Chapter 5

5

D anika pulled her car into the driveway of her dad’s house, cut the engine, and looked at the house.

She saw the SUV that she assumed was Damien’s, and wiped her cheeks again, trying to stem off her anger and hurt.

After pulling over on the side of the road and crying, she’d forced herself to get back on the road when her tears weren’t body wracking. But she still had tears that were a steady flow down her cheeks.

Was she in shock, pissed, sad, so disconnected that she didn’t know what in the hell was going on?

With one more deep breath, she grabbed her purse and opened her car door. Heading up the steps and entering the house, she wanted to just tear down the hallway and lock herself in the bedroom.

“Is that you, Danika?”

She wanted to ask her dad who else would it be just walking into the house, but she was in a strange mood and kept her mouth shut. She went down the hall to the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

Looking at her reflection had her wincing at the sight. She lifted her hand and lightly touched the scabbing split lip she sported. Her eyes were red-rimmed, her cheeks pink from crying, and all in all she looked a hot mess.

After splashing some cold water on her face, and taking one more deep breath, she stared at her reflection again. She would have to explain her face to her dad, and what made this worse was the fact his friend was here, and would witness the whole awkward exchange.

Danika didn’t want to talk about what happened, not now, and maybe not ever. Her martial arts training hadn’t been enough to stop the asshole that forced himself on her, and if not for Hayden this night would have ended very differently.

She fixed her hair, putting it in a loose ponytail, because leaving it down wouldn’t conceal her face, and hiding in her room would just have her dad worried more, and making a bigger scene of talking to him. She’d just get this out of the way.

Leaving the bathroom and walking down the hallway and into the kitchen, she heard her father speaking to Damien. Just thinking about the lion shifter had her body feeling electrically charged.

She couldn’t describe the sensations moving through her, or why she had this weird feeling whenever she thought about him. She’d only met him that one time four years ago, and he probably didn’t even really remember her.

She rounded the corner and saw her dad leaning against the counter, a beer in his hand, and speaking to Damien, who had his back to her. Her dad started laughing after he told some old war story, and when he realized she was standing there he glanced her way.

His smile faded slightly when he took in her face, and then he was cursing and moving toward her.

“What happened, Danika?” He went to touch her but she took a step back.

“Nothing, I’m fine.” She looked at Damien who had now turned around, but the way her father was positioned in front of her

made only half of his face visible to her. She lifted her hand to cover her mouth, and although her father was talking about something right in front of her, it was like all sound left.

She stared at Damien, watched as he came closer, how his pupils dilated, and heard this strange rumbling coming from him. Either she was imagining it all, or her father was oblivious to the situation happening right now.

“What in the hell happened, Danika?” her father said more forcefully this time. She looked at him, didn’t want to get into this, and shook her head.

“I said I’m fine.”

“Did you fall or something, trip and hurt yourself?”

Her anger and annoyance over the situation, over the fact she

didn’t want to be here right now talking about this, had her lowering her hand and staring at her father. “Did I fall or something?” She had no right to be upset at her dad, but she was already emotionally unstable, and having his friend witness this sucked. “No, Dad, I didn’t fall, but I also don’t feel comfortable talking about this right now.”

Then Damien was standing right beside her father, his gaze on her lip, and this low sound left him. It was threatening, dangerous, and she actually moved back a step.

When she looked at her father she saw him watching Damien, his eyebrows knitted as he clearly was surprised by this reaction coming from the other man, too.

“Who fucked with you?” Damien said in this low, growly voice, one that sounded more animal than human.

“W-what?” She felt like she was trapped in this strange dimension where her father thought she was just clumsy and injured herself, and where this man she’d only met once before had her body on fire, as he demanded who’d hurt her.

“Danika.” Damien took a small step forward. “Tell me who put their hands on you.”

She saw her father snap his head toward her through the corner of her vision, but she couldn’t stop staring at Damien. His light blond hair wasn’t cut in that military style like it had been all those years ago, but it was short still, and brushed his forehead.

And his amber colored eyes were bright, animalistic in quality, and she felt like he could see right into her soul. It was like nothing could be hidden from this man, and it was unnerving.

“This isn’t something I am going to talk about right now,” she said on a shaky breath, staring at her father who seemed to be

realizing that her split lip might not have been caused by her inability to walk straight. “It was not a good idea coming here.” She needed to leave, needed to head back to her place because she should have known that she was too tattered emotionally to deal with being around anyone. “I have to go. I ... I just have to go.”

Running away was childish on her part, but she couldn’t think straight right now, not when her father and Damien were watching her like they expected her to break down in front of them.

And she was about to, just burst out in tears because right now she felt so emotionally stripped bare she couldn’t even breathe.

“I’m sorry,” she said to both of them, and turned and left her father’s house. There would be questions, but she also knew that until she was ready to talk she couldn’t give any answers.