Chapter 6 #2
I took her hand. “I told you my parents passed. I didn’t say how.
It was an avalanche. I lost them on the same day.
” Charlotte gasped, and I squeezed her fingers.
“I’m not telling you to make you feel bad.
I need you to understand why duty keeps me in Bear Cove.
My father was a leader here, and his position was important.
When he died, there was a question of who would take over.
The obvious choice was a man named Rex. He was ambitious and commanding. Everything a leader should be.”
Charlotte frowned. “But he wasn’t chosen?”
“He was.” Old anger surfaced, bringing memories with it. “He led Bear Cove for almost ten years.”
Charlotte waited, patience in her eyes.
“He wasn’t a good leader,” I said. “His commanding aura turned out to be a deep-seated need for control. He put his own interests ahead of the community, and he made decisions that hurt people.”
“What happened to him?”
“He was removed from power.” More memories rose, the truth of Rex’s demise seared in my mind.
Charlotte didn’t need to know I’d challenged him to a contest and ripped out his throat.
But it was the only way to stop him from kidnapping human women and testing their blood by force. Rex would have done worse.
“I took over,” I said. “I don’t just run the bed and breakfast. I run Bear Cove.”
Charlotte seemed to absorb this. “Like…a mayor?”
“It’s a lot more involved than being a mayor.
” An image of my brothers in full shift joined the memories swirling in my head.
Sixty full-grown bears with animalistic urges and temperaments had knelt to me the night I defeated Rex.
They’d pledged their obedience, their bowed heads settling deep, ancient magic around my shoulders like a cloak.
I kept my brothers in check. I kept them from violence.
Charlotte wanted a normal relationship with a man who could meet her for drinks and take her to a movie. She wanted a human, not a bear who shifted into a thousand-pound beast.
“I can’t leave,” I said, stroking my thumb over Charlotte’s knuckles. “No matter how much I might want to.”
For a moment, she didn’t move. Then she shrugged the quilt from her shoulders.
It slipped to her waist, revealing her upper body.
Her damp T-shirt clung to her breasts, and she wasn’t wearing a bra.
The swells were full and high, the centers crowned by taut nipples that tented the thin layer of cotton.
I jerked my gaze up. Charlotte’s lips were parted, hunger and determination shining in her brown eyes. Pink dusted her cheeks. Her scent lifted around us, tuberoses and feminine desire thick and lush in the air.
“We’re snowed in,” she said, her voice just above a whisper. “We can’t go anywhere right now, anyway.”
Blood pounded to my cock, which pressed hard against my zipper. My bear thrashed in its bonds.
Take.
Claim.
“Charlotte…” I rasped.
She moved closer, her knee pressing against my thigh. “I keep thinking about you. I can’t help it.”
The pounding in my cock became an ache, every beat of desire driving me to push her onto her back and take what she offered.
“I’m twice your age,” I said.
She lifted her chin. “I’m an adult. Stop acting like I don’t know my own mind.”
“It’s not that—”
“Then what?” She pressed a hand to my chest, her palm over my heart, which pounded like I’d sprinted up the mountainside. “Tell me you don’t want me.”
I did. God, I did. In my mind, my bear opened its jaws and roared.
“I want you,” I rasped, “but I can’t do this.”
“Yes, you can,” Charlotte said, leaning into me until our lips nearly brushed. “You can do this, Beck. Nothing is stopping you.”
“You’re here for research. Then you’ll go back to Colorado. And I can’t…” I squeezed my hand into a fist, willing my desire to fade. “I can’t be temporary, Charlotte. Not with you.”
Her hand on my chest trembled, and her eyes darkened with lust. “What if I wasn’t temporary?” She pressed her lips to mine, her mouth soft and sweet and so fucking perfect.
My willpower crumbled to dust. Groaning, I twisted and slid a hand into her hair, tugging her head back as I plunged my tongue between her lips.
She opened with a pleasure-laden gasp. Then she stroked her tongue against mine, meeting me with equal eagerness. The honey-and-roses scent of her arousal flooded my lungs. The heat of her pussy scalded my thigh.
In a blink, I had her on her back, one knee planted between her legs. I deepened our kiss as I ran a hand up her T-shirt and found a soft, pliant breast.
Charlotte moaned, winding her arms around my neck as she lifted her hips. She ground her pussy against my erection, then wrapped her legs around my hips.
A growl vibrated my throat. I broke off the kiss and moved down her jaw to her neck, sucking at her skin while she gasped beneath me.
She tossed her head as I nipped at her earlobe before kissing her neck.
My lips brushed the puncture wounds. My beast’s fury punched through me like wildfire. Deep in my chest, bone shifted.
I reared back, stumbling away from the bed. My chest heaved, and I shook my head hard as I struggled to contain my beast. I was on the verge of shifting.
“Beck?” Charlotte sat up, her forehead furrowed and her lips swollen from my kiss. The edge of her T-shirt caught on one perfect, pink nipple before dropping to her waistband. Desire glazed her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Go to bed,” I ordered, my voice emerging harder than I’d intended.
Her frown deepened. She scrambled to her feet, then reached for me. “What’s—?”
“No!” I slashed a hand through the air as I put more distance between us. “For once, do as you’re told.”
Her angry gasp followed me as I swung and went to the door. I left before I could apologize—or yank her back into my arms and finish what we’d started.
I didn’t stop until I was in my bedroom with the door locked behind me. I sat on the edge of my bed and put my head in my hands, my elbows braced on my knees. The blizzard raged outside.
My bear snarled in my mind, furious that I’d walked away from our mate.
Because I didn’t need that blood test. Charlotte was mine. It had been obvious from the moment we met. But I couldn’t dismiss the marks on her neck. Or her sudden headache or the fact that she’d walked into a snowstorm like someone compelled her to do it.
Her advisor had given her “insomnia” pills.
She was an orphan with no family. Was she also a vampire’s bait?
But what could an ancient vampire possibly want with Bear Cove?
My brothers and I were no match for the might and power of the vampires.
Three or four ancients working together could annihilate us.
Our population dwindled more every year.
The rest of the supernatural community left us alone because we simply weren’t a threat.
We had nothing they wanted or needed. So why send Charlotte to Bear Cove?
I had to know. And once I knew the truth, I could figure out what to do next.
But I needed to know something else first.
Rising, I went to my nightstand and grabbed my phone. Everett answered on the first ring.
“Alpha. What do you need?”
I raised my eyebrows. “You’re up late.” I glanced at the window. “Or early, I guess.”
Everett’s tone was mild. “I have an eight month old.”
“I want you to test Charlotte’s blood.” I paused. “If you have any suggestions for getting a sample, I’m all ears.”
Everett was quiet for a beat. “Blood is always best, but I can collect DNA from other sources.”
“Like what?”
“Fingerprints. A cheek swab. Hair as long as the root is attached.”
My mind flashed to Charlotte’s bathroom. “I can get you hair.” I thought of the dishwasher, which held a coffee mug she’d used. “And fingerprints.”
“Then I can get you those test results by dawn.”