Page 31 of Claimed By the Damned

He all but puffed out his chest, taking in the praise.

Tugging on her hand once more, he took her out of the shop through the back exit, through the alley, and into the back entrance of the bar. Drake and Knox were out running errands, so the place was empty and full of sunrays beaming through the windows.

The two of them headed upstairs, still hand-in-hand, and as soon as they were inside the apartment, he sat her down at the breakfast bar. She watched him with interest as he began moving around the kitchen to set things up.

“You don’t have to do this, you know,” she told him. “I really am used to not eating much throughout the day. You don’t have to go out of your way for me.”

Finding a pan, he placed it on the stove before moving to the fridge. “You need to take better care of yourself. You used a lot of energy in the last twenty-four hours, and you need to make sure you’re keeping up your strength.”

“Or you guys can just learn to keep your hands to yourself,” she replied with a giggle.

He smirked and turned to the breakfast bar with food from the fridge wrapped in his arms. Gently, he sat them down on the granite and gave her ‘the look’. “Not going to happen, Princesa. You know it doesn’t work like that with mates.”

She only shrugged and propped her chin on her hand. “Just saying, that’s what took all of my energy.”

The air became fragrant when he started chopping the cilantro. “We’ll have to keep you fed then.”

He continued to prep the food as they fell into a comfortable silence, but then she asked, “What are you making?”

“Street tacos. Thought something easy would be satisfying.” He paused in chopping an onion to look up at her. “You like tacos, right?” She nodded. “Good.”

When he was placing the sliced beef in the hot pan, she continued with her questions. “Who taught you how to cook?”

“My mother,” he replied, looking over his shoulder at her, a grin on his face as the memories of his childhood kitchen surfaced. He used to spend countless hours in the kitchen with his mother as a child, learning to cook and bake. While he wouldn’t consider himself a pro, he was decent at the very least.

“Are you close with your parents?”

As he seasoned the beef, his tone grew a little quieter. “I was, yes.”

“I’m guessing that changed when you left the pack for Drake?”

He turned back to her, rested his hands on the counter, and nodded. He didn’t mind the questions, nor was he going to keep things from her, but speaking about his life before he became a rogue was still difficult for him. “I haven’t talked to them since. It’s not allowed.”

She pressed her lips together in an understanding, giving him a sad smile. “Do you ever regret it? Leaving the pack, I mean. Do you miss it?”

He considered his next words carefully. “Sometimes, but then I remember the reason I left with Drake, and I find that longing disappears. I like my life now, even more so now that I’ve found you. If I hadn’t done so, if I hadn’t left, we would never have found each other.”

She fiddled with her hands on the surface of the granite. “I’ve been thinking about leaving the pack for years,” she admitted. “Even before you guys came along. But I’ve been thinking about it a lot more since we met. It’s practically all I think about now.”

He turned slightly to the side to stir the meat. “Yeah, I can see where your world would have shifted to consider it more carefully. What’s holding you back?”

She was quiet for a while, and he let it remain that way until she could gather her thoughts. They were touching on a sensitive subject, and he didn’t want to push her too much. He wanted her to feel comfortable enough to talk to him, on her own time.

“I’m worried. I’m worried that I won’t be able to make it as a rogue. But even more, I’m afraid my father will come after you guys. He’s . . . possessive. He sees me as a possession, and I don’t think he would just let me go that easily. I don’t want anything to happen to any of you.”

He could remind her again that they could fix that, but he knew it wouldn’t do any good. In fact, it would probably just make the entire situation worse. So instead, he nodded, letting her know that he was listening and understood even if he thought that Knox had the best solution when it came to her father. But she wasn’t ready yet, and he wasn’t going to push it. Pushing too soon could fill her with regrets, and the last thing he wanted was that regret stemming from their choices about the way they handled this complicated situation.

“I almost killed him once, you know.” Her voice was so quiet that he barely heard it above the sizzle of the meat.

He raised an eyebrow. For a daughter to want to murder her own father, the alpha to her pack . . . “When? How?”

“A year ago,” she explained. “He tried to force me to mate with one of the enforcers. He wanted someone from our bloodline to take over as alpha since I can’t, being a woman. It was a huge argument; things were said and done.” She paused to blow out a breath. “That night, I went into his room and took his gun out of the dresser. I stood there, aiming it at his head for a half hour, and just couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger. I wanted to. Believe me. But no matter how much easier my life would be with him gone, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.”

He finished assembling the tacos as he pictured her standing above her father in the middle of the night, poised to end his life. Turning, he set the plate before her, taking the time to choose his words carefully once more. “When we’re backed into a corner, we fight. There’s no shame in it.”

“Oh, I’m not ashamed of it. I’m angry with myself for not being able to follow through. If I had just taken care of the issue then, things would be easier now.”

Nodding, he rounded the breakfast bar and turned her to face him before pressing into her space. He parted her knees so he could fit between them and tipped her head up so that she was looking into his eyes. He knew she needed the comfort, and if he was going to be honest, he just wanted to have an excuse to touch her. Aside from the handholding on the way up there, he hadn’t been able to do that yet. “And what would have happened afterward? Would you have been able to live with yourself?”

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