago.”
He pressed his forehead to hers. “I know, but I thought I was keeping you safe by staying away.”
“I will always love Walt.”
He lay down beside her and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her into his chest. “I know. I miss him too.”
“Is it wrong for us to be together? I mean is it wrong to want this?”
He kissed her temple and thought about it for a moment. “No, I don’t think so. We can’t fight fate. I’ve always known you were my mate.”
“And I didn’t because I was mated to another.”
“What about now?”
She snuggled into him. “I felt the tug when I saw you in the woods.” She rolled in his arms so she faced him. “Just when I stop searching for a future, you show up with trouble on your heels.”
He grinned his best wicked grin. “You know me. Trouble is my real name. I go by Damian as a disguise.”
She laughed. “Well then, Trouble, make love to me. Show me how it is to be wanted, loved again.”
He rolled her to her back and nipped at her chin, making her laugh again. God, he’d missed her laugh. He’d never imagined the day would come that he’d get his mate. No, he’d given her up to his best friend all those years ago.
Now, he had a second chance to make her his. He was going to do just that. The rogues and rebels be damned.
He captured her mouth with his and thrust his tongue inside to seek out hers. Sarah laced her fingers in his hair and tugged. His cat purred, and his dick pressed painfully behind the zipper of his jeans.
He broke her hold and stood to remove his clothes. All the while Sarah watched with hunger in her gaze. Damn. The female was going to kill him slowly and seductively, and he was going to enjoy every moment of it.
He settled down between her legs and drank in the sight of her. She wasn’t super thin, but neither was she too curvy. She was just right and physically fit, as shifters generally were. He lowered his head and kissed her on the forehead then her nose. He didn’t get to finish his teasing trail down her face to her breast because Sarah fisted a hand in his hair and tugged his mouth to hers for a kiss.
She bit his lower lip, making him groan and open his mouth so she could sweep her tongue inside. She tasted of berries and the wine. She bit him again, this time a little hard, and made him jerk back.
When he did, she flipped him on his back and straddled him, her core hovering above his cock. With a wicked grin, she scooted down his body, placing kisses and nips along the way. His blood rushed through his veins, and his cock filled even more.
“Sarah,” he growled in warning. He wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to control the urge to take her rough and hard against the floor.
She raised her brows and held his gaze as she lowered her head to his cock and took him inside her mouth. He jerked as she palmed his sac and sucked him. Fisting his hands into her hair, he closed his eyes and rode the wave of ecstasy.
She pulled up, releasing his cock. She palmed the base of his shaft and took him inside her mouth again, raising and lowering her head. Each stroke pushed him further over the edge. He thrust his hips, fucking her mouth as her nails lightly scored his dick.
His balls tightened, and his cock throbbed. “Sarah…”
His plea only made her work him faster until an orgasm tore through him.
He gripped her arms and pulled her up to kiss her hard. She smiled into the kiss and crawled forward to position herself over him. He thrust up, entering her in one swift movement. She gasped then started rocking against him.
He took hold of her hips as she rode him to the edge of another orgasm. When she cried out in release, he followed with his own.
Sarah collapsed across his chest. “You turned me into jelly.”
Laughing, Damian reached up and pulled the small blanket from the sofa and covered them. He kissed her forehead and shifted her so she lay tucked into his side. “You’re very welcome.”
Sarah slapped at his chest and yawned. “What are we going to do about the rebels?”
“I wanted to talk to Graham since it seems he’s mated to the Alpha of Ashwood. I want to see if he can arrange a meeting with both the leopard and wolf Alphas.”
She smoothed her palm on his chest. “Why?”
“Their names have come up a few times. I want to see how much they know and if they are willing to share intel.”
She yawned again but said, “I’ll call him in the morning. It’s late, and I don’t want to wake the babies.”
Damian nodded. There wasn’t much he could do tonight anyway.
“Night, Sarah.”
“Night,” she muttered as she drifted off to sleep.
Damian felt as though he was floating, or the room was spinning. He tried to open his eyes, but for some reason, his vision was off. Then the smell of smoke reached his hazy mind. Where the hell was he? A soft groan followed by a cough brought reality crashing in hard.
He flung his eyes open to a smoke-filled room. Sarah was curled on her side next to him.
What the…
He scanned the room and realized he was in Sarah’s bedroom. Yes, he’d moved them there shortly after she fell asleep in his arms on the living room floor. He moved his gaze over the room again and spied a gray smoke can on the floor. Cursing, he sniffed the air. Fuck. He turned to Sarah and shook her. “Sarah. Get up.”
She rolled over and said something he couldn’t understand.
“Sarah.” He patted her face with little result.
He climbed out of bed, rushed to the bathroom, and grabbed a cup of water. Returning to the bed, he splashed the water on Sarah’s face, shocking her awake.
“What the hell is wrong?” She gasped and stumbled out of bed. “What’s wrong with me, and why is my house on fire?”
The panic in her voice pissed him off. And so did the fact that someone wanted them dead. He picked up the can and showed it to her. “Someone wanted to make sure we didn’t wake until it was too late.”
“What is that?”
“Some kind of sleepy gas.” He threw down the can in disgust and took her hand. “Come on. We need to get out of here.”
When he reached the door, he hovered his hand over the knob. “Fuck. The hallway is on fire.”
Sarah turned toward the window and tugged him to it. Damian tried to lift the window and found that it was screwed shut from the outside. “How often do you open your windows?”
Sarah shrugged. “I haven’t opened this one in a month or so. Damn bastards. They thought of everything.”
Damian growled and snatched up the pillow from the bed. After taking the pillowcase off it, he handed the cotton case to Sarah and wrapped the pillow around his hand. Sarah understood instantly and tied the case around the pillow to secure in place. “Stand back,” he ordered.
Sarah did as he said, and he slammed his fist through the window. Glass shattered, most of it falling outside, but some fell to the floor under the window. With the pillow still around his hand, he knocked away the small pieces of glass around the frame.
“Careful.” He indicated to the glass on the floor and helped her crawl out of the window. As soon as she was through the window, she jumped down, landing on her feet. Damian followed, landing beside her.
“Shit. I don’t have a phone to call Graham.”
Damian looked at Sarah and then down at himself. He ran a hand through his hair. They were naked. In the panic and rush to get out of the house, neither of them considered clothes. It wasn’t a big deal since shifters didn’t have issue with nudity.
“How far is Ashwood from here?”
“Um, about fifteen miles to the west.”
“Great. We’ll have to go in animal form and try to get back here in time to keep the forest from burning down.”
Sarah nodded. “Blaine’s a teleporter, and Graham has mentioned someone in the den could control fire or something.”
He stepped into her and kissed her, hard. “Let’s go then.”
They shifted into their pumas and ran as fast as they could through the forest and onto Ashwood territory. As soon as they crossed over the first set of wards, two sentries, guns in their hands, greeted them. Damian’s heart pounded in his ears, and when Sarah stepped forward, he growled.
She looked back at him and snapped her teeth. He grinned, thinking that he’d have to teach her a lesson about teeth later. Much later, when the fire was out and he’d killed the bastard that tried to burn down the house with them inside.
Sarah bowed her head in front of one of the sentries and waited. The auburn-haired male ran a hand over her fur and knelt down to be at eye level with her. “Sarah?”
Sarah shifted but didn’t stand. “Tanner. My house was set on fire.”
“Fuck,” Tanner said as his holstered his gun and straightened. “I’m going to call Blaine. Go ahead into the den.”
Sarah nodded and shifted back into her puma. With a glance back to Damian, she took off toward the den. Damian ran after her.
****
Sarah sat on the sofa next to Damian in the leopard Alpha’s home. Nevan and Dani came over within seconds of them arriving. No doubt Blaine had called Dani, the leopard Healer. Sarah was glad that Cameron, Blaine and Graham’s mate, had clothes that fit her. Damian was about the same size as Graham.
So here they sat in borrowed clothes waiting for Blaine and Travis, a wolf shifter and former Alpha of Hunter Ridge, to get back from her house. Travis was a pryokinetic and would be able to put out the fire.
Sarah knew that her house was gone, along with everything in it. It was funny how the mind started taking inventory once the person was safe and alive. Truly, they were just things, most of them replaceable.
Damian covered her hand with his and squeezed. He hadn’t said much since arriving. She didn’t blame him. Graham and Nevan gave him leery glances, as if knowing there was a growing connection forming between her and him.
Well, her sons would have to get over it. As soon as this crap was taken care of with the rebels, she planned to start the life she deserved with her best friend and now lover.
Damian was right. Walt wouldn’t want her to be lonely or unhappy.
The door opened, and Blaine and Travis walked in, frowns on their faces. Chill bumps rose on her arms. They’d found something. They had to have by the way they entered the room without a word. Blaine strode straight to Graham and whispered something to him.
The two males spoke in hushed tones so no one else in the room could hear them. Sarah was about to say something when Blaine threw his hands up and turned to Damian. Blaine tossed something toward Damian. He caught it and peered at it with eyebrows drawn together.
Blaine folded his arms over his chest. “That was found outside the back door, which is where the fire started.”
Damian closed his fist around what Sarah now recognized as a pocketknife. Blaine sent him a hard stare and asked, “Do you know who that belongs to?”
Damian nodded, anger vibrating off him. Sarah had a suspicion that whoever had set her house on fire wasn’t with the human rebels, but was someone close to Damian. He confirmed it a moment later.
“Chad was my second-in-command. He was even the one who gave me the proof that Shield had targeted Sarah.” Damian leaned forward and rested his head in his hands. “I want to say that he had nothing to do with the fire.”
“But?” Blaine asked.
“But I’ve suspected him of hiding something for a while now. I thought I could catch him in a lie. I never thought he’d go after Sarah.” Damian let out a breath.
Luna, the wolf Alpha, spoke next. “Did he know how you felt about Sarah? That you were protecting her?”
Damian peered up at the wolf Alpha. “Yes, but I don’t understand why he’d do something like that.”
Luna stared back at him with a hint of compassion in her expression. “Then call him. Brief him on what happened. Business as usual.”
Fear clenched Sarah’s heart at the proposal. “Wouldn’t he suspect Damian would know?”
Luna shrugged. “Maybe not at first. For all we know, he thinks Damian believes the humans did it.”
Damian nodded. “Do you have a phone I can use?”
Hayden handed over his cell. “It’s a secure line, and the number is untraceable.”
Damian took the phone and walked outside to make the call.
“Mom? Are you okay?”
Sarah met Graham’s worried gaze and offered a weak smile. “Fine, dear. Just shaken up. Everything will be okay.” She patted his hand, and he grasped hers in his and squeezed.
“Come to Nevan’s with us. Dani and Cam are going to cook dinner.”
Her head was still a little fuzzy from whatever gas they’d used to put Damian and her into a deep sleep. Food would be good to help absorb the toxin. She nodded to Graham and allowed him to pull her to a stand and take her to Nevan and Dani’s house.
“Are you sure about this?” Sarah asked Damian for the tenth time since he’d made the call to Chad and told Sarah he was meeting him.
“Yes. Alec and Hayden, along with several enforcers, will be posted around the cabin. I’ll be fine.” He cupped her cheek. “I have to go now.”
She nodded and stepped back, arms wrapped around her middle. God, he hated seeing her like this.
“I will be back.” He smiled at her and then pressed a kiss to her lips. “I promise.”
She sighed and pushed at him. “Go. I’ll hang out with my grandbabies.”
He smiled weakly. Her family had always grounded her. As long as he’d known her, she’d surrounded herself with Walt and the kids.
Giving her one last kiss on the forehead, he left Nevan’s house to meet Alec and Hayden at the north end of the den.
About fifteen minutes later, Damian stood on the front porch of the small cabin he and the rest of his group used on occasions when they needed a safe place to sleep or needed to meet in small groups.
Chad opened the door and grinned. The bastard. Standing back, Chad said, “You look like hell.”
Damian growled at the male, which wasn’t too far out of character for him. Chad always had a way of irritating him. Now he knew why. Chad was a lying, backstabbing bastard.