Charles (Darkness #8) (7 page)

He swung, dropping Ann gently to the ground before facing the attacker. The dog was there a moment later, trained to chase and jump for the jugular. Charles waited until the animal was mid-leap, teeth flashing, before grabbing the beast out of the air and punching it in the side.

The animal bayed in pain as Charles threw it to the ground. He punched the dog’s head next, knocking it out.

Breathing heavily, he stared down at the animal just to make sure it wouldn’t get up. When it didn’t, he bent to put his hand on its chest. A heart beat pushed back on his palm.

It was still alive. He’d done his good deed for the night.

He turned back toward the car and saw Ann, leaning against the hood. She shook her head and blinked a few times, the clarity coming back into her eyes.

“What the hell is going on?” she asked, looking up at Charles with huge, fear-filled eyes.

“They have something that confuses shifters. C’mon, let’s go back to the cabin and call the Boss. We need to get smart people in on this.”

“I’d make a joke, but I still can’t think clearly.”

“That’s okay.” Charles opened the passenger-side door before scooping her up into his arms. “Your jokes are terrible, anyway.”

He put her into the seat before buckling her in and closing the door. When he had slid into the driver’s side, she said, “After what just happened, I think a car accident is the least of our worries.”

“Which is why it’ll probably happen, just to spite me.” Charles pulled out and headed back to the cabin. “I might try to work out some attack spells. We aren’t going to be safe at that cabin. A shifter getting out of a trap raises a lot of questions. They’ll know you had help, or they’ll think it was a human who got caught. That net is a danger to humans. It would also raise questions about their facility, not to mention bring on a lawsuit. Either way, that crowd won’t be thrilled about unanswered questions…”

“
I’m
not thrilled with unanswered questions.”

Charles pulled up close to the cabin, and then walked around to help Ann out. She faltered a little, resting her hand on his arm for support, but her eyes looked much clearer.

“What did it feel like?” Charles asked as he helped her inside and locked the door behind them. He went to the sink to get her a glass of water.

She sat on the bed, holding her head in her hands. “At first, like I was high. I hate drugs because I hate the feeling of not being able to think straight. That was exactly what it felt like in the beginning. I could work through that at first, but then it got stronger. I got distracted really easily. I just couldn’t think, then I couldn’t control myself. It was like I was a passenger in my own body. Before I knew it, I was walking. When I realized it, and tried to come back, I just kept stumbling.” She looked up at him, the pleading back in her eyes. “It almost reminded me of when I first changed. All the hormones, and the magic, and the inner-struggles. Changing messes with your head in the beginning. So it was like that, but after a bunch of bong rips.”

“It’s targeted toward shifters, I think we can agree on that. Maybe they’ve figured out your hormone mix when you first shift, and concocted something to target those areas in your brain. Or something.”

“Did you feel it at all?”

Charles sat next to her, his phone in his hand. She leaned against his shoulder and he put his arm around her, pulling her close, feeling her trembling against him. What had happened had really thrown her. She wasn’t used to not being in control, and apparently the walk down memory lane to a confusing and traumatizing time had put her off her game.

“No. I didn’t smell or feel anything,” Charles answered, rubbing her arm.

“I thought with my blood…”

He shook his head. It was a reasonable thought, and he was thankful it hadn’t come to pass.

“Maybe if I took your blood, it would help?” she asked in a tiny voice.

A thrill went through him, making his heart speed up and a hard-on start. “I’ve taken a lot of your blood in the last two days. If you take some of mine, it might initiate a blood link. It would in humans, anyway. Not sure with shifters.”

“Maybe that would be good, though? You know… just in case.”

Charles could hear the fear in her voice. She’d almost been caught by a group of people who knew how to ensnare shifters. Who knew enough about the genetic makeup of shifters to concoct something that
could
ensnare them. That was not a good sign, especially as Tim already thought the facility was a lab of some sort.

Charles blew out a breath. “We’d be tied forever, Ann. Lightly, maybe, if we stopped swapping blood after, but it would always be there. When you find a guy to settle down with and have kitties, I’ll be a silent passenger. I don’t think you want that.”

“I’d rather that than a cage and getting experimented on.”

“But my blood might not prevent that.”

“It would help you find me if I got caught.”

Charles gritted his teeth at the soft vulnerability in her voice. At the desire to throw her back right there and take her.

What he hadn’t said was that he worried
he’d
be the one regretting it. He didn’t want to see her find someone else. He didn’t want to see her settling down with some loser fox, or whatever, and popping out a bunch of furry babies. He wanted her as she had been: a pain in his ass, making fun of him and playing jokes. He wanted her as she had been yesterday: more than willing to share his bed, giving and receiving explosive orgasms then being totally fine with falling asleep by his side.

Why couldn’t she be cool with his lifestyle? He’d give her kids if he could. He’d give her a family. He’d even live in the same place and leave his heart with her, because now he knew that there was something there besides just friendship. He cared about her more than anyone else. He had for a long time, if he was completely honest with himself.

He just didn’t want to go all in. It wasn’t what his people did. It wasn’t the way things were.

Charles stood up in a rush, conflicted. “You make my life hell.”

She snorted, clasping her hands in her lap. “It’s more fun than taking up stenciling.”

He walked to the window and looked out, half expecting to see people sneaking up on them. “I need to fortify those spells, and then I’m going to call the Boss.”

“I need to call Tim. It would’ve been easier if Tim and Stefan were in the same place, especially since I don’t have much to tell.”

“The Boss will sort it out. Hopefully he’ll tell us to pull out. Otherwise, we’re going to have company.”

A
nn hit
“end” and stared out the window for a moment, reflecting on the call with Tim. She’d explained what had happened, what she’d experienced, and that she’d been rescued by Charles. There wasn’t any point in trying to cover up the fact that if it hadn’t been for Charles, she’d most likely be inside that facility with everyone else.

Admitting the truth had been made easier, of course, by Charles’ complete lack of ego regarding his role in the situation. He didn’t place any blame, point any fingers, or adopt any swagger. He acted exactly the same in this as he always had when defending Sasha. He took care of business.

Sasha knew how lucky she was getting him as a bodyguard, but it was the first time Ann was a bit jealous.

“It’d be better with Paulie up here, then,” Charles said into the phone as he braced his muscular arm on the window pane. He listened for a second, his tone respectfully argumentative. “She can’t function when she breathes that stuff in, though. She goes wandering off. None of the shifters would be good in this situation…”

The only consolation to Ann’s failure was that it wasn’t specific to her. Whatever was going on in that facility, they’d figured out a special formula that could affect her kind.

A tremor of fear worked through her.

For that kind of knowledge, they must have experimented on shifters, and those experiments would probably have been invasive. She had a lot of courage, but if she was unable to protect herself, the smart thing to do would be to get the hell away from the problem.

Unfortunately, then she’d be letting Tim down. She’d volunteered for this duty, and failure would make her look like an idiot.

“One more day, but then I have to call it.” Charles’ voice took on an edgy quality Ann rarely heard from him. “I’ll get a few more pictures, and then we’re coming back. Seriously, Jameson, there’s no point in toting her, or any shifter, around behind us. They get all weird by that stuff. To get a look inside, we need a few of our kind—or even humans— with a good magical disguise. If we wait too long, they’ll probably figure us out too, and then we’re fucked.”

Ann moved to the kitchen and started picking out cans for dinner.

“Fine. Put Sasha on—I need some nasty magical traps to lay.”

Ann got busy making a meal while Charles laid whatever spells Sasha was trying to walk him through. Then something occurred to her.

When Charles got off the phone, shaking with fatigue from working the spells, she placed steaming bowls on the table. “If they had a shifter running around yesterday, how come he didn’t get pulled in by the smell?” she asked.

Charles plopped into the chair with a sigh. “If they’re smart enough to come up with something that affects shifters like it does, I’m sure they have an antidote. Or maybe he was a rogue shifter who won’t be bothering us again.”

Charles scooped some chili up. “I have some nasty things set around here.” He chewed for a moment. “Sasha dumbed down her spells, but she had to get creative. She’s been trained too well by Toa. The enemy will get a nasty surprise, that’s for sure.”

“Which will probably start a war between that facility and us.”

“Yup, but we have no choice if we want to stay safe. Tomorrow we’re going to snap off a few more pictures, try to get the front of the place, then leave. Jameson wants to plan how to get inside and see what’s going on. The question is: leave you here, or take you with me...”

“If I go, I’ll probably just be in the way.”

“And if you stay, you probably won’t be here when I get back.”

“There’s that. I can just take the car down the hill and wait.”

Charles scooped a spoonful into his mouth as he stared at her, his smoky-gray eyes troubled. “I’m sure they have vehicles. I’m not sure they would follow you, but… I just don’t know, Ann. This is a bad situation.”

“Let’s just go snap off some pictures now. Tonight. Then we’re out of here.”

He nodded as he scooped another mouthful. “I thought of that. We could, but they’ll be roused. We only have a few hours before daylight. There are bound to be more people around the facility in the day, not to mention the lack of shadows for me to hide in. Humans are stupid, but a big guy in plain daylight they would notice. Probably.”

“I feel like baggage.” Ann ate her chili regardless of her lack of appetite.

“You look like an old bag.”

“Nice.”

Charles grinned as he finished off his bowl. “Is this all we have? Because I’m still hungry. Also, all this danger has made me horny. You ready to screw yet, or what?”

“I’ll screw you if you give me blood.” Ann shook her head at herself as she got up to dump another can into the pot. “What is wrong with me? I can’t
believe
I just said that.”

“So… just screw? No blood?”

She slowed down her movements, thinking.

Something in her said his blood, and that link, was a safety net she couldn’t do without. A heavy weight in her gut was a warning that there was a good chance she’d be taken. Either tonight or tomorrow sometime, they’d find her and drag her away. Charles was vicious and an excellent fighter when he had to be, but he was just one. And they probably had guns.

The question was, did she want to be tied with him forever?

Yes, she did. But would she still want to be once she’d found someone else and started a life?

Probably not, but it was impossible to think that far ahead, especially with the danger in front of her.

She sighed and went back to her bowl, leaving the stirring spoon on the counter. “You can take it from there.”

Charles frowned at her before getting up to stir the pot. “I was having a nice time being lazy and getting waited on.”

“Uh huh. Fascinating.”

She ate slowly, finishing at about the time Charles finished his second portion. By the way he glanced at the store of cans, he was thinking about a third. The man could eat.

She washed her bowl and put it in the rack as he came up behind her. She stalled at the sink, hoping he would wrap his arms around her. When he didn’t, she washed her hands and finished up.

“Get a move on, varmint. You take forever at this domestic stuff.”

She smiled as she turned toward him and wiped her wet hands on his shirt.

“
Ah
, c’mon! This is a new shirt.”

Laughing, she finished drying her hands and walked to her duffle, taking out a book. They had nothing to do but wait and sleep. She might as well try to distract herself.

Charles came over a few minutes later. He reached in his bag and took out a strip of putrid brown knitting with a ball of yarn attached to it. He settled onto the bed next to her, knitting needles at the ready.

“That is… terrible.” Ann flicked the ball of yarn. “What are you making, a knitted log of dog poop?”

“That’s just hurtful.”

“Charles! That is the exact color of poop. Or one of the colors, anyway. One of the grosser varieties. Why in the world are you making something out of it?”

His needles started working, tick-ticking in the quiet room.

“What happened to the pink… wrap… thing?” she tried.

“That’s on hold. I figured I’d make this for you, first.”

“For me?” She stared incredulously at the horrible brown yarn. “Why?”

“I happen to know you never throw away a thoughtful present. You even wear said thoughtful present at least once. And since you made fun of the wrap, I thought you might need something knitted for you. Like a hat. That everyone will see when you wear it.”

“And the color?”

“Is really ugly.” He grinned as his needles worked even faster. “You’re welcome.”

She had to hand it to him, he could really move those knitting needles. Too bad he picked weird designs and hideous colors…

“What are you reading?” he asked, glancing over.

She showed him the cover of the book, featuring a bare man-chest with a wolf in the background.

“Ah. Women’s fantasy, huh? Reading about the perfect guy?” He smirked as he glanced out the window, not needing to look at his hands while he was employed. “Read to me. We can role play the sex scenes.”

“How do you know it has sex scenes?”

The needles stopped for a moment. He looked at her with one raised eyebrow.

She smirked with a red face, looking down at her book. “Okay, fine, it has sex scenes. It also has shifters—werewolves. I get a kick out of how wrong they get our kind.”

The tick-ticking started again.

“Read to me. I like hearing about sex if I can’t have it,” Charles pushed.

“I’m not going to read to you. They are having a heart-to-heart about his damaged past at the moment. You’ll just laugh.”

“I also like comedy. Those books have it all. C’mon.” He nudged her with his elbow. “I’m bored. I don’t need to really focus to knit—it’s just something to occupy my hands while I wait for stuff. It’s calming.”

Ann gave a loud sigh, unable to help the smile, nor the red face. “Fine.” She looked through the page, finding the paragraph she’d left off, when Charles’ body went rigid. His muscles flexed. The room fell into silence as the needles stopped.

Ann looked up as Charles’ eyes went distant. His arms flared with color.

“What?” Ann whispered, her stomach churning with what she suspected.

Charles jumped off the bed. “Turn off that light.”

Ann dove for the camping lantern next to the bed, flicking it off as Charles reached the window. He leaned against the side, peeking out. Ann went to the window across from him, doing the same thing.

“Did they cross?” she asked as her gaze scanned the still and looming trees outside.

“One triggered. It was a tamer spell—like a bunch of mosquitoes all biting at once. Nothing else has been disturbed.”

“It was over there?”

“On this side, yes.”

Ann’s stomach flipped. “Was it close to the car?”

Charles looked at her, the moonlight lighting half of his handsome face. “Yes. Why?”

“Did you cover your license plate?”

Charles sighed as he looked back out the window. “Doesn’t have one yet—the car is brand new. They can’t track me that way.”

Ann met his sigh. “That’s probably what they were after, though. Probably wanted to have a look in the car, and maybe the cabin, too. Are you feeling with your magic right now?”

“Yes, but I don’t feel anything. I don’t have much range, though.”

They held their positions for what felt like hours, waiting in silence.

“I wonder if they know what that magic is,” Ann wondered quietly. “If they know what you are.”

Charles looked her way again.

“I had no idea of your kind before the Council approached us,” she elaborated. “It wasn’t something anyone talked about. There are still people in Tim’s various packs that don’t know about you. His immediate one does, sure, because we work with you. But a lot of your clans are still hostile toward shifters, so Tim has only informed the various sub-alphas and they are keeping quiet. He hasn’t told a lot of the lower ranks. You are most definitely an anomaly to humans, but probably also to the shifter around here. Don’t you think?”

Charles looked back out the window. “I kind of hope I’m not, because then that shifter would know to stay away. But you’re probably right. Regardless, I don’t feel anything. Whatever it is, it isn’t trying to get through anymore.”

“Or else it’s waiting and watching…”

“Now who’s ruining the chi?”

Ann crossed to the bed and picked up her book. She flung it to her duffle. “I don’t think a light is the best idea.”

“And you need it.” Charles crossed back to his side of the bed and picked up his needles and yarn again, not relaxed, but no longer tense, either.

“No. I don’t need it. I can do a lot of things in the dark. Like sit here, watching you knit.”

Charles huffed out a laugh and folded up his hobby. “Or sleep.”

“Yeah. Actually, that’s a better idea, because without heavy shades on this place, I won’t be able to sleep well in the daylight. My kind is usually awake during the day.”

“Uh huh. Fascinating,” Charles mimicked her from earlier.

Ann rolled her eyes and stripped off her shirt and bra, bending to her duffle for a tank top to sleep in. That on, she stripped out of her pants, changed her underwear, and put on little shorts. When she turned back around, Charles was staring at her, knitting supplies still in hand. The soft moonlight streaming in the windows draped across his face, amplifying his handsomeness.

“What?” she asked.

“You have, quite possibly, the best breasts I have ever seen. They’re perfect. Perfect size, perfect shape, they taste good… It’s really not fair that you keep them to yourself.”

“I don’t intend to.”

“Really?” Charles stripped off his shirt and out of his pants so fast her mouth dropped. When he dropped his boxers, his thick erection bounced up, ready for her.

Her core heated, wanting him inside her so bad her knees got weak. Her nipples contracted with the thought, advertising her desire through her tank top.

Barely keeping her composure, she answered, “Yeah. When I find someone that likes me, I intend to share them with him every time he wants to play with them.”

“I like you. And sharing is caring. So let’s do this thing.”

“Likes me for longer than a night. Or day, depending.”

“I’ll like you for many days. Over and over, too. And over.”

Ann rolled her eyes and crawled into bed. “Loves me, then. When I find someone that
loves
me, I will share the breasts.”

Charles slid in slowly, his gaze lifting to her eyes. The sparkle of heat had dulled, replaced with wariness. Ann’s heart sank.

“Anyway.” She pulled the covers up to her chin. “We should probably get some sleep. I bet you someone will turn up in the daylight. An official someone too, just checking in with the inhabitants of this cabin.”

“Ann…” Charles turned on his side to face her, his body flush against hers. He ran his thumb across the base of her chin. “If you want blood, or a blood link, I’ll do it. If it’ll help, or ease your mind, I will do it.”

Ann let her head fall so she could meet his gaze, nearly lost to the darkness. His face was so close to hers their breath mingled. Her body hummed with the proximity, feeling his delicious muscles pressed against her and his hard length against her thigh.