Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
MACKLIN
Indescribable awe spreads across Teague’s face when she places her hand in his.
I’ve seen the same reaction in others time and time again, but never for us.
For Teague and me, a thousand years rolled by without a glimpse of our mates.
I thought it a lost cause. But Teague always believed it would happen one day.
I get out of the car and pull out my phone to capture the moment, knowing Teague will want a copy later.
And so will Andros, although he’ll deny it.
I stare at the beautiful blond, standing there with a puzzled expression on her face.
She doesn’t understand what’s going on. But her gaze is locked on Teague as if she’s trying to memorize every detail of his face.
She did the same to me yesterday, but with me, her face was pale, like she’d seen a ghost. I wonder if I remind her of someone.
Her eyes widen when she sees me, and she pulls her hand from Teague’s.
A blush spreads across her cheeks, and I watch as she rubs her palm against her jeans as if she too felt something when they touched.
Good. He needs this. The wait has been too long.
A twinge of envy hits me, but I shove it down deep, not wanting to spoil this for him.
Her gaze flits between the two of us, and a little line appears between her brows. “Macklin, right? You two know each other?”
I chuckle. “Family of sorts. We met when we served together years ago.” Ages, actually. When gargoyle units still guarded the sacred places of the world and protected the townspeople from creatures they didn’t know existed.
“He was my commanding officer,” Teague adds, a twinkle in his eye. “But he couldn’t get rid of me. When he left the service, I followed him here.”
“Where are you from?” she asks, rubbing her hands up and down her arms.
“Ireland, originally, but we’ve been in Greystone a very long time,” Teague replies as he moves to block the wind.
I walk back to Teague’s car and grab the jacket he left in the backseat.
Not thinking, I wrap it around her. Notes of vanilla with a hint of coffee drift up, and my eyes briefly close as her scent teases me.
When I step back, I see Teague watching the two of us closely.
Damn. I didn’t think. Mates are possessive creatures.
I blow out a careful breath. At least it didn’t spark a rage.
Maybe because I didn’t actually touch her, only the jacket.
“Sorry, man, I didn’t think,” I tell him, holding my hands up and stepping back.
He opens his mouth, then to my surprise, he shrugs.
I narrow my eyes, but he turns to Charli and carefully reaches out to dry the tears on her cheeks.
She flinches, pulling her face away from his hand.
A slight frown tugs at his lips, but he doesn’t voice his concern.
His eyes meet mine, a hint of anger in their depths at the thought of what her flinching could mean, but he quickly banks it down deep.
“I thought you were going to call me when you got to town,” he gently reminds her.
She shrugs. “I wanted to check this place out first. Make sure I made the right decision. Plus, I needed to pick up some clothes and things.”
“Like a sleeping bag?” I ask, folding my arms across my chest. I hate the thought of her sleeping in that tiny car in the freezing cold last night. Judging by the expression on Teague’s face, he does too.
She lifts her chin. “Mine isn’t made for this kind of weather.”
Teague rakes a hand through his hair, his frustration apparent. “You won’t need the sleeping bag. If you had called, I would’ve told you the job includes an apartment.”
I lift an eyebrow. He only has access to one apartment. The one next door to us that we keep available for visiting Vale representatives. Guess I’ll have to find another place for them.
She lifts her chin. “For how much? I don’t want to spend a lot of money on a place when I’m only going to be here six months.”
There’s a hint of fear in her voice that makes Teague stiffen.
I raise an eyebrow. What is she afraid of?
Running out of money? Staying in one place?
And why did he only tell her it was for six months?
Too many damn questions. I glare at him.
We’re going to have a little chat after we get her settled.
“Since the trial period is only six months, the company is picking up the tab,” he assures her with a wave of his hand.
“And who knows, maybe you’ll want to stay longer.
” He flashes that broad smile of his that the ladies love, but it fades when he sees it doesn’t have the same effect on her.
“Why don’t we go check it out? Then I can give you the keys. ”
She presses her lips together but reluctantly nods.
“I’ll ride with you, and Macklin can follow us,” Teague suggests, but she immediately shakes her head. Perplexed, he looks at me, silently asking me what’s going on.
“Charli can follow us. That way, she’ll know how to get there on her own.”
Relief flits across her face, and she turns and smiles. “That sounds great.” Pivoting on her heel, she gets back into her car.
Teague stares after her with a confused expression on his face.
After we get in, I start the car and pull out of the parking lot. “My guess is she’s been living out of her car for a while.” A low growl slips out of his mouth, and I glance over to see a faint glow in his eyes. “How much do you know about her? What did the background check say?”
He stares straight ahead, tapping his fingers on his thigh. “Nothing. I haven’t had time to run one.”
“It’s not like you to overlook things,” I state with a frown.
“Is it the sale of the telematics company?” Running three companies requires a lot of juggling, but Teague’s always had things under control.
Or maybe he hasn’t, and I didn’t realize it.
Feeling guilty, I pull into the parking lot behind the apartment building.
“You know Andros can handle the sale. And I can jump in and help with the other two businesses. You don’t have to take on everything yourself. ”
Teague opens his mouth, but all he says is, “Let’s get Charli settled.”
He slides out of the car and walks over to where she’s standing.
She says something, and he bends down to listen.
For a second, she leans in close, but when he slides a hand to her back to guide her into the building, she twists away, leaving his hand in the air.
His hand flexes as if not touching her is torture, but he lowers it to his side.
Something is off. I watch the two of them for a minute. She’s fine as long as he doesn’t try to touch her, but the second his hand reaches out, she tenses or moves away. Why, though? Usually, mates crave each other’s touch unless…she doesn’t know she’s his mate.
We’ve seen it before, but usually in a human-supernatural pairing.
But Charli wouldn’t have been able to find her way to Greystone if she wasn’t a supe.
I sigh. Maybe she hasn’t had much contact with our world.
Or worse, maybe she isn’t aware of supernaturals.
With a frown, I follow them into the elevator.
Teague opens the door to the apartment and gestures for her to go first. I grab his arm. “Charli, I need to chat with Teague for a minute. Go ahead and look around.” I pull him farther down the hall. “Something’s not adding up. Every time you touch her, she stiffens.”
“You think she’s afraid of me?” he asks in a low, devastated tone.
“I’m not sure. Maybe she’s afraid of anyone touching her, or maybe it’s only men.
I also don’t think she knows what the connection means.
” When he gives me an incredulous look, I shrug.
“We’ve seen it before, especially from those who are human or raised human.
According to Victoria, Charli doesn’t believe witches are real.
I’m guessing she hasn’t had any exposure to supernaturals.
Regardless, she isn’t going anywhere. Back off. ”
He takes a deep breath. “The last thing I want to do is fuck this up.”
“Then give her room. Let her dictate the pace,” I suggest with a sympathetic smile. The mate bond is a force of nature, and Teague has little patience for anything.
He takes a deep breath and plasters an easygoing smile on his face, then strolls into the apartment. “So, what do you think?”
I follow him in and see her standing in the middle of the room, turning in a slow circle, her eyes flicking from one area to the next.
The apartment is large and full of light.
Given that it’s used by other Vale representatives, the furnishings are luxurious.
Professionally decorated in tones of camel and white with the occasional pop of green, it’s easy to tell this isn’t a standard apartment.
Add in the gourmet kitchen with the island, and it’s like a suite at a boutique hotel.
She bites her lip, then turns to us. “Once the snow hits, the pass will close, right? Nobody will be able to get in or out?” She nervously reaches out to smooth one of the green silk pillows on the plush camel colored sofa.
Surprised, I glance at Teague. I’m guessing he didn’t tell her there’s a helipad or that some, like him, don’t need a vehicle and can fly out or shift and take the mountain path.
“Correct,” he replies slowly, his brow furrowing. “Although we could always get a helicopter or plow the pass if we needed to. Why?”
Her eyes drift to me. “Is it still supposed to snow this weekend?”
“Elijah says it will,” I tell her, then realize she doesn’t know him. “He’s the uh…local weather expert. If he says it’s going to snow, it will. I don’t know if it will be enough to close the pass, though.”
Fear flashes across her expression, and I realize she’s afraid of someone finding her. In response, I pick up the phone and dial Elijah. When he answers, I ask him when he thinks we’ll get enough snow to close the pass.
Elijah’s silent for a moment. “Couple of feet this weekend. More next week. Why?”
“Thanks. Just making plans. I’ll get back to you,” I tell him, then hang up. “Within the week.”
Teague exchanges a loaded glance with me, and I nod. Maybe there’s something we can do to make sure the pass closes this weekend. Elijah’s an Elemental with an affinity for water, and I know he’d be happy to manipulate the weather and bring in more snow.
He moves to the window and motions her over. “See that building over there? The four-story glass one? That’s where we’ll be working. I thought having something close to the office would be helpful. As I said on the phone, I don’t always work regular hours.”
Her shoulders relax, and she takes a seat on the couch, her palm gliding across the smooth fabric. “The apartment is beautiful. Are you sure I don’t have to pay rent?”
“Considering we own the building, it isn’t necessary,” I inform her, not wanting it to come from Teague, who’s overflowing with emotion right now. “In fact, we live down the hall. So, if you need anything, you can knock on our door.”
I’m watching the emotions flit across her face and realize she’s relieved to know we’re close by.
That’s good. It means she’s not afraid of us.
But she’s definitely scared of someone. I see Teague turn away, hands tightly clenched at the thought of someone after her.
We need to know who it is sooner rather than later.
Because after waiting this long for his mate, there’s no way in hell we’re going to let anyone take her from him.
“Now, why don’t we help you unload your car and bring your stuff up?” Teague jumps in, his voice gruff with underlying anger.
She pastes on a bright smile that doesn’t reach her worried green eyes. “There’s not much in the car. Nothing heavy. I can get it.”
His chin lifts, and I see him grinding his teeth, but after one sharp look from me, he concedes.
Grabbing a pen and paper off the desk, he jots something down, then hands it to me.
“You have my number, but here’s Macklin’s too.
” He waits until she adds mine, then pulls out his phone.
“Do you mind if I send him your number?”
She shakes her head and a second later my phone pings with her contact info.
He hands her the keys to the apartment. “We’ll leave you to it. Tomorrow’s Friday. Why don’t you come into the office and get the paperwork started, so you can jump in first thing Monday? There’s a lot going on right now.”
She nods. “That sounds great. I’ll see you at eight?”
Without speaking, we leave and head straight down the hall. Four times the size of the apartment we just left, our place takes up the rest of this floor and the entire one above us. I move to the floor-to-ceiling windows to watch her unload the car. Teague stands beside me, cursing the entire time.
Thankfully, it doesn’t take her long. She really doesn’t have much, which breaks my heart. There’s something so fragile about her that I’m fighting the urge to step in and take care of everything. She’s Teague’s mate, I remind myself.
I walk over and pour a stiff tumbler of Irish whiskey, down it in one mouthful, then pour another for me and one for him.
“Now, tell me what the fuck is going on. Start from the beginning.”