Chapter 95

By the time we went to bed that night, I had tried fifty different ways of asking Charles if we could just leave everything else behind and come live here in Brindle Cove. He could run Rafe Media remotely and just put managers in charge to do the daily grind for him.

Leaving behind the city didn’t have to mean losing the business. But every time I tried to open my mouth, I’d stopped. Charles wasn’t that kind of man. I mean, he was definitely family-oriented, more so than I’d ever realized. I’d seen that sign of him this weekend.

But he was an alpha, and he needed to be hands-on with his business. Or he wouldn’t be satisfied. He needed to be leading people. It was his nature. Asking him to give that up and retire would be like asking him to give up a central part of himself.

I wasn’t the kind of woman who could do that to a man. In the same way, I would expect that he wouldn’t ask me to give up being a journalist or something.

And then there was my journalism. This weekend might have given me an insight into an idyllic sort of life. But the rest of the world still spun on, and the truth was still out there, begging to be told.

Even if there wasn’t government corruption in Lupinton like there had been in Lustrum, there were still happenings that needed to be reported and truth that needed to be shared. And if I wasn’t there, that was one less person to find and put those truths out where the public could find them.

I sighed, snuggled back into the pillow, and went to sleep. We had until after lunchtime tomorrow, and then we’d have to get back on the train and head back to real life. Bummer.

Charles and I were lying in bed, stroking each other’s naked bodies underneath the covers, having just finished making love yet again. The weekend had been completely freeing. Not only did we not have the stress of work or everything that had gone on while we were still back in Lustrum weighing on us. But his mother had been as good as gold, keeping Agent Tang away from us for the whole weekend.

As a result, we’d been able to just be the new couple that we were and enjoy each other’s company and bodies. I was beginning to think we might go a second round because each time I passed my fingertips across his spent cock, it would twitch and harden just a little more.

Thinking about having sex yet again was exhausting in the best sort of way, the way one might be exhausted at the end of a vacation yet ready to go again. I was definitely game.I had just gently taken the length of flesh in my hand and given it a squeeze to feel it pulse beneath my fingers when the phone rang. Charles gently pushed my hand away and grabbed his phone, answering it.

“Good morning. Rafe here,” he answered, his tone going remarkably business-like despite his gaze staying focused on my bare breasts.

“Yes. This is Charles,” he confirmed for whoever was on the phone.

He paused to listen, a frown gaining traction, pulling his lips down. Whatever this was, it didn’t look like it was a good thing because his eyebrows knotted together immediately. Charles made a growling sort of noise in the back of his throat.

He continued to listen for a minute without saying anything else, then finally gave a short, sharp nod.

“I understand the terms,” he said, tone short and clipped. “Yes.”

He went back to listening, the whole while his frown deepening into something more like a scowl. I had rarely seen him that upset. All the muscles in his shoulders and neck were tight, too.

I curled up under the blankets, clutching them to my chest. Whatever he was being told over the phone, it wasn’t good. And given everything that had gone wrong in our lives recently, my imagination was running away with me.

All I could imagine were horrible things, like maybe someone had hurt one of our friends back in Lustrum. Or maybe somebody had broken in and ransacked our apartment in Lupinton. What if someone was out to get us again? Where was Culpepper? Out on bail? Was someone bad on their way here? Was there a threat coming for us?Charles was so upset about this call. What if we’d gotten his family caught in the crosshairs? Those poor, innocent little children. My eyes were already watering, and I furiously blinked back tears.

My breath caught in my throat, and my chest squeezed uncomfortably tight. What had we done?

We should have just stayed with our guards. Our little romp away from them had seemed like a game when we were giving them the slip in the city.But that hadn’t been a game when Culpepper had drawn a weapon and tried to kill both me and Charles, and we’d lost Jessica.

How could we be so stupid? We should have just stayed with the protection we’ve been offered.

The call ended, and Charles squeezed his phone so hard I was surprised he didn’t break it. Then, with visible effort, he set it down with a thunk on the side table.

“Do I dare ask?” I whispered.

Charles turned away from me and let out one feral snarl before flopping back on the bed, his arm over his face.“I don’t think you really want to know,” he said. “But it’s not like I can keep it from you.”

“Our friends?” I gasped out. “Have we put them in danger or your family? Just tell me everybody’s safe.”

He let out a hot, angry sigh. “Everybody’s safe,” he said at last. “There’s that silver lining. At least everybody but you and I.”

He reached over with his free hand and grabbed my wrist, squeezing a little too tight, but I didn’t complain.

“Don’t get yourself in a panic,” he soothed. “It’s not that sort of danger. We just got ourselves into a different sort of trouble.”

“Oh. How so?” I asked. My chest was loosening, and my breath was coming a lot easier.

“That was Governor Kruck’s secretary. The best I can get from her is that we seriously displeased those who were instructed to protect us. And we’ve been ordered to go directly to a meeting at the governor’s office when we return to Lupinton.”

“But we’re not getting back in until after dinner time,” I protested.

He shrugged. “They don’t care one way or the other. They want to see us regardless. Evidently, there are new restrictions they’re going to place on us. The secretary didn’t have the details.”

Charles let out a snarl. “This is just a power play. It’s a disgusting ploy on Governor Kruck’s part to force an alpha to do his bidding for a change. They’ve even booked us an earlier train home, so the last day we were supposed to spend here is already over. We’ll need to leave for the station in a little over an hour.”

He reached over and pulled me against his chest, drawing deep breaths of my scent. Within a few moments, petting joined this, his breathing quickening as his hands wandered. So that’s how we were going to spend the last of our time together.