Chapter 0162


    Damien


    “Desire?” She whispers back to me, refusing to look away.


    “Yes.”


    Her hands rest against my chest, a small crease forming between her eyebrows. “A desire for what?”


    “To live.”


    She nces down to her hand resting over my heart. It beated steadily under her touch. Yet her own heart starts to race and the wind catches in her


    hair, firing her scent in all directions.


    “You were going to die?” She asks with a hint of concern


    “We all die eventually, Raven. What I mean, is that I had enough of the same shitty life. Eat, sleep, hunt. repeat. I had a desire to break free from it.


    Her eyes flicker back up to mine. "And Mallory helped you?"


    “She did. She gave me a home. She became a friend and is now practically a sister. She reminded me that just because I became a beast. it didn’t


    mean I needed to live as one. She still reminds me.”


    “And just like that you turned back?”


    “No, it was a long process. You know what humans are like with their addictions. It was the equivalent of me being addicted to drugs. It wasn''t easy to


    break free.


    Her lips part a little as she thinks of something to say. “Oh.”


    “Not what you expected to hear?


    “I didn’t know what to expect.” she murmurs. “This entire year has been full of surprises.”Content protected by N?v/el(D)rama.Org.


    “Are you afraid?” She hadn''t pushed herself away from me yet, but that may be because she knew she needed the crutches that were still on the


    grass a few feet away from us.


    She shakes her head and presses herself against me. “You need to stop assuming that I am.


    Grabbing the back of her head, I tilt her face up toe mine. Inhaling her delicious scent. I could im her right here, but something tells me she would


    prefer us to be alone, away from prying eyes. I settle for a kiss, moulding my lips to hers, enjoying the taste of her. Smelling her subtle arousal.


    I would get to make her permanently mine scon enough


    Sliding a nand under her ass, I lift,


    her, ready-to take her back to my.


    ce bet ‘she lets out a squeal.o of


    pain almost biting my lip. Her fingers


    dig jato my sides as she squéezes


    hereyes shut.


    -


    “Sorry.” She mumbles when the pain passes.


    I frown, she shouldn''t be saying sorry for something my brother did to her.


    “Maybe I should just go lie down.” she mutters with a scowl. Her frustrations are clear. “Spend some time with Neah.”


    "Are you sure?"


    She nods and waits for me to pick up the crutches. I watch her hobble off in the direction of the packhouse.


    Looking up, I see Mallory hovering. Her arms folded across her chest as she looks at anything but me.


    “Mallory? Do you need something?


    “That looked intense.” She mutters as she catches up to me.


    “Did it?” I mutter, unamused.


    “Come on, Damien! You know it was. What''s it like, having a mate?”


    “Mallory, if youare after gossip, then


    I have nothing for you.” I knew it


    wouldn''t bevenough to settle her. Ins


    the past he had openly admitted


    that geSsip was one of the things


    she missed about being human.


    Livitig the way we did meant she lost


    that part of her humanity,too.


    “Fine. What about Salem? How did it go with him?"


    “Has Dane not been to see you?’


    “No. Why would he want to see me?”


    I frown, he had left the dungeons when I had. I thought he was heading over to Mallory’s house to ask her to speak to him like he had discussed with


    me.


    "Maybe he-got side tracked.” I cast


    my eyes atross the nearby grounds.


    There was no sign of him, but it


    wasn''tlike the pack was smalt Any


    menaber of the pack might have


    distracted him. Content belongs ice)


    “