Charity Received (19 page)

It still seemed like a dream, one he feared he would wake from and find his arms cruelly empty. His mind was trying to wrap around the fact that he was no longer alone. Having a mate was something he’d wished, begged, and prayed for, but he’d never really understood what it would mean to his life, the change it would bring.

Now he understood why many of his brethren had fallen after Atlantis had sunk.

Kash was so deeply bonded to Charity that her feelings felt like his own. It was as if a piece of himself had been missing, a jagged, empty hole in the center of his chest.

His mate plugged that hole from edge to edge, filling him to the brim. She brought him peace.

Pulled from his musings, Kash sensed there was someone else in their quarters.

After easing out of bed, careful not to wake Charity, he slid on the sweatpants he’d stripped off his mate not four hours ago. Then he reached for one of the swords he always kept just under his bed and quietly descended the stairs. Even though he knew who was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking his coffee, Kash wasn’t certain of the other male’s intentions and entered the room ready to do battle if necessary.

Remy’s gaze rested on the sword. “Intending for a fight to break out, or just feeling impotent?”

Kash folded his arms across his chest, the cold steel resting against his bicep. “You tell me.”

Remy shrugged, lifting the cup to his lips and taking a drink. “Only you can be the judge, Kash.”

With a snort, Kash tossed the sword on the table, turned to grab a cup from the cabinet, and filled it with the coffee Remy had apparently made. After taking a quick gulp of the liquid, he looked at his leader. “To what do I owe this honor, Grand Pooh-Bah?”

Remy’s lips twitched in amusement. “I hear whisperings, but you don’t come over…

You don’t call. What’s a leader to think?”

Kash smirked, collapsing into a chair across from Remy. “What can I say? I’m a selfish bastard.”

Remy stood, fingers wrapped around the cup of coffee, and Kash knew he would be losing his favorite Monty Python mug. He was already trying to determine how he was going to steal it back when Remy said, “I never would have thought it. Not one but two heart mates, after all these years. You should consider yourself very fortunate.” Even though he knew it wasn’t Remy’s intention, a twinge of guilt crept over Kash. But before he could respond with more than a nod, Remy rose to his feet.

“I’ll leave you to your smooching and snuggling. I just wanted to let you know I have given in to Zeke’s suggestion…” Remy rolled his eyes, and Kash grinned. “I’m holding off meeting the O’Malley alpha until I’ve spoken to Charity. I would like the two of you to attend the meeting this evening.”

Kash stood, then walked behind Remy down to his forge. “We’ll be there.”

Remy paused at the door. “Good. Hopefully she’ll be able to shed some light on these attacks, and we can get this crap resolved.”

Kash wasn’t certain what, if anything, Charity could do to help with the wolf situation. He’d gotten the distinct impression she had no solutions for them, but as he slid the door closed behind Remy, he decided the time to worry about that would come soon enough. Right now he only wanted to crawl back into bed, and maybe with the right encouragement, he could wake her.

He sighed in frustration as a knock on the door forced him to turn back and allow Penny into the room. The tears streaming down her cheeks filled him with guilt. He didn’t want to deal with her loss, only revel in his own joy. But he opened his arms to her anyway, relieved to discover as she clung to him that there was no pain, only a mild discomfort that he could ignore.

* * *

Charity didn’t have to open her eyes to know Kash no longer lay beside her. Her first instinct was always to inhale deeply upon waking, to sense with her nostrils if anyone else was present—a habit from her years in captivity. Then she rolled to his side of the bed, found it was already cold, and was surprised she’d slept through his rising. Usually even the slightest vibration brought her from a dead sleep to instant alertness. Her wolf must have felt safe.

She sat up, the sheet tucked under her arms as she glanced around the bedroom.

The T-shirt she’d worn earlier was draped across the end of the bed, and she pulled it over her head. After urgent needs were attended to, Charity slipped quietly down the stairs, looking for her mate.

The trail he’d left led her into the small kitchen. Kash and another male had occupied the small space, but what caught her attention was the coffee warming on the counter. She sighed as her first sip of heaven slid down her throat. Knowing she’d have to give it up and switch to decaf only made her appreciate the spike of caffeine all the more. Then, with the cup sporting the words “I’m a lumberjack and I’m okay” in bold, pink letters held tightly in her grip, Charity continued down the stairs.

She found him, all right—holding another female in his arms—and the cup she’d just been so pleased about fell from her fingers, forgotten, shattering around her.

Charity didn’t even notice the hot coffee or shards of glass hitting her bare legs and feet.

Kash pushed the female from his embrace. “Jesus, chérie. Are you all right?” He stalked toward her, but ignoring his words, Charity retreated a few steps. “Damn it, Charity, don’t move. You’re stepping right in it.”

She couldn’t make sense of his angrily spoken words. The wolf in her didn’t like seeing her mate in the arms of another, the night she’d thought she’d lost him to Hope still too fresh, while the human side of her was swamped in confusion. Who was this female, and why was she in their den?

Kash only grinned as he scooped her off her feet and cradled her against his chest.

“You know I love it when you turn into a jealous shrew,” he murmured into her ear before placing a soft kiss on her neck. “But I don’t like it when you hurt yourself.”

He placed her on a stool and went down one knee to carefully examine the damage to her skin. He removed a few slivers of porcelain as she stared at him, dumbfounded. The hands that ran over her skin slowly warmed, and Charity was surprised she didn’t melt into a puddle at his feet.

“Penny, this is my mate. Charity, my sister Penny.”

As Charity glanced over Kash’s shoulder at the copper-haired female, she couldn’t stifle her snort. It seemed he had managed to get her right where he wanted her with little trouble, and if that didn’t just piss her off.

Penny gave a tentative smile, and for the first time, Charity noticed the wetness on her cheeks. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Charity. It’s a good thing you’ve returned.

Kash was getting pathetic. Truly. It was a sad sight to bear witness to.”

With a small smile, Charity tried to ease Penny’s trepidation. She reached for Kash’s hand and entwined their fingers together before tugging him to his feet. “I’m okay,” she reassured him, then turned her attention back to Kash’s sister. Penny was tall—taller than Charity’s five-nine—and possessed a grace and beauty that clearly marked her as one of the Grigori. “Thank you for the welcome. I’m just sorry I interrupted. You two must have important matters to discuss.”

Penny glanced at Kash, a sadness washing across her features. “No. Nothing important,” she finally replied quietly with a small shake of her head.

Charity’s gaze roamed from Kash to Penny for just a moment. Then, just as sure as if Kash had spoken, an overwhelming sense of loss—one she remembered far too well

—encompassed her. Penny was in mourning.

With Kash hovering at her elbow, Charity approached Penny and wrapped her arms around the startled female. “If you ever need someone to talk to, to just listen, or a shoulder to cry on, I can’t speak for Kash, but you are welcome to use mine anytime.

Now I’ll let you two resume your conversation.”

Stepping back, she reached out and touched Kash’s chest as she attempted to bypass him. Instead he gathered her into his arms and bent his lips to hers. If love had a taste, Charity knew it was this: Kash, hazelnut coffee, and just a hint of mint.

“No, I should be going,” Penny said with a trace of amusement, but Charity barely heard her. Pressed tightly against Kash, she was having a difficult time concentrating on anything but her mate and how she wanted to wrap her legs around his waist.

Neither heard Penny slide the door shut behind her. Kash had just discovered she hadn’t slipped on any underwear and was already trying to get out of his sweatpants while keeping her tucked tightly against him. He eventually got them down far enough to bend her over the same stool she’d just been occupying only moments before.

Charity was never going to be able to look at his forge in the same way. Ever. Not that she was complaining.

* * *

After Charity had showered and discovered the duffel bag filled with her things on the bed, she joined Kash back in his forge. Her mate had also cleaned up and was now working on a motorcycle in the middle of the room. She paused in the alcove, observing the golden light that emanated from Kash’s hand. The metal buckled under the heat, and with his other hand, he began to mold it with a rubber mallet.

On several occasions, she had noticed heat coming from Kash’s hands. Apparently he had control over fire.

The door was wide open, giving Charity a clear view of the large courtyard and the main residence across the way. Soon it would be dark, and she would need to leave for work. She wondered how she should broach the subject with Kash.

“Penny seems nice,” she said, running a hand over the helmet he’d made for Hope.

When Kash only grunted in reply, Charity glanced at him, finding her mate absorbed in his work. “I’ll need to leave soon.” At this, his head popped up, and when she felt his dismay, she added, “I have to work tonight.”

His relief was minimal; her words seemed to sharpen his anxiety. “We must attend the nightly meeting. I’ll talk to Remy about having my assignment changed to go with you. But if I can’t, chérie, you may be forced to give up your job for the time being.”

A gamut of emotions ran through Charity: annoyance that she didn’t know who Remy was, anger that he thought she would just quit her job, and betrayal that Kash was taking his side. She needed that job to survive.

“You need nothing that I cannot provide for you, Charity.” When she growled at his words, he sighed and rose from his chair. “I understand the desire to want to make your own way. But the bastard who kidnapped Faith is still on the loose.”

“Yes, a demon.”

Kash shook his head slowly. “Raym is more than a demon. He was my best friend.

Penny’s lover. He killed his own twin. Tried to kill Bale’s mate. I fear he won’t hesitate to hurt you, and it’s a risk I will not take.”

He pulled her into his embrace as she tried to come to terms with all Kash had informed her of in those few words. One of his brethren…from Grigori to demon.

Charity nodded into his shoulder. Against most demons, she stood a fighting chance.

But she wasn’t dumb enough to believe she could face off against an archdemon and live.

“So this meeting, when is it?”

Kash glanced out into the waning daylight. “Soon. We have one every evening before the others head out to hunt.”

Charity noticed he didn’t include himself. “And what do you do?”

“I stay here and man the fort.” With a sardonic grin, he returned to his bike. “None of the others are familiar enough with Raym’s setup to shut the place down if we are attacked.”

Charity sat on the stool near him, his smoldering gaze reminding her of what they’d done while she was draped across that stool not so long ago. “Stop that,” she said, her tone a cross between a plea and a reprimand as she looked away. “Can’t you teach any of the others?”

With a delicious grin, Kash went to work, molding the dent from the side of his motorcycle. “You know what they say about old dogs?”

“You mean about teaching them new tricks?” she asked, his grin infectious.

“Yeah. Arak is the most computer savvy of the group, and he has only managed to learn how to fuck around with our phones. E-mail stumps the shit out of him.”

Charity giggled. “I think Casanova is playing you. He doesn’t want to miss his nightly shag sessions.”

Kash’s deep chuckle washed over her. “Probably. None of them want to get stuck here any more than I did. Raym got off on playing with his computers, but then, he’d never really liked hunting. The killing made him queasy, which is funny, considering.” Kash shook his head. “Maybe he just didn’t like killing his own kind.”

“I’m sorry, baby,” Charity said softly, her mate’s pain cutting her deeply.

He met her gaze, and he was silent for a moment before saying hoarsely, “Chérie, finding you more than makes up for any treachery by Raym.”

She nodded, allowing them to fall into an easy silence as Kash went about repairing his bike. Charity wasn’t exactly a computer expert, but maybe she could find a way to make up to her mate for all the heartache she’d caused him by misconstruing his relationship with Hope—not one of her finer moments.

* * *

Charity was hit with a sudden sense of trepidation when all eyes turned to her as she entered the library. She clung to Kash’s hand, a variety of emotions bombarding her: fear, uncertainty, doubt. And these were coming from the males she knew. Her wolf was indignant. She considered these males her pack, and at least one of them was downright hostile.

Kash angled his body slightly in front of hers and quickly introduced those she’d never met. Levi was a very attractive male. His golden blond hair fell in waves around his face in shaggy disarray, and a day’s worth of stubble decorated his chin.

He tried to keep his left side turned away from her, hiding the vicious scar that ran from his temple across his cheek, but she had managed to catch a glimpse once or twice.

Jet was dressed as Faith was known to refer to him as—Cowboy—in full leather chaps, boots, and black hat. Charity could just make out a lock of auburn hair under the wide brim. Where the scar did nothing to diminish Levi’s attractiveness, Jet’s scowl certainly did. It didn’t take much for her to get he wasn’t going to welcome her.