Chapter 14
Chapter
Fourteen
BECK
Over the next three days, I gave Charlotte space. My bear urged me to make her mine once and for all. The human half of my brain counseled patience.
So I leashed my beast and let her explore my home. She spent hours in Everett’s lab, listening intently as he explained his experiments. She filled pages of a field journal with observations even though she knew she could never publish them.
She went into town and met other clan members.
Dmitri invited her back to his porch for tea, which he spiked with vodka that made the pair of them giggle as they watched Dmitri’s favorite episodes of Love Island.
She met Viktor, the bear who ran the town’s general store and moonlighted as a blackjack dealer whenever the clan gathered.
Nikolai showed her the town’s new rope bridge.
Ilya taught her how to drive a snowmobile.
On the third day, Margot arrived.
I watched from the bed and breakfast’s kitchen window as Cal introduced Charlotte to the princess of the Sutton Werewolf Pack.
Margot was tall and leanly muscled like all werewolves, but her deep blue eyes always held a smile.
Within minutes, she and Charlotte fell into an animated conversation while Cal looked on with a bemused smile on his face.
My bear rumbled with satisfaction. Our mate was being welcomed. Accepted.
But I still didn’t know if she’d stay.
At night, Charlotte came to my bed.
We didn’t talk about the future during those nights.
I couldn’t bring myself to ask the question that burned in my chest. Instead, I made love to her slowly, reverently, trying to memorize every sound she made.
Every place that made her gasp. The way her breath hitched when I kissed the sensitive spot behind her ear.
How her back arched when I sucked her nipples.
The broken little cries she made when I brought her to climax with my mouth.
I traced every freckle on her skin. Learned the exact pressure that made her moan. Cataloged the way her eyes went hazy with pleasure when I slid inside her.
If she left, I wanted to remember everything.
The thought kept me awake long after she fell asleep in my arms, her red hair spilling across my chest. I stared at the ceiling, inwardly soothing my beast when it pushed me to wake her and promise her anything—everything—if she’d agree to be ours.
Mine.
But Charlotte had to choose freely. Dmitri’s failed marriage was a cautionary tale, and his wasn’t the only relationship in Bear Cove that had crumbled under the pressure of shifter biology.
There were different kinds of compatibility.
Just because Charlotte could bear my cubs didn’t mean she’d be content to live her entire life in a town without a single stoplight.
On the afternoon of the third day, my phone buzzed with a text from Everett.
Finally isolated the ingredients in those insomnia pills. You need to see this
I left Charlotte at her laptop in her bedroom and drove to Everett’s house. Skyler met me at the door with a sober expression.
“He’s in his office,” she said. “Beck, whatever is in those pills has really shaken him up.”
My stomach clenched.
I found Everett at his desk, his laptop open and two of Charlotte’s pills on a metal tray next to his elbow. The look on his face made me freeze in the doorway.
“Beck…” he rasped.
“Show me,” I said, crossing the room.
He turned his laptop toward me. Charts and chemical breakdowns filled the screen, the data like a foreign language. But one word jumped out.
Blood.
“Trace amounts,” Everett said. “And whoever synthesized those pills knew what they were doing. The chemical compounds are complex, the blood masked in a way that makes it almost impossible to detect. If I hadn’t been specifically looking for it, I never would have found it.”
My hands clenched into fists. “Vampires?”
He hesitated. “In medicine, we almost never call anything certain. But I’m as convinced as I can be that Rupert Henry is a master vampire.
The cellular structure in this blood doesn’t match anything in a human’s veins.
” Everett met my gaze. “And there’s something else.
These pills are designed to cross the blood-brain barrier.
Whatever’s in them is meant to affect Charlotte neurologically. ”
“To control her?”
“Or make her destroy herself if her connection to Henry is discovered.”
A tight fist squeezed my heart. “It’s what I feared,” I said.
Everett looked at the pills. “This kind of science doesn’t come easy or cheap. If Henry has known Charlotte since she was fourteen, he’s invested. It doesn’t make sense that he’d send her to Bear Cove just to order her to commit suicide. She’s here for a reason.”
My bear paced, fury building. I soothed the beast, and I spoke more to myself than Everett as I asked, “What could we have that Henry wants?”
“I don’t know,” Everett said, “but we have to be careful. If the pills give him a psychic link to Charlotte, he could activate her at any time. And if he’s as old and powerful as we suspect, he has a stable of prey who serve him.”
“Or alliances with other vampires,” I said. “They don’t share hunting grounds, but they’ve been known to cooperate when it benefits them.”
Everett’s face was grim. “Either way, we’re screwed. Killing him could trigger retaliation from his stable or other vampires. It would be a declaration of war.”
My beast’s anger leaked into my voice. “He’s been poisoning Charlotte for years.”
“We can’t tell her,” Everett said. “Not until we know more about the strength of his connection to her mind.”
I wanted to argue. To insist she deserved to know. But Everett was right. If Henry could access her thoughts, telling her could sign her death warrant.
“We need to figure this out,” I said. “The vampires aren’t known for being passive, especially when they want something. The longer this goes on, the more vulnerable we become. We might not have to worry about starting a war. Henry might bring one to us.”
Everett paled, probably thinking of Skyler and Wyatt. “What do we do?”
“I’ll think of something,” I said, hoping I sounded more confident than I felt.
“Margot Sutton’s father is one of the most powerful alphas in the country.
He’s also a good friend. I’m going to give him a call and see what he and his allies can dig up about Rupert Henry. In the meantime, alert the clan.”
“You got it, Alpha.”
I drove back to the bed and breakfast with anxiety roiling my gut. In the space of an hour, my primary concern had gone from convincing Charlotte to stay to figuring out how to keep her and the rest of the clan alive. But as I’d predicted, my time had run out.
As I entered the bed and breakfast, Charlotte’s voice drifted down the stairs.
“…just surprised to hear from you.”
I stopped, one hand on the banister, my ears pricked for the other side of the conversation.
“Are you?” a man’s smooth voice replied. “I’ve been trying to reach you for days.”
Every muscle in my body went rigid. To a human, Dr. Henry probably sounded like any other middle-aged American man. But my sensitive hearing picked up the cultured, subtly Old World intonation in his tone. Whoever he really was, Dr. Henry wasn’t from Colorado. Not even close.
The floorboards creaked overhead as Charlotte moved across her room. “I’m sorry, Dr. Henry. Service is spotty here.”
“Your preliminary data triggered some alerts,” Henry said. “But then your uploads stopped. Are you still taking readings?”
A pause. “Yes, of course,” Charlotte said, the lie obvious in her voice. The anxiety I’d carried since I received Everett’s text ratcheted up several notches.
“And your medication?” Henry asked. “You’ve been taking it regularly?”
In my mind, my bear showed its fangs. Blood rushed in my ears, and I gripped the banister to keep from pounding up the stairs to Charlotte. If I could hear both sides of the conversation, Henry could undoubtedly hear everything happening in the bed and breakfast.
Charlotte’s bedframe squeaked, and I pictured her perched on the edge of the mattress, her fingers tight on her phone.
“I stopped taking them a few days ago,” she said. “I’ve been sleeping better, and I thought—”
“That medication is essential for you to maintain your focus,” Henry said. “You know how you get without it.”
“Yes, but—”
“It’s also dangerous to stop taking it without warning.” Henry’s voice went low and silky. “We need to discuss this in person.”
No, my bear raged, tugging at its bond. I swallowed the growl that tried to burst from my throat.
“I’m coming to Alaska,” Henry continued, the words sliding down the stairs like thick poison that stained every tread. “I’ll book the next available flight into Anchorage.”
There was a heavy pause, then Charlotte’s voice came slow and soft, as if she struggled to push out each word. “That…sounds good.”
“I’ll text you my flight details,” Henry said. “You’ll pick me up when I arrive.”
“Yes,” Charlotte said, dragging out the word.
Henry ended the call.
I flew up the stairs and rushed into Charlotte’s room. She sat on the edge of her bed, the insomnia medication in one hand and her phone in the other.
“Charlotte!” I barked, reaching her side in one stride.
She blinked, then shook her head like she meant to clear it. Her brow furrowed as she stared up at me. “Beck?”
“Yeah,” I rasped, going to one knee beside her. “I’m here, sweetheart.”
For a moment, confusion reigned in her eyes. Then she blinked again, and the expression cleared. “I just spoke to Dr. Henry.” She drew a deep breath. “He says he’s coming to Anchorage, but I promise I didn’t ask him to—”
“I know,” I said, gripping her thigh. I kept my hold gentle as I searched her face. Did she know she’d been manipulated? Was Henry in her head even now?
Worry covered her features. “He didn’t say anything about coming to Bear Cove. Maybe I can convince him to stay in Anchorage.”
“It’ll be okay,” I said because I didn’t dare say anything else.
She gave me a doubtful look. “You’re not upset?”
“I could never get upset with you.”
That earned me a smile. “I’m not sure I believe that.”
“It’s true,” I said.
Her phone dinged. She looked at the screen, and some of the color in her cheeks faded. “He’s arriving tomorrow evening. His flight lands at 6 p.m.”
I bit back the urge to say we wouldn’t meet him.
That I’d put her on the first plane out of Alaska in the opposite direction.
But my conversation with Everett lingered in my mind.
Henry wanted something from Bear Cove, and he was going to a lot of trouble to get it.
If I told Charlotte she was being manipulated by a master vampire, Henry might order her to take her own life.
“Luckily I still have my rental car” she said, setting the phone aside. “I’ll pick him up.”
“I’ll take you.”
She hesitated. “You will?”
There was no way in hell I was letting Charlotte anywhere near a master vampire alone. But I forced what I hoped was a teasing smile. “I’ll have to check my schedule, but I think I’m pretty open.”
She smiled, the expression sweet and grateful. “Thanks. I was kind of hoping you’d offer.”
God, she was gorgeous. And I would rip Henry limb from limb before I let the vampire hurt her. Reaching up, I nudged her glasses higher on her nose.
“It’s my pleasure, sweetheart.”
Pink tinged her cheekbones. She shifted on the bed, and the pill bottle rattled in her hand.
My desire died a swift death as I looked at it. “Don’t take that medication anymore.”
She followed my gaze. “But… Dr. Henry said—”
“You’ve been sleeping fine without them, right?” Summoning lightheartedness I didn’t feel, I slid my hand higher on her thigh. “Except for a few heated interruptions.”
Now, her face flamed. She bit her lip, her white teeth pressing into plump pink. “That’s true.”
Rising, I took the bottle from her and put it on the nightstand. Then I went back to the bed and tugged her to her feet. My heart hammered against my ribs as I cupped her cheek.
“Do you want to be with me?” I asked. “Here, in Bear Cove?”
“Yes,” she said at once. “Absolutely, I do.”
My heart soared even as worry tightened my chest. Because wanting to be with me and actually staying were two different things. And tomorrow, Henry would arrive.
“You have to be absolutely certain,” I said. “If you need more time—”
“I don’t.” She stepped into me and placed her hands on my chest, and something vulnerable and intense flashed in her eyes. “I don’t need more time, Beck. I just need to know this is real.”
For a second, I could only stare at her, waiting for her to clarify. Because I’d clearly misheard. She couldn’t possibly doubt my love…
But she’d lost her parents young. Then she’d been raised in a home that didn’t truly have space for her. She’d been more or less on her own since she was fourteen.
For all her intelligence and resilience, Charlotte had never really had a place of her own. Now, she needed to know the place I offered was truly hers.
I pulled her against me. “It’s real,” I rasped, kissing her forehead. “I swear it. And I’m not going anywhere. You’re mine, and I’m yours. That will never change, ever.”
She rose on tiptoe and kissed me, her tongue hot and sweet against mine.
Her scent thickened, and I groaned as I poured all my hope and desperation into my kiss.
I had to keep her safe. I had to break Henry’s hold and make sure the vampire met the sun.
And then I had to claim Charlotte Mills and never let her forget she was mine.
When I finally broke off the kiss, I was hard and aching. I tucked her against me and pressed my lips to the top of her head, inhaling tuberoses and the essence that was hers alone.
“I love you, Charlotte,” I said.
She eased back, tears swimming in her eyes. “I love you, too.”
It was enough. It had to be. Because I’d be damned if I let anyone, vampire or otherwise, take her from me.