Page 86 of Protected By Her Mate

“If you help keep my best firefighter from harm, you can have all the rides you want.”

Magdalene claps her hands excitedly. “Now that’s incentive to get her back here with all her fingers and toes intact.”

“There wasn’t enough incentive before?” Charlie asks, puffing as she bends to adjust a strap on the suit. “Okay, I just need the helmet.”

Dale lifts it over her head, attaching a hose to the back of the suit. At my frown, he explains, “The suit has a separate breathing apparatus to protect from a chemical-biological blast.”

Rather than reassure me, his words set my wolf off, who tries to claw his way to the surface. He wants me to snatch Charlie from this terrible plan and take her to Wolf-Haven where nothing can hurt her.

He’s not entirely wrong in his assessment. We can evacuate buildings under threat. Stone and mortar don’t matter. Lives do and selfish as it is, Charlie’s life matters most of all.

Charlie steps up to me, gazing at me through her blast shield. Her voice is muted by the barrier as she says, “It matters, Lennox. Shifters matter and more and more they’re being forced into the shadows by loudmouth speciesist bigots. We can’t allow the bad guys to win.”

If she cares enough about shifters to protect us from an increasingly hostile world, then I can do no less. “Are you ready?” I ask her.

She nods and turns to Dale who pulls her in for a quick hug before handing her a tool kit. “Go save the world, Lopez.”

“Yes, sir!” She gives him an awkward salute and says to Magdalene, “I’m ready for my next teleportation.”

Magdalene conjures a portal. Dale gapes, stepping back.

Magdalene winks at him and waves Charlie forward. “One of these days, I’m going to start charging for services. I do have a life beyond making travel faster and easier for everyone, you know.”

“Can we get a saving-the-planet discount?” Charlie asks, reaching for my hand.

A surge of fear goes through me as I note her hands are unprotected.

I need my fingers to disarm the bombs, she explains.

Her explanation doesn’t calm my wolf who is obsessing over images of Charlie getting her hands blown off. I shove his manic ass to the back of my mind and step through the portal with Charlie.

A second later, we’re standing on the main floor of the UN building, which seems to have been evacuated.

“Over here,” someone says and the three of us turn to look.

A security guard waves at us. Standing next to him is my brother, Lock.

“Brother,” he says embracing me.

“Lock,” I greet him. “This is Charlie Lopez.”

He stares down at her, his eyes twinkling as he takes her in. “You’ve got a bit more padding than I thought you would.”

“Don’t be stupid.” I say, then turn to the guard. “Everyone out?”

He nods then jerks his head toward Lock. “This one insisted on staying.”

“You found the bomb?” I ask.

“It’s in subbasement two.” He walks toward a bank of elevators, but instead of taking an elevator he points to the stairs.

Charlie struggles with the stairs, her suit hampering her, so I pick her up and carry her.

The guard talks as we walk. “Subbasement two houses essential building utilities like the HVAC system, electrical panels, plumbing, and several storage rooms.” The guard opens a heavy fire door at the bottom of the stairs and waves us through. It’s noticeably warmer on this floor and I worry about Charlie overheating in her suit.

I’ll be fine. I’ve had many, many hours of bomb disposal practice in this suit in every type of weather you can imagine, from scorching summer days to snowy winter ones.

Again, my admiration for my mate knows no bounds.

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