Chapter 2

2

D amien had gone back to his cabin, slammed the door shut behind him, and roared out. He was pissed, anxious, and his lion wanted out. He had just found his mate, imprinted on her, and she was the daughter of his best friend.

When he had seen Danika for that first time the scent of her had ingrained itself in his cells. She was young, but he didn’t imprint on her in a sexual way, but a way that wanted to protect her, make sure she was safe and happy.

He paced his living room, ran his hands over his short hair, and cursed out. “Fuck.” When a shifter male found their mate they imprinted on her, but it didn’t happen until both of them were physically mature.

Even when a male imprinted on a female, and the female was young, as in this case, the urge to keep his mate safe overruled everything.

He didn’t see Danika as a sexual object, not yet anyway, but more of a younger sister.

But either way this was a hard, complicated situation. His body wanted to be next to her, make sure no one hurt her, but his

mind told him that she was Tyler’s daughter, and having anything to do with her was wrong.

He knew she was too young for him, that even when he would want her sexually, when his animal would see her as a sexual object and one that needed to be claimed, she would only be eighteen and still too young.

He walked over to the window in the living room, stared out at the trees that surrounded him, secluded him, and felt his animal pace beneath his skin, He’d run out this angry, anxious energy.

Lowering his head and closing his eyes, he could have torn his cabin to hell, destroyed everything because he was so angry over how the situation had played out.

He had lied to Tyler when he’d said he didn’t want a mate, hell, didn’t want a woman for more than a few hours. In truth he had thought about what it would be like to have a female that was only his, that was made especially for him alone.

It was a heady and intoxicating realization, but with that came the fact he knew he could never be with another woman again, could never move on in that regard. His body, his mind and heart, and fuck, even his lion were now tied to Danika.

She was his, and he was hers, yet she knew nothing about the imprinting a shifter went through, wouldn’t understand where he was coming from. He didn’t want to leave, didn’t want to go away from her.

But on top of the fact she needed to live her life, graduate high school, and go to college, he knew that he couldn’t be here. He had to stay away until she experienced things, until she could consciously make the decision to be with him, mate with him, and know the gravity of being with an imprinted male.

Then he had just left Tyler’s place, given some shitty reason that he wasn’t feeling right, and taken off after just seeing his friend after years’ of absence. No, this was a bad situation. He tore his clothes away until he stood naked.

Looking down at his chest he ran his fingers over the nasty bullet scar that lined his side. He had a few more on his back and a knife scar on his thigh. He was a mess, a fucking mess.

How could he expect Danika to ever look past the beast he really was?

He moved over to the front door and opened it partially. Damien felt the change take over him. Everything in him popped, snapped, broke, and realigned. Fur replaced skin, claws took over where his nails were, and fangs replaced his flat, human teeth. Then

he stood there in his lion form, big, powerful, and used to tearing flesh and killing its enemy. He was an animal that only thought about the hunt, tracking his prey, and taking control.

But even in this primitive thinking body, all he could envision was Danika and how he had probably scared the shit out of her with the alpha act back at Tyler’s place.

He paced, moved back and forth, felt his hackles rise, his blood pump through his body, and needed to run.

Padding over to the front door, he pushed it open the rest of the way, and stepped onto the porch. Closing his eyes and growling out as the sun slashed through the trees, Damien opened his eyes again and looked around the property.

The trees surrounded all four sides of the cabin. The freshness of the air called out to the wild part of him, and he padded down the steps and onto the ground. He tilted his head back, shook his body, and felt his skin move over his muscles and bones.

Damien took off toward the woods, ran past the thick evergreen and blue spruces, heard the small animals scurry away, and growled in pleasure. He needed this, needed the freedom to get this nervous energy out of his blood.

The wind moved over his fur, ruffled his mane, and the feeling of the soft earth beneath his paws had the sensation of his nails retracting coming forth. He stopped when he heard a twig snap in the distance.

Lowering himself to the ground, he scanned left then right, inhaled deeply, and caught the scent of deer in the distance. Taking off toward the direction of the animal, he inhaled again, growling low as his need to hunt it down and tear it apart filled him.

Moving faster, hitting the ground harder, Damien scented out the deer, saw it in the distance, and stopped, pressing low to the ground. He waited until the animal wasn’t looking around, but its ears perked up as it scented the danger in the air. But Damien was the master of stealth, of stillness and silence.

He could wait out the animal for as long as it took. But then the deer slowly lowered its head to the ground and started grazing again. Damien felt the need to attack fill every part of him, so he didn’t hold back anymore.

He lunged forward, but the deer sensed him and took off right before Damien could tackle it to the ground.

He followed it through the woods, weaving in and out of the trees, and felt the pleasure move through him at the chase. He was the hunter, and he was tracking his prey.

He lunged out, front paws outstretched, claws extended, fangs on display, and took the deer down. It might have sated the animal inside of him for the time being,

but Damien felt the anxiousness of being imprinted rise up inside of him violently again. He’d leave for two years, wait until she was of age, until she could decide what she wanted.

But even though he wanted her to be able to decide what she decided, if she wanted him as a mate, he knew that he could not just walk away from her.

Telling Tyler that a scarred beast of a lion shifter had imprinted his daughter was going to be pretty fucking hard. But Damien couldn’t just leave for good, even if that was the right thing to do.

He said he’d let Danika be for now, stay away until she could decide what she wanted, but it would be the hardest fucking thing he would ever do in his life.