Narae’s wolf stopped walking, and she shifted. But her human self didn’t make it to her feet. Instead, she crumpled to her knees, her upper body falling forward on her braced and shaking arms. Daemon dropped to a knee and caught her. “Easy, baby.”
He knew she’d spent herself on that run. It couldn’t be helped. Unleashing your animal for the first time in God knew how long took a lot out of a shifter. Lifting her, he held her with ease but didn’t make a move toward the manor. It was important to him to wait until she was ready.
In his arms, Narae’s breath was sawing back and forth as she tried to catch her breath. Wanting to ease the knit of worrythat was centered between her brows, he chided, “By the way, I let you win.”
That had Narae’s face morphing as she grinned up at him. “I don’t even need to scent your lie to know that ain’t true.”
He chuckled, his chest rumbling with the sound. Wanting to know more about her, he asked, “Has your wolf always been so…powerful?”
Narae’s grin faltered. “I don’t know. I’ve never gotten the opportunity to properly push her. I know she’s a beast, though. She’s survived some shit that would’ve crushed anyone else.”
And just like that, Daemon regretted asking. Why did every revelation about this woman have him wanting to murder someone? Yeah, he was naturally broody and violent, but fuck! Narae had the ability to send him into an instant rage, and that kind of control over him was dangerous. He’d spent his whole life trying to tame Demon and not be so reactive, and Narae seemed to annihilate all his progress. It was scary.
“You’ll get the chance to push her to her limits here.”
When Narae’s eyes sliced to his, he quickly amended, “In a good way. Nothing bad is going to happen to you here, I promise.”
Her gaze lowered back to the manor, a muscle in her jaw ticking as she countered, “You sure about that?”
Daemon followed her gaze and cursed under his breath as Koe stalked angrily toward them.
Thrall’s truck rocked to a halt beside them on the road, and when Thrall hopped out, he circled the truck to stand by Daemon’s side, breathing a quiet, “Well, that don’t look good.”
Chapter 22
“What the fuck is that?” Koe snarled, jamming a finger toward Narae as he approached.
The action had Daemon growling low while Thrall stammered. “N-Narae. It’s a Narae. Well, notaNarae,theNarae. It’s Jury’s sister.”
Koe tore his angry gaze from Daemon to stare darkly at Thrall. “I know who the fuck she is. I could scent her a mile away. What I’m asking,” his furious gaze slid back to Daemon as he growled, “is what the fuck is on her neck?”
Daemon simply held Koe’s gaze while Thrall started stammering. “So, a lot was happening. All at once. At the same time. There were breakfast burritos, and recruits and Enforcers. Well, Enforcer recruits with burritos….”
At the exact same time, both Koe and Daemon thundered, “Shut the fuck up, Thrall!”
Daemon turned his body, squaring up to Koe, who slowly stalked toward him, but before Koe could reach Daemon, Narae rushed forward, placing her body between them. “He did me afavor,” she blurted out, then clarified. “The only way to save me was to mark me. He did what he had to.”
Shocked, Daemon stared down at the back of Narae’s head. In his periphery, he saw some of the tension leave Koe’s body, but that didn’t concern him. What did, was the fact that Narae had just lied to Koe, and there was absolutely zero scent of deceit on her. That was problematic. Daemon had never met a shifter who could mask the scent of their lies. And the fact that Narae—a woman bearing his mark—just had was alarming. What else had she lied about? How could he trust her if he didn’t know when she was telling the truth?
Eyes leaving Narae, they slid up to Koe. “She’s lying. I did it because I couldn’t control myself. Demon thought the best way to protect her was to make her ours.” He shrugged negligently, “I didn’t disagree.”
Turning to glare up at him, Narae gritted out, “I do you a favor and you fucking out me?”
Daemon’s gaze dipped to hers. “I appreciate it. But we don’t lie here. Especially to the Alpha.” His gut twisted at thelook of betrayal that crashed Narae’s face. She nodded woodenly and turned her back on him, stepping to the side as if saying to Koe, ‘he’s all yours’. And that fucked him up too. She’d had good intentions just now. At least for him anyway, and he’d just shit all over ‘em. Reaching for her, he breathed, “Narae…”
But Koe cut in, “There’s no scent of betrayal.” His accusatory gaze was locked on Narae.
Pissed at the look, Daemon crossed to stand in front of her, blocking her from Koe’s view. “I can’t have you looking at her like that.”
That had Koe’s hard eyes slicing to Daemon. “Sounds like you’re telling me what to do.”
Daemon shook his head. “Telling you what not to do.”
That had Koe taking a challenging step closer before Thrall rushed forward, insinuating his body between the two behemoths. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Can everybody just calm the fuck down!”
“How are you able to mask your lies?” Koe was glaring at Daemon, but the question was directed at Narae.
From behind Daemon, she answered, “It’s a skill borne out of necessity.”
