Page 64 of Protected By Her Mate

Chapter 24

Arrested

LENNOX

“Stop it.” Charlie grips my wrist, trying to pull my hand away, but I hold steady, forcing her to accept my ministrations. She’s sitting on my desk in the precinct’s bullpen, a First Aid kit open next to her hip.

“If you won’t go to a hospital, then you will allow me to attend to you.”

“I’m probably more qualified to administer First Aid than you are,” she complains.

“Probably.” After disinfecting a cut on her arm, I search the kit for a bandage.

Her eyes follow an ASHRA member being led into interrogation and I feel her desire to follow and shake the truth from him.

“You’ll get your chance,” I tell her, placing a bandage over her cut and pressing the adhesive to her arm.

Her eyes light up. “I will?”

I flatten my hands on the desk, one on either side of her. “You’ve been my partner through this investigation. I wouldn’t deprive you of the chance to ask your questions.”

She pushes my arm aside and hops off the desk. “Let’s go then.”

“Not yet.” I pick her up and put her back, sliding my hand up her torso, probing her ribcage over her shirt.

She jerks away. “Ouch!” Lifting the bottom of her shirt, she stares at her darkening ribs. “When did that happen? I didn’t feel anything.”

“It was the adrenalin running through your system.” I shudder as I recall her explanation of what had happened before I was able to get to Edie. Twice Charlie came within a hair’s breadth of death. “It probably happened when you went through the wall. Roll up your shirt and I’ll tape them.”

She makes a face, but complies, pulling it up to just beneath her breasts. I apply the medical tape to the affected ribs. “It’ll hurt like a bitch for a few days, but this will help.”

“Have you ever broken your ribs?” she asks.

“Your ribs aren’t broken, just bruised.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

I don’t want to tell her because there’s nothing she can do about pain I experienced in the past, but I can feel her desire to know and I’m unwilling to deprive my mate of the things she wants.

“The first time was during the Human-Shifter war. I took a cannonball to the chest. Damn near killed me.” She pales, so I rush to add, “I was good as new a few days later. Shifters heal fast.”

She runs her hand up my arm, settling it on my shoulder, her dark eyes caressing me. “You still feel pain the same as us though, right?”

“Yes,” I admit.

Heedless of her injuries, she wraps her arms around me and lays her head on my shoulder. “Oh Lennox, I’m so sorry. Such a long life in the service of others must have led to so much pain.”

I hold her, not sure what to do or say. She shouldn’t have to bear the burden of my past, yet her empathy warms me like a fire on a cold night.

“Can we go question some bad guys now? I want to talk to Edie as soon as possible.”

I chuckle at her eagerness and help her off the desk. Sobering, I tell her, “Edie is being taken to Rikers. We’ll talk to her once she’s been secured in the shifter ward. The other eight suspects we have in custody are being processed on terrorism charges, which means we have greater freedom in what we can ask. Still, when you speak to them, keep your questions non-accusatory.” I step in front of her, forcing her to look up at me. I maintain eye contact so I know she understands. “You do not approach the suspects for any reason. You keep the table between you and them. If I tell you to go, you leave the room without hesitation. Understand?”

She nods. “Yeah, I understand.”

We approach Captain Charlamagne, who’s overseeing the processing of our suspects. I introduce him to Charlie who barely gets a glance from him. Not because she’s a woman or because she’s Fire instead of PD. He’s just like that. Politeness never figures in for him.

“Who do we have?”

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