It was dark outside and Kaylee was tired when she finally made it back to the house. She was covered in blood from her fight with the murdering vampire and Kayleb's arm still wasn't fully healed from the vampires bite and it was hanging loose, shredded and black from the venom.

"Kayleb!" Vanessa exclaimed as she jumped from the kitchen table and ran to him when he walked in. Kaylee couldn't help but smile because though Kayleb was trying to act tough, she could tell how much her brother liked Vanessa's attention.

"Where is grandma?" Kaylee asked as she realized that Rebecca, who seemed to live in the kitchen, was not here. Jordan looked up from her dinner and sighed.

"Apparently we missed quite the showdown between dad and Jake today and it ended with dad and mom leaving."

"What the hell happened?" Kayleb demanded. Kent stole a fry off of Jordan's plate, earning his hand a slap and then he shrugged.

"I was at work but Greg said that Jake and Charles were fighting over Damien being here. Jake said he could stay and Charles said if Damien stayed then he was leaving. Jake told him goodbye and Charles lost it. He started toward Jake, Angela jumped in between them trying to calm the situation down and Charles's dumbass pushed her down."

"Oh shit." Kayleb and Kaylee both said at once. Kent nodded.

"Jake just about killed him but Angela stopped him of course. Charles' owes his life to her now. Charles took off and Rebecca went with him."

"Where's Damien?" Kaylee asked even as she tested the air and caught his smoky scent.

"Upstairs. I think he feels guilty over what happened." Vanessa replied as she looked at Kayleb's arm. "I'm gonna get Angela down here to fix this." she said.

"No, leave Angela alone." Kayleb replied. "I'll be fine."

"What happened to you anyway?" Vanessa asked as she led Kayleb to a chair and made him sit down. Kaylee didn't stick around to hear Kayleb tell her the story. She followed Damien's scent upstairs to her bedroom.

"What happened to you?" he demanded when she walked in and he jumped from the bed and began looking over her blood covered body checking for injuries.

"I'm okay, Damien." Kaylee promised. "Kayleb jumped in and took the worst of the punishment."

"I do not want you putting yourself in danger like that." Damien scolded. "I do not like having to worry about you."

"Then get a job with me and you can come and protect me from the bad guys." Kaylee teased sarcastically.

"Why? Why put yourself in such danger for people you do not know. You did not know the mortals that vampire was killing." Damien said as he ran his hands over a small bite on her arm and felt his temper rise. Anger was another emotion that only Kaylee in danger seemed to be able to bring out in him.

"Because it's the right thing to do. I would die to protect innocent people. The same way that you let your father and brother torture and banish you in order to protect innocent people that didn't deserve to die." Damien looked in her eyes for several long seconds and then sighed with defeat.

"So you will not quit your job?" he asked and Kaylee shook her head.

"No I will not." she replied. He nodded.

"Then I will have to get a job there too. I don't want you chasing after vampires when I am not there to protect you." Kaylee's eyes widened.

"Are you serious? You are going to get a job with the agency just so you can keep an eye on me?" Damien shrugged.

"I want to be near you. I cannot explain it, Kaylee. When I am not with you I feel like a part of me is broken and when I am near you that part is fixed." Kaylee felt her heart swell at his words. She raised her hand and caressed his cheek.

"I love you, Damien." Damien looked down into her eyes and laid his hand over hers.

"I do not know what love is, my wolf, but I am over one thousand years old and when I met you twenty years ago it was the first time in my entire life that I found myself feeling. You are the only thing in this entire world that I know without a doubt I would die for. Without you my life would go back to having no meaning and no happiness. That has to mean something." he said earnestly. Kaylee pushed her body closer against his and gazed up into his clear blue eyes.

Her body was on fire as he ran a hand through her hair and she knew the heat had nothing to do with the vampire venom flowing in her blood. She was sure he was going to kiss her as his eyes moved down to her lips but then just as quickly as the passion had flashed in his blue eyes he pulled away from her and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You should get cleaned up." he said quickly.

"Why won't you kiss me?" Kaylee asked as she tried to pick her bruised ego up off the floor.

"I have already explained that to you." Damien replied without meeting her eyes. Kaylee let out an irritated growl and stomped over to her closet. She pulled out a clean pair of gray lounge pants and a tank top and walked to her bedroom door.

"We'll talk about this later." she said matter of factly and he simply nodded as she walked out and closed the door behind her.

She walked to the bathroom and turned the hot water on in the shower. She stripped out of her bloody clothes and examined herself in the mirror. Most of her wounds and bruises were gone, except for the bite on her arm. Luckily it been more of a glancing blow from the vampires teeth and not much venom had been injected. She stepped into the shower and sighed with pleasure as the hot water beat down on her sore muscles. She thought about Damien as the steaming droplets quickly fogged the room and she felt her body heat. Why did he push her away?

She knew that he loved her and she knew that he wanted her. She had felt his desire for her pushing against her stomach when she had pressed herself against him. She didn't believe for a second that he would ever hurt her.

She thought about the words he had spoken to her before their near kiss in her room. She knew that Damien had not spoken the words in an attempt to woo her. He wouldn't even know how to think about doing something like that. No, he had simply been stating what he saw as facts and for some reason Kaylee found that more romantic than ten thousand sugar coated promises.

She thought about how far their relationship had come in just a few short days and decided that she wouldn't rush him. He was here now and clearly he meant to be around her everyday... She wouldn't have to go days or weeks in between visits and never know where he was or if he was okay. That was more than she had ever thought they'd have.

As she turned off the water and wrapped her hair in a towel she thought about her mom and dad and wiped a tear from her eye. Her mom had always been so eager for her to find her mate and now he was here and her mother would never know. She could imagine what her overprotective dad's reaction would be but she knew her dad would like Damien once he got over the initial 'my baby girl has a mate, this cannot be happening' phase. Her dad had always liked straightforward, no nonsense people and Damien definitely fit that role.

Kaylee brushed out her hair, but didn't take the time to blow dry it before pulling on her clothes and leaving the bathroom. She walked to her bedroom but Damien wasn't there. She followed his scent down the stairs to the kitchen and found him standing at the stove with Vanessa.

"Whoa!" Vanessa said as she grabbed the salt shaker from his hand. "If you put that much salt in the soup, you'll lock Kaylee and Kayleb's jaws." she teased.

"I don't understand." Damien said as he scratched his head. "I thought salt makes the food taste better."

"It does." Vanessa said with a nod.

"But too much makes it bad?" he asked and Vanessa nodded again.

"That's right."

"Perhaps I should just leave the cooking to you." Damien said with a sigh of defeat. Vanessa laughed lightly.

"If you hang in there you might just get the hang of it eventually."

"No. I think I may have found the first thing that I do not have the patience for.... Cooking."

"I'm starving." Kaylee said as she walked in. "Will that be ready soon?" Damien turned quickly and the smile that appeared on his face took Kaylee's breath away.

"You look refreshed." he said as he walked to her and wrapped her in a hug, pressing his lips against her soft hair.

Damien could tell that Kaylee was surprised by his show of affection but he had been paying attention to the other couples all day and he had realized that they always took the time to hug one another when they saw each other after being separated for any amount of time. He decided that this seemed like a good thing to do, especially since it gave him an excuse to touch her soft body and caress her silky hair.

"Have a seat, Kaylee. Damien helped me get the soup ready so if your heart stops instantly from the amount of salt... don't blame me." Vanessa said with a smile as she sat a bowl down on the table. Damien pulled out a chair and Kaylee sat down.

"I don't understand the 'salt' concept." he admitted as he sat down beside her.

"It's not too hard to learn." Kaylee said as she took a bite of the soup and fought to hide the grimace from her face as the salt seemed to lock her jaw. "I'm sure you'll get it eventually." she added while forcing a smile. Damien raised his brow and she knew he didn't believe that she liked the soup.

"For you, I will try." he said and Kaylee smiled as she forced yet another bit of soup down her throat.

888

"I should go." Damien said as he lay in Kaylee's bed later that night, holding her close against him. They had been laying like this for an hour, simply gazing at one another. Damien had memorized every single freckle and curve of her beautiful face and every single tiny fleck of gold in her brown eyes.

"No, don't." Kaylee said quickly as she snuggled up against him and buried her face against his chest. "Stay with me." Damien knew he could not deny her request. Lying here with her wrapped in his arms had to be the closest to heaven that any demon had ever been.

"Okay. I will stay." he said.

"Tomorrow will be a hard day. I'm not working." Damien could hear the sadness in her voice and he held her a little tighter as he kissed her hair.

"I hate to hear your pain. Why will tomorrow be hard?"

"It would have been my moms birthday if Vincent hadn't....." her voice broke and Damien rubbed her back gently.

"I will be here with you, my wolf."

"I don't know why I'm crying so much." Kaylee said as she sniffed and Damien felt her hot tears soak through his shirt. "I've never cried like this in front of anyone but you."

"You never have to hide what you are feeling from me." he replied.

"I just wish there was a way I could see them again." Kaylee said as she cried against him. "I never even got to say goodbye to them. One second they were here and we were all laughing and joking and then the next they were gone and Gwen lost her mommy and daddy."

"So did you." Damien reminded her gently.

"Yes but at least I'm a grown woman. I have thousands of memories to keep with me forever... Gwen won't even remember them. She won't remember the way mom would sing so gently at night when she tucked her in and she'll never hear dads stern voice saying 'you heard your mother', I wish she still had the chance to know them."

"It's late, Kaylee." Damien said as he glanced at the clock and saw that it was nearly midnight. "Get some rest and I'll be holding you while you dream."

Kaylee fell in love with Damien even more in that moment. She had known him twenty years and loved him nearly as long but when she heard his words of love and caring and felt his strong arms wrapped around her, she had never felt more safe or more loved and that made her love him even more. She sighed as she closed her eyes and snuggled up against him.

Damien held her for a long time and he heard her breathing become deeper and more even and knew she had drifted off to sleep. He hated to know that she was in pain. He thought about her parents and he knew he could fix her pain. He could give her parents back to her. But the risk to himself was great. Not only could he die while giving so much of himself to bring them back but if his father and brother found out they would send their minions out to get him and the torture would be worse than the last time.

His father and brother would not appreciate him using his powers to bring good souls back from the dead. That would go against everything they believed in.

Damien shook his head and kissed her hair. It was not worth the risk. He loved Kaylee and would do anything for her but surely her pain over the loss of her parents would fade over time. He would simply be here to catch her tears until then.