Page 31

Chapter 30

My Duty is your protection

LENNOX

M y wolf is vigilant, looking for anything that might threaten our mate. He’s a bundle of instinct who doesn’t seem to want to settle, despite the threat of Edie having been eliminated. His guardedness is making me restless, unable to sit down or relax.

Charlie said I was part of her family and for a brief glorious moment, I basked in the idea of it. To be considered a Lopez? It sounds like heaven. I love my brothers and find pride in being a Wolven-North, but if I had to choose between the warmth and love the Lopez clan show for each other and the distant, cold halls of Wolf-Haven castle, there would be no real choice. It will always be Charlie and Luke.

That moment on the balcony after I saved Luke, we bonded in an unexpected way. He relied on me to save him and the cloak of my protective wolf had fallen over him the same as it hovers over Charlie. They are a package deal and my wolf accepts that.

But there can be no future for us as a family.

A knock on the apartment door has me reaching for it before Charlie wakes up. I left her in Luke’s bed where they both fell asleep, Charlie’s arms wrapped around her son.

I open the door to Charlie’s mother, Annalisa, bundled in a heavy coat and holding a Tupperware container. She blinks at me uncertainly, then steps over the threshold. “Charlie told me to stay home, but I had to see for myself that they’re truly okay.”

Charlie told her parents everything that happened. There were enough witnesses to Edie’s escape from police custody and Luke’s kidnapping that it would’ve been impossible to keep it from the media. Charlie didn’t want her parents to see the shocking footage of Luke being thrown off a building before hearing what happened from her.

“She’s in Luke’s room,” I tell Annalisa, gesturing to the hallway. “They’re asleep.”

She nods and sets the Tupperware container on the coffee table. Her long dark hair is down, flowing around her shoulders. She looks like Charlie, but that’s where the similarities end. Annalisa is soft-spoken and shy compared to Charlie’s direct and uncompromising manner.

Annalisa’s gaze seeks mine and I see a quiet determination in it. Is she going to tell me to leave? Does she blame me for what happened to her daughter and grandson?

“I… I want to thank you for saving Luke today,” she says, tears filling her golden eyes. “After we lost Ramón … well I just can’t stand to see either of them hurt again.”

“I’m sorry. I should have taken better care of them.” Her soft-spoken words are tearing me up. It would be better if she blamed me. If I hadn’t invaded Charlie’s life, Edie wouldn’t have targeted either her or Luke.

She shakes her head, her gaze warm. “You have nothing to be sorry for. It’s not your fault that psycho targeted my daughter. You were injured too. I saw video footage on the news of you being attacked by that woman. I’m just so glad all of you…” Her words falter.

I feel awkward as I step toward her, intending to pat her back, but she reaches for me and wraps her arms around my waist, pressing her cheek to my chest. “Thank you for bringing them back to me.” I hold her for a moment, then she steps back, pulling a tissue from her pocket and blowing her nose before nodding decisively. “I brought fresh bunuelos so you won’t have to cook in the morning. Please, take care of my babies.” She opens the door and moves into the hallway.

“Wait.” I hurry after her. “Let me walk you home.”

She waves me away. “No, thank you. I brought the van with me. I’ll be fine.”

She leaves and I decide Charlie is more like her mother than I thought. They both possess a quiet core of strength.

I open the window and lean out to watch Annalisa climb into the van, turn it on and pull into the street. I pull my head in only after her taillights disappear around the corner.

I turn as Charlie walks into the living room, yawning widely. “Was that my mom’s voice I heard?” She’s wearing a brief pair of sleep shorts and a camisole top, her hair a knotted mess on top of her head. Her eyes land on the Tupperware container and light up. “Did she bring treats?”

“Yes, breakfast,” I say. “She was checking in on you.”

She pries the lid off and shoves what looks like a donut hole into her mouth, sighing contentedly as she chews. “These are homemade bunuelos, you know,” she says with her mouth full. “You should try one.”

I should be leaving her alone, going back to my own place and shutting down our connection. With the curse over our heads, any continued contact with her is torture for both of us in the long run. It can’t continue.

But I can’t bring myself to reject my mate.

It’s an impossible situation.

“Let it go for now,” she urges, replacing the lid on the container. “We can worry about the curse tomorrow.”

“It doesn’t work that way.” Despite my words, I walk toward her, wrapping my hands around her waist and dragging her into me. “The more time we spend together the more tightly bound we are. You could be hurt or worse and I can’t allow that.”

She presses her cheek to my chest. “Maybe this is something you can’t protect me from.”

Gently I set her away from me. “I can and I will. You said it yourself, you have a family to think of. You can’t sacrifice yourself.”

She moves closer but doesn’t touch me. She tilts her head back, looking up at me. “You are my family, Lennox. You proved that today. I don’t think I can lose you any more than I can lose my son. We just have to find a way around this curse. Three of your brothers did, why can’t we?”

“It’s not that simple. Believe me, if I could find a way around the curse, I would do it in a heartbeat. I live for you now, Charlie. My heart beats for you, and you can trust that you will always have me near, but we can’t mate.” I lift her hand, pressing it to my heart, revelling in her intoxicating scent of cinnamon, shampoo, and Charlie.

Her lips tremble as she says, “You would stay near me, even if we can’t mate?”

“I will never leave you, Charlie.”

A tear snakes down her cheek. “I suppose that will have to be good enough. When… when should we… I don’t even know what happens next. Do you just go sit outside my window, watching me grow older? Watching until the day I die. Is that what happens?”

I smile sadly. “Something like that.”

She lets out a watery laugh. “My neighbours are going to wonder why I keep my dog on the fire escape.”

“They’ll understand once they see the size of me.”

She laughs again, but a few more tears fall.

I cup her cheek, rubbing the tears with my thumb. “Don’t cry, Charlie. It won’t be so bad.”

She smiles tremulously. “I’ll always feel safe knowing you’re nearby.”

“You can bet on it,” I assure her.

She steps away from me and I drop my hand. “You’re a good man, Lennox.” She hugs herself, looking small and fragile in the shadows of her living room. “I’m going to bed now. I… I hope I see you in the morning.”

“You will.”

She turns, but stops as she reaches the hallway, her shoulders bowing as a sob overtakes her. Then she turns and rushes toward me, launching herself into my arms.

Surprised, I catch her and she wraps her arms around my shoulders and her legs around my waist. She drags my head down to her lips and sears me with a kiss.

If we have to give each other up, then I’m going to make this one last night memorable for both of us . She reaches between us, sliding her fingers past the barrier of my belt and into my jeans, wrapping her fingers around my cock.

I can’t resist, don’t want to resist. I don’t remind her that it’s our second ‘last night’ together, I don’t try to deny her. I want this as bad as she does and this time, it really is the last time. I can’t keep tempting our cursed fate by pursuing my mate.

“Don’t think about it,” she whispers against my mouth. “Just fuck me, Lennox, and make it good. This memory has to last a lifetime.”

I groan as I carry her into the bedroom and kick the door shut behind me. I hope to hell the bang of it doesn’t wake Luke.

Charlie clings to me like a vine as I drop her on the bed, coming down over top of her. Her hands are everywhere, caressing, squeezing, scraping, leaving a wake of pleasure wherever she touches me. Her kisses are deep and desperate, her tongue seeking mine.

I obey, giving her all of me, running my hands over her fiery skin, knowing I’ll never be able to quench my thirst for her.

My tongue tangles with hers and I grip her by the base of the throat, pinning her as I ravish her senses, filling her mouth with my tongue, tearing her camisole away first, then her shorts, and finally her tiny scrap of panties. When she’s bare to me, I sweep my fingers through her delicate folds, sinking them into her silken core.

She moans, her back arching into the bed. “Lennox!”

Hearing her cry my name drives me over the edge. I yank my jeans down my ass, pull my cock out and drive into her, pinning her to the bed.

A startled cry erupts from her throat and she sinks her nails into my shoulders.

Wanting to feel her flesh against mine, I tear my shirt off, grip her wrist and place her hand on my chest. “Feel me,” I demand, my voice a deep rumble.

Her eyes meet mine and together we move, united in this moment as we seek more than pleasure; we seek a permanent imprint.

I lift her off the bed, my cock still buried inside her. She grips my hips with her knees and holds me tight, frantically grinding against me, seeking her pleasure.

A tear glitters on her eyelashes and I press my lips to the corner of her eye, then trail them down her cheeks, catching the rest as they fall.

Her breaths quicken, coming closer together.

I increase the pace of my thrusts, gripping her hips as I drag her up and down my cock.

As she closes in on her orgasm, her head tips back and her mouth opens. Taking a fistful of her hair, I tip her head up until she’s looking at me, feeling what I’m feeling as I take my mate for the last time.

A sob erupts from her throat, then a keening cry as her orgasm takes hold. I follow her, gripping her by the waist, holding her still on top of me as I release my seed.

Her eyes gleam in the darkness of the room and I see the silvery trail of tears as they continue to fall.

“I’m sorry, Charlie. I wish things could be different.”

She wraps her arms around me and presses her face into my neck. “I love you, Lennox.”

I run my hand down her back, feeling the fragile silkiness of it, knowing I can’t touch her after this. “I love you, too.”