Page 16

Chapter 15

5-0

LENNOX

“ W e first partnered here in New York when I was hired by Allan Pinkerton to track down a rogue wolf shifter who was killing humans.”

Charlie gasps as she recognizes the Pinkerton name.

“Our target was Edie’s mate. When we found him, he refused to surrender and I was forced to kill him. Edie ran off and our paths didn’t cross again for 20 years. Not until I was back in New York, investigating a series of shifter disappearances.”

“I can’t get over the breadth of your experience.” Charlie’s eyes are uncertain as they lift to meet mine. “It makes me feel a little out of my element.”

I shouldn’t be telling her this much about myself, should maybe just stick to the facts so I don’t freak her out about my age.

“No, don’t do that,” she murmurs in response to my thought. “I want to know everything about you, even the things that freak me out. I’ll get over it. Tell me your story and don’t leave out any details.”

She’s the most resilient human I’ve met in my long life, though after meeting her family, I suspect it is not an uncommon trait among the Lopez clan.

“When I returned, Edie was still based in Manhattan, though she was no longer working for the Pinkerton agency. She was a Private Detective investigating the disappearances for a wealthy client. Edie had information I needed.”

“It must’ve been hard for her coming face-to-face with you again,” Charlie says sympathetically, sipping her ouzo as Sophia whisks away our appetizer plates.

“She was angry,” I agree. “Seeing me was a shock for her. She believed we had an unspoken agreement to stay on separate continents, though I didn’t know, of course. At first, she refused to see me, refused to share information, but as our investigations continued to cross paths, she was forced to see the sense in working together.”

Charlie frowns. “That seems odd for a woman who hated you enough to want you on a different continent.”

“I didn’t question her change of heart.”

“Go on.” Charlie moves her glass out of the way as Sophia sets several plates on the table. My mouth waters at dishes piled high with rice pilaf, beef stifado, lamb souvlaki, chickpeas and vegetables, goat yiouvetsi, and a spanakopita. Andrea has truly outdone himself for the occasion and I ask Sophia to thank him.

Turning my focus back to the conversation as Charlie tucks into the food, I continue, “It took us a few months to discover an underground sweat shop using kidnapped shifters as slave labour. They chose smaller shifters, ones that were less able to defend themselves. They used shifters because we heal faster and can survive longer without food.”

“That’s horrible!” Charlie exclaims, her face twisting in disgust. “I hope you arrested the whole lot of them. What happened after the investigation was finished?”

I shrug, not wanting to discuss the rest, but knowing it’s best if I tell her everything. “I was walking Edie home one evening and she invited me in for a drink. I don’t normally socialize outside of work, but….”

“But you felt guilty for killing her mate.”

I nod at Charlie’s accurate assessment. “We had a few drinks, talked about what it was like to work among the humans. Then she kissed me. I tried to stop her, but she started crying. Told me she was lonely. That she’d been lonely for a long time. I felt the same. It can be difficult to live a long life and have little contact with other people.”

Charlie’s compassion reaches me across the table even before her hand finds mine, squeezing. “You comforted each other.”

I nod. “I knew it was a mistake right away. I could feel her loathing for me. Could feel the anger simmering below the surface. She knew it was a mistake too. Kicked me out after, screamed at me to never touch her again.”

“Wow,” Charlie says, biting into a piece of the spanakopita. “That whole scenario is kind of fucked up.”

“We’ve managed to maintain an amicable working relationship with each other since.” I pause, thinking about her behaviour earlier today. “She’s never been anything less than professional.”

Charlie shakes her head. “I don’t think you’re right about her being amicable toward you. Since I first met her, I sensed a simmering rage beneath the cool exterior she presents. I don’t think she’s forgiven you for killing her mate.” Charlie’s gaze meets mine. “I know I wouldn’t.”

“You wouldn’t forgive me?” I try to read her thoughts, but they’re murky.

Part of her is obsessing over me and Edie having sex. She takes a hasty gulp of her ouzo to erase the image from her head. The other part sympathizes with both of us. She thinks, given our history, that I’m an idiot for touching Edie, and I can’t disagree.

“Wolf shifters mate for life, right?” At my nod, she continues, “Why would she forgive you? She’s immortal. She’s facing the rest of her life alone, without another chance at love. It must drive her insane.”

I’d never thought of it that way before. Never thought of things from Edie’s perspective. “Do you think she’s sabotaging our investigation because she hates me?”

“I don’t know.” Charlie wipes her mouth and drops her napkin on the table. “What I do know is I’m ready to stop talking about Edie.”

We’re invited into the kitchen to pay tribute to our chef and his assistants, which we do profusely.

“You will come back sooner next time, both you and your lovely companion,” Sophia demands, ushering us to the door after I pay, leaving a hefty tip for the service. “Not so long between visits, Prince, or we will believe you have forgotten us entirely.”

“Rest assured, I shall never forget you.” I kiss Sophia’s cheek and usher Charlie outside into the cooling New York evening, the sun having dropped below the buildings around us.

We didn’t resolve Edie’s part in whatever happened to Catherine Grant, but it’s time to let it go. Edie has no place in my feelings for Charlie.

Turning to her, I say, “You were a firebug. You like taking risks, yeah?”

She frowns. “Well yeah, sometimes, but I have a kid to think about now.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to his mother.”

She cocks her head, looking at me suspiciously. “What are you thinking?”

I take her hand, forcing her to keep up with me. “C’mon. I know a place.”

We walk a few blocks, then I urge Charlie into an alley. When I spot a dumpster, I pull her toward it.

“What are we doing?” she asks skeptically. When I turn to her, my hands going to my shirt, she backs away, saying, “We’re not fucking in a dirty alley, Lennox. Blood poisoning is not the kind of risk-taking I’m into.”

“We’re not going to fuck,” I tell her, undoing the row of buttons on my shirt. I almost laugh when a streak of disappointment races through her brain. Reaching for my belt, I say, “I’m taking you for a run.”

“Naked?” Her brows lower in confusion.

“Shifted.”

Her eyes light up with pleasure. “Really?” She looks over her shoulder at the people passing on the street nearby. “Won’t they see?”

I remove the rest of my clothes and Charlie averts her eyes, though not before taking a quick peek. “People see what they want to see, especially the ones living in this city. They have their own lives and are often too preoccupied to see a wolf shifter leaping from building to building. Even if they do see us, there are no laws against shifters running free in the city. Most shifters don’t because they prefer to blend in.”

“Not you, though.”

I take a step back, giving myself more room to shift. I’m a big human and an even bigger wolf. Wouldn’t want to knock her over. “When I’m in my wolf form, you climb on my back and hold on as tight as you can. Don’t let go unless I tell you to.”

She nods, her excited gaze glued to me as I transform.

Besides Luke and her nieces and nephews, I’ve never shifted for a human before, and with them, I bowed to the pressure of their childish glee. Now, I’m shifting for my mate, showing off what I’m capable of. Pride fills me as magic courses through my veins, taking hold of me.

My wolf howls his excitement as the cells within me change, bone and sinew snapping and twisting, a momentary flash of pain, and I’m standing on four paws in front of her. My head is the same height as hers, so I lower myself to the pavement to appear less intimidating.

Charlie kneels in front of me, lifting my head with her hands and kissing my nose. “You’re magnificent.”

I let out a happy growl, a wolf version of a purr and breathe her in. From this angle I can smell up her skirt and it makes my mouth water, makes me want to knock her on her back, use my teeth to tear away the panties and lap her up.

“Should I get on your back now?” she asks hesitantly.

I shuffle around until my ribcage touches her knees, encouraging her to climb on.

She stands and gingerly lifts a leg over top of me, straddling me. As she lowers herself, I stand, lifting her off the ground. She gasps and takes fistfuls of my fur in her hands.

You need to hang on tighter than that , I tell her through our bond.

She’s not able to clearly read my thoughts yet, but she’s starting to, so I beam an image into her mind of her gripping me, her arms wrapped around my neck, her knees clinging to my sides.

Without a word, she complies with my message, slipping her arms around me. “Let’s go,” she says in my ear. “I want to see New York the way you see it.”

She doesn’t have to tell me twice.

I leap on top of the dumpster and then to the fire escape above it.

Her grip turns into a stranglehold. “This isn’t what I thought you meant by going for a run!”

I let out a huff of laughter and continue climbing, leaping up the fire escape so fast it becomes a blur. When we reach the roof, she’s gasping and laughing, babbling in my ear, “Oh my god, that was the best!”

She thinks that was the best? Not even close.

I look around just to be safe, but I don’t need to. I have every part of the city mapped in my brain. Every roof, every building. I’ve seen them come and go for over a century. This is my city.

She screams as I race toward the edge of the roof. “Oh god! No, no, no…!”

I leap, stretching my limbs out as we soar through the air. We land on the roof of the next building and before she can catch her breath, we’re leaping onto another rooftop.

I want to catch every thought and feeling as she has them, feel what it’s like to do this for the first time again. I can’t dip into her brain though; she’s too precious to risk dropping. I can’t get distracted for a single second.

Her delighted laughter is enough for now, a tinkling balm to my ears, music I can listen to forever.

We run and leap, going from building to building, occasionally stopping so she can look out over Central Park or gaze at the Statue of Liberty, seeing it from a new perspective.

Finally, after an hour, I sense her energy depleting. The excitement of our run is draining her, but there’s one more thing I want her to see. It’s what brought me back to New York in the first place and, before Charlie, it was why I stayed.

I urge her through our connection to hang on as tight as she can and she does, a thrill going through me at how close our mating bond has become. Briefly I remember Magdalene visiting me at Wolf-Haven castle, urging me not to mate with her. She’s right. I’m caught in an impossible situation. If I mate with Charlie, she might die. If I don’t mate with her, I’ll lose her anyway. Both options tear me apart.

Brooklyn Bridge is in sight now. Charlie lets out a shriek as I leap and climb the steel supports of the bridge, the muscles beneath my skin bunching against her as we go higher and higher.

My paws land with precision, each footfall familiar until I’m standing on the tower, facing the sun as it slips slowly beneath the horizon bathing the water below us in a soft fiery glow and lighting up the city with its dying rays.

Charlie slides off my back and drops to her knees next to me.

I shift to my human and crouch by her side. “Are you okay?”

Her eyes shine with tears. “I’m… I’m….” She swipes them away as she meets my eyes. “I’ve lived here my whole life, left the island a handful of times, but this…” She sweeps her arm out and laughs unsteadily. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” She throws her arms around me and tilts her head to the side to watch the sunset. “Thank you, Lennox. This is the best gift I’ve ever received.”

I hold her against me, content that I’ve pleased my mate.

She tilts her face up to look at me. “Am I?”

“Are you what?”

“Am I your mate?”