Animal Instincts (5 page)

“What
happened, Danika?” He went to touch her but she took a step back.

“Nothing,
I’m fine.” She looked at Damien who had now turned around, but the way her
father was positioned in front of her made only half of his face visible to
her. She lifted her hand to cover her mouth, and although her father was
talking about something right in front of her, it was like all sound left. She
stared at Damien, watched as he came closer, how his pupils dilated, and heard
this strange rumbling coming from him. Either she was imagining it all, or her
father was oblivious to the situation happening right now.

“What
in the hell happened, Danika?” her father said more forcefully this time. She
looked at him, didn’t want to get into this, and shook her head.

“I
said I’m fine.”

“Did
you fall or something, trip and hurt yourself?”

Her
anger and annoyance over the situation, over the fact she didn’t want to be
here right now talking about this, had her lowering her hand and staring at her
father. “Did I fall or something?” She had no right to be upset at her dad, but
she was already emotionally unstable, and having his friend witness this
sucked. “No, Dad, I didn’t fall, but I also don’t feel comfortable talking
about this right now.”

Then
Damien was standing right beside her father, his gaze on her lip, and this low
sound left him. It was threatening, dangerous, and she actually moved back a
step. When she looked at her father she saw him watching Damien, his eyebrows
knitted as he clearly was surprised by this reaction coming from the other man,
too.

“Who
fucked with you?” Damien said in this low, growly voice,
one
that sounded more animal than human.

“W-what?”
She felt like she was trapped in
this strange dimension where her father thought she was just clumsy and injured
herself, and where this man she’d only met once before had her body on fire, as
he demanded who’d hurt her.

“Danika.”
Damien took a small step
forward. “Tell me who put their hands on you.”

She
saw her father snap his head toward her through the corner of her vision, but
she couldn’t stop staring at Damien. His light blond hair wasn’t cut in that
military style like it had been all those years ago, but it was short still,
and brushed his forehead. And his amber colored eyes were bright, animalistic
in quality, and she felt like he could see right into her soul. It was like
nothing could be hidden from this man, and it was unnerving.

“This
isn’t something I am going to talk about right now,” she said on a shaky
breath, staring at her father who seemed to be realizing that her split lip
might not have been caused by her inability to walk straight. “It was not a
good idea coming here.” She needed to leave, needed to head back to her place
because she should have known that she was too tattered emotionally to deal
with being around anyone. “I have to go. I … I just have to go.”

Running
away was childish on her part, but she couldn’t think straight right now, not
when her father and Damien were watching her like they expected her to break
down in front of them. And she was about to, just burst out in tears because right
now she felt so emotionally stripped bare she couldn’t even breathe.

“I’m
sorry,” she said to both of them, and turned and left her father’s house. There
would be questions, but she also knew that until she was ready to talk she
couldn’t give any answers.

****

Damien
was doing everything in his power not to go after Danika and demand she tell
him who had dared touch her. But he saw the way her eyes had widened after he
spoke, and the way she had felt that he had gone too far and too fast with her.
The scent of fear, anxiety, and inner conflict had slammed into him like a
sledgehammer.

“What
in the hell was that about?” Tyler asked. He ran a hand over his head and
breathed out. His friend was clearly out of his element right now. “Danika has
never acted like that, and you think someone did that to her lip?”

Damien
hadn’t told Tyler what Danika was to him. He had meant to tonight, but then
this weird situation had gone down, and right now it seemed inappropriate. “I
don’t think she’ll say what really happened until she’s ready.”

Of
course he’d scented the truth when he’d asked her who’d touched her. The truth
had been there, right at the surface, but her emotions had been so raw and open
that he knew she had been on the verge of breaking down. That was the only
reason he hadn’t pressed her on the issue.

“I’m
going to go.” Truth was he felt like a bastard, because he was planning to
follow Danika and get some answers. She was his mate, and seeing
her
after four years of keeping himself in check had been
the hardest thing his lion and human side had ever tried to suppress.

Tyler
didn’t respond, and the scent of his worry over Danika, and the fact that he
was looking like a stressed-out father filled Damien’s nose.

“She’ll
be okay, Tyler. Don’t worry.” And Damien would make sure of it, because he’d
find out
who
the fuck had touched her, and he’d beat
their ass for hurting his woman.

Chapter
Five

She
slammed her front door, pissed about a lot of things. Yes, storming out of
there and not letting her father help
her
had been
childish, but she’d been working on emotion, and leaving had seemed like the
best thing to do at the moment. She went into the kitchen and placed her hands
on the counter. Closing her eyes and breathing out, she thought about how her
dad had watched her with concern, and how pissed Damien had been. She
remembered the way her father had thought she had hurt herself by accident, but
then how Damien had gone almost territorial of her. But then again he was a
shifter, could’ve smelled the truth of it all. That didn’t explain why he’d
seemed like he wanted to know exactly who had hurt her so he could hurt
them
. It had all been too much, and she
had only been there for less than half an hour.

“God,
what is happening to me?” she said to herself, not exactly sure what she meant
by that question, or how to solve it. Then the sound of someone beating on her
front door had her spinning around. She moved toward the door, looked through
the peephole, and her heart stopped when she saw that it was Damien. Taking a
step back, Danika looked at the floor,
then
glanced at
the door handle. She gripped it, turned the brass, and pulled the door open.
There he stood, looking fierce enough that she saw the way his lion flashed
across his face. Danika swallowed, didn’t know why she felt this heat fill her,
consume every inch of her, or why she wanted to give herself to this man she
didn’t even know.

He
was so close all she would have to do was lean in and she could kiss him, taste
him, and experience this wild, primitive side of him. He kept making these low,
growly noises, and the sound went straight to her pussy, causing the inner
muscles to clench on their own.

This is crazy. You are crazy for
wanting this, Danika. You don’t know
him,
don’t know
anything about him aside from what your father told you.

But
he didn’t move from the entrance of her door. The rain had started up, and the
strands of his hair became soaked, water dripping down his face and saturating
his clothes. It became a powerful storm outside within seconds, and she moved
aside to allow him in.

“How
did you know where I live?” This situation was becoming even stranger, more
heated, and having her even more aroused then she had ever been in her entire
life.

 
“I
followed you.”

“And
my dad didn’t think that was weird at all?” she said in a low voice, her hands
shaking uncontrollably. He didn’t answer right away, but did take a step inside
and shut the door behind him, sealing them inside. He took another step, closer
to her, and her breath stalled.

“Your
father trusts me, knows I would never hurt anyone he cared about.” The water
continued to run down his temples, and his white shirt became soaked and
transparent. “But he doesn’t know I followed you, obviously. I don’t think your
dad would much like it, especially since I didn’t explain everything tonight.”

She
looked at his chest that was revealed, at the tattoos under the material, and
the way his hard muscles flexed and clenched, as if he were trying to hold off
from just attacking her.

I want him to attack me, to just
devour every part of me.

Danika
had no idea where the thought or desire had come from, but it took control, was
at the front seat, and she couldn’t stop it even if she wanted to. Her cell
vibrated in her pocket, and she grabbed it and looked at the screen.

Dad:
Honey, I know you can take care of
yourself, and I know I can be pretty damn smothering, but I just want to make
sure you’re okay.

She
felt like a bitch right now for just leaving. She may only be ten minutes from
where her father lived, but still, she didn’t have to freak out like that.

“I
left shortly after you took off, knowing your dad wanted to be alone.” He took
a step closer to her.

Before
she could respond to Damien or text her father back, she got another text from
her dad.

 
Dad:
Just tell me you got home okay. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, and maybe we can
discuss everything that happened.

Danika:
I’m home and okay, and I’m sorry for running
out like that. Let’s get together tomorrow and talk, okay?

She
sent the text, knowing that although she was okay, she still wanted to be
honest with her dad about what happened tonight at the party. Before she even
had her phone in her pocket again she felt the lightest touches from Damien.
She lifted her head, startled that his thumb was on her cheek, right beside her
split lip. She could see the play of emotion on his expression, that anger that
covered his hard, angular handsome face, and changed him from a gentle human to
a savage shifter.

“You’ll
tell me who did this to you, Danika,” he said in this low, rage seething voice
that had a chill racing up her spine. The dominance and demand were clear in
his voice, and she knew that she would tell him whatever he wanted. It was this
weird pull and tug she felt inside of her, a part of herself that wanted to
submit to this man though she didn’t even know him.

She
didn’t want to talk about it, but for some inexplicable reason she found
herself telling him exactly what happened. With each passing second as she
retold her story, spoke about the assault at the party, in the bathroom, and of
Hayden saving her, she watched the rage morph Damien’s face. He let go of her
and took a step back. The anger coming from him was intense, so powerful she
felt the hairs on her arms stand on end, and felt her heart pump her blood
harder and faster through her veins.

“What’s
his name, Danika?” Damien asked, and she was confused as to why she had this
connection with him, and why she felt the need to tell him whatever he wanted.
They didn’t know each other, and despite Damien being her father’s lifelong
friend, this whole situation seemed awkward and misplaced. But still she felt
the need to answer him.

“I
don’t know his name, but why do you care?”

He
stopped pacing, looked at her, and before she knew what was happening he was
pressed right up against her, his chest to hers, his hand on the back of her
head, holding it there securely. “I wanted to tell you so damn badly about it
all, Danika.”

She
swallowed, not knowing what was going on, but also not wanting to move away from
the hard, muscular, and hot confine of his body. She felt trapped, but in the
best possible way. That should scare the shit out of her, but it didn’t.

“Tell
me about what?” Danika tried to sound stronger, she really did, but her voice
came out soft and weak, and so vulnerable. It was exactly how she felt right
now.

He
looked down at her split lip, and this low animalistic sound left him. “If I’d
been there I would have killed him for even looking at you, Danika.” Damien
slowly shifted his gaze to hers once more, and his pupils dilated and
contracted as his animal pushed forward. She could see the wild beast in his
expression, in the way Damien was clearly trying to keep it at bay.

“I
don’t know what’s happening right now, why I’m feeling this way toward you, and
why I can’t seem to make sense of it all.” She hadn’t meant to say any of this,
but her emotions felt raw right now, and she needed to feel someone close to
her, holding her, and telling her that things weren’t as shitty as they always
ended up being.

“I
know, Danika.” He lifted his hand and brushed the side of her mouth. She felt
the sting of his touch, but also the heat that moved slowly through her,
starting in her belly and claiming every part of her. “You’re mine though, only
mine, and I knew from the moment I saw you four years ago.” Damien spoke
softly, and although she should have been afraid of the seriousness of his
words, all she felt was the connection she already had simmering inside of her
grow to a blistering level. “I imprinted on you four years ago, but it started
as my lion waiting to protect you, and nothing more. And then you came into
your maturity, and I was intent on having you, claiming you, Danika.” His face
was so close, his mouth right next to hers. Damien’s breath was warm, soft on
her face, and she wanted to kiss him. This was ludicrous, but it felt so right.
It was crazy right in the intensity of it all.