Howl for Me (16 page)

“Can I borrow you tomorrow?” He asked. “We have more spelunking into the depths of a mind to do.”

For a second, I just stood there, shaking my head, letting it all go through me – Damon, his brother, and the fact that some kind of apocalypse was about to strike Fort Branch.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’ll see you tomorrow, after Damon wakes up. Okay?”

I turned and left before he could answer. I was in too much shock to process it all. I didn’t want to do it – didn’t want to go back into Devin’s head and find any more of his secrets. I didn’t want any of it. I wanted to be with Damon, somewhere quiet, and to watch the Cardinals play on my grandpa’s giant television. Maybe have a couple kids...

My hands fell on my stomach.

“Poko?” I said, turning back around. “Do you know?”

His only answer was a lingering smile.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget the look he gave me for as long as I live.

––––––––

O
utside, some kind of desert bird announced the early morning.

Damon shifted, groaned, and opened his eyes for just long enough to realize his entire body felt like a beat up junkyard dog.

He really, really, really wished that bird on the window would
shut the hell up
.

*

S
un poured through the closed blinds and the thick, dark red curtains, pooling on the floor. When Damon opened his eyes, he saw the light about three feet to the left of the bed. He blinked twice, lifted his arm, and then dropped it back to the bed when pain shot through his body.

“Damon?” Lily pushed open the door, evidently hearing him stir. “Are you awake? Damon?”

He rolled his head toward the door.

That hurt, too.

Damon took a deep breath just as Lily sat down beside him. The mattress squeaked gently under her weight. He reached for her, but halfway there, his elbow seized up. Another jolt of pain shook him.

“Li...ly...”

When his hand hit the pillow, following his hopeless attempt to grab Lily, it made the world’s softest thump.

The snore that came afterward? Nowhere near so tiny.

*

T
he next time Damon managed to open his eyes, the yellow pool of warmth on the floor was, instead, cool quicksilver. Another bird chirped. This time it was a smaller voice – a more timid animal, he thought, a desert night bird. He snapped his eyes open, looked around in the dark and took a deep breath.

“Rain,” he said softly, making sure his voice still worked. “Feels good. We needed it.”

Testing his voice was the worst of his pain. Each phrase, each syllable made Damon’s raw throat click painfully.

It seemed to Damon that all the moisture in his body had somehow been sucked out and was falling from the sky. He wanted water, but was also scared of swallowing anything.

“Could be worse,” he said, a little louder.

His throat was beginning to warm up, and keeping his eyes open no longer hurt.

Blood red curtains whipped soundlessly in a hypnotic dance with every gust that came through. It was cold outside, Damon realized – very cold. A shiver crept up his back. He clenched one of his broken fists, and relaxed it.

Small tendrils of pain crept up his arm, but it was manageable.

Damon wondered how long he’d been out. His temple throbbed then, and he thought however long it was hadn’t been long enough.

Slowly, he lifted his arm, testing the ribs that had been cracked and aching the last time he awoke. Taking a deep breath, he held it for a second, and then slowly let out the air.

At the end of his exhale, a slight twinge of sharpness kept him from emptying his lungs completely. Considering the mess he’d been in just a few hours ago, he decided he’d take a little jab without complaint.

The desert outside his window was calm and almost uneasily still. When he took another deep breath and tasted the freshly clean air, it didn’t matter. Another gust came through the open window, but instead of a chill, Damon felt a kiss of relief, of safety, and a sense of home. Turning his head to the right, away from the moon and the night and the calm stillness, he realized why he felt the way he did.

Lily was lying there, with her beautiful blue eyes open, breathing silently.

“Hey,” she said, in a voice so soft it could have been feathers falling. “You finally awake, big guy? Not another false alarm is it?” she asked.

And then, when she scooted nearer her broken, bruised, battered husband, Lily giggled when she felt his thickness against her. Damon thought that hearing her voice probably felt to him like the rain did to desert animals. It filled him, pushed life into his extremities.

“I guess you are, huh?” She said with a smile that warmed him. “I guess you’re not too hurt to do
that
?”

“With you?” Damon said, smiling even though it hurt his cracked lip. “Never too hurt.”

“You sure about that?”

She kissed Damon’s stubbly cheek softly, and ran her fingers in a trickle down his bare skin.

“You weren’t about to get up earlier. I doubt even... even
this...
was happy about anything.”

Lily’s fingers curled expectantly around Damon’s swell, and she took a soft breath, as his heat filled her palm.

He grinned. “You didn’t try that, did you?” Damon flashed her one of his disarming, impossibly charming half-smiles. His green eyes glittered in the moonlight that crept halfway up the side of the bed. “I bet if you did, I wouldn’t have slept so long.”

Lily fought a laugh, bit her lip, and slid his length between her thighs.

“It feels like... like this,” Lily whispered, “is where you’re supposed to be.”

He took a breath, shuddering as the promise of her sex pulsed softly against him. Moving an arm under her naked body, Damon pulled Lily to him. He slid one aching hand down her side, curled his fingers around her thigh. Parting her legs slightly, he could effortlessly touch the rest of her perfection.

“Can I tell you something?” Damon said softly, as his fingers found
their
home, pushing softly inside Lily’s entrance.

She quailed, smiled again, and nodded.

“Anything you want, whenever you want. Are you sure this is okay?” she asked. “I don’t want you to throw out your back.”

She giggled so sweetly, so softly, that Damon felt a rush hit him right in the face. At first, it was a flush that reddened his cheeks. He pushed his fingers deeper, circling them against that place she loved so much. Slowly, he painted her walls with pleasure.

Lily opened her mouth, taking a slow, deep breath, and Damon enveloped her bottom lip between his, sucking gently. He ran his tongue up and down, then inside her sweetness, exploring every line, every high and low. It seemed like eternity before either of them pulled away.

“The baby,” Damon whispered, kissing Lily’s neck, as his fingers and her breathing, both quickened. “I can’t believe it... We’re going to have a baby.”

“Unnn... Uh-huh,” Lily gasped. “A boy. A little boy.”

At that, Damon stopped cold.

“How do you know?”

“Quit stopping so much,” Lily said, with a naughty grin that flashed in the moonlight. “It doesn’t bother you that I can possess your friend. You don’t question my weird mind trips. Knowing the baby’s a boy, though is just too much.”

She couldn’t help but grin, and then let out one of her heart-breakingly adorable giggle-sighs.

“Yeah, okay,” Damon breathed, as he started aching to feel Lily on him. “I guess I should’ve learned not to ask so many questions.”

Lily started to shiver, her tiny muscles gripping Damon’s fingers, and then pushed him over on his back. She moved on top of him, taking him in, before pleasure took her too far.

“Oh, my God,” she said, lurching forward and resting her hand on the mattress beside Damon’s head. “I didn’t hurt you, did I? I got so carried away, I—”

Damon reached out and slid one hand over Lily’s mouth, the other gently around her neck, and he pulled her to him. Her lips were moving, silently, sucking at the palm of his hand. Her glimmering eyes wide open. He almost lost himself in them.

“You could never hurt me, even if you tried. You could have jumped on me, when I still had a chest full of broken ribs. It’d still be you, and I wouldn’t care.”

His voice was so soft, and so close, that it felt, to Lily, like he was inside her mind. The heat from Damon’s breath slid around his hand and tickled her cheeks. She reached down, cupping him with her trembling fingers, and eased him just inside.

His shudder and her moan both filled the air. Damon eased into Lily, and she moved her hand away. He tasting her kiss so fully and deeply that he felt it in his belly. Lily’s tongue swirled inside his mouth. Tasting her, smelling her hair that cascaded down on either side of his face was almost too much .

The deeper he went, the harder it was for Lily to concentrate on keeping their lips together.

Finally, Damon sucked a final kiss off Lily’s full, bottom lip, and she rolled her chin nearer her chest, resting her forehead against his.

“I couldn’t live without you,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to.”

“What makes you... God, you feel good,” Damon groaned, interrupting himself. “What makes you think you’re going to have to live without me?”

Their motions slowed, but didn’t stop. The gentle friction punctuated pauses in their words, but neither Lily, nor Damon, wanted to stop feeling the other move against them.

“I’m just scared,” Lily said softly.

A hot streak ran down her face, and onto Damon’s.

“I don’t want anything to happen.” She said.

“Hey now, Leroy,” he said, with a grin, clenching his jaws to fight the building tension inside him. “Don’t worry, all right?”

“You’ve never called me that,” Lily said, with a little grin. “It’s like Grandpa Joe’s in the next room.”

Neither of them could help it. Giggles turned to laughter, and, before they knew it, all the tension, and the fear, and the pain vanished.

Damon clutched the small of Lily’s back, matching her motions with his own. She threw back her head. The moisture running down her neck was sweat instead of tears.

“I can’t,” she said, her breath growing short and quick, “I can’t imagine being without you.”

“You don’t have to,” Damon whispered, then grabbed Lily’s leg, and flipped over on top of her.

As he eased all the way in, he let out a pained wince, and then laughed at himself.

“Got a little ahead of myself.” he said. “Damn, that wrist is a mess.” He let out another laugh.

“Are you okay?” Lily said, gasping a little, at the end.

“Never been better,” he said, and then silenced anything else she had to say with a kiss that surrounded Lily’s mouth.

He felt her tremble underneath him. The tiny muscles inside her constricted around him.

They just watched each other, eyes locked, mouths an inch apart, as their breath came quicker. They both paused, and then exhaled – each staring at the other as pleasure overwhelmed them.

“I can stop this right now,” Damon said. He rolled to the side and held Lily against his chest. Softly, he swirled his finger on the upper part of her back, right between her shoulder blades. “We can run. We just... get on the bike, and leave all this behind.”

Pushing up on one elbow, Lily leaned over and kissed his chest.

“You don’t want to do that,” she said. “You love Poko, and you love Hunter like a brother. You love your pack.”

“Yeah,” Damon said. “But, I don’t want you in danger. More than anything, you’re what matters to me.”

Lily shook her head.

“You are who you are, Damon. You’re the leader of the Skarachee. I know you’re trying to show me how much you love me, but please believe me when I say this, okay?”

She rolled him onto his back and straddled him again, forcing him to look into her eyes.

“Damon King, I love you because of
who
you are, not because of what you are. I love that you won’t turn your back on your friends, or on Poko, or even – and, I know you’re not going to like this – but, not even on the brother you hate.” Lily took a breath, thinking about how to continue. “You know what duties you have, and you stand up to them. You just... I dunno, swallow it, and go on. You know? I wouldn’t feel the same way about you, otherwise.”

Damon reached up and ran his thumb along Lily’s lip, then down her chin. He nodded, but said nothing, for a moment.

“I love you,” he finally said, “because you never give up. You won’t let me feel bad. You won’t let me get all down, and cynical, and...”

He trailed off, running his finger along Lily’s collarbones. Absent-mindedly, he plucked at the fang that hung against her chest.

“And what?” she asked, urging him to continue.

“And even Devin,” Damon said. “I don’t know how you possibly have enough compassion in your body to care enough to try and understand him, but... Thank you, for that, too.”

Lily bent down and kissed him, slow and warm and soft.

“We each have the things we’re good at.” She kissed his chin. “You’re a leader. You fight, you rescue. You do the big things, the dangerous things. As for me? I’m just me.” she shrugged.

“You’re the hero,” Damon said. “I get the feeling that you always were.”

*

“W
here’s Lily going?” Hunter asked, looking up from his midnight hamburger patty snack. He watched Damon came out of his room, carrying a couple bags for Lily and helped her to the car. “Isn’t it kinda late for pretty much anything? It’s half past four. Also, uh hey, glad you’re feeling better.”

“Gotta go see Poko,” Lily said. “I told him I’d go as soon as Damon was awake and coherent. And I’m mostly keeping my word.”

She and Damon shared a glance, and a kiss.

“Are you okay with this?” Damon asked, as soon as she was out the door. “With this Joram Blight business, and with the whole pack thing... I don’t even know where I stand, and I’m the alpha. There you are eating burgers without a care in the world.”

Hunter looked at him for a second.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hunter said. “I mean, yeah, I am eating hamburgers, but I’m not sure why you think I don’t care about anything going on.”