Page 44 of Protected By Her Mate

I go cold, frozen in place, my grip on the handle of my bag tightening. I barely hear him tell me not to miss the flight before hanging up. Keenan’s mate is an actress. If she was caught in the explosion, it would explain his current distress.

Calm down and tell me what’s wrong, I urge him, throwing clothes and toiletries into my bag.

He doesn’t respond, but Rush does.Something’s happened to his mate. I’m sure of it. We need to get to him.

I’m on my way now, I assure my brother, grabbing my bag and heading for the door. As I rush down to street level, I call for an Uber, an easy task at this early hour.

Find out what’s happening and report back, Lock orders.

Ignoring him, I climb into the car, telling the driver to get me to the airport as quickly as possible. I toss a couple of hundred-dollar bills into the front seat and he takes off like he was a Formula One racer in a previous life.

I secure my seatbelt. Making the flight is going to be tight, but I can’t miss it. Even the length of time the flight will take is too much.

Where is Magdalene?I demand.I need her to teleport me.

She’s not a magical transportation device, Rush says irritably, then adds,she took off as soon as the bombing happened. Said she needed some help if she was going to fuck with the natural order.

What does that mean?Lock asks, mystified.

I don’t understand half the stuff she says,Rush grumbles.

As I listen to their voices bantering in my head, it hits me how much I miss my brothers. I need to go home to Wolf-Haven more often.

I leap out of the Uber at the airport and rush through security, tossing my badge in the plastic bin on top of my belongings. As I near the gate, I see Charlie pacing.

Calm floods me and without thinking twice, I gather her against me.

She’s surprised but squeezes me before letting go. “Are you okay?” she asks, peering into my face, her earlier upset toward me pushed aside in the face of a crisis. I nod, but she knows better, now having access to my thoughts. “There’s something wrong with you, Lennox. Out with it.”

We join the line preparing to board the plane. “You know about the explosion?”

“Dale called and told me about it. Told me to meet you here. We’re being sent to investigate since we know more than their people about what AHSRA’s been up to.”

“I think my brother was caught in the explosion.”

Her face pales as she thrusts her phone under the ticket scanner and hands the attendant her driver’s license. “Is he okay?”

“I think so, but I suspect his wife was injured.” Or worse, but I can’t bring myself to say it out loud.

We find our seats, which are next to each other in a row of three, and I fold my bulk into the aisle seat as best I can while Charlie takes the middle seat. I send a silent thank you to whoever booked the seats for us for choosing the exit row and giving me a few extra inches of leg room.

Charlie grips my hand and looks at me with wide guileless eyes. “Tell me what I can do to help.”

I want to tell her that just being here, being herself, is the only help I need, but doubts crowd my mind. If Vanessa was killed, it’s proof the family curse is taking out the Wolven-North mates. Proof that Charlie could be next. Getting closer to her is the opposite of what I should be doing.

I gently pull my hand from hers and pretend to shuffle my bag further beneath the seat in front of me. “Just do your job, and I’ll do mine so we can put an end to this. An end to ASHRA.” I do my best to cloak my true thoughts from her, but her ability to read me is getting stronger. I hope she doesn’t sense my lie.

She’s hurt, but trying valiantly to scrub it from her mind so she can be supportive for me. “I’ll do whatever I can, Lennox. I promise.”

I feel like a bastard, but it’s for the best.

Charlie is silent through the safety demonstration and take-off, and I use the time to meditate, calming my agitated inner wolf who hates flying.

As we hurtle through the sky toward Los Angeles, Charlie and I search the internet for information on the movie premier and bombing, pouring through videos and photos of everything leading up to the bombing as well as the aftermath.

“Vanessa Bedalia was the star of the show,” Charlie murmurs, her tone sad as she flicks through photos.

“I had no idea.” I feel like an asshole for not paying more attention to my brother and his mate. For hundreds of years, we’ve kept our comings and goings secret from those around us, doing our best to keep Wolf-Haven together in the face of our insane brother, King Fallon. Perhaps our secretiveness spilled over too much into our relationships with each other. I’d gone to Keenan’s wedding but left as soon as possible to get back to New York. Maybe if we talked more, laid bare our secrets, if I’d kept him abreast of my investigation, maybe…

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