Charity Rising (Charity Series Book 2) (13 page)

Rol ing my eyes, I pushed them aside and made my way to the basement to start the long process of discovery.

It was early afternoon when we final y took a much-needed break. Chase was taking a late lunch break and brought some food and coffee

down with him. He picked up one of the books we’d been looking through and read it while he ate. “This is interesting,” he began, “listen to this. It says here that although alpha twins a rare, when they do occur, one may have a tendency to kil the other, eliminating the competition, so to speak. It is rumored that some parents may even take desperate measures to separate the twins, even sending one away to be raised in secret in order to

protect them both.” He glanced up then. “Wow, if that’s true then think of al the alphas that might have a twin in the world somewhere and don’t even know it. Pretty interesting stuff.”

Ashley was the first to respond. “I can’t imagine how hard that would be to separate your children, especial y twins. You know they say that

twins have a special connection to each other. It just seems so unfair to separate them.”

“Yeah,” I added, “but if they were in danger from each other a parent would have to do it if they loved them, right?”

“I guess.”

I was in the middle of taking a bite of my sandwich when it hit me. “Wait a minute.”

Ash looked up in surprise. “What it is?”

“That explains everything! Ash, we have to go back right now! I know what’s wrong with Levi!” I kissed Chase on the cheek. “Thank you,

Chase. If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have figured it out.”

He looked puzzled, but responded, “Okay, your welcome, Charity. Glad I could help. Please come back and visit us again.”

“We wil !” I cal ed to him as we dashed up the stairs and out of sight.

Surprisingly no one tried to stop us as Ashley and I charged through the facility, not slowing our stride until we came to the Alpha Wing. There

were people lining the wal s and hovering around Levi’s bedroom door, peering in and murmuring, their faces tainted with concern.

I became more alarmed the closer I got. When I stepped inside, walking into the center of the room, I froze. Levi was lying motionless on the

bed, covered only by a sheet to his waist.

“Levi!” I cried, rushing to his bedside.

Everyone moved out of my way as I knelt beside him, grabbing his hand in mine. His eyes were closed, his face pale and lips white. I

touched his bare chest. His skin felt cool and clammy against my shaky fingers. My heart pounded out of fear. He was dying! Turning his right hand

over, I stared down at the smal , vine-like symbol on his palm. The blue was almost completely gone—replaced by black. I glanced down into the

face of my magnificent husband—the only love I’l ever know, and knew what I needed to do.

Without further hesitation, I jumped to my feet. “Everybody out!! Everybody out now!!” I demanded, ushering everyone through the door,

shutting and locking it behind them. I stripped out of my clothes as I crossed the room, leaving them in heaps on the floor. Climbing into bed beside him, I turned his face toward me and whispered, “Levi, look at me.” He didn’t open his eyes. I fought the tears as I leaned in and began kissing his face softly. “Levi. Please don’t leave me. I love you so much. I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry for getting so mad at you for locking me in our room.

I’m sorry for leaving on vacation without making things right with you. I’m sorry for al the fighting we’ve been doing. But mostly, I’m sorry for being such a pain in the butt. Levi, do you hear me? I’m so sorry. Please don’t leave me.” I rested my head on his chest, listening to his faint heartbeat. I picked up his hand, pressing it against mine so that our connection symbols touched. Gasping, I felt a heated tingling that started in my palm and

spread throughout the rest of my body. I instantly knew there was stil hope. I positioned my body, towering over him and pressed my lips gently to his. Minutes passed and nothing. I had a thought and bolted out of bed and over to my jeans where I found my lip balm and applied a generous

coating. Repositioning myself over him, I pressed my lips to his once again, hoping the scent found him and triggered his memory. Suddenly, as if a bolt of lightning had surged through him, his mouth opened and his lips slowly began to devour mine as his body trembled in response. His fingers

sought my face and inched into my hair, grasping handfuls. Urgently, even violently, he crushed himself to me. As his body heated against mine, and as his strength began to return, I felt whole for the first time in days—final y I was home. His head popped up and his eyes flew open. “Charity? Are you real y here?” he asked, eyes tearful.

I smiled, sighing in relief. “Yes, puppy, it’s me. I’m real y here. And I’m not leaving your side this time no matter what you say.”

Tears leaked from his eyes as he pul ed my head down and our lips met once again.

It was in the middle of the night when I emerged from the room, arm in arm with my happy, and healed, husband. He cal ed a meeting to

discuss my new theory. I noted lots of sleepy smiles as we strol ed through the Meeting Room toward the stage.

Levi stepped up onto the low stage, turning to address everyone. “I know it’s late and I appreciate al of you getting out of bed to be here. I’ve

cal ed this meeting to discuss a new revelation. Charity has brought something to my attention that I think we need to discuss. She and Ashley spent the weekend in Frazier studying our archives there, and made a discovery. Charity is convinced that I have a twin.”

Before he could continue the room was abuzz with protests.

“But how could that be? We would know something like that,” Ian said.

“Yeah, we would know,” Jared added.

“Are you saying someone has been impersonating you? That’s not possible.”

“Yes it is!” Joseph said, bursting into the room. “It’s possible if the person impersonating you is identical to you.”

Levi looked stunned, his face turning pale yet again. “Father, do you know anything about this?”

“Yes, I’m afraid I do,” he said. “The person that’s been impersonating you is your twin brother. I’m sorry, Levi. Your mother and I kept this from

you for your own good, but it seems that now he has come looking for us. So I guess it’s time you knew the truth.

“Twins are very rare in the alpha line, only two reported cases in our history books. In both cases, however, because of our competitive

nature, one twin kil ed the other, assuring his place as alpha. When the two of you were born, your mother and I had a hard decision to make. Do we keep you both and take a chance on losing one of you, or do we separate you so that both of you survive? We chose the latter. You were the oldest

by three minutes so we kept you. We found a couple in our pack that weren’t able to have children and sent them away with your brother to live in

secret. We’ve struggled with that decision from that day until now. His name is Eli.”

The room was in total silence.

Joseph walked over to Levi, who was stil stunned and standing lifeless, and put both hands on his shoulder. “I’m sorry for the deception my

son, but it was necessary in order to protect you both. Forgive me.”

He glanced at his father then, shock stil evident on his face. “Yes, of course, Father.” It took a few moments, but he managed to snap out of

it. “Okay, now that we know who he is—what does he want? And why is he impersonating me and making moves on my wife?!” His face turned

angry.

I too became angry now that the theory was proven as fact. “But why would he do that? I mean, what do I have to do with him?!”

“Charity,” Levi said, approaching me, “can you ever forgive me? I knew you were tel ing the truth, and yet I couldn’t deny the scent. It’s so

close to my own that I almost didn’t catch it. I’m so sorry. Please say you forgive me,” he pleaded, his eyes slightly moist.

I wanted to be angry, but I understood where he was coming from. I remember when Selena snuck into our room and made a move on him. I

felt the same way, even slapping his face. I peered up into his magnificent eyes, remembering just how close I came to losing him forever. I touched his face, recal ing how pale and lifeless it was only hours before. “Of course I forgive you. How could I not?”

“Thank you. I’l make it up to you somehow.” He picked up my hand and brought it to his lips, kissing it gently. His eyes turned hard, a flicker

of yel ow flashing in them. “My brother, on the other hand, wil not get off so easily. He wil regret ever touching you, along with al this mess he has created.”

A chil ran down my spine.

Josh interrupted, “What do you think he wants, Joseph?”

“I’m not sure. Revenge perhaps, or maybe he’s just curious. But whatever it is we need to find out. It seems that Charity is the only one he

has approached.”

“Yes, and why is that?” I asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Levi added in a snarl not directed at me. “He’s attracted to you. Maybe he thinks you should belong to him, along with the

pack. Maybe he wants to replace me.”

I would’ve shrieked, but it wasn’t my style. “Replace you? But you’re a great leader. He hasn’t been raised in the pack, or even as an alpha.

How could he justify taking over? Besides, you’re the oldest.”

“I don’t know, but trust me when I say this……we’re going to find out.”

“You have to make sure you don’t let him know you’ve found him out,” Levi began. “He has to believe you stil think he’s me. And when he

shows up I want you to get him to the clearing where we wil be waiting for him.”

“But how wil I know it’s not you? Other than the fact that his hair has a slight red tint, and he’s a little more tanned that you, and maybe you’re a little tal er, he looks just like you.”

He rol ed his eyes. “And you didn’t know it wasn’t me, how?”

“Hey! How was I supposed to know God would make two of you?! And leave the sarcasm to me, why don’t ya!”

“Fine. But just use your instincts. Notice his scent, study his connection symbol, notice if it’s on the correct hand and correct spot. Be

observant. If he says anything that I wouldn’t say, or how about this, every time I greet you, until this is over, I’l cal you by your pet name.”

“Okay. I guess that’l work. What do I do once I know it’s him?”

“Cal Hector and tel him the two of you are going to the clearing to spend some time alone. In truth, Hector wil know to notify me. We’l meet

you there and find out what this brother of mine is up to. Please don’t let him know you suspect him. He could be dangerous. And be especial y

careful.”

“Fine. But I don’t like this one bit, just so you know.”

“Noted.”

I narrowed my eyes at him.
Smart-alec
.

I was relieved out of my mind to have the mystery solved, at least part of it. That’s why Levi was acting strange at the Prom. I gasped. That

fool had his hands al over me! And I made out with him! But as I recal ed the scenes more closely I realized, to my horror, that it was me who

instigated al of it. He didn’t kiss me until I kissed him first. He was just responding to me.
Great. Add guilt to all the other emotions I was
experiencing. Just pile it on.

In the meantime, I continued to work on my cooking. Knowing it was important to me, Levi made arrangements for me to cook alongside

their chef, Chef Barney, a serious man with a large bel y and a strong, Italian accent. However, after only one short hour, he shooed me out saying I was wreaking havoc on his kitchen.
Geez, werewolf chefs are so touchy
. So I went home and started practicing in my own kitchen. I started with a cake. Only a fool can mess that up.

When I was finished, it looked pretty good. Maybe I could be proud of this one. No such luck. Just cal me a fool. I took it to the Drake House,

thinking that the children would love it. Instead, they had a food fight with it. I was mortified; that cake had taken me most of the afternoon. So what if the icing looked like Pepto Bismol.

To cheer me up, Levi took me out to dinner. It was our favorite restaurant, Giovanna’s, located just outside of town, in the gloomy city

ironical y named Happy, N.C. We asked for our usual private booth and spent most of our dinner making out. It was nice to be just a teenager in

love and nothing else. Levi felt it too. He needed time away from his responsibilities and al the anxiety of the new revelation that he was no longer an only child. He’s missed years with his brother, yet al he wanted to do was kil him. After al , we had been through hel because of him, and yet our connection was much stronger as a result. For some reason every time our heart connection was re-established it seemed to grow stronger. Go

figure.

“You know, you need to have a serious talk with that chef of yours,” I said, snuggling against him in the safety of our private booth.

His strong arms came around me. “Oh yeah? What about, exactly?”

I peered up at him and pouted. “He ran me out of his kitchen today. He was a maniac, shaking pans in the air, yel ing something in Italian. I

told him if he was gonna cuss me he’d better do it in English to give me the satisfaction of defending myself.”

He looked at me, wide-eyed. “And what did he say to that?”

“He yel ed, ‘
Carolo! Mi lasce in pace
!’ Or something like that. It sounds like cussing to me. Do you know what he’s saying?”

He was in the process of stifling a laugh. “Yeah, I know, but I think I’l let you figure it out on your own.”

“Oh I wil , you’l see,” I huffed.

Soon his phone buzzed and our evening was over. It was one I truly hated to see come to an end. By Levi’s expression he felt it too.

I was sitting on my sofa in the living room watching
The Food Network
when Levi knocked once and came in through the front door.