The Blessed And The Beast
Chapter 189

Chapter 189

Thirteen: Damien

Damien’s P.O.V.

My palms slid against the fabric of my shorts as I rubbed my legs, trying to distract myself from what Ihad done. I felt like a complete asshole. I couldn’t sleep and ended up torturing myself all night thinkingabout it.

I wanted Charlotte again. I craved her.

Yet, the guilt of not only taking her virginity but doing it so hard and deep and on the fucking couchwhen there was a bed one room over had me feeling sick. She deserved so much better.

I should have made her some food and then taken her to my bed. We could have gone slowly until shehad adjusted to my size. I didn’t need to thrust into Charlotte the way I did. I would make it up to herand ensure she had a better experience next time.

Flowers, candles…romance. Women loved that shit. I couldn’t sit back without doing something. Iplanned to give her a tour of my home when she got here this morning, demanding she relax while Icooked her breakfast. We could talk as we ate our food, and I would make sure she was okay withwhat happened last night.

While I appreciated her help over the past week, I didn’t intend to make her do my chores. She juststarted helping me one day, which meant a lot to me. No one had helped me before without wantingsomething in return. Charlotte only wanted to spend time with me to see if we could be more.

I didn’t say anything about it, but I didn’t stop her either. She wouldn’t listen to me, even if I did tell herto stop.

She had no problem doing manual work and getting dirty. Charlotte was incredible. I could picture usdoing our daily chores around the house while our kids ran around the yard, and the image was just toogood to dismiss.

I wasn’t ready to let her go, but I needed to make up for my carelessness before we moved any further.

I walked back and forth from the river all night, wanting to make sure the tank was completely full todaybefore she showed up. There were a lot of chores that if she wanted to help with, she could. But takingover a dozen trips back and forth from the river, carrying buckets of water was not the kind of work Iwould want my woman doing.

The idea of her becoming my woman sounded better each day we spent together.

I was excited. Nervous but excited.

When morning passed, and the sun began the descent of the afternoon sun, my excitement turned intoanxiety. Charlotte hadn’t shown up like she had every day before, and I debated going after her. I didn’tknow if what happened yesterday had hit her last night after she left or if she truly was happy about it.

She said she would give me space to think but that she would be back. I wanted to offer her the sameconsideration.

I wanted to, but I didn’t. I needed to know she was okay.

My hands pressed into my knees as I pushed myself to my feet and stormed out of my cabin. I endedup across the river and standing in the middle of her empty camp before I knew it.

There should have been at least one person here. Charlotte said they always left one person behind toprotect their belongings.

Yet, their camp was empty. Worry settled deep in my chest.

Something had to have happened. They wouldn’t abandon their camp unless there had been anemergency. Was someone injured?

My head spun from side to side as I scanned the area, looking for any sign of struggle. Was Charlotteokay? If she was my mate, would I be able to feel it if she were in danger or hurt?

I could hear my blood pumping loudly in my head as my breathing picked up. Her scent was still here,and I couldn’t pick up traces of blood. Yet, I was coming up with a million thoughts and ideas aboutwhat could have happened, and each one was worse than the last.

They had done an excellent job of limiting any marks or tracks someone could follow, but Charlotte’sscent made it easy for me to chase her band of mercenaries down.

I wanted to shift to get there faster, but I knew a bear sprinting through the woods would be louder andcatch more attention than a man.

It was only an hour later that I reached the outskirts of the town.

The humans had done a good job building a new society after the Great War when Lycanstook controlof the world and all supernatural creatures came out of hiding, but their population was still only aneighth of the size it used to be.

Their towns and cities were significantly smaller, and most were hidden, still geared up for war againstsupernatural creatures. Ones like this, though, welcomed the new way of life…to an extent.

The humans still weren’t happy with our kind being around, but it was their new normal, and they hadaccepted that it was better to work with us than to be against us.

As I jogged past them, a woman ushered her children into her waiting car. She knew I wasn’t humanfrom her tone and the look she sent me. It was one of the reasons why I hated coming to town, but I

had done it enough that people knew of me. They knew I existed, lived nearby, and put up with me,even if they didn’t like my kind.

Charlotte’s scent was diluted by everyone walking around, and I pushed myself to move faster. Icouldn’t lose it.

Just as I was jogging past one of the inns, a small body came rushing through the door, smacking intomy side.

Sparks erupted across my chest as I wrapped my arms around her and held her to me, steadying us.

“Damien?” Charlotte’s soft voice was full of confusion, but a smile stretched across her face when shepulled back and looked up at me.” Damien! What are you doing here?”

She pulled her arms from where they were squished between us and threw them around my neck. Itwas not the greeting I had been expecting, but I was so happy to see she was okay that my handgrabbed the side of her head, and I kissed her.

She responded eagerly and pushed up on her toes to be closer to me.

“Well, I was not expecting that.” A familiar voice called out from my right, and I pulled away to bare myteeth at the pretty boy. Charlotte had told me about the men she traveled with, and I knew this man,Paxton, was the one I liked the least. His constant flirting with Charlotte made me want to tear out histongue.

“Damien, why did you come to town? I could have picked something up for you if you needed.”Charlotte didn’t bother to look at Paxton; her bright green eyes were locked on me, and it made mehappy that she didn’t feel he was worth her attention when I was present.

”You didn’t show up, and your camp was empty.”

Paxton snorted with amusement next to us, looking as though she were about to make fun of me forrushing into town to replace Charlotte before a look of horror crossed his face. “My stuff!”

I raised my eyebrows as he turned on his heels and ran toward the forest.” Don’t mind him. Someonestole his favorite pants the other day, and he’s been a bit jumpy about leaving camp since.”

Charlotte’s arms were still around my neck, and she leaned up, kissing my jaw. How could one womanmake me feel this way? The small touches she did were everything, and I was addicted to her.

“I didn’t mean to worry you. I was rushing out to see you right now. We had to come here to cash in forour last bounty, and they gave us another one.” I heard the paper in her hand crinkling as she waved itbehind my head, but I was unsure if I wanted to know what danger she was about to put herself in.

Her cheeks lit up in a soft pink glow as she smiled larger than I had ever seen. “You were worried aboutme. You came after me.” “Of course I did. Why wouldn’t I come after you? I needed to make sure youwere okay, Charlotte.” My voice lowered as I began walking her backward and out of the way of apassing couple.

She seemed to pick up on the double meaning of my words, and she kissed me again, nodding as sheassured me, “I am more than okay. I’ve never been happier. I could do without all the human womenchecking out my shirtless mate, but other than that, I am wonderful.”

I didn’t bother looking around to see if she was just joking with me or if people had stopped to stare. “Ialmost showed up in my fur. Then I would be naked.” “If you had shown up naked, we would have beengiving them a different show altogether.” Her eyes sparkled with mischief, and I felt mine widen withsurprise.

“Charlotte, what happened yesterday….’ “Was perfect, and I would love for it to happen again.” Sheinterjected, her body tense, and her smile fell as she went on the defense.

“It will happen again, but not like that.” I shook my head, my hands sliding under her shirt to rest on herhips. “If I had known that was your first time, I would have done things differently. I am going to dothings differently the next time.” ‘Starting with protection.’ I thought to myself. I had been careless anddesperate to get inside the beautiful woman offering herself to me, begging for me, that I didn’t use mybrain. A child was the last thing either of us needed, but the thought of not going bare, now that I knewhow good it was, was infuriating.

I didn’t want anything between us, ever.

“There you are, girl! It’s time to go.” A large man I recognized from her camp came pushing through thecrowd, the others trailing behind him.

“Barley! This is Damien. Damien, this is Barley.” Charlotte excitedly gestured between us, and he gaveme a nod before discretely looking around.

“Nice to meet you, Damien. We can get to know each other better later. We need to get a move on.”Barley gestured for us to begin walking, and I felt myself on high alert, pulling Charlotte behind me bythe hand to shield her from whatever had set the big man off.

I began heading toward their camp, but the giant wolf shifter quickly cut in front of me and steered us inthe opposite direction. Once we were deep in the forest and out of sight of the town, the group turnedand began the long journey back to their camp.

There were only three men with us, so I had to assume one had stayed behind after all. Diego, the loudsnorer, was missing from the group, and Paxton had presumably run back when he heard their campwas unattended.

“What happened?” Charlotte asked when the camp came back into view through the trees.

“Seems someone heard you being referred to by Charlotte instead of Charlie, and gossip began tospread about you being in town.” Roman chimed in, walking behind us and glancing back and aroundus every few seconds to ensure we were alone.

My back stiffened. I had called her Charlotte several times, but that was her name. Still, I wondered if Ihad put her in danger without even knowing it. It didn’t make sense, and I wanted to know how peopleknew her and why it was a big deal for her to be there.

“That’s her name. Why would that cause problems?” I asked, not liking the way they glanced at eachother. I looked down at Charlotte, but her gaze was locked on the ground, and even when I gentlypulled on her hand, she refused to look up.

“I think it would just be best if you called me Charlie when we are in public.

I can’t be Charlotte there.”