by Juniper Hart
I do know him. I’ve seen him somewhere before…
The thought unsettled her.
“Well?” Damon demanded. “Are you going to tell me who you are?”
“I’ll tell you the truth if you tell me the truth,” she proposed. His dark eyebrows shot up to his hairline.
“I’m not the one lying,” he insisted.
“You’re lying about being American,” she replied quietly. “I’ve been around long enough to know when someone is pretending to be someone they’re not.”
Damon jumped to his feet, his defenses fully back up.
“You are playing games,” he growled. “And I don’t have time for this, and I don’t care anymore. I’m taking my car. Stay away from me and keep your little minions away too. Next time, I won’t be so kind to any of them.”
Liv had no doubt that he was being sincere and the sentiment caused something to swell inside her.
Before Damon could take a step toward the door, Liv leapt up, seizing his neck with her hands and yanking his mouth to hers. The shock in his dark eyes only mimicked what she was feeling inside. She had no idea from where the motion had come but Damon made no move to draw away.
Satisfaction and heat surged through Liv as their mouths parted to explore and she allowed her eyes to close.
Suddenly, he pulled back, pushing her away.
“You really are a demon,” he growled, running a hand through his thick mass of hair. Liv blinked at him, knowing it wasn’t a compliment.
“A demon who keeps crossing paths with you,” she replied softly. “That has to mean something, doesn’t it?”
He glowered but the desire in his eyes was evident. Damon whipped his head around and moved toward the door again.
“I’m not kidding, Liv,” he muttered. “Keep your friends away from me.”
“They’re not my friends!”
Desperation rang through in her words and caused Damon to turn, his eyes shadowing as he stared at her.
“You looked pretty friendly when I saw you earlier at the construction site,” he spat back. Liv shook her head and dropped her eyes.
“I-I’m undercover,” she muttered, watching Damon’s face through her peripheral vision. His brows knit into a vee of confusion.
“What?”
Liv sighed and prepared herself for the lie she was about to tell.
I hope this doesn’t come to bite me in the ass.
“I’m a reporter,” she improvised. “And I’m here doing a story on the bear gangs down here.”
The disbelief was tangible on his face but it stopped him from walking out the door and he remained in place, shaking his head.
“Are you insane?” he snapped. “You can’t just throw yourself in the middle of these gangs. Even as a demon. I don’t need to tell you how dangerous that is!”
His concern made her heart flutter and Liv had to steel herself against the feeling of pleasure shooting through her.
“I’ve been through worse,” she replied lightly. Damon sighed.
“You almost got yourself harmed the other night and now you’re rolling around with common street thugs. Liv…”
His voice softened and he ambled toward her.
“How long are you going to do this? You’re a demon in a bear’s world.”
Liv turned her head upward and met his eyes, drawing him closer with a serene smile.
“Thank gods I have a guardian watching over me, right?” she teased. When they kissed this time, it was Damon who instigated it and neither of them pulled away.
7
The warning bells in Damon’s mind didn’t stop ringing but they were smothered by the waves of desire overcoming him as he encircled Liv’s waist and drew her against his body.
She fit there as if designed for the curves of his muscular form, her skin heating against his as their mouths grew more feverish.
He lifted her up, her legs wrapping around his hips, and Damon slid forward to lay her against the worn material of the futon.
She’s not being honest with you, a voice of reason cried out to him but it was quickly silenced as he realized that he wasn’t being honest with anyone in Colombia.
None of that mattered as Damon lost himself in the sweet, musky scent of Liv’s flesh, his mouth exploring the delicate lines of her collarbone to drop into the swell of her breasts. Liv released a shuddering sigh as he slipped off her t-shirt, exposing more of her to his wanting mouth.
His tongue darted out to sample and taste every crevice and Liv’s fingers twined into his hair, twisting to lower him more until he was between her slender thighs.
Liv moaned, her body swaying against his lapping mouth until she twitched and cried out.
“Come to me,” she whispered, her voice hoarse and pleading. He wasted no time pressing himself inside her, flowing into Liv as if he had always belonged there.
He didn’t understand the waves of euphoria overcoming him as they joined together, falling into a wave of tempered passion, their eyes locked on one another.
“I know you,” Liv breathed and Damon smiled.
“I know you too,” he agreed, pressing his mouth to hers as his climax began to build. Liv’s calves locked around his back, her body as tense as his, and in unison, they released, their moans reverberating through the thin walls of the apartment.
Liv’s nails unfurled from the meat of his shoulders and slowly, her lithe frame began to relax beneath him. Still, she held fast, as though she was worried he would up and leave her there. But Damon wasn’t going anywhere.
He raised his head to look at her, wiping away the sweat that had formed at her hairline.
“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you,” he told her. “Not for a minute.”
Liv gave him a wan smile as she struggled to compose herself.
“Is that right?” she purred. He stared at her, unsmiling.
“Are you going to tell me that you haven’t felt the same?” he asked. Her beam faltered slightly and she looked away but Damon held her gaze evenly.
“I don’t think our timing is very good,” she offered lightly but there was no conviction in her voice.
She’s in exactly the same position as I am, he realized. She’s got a job to do and I can’t blow her cover either.
If anything, it solidified what Damon had already known about Liv, that fate had thrust them together.
They were just going to need to find a way to make it work.
For over an hour, they simply lay in each other’s arms, speaking quietly as their heartbeats synched. Damon couldn’t recall a time when he’d ever felt compelled to lie, skin to skin, with a lover.
She’s not like anyone you’ve ever met before, he told himself, the knowledge not filling him with the happiness it should have. Everything about this was wrong and dangerous—for everyone involved.
“We don’t have much time left together,” Liv warned him but he had sensed the words coming for a while and with great reluctance, they peeled themselves away from one another.
Once they were dressed again, the pair sat on the futon, their beers in their respective hands. The conversation had shifted to what would come next.
“If you take your car, it’s not going to be good for me,” Liv explained but Damon had already known that.
“I don’t think you should continue to roll undercover with these bears,” he told her flatly.
“Please don’t start with that,” Liv sighed. “I have a job to do and I can’t leave here until I do it. Are you really that attached to your car? I can see about getting you another one.”
He laughed.
“I’ve gotten by this long without it,” he conceded. “I hadn’t really expected to get it back.”
He didn’t bother to add that it had nothing to do with the car. He suspected that Liv already understood that much. She looked at him gratefully.
“But I don’t like that you’re hanging out with these guys without any backup,” Damon continued. “I
t’s not safe, Liv.”
She flashed him a nervous smile and shook her head.
“I have fellow… reporters nearby,” she said haltingly. “I’m more protected than you think.”
“Yeah? And where were they on Saturday night?”
Liv sighed deeply.
“This job has its risks,” she told him softly. “Just like any other job.”
She eyed him meaningfully.
“Now that I’ve told you about me, shouldn’t you be telling me about your American roots?”
Damon bristled, his common sense finally kicking in. He managed to force a smile and shook his head.
“You’ve got me all wrong,” he insisted. “But I really should get out of here before your boyfriend comes back.”
He couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice, even though he knew that the punks he’d seen Liv with meant nothing to her.
“Well, if you hadn’t intervened on Saturday night, I wouldn’t have to be hanging out with low-end thugs,” Liv told him gently. “I’d have my story and be on my way home.”
“If I hadn’t intervened on Saturday night, you’d still be locked in some cellar somewhere in Chapinero right now,” Damon countered.
A half-smile formed on Liv’s lips.
“Maybe,” she agreed in a way that made Damon believe that she had more faith in herself than was safe. He stood in his spot, unsure of what to do. He knew he couldn’t be there when the gang member returned for his car, but he was also reluctant to leave Liv alone.
She doesn’t want you to play savior. That much is clear. And the more I insist, the more annoyed she’s going to get.
“I should probably go before someone sees me here,” Damon muttered, loathing every word that left his lips. A look of sadness crossed her face but she quickly wiped it away and grinned.
“Maybe we can exchange numbers this time,” she offered, her eyes scanning the room for her cell phone. Damon nodded and withdrew his from the back pocket of his filthy work jeans.
They swapped a text and Damon again headed to the door.
Impulsively, Liv threw herself at him, placing a kiss on his mouth before dropping back onto her feet. Damon wished she hadn’t done that. It just made leaving that much harder.
“So…I guess I’ll talk to you later,” she said and he realized that she wanted him to stay just as badly.
I need to get out of here before it gets any harder to leave.
He nodded and reached for the handle, throwing the door open before he could change his mind.
“Stay in touch,” he told her in a low voice. “And get in touch with those other reporter friends of yours. I really don’t like that you’re doing this on your own.”
“I’m not on my own anymore, am I?” Liv murmured. Damon shook his head.
“No,” he promised, his voice gruff. “And you won’t be again.”
He spun and hurried out of the apartment, feeling his resolve slipping fully away with each step he took. One way or another, he knew he would find a way to protect Liv and keep her safe.
Even if it meant putting his own neck on the line.
8
Roderigo and Joaquin didn’t return for several hours after Damon left but Liv relished the quiet. Damon’s absence left a hole inside her that she’d never felt before. She constantly caught whiffs of him everywhere in the apartment and every time she did, she was filled with a headiness that left her almost breathless.
There are so many things wrong with this scenario, I barely know where to start, she thought but even with her most logical mind at work, Liv couldn’t shake the feelings that were threatening to consume her.
She had almost fallen asleep when she heard the commotion on the street below. It took her a few seconds to understand what was going on.
Popping her head over the sill, she saw the pair of gang members on the sidewalk near the car, trying to get into it. Liv balked as she realized that Damon had locked the car when he’d followed her into the apartment, probably out of habit.
And now those two idiots are trying to break back into it.
Liv tapped on the window to capture their attention and they looked up at her, the dismay on their faces clear.
She waved them up, her heart racing as she moved to open the front door. The last thing she wanted was them in her unit but it was better than them growing suspicious.
“How did it go?” she asked brightly when they ambled into her apartment. She could tell by their expressions that it had not gone well. Roderigo glowered and Joaquin made no comment.
“This moron locked the car,” Roderigo growled at his counterpart.
“I didn’t!” Joaquin whined in his typically irritating fashion. Roderigo scoffed and turned his attention to Liv.
“Tomorrow, we’ll go back to the site,” Roderigo told her. “You’ll come with us.”
Excitement spiked through her at the thought.
There fate goes again, putting Damon directly in front of me. We didn’t even need to exchange numbers. We were bound to find our way back to each other anyway. We have to be careful.
“Okay,” she agreed.
“You’ll distract the worker,” Roderigo went on. “While we take him down.”
The excitement faded away to a sense of dread and Liv shook her head before she could stop herself.
“What do you mean no?” Roderigo hissed. “Why not?”
Liv instantly collected herself.
“I don’t think I should get involved,” she hemmed. “I mean, I’m an American citizen and if I end up in jail…”
The boys laughed.
“You’re with us, mami,” Roderigo told her, ambling closer. “You’re protected. Unless you do something stupid, verdad?”
A prickle of apprehension shot through Liv at his nearness.
“Still…” she hemmed but even as she spoke, Liv knew that she wasn’t getting out of this gracefully.
Roderigo trailed a finger over her arm and bile shot through Liv’s gut. The thought of being touched by them had been bad enough before but after being with Damon, she wanted to rip his hand off his arm and beat Roderigo with it.
Casually, she stepped away and pretended to look out the window.
“Uh oh,” she said loudly. “Someone’s trying to break into the car!”
Both bears jumped forward and ran to the window.
“They just took off down that alley,” Liv said urgently. “Two of them!”
Roderigo and Joaquin wasted no time bolting from the apartment, leaving Liv alone as they chased their own tails. She pursed her lips together and grabbed her phone.
Hi. Heads up, Los Asesinos are looking for their revenge
She stared at the phone, willing Damon to text her back, but there was no response. Gritting her teeth, she knew she would just have to try again. In the meantime, she had work to do.
Through the bustle of Calle 80, Liv made her way toward the center of the city, dark clouds overhead threatening rain as she moved.
Figures, she mused as she hurried forward. The one day I don’t take my car.
She didn’t dare, knowing the traffic and crime where she was headed did not take kindly to tourists. It wasn’t an exclusively bear area where she was going but that didn’t matter. Demons weren’t welcomed anywhere.
The first fat droplets fell onto her head as she ducked into El Gato Marron on Carrera 72b, minutes from the university. If anyone saw her, they would just take her as one of the many exchange students who came and went through the café’s doors on any given day.
She sat at a table and nodded at a perky, sloe-eyed waitress who hovered nearby.
“Café, por favor,” Liv ordered, her eyes trained on the door. A quick glance at the time on her phone told her that she was early but that didn’t curb her impatience. She didn’t want to be out in the open any longer than necessary.
As the server returned with her coffee, the door opened again and her operative walked in, his face grim.
>
“I don’t think meeting like this is a good idea,” he growled. “It puts us both at risk.”
“I’m well aware,” Liv replied dryly. “But I wanted to make physical contact with all of you.”
He gave her a pained look.
“You called the others too?”
“Not here,” Liv assured him quickly. “I’m meeting with everyone individually.”
He sighed and nodded, sinking back.
“This assignment blows,” he muttered. “Couldn’t you have called on someone else?”
“I asked for the best and this is who I got.”
The agent snorted.
“Only because Lucien didn’t have the real best to send you.”
Liv frowned, cocking her head to the side.
“What does that mean?”
He leaned across the table, his dark eyes glimmering with an emotion Liv didn’t quite understand.
“Never mind,” he growled. “What is it?”
“I just wanted to check on your progress and ensure that you’re unharmed.”
He scoffed.
“I may not be the best, but I can hold my own. We’ve already started to dismantle our subgroups.”
“We?” Liv echoed, a chill of alarm shooting through her. “Have you been in contact with your brother?”
He eyed her sheepishly and nodded, shrugging.
“So what if I have?”
Liv gritted her teeth to refrain from speaking her true mind. In this case, with this operative, she needed to hold her tongue—even if he was fully deserving of a chiding.
“You need to just focus on your jobs and forget about each other.”
A cold, cruel smile formed on his lips and he shook his head.
“Then you got the wrong brothers for that,” he replied. Again, Liv stared at him in confusion.
“What are you going on about?” she demanded, shaking her head. He sat back and folded his arms over his broad chest.
“I mean if you want a selfish prick, you should have insisted on getting Damon, not me and Orion,” Laz growled.