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Chapter 14

The Heat

LENNOX

A rriving at Charlie’s apartment building for our date, I take the stairs two at a time until I’m outside Charlie’s door.

What should I tell Charlie about Edie? Everything? Just the necessary parts? Will she condemn me for my part in Edie’s grief? Surely she’ll understand it was a different time.

I’m so distracted by my thoughts, I knock on her door before I realize something is terribly wrong. My sensitive hearing should have picked up on it.

I back away, preparing to flee, but the door is opened before I can run and I’m faced with half a dozen people of various ages piling into the doorway. Looking past them, I see about fifteen more.

Charlie’s family. All of them.

“You must be Lennox.” Male. Hard stare. Arms crossed. Lips in the signature Lopez line. Her father.

“Uh, yes.” I clear my throat and offer my hand to the man, telling myself the adrenalin rushing through my veins is anticipation, not fear. What would a shifter with a gun have to fear from a relatively small human? “You must be Alfredo Lopez.”

“I am.” He squeezes my hand, but instead of letting go, turns me to face the tribunal lining up in the living room. Gesturing to a woman a few decades older than Charlie but clearly related, he says, “This is Charlie’s mother, Annalisa.” He releases my hand so I can shake his wife’s, but continues to stand close to me, pointing out everyone in the room. “You’ve met Maria and the kids. That’s her husband, Chris. This is my son, Jorje, and his girlfriend Catalina. Then there’s my other son, Felix, and his partner, Hutton; their children Dallas and Alex are in Luke’s room; next to Felix is my youngest daughter, Ariana, who’s in her third year at Yale.” His chest puffs with pride and Ariana beams. “Then we have Charlie’s grandparents on my side, Jorje Senior and Patrice. This is Anna’s father, Luis.”

Luis’s handshake is strong, his expression unsmiling as he says, “Anna’s mother couldn’t make it. She’s on vacation in Florida.”

“With her yoga instructor, Benny from Queens,” Ariana whispers and Maria giggles before hushing her.

Thinking the introductions are over, I’m about to make an awkward attempt at small talk when I’m shoved toward the kitchen where there’s another four adults and a baby. “This is Anna’s sister, Lynn, her husband, Kevin, their daughter and my niece, Evie, her husband David, and their baby, Ingrid.”

Overwhelmed, I say a general ‘hi’ to no one in particular as Lynn grabs hold of my face, forcing me to bend toward her. She gets so close I think she’s about to kiss me, but instead she squints. “He’s cute,” she declares, letting me go.

“Ma, leave him alone.” Evie grins at me. “Sorry about all this. The Lopez clan isn’t known for subtlety.”

“You’re not even a Lopez,” her mother points out. “That’s why we were shoved into the kitchen. So the real Lopezes could get first crack at Charlie’s new man.”

“You bee-lined for the fridge when we got here, Lynn,” Kevin teases her, squeezing her waist. “We were invited to meet him, same as everyone else. If you want me to take your maiden name, just say so. I never wanted to be a Finkelstein anyway.”

“It’s better than Finkelstein-Funk,” Evie gripes, lifting Ingrid from her highchair and bouncing her on a hip.

“Maybe we should all take your mother’s maiden name,” her husband jokes.

I’m starting to feel like a zoo animal at a very popular exhibit when Charlie’s musical voice calls out to me. “Lennox, are you in here somewhere?” Like a flotation device being tossed to a drowning man, I desperately search her out.

Moving toward her voice, I try to gently maneuver past her family without committing the grave error of accidentally pushing one of them to the floor with my bulk. I’m about a foot taller than nearly everyone in the place except Kevin who looks to be about an inch above six feet.

“I’m here.”

She pushes between her two sisters, not bothering to be as polite. “You made it.” She’s so beautiful, I’m frozen in place despite being bumped by the jostling bodies all around us. A few phone cameras are whipped out to document the moment.

Charlie is wearing a long-sleeved thigh-length black dress that hugs every mouthwatering curve. The scooped boatneck collar gives glimpses of a pendant nestled against her cleavage. I’ve never seen her wear makeup like she is now, but her eyes look larger, more almond shaped, and her lips are a deep shade of brown.

She scoops up her purse from the coffee table and shouts at the group, “Thanks for babysitting!” Then she shoves me toward the door.

A chorus of disappointed voices rises around us.

“You can’t just leave!” Ariana whines.

“We didn’t get to threaten him yet,” Felix points out.

“Should we really be threatening a shifter police officer?” his husband asks in return.

“We didn’t get to see him shift!” One of the children screeches, sending a shot of dread through me. It was one thing to do it for a gaggle of children, but adults can be jumpier around what they perceive as supernatural.

“Absolutely not happening,” Charlie snaps, using my body as a ram as she pushes me to the door of the apartment. I take a breath of relief when I’m pushed into the hall. Before closing the door behind us, Charlie yells, “Bedtime is 8:30, cookies are in the Tupperware on the counter, and no scary movies. I want everyone out by bedtime except Ariana.” She slams the door on them, grabs my hand and rushes for the stairs. “C’mon, let’s get out of here before they realize they can follow us.”

We run down the stairs laughing, me finding the humour in the situation now that the shock has worn off.

“I can’t believe the whole lot of them showed up,” she says, shaking her head, but her words are affectionate and I can tell she expected it. “Maria has a big mouth.”

“They want what’s best for you.”

“Yeah, but do they have to do it every single time?” I reach around her to open the door of her building and she walks through ahead of me, her sweet scent touching my nostrils, awaking my wolf.

I have to resist the urge to demand she tell me how many times this has happened. How many dates have warranted the family inquisition?

Oblivious of my jealousy, she laughs, “It feels like my very first date.”

“It is my first date,” I say without thinking and she stops so suddenly, I nearly bowl her over.

She turns to face me. “What did you say?”

“Uh, this is my first date.” I didn’t think it was a big deal, but her brain is lighting up with so many thoughts it’s a struggle to catch any one of them.

How does someone who looks like him…? It’s not possible a 700-hundred-year-old man… Has he been living under a rock? What is wrong with the women of…? Seriously, no relationships in…?

I try to shake her thoughts from my head so I can hear what she’s actually saying.

“I’m really the first?”

“Yes,” I confirm starting to think she hates the idea of being my first date.

“I can’t believe it.”

“I’m sorry.” I don’t know what else to say and now there’s silence in her head, as though she doesn’t have a single thought, which is impossible. Unless we’re asleep, we’re always thinking, whether we like it or not. Have I really stunned her this much?

“Don’t be sorry,” she says. “It’s… it’s just so unbelievable.” I wince and she’s quick to assure me. “I think it’s sexy that you’ve been holding out for so long.”

Sure, sexy.

Not wanting to sound like I’m completely new to this, I say, “I’ve had sex before.” Judging by the crushed look on her face, I’m guessing that wasn’t the right thing to say. Maybe if I’d practiced dating, I wouldn’t be so bad at this. “Only a few times.”

“Um, no offence, Lennox, but I don’t want to hear about your past conquests any more than you want to hear about mine.”

Before she has time to blink, I grip her arms and lift her off the sidewalk. Aware of her discomfort, I push her back against a tree and use my body to hold her up.

“We need to end this line of conversation, sweetheart. You do things to me that makes the wolf inside me unpredictable and I don’t know if I can leash him.”

She licks her lips and her voice is breathy when she says, “What specifically shouldn’t I talk about?” She loops her arms around my neck and lifts her knees to my hips. “You don’t want me talking about the men I’ve fucked?”

A growl erupts from my throat and I take her lips in a punishing kiss. I’m shouting at my wolf to go easy, not to bite her, but he’s in a frenzy, trying to imprint us all over our mate, trying to show her how much she belongs to us and only us.

I don’t ease up until a shout catches my attention. Breaking the kiss, I swing my head around, glaring up at the sound. Charlie’s family has piled onto her fire escape to watch me maul her. This date is not going how I imagined.

Charlie laughs and pushes my chest, hopping out of my arms when I move her away from the tree. She waves at her family, who are whistling and catcalling, grips my arm and drags me further down the sidewalk.

We catch an Uber around the corner from her apartment and make our way to the restaurant. As we drive, she asks, “Where are you taking me?”

“It’s a surprise,” I tell her.

She raises an eyebrow. “As you’re a true blue prince, I imagine you can probably get us into any place in the city with a single phone call. Am I right?”

I shrug, she’s not wrong. “Only if I pull the prince card, which I don’t do often.”

She laughs as we pull up to the restaurant. “Ah, the prince card. If we get married, do you think I’ll get a princess card?”

I’m left speechless as she shoves the door open and climbs out onto the sidewalk.

“Where are we?” she asks, shading her eyes against the glare of the sun. “Is this Hell’s Kitchen?”

From her tone, I’m guessing she doesn’t come to this part of the island often. “Hell’s Kitchen has the best Greek food this city has to offer,” I say, opening the door to the tiny restaurant for her.

She looks curiously around at the brightly coloured menu posters and walls painted with images of the Mediterranean. “Most of the tables are full,” she muses, nodding her approval. “A good sign for any food joint.”

She doesn’t mind that I brought her here, to a small unknown place rather than an upscale restaurant with a waitlist a mile long. I didn’t realize I was holding my breath, waiting for her judgement, until I release it.

Picking up on my thoughts, she says, “Of course, I don’t mind. I’m cool, Lennox, and I love trying new things.”

Before I can respond, a voice rings out, commanding the attention of everyone in the restaurant. “Is this my Prince Lennox Wolven-North come to grace my illustrious establishment? What’s the big idea?” A tall, wiry woman with grey-streaked black hair piled in a messy bun on top of her head rushes toward us, her hands outstretched. Charlie is gently pushed aside as Sophia Gataki grips my face before forcing me to bend over for a kiss on each cheek. “You promise to come, but you never come. It is beastly of you. What would my dear departed propappoús say? Ay, I don’t even know what to do with you. Come, come, you are lucky that your special table is available this evening.” Clucking her tongue, she adds, “You should have called ahead, Lennox.”

Charlie elbows me. “See, you should’ve used the prince card.”

Sophia pulls me past gawking patrons toward the back of the narrow restaurant. Charlie follows, her tinkling laughter telling me she’s enjoying the spectacle. We stop at a small two-person table tucked into the corner next to the kitchen.

Sophia turns to inspect Charlie, her faded gaze taking in the dress, the shoes, the blue hair. Charlie’s laughter dies and some of the fear only Sophia Gataki can instill in a person starts to rise in her gaze, but Sophia’s thin lips split into a smile. “Finally, he brings us a woman to inspect.” She turns toward the kitchen, shouting, “Andrea! Get out here! The prince has brought us a potential princess.”

“Oh shit.” Charlie takes a step back, as though preparing to flee, but I stop her with a hand at her elbow.

A large Greek man lumbers toward us from the kitchen, towering over Charlie as he takes her hand, kissing it. “A true pleasure it is to finally meet one of the Prince’s friends!”

Charlie relaxes, smiles and accepts as Andrea pulls a chair out for her. Andrea fishes a lighter from his apron pocket and lights the candle in the center of the table. “Sit, sit, Prince, and I will make something special for you both.” He winks before heading back into the kitchen, the door swinging behind him.

Charlie is smiling as she watches Sophia and Andrea go back to work. “You’ve known them a long time?”

“I’ve known seven generations of the Gataki family. We met in the 1920’s and they captured my heart with their incredible dishes. Lamb, beef, chicken, it’s all unparalleled. Much in New York has changed in the past century, but not this place and not the food.”

Sophia pours ice water into the glasses in front of us and Charlie thanks her, picking up her glass and sipping. I watch each expression as it flits across her face, searching for meaning in the tiniest of shifts. I can feel her delight in my choice of restaurant and I expect her to say as much when her gaze finally meets mine. But she surprises me with a different topic entirely. “How much money do you make, Lennox? My parents will want to know.”

Even if we weren’t mates, I think Charlie would be it for me. She’s honest, fun, funny, and unexpected in every way.

Again, my unused muscles stretch as I grin at her. “My detective salary doesn’t even cover the rent in my studio apartment.”

“I was wondering how you managed to have such a sweet place on 57 th . I assumed it was rent controlled.”

“Nope, it’s income from Wolf-Haven. My dues for being a prince.”

“That’s not very democratic. You get money just for being a prince?”

“There are duties associated with it,” I say, somewhat more defensively than I intended.

“What duties?” Charlie asks, her eyes glowing with pleasure as Sophia places a basket of warm bread rolls with a plate of balsamic vinegar and olive oil for dipping.

“My main job is to liaise with the humans since I have the most experience of anyone in the royal family.”

“What does liaising with the humans look like? Police work?” Her nimble fingers tear pieces of bread that she dips in the oil and vinegar before popping into her mouth, her eyes closing in pleasure at each bite.

I’m happy that she wants to get to know her mate better, but I’m not used to having to answer so many questions about myself. This interrogation is high stakes. What I say to her matters, could make or break our future. I’m sweating bullets.

“Yes, police work, but there’s more to it than that. I’m frequently asked to speak at world events, general assemblies, the UN. The wolf shifters seek a lasting peace with the humans and other beings that inhabit our planet and I act as a sort of spokesperson for our kind.”

Her eyes are large and luminous as she watches me, pride in her gaze. “I think you just moved out of my league.”

I take her hand where it rests on the table. “There are no leagues between us, Charlie. Just you and me.”

She sucks in a breath. “How is it that you’ve never been on a date before, yet you always know the most romantic thing to say in any given moment?”

I remember back to last night, when we were alone in her room and I mentioned her dead husband. Yeah, not always so smooth.

The moment is broken when Sophia arrives with glasses of traditional ouzo and another basket filled with steaming calamari and a bowl of tzatziki.

Charlie sighs after her first bite of tzatziki smothered squid, her gaze joyful with culinary contentment, which is how she catches me completely off guard when she asks, “Did you and Edie have a sexual relationship?”

It’s like an invisible force punches me in the gut and it takes a moment before I can formulate an answer. I should have read her mind, but I was trying to be respectful of her autonomy while on our date. And now she can read my mind too, if inadvertently, so I can’t lie.

“Yes, I’ve had sex with Edie.”