Perfect Mate (A Werewolf BBW Shifter Romance #2)(10)

A rushing sound filled Damien's ears. He couldn't have heard that right.

"Kyle? Not our Kyle."

"It's his email. It's Kyle." Jordan clicked back. "Let me see if I can find anything else."

Damien's fingers turned white gripping the table as he realized the mistake he had made.

"Kyle? And Katherine..." he murmured.

"You think he's going to kidnap Katherine too?" Jordan asked.

"I think she might be helping him," Damien said. He breathed deeply, trying to sort out his thoughts.

"She loves you."

"She loves Kyle. She's called to Kyle."

"You saved her life," Jordan insisted. "She was going to mate with you, for gods' sake."

"I need to call her," he said, fumbling for his phone.

"Call who?"

"Julia. She's with him."

"Shit," Jordan said. "We have to get back there." He slammed the laptop closed.

As they hurried back to the car, Damien dialed Julia's number with shaky fingers. The phone rang once, then twice.

"Please pick up," Damien said, his mind racing with horrible images. "Julia, pick up."

Jordan turned the key in the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot, tires squealing as they drove towards Julia's house. The phone seemed to ring forever, and he repeated the same words under his breath as he waited for her to answer.

"Please, please don't let me be too late."

CHAPTER SEVEN

Julia sat in her room. She had run out of tears, and now her imagination bubbled with ideas for how to stay with Damien. She could always ignore Granny Dee and run away with Damien... well, run away by staying at the house, she supposed. Surely Granny Dee wouldn't leave by herself if Julia insisted on staying.

The thought of losing Granny Dee made the tears start back up all over again. Dee had raised her since she was a little kid, after her parents died in the accident. As far back as she could remember, she'd sat next to her grandmother in the kitchen and helped her roll out the dough for cookies and pies. It was her grandmother who had told her stories, her grandmother who had raised her. When she was too young to understand, she had watched Granny Dee lose her husband to cancer, and had crawled into her lap and hugged her, and told her that it was okay, that they would always be together.

Always.

She didn't know how she would tell Granny Dee about Damien's... condition. Would she ever need to? Perhaps that was what Dee sensed in Damien, something strange that made her hesitant about accepting him. The first time they'd met, she seemed to get along with him just fine, but now it was as though she'd had a complete change of heart.

A knock on the door interrupted Julia's thoughts.

"Julia?" Granny Dee's voice came through the door. "I need to go to the store for groceries. Will you come with me?"

"I'm not really feeling that well," Julia said, choking back her tears.

There was a pause, and Julia thought that Dee might have left before she heard her voice again.

"Please don't be mad, Julia. I just want to do what's right. Will you be here when I get back?"

"Don't worry," Julia said with a sigh. "I'll be right here in my room."

"Thank you," Dee said. "Julia, I hope you know that I love you, and I just want to keep you safe."

"I love you too," Julia said softly. She turned over and buried her face into her pillow as Granny Dee's footsteps tapped down the stairs. Then the car drove away, and the house was silent. Julia wondered if Granny Dee had seen Kyle and Katherine's car at the end of their driveway, parked on the side of the road. She might be suspicious.

"Let her be suspicious," Julia muttered into her pillow. "She doesn't trust my choices anyway."

House arrest. That's what this felt like. Nobody wanted her to go anywhere. She had guards outside of the house protecting her from some vague threat. Julia tossed her pillow to the foot of the bed. A hot shower would make her feel better. It always did.

The water washed through her red hair and she slicked it back. Normally her curls were out of control, but whenever she took a shower she would pretend for those brief minutes that she had straight hair that did what she told it to do. She rubbed her body with soap, feeling the curves of her br**sts. She remembered in the lake when Damien had touched her, held her close and wrapped one arm around her. She'd felt weightless, like she could float anywhere with him. His hand had touched her...there. His tongue had slid into her... there. She closed her eyes and imagined what it would be like if she was him. If she was blind, touching her body. What would she feel like?

Her hands slid over her soapy skin, pausing in spots to caress, stroking long, harder against her muscles. She leaned her head back against the tiles and moved one hand to her throat, where he had held her tightly without hurting, the other hand down between her legs, exploring the hot folds there. A soft moan escaped her lips as she slid her hand back and forth, finding pleasure in the memory of him taking her, being inside of her. Other girls had told her that it would hurt, but even with his size she'd felt only pleasure, sharp pleasure that took the pain and turned it into something beautiful and desirable. Her body, desirable not just for its shape or smoothness, no, desirable because it belonged to her and he wanted her. She imagined his desire as she smoothed her hand down the front of her chest and cupped herself, feeling the weight of her breast as her other hand moved deeper inside of her, her fingers trembling as they shivered her nerves.