CHAPTER 006

I sit up straighter, my heart racing as I watch his face. His eyelids flutter and then slowly open, revealing those green eyes that are so much like Kade's but different at the same time.

He blinks a few times, looking confused, and then his gaze lands on me.

"Odessa?" His voice is rough from not being used.

I freeze. Nobody except Sarah has called me by my real name since I joined this pack. It was always Luna this, and Luna that…

"You're awake," I say stupidly.

"How long has it been?" He asks.

"Three days."

He tries to sit up but winces in pain and falls back against the pillows. "What are you doing here?"

That's a good question. What am I doing here?

"I don't know," I admit. "I just... I couldn't leave."

Something shifts in his expression as he stares at me. "The mate bond."

"Yes. The stupid mate bond that won't go away like you said it would."

"I know."

We look at each other for a long moment and the tension in the room feels thick enough to cut with a knife. I should leave now that he's awake and clearly going to be fine, but my body won't move.

"You stayed with me for three days," he says quietly.

"Don't read too much into it.” I huffed, “I just didn't want to lose another mate so soon, even an unwanted one."

"Right.” He gritted, “Unwanted."

"You said it yourself, this bond is a mistake."

"I know what I said." He sits up slower this time, and swings his legs over the side of the bed so he's facing me. "But I've had three days to think about it and maybe I was wrong."

My heart starts racing. "What are you talking about?"

"The bond isn't fading, Odessa. If anything it's getting stronger."

I push away, needing to put distance between us but he moves closer instead. "Stop talking. You need to rest."

"I'm done resting."

"Damon—"

He cups my face with both hands and suddenly his lips are on mine.

I should push him away. I should slap him and run out of this room and never look back. But instead I find myself kissing him back, my hands gripping his shirt as I pull him closer.

The mate bond flares to life between us, making my body hot and needy with something that feels like desire. But it can’t be, because the only man I’ve ever desired is Kade.

This is wrong, this is so wrong, but I can't stop.

Damon deepens the kiss and I make a sound in the back of my throat that I've never made before. His hands move from my face to my waist and he pulls me flush against him.

I can feel every hard plane of his body through our clothes and it makes my head spin.

He swings me onto the bed and then suddenly he’s on top of me, his movements are stiff from his wounds, but his strength leaves me wet and aching.

His mouth moves from my lips to my jaw, then to my neck and I arch into him with a moan without meaning to.

"Odessa," he breathes against my skin.

"This is insane," I gasp out.

"I know."

His hand slides under my shirt and I feel like I'm burning from the inside out. This is moving too fast but I can't seem to care, all I know is that I need more of whatever this is, consequences be damned.

There's a knock on the door.

We both freeze.

"Alpha Damon?" the healer's voice calls from the other side. "I need to check your wounds and change your bandages."

Reality crashes back into me like a bucket of ice water.

What am I doing? Kade has been dead for less than a week and I'm in bed with his brother?

I scramble out from under Damon and practically fall off the bed in my haste to get away from him.

"Odessa, wait—"

"No." I'm already backing toward the door, my whole body shaking. "This was a mistake. This was... I can't..."

I yank open the door, nearly slamming into the healer who looks shocked, but I don’t wait to explain before I’m running down the hallway.

My lips are still tingling from his kiss and I can still feel the touch of his hands on my skin and I hate myself for wanting more.

My paws hit the forest floor hard as I run, trying to outrun the memory of Damon's lips on mine and the way my body responded to his touch like it was made for him.

I hate that I don't regret it. I should regret it, Kade has only been dead for only six days and I'm already kissing his brother, and letting him touch me in ways that only Kade should be able to.

What kind of person does that make me?

A terrible one, that's what kind.

The guilt sits heavy in my chest right next to the mate bond that won't stop pulling me back toward Damon.

I've been running for hours but it doesn't help, nothing helps, and by the time I shift back to human and make it back to the pack house I've made a decision.

I'm going to avoid him completely. No more sitting by his bedside, or allowing myself to be alone with him, no more kissing or touching or whatever that was on his bed. I'll be polite when I have to be around him for pack business but that's it.

Unfortunately, pack business happens to be right now.

"Luna, the elders are requesting your presence in the meeting room," Marcus tells me as soon as I walk through the front door. "Alpha Damon is already there."

Of course he is.

I consider making an excuse but I know that'll just make things worse, so I follow Marcus to the meeting room where Damon is sitting at the head of the table with Elder Thomas, Elder Margaret, and three other elders whose names I don’t know.

Damon's eyes find mine the second I walk in and I quickly look away, taking a seat as far from him as possible.

"Thank you for joining us, Luna," Elder Thomas says. "We need to discuss our strategy regarding the Silverfang pack."

For the next twenty minutes they talk about patrols and border security and alliances with neighboring packs. I try to focus on what they're saying but I can feel Damon staring at me and it's making it impossible to concentrate.