Page 43 of Damien’s Mate

Damien tried to keep his mouth from twitching.

Brandon continued, “All I want to know is, what kind of trouble are you in, and how much of it is potentially going to come down on my crew.”

That was good—Damien didn’t even have to feel bad about not mentioning the dragon artifacts. Nobody was after those, as far as he knew.

He explained as briefly as possible about Vic Salzano, Anton Rostov, the bomb, the vault, and the ledger—making sure to point out that the ledger had been returned.

Brandon said, “But you still have over a quarter of a million dollars in mob money in the back seat of your SUV.”

Damien rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah.” He would have preferred not to mention that, but Brandon was being straight with him, and he felt like he had to give him something.

“A quarter-mil? Way to go,” Jaeda said. She reached over the island with a fist-bump, which Damien returned. It was a pretty good score.

Brandon glared. Damien put his hand in his lap and tried to look sorry. Jaeda didn’t.

“How likely is it that the mob boss will come after you?” Brandon continued.

“Which one?” Damien asked.

Brandon sighed. “Either one.”

Damien gave it some thought. “It’s possible that either of them could be hunting us down, but I don’t think it’s likely. Both of them mostly wanted the ledger, and whoever ended up with it, the other one is probably busy planning his demise.”

The other crew members were drifting in, making him feel hemmed in. He continued, “I’m sure Salzano isn’t happy about the money, but what with Rostov going to war with him and blowing up his house, I’m pretty sure he has other things on his mind.”

He paused, gathering his thoughts. “Rostov, on the other hand, is a vindictive bastard—he’s probably a threat to Lila, if not to me. But I don’t see how either of them could track us here. The car has clean plates on it, we turned off our cells and went to burn phones, and nobody in Chicago knows I ever met you, let alone where you are.”

At that moment Brock came down the front stairs and into the great room. Damien was relieved to see that he, like all the others, had covered up his junk. “How’s Lila?” he asked immediately.

“She’ll be fine. She’s still out, but she shouldn’t be much longer. The dart Kitty used carries a pretty small trank dose.”

“But what about her other injuries?” Damien said. “They were pretty bad.”

“I saw,” Brock said. “I’m a little surprised she could Change. She must have really wanted to protect you.”

Brandon’s head went up at that, and he glanced sharply at Damien. “Are you two mates?” he asked abruptly.

Mates? “What, like married?” He gave a harsh laugh. “No. I told you, I just met her last night, at Salzano’s.”

Remy murmured to his brother, “Five bucks says they boinked.”

Colt shook his head. “No bet. Totally boinked.”

“Anyway, you can’t tell by how long you’ve known each other,” Colt’s girlfriend put in.

“Do you mind?” Damien said, exasperated.

Jaeda said, “Shut up, you idiots.” She turned to Damien. “Sometimes shifters have fated mates. Like soulmates, only with a magical bond.”

Another weirdness to chalk up to shifterdom. “I’m not a shifter,” he pointed out. “So no.”

Remy said, “Jaeda’s mom isn’t a shifter either, but she had one.” He paused. “Jaeda’s dad, in case you were wondering.”

Jaeda smacked him on her way to get a batch of Pop Tarts out of the toaster. The smell of the frosting made Damien’s stomach growl.

Damien said to Brandon, “Well, I’m pretty sure we don’t have that soulmate thing.” If they did, he couldn’t imagine she’d be so anxious to leave him and go back to the Dragonlands. “Look, I’m sorry if I violated some kind of rules—”

Suddenly, he was just fucking tired. He didn’t want to deal with any more shit. “Oh, hell, no I’m not. She was hurt, she needed help, and you were the only shifters I knew. So fuck it, if you’re going to take me out back and maul me, do it.”