Chapter 35: Chapter 7

NATALIE

Damon sets a cup of coffee on the table when I reach the kitchen. “Creamer?”

“No, thanks.” I take a seat and pull in a sip of coffee. I watch as he works around the kitchen. He’s in dark-colored jeans that hug his muscles and make his ass look nice and round.

It’s what I’ve found he normally wears, along with a pair of Timberland boots. But the shirt is snug and I can see the muscles in his back moving as he works the stove. The time on the microwave shows 5:15. “What were you doing here so early?”

He peeks over his shoulder. “I never left. I was studying a tome that I borrowed from Dec. Like I told you yesterday, my place feels awkward. I sleep here sometimes…most of the time. My parents are here and the pups… It just feels more homey.”

He brings two plates to the table. Mine is a normal serving, while his is stacked with food. “If that’s not enough, feel free to take what you want.”

He sits beside me and covers his pancakes with butter and maple syrup. I take the sausage from my plate and put it on his. I butter my pancake and pour on the syrup. Damon can cook. My scrambled eggs are buttery and creamy, the bacon is crispy, but not brittle, and the potatoes are cooked and seasoned to perfection.

I practically hum with every bite, receiving chuckles from Damon. “Sorry. I don’t mean to be a pig. It’s just really delicious.”

“Glad you like it. Do you cook?”

I shake my head and swallow my bite. “No. I mean I can put stuff together, but taste-wise it’s not always the best. We ate whatever was there at the camp. There were a few of the moms that would cook a big pot of stew or soup. Otherwise, we threw together whatever we had. Alpha Redd delivers food to the camp now, so it’s not as bad for them as it was.”

Damon gets quiet. “I’m glad you have a pack now. I’m going to see what we can donate to the camp.”

I steal his remaining pancake and slide it on my plate before he delivers his plate into the sink.

“I’ll be in my office if you need anything. We’ll head over to the training center in about thirty minutes.”

I finish eating then wash up from breakfast. Camila and Mr. Ramirez take over the kitchen. I have nothing to do, so I find Damon’s office. His door is open and he’s on the phone. I peek in and he gives me his smile, so I take that as a sign that it’s safe to enter.

His desk is tidy except for an old book open to just past the middle. A laptop sits open to his left and a tray of papers is stacked neatly on the right. Two large wooden filing cabinets that match his desk are in the corners, one on each side.

The walls have hand-drawn sketches of different wolves. I’m drawn to the smallest of the drawings; this one is of a chocolate brown wolf. He appears to be powerful, even though it’s just a drawing. My hand caresses the fur as if I could feel his softness through the canvas.

“That one was the hardest to draw.” Damon steps behind me.

“You did these?”

He gives me a generic mm-hmm.

“He’s incredible. Why was he the hardest?”

Damon points to the other drawings. “My mom and dad. That one is B and Finn. This one is my wolf. It was the hardest because I was more critical. Self-portraits…” He lets the sentence die and I look over the wolf again. “We need to get going. Do you want to grab a change of clothes?”

“Yeah. I’ll be quick.” I touch the wolf’s fur one more time then rush off for training clothes.

DAMON

Natalie is struggling with training. It’s not that she’s bad, but she’s timid. “Natalie. What’s the problem?” I pull her aside and ask.

“It’s hard for me. I want to heal people, not hurt them,” she whispers to keep our conversation private.

“Okay. I’ll work with you then, we can just go step by step.” I kick off my shoes and strip down to my black shirt and shorts. ~“Finn, take over training.”~

Finn jogs up to the front of the room beside my dad. I guide Natalie to the mat. I can see she’s nervous, so I talk through what we’re doing. “Dec said he wants you learning to defend yourself.”

She sneers but nods.

I get behind her. “I’m going to get you in a chokehold. Ready?”

She nods and I get into position. “Now step to your right, then duck and twist through the gap between my arms, then push yourself away.”

She pulls off the maneuver with ease. “I did it!”

“Good job. This time I’m going to grip harder.”

She nods and we do it again and again. Once she’s comfortable, I go over different maneuvers to escape from my grasp. Each time I talk her through slowly until she’s able to do it with a tight grip. I switch it up and have my dad get her into a chokehold. She’s not as comfortable, but she listens as I talk her through each step. I call an end to training.

“Thank you for working with me, Mr. Ramirez,” Natalie graciously tells my dad.

“Please, it’s Mateo. I’m glad you were able to join us.” He shakes her hand then heads off to get the next group ready to train.

“Finn and I have a lot to do today. Would it be all right if Spencer escorts you today?”

She tucks a hair over her ear. “That’s fine. I know you can’t babysit me all the time.”

“Unfortunately no. Good work today.”

Her pretty smile crosses her delicate face. She really is beautiful. Her long golden hair is so soft and silky. Her eyes are a bright and clear shade of blue that is almost turquoise. I’ve never seen eyes like hers. I watch her as she leaves the training floor. The more time I spend with her, the more I’m convinced that she’s my mate.

The Moon Goddess spoke of her gifts. I almost shit my pants when she lit that bush on fire. Everything I’ve read makes me believe she’s either part witch or a daughter of the Goddess herself. She’s not ready for me yet. Being that she’s only sixteen, I would guess not.

~“Spencer, I need you to escort Natalie around today.”~

~“Uh…okay. What should we do?”~

~“You guys can figure that out, just keep her safe and don’t try anything with her.”~

~“Yeah, yeah, sixteen, I know. But come on that’s not too bad and she is hot.”~

~“SPENCER!”~ I growl a warning through the link.

~“Fine, Alpha. I’ll show her around. No touchy, got it.”~

Finn and I finish training, check patrols, then do boring paperwork. We’re sitting in my office going through our finances. The jackass Roberts liked to pretend the money for the pack was his own to play with. Granted as alpha I get a nice salary, even taking less than offered.

He still misused pack funds and the pack had to suffer for it. It’s been almost ten months since I took over and after returning the money from his account to the pack funds, we’re just now starting to get things running to where I can start fixing this place up. I plan on starting with the hospital. I wonder if Natalie plans on becoming a doctor like Kya is…?

“Damon.” Finn looks at me expectantly.

“What?” I totally missed his question.

He cocks his brow and shakes his head. “She’s sixteen. You won’t know for another year or more.” I told Finn about the light and the white wolf after Natalie told me of her experiences with the Moon Goddess. He thought I was crazy, but he knows I’m an honest person and I have no reason to lie, especially to my beta.

“I know. What were you saying?”

“I was saying Bianca and Melissa want to take her shopping with them in no-man’s land. She’s with her and Spencer right now.”

“You didn’t say anything to B, did you?”

Finn shakes his head. “Nah, man, that’s all you.”

“Yeah, that’s fine as long as Spencer goes. He’s responsible for her today. Let’s grab some lunch then we’ll have Roman, Kayla, and Serenity meet us afterward.”

He drops his file into the basket and stands to stretch. We head to Lou’s then I contact Roman to meet me in my office with his mate and daughter.

Serenity is fourteen. When she was four she wandered off from her parents while they were picnicking. She ended up crossing over some old runes and all of her connections were cut. Now that I think of it, I should check the place out. I grab my pocket knife from my drawer and place it on the desk.

“You wanted to see us, Alpha?” Roman happens to be one of the doubters that hasn’t quite adjusted to me being the alpha.

“Yes. Come in.” Serenity and Kayla sit in the two chairs while Finn takes his position behind me and off to the side. “Serenity, how would you like to be connected with your family again?”

Her eyes bug, and she looks to both of her parents. She scrunches back down in her seat. I bet her parents talk about me, so she doubts me too. “It would be nice, Alpha, but I know it’s not possible.”

I open my knife and hand it to Roman. “Make a cut here.” I point out the family line that Dec showed me.

He knits his brows at me like I’m nuts.

“No matter what you think of me, don’t you think doing this simple thing for your daughter is worth a try?”

He clenches his jaw but makes the cut.

“Serenity, lick your finger and swipe it across the cut before it heals.”

She does as told, and as the cut fades away, she gasps.

Roman drops the knife and pulls his daughter into his embrace. Kayla is sobbing as she kisses her daughter’s face over and over again. “Thank you, Alpha. I…” Roman can’t bring himself to finish his sentence.

I just nod, knowing that’s the best I’m going to get for now.

Finn picks up my knife and hands it to me after they all leave. “Asshole.”

I clean the blade with rubbing alcohol and let it dry. “At least I was able to do something Roberts couldn’t. He’ll come around. Now for the adoptees.”