Chapter 96

There was something desperate about our lovemaking this time. Charles both drilled into me and yet held back and kept our moment going as long as possible, taking us both to the brink several times but not letting either of us finish.In the back of my head, I knew this was probably because he was worrying that we wouldn’t have the privacy to be ourselves in the bedroom again, the same as we hadn’t for the last two weeks in Lupinton.

I tried to do my best to keep up with him, gripping his hips or pushing him away from me slightly when I thought I might climax for fear that I would send him over the edge as well. I wanted us to orgasm when he was ready to be done.

He buried his face in my neck, curling around my body, thrusting until his hips connected with mine. There was no teasing at the tip or playing with my outer edges. His motions were deep and primal.

I managed to hold on until a thrust with a slight slip to it rubbed my clit while his full length was inside me. Stars burst in front of my eyes, and the waves of an intense orgasm washed over me.

I dug my fingernails into his back and cried out in pleasure. As I’d thought, my loss of control sent him over the edge as well. He gave a frantic flurry of quick thrusts before the spasms of orgasm unloaded him inside me.

He groaned and kissed along my neck.

“Somehow, that feels like goodbye sex,” he said. “As if nothing will be the same after this.”

I held him against me, wrapping my arms tightly around him. “It isn’t the end,” I promised. “They can make it weird for us. Try to drive a wedge between us. Or even separate us, but it won’t change the fact that I love you.”

Charles nuzzled at my ear, kissing along the rim. “Say that again,” he whispered.

“I love you,” I said, fanning my hands across his back and holding him, trying to impart the feelings that threatened to explode from my chest through my touch against him.He hadn’t even pulled out of me when I felt him stiffen inside me again.

“One more time?” he requested, nipping at my earlobe.

I yelped a little with the pain.

“I love you,” I said.

He took a swipe inside me and then another, stiffening and readying to go again.“I love you too,” he grunted, starting his exertions anew.

Gwen took the news of our early departure with all of the grace of a trained socialite. The children were visibly disappointed, clinging to us and whining that we needed to stay.

Agent Tang looked like Christmas had come early, a disturbing sort of smile on his face at every turn. And for the first time in my life, I found myself holding back from actually slapping someone. I’d never physically assaulted anyone, but Agent Tang’s smug smirks were pushing me dangerously close. He was actually taking enjoyment in our discomfort and punishment.

What sort of sick individuals did Governor Kruck hire as his police force? And if these guys were this bad to us, their supposed guests and persons worth “protecting,” what did the rest of the population of Lupinton have to deal with on a regular basis?

Suddenly, I was back to wondering if all the sunshine and smiles were paint to cover up some dark truth lurking in Lupinton. Fresh resolve hardened. I was going to get to the bottom of that creepy town. I was going to find out what about it made my hair stand on end.

I didn’t get a chance to share this decision with Charles. Agent Tang stayed so close to us for the rest of the morning you’d have thought we were toddlers who had just learned how to walk, and he was an overprotective mother hovering, never leaving us alone even for an instant. His hovering was so bad that when I had to use the restroom at the train station, rather than letting me go by myself, he actually forced Charles to walk over to the entrance to the ladies’ room and wait for me outside beside him.

It didn’t surprise me in the slightest when we were greeted at the train station. By the rest of our usual guards, Woolworth, Bell, and Malik stood in their somber uniforms. They were stiff, like someone had shoved a stick up their rear ends. Kinda wished I could.

The four escorted us in somber silence all the way to Governor Kruck’s offices in the main building we’d been in when all of this started. We’d come full circle, and I hated that government building.

Rather than taking us to a large room this time, they took us to a small conference room with a round table in the center surrounded by deeply uncomfortable chairs. The guards sat us at the table, standing behind us like we were misbehaving children waiting for a scolding.

Even though it was lunchtime, we hadn’t been allowed to stop for anything to eat. As if to drive home the point that we were fully in their power, we sat there for forty-five minutes before the door opened, and it still wasn’t Governor Kruck who entered but an aide.The woman set a stack of papers on the edge of the table. She gave first Charles and then me a short nod. “Mr. Rafe, Miss Laurentia. Governor Kruck has been delayed with some important business. He assures you that you haven’t been forgotten. And he will attend to you as soon as he gets the opportunity. Can I get you anything to make you more comfortable while you wait?”

Charles scowled at her, and she flinched back at the glare coming from an alpha but held her ground.

“We were denied lunch, nor have we been offered anything to drink. Is this how the governor treats people in his protection?” He jerked a finger at the guards behind us. “Supposedly, we’re in this situation because our welfare is important, and yet we’re being treated like prisoners.”

She bobbed her head a little. “I’ll see what I can do to get you something. Just give me a moment.”

The woman scurried out the door and, in a few minutes, came back carrying two paper cups, the tiny sort full of water. She set these on the table.

“Once you’re done with your meeting with Governor Kruck,” she explained, “You’ll be free to go and find yourself a proper meal. Until then, this is the best I can get, especially since Governor Kruck expects to be wrapping up soon. So he would prefer if you didn’t leave, and it’s not proper that you should be eating a meal while speaking with the governor.”

Charles let out a growl, and the aide jumped a little and scurried from the room. Whatever her thoughts on treating an alpha like this, she clearly was more afraid of the governor.

“This is both disgusting and insulting,” Charles said to our guards, looking over his shoulder at them.

Not one of the four moved a muscle to acknowledge that they heard his complaint or that they felt the same. Charles turned, and I could see the gears working in his head. I put a steadying hand on his knee and leaned in closer so that he could smell me.“Wait this out,” I said quietly. “The opportunity to write wrongs always presents itself. But rarely in the moment. Give it a chance to work out without making things worse in the moment,” I advised.

Charles nodded and drew a deep breath in through his nose, letting it out slowly through his mouth, clearly controlling his temper.