Chapter Fifty-Three

Damon

It felt odd talking to Finley and for some reason I actually talked to her, normally I didn’t really like other people but she was easy to talk to and I guess it helped that she already knew what I was. I kept myself busy with stripping the inside of the house and starting with one room at a time, retiling, painting and so forth.

I sat and waited for her to go on her afternoon walk but she didn’t leave the house for the rest of the week and I wondered what she did all day. I worked myself tired so that I could sleep at night, although I was sleeping better here than I was at the packhouse.

I was just finishing my cup of coffee to head to the store to buy more tiles when I saw Connor’s truck park in front of her house. I watched him as he climbed out and frowned when he hugged and kissed her hello, touching her stomach and then it all fell into place.

He was the father of her baby. That would account for him being so closed off in my presence, this was what he was hiding! Instant anger flared up at me at what he had done and the fact that he was hiding it made it worse. I was sure Jared didn’t know because I hadn’t known.

After our altercation in the bedroom though I felt like an idiot when I heard the truth in her words. Connor wasn’t the father, he was just her friend, but I bet he knew who the father was and I also wondered how he knew her.

“How long have you been friends with Finley?” I asked him once she had left the room.

“A few months,” he said as we worked on the crib.

“Do you know who the father is?” I asked him.

“Damon…” he said and looked at me.

“He has a responsibility towards her,” I said to him as he sighed.

“She has enough people in her life,” he said.

“Fuck that, Connor, who’s the father?” he asked me.

“I can’t tell you,” he said.

“What bullshit is that?” I asked him.

“I just can’t okay, just drop it,” he said to me.

“I won’t just drop it, is he feline?” I asked him.

“Yes,” he said and I clenched my jaws.

“So the bastard’s one of us,” I said.

“Damon, just leave it, trust me on this one please,” he said.

“Why won’t you tell me?” I asked him angrily.

“It won’t make any difference, it’s better that you don’t know,” he said to me.

I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pushed him against the wall as I felt my anger rise. I was angry that he wouldn’t tell me who the bastard was, angry that he would protect a man that would do this, one of our kind which was totally unacceptable to me.

“Who is it?” I almost yelled at him as I slammed his head against the wall.

“It’s you, okay!”

“What?” I frowned as my grip loosened and he pushed me away from him.

“Just leave it!” he said angrily.

“What the fuck do you mean it’s me? I don’t even know her!” I said to him as he stomped down the stairs and I followed him.

“Connor?” Finley asked as she saw the blood at the back of his head.

“How the fuck am I the father?” I asked.

“What the hell Connor!” she said angrily as she turned towards him.

“You two are both sick and twisted,” I said as I looked at them.

“What did you tell him, Connor?” she asked him, completely ignoring me.

“He wouldn’t drop it,” Connor said.

“What kind of sick game are you two playing at?” I asked angrily.

“Damon, just get out,” she said to me.

“No, I want to know where you get off telling people that I’m the father of your fucking bastard!” I yelled at her.

“Fuck you, Damon!” she yelled at me, “you don’t get to come into my house and say stuff like that to me!”

“Fuck me? Fuck you, fuck both of you!” I yelled as I walked towards the front door and slammed it on my way out.

I hadn’t even realized that my fists were clenching and unclenching this whole time. I slammed my front door and kicked the couch across the room until it skidded to a stop against the other wall. I was beyond furious. This was a new low and I hadn’t expected this from Connor. I knew I wasn’t his Alpha anymore but fucking hell, where was the loyalty?

I needed to calm down before I phoned Jared. This was sick and I wanted to hurt both of them badly although Finley would have to wait until her brat was born. I wasn’t a monster, I wouldn’t retaliate while she was still pregnant, but right after that baby was born I was hauling both of them off to the Council.

“Breathe,” Axel said and I jumped at hearing his voice.

“Axel?” I said as he chuckled at me.

“It’s me,” he said.

“Where the hell have you been?” I asked him.

“Recovering idiot,” he said to me.

“I thought I’d lost you forever,” I said to him.

“It took a huge toll on me because I retreated with all our memories and it took me longer to resurface,” he said.

“Our memories?” I asked him.

“Oh geez, here we go, yeah Damon, your memories that they took,” he said.

“Who took my memories?” I asked him, feeling confused.

“The Council when you went to prison, it’s all muddled up,” he said to me.

“So tell me,” I said to him feeling frustrated.

“I can’t, the memories will start to resurface and you’ll remember different things at different times,” he said to me.

“Great, that’s just great,” I said.

“Why so glum?” he asked.

“Because I was just accused of fathering some bastard with some woman I don’t even know,” I said to him as he started laughing.

“We’d know if we did something like that,” he said to me.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” I said to him.

“Come on, you need to let me out, I haven’t gone running in months,” he said.

“Sure, I owe you that much,” I said to him.

I drove the truck out to Main Street and followed it to where the forest started. It was late afternoon and the hikers would have left by now. I had watched Connor leave as well as he hugged Finley for a long time standing on the porch.

It just fueled my anger more, watching the two of them conspire. Connor had looked over at my house and just shook his head before leaving. I felt like killing him and Axel agreed that we should take our time in hurting him. I’d never felt so betrayed in my whole life like I did at this moment.

I felt like myself again the moment my bones started to crack as I stood naked in the tree line and let Axel take over. The shift hurt since we hadn’t shifted for months but once I was on four paws I felt free. Axel took off dodging the trees as they whipped past him. His elation at being free was overwhelming and the feeling was euphoric almost.

“I missed this,” Axel growled and I laughed.

“I missed you,” I said to him.

“Yeah, cry me a river,” he said as he lunged at a big tree and started climbing it.

“Asshole,” I said as he attempted to roll his eyes at me.

“So tell me asshole, why did you resign as Alpha and Enforcer?” he asked me.

“You’d been gone for months, I couldn’t shift, so I couldn’t lead,” I said to him.

“Idiot,” he said, flicking his tail up and down.

“Things change, Axel, maybe it’s better this way,” I said to him.

“Because of George?” he asked me.

“Yes, because of George,” I said to him.

We stayed in the forest until sunrise and as I put my clothes back on next to the truck the rays finally penetrated through the trees and I felt exhausted. The good kind of exhausted, having spent the night in my jaguar form had soothed my anger.

“Are you going to call Jared?” he asked me.

“As soon as I’ve spoken to Finley again, she needs to explain to me how this shit got started before I do anything,” I said to him.

“Yeah, at least give both of them the chance to explain or just kill them for their insolence,” he said to me as I smiled.

“As much as I’d like nothing more, I don’t ever want to see the inside of Brightnight again,” I said to him.

I drove home and stopped at a coffee shop to buy coffee and croissants before going home to shower and change. I also needed to be completely calm when I knocked on Finley’s door to confront her about this bullshit.

Her car wasn’t in the driveway when I parked the truck in mine and I headed inside since it was still early. I showered and changed after finishing my coffee and eating breakfast. I was still feeling tired but also renewed in some strange sense. The empty void of Axel had been filled but the other empty feeling inside me was still there.

“It’s probably because you haven’t gotten laid,” Axel said as he turned from one side to the other.

“Shut up,” I said to him, acutely aware of how true that statement was.

“Blue balls, I hear it’s a thing with you humans,” he said and laughed as I glared at him.

“If you can’t contribute positively towards a conversation just shut up,” I said to him.

“I am contributing positively, I’m positive blue balls hurt,” he said as I blocked him out.

“Finley!” I yelled her name as I knocked on her door. The house seemed eerily quiet and I knew she wasn’t there. Her door was locked and the curtains were drawn across the windows and I sighed audibly.