Page 45 of Damien’s Mate

“Yes I did. I’m an excellent hunter. Especially hunting through kitchen cupboards.”

Damien was over next to her on the bed like a shot. “I claim half.”

She pushed back the covers to reveal a jar of peanut butter and a large package of crackers. Damien grabbed the crackers, dipped two into the peanut butter, and chomped down.

“Hey,” she said. “You’re getting crumbs in the bed.”

He smirked at her. “Is that a deal breaker for you?” Not that he planned on spending the night with her again, much as he’d like to. She needed her rest, and he needed not to have an enormous uncomfortable boner.

She looked at him under her lashes. “Not necessarily. It depends what you’re willing to do to make it up to me.”

That sent his mind down a road it really didn’t need to be going down. He grabbed another couple of crackers.

She asked, “Did you get the artifacts out of the car?”

“Of course. They’re right over there.” He gestured to the case by the door. “Want to hold them? You can even sleep with them if you want, although they don’t seem very snuggly.”

“Ha ha, hooman.” Her voice was thick with peanut butter. But he could tell she was more relaxed just knowing the artifacts were there.

She swallowed and said, “So, I assume since we got the royal suite, we get to stay?”

“Yeah. Brandon—the panther—said we could both stay until you heal. He’s the alpha.”

“No shit,” Lila said, taking the cracker box back from Damien. “He almost made me submit with that command voice of his, and I’m not even pledged to him.” She sounded affronted.

“He seems okay,” Damien said. “Once I convinced him that we didn’t bring two Chicago crime families trailing behind us.”

Lila stopped with her cracker halfway to the peanut-butter jar. “You didn’t tell him about the artifacts, did you?”

He tilted the jar towards her. “I promised you I wouldn’t. Anyway, he only wanted to know if any of our trouble was going to come down on his crew, and nobody’s after the artifacts but you.”

She nodded. The silence lengthened as she spread peanut butter carefully on her cracker with her fingertip.

Finally she said, “I’m glad you didn’t get mauled out there. Especially because you threw your fragile hooman body in front of an enraged panther for me.”

Damien could still feel the bruise on his tailbone from when he hit the ground. “Not my brightest move,” he conceded.

“No,” she agreed, “but it was kind of hot.”

That made him feel a little bit badass. He nudged her with his elbow. “Thanks for protecting me. And for ripping that bear a new one.”

She giggled. “I couldn’t let you get eaten before you even got to spend Vic Salzano’s money.”

“Yeah.” The silence drew out again. He was suddenly aware of the warmth of her skin, the scent of her hair. A wave of desire welled up in him.

Shit. Not again.

He stood up, handing over the peanut butter. “Anyway, I’m going to take a shower. So you can’t smell me from fifteen feet away.”

She dipped another cracker. “Oh, I can always tell when you’re around, hooman.”

He didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Chapter 18

The bathroom in the Wild Blood guest suite made last night’s motel room look like the slum that it was. There were two sinks and a soaking tub, as well as a shower big enough for a party. The towels were huge and fluffy, and there was shampoo, and conditioner, and really nice bodywash.

Damien was starting to wish he was a shifter, and that the Wild Bloods were taking applications to join their crew. He didn’t know what all they did for a living, but could it really be worse than working for Vic Salzano? Or Ethan Sutcliffe?