Damon: The A'rouk Brothers: A BBW Paranornal Read online

  “Is it safe here?’ Janis asked.

  “Don’t look at me. They kidnapped me and told me I better come, so I showed up.” Rena’s eyes sparkled, and her smile was bright.

  “Where are we going?”

  “To a galleria.” Dee’s eye glowed when she said it.

  “After all these years she still loves to shop. I think that is one of the things I love about being mated to a Created. They don’t try to change you, protect you, but they respect who they are.”

  “What about all of you?” She followed them out and loaded into the hover.

  “Are you asking what we do or respect with our mates?”

  She nodded wanting to hear about their relationships.

  “We accept the fact that they aren’t human,” Rena said turning to look at her. She was sitting in the front of the hover, and Dee was piloting.

  “When I first met Aran I thought he was human. I learned to accept he was an alien that could pass for human, but he wasn’t human. That meant he wasn’t going to love me like a human man or protect me like one of them. We’ve had some problems over the years because sometimes I except things that he can’t begin to understand.”

  “I expect to sometimes walk in the living room or bedroom and see the beast, my dark angel, instead of the man.”

  “I work on accepting that Niko loves me. I know he does but even after all these years I sometimes worry that tomorrow he’ll be gone. There are some problems that haunt you for centuries River. You deal with them one day at a time. That’s my version of love. Two people who are so committed to each other they work on their relationship day after day.”

  “What if someone is trying to kill them and they don’t want the other person hurt.”

  “River, we’ve been shot at, burned, cars have gone over cliffs and much more. If we let danger stop us, none of us would have found love.”

  Dee pulled into a spot, and they got out. She waited until River walked past her before she reached out and took her arm.

  “I don’t want you to think we’re laughing at you or making it sound easy or like it didn’t matter. I locked myself in the bathroom when I found out what Niko was. I was blessed, and I remember it every day. My mom, she wasn’t blessed or lucky. When you find the right one, and you know he will be with you every day he can, love him.”

  She reached out and hugged Dee. They caught up with the others as they were entering the Galleria.

  “I don’t have any money.”

  “Damon has plenty.” Rena handed her a little chip. “Now you have plenty.”

  “Breakfast first,” Dee called out. “Shopping on an empty stomach makes me nauseous.

  “She just wants to have enough strength to shop all day,” Rena whispered.

  “Pay her no mind,” Dee sang as she led them into a restaurant that served real food.

  They talked and ate before they started shopping. They were coming out of a store that sold nothing but lingerie that she was sure Damon would appreciate when she looked down at the lower level.

  “What’s down there?”

  “Follow us.” The each stepped on a round disk that made River’s stomach sink as it took her down to one of the lower levels.

  “There is this level and the ground level.” Dee’s voice was filled with anger. “The people who shop on these levels don’t make the cut. They may live on the Earth, or they live on the lowest level of the atmosphere. Whatever the case they don’t have the social clout to shop above.”

  “They are judged for where they live?”

  “Social injustice. I’m beginning to think we’ll never get rid of it. A long time ago it was hidden behind nice smiles. Now no one bothers to hide it.”

  “Why aren’t we fighting it?”

  “We are, the A’rouk’s have one of the finest medical facilities that cater’s to everyone rich or poor. The Dare’s have a security company that will help anyone.”

  “Niko has set up many field security perimeters for those who can’t afford it, to keep them from being victims of theft. Nicolas, as well as Damon, work at the medical facility treating those who can’t afford to pay. Hale and Lucca are the reason there are working lights on the Earth. We’re helping, but until the humans realize this is their fight there’s not much we can do.”

  “I’m just going to sit here for a while. I’ll be here when you’re done shopping. They nodded and left her alone.

  She sat for a long time and watched the families that weren’t allowed to shop upstairs filter in and out of stores. Finally, she saw a mother walk up with her daughter. She walked closer to hear what she was saying.

  “I like those jeans, mom.”

  The mother leaned against the barrier looking at the jeans.

  “You have good taste.”

  “I know we can’t afford them.”

  Sadness poured off the mother.

  “One day, Baby, one day.”

  “Hi, I’m River, and I’m new around here. I don’t really know how things are supposed to work, but I overheard about the jeans, and I was wondering if I could buy them for you.”

  “That’s nice,” the mother said, “but.”

  “Please don’t say no. What’s your name?”

  “Sally and this is my daughter Rose.”

  “Those are great names. Do you know anyone else that needs clothes?”

  “All the kids where I live need clothes.”

  “Sally, have you ever heard of secret Santa?”

  “No.”

  “It’s a story from Earth’s past. Let’s go shopping and talk about it.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Damon willed himself into the living room of the house in Sin City, right into a trap.

  “River.” He screamed realizing he couldn’t move.

  “She’s not here. Out with friends, I think.” Sloan moved so he could see him. “Don’t worry I came for you, not her.”

  “What do you want Sloan?”

  “You know who I am, good, this will make things easier.” Sloan paced in front of the cage he was holding Damon in.

  Damon leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. He wasn’t going anywhere, but he could watch Sloan.

  “What do you want?” Damon asked him as he continued to pace, but say nothing.

  “I want River dead. She is standing between what my associates and I want. Her death our life. So you can see it’s personal for me, but she could have been anyone. I can’t kill her my hands are tied, but I can kill you. That’s not against the rules.”

  Before Damon could open his mouth to reply he was hurtled from the house. There was a quick flash of the sun then nothing.

  River collapsed when she was getting out of the hover. Rena was the closest to her, she dropped to her knees as she contacted Aran to get help.

  “She fell.” She never looked up as she told Dante what was happening.

  “Let’s take her inside.” He reached down and picked her up. They followed him to the house no one talking.

  He took the steps and placed her on the bed as Rena, Dee, and Janis crowded into the room. Nicolas appeared by her bedside to begin checking her over.

  “What happened to her?” Janis asked as he stepped back from the bed.

  “She’s dying. Somehow her bond with Damon has been severed.”

  “I thought that wasn’t possible,” Janis said what was on all if their minds.

  All eyes turned to look at Dante.

  “Nothing is impossible, unlikely, dangerous, but not impossible.”

  “What can we do?”

  Dante looked at Rena and smiled. She would always hold a special place in his heart because she was the first. Without her, none of the others would have found their mates.

  “There’s nothing we can do. They have to find each other.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “We each have a life force when you mate you join that force. If it is severed, you die.”

  “You have to do somethi
ng.”

  “Dee, what can I do? I always play by the rules. Will you stay here with her?”

  They nodded before they left him alone with her.

  “I always play by the rules, in your case River it seems the rules were broken. They’re my favorite kind of rules.”

  He walked over to the bed and allowed his body to shift. Her door was locked so no one would be able to walk in on them.

  “River.”

  She heard the voice in her head and looked around.

  “Yes.” Her voice was hesitant, he shouldn’t be here.

  “You’re dying, you are no longer bound to the planet.”

  Dying? She felt a wrenching pain deep in her soul. Dying meant leaving Damon, and she didn’t want to leave him. She wanted children and a future. He still didn’t know she loved him. There was no way she was leaving him without letting him know.

  “If you don’t wish to leave him then you must follow him, find him. Let him know how you feel. You must leave the Earth.”

  “It won’t be safe.”

  “I’ll keep it safe until you come back.”

  She believed him. “Thank you.” She left the earth in search of her love.

  He looked down and smiled before he disappeared.

  *~*~*~*

  He’d heard of this place, it was whispered on the lips of the dying. It was a dream in the eyes of the truly evil, but he never thought he’d ever be here. He was underground. There was a whole planet over his head, but he was stuck in one small section of the underground, The Cavern of Dreams.

  The name reflected what happened here. Here your dreams came true in every twisted way you could ever think of. He emptied his mind, but he already knew it was much too late for that.

  “Damon.” He turned seeing her ahead she waved to him beckoning him closer. He knew better she wasn’t real, but some small part of him held out hope that she would find him. He walked closer, and she moved toward him. His felt his mouth start to curve in a smile she was real…

  A sword sliced her body in half. He fell to his knees as pain rocked him. She wasn’t real he repeated, but his heart didn’t believe that.

  He forced himself back to his feet he had to find a way out of here. He couldn’t feel River, it was like she was dead or maybe he was dead. Either way, if he didn’t get out here soon, they would both be dead.

  She didn’t know she could move through space. Dante was probably helping her. He never said his name, but she would know his voice anywhere. She rolled over in space laughing, then the pain in her chest hit her again. Her teeth bit into her bottom lip to keep the tears from flowing. It felt like he was dead and she didn’t want to go on living without him. He wasn’t dead yet, she simply needed to find him before one of them died.

  The planet coming into view was ugly. She didn’t have enough time to take it all in as her speed picked up. She braced to crash on the planet, but she went through it. She landed in a large system of caves.

  You will find him here. When you have found him, you must convince him that you are real.”

  She rolled her eyes before she pushed herself off the ground. I’ll do that Dante, it’ll be so easy. She laughed at her response even though she knew he couldn’t hear her. She rolled her eyes once again for good measure and started walking through the caves

  Great, they branched off with no rhyme or reason She’d already hit three different dead ends and had to turn around and start again.

  Damon shivered. He didn’t know what it meant to be cold. Maybe when he was younger, but since then he spent too much time lying still in a hole covered with mud, water, or both. He had laid without moving a muscle in a snowbank for three days until his prey felt safe enough to come out of his house. He didn’t know what cold was, but this was the cold of the dying.

  He smiled. There was his mate, her belly was big with their child. The little Damon’s she wanted to have. In her hands was a child around three. His also? He walked closer wanting to see her face, hear her voice one more time. She turned to look at him, hatred in her eyes.

  “You left me,” she spat at him.

  Sloan walked out and kissed her before he reached into her chest and pulled out her heart.

  “Mine,” he laughed as she laid on the floor dead at his feet.

  Damon's hands clutched his ears to stop the sound of River’s voice as she accused him.

  She stopped by a stream of swiftly moving water. She was thirsty, but one look at the water warned her not to drink it.

  “Don’t drink the water.”

  “Damon.”

  “Don’t touch me River. I didn’t leave you willingly I would never have done that, and I can’t watch you die again. Please don’t drink the water.”

  She was crouched at the side of the spring. She went down to her knees and crawled to him. He was huddled against the wall of the cave.

  “I won’t drink the water. If I told you I was the real River would you believe me.”

  He laughed, it was rusty and sad. His anger and fear poured over her.

  “The real River can’t come here. That’s the whole reason Sloan sent me here.”

  “You could pretend I’m the real River it would make me feel better.”

  “As long as you stay away from the water. You’re tied to the Earth. You told me that once. I didn’t understand it then, and I still don’t. I watched you die too many times to name. I thought I was strong that I could handle anything that life would throw at me, but I couldn’t handle your death. I broke every time you died even when I knew it wasn’t you. I knew that eventually it would be you and it was more than I could handle.”

  “I’m still alive Damon. Do you know where fresh water is?”

  “I do.” He stood and reached for her hand. Eventually, he tucked her under his shoulder. He would never see his mate again, but she was just like River, it was hard to remember she was just a copy.

  They moved through the corridor where another River copy waited for him. Her eyes were wild as she told him she never loved him. Then she pulled out a blade and impaled herself on it.

  He stumbled.

  “She’s not real. Feel me, Damon, I’m real. She’s a lie sent to hurt you, to separate us.”

  “She’s not real,” he whispered as his arm tightened around her and they walked past her dead body.

  They walked passing many more Rivers that told him horrible things before they came to the last one.

  She looked so much like her that she wondered for a moment who was the real River before she shook her head. This place was getting to her making her doubt her own self.

  “Damon, I’ve been searching for you. Why are you with that?”

  “She claims to be the original. We’re walking to find fresh water.”

  “We don’t have time for that. I have a ship waiting. We need to go while we have a ship.”

  “Do you have a ship?” He looked at the female in his arms.

  “No, he didn’t give me a ship to get here.”

  They walked until they found water. River knelt and began to drink as the copy of her kept pleading with Damon.

  “If we don’t leave soon neither of will be able to leave this planet.”

  “I’m not leaving.” He walked over to the water and knelt by River.

  The River claiming to have the ship slipped a knife off her belt and aimed it at her copy.

  Damon jumped to his feet and intercepted the knife.

  “Here’s what I know about my River, my mate. She’s been treated badly, but she's not a killer. She brings peace to me. Whenever she’s around, I feel whole.” He reversed the knife and killed the copy in front of him.

  “You believe me?”

  “I do.”

  “How did you know?”

  “I meant it River you bring peace to my soul.” He wrapped his arms around her kissing her. They may die, but at least they would be together.

  A sigh escaped her lips when she felt his mind become one with hers.


  “I love you,” she whispered as they both faded away.

  Chapter Twenty

  River opened her eyes to find she was being stared at by, well by everybody. All of Damon’s brothers were in their living room as well as every one of the Dares along with every mate. The room was bursting at the seams.

  “Hi.”

  Rena walked over to give her a big hug.

  “They were scared for you, but I knew you had this.”

  She looked up and looked into the faces of family. One of the things she had been missing in her life. People that cared about her and loved her. Damon brought family into her life. She laid her head on his chest allowing his warmth to surround her.

  “Thank you,” she whispered softly over their link.

  “For what?”

  “Giving me a family.” He hugged her tight before looking at his family.

  “Why don’t I smell any food?”

  “It’s at Aran’s, and Alexei is on the grill,” Ash mumbled. Brook shook her head at him trying not to grin.

  “Alexei can’t grill?”

  “He grills just fine, Ash just likes to give his son-in-law a hard time. Throw in the fact that he’s his nephew it can get interesting.”

  She needed to hear this story. Her head came up to ask a question, but everyone was gone. Dante winked at her and then he was gone.

  “Your brother’s scary.”

  “You’ve no idea. Gather your bags we won’t be coming back.”

  “Why? Where will we go?”

  “I want to take you to where I live?”

  “The cabin?”

  “No to my house. We, my brothers and I live on the very last layer of atmosphere that is inhabitable.”

  She placed her hand on her stomach thoughts of being so far from the ground were making her queasy.”

  “We don’t have to live there.”

  “No. I just never thought of living so far above the ground with no water or the ability to see the sea life.”

  “I think you’ll like it there and we can go to the beach anytime you want to.”

  She looked at him and saw it, love. He loved her. No, he didn’t say it when she whispered it to him, but she could see it in his eyes.