by Sienna Aylen
Her hands took a leisurely foray over his neck until they brushed his chest, skimming over his nipples and down the faint line of hair until she got to his abs. Damien was caught up in a whirlwind of sensation and emotion. His mate was trailing her long fingers over the slope of his abdomen and kissing him with complete abandon. The kick of desire was so strong he almost forgot to keep treading water. This newfound confidence of hers was what he’d wanted, for her to be open with him and let go of her inhibitions. To forget about everything else and live in the moment.
Right here. Right now. Just the two of them.
A small voice of reality intruded on his pleasant thoughts. She wasn’t ready for this. Wasn’t prepared for what he would demand from her. He had to put distance between them before he forgot about all his good intentions. Their first time together would not inspire the thought that he only wanted her for her body. It would be him claiming his mate.
She would know she was his when they were together the first time.
Damien stilled her hands before they trailed any lower. Threading his fingers through hers, he brought them back up, setting them against his chest. With one hand, he held both of hers together against his heartbeat and with the other he grabbed her chin to hold it immobile for one last heated kiss before pulling away reluctantly.
Leaning his forehead against hers, he tried to catch his breath. He ran his thumb over her swollen lips before letting her go. “We should head back. The temperature is dropping.”
* * * *
Pacing back and forth, her bare feet padding silently on the wood floor of her bedroom, Tessa waited for her sister to pick up the other end of the phone. The ringing stopped and a stoic voice came over the line.
“Hello, Tessa.”
Tessa wasn’t put off by the toneless greeting. For Ceila, that was practically cheerful. “Hey, Ceila, I have news. Great news. Emma found her Fated.”
The only sound on the other end of the line was the soft exhalation of Ceila’s breath. Tessa counted the beats in her head while she waited for her sister to respond. A minute later, she was rewarded for her patience.
“That’s good news. I’m happy for her. I’ll pass the information along to the others. This will give them hope. It’s a good omen for the rest of us.” Ceila’s voice held a tiny thread of contained anticipation that tugged at Tessa’s heartstrings.
With a click, the phone call ended. Tessa was happy for her younger sister, if not also a tad bit envious. There was a light in Emma’s eyes that none of the sisters had ever seen there before. Emma’s ability to read memories made life more difficult in comparison to some of the other Council gifts. Out of the nine, four of them had difficulties with touch. Emma, Ceila, Aslynn and Jade couldn’t touch freely.
Tessa had always felt the lack of physical contact was a cruel fate. Emma had been wearing gloves every day for the past five centuries. She had problems with manipulating inanimate objects, but she could touch another’s skin without repercussions. Aslynn, Ceila and Jade didn’t even have that freedom.
Emma finding her Fated was a beacon of hope for the rest of them.
Maybe they would all make it through, without succumbing to the darkness. For the first time in centuries, Tessa felt a tingle of hope for the future.
Chapter Ten
#xa0;
Strides long and relaxed, Emma jogged through the valley. A quick run would set her to rights when the pent-up energy from the night before was driving her nuts. All night she’d tossed and turned, nightmares mixed with steamy images of her and Damien lingering in her thoughts.
The sun had just risen above the horizon, bathing the sky in shades of pink and yellow. Emma admired the scene before her feet took her into the trees along the edge of the water. She had time for one lap around the lake before the day started.
Footsteps beating out a steady tattoo, Emma hummed to herself. Little beads of sweat worked their way down her temples. The terrain around the lake was pretty level, except for a few low hills that increased Emma’s heartrate and challenged her endurance. Lost in her own world, Emma almost didn’t notice the bright-red bumper poking through the trees.
In the blink of an eye she went from casual jogger to experienced hunter. With measured steps, Emma crouched and slunk closer to the truck. In freeze-frame motions, she crept close to the ground, pushing aside the taller grasses with unhurried movements. When a faded ball cap came into view, Emma ducked behind an accommodating tree, her arms silently brushing up against the soft moss coating its trunk.
The familiar, gruff voice of Gene echoed off the passenger side door before it slammed shut. “He’s so full of shit, I swear. Walking around here like he owns the place. One of these days he’ll get knocked down a peg or two.”
A sudden silence greeted Emma. Creeping around the edge of the trunk, she made out the bed of Gene’s truck. What’s he up to?
Gene stood at the tailgate with the phone at his ear. Glancing left and right, he quickly secured a tarp over a mound in the back of the bed. He took his time tucking each edge of the tarp underneath the mound before shutting the tailgate with a firm snap. “Nah, if it wasn’t for his grandparents he wouldn’t be where he is now. I’ll tell you one thing, though, he won’t be in the position for long if I have anything to say about it.”
Tossing the phone into the truck, Gene took one last look around before hopping into his seat and clicking the door shut. Within seconds, he’d started the ignition and the truck roared to life.
Expanding her senses, Emma felt the ebb and flow of the balance drifting through the trees. The smooth mass was fluid in its movements, taking its time to flow through the grasses and twist around bushes. It ricocheted off Gene’s truck and floated back to her with a calm impression, as though nothing were amiss. If only she could get close enough to touch his truck… But he was already driving away.
Emma watched, keeping silent as the tail lights disappeared into the woods. A thousand questions drifted through her mind as she jogged back in the direction of the main house. Perhaps it was time to have a chat with Stella. She might know what was going on around here.
Within the hour, the Council had commandeered the upstairs office. If their stay was extended, Emma might have to claim the office as her own. The view alone was to die for, with the second-story windows overlooking the edge of the forest. They were high enough that she could count the birds’ nests in the trees. She stole a moment to watch two squirrels chasing each other up the trunk of an apple tree. Turning back to the room, Emma repurposed the desk as a makeshift buffet, with enough food to last them for hours. They had ordered out for pizza and had everything from chips to salad and even a few tubs of ice cream sitting on ice.
Tessa was at the whiteboard, marker in one hand and a slice of pizza in the other. Gwen sat cross-legged on the floor, her food untouched while she pulled up files on her tablet. Stella had joined the group minutes earlier and now sat stretched out in one of the armchairs.
Tessa drew a few large circles on the whiteboard. “We know this is hard, Stella, but we need your insight. Can you think of anyone who might have a grudge against the Clan?”
Emma smiled at Tessa’s organization and her three colored circles on the board. The red contained definite suspects while the yellow housed secondary and the green those who were deemed completely innocent. Each name in the green space was written in a flowing script while the yellow and red names were penned in harsh, bold letters.
Stella swallowed a bite of salad. “Honestly, I’m not sure who’s harboring such hatred for us. There are a few people who aren’t the nicest, but I don’t see them doing things like this. Especially to Lysa. She’s the sweetest person in the Clan. She’s never hurt a soul.”
Emma dumped a bag of chocolate bars onto the desk next to their takeout pizza. After taking out her plate and utensils Emma placed her handbag under the chair and dished herself two large slices of the cheese pizza and three chocolate bars. “What about Gene?” She w
asn’t going to say anything about her jaunt in the woods and overhearing his suspicious phone call yet, but a little fishing wouldn’t hurt.
Stella’s eyes widened. “Gene? He’s a grouch, that’s for sure, but for him to deliberately hurt someone? I just don’t know.”
“Would he have any reason to hold resentment against anyone?” Gwen asked from the opposite side of the room.
A frown crossed Stella’s face. “I don’t think so. I mean, back when we were teenagers, he was nice, even social on occasion. He asked me out once before I met Augustus but over the years, he’s distanced himself from most of us. He doesn’t come to many outings anymore.”
Emma washed down her bite of pizza with some water, considering what Stella had said. Maybe he was holding a grudge against Stella, but that didn’t explain the phone call. He’d talked about a ‘he’. Damien, maybe? “Did you reject him?”
Stella took a bite of her chocolate bar before responding, “Well, yes. Back then, I wasn’t into the shy, polite type. He was a great guy, don’t get me wrong, just not what I was looking for.”
Tessa picked up the yellow marker and tapped it against her chin. “I’ll add him to the ‘maybe’ circle.”
At length, Gwen put her tablet to the side and took up her own slice of pizza with a side of ranch dipping sauce. “Is there anyone else? Old girlfriends or boyfriends, work relationships gone bad, suspicious loners, hateful family relationships, that sort of stuff?”
Stella let out a low snarl. “Our cousins from Cranston are total snobs. Lucinda is the leader of the ‘fake brigade’, as I like to call them. Her daughter Petra used to date Damien. They broke up over a year ago, though. Petra is as viperous as her mother, a gold-digging leech.” Stella’s voice dropped an octave. “Both mother and daughter might still be stinging over the breakup. I’m sure they thought Petra would ensnare Damien into a marriage then make him pay for their designer handbags.”
“All righty then, they go in the ‘definitely need to investigate’ circle.” Tessa wrote both their names on the whiteboard in red before going to the green circle and adding some of the cubs’ names.
Emma’s eyes narrowed. She’d known Damien had had prior relationships and lovers—it was rare for anyone to get to his age without at least a few—but it still unnerved her. The worst part? That his former flame was a part of the Clan, so Emma would end up meeting her at some point. She grimaced. There was only one question she needed answered, “Did he break up with her, or did she dump him?”
Stella waved an airy hand. “Oh, Damien definitely dumped Petra, not the other way around. They only went out for a few months before he realized she was a twit. He caught her trying to steal some of my jewelry and rightfully kicked her ass out.” Stella sank her teeth into the rest of the chocolate bar and broke off a piece with an audible snap.
* * * *
After Stella left for the evening, Emma sat with her sisters in front of the whiteboard. It had taken the whole afternoon to go through each of the Clan members one by one, running each name by Stella as well as Gwen’s charts. The three circles decorated the formerly white whiteboard—red, yellow and green. Most of the names were in the green circle but there were a handful in the yellow and two in the red. “Gwen, you have anything on our reds and yellows yet?”
Fingers moving at an incredible pace, Gwen searched through the Internet and the Clan’s databases. “They’ve upgraded their firewalls since the last time I hacked in. Must’ve been Bleu’s idea. He wasn’t too happy I cracked his security system. I can’t access the personnel files at the moment. I could take the next half-hour cracking them or I can go find Bleu and have him log me in to their site.”
“Go ahead and see if you can find him, and let us know when you have something.” The door clicked shut behind Gwen. Emma met Tessa’s curious gaze. “Want to go for a run?”
Tessa did. The trail was dark by the time Emma and Tessa found the spot where Emma had seen Gene with his truck. Tessa pulled a slim flashlight from her pack and shone it across the ground, searching for tire prints. “What exactly did you see him doing out here?”
Emma paced back and forth. “He was on the phone with someone, talking about how ‘he won’t hold the position any longer’ and how ‘he needs to get knocked down a peg or two’. It was a strange conversation, but there was definitely anger in his voice. He had a tarp thrown over something in the bed of his truck. I didn’t see what it was but he made sure that no one was watching him when he secured it.”
“Well, he’s definitely up to something. I don’t see anything out here, though, just a bunch of trees and dirt. The tire tracks are pretty deep. He must’ve been carrying quite a load. Want to follow them?”
Emma shrugged. “We’re out here, anyway, so we might as well.”
They took off at a steady jog, Tessa’s flashlight highlighting the ground in front of them. The tracks led west for a mile and a half before Emma and Tessa stumbled out of the trees and onto the blacktop of the main road. Emma looked left and right into the darkness before sighing. “There’s no way to track him on the road. To the right, it leads to Cranston and the left leads back to the main entrance to the valley. He could’ve taken either.”
Tessa looked at Emma before delicately sniffing her own shirt. “Let’s go back, I don’t know about you, but I could definitely use a shower.”
* * * *
Today, Damien had a plan. Phase one was almost complete. Emma trusted having him in her space, having him casually brush against her or wrap his arms around her. Even though she’d stated she didn’t like others in her space or touching her, she never flinched or pulled away from him. She’d even taken the initiative and kissed him. Her body trusted him. Wanted him. Now he needed her heart, too. Hence, phase two. Phase two was to earn her trust and to steal her heart, one piece at a time.
Damien knew on some level that Emma trusted him, at least a little bit. But it wasn’t enough for him. He was selfish when it came to his vixen. He wanted her to trust him, with everything. Her past, thoughts, feelings and emotions. He wanted to be both her best friend and her lover. Her future.
Damien was already halfway in love with her. They fit like two pieces of a puzzle. Dinner with his family had only proved what he already knew. She was his. She belonged by his side— his mate, the Clan’s Alpha female. Now, he just had to convince her of all that. Yeah, one bit at a time. Like now. After spending the morning working, he’d stolen Emma away with the promise of a delicious lunch.
“Where are we going?” Emma’s soft voice lilted, a smile adorning the bottom half of her face, the top half-hidden underneath one of her scarves.
As soon as they reached their destination, Damien untied the knot and let the makeshift blindfold fall away. An enchanting glow lit up her eyes as she took in the scene. Underneath the canopy of the willow tree sat a checkered blanket. A wicker basket rested on top, next to two wineglasses, Emma’s personal straw sticking out of one of them.
Her husky laugh drifted across the space between them. “A picnic lunch?”
“Come and sit.” Guiding her by a hand at the small of her back, Damien led her to one side of the checkered blanket. He sat opposite her and opened his side of the basket just enough that he could pull out a bottle. After popping the cork, he poured them each a serving of the crisp white wine.
Emma took a sip from her flute and moaned in pleasure. “This is delicious. You aren’t going to let me see what’s in the basket, are you?”
Chuckling at her impatience, Damien took a sip of his own wine. “No, that’s for me to know and you to find out.”
She looked pointedly at the basket. “I hope there’s something sweet in there. Your mom told me about your first time baking cinnamon buns.”
Damien snorted. “Of course, she did. She probably showed you embarrassing baby pictures, too. If she hasn’t yet, she’ll get around to it soon enough.”
He watched her eyes soften as she twirled the end of her braid. “I thin
k it’s cute.”
He groaned. “No man wants to be called cute. Sexy, handsome, manly and rugged maybe. Not cute.”
Emma tried to hide her giggle behind her hand. “I wasn’t talking about you so much as your family. Cute doesn’t define you at all, believe me. A thousand other words come to mind before cute.”
Damien propped open his side of the basket and pulled out a Mason jar full of fresh strawberries. He opened the lid and divided them between two plates. When she would’ve reached for her plate, he shook his head. “To earn these, you have to tell me the other words you were thinking about.”
Her mouth opened on a sputter. “Fine. Let’s see. Arrogant, pushy, manly, rugged, overbearing, handsome, confident, protective and…intriguing. Have I earned my strawberries now?”
Damien pushed her plate closer to her lap. “I guess so. But you left out sexy. Sexy is an important one.”
“All right. We’ll add sexy to the list.” Green eyes met his own as she picked up a strawberry and dipped the tip between her lips. Time seemed to stop as she slowly bit down. As she swallowed, her tongue peeked out to lick up the one drop of juice that ran over her lower lip.
Damien bit back a groan as her eyes laughed at him. Vixen. His number-one word to describe her was vixen.
After the strawberries, he served melon slices with summer salads and finger sandwiches. Conversation flowed between them, as though they’d known each other forever. Sitting back, Emma placed her plate closer to the basket before stretching out her legs. “Have you traveled at all?”
The wispy trails of the willow branches swinging in the breeze encased them in their own little haven. Scooting over to her side, Damien swung his legs out as well and sat against the trunk of the tree, pulling her to rest against his chest. “I’ve traveled here in North America and had a couple of trips to Europe but that’s it. Most were business trips. How about you? Where have your travels taken you?”