His One Condition

Aurora didn’t move.

She was still standing in the same spot, Damon’s arm loose around her waist now.

It’s you.

She replayed it in her head. The way he said it. Not like a question, like a confirmation.

But that made no sense because they had never met before tonight.

And then there was the other thing. The thing she could not explain

That strange feeling that had moved through her the moment he pulled her close. Like something deep inside her had woken up after sleeping for years. She had felt it clearly, right in her, what she had never experienced before in her life.

Her wolf.

Damon had stepped back slightly. He was watching her with that same unreadable expression.

Aurora walked to him and looked at him directly.

“What did you mean,” she said. “When you said it’s you. Do you know me?”

He did not answer.

His eyes moved to the right side of her neck for a second before returning to her face.

He remembered.

Three years ago, on a rainy night, a rival pack had ambushed his convoy on the old mountain road outside the city. He had been stabbed in the side during the fight and lost too much blood.

By the time his men drove the attackers away, he could barely move.

He remembered lying on the cold ground, rain soaking his shirt and pain aching through his side with every breath.

Then she appeared.

He did not hear her coming. One moment he was alone, and the next, her hands were pressing against his wound.

She never asked who he was or what had happened, she just simply helped him.

He tried to see her face, but the rain blurred his vision. He only caught a glimpse of her dark hair and calm eyes.

Then he noticed the small birthmark on the right side of her neck, just below her jaw. It was shaped like a butterfly.

He lost consciousness, because he could say anything.

When he woke up, his wound had been treated, but she was gone.

He never forgot her eyes or the butterfly birthmark on her neck.

Aurora’s voice pulled him back.

“Mr. Blackwood.”

Damon blinked, and the room came back into focus. Aurora stood before him, arms crossed, looking both confused and impatient.

“You were not responding,” she said.

“I’m fine.” His voice came out steady. He stepped back and straightened his shirt. “It’s nothing.”

“You said it’s you like you recognized me.” Aurora did not let it go. “Have we met before?”

Damon looked at her for a moment. Then he turned and walked toward the window without answering.

Aurora stared at his back. “That’s not an answer.”

“No,” he said simply. “It’s not.”

She wanted to push further but something about the way he said it told her she would not get anything else out of him tonight. She filed it away and let it go for now.

She thought about what Caleb had told her. A compound designed specifically for wolves. Forcing his instincts into overdrive. And he had been in here fighting it completely alone because of a rule he refused to break even when it was destroying him from the inside.

She did not know what to make of Damon Blackwood.

He turned around from the window and looked at her.

“Sit down,” he said.

Aurora sat on the edge of the couch,

Damon stayed standing. Then he said, “The Nightbloom Serum. How long has your mother been on it?”

“Three years,” Aurora said. “Sterling Pharma controls the distribution. Ethan cut off her supply tonight to force me back. She has less than eighteen hours.”

Damon said nothing. He just watched her face while she spoke.

“I am not asking for charity,” Aurora continued. “I will pay for it. However much it costs. I will find a way.”

“You can’t afford it,” he said.

Aurora’s jaw tightened. “Then tell me what I can offer you, I will find a way to make it work. Please, I will do anything to save my mother’s life”

Damon was quiet for a long moment. He walked to the small cabinet near the window, poured a glass of water and drank it slowly.

“I can give you the serum,” he said. “As much as your mother needs and for as long as she needs it.”

Aurora’s heart jumped. “Really?”

“But there is one condition.”

She was already nodding before he finished the sentence. “Whatever it is I will do it. I will agree to anything. Just tell me my mother gets the serum tonight.”

He walked toward her until he was standing directly in front of her and looked down at her face.

“Marry me.”

Aurora was shocked, she stared at him and opened her mouth.

Of all the conditions she had prepared herself for, of all the things she had told herself she would agree to without hesitation, this was not one of them.

“Marry you?” she repeated slowly.

Damon looked at her without blinking.

He was completely serious.

Aurora had walked into Blackwood Club tonight ready to do anything to save her mother.

She just never expected anything to mean this.