Wolves of Haven: Lone (17 page)

Everyone turned to look at Beowulf
with wide eyes. That wasn’t what they thought he was going to say,
and the fact that their sister and niece had been in a long term
relationship with her boss, someone that she had apparently kept
much from, and he’s now telling them, which was most likely against
the rules of their arrangement, meant that he actually loved
Akia.

“I’ve never done this before,”
Damian admitted. “For being as old as I am, and from the family I
am, expressing the sentiment in which I have towards a member of
your family will most likely get me an ass kicking and time out. I
might be sleeping on the couch once we get home for a month, but
I’m willing to risk her wrath in order to have your blessing in
regards to our relationship. Akia needs to have you all in her
life, and I’m starting to think that I might have been part of the
reason why she stayed away so long...please forgive me for that. It
wasn’t my intention, I swear it. I know that the risk is great,
especially from my family, but I’m willing to risk it, all of it,
for her… Akia is worth risking everything for, so I’d like your
blessing on continuing our relationship out of the shadows when in
the presence of her family.”

The others looked at each other
before turning back to the leader of the family. They all knew that
the risk was much too great, and that if Eve made an appearance and
Damian was caught in the battle of wills, Akia would never forgive
herself. And they also knew that cardinal rules were not something
to be broken, and being with someone who those rules were created
in order to protect wouldn’t work. Akia held the law above
everything else, and that included the additional laws that rested
on her soul simply because of who she is.

None of them needed to say it aloud
to know the others were thinking the same: it needed to end, and
now. The black moon quickly approached, as did the peak of Akia’s
cycle, one that they had already started to sense—a first for
them—and it was calling out to the beasts within them. The risk to
her was great, but it was a million times greater to
Damian.

Beowulf pushed his hand through his
falling hair. “I am glad to hear that you love her, not pleased to
know that you are sleeping with her, but what father would be?” he
rhetorically asked, trying to find a way to put an end to this
before things got overly complicated and possibly deadly. “Akia is
very special,” he tried to explain. “And there are things about her
that…” his words trailed off, not entirely sure how to say it
without breaking the rules himself.

Damian raised his hand to stop him.
“I am well aware of the risk,” he explained, and the others gasped;
Akia broke the rules? He pulled a ring from his inside pocket, a
ring that he refused to wear because of the ties associated with
it, and tossed it to Beowulf, whose hand snapped out to catch it.
“She doesn’t know that… My apologies, Sir, but I’m a member and
heir of the Lykos of the Northeast, so I know the risk,” he said
with a nod of submission before turning then hurried from the room
to find Akia.

The others looked at each other
then back to Beowulf.

The older man shook his head, eying
the crest on the ring, a crest that he and every other in their
world knew, one that solved one problem, but just created a hundred
more. “Two problems remedied,” he eventually said; the black moon
and approaching peak of her cycle would be difficult, but only for
Akia now. “Boys, finish eating then get everything cleaned and
readied since we’ll be having company.”

****

After easily finding the guest room
Damian was staying in, Akia decided to use his shower since she
still refused to go into her room and her brothers were in
desperate need of showering themselves. She hastily scrubbed her
hair, mumbling under her breath about annoying men and how they
didn’t know anything. Damian was a very stubborn, proud man, she
knew that and loved that about him, but he wouldn’t understand why
she can’t simply forget and get past it. Where he grew up with a
silver spoon in his mouth, she was traded like a slave from vile
piece of shit to vile piece of shit before being rescued by
Beowulf. Then, just when she was starting to learn to live and
experience freedom and safety, they had to ruin it. She expected
that from Eve, but not him. Never did she expect it from him. And
yet he did….

Akia can’t simply forgive and
get over it. She had tried for the past ten years with little luck,
but she was trying. It wasn’t until Damian whispered
S’Agapo
in her ear as she
came down from a mind blowing orgasm that she realized that the
past was just that, and that
he
was her present, and if lucky immediate future.
Yes, Akia wanted to smack him for speaking Greek gibberish during
sex, but the sincerity in his tone and the tenderness of his touch,
it kept the words biting at her tongue back. Later, after she
Googled it while Damian was showering, he came out of the bathroom
to find her curled up in the closet crying. No one other than her
family had ever said they loved her before. It’d been years since
she hid in the closet—there was a sense of familiarity with the
cramped, dark space that put her at ease when mentally not in a
good place—but he didn’t ask. He simply pulled a shirt and boxers
on then joined her until it was out of her system; his patience
pulled her back from the edge of losing it.

It wasn’t easy, not that either of
them expected it to be, but they both made an effort; a first for
each of them. Trusting Damian Nikas unconditionally was a surprise,
especially after everything she had gone through. Never once had he
pushed her, pressed for explanations, questioned when she had mini,
and a few mega, breakdowns, or thought of her any differently over
the years. She needed to give him the benefit of the doubt, and
trust that he wouldn’t hurt her, but it was so much easier said
than done. And now that he was there, in her family’s home and had
met her questionable brothers, and with the black moon approaching,
and her cycle nearing its pinnacle, Damian would indubitably get
hurt. She wouldn’t be able to control it or protect him from her,
and if that happened she’d never forgive herself.

The tear that rolled down her cheek
felt as if it was searing into her soul; she knew what she had to
do.

Akia had to tell him goodbye, and
that it was over, but most importantly, that he should have never
come to Haven.

The shuddered breath that broke
past her trembling lips was accompanied by more tears.

She rested her head against the
glass tiled shower wall and fought to keep it together, but it was
impossible. The thought of pushing him away was nearly as bad as
the thought of telling him the truth, neither of which would solve
anything. For years Akia thought she had figured it out, discovered
a way to keep the balance between the darkness inside of her and
the truth and her relationship with Damian. But how could it
continue? The primal longing was getting hard to ignore, and there
was only so long that she could guise the truth…but time ran out
quicker than she thought it would.

Her hand clenched into a fist
around the delicate pendant resting between her breasts, and she
fought to keep from ripping it off and throwing it; it was only one
part of him that she needed to rid herself of, needed to throw
away, needed to leave behind. Goodbye; she had to tell him goodbye
and to go back to Boston. She’d send Faelan and Connell for her
things, send her letter of resignation certified mail. Manning
would understand.

Before the reassurance of her
sudden resolve could leave Akia’s lips, her back stiffened and her
eyes snapped open, but they quickly fluttered shut when strong arms
wrapped around her from behind and pulled her back into
him.

“Fifteen minutes has come and
passed,” Damian whispered in her ear before softly kissing down the
length of her neck. “I got worried, so I came looking for you,” he
continued, the unmistakable sound of a smile in his voice. “Imagine
my surprise to find you naked and sudsy, waiting for me to wash
your back. All you had to do was ask, you didn’t have to make a
stand,” he scolded with a chuckle.

Akia shuddered again before
awkwardly reaching back and wrapped her arms around his neck and
forced him into her even more.

When she didn’t say anything, he
pulled the tip of his nose up the length of her neck, inhaling
deeply and his eyes fluttered and rolled back.

Again, her body shook slightly as a
shuddered breath broke past her lips.

“Are you okay?” Damian whispered
when he noted the tears staining her cheeks through the castoff of
the shower spray.

She shook her head.

“Did you want to talk about it?” he
pressed.

Again, she shook her
head.

“Would you like some privacy?” he
asked, unsure.

Again, Akia shook her head then
turned around to face him. She delicately caressed her fingers down
his face and over each feature; long, narrow nose, rounded cheek
bones, chin and jaw that begged to be kissed and nibbled, and full
lips that whispered the words of the angels into the heart of a
demon and left her longing for more. She trailed the backs of her
fingers down the front of his throat, taking a moment to admire the
way his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, before continuing her
exploration.

It didn’t matter how many times
Akia had seen Damian naked, each time was like the first time all
over again, and it caused her blood to boil, pulse to echo in her
ears with deafening force, and caused an embarrassing heat to pool
between her legs. Each muscle group was perfectly defined and
hardened under her touch; his skin was like warm velvet; scent
caused an animalistic and possessiveness to flare within her; the
taste of his mouth was like a drugging nectar that she couldn’t get
enough of; and the strength he possessed made her feel delicate and
yet strong and his equal. His body was built and honed to be
desired and worshiped, and even though she fought with him about
returning the physical sentiment that his hands, tongue and cock
lavishes her body with, she knew that he loved the attention she
gave him. More than once she had spent over an hour trailing her
tongue up and down his abs, softly kissing each grouping and
teasingly blowing along the cut channels between them. She loved
digging her nails into his thick thighs just to hear him hiss
before splitting his knees, positing herself between them so she
could maintain eye contact with him as she took him from base to
tip, again and again, until he couldn’t take it anymore and somehow
managed to free himself from the handcuffs she had secured him
with.

Damian softly moaned under his
breath. “You’re thinking naughty things, aren’t you?” he
whispered.

Akia shrugged her shoulders ever so
slightly before brushing her lips against his, pulling back when he
tried to deepen the kiss. She shook her head, tisking at him
disappointedly before teasingly nipping at his chin with her teeth,
and he groaned.

His cock twitched, brushing against
her thigh, longing to bury himself deep within her tight, moistened
sheath, but she denied his silent pleas.

She pulled the tip of her tongue
down the front of his throat, taking a moment to kiss the jugular
notch before kissing down the center of his chest as she lowered
herself down to her knees.

“What are you doing?” Damian asked,
slightly amused but greatly turned on.

Akia looked up at him, meeting his
sapphire eyes before enveloping the head of his cock with her lips
then swirled her tongue around the ridge under the head.

A deep, throaty growl rolled from
the base of his throat and one hand knotted in the back of her
hair, the other bracing against the shower wall.

Liking the power she had over him,
especially since it would be the last time she’d have it before she
said goodbye, she growled in return, and his cock bucked in her
mouth. Her hand worked up and down the length of his distended
flesh, her grip firm just as he liked it, while the other cupped
his balls so they wouldn’t smack her chin when he started thrusting
his hips, which always happened when she sucked his cock. Akia
relaxed her jaw and took him deeper, pulling back some to allow her
throat to accommodate his impressive girth and length, before
taking him even deeper. As if they were two pieces to a puzzle and
fit effortlessly together, she found her rhythm and took him from
tip to base and back again, over and over, until he couldn’t take
it anymore and started to thrust this hips forwards slightly to
meet each of her bobbing motions.

Damian’s eyes fluttered when she
sucked even harder, holding his cock deep in her throat tight like
a virgin on her wedding night, and it caused his body to shake with
longing for release.

Akia pulled back, freeing him from
her warm, talented mouth. “Look at me,” she snarled. “I said look
at me!”

His eyes snapped to hers, and they
narrowed before his head tilted to the side and his cock softened.
“Latria Mou, come back to me,” he whispered, picking her up then
pulled her into his arms and protectively held her to his chest.
“Come back me.”

She shook her head, top lip
snarling.

“Akia, stop!” he snapped, his
authoritarian tone causing her to jump, startled. “Latria Mou?” he
whispered, batting his lashes, his eyes studying hers
intently.