The moon hung low over the denhouse, pale light spilling through Natalie's window like a whispered invitation. She lay there, staring at the ceiling, Damien's earlier request looping in her mind. To trust him. To stay.
But if she stayed, she'd never know the truth about her past.
If she left, she might lose everything—including the fragile peace between them.
Her chest rose and fell in a heavy sigh. To hell with it, she thought. Sometimes the only way to find the answers was to risk the questions.
Before she could change her mind, she padded down the dim hallway and stopped at the door to Damien's chambers. Her knuckles hovered mid-air. One knock and the world could tilt in a way she could never undo.
She knocked.
The door opened almost instantly, as if he'd been expecting her. His expression was unreadable,somewhere between curiosity and… subtle amusement. Without a word, he stepped aside, letting her in.
The air in his room was warmer, faintly scented with cedarwood and smoke. Her heart pounded against her ribs as he closed the door behind her. For a split second, she wondered if she'd made a terrible mistake.
Which Damien noticed
"Relax....I don't bite"he said sarcastically with a smirk which made Natalie roll her eyes
And Damien continues teasing her "if I wanted to,I would start with pinning you against the wall, kissing you hungrily,cause honestly,my wolf,Dimitri is craving you really bad..."
He shifts closer to her making her shift away in fear,"my hands everywhere your body, pulling you closer until there's no space left between us. I will lift you, and take my time teasing you until you're begging for more. I will whisper exactly what I'm going to do in your ears and watch you shiver with my every touch… and then actually do it, harder, deeper, until you can't even remember your own name, only mine".He laughed hard seeing her reaction.
"Pervert" Natalie remarked silently but loud enough for his ears.
He smirked happily seeing the effects of his words on her.
"But like I promised,I won't touch you till you're willing for me to so please don't get scared of me....my wolf doesn't like it"he said silently...more like a warning.
The night passed without sharp words or heavy arguments. Just quiet conversation, the kind that wove itself into the spaces between them like fragile threads. She didn't remember falling asleep, only the steady warmth of Damien's arm draped over her, holding her in place as if she belonged there.
By dawn, the first blush of sunlight brushed against her face. She blinked awake, her gaze landing on Damien. His dark hair was tousled, his breathing slow and deep. She hadn't noticed before how annoyingly perfect his jawline was, or how the morning light softened the usually sharp planes of his face.
"Handsome" she thought loudly and unconsciously
She was staring,openly,when his eyes cracked open, the faintest smirk tugging at his lips.
"Like what you see?" he murmured, voice rough with sleep.
Heat flared in her cheeks. "You wish."
But she shifted back, too quickly, and his smirk deepened.
Later that morning, over breakfast, Damien leaned back in his chair, watching her from across the table. His eyes lingered on her with a careful weight, as though measuring how much she understood, how much she could handle.
"Do you know much about the Blood Moon Pack?" he asked casually, cutting into his bread.
She shook her head.
"It was founded by Alpha Vincent," he began, his tone light at first, almost like a storyteller entertaining an idle audience. "He was the founder and first Alpha of the blood moon pack,he brought the pack together under the rise of the first Blood moon with the help of the moon goodess and my father tho it came with a price;a curse,placed on his first child,his heir,the curse is linked to mine cause of my father's help in raising the pack"
Damien watches Natalie's reaction,she was paying heavy attention and was following the story like her soul was in it.
Satisfied with her reaction,he continued.
"He wasn't just a leader,he was the kind of alpha who'd put peace before pride. Even helped other packs in times of need. But not everyone saw peace as strength."
His knife stilled against the plate.
"His younger brother, Rowan, betrayed him. Killed him. His mate, too. Though… she was carrying a child at the time." His gaze flicked up, locking onto hers with an intensity she couldn't place. "Her body was found far from the pack lands. No one knows if the child survived."
Natalie's fingers tightened around her fork. "That's… awful."
Damien studied her for a beat too long, as if weighing something. His lips twitched in a faint, unreadable smile, one that hinted at secrets he might already know. Then, in a tone so offhand she almost missed it, he added, "Some say that child might still be alive."
The words lingered like smoke, curling in the quiet morning air. Natalie frowned. "Are you saying...my father knows about the child?"
He waved a hand dismissively, leaning back, but there was a sharpness in his eyes that made her pause. "Just a thought. But if the true heir still breathes, he/she is the only one who can break the curse."
Her chest tightened.
His voice lowered, suddenly stripped of its earlier lightness. "The Blood Moon curse. Cast the night Vincent founded the pack, under the blood moon's rise. The pack's fate is bound to its rightful alpha. Without them… it will wither. And so will I."
Natalie's mind spun. "So you think my father..."
"I think," he cut in smoothly, "that you should tread carefully on your little quest to find your background. Curiosity is a dangerous thing in a world like ours." His gaze lingered a heartbeat too long, a silent challenge hidden beneath a seemingly casual warning.
For a moment, he just watched her, his expression calm but sharp, the kind that hinted he might already know more than he let on. The weight of that unspoken knowledge made her stomach twist.
And just like that, he rose from the table, leaving her with nothing but the quiet clink of dishes and the suffocating weight of unanswered questions.
As she sat there, Natalie couldn't shake the feeling that Damien had said more than he let on, that his casual remarks about the missing heir were meant to test her, to see how she would react. And somewhere deep in her chest, a stubborn hope flared: maybe, just maybe, she was closer to the truth than she realized.