Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 29882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
Damien stood slowly, and she followed suit. “She’s my priority, Tyler.”
Her dad nodded and sighed heavily. “If you hurt her I’ll fuck
you up so you won’t come out of it standing, lifelong friendship or not.” Although Damien was a shifter, and could tear any human apart with no effort, Damien smiled at her father’s words, and nodded.
“Understood, but there isn’t anything to worry about, because I’d rather kill myself than hurt my mate.”
“Come here, sweetheart,” her father said and pulled her into a hug before she could move toward him. “You sure you want this?” he asked her in a soft voice by her ear.
“Dad, I don’t know what I want in my life really, but what I do know is that Damien makes me feel...” She thought about how she could even describe the things she felt for this shifter, the connection and complete unity that her body felt when she even just thought about him. “It just feels right, Dad.”
He pulled back and cupped her cheeks, scared into her eyes, and she waited to see how he would respond. “I may not like this for various reasons, but I want you happy. If Damien makes you happy, then that is the only thing I can hope for.” He pulled her in for another hug, stroked her head with his hand, and she stared at Damien over the side of her dad’s arm. He wasn’t moving, not smiling, just watching her with this concentration that told her he never missed a thing.
This was her life now, her father supported her, and she knew that as long as she opened herself up to the possibilities she’d be able to accept anything that was presented to her, even being mated to a hard-ass, fierce lion shifter.
10
Damien stared at the text message he just received. Yesterday he had sent an inquiry to a man he knew in private investigations.
When he told Danika that he’d find out who had done this to her he had meant it. He had no name to go on, but he had gotten Danika to tell him a physical description, where the party had been, and the rest he could have his guy figure out.
Boris was a skilled tracker, had been with the Shifter Operative Trackers for the last twenty years to get the whereabouts of dangerous men.
Compared to the shit Boris had done on the battlefield for their government and kind, this was child’s play.
It was dark, and Damien sat in his vehicle in front of the party this motherfucker was supposed to be. He stared at the guy’s name again: Robert Mitchell.
Damien’s blood boiled at the sound of his name playing out in his head. He was seconds from shifting, so close to losing control that it was taking all of his willpower to hold his animal back. Then he saw the fucker he was about to beat come out of the house.
He staggered across the front lawn, his drunken focus on his car keys. Damien got out of the car and started following the punk as he made his way away from the party to his car that was parked in a secluded back alley.
When Robert dropped his car keys he cursed, and Damien felt his claws lengthen further as the images of what had been done to Danika flashed through his mind.
Once they were in the alley he curled his nails into his palms and breathed out. “You fucked with what was mine,” Damien said in a low voice, seething with anger and ready to shift and kill this asshole.
Robert slowly turned around, blinked a few times, then curled his lip. He was either fucking stupid for not showing any fear in the face of a shifter, or too drunk to realize what in the hell he was up against.
“I fucked with what was yours?” Robert slurred out, and turned his head to spit. “Get the fuck out of here with that shit. I take what I want when I want, no matter what it is.”
Maybe Damien should have felt some kind of control over himself because this dick was drunk, but he didn’t and still planned on kicking his ass to teach him a lesson. He took a step closer, and Robert shook his head.
“You’re a ballsy asshole. I was varsity football in high school.”
Damien could have laughed at that. The kid couldn’t be much older than Danika, but he was big with an athletic body. It wouldn’t help him now, because he would be the victim in this scenario. “You tried to take something from my woman at a party, pressed her up against a bathroom wall, and you got your ass handed to you even then.”
Robert looked like he was thinking, and then he started laughing. “Oh yeah, that bitch was uppity as hell.” Robert charged forward and slammed his body into Damien’s, or as much as he could given his pathetic human strength.