Nine: Damien

Damien P.O.V.

Five men.

She lived with five men who snored louder than most bears. It wouldn't have been a problem if I hadn't found myself back at her camp listening to them for the past few hours after they had all gone to sleep. Four were in tents, but the smallest one slept by the low burning fire on a bedroll.

He didn't seem to be bothered by the drop in temperature once the sun went down and snored the loudest. It disrupted the peace of the night and reminded me of why I enjoyed the solitude of my cabin. I loved hearing the chirping of the crickets and the cooing of owls. I liked the sound of birds in the morning and how the wind would whistle through the trees.

It could be a little lonely at times, but it was peaceful.

I had crossed the river and shifted into my beast, only to sit about ten meters from Charlotte's tent upwind. Even with the space between us, I could hear her teeth chattering and the tiny whimpers that left her perfect lips as she slept.

I wondered how she would react if she woke up to me climbing into her small one-person tent and curling around her to share my body heat. After what happened today, I didn't think it would go over well.

She would either tell me to get out, or we would wake up the rest of her camp as we finished what we had started by the fire earlier. I would give anything to have her wrapped around me again. But I was also trying to be responsible.

The same concerns had been swarming my head since we first crossed paths.

We clearly came from different social standings, and she deserved better than a cabin or house in the woods, even if she was sleeping in them for the time being. That wouldn't be permanent. I knew one day Charlotte would end up back in society with a house filled with everything she could ever want and men falling over themselves to get her attention.

She wanted her soulmate, and I wasn't that.

wolf, and I was a bear. Our kinds didn't get along,

closed my eyes tightly, shaking my head as I tried to get the image of Charlotte holding our baby from my mind. Having

was easily the most attractive woman I had ever encountered, and the way she took control today was the hottest thing I had ever experienced. Our mutual attraction felt like two flames crashing together, ready to burn down

sound of someone moving made me tense, and I watched as one of the men exited their tent. It was late,

man she had been training with. I had heard her address him as Roman, but she and I hadn't talked about any of the men...or talked at all.

I didn't, how would I know if she was a match for me? Pushing aside all of the things that would prevent us from being together, even if they were a factor in my decisions, I didn't know her well enough to see if we would be compatible

his jeans. His eyes locked with mine, and my body relaxed. He could be a threat if he wanted to be,

on a tree stump about seven feet in front of me and to my right. His forearms rested on his knees, and his hands

tightness or anger in his voice. He was simply stating a fact, and I appreciated that he didn't come out here with hostility or aggression. A man in his line of work with a level head and temper was rare, and I

I began the shift to my skin, but he held his hand

need, man. It's pretty cold out here

me so far. "You're Roman," I stated, pulling on the pair of shorts I had brought and left by the tree. After

silent beyond her soft breathing and occasional shivering, and I worried she knew I was here too. Would it bother her that I was out here, and why did the thought of her catching me watching over her embarrass me? She hadn’t come out to see me. Perhaps she didn't want to see

to the man still snoring on his bed roll, the only one not in a tent to have been able to spot me. Diego's mouth was open, and his pinky twitched. I

knew wolves had them, but bears didn't. They had always fascinated

to take control of the world. They and the wolves were always so fluid and in synch when in battle because they could communicate and plan attacks with only a thought. Something

without having other ways to communicate with each other discretely." Roman cleared

something she wanted and didn't want to let it go. It was empowering that she felt that way for me, and one of the things

with a lot of shit in her life, but I've

words felt like a dagger sinking into my gut, and I had to restrain myself

to

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