Chapter 5 - Damon

I didn’t plan to end up outside her house.

But there I was.

Parked across the street. Windows down. Hoodie drawn low.

Just curious.

I saw it—a flicker of light in the back window. Her room.

My stomach tightened.

I stepped out of the car, staying in the shadows. Silent. Watching.

And then I smelled it.

Her.

The scent of lust rolled across the lawn like a wave.

My knees nearly buckled.

It hit me so hard I had to brace myself against the car.

She was alone.

And she was touching herself.

My mate.

My teeth clenched. My jaw locked.

My pants tightened immediately—painfully.

I could hear it now. Her soft, broken breath. The rhythm of her movement.

Then—

A moan.

“Dayyyyymon.”

“You’re mine.”

The sound wrecked me.

A sharp, involuntary yelp ripped from my throat like a wounded animal. I slapped my hand over my mouth and crouched low, heart pounding like war drums.

She didn’t even stir.

She kept going. Kept whispering my name like a prayer.

I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood.

My body burned.

My wolf howled, silently, inside my chest.

And I knew in that moment—

I was already ruined.

I neared the side of her house, needing—no, aching—to see her face. Just a glimpse. Just a breath of her presence.

The closer I got, the louder the sounds became—soft gasps, short and uneven, spilling through the night like a song meant only for me.

Phoenix, my wolf, clawed at the inside of me. He was unhinged. Wild. Desperate to crash through that window, crawl into her bed, and mark her right then and there. He heard her whisper my name—“You’re mine”—and it shattered the last threads of my control.

Not even ten minutes earlier, I had to physically restrain him from howling so loud it would’ve woken the entire street.

We were always disciplined. Controlled.

But now… I was unraveling.

And when I finally reached the window and saw her—sheets kicked off, body bare in the silver glow of moonlight, skin flushed and glowing like embers—every last ounce of my restraint dissolved.

I reached for myself instantly, gripping the hard line of my cock through my loose running pants, thankful I hadn’t worn anything tighter. She moved with such pure, aching beauty—hips rising, chest heaving, mouth parted as she breathed through her pleasure.

I was stunned.

Shattered.

She was the undoing of me, and she didn’t even know it.

I stroked myself silently, trembling, Phoenix growling low inside me. This wasn’t enough. He could smell her—feel her. He was losing it.

“Get the fuck in there, you monster—she needs us now!”

“MATE. MATE. MAAAATE.”

And then—her voice.

“Damon… please… ahhhh…”

That was it.

Phoenix lost it.

I staggered backward from the window, slamming my hand over my mouth just as the howl tore out of me—feral, sharp, broken. I barely contained it. I bit my palm, clenching my jaw, but it was too late. I came, hard, right there in the dark, my seed spilling as my wolf howled through me.

I turned and bolted.

Straight to the car.

My heart pounded like thunder in my chest as I stumbled into the driver’s seat, panic surging through me at the thought she might walk to the window. That she might see her creepy boss lurking in the shadows, watching her fall apart.

Phoenix was still pacing inside me.

“Mate. Mate. TAKE ME BACK TO MY MATE.”

“No,” I muttered aloud, gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles. “She thinks she’s human, you idiot. We get caught here, we don’t just lose her—we go to jail.”

Phoenix finally slunk back, retreating into the recesses of my mind with a low, sulking growl.

But I knew this wasn’t over.

I whispered to him, a promise that steadied us both.

Next time, it won’t be a performance. It’ll be an action movie.

He gave a sharp flick of satisfaction in return, curling back into quiet.

The drive home was… strange.

My heart was still somewhere back at that house.

Still with her.

I got back to the pack house just before two in the morning.

The place was quiet—everyone asleep, or pretending to be. I paced my office barefoot, shirt half-unbuttoned, the moon casting thin light across the floorboards.

I couldn’t sleep.

I wasn’t going to sleep.

My thoughts were already turning toward morning.

I needed to see her again—but not too fast. Not too much. She was young, still human in understanding, and what happened tonight could either shatter her… or bind her to me in ways she wasn’t ready for.

I wouldn’t rush it.

But I would stay close.

Subtle. Present. Controlled.

A gesture. Something small. Something that felt like belonging.

So at 7:06 a.m., I sent a message.

⸻

From: Damon Thorn

To: Aria Moonstone

Morning, Aria. Quick question—what coffee do you take?

Allyssa—my assistant—is doing a coffee run for our weekend crew. Normally I’d just tell her, but I don’t give out anyone’s contact info without their permission. So I figured I’d message you directly to make sure she got your order.

Let me know what you like. She’s headed out in twenty minutes.

⸻

It was casual. Clean. Nothing suggestive.

But it placed me gently back in her orbit.

Let her know she wasn’t invisible. That she was part of something now—even if she didn’t understand just how deep it all ran.

Now I waited.

One text.

That’s all it would take.

To know if she felt it too.