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The next thing she heard was a gunshot, curses, more muffled voices, a distinct scuffle, and then silence. Charlotte backed up until her bare skin hit the wall. Who the hell was out there? Could it be Pete? No, she instantly brushed that thought away. He was done with her, he made that pretty clear. Roman? Could be, she decided. He could have followed her when she left this morning and saw her being dragged away later. Maybe he just waited until Douglas left before coming in for her. She was relieved at the thought she might be saved, but the ache in her chest told her she would have much rather it be the former man than the latter.

At this point, she rationalized, anyone will do. She just needed to get to Bridge. The door opened and a complete stranger walked in. Okay…not what she was expecting. He was large, filling the doorway, his eyes landing on her, taking her in slowly. She became very aware of the fact she was practically nude.

“Are you Charlotte?” he asked in his Scottish brogue. She nodded. He turned around and yelled, his voice echoing down the hall. “I found her!”

What the heck? She didn’t dare move. Okay, maybe she couldn’t…actually…move. She was cold, scared, and confused. Suddenly staying in this tiny room didn’t seem so bad. There were loud footsteps as someone ran to her room and then suddenly there he was. She made herself blink a few times just to be sure she was seeing things correctly. Pete’s eyes landed on hers and a burst of fire ignited in her stomach. One second he was across the room and the next he had her pressed up against him, his face in her hair.

“Jesus,” he said, his voice muffled. “I’m so glad I found you.”

He was? Her heart raced with his nearness and the warmth coming off him as he held her. She had no idea why he was there, but she was just so happy to see him that she didn’t think twice about throwing her arms around his neck and clinging to him. She breathed in deeply, loving the familiar smell and feel of him. He pulled her tighter, his arm squeezed her waist and a pained yelp escaped her before she could hide it. He instantly let go and she frowned at the loss.

“Look at you,” he said, his green eyes growing brighter with anger. “What the fuck did they do to you?”

“I’m fine,” she said.

“No you’re not.” He dropped to his knees in front of her, his head coming right to her breast. His hands ran over her body, probing and searching every bruise marking her pale skin. He forced her to turn around, even when she protested, so he could look at her back too. Then he spun her back, his fingers gently touching the cut on her lip.

“Who did this?” he asked.

“The guy that was in here with me,” she said. “I’m fine though.”

His mouth pressed into a firm line and he stood up. Both hands cupped her face gently as his eyes bore into hers. “Charlotte Hatcher, I love you. More than I can express. And this,” he said, motioning to her injuries before placing his hand back on her face, “this will never happen again. I won’t let it. You’re mine now. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

The burning sensation at the back of her throat choked her as tears welled in her eyes. “I thought you hated me,” she said, her voice cracking.

“I’m an idiot, Charlotte. I should have never listened to a word that dick said to me. I’ll never doubt you – ever. I’m so in love with you, sweetheart, I don’t even know what to do with myself when you’re not near me.” She felt the hot tears spill over and run down her cheeks just as he grabbed her and pulled her mouth to his. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, drinking him in. He loved her. And she loved him. She didn’t even know how to process that right now.

Someone cleared their throat behind Pete. “Uh, sorry to interrupt,” he said. They pulled apart, and Charlotte looked over at Trent’s amused face smiling at them. “Hey Din – uh, Charlotte.”

She laughed. “Hey.”

“You’re looking good,” he said, his eyes scanning her slowly, one side of his mouth lifting in a smirk.

“You better stop that, or I swear I’ll punch you in the throat,” Pete said, wrapping himself around her so she was hidden. “Here,” he said, letting her go so he could pull his sweater over his head. “Wear this.”

She took his shirt thankfully. It was still warm and smelled like him. The sleeves fell just below her finger tips, the hem reaching almost to her knees. Pete made a weird growl noise from the back of his throat. She looked up to see him watching her appreciatively.

“I like you in my clothes,” he said with heated eyes.

“Seriously,” Trent said, exasperated. “We need to go – like, now.”

Pete looked down at the manacle around her ankle. “We need to get this off of her first.”

“Tyler!” Trent called out into the hall. “We need your expertise.”

The Scottish man came back in, walking over to them with an air of confidence. He was bearded, tatted, and rather intimidating that she found herself just watching him closely. His hands were warm against her cold skin as he circled her ankle easily, checking out the lock. He reached into his back pocket, pulling out small tools that she couldn’t see clearly as he bent over her foot to work. In what felt like seconds she heard the lock click and the pressure around her ankle released. Charlotte breathed a sigh of relief, rotating her foot in slow circles.

“Thank you,” she said, gratefully.

“No problem, Lass,” he said with a smile.

“Great, now let’s move,” Trent said urgently.

“What about Bridgette?” Pete said, grabbing her hand. Charlotte pulled him to a stop.

“She’s gone,” she said.

Both of them looked at her, confused. “Gone where?” asked Pete.

“To headquarters. In my clothes.”

She watched as they both put it together at the same time. Curses flew from their mouths. Before she knew it, Pete had her hand again and was pulling her quickly through a dark hallway. Trent was talking about going to Michael’s, while Pete just kept cursing. Charlotte had no idea what was going to happen now, but she knew they needed to get to Bridge somehow and get her out, before anyone there realized they’d been switched.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

When they reached Pete’s father’s place, everyone started talking at once and it became utter chaos. His dad took one look at her and demanded she be put to bed. Now Charlotte lay in one of the spare bedrooms, Seamus asleep in the other, and waited. Michael had already bandaged her up, and gently checked out her ribs. Nothing was broken, thankfully. She could hear the murmur of voices from the living room down the hall, but she couldn’t make out exactly what they were saying. She would have got up and gone to listen, but Michael gave her strict instructions not to move.

She was bored. With nothing better to do, she found herself falling asleep even though it was still light outside. She figured she’d just close her eyes for a few minutes, but the next thing she knew she was out.

Gentle fingers stroked through her hair as she slowly regained consciousness. Soft lips traced the outline of her ear, placing a small kiss just behind it. She lay still, enjoying the feel of him as he continued his exploration down the side of her neck to the sensitive part between it and her shoulder. Unable to sit still any longer, she mumbled incoherently like she was just waking up, blinking her eyes as she looked over her shoulder.

“Trent,” she said, making her voice sound groggy with sleep. Pete’s entire body stiffened behind hers. She rolled onto her back and started laughing the second she saw his stunned expression. It slowly turned dark, his eyes narrowing, as she continued to laugh, holding on to her sore stomach.

“You think that’s funny?” he said, growling his words.

“You should have seen your face,” she said, wiping at her eyes. “That was priceless.”

“Woman, you will pay for that.” He rolled on top of her, the weight of him sinking her into the mattress. This two hands pinned hers above her head on the pillow while he snuggled his hips between her legs.

“I don’t mean to burst your bubble,” she said, blowing a piece of hair out of her face since she currently had no use of her hands. “But this isn’t really much of a payback.”

“Fine. You’ll pay later…when I’ve thought up an appropriate retaliation.”

She shook her head, smiling. “You suck.”

“You’re mean,” he said, his voice teasing.

She raised her eyebrows in mock offense. “I’ll have you know, I am actually quite nice to you. You should see me with other people. You have no idea how much of a bitch I can be.”

He gasped, making her giggle. “You mean to say you’re even bitchier to others? I feel terrible for the general population that they should have to endure such a horror.”

“You should. It’s awful.” He laughed, dipping his head to run his nose over her collarbone lightly. “You really do bring out the weaker side of me. I’m not sure if I should be happy or pissed off about that.”

“Weaker like you don’t feel the need to kick ass anymore?” he asked, running his lips up the opposite side of her neck now.

“No,” she said, her voice breathy. “More like all I do is think about you and act like some stupid girl in love.”

He lifted his head, his mouth stretched in a silly grin. “You are some stupid girl in love.”

“Doesn’t mean I should act like it.”

He nipped her bottom lip, pulling away quickly. “Well, for the record, as long as you still want to kick ass, I think it’s okay for me to be your one weakness.”

“So long as you’re the only one?”

“Absolutely.” He kissed each side of her mouth, before finally planting one fully on her lips. He lingered there, nipping at her lightly and then kissing it again, before pulling back to stare down at her. “I love you, Charlotte. I know we have a long road ahead of us, but there’s no one else I’d rather walk it with than you.”

“Ditto.”

“Ditto? That’s the best you could do? I just spent the last hour thinking up that line.”

“If it took you a whole hour to think up one line I wouldn’t be bragging about it.”

He growled, lowering his head to take her lips again, this time opening hers with a brush of his tongue before plunging in and completely stealing her breath. Their tongues tangled in frantic need. He let go of her hands to hold the sides of her face, angling their heads to deepen the kiss even further. Charlotte gripped his shoulders tightly, pressing herself closer. She wanted to feel every inch of him against her.

“I need you,” she whispered against his lips. He moaned, pulling away, his breath coming out fast.

“There is a room full of people just down the hall, one of them being my da,” he said.

“So?”

He looked at her, his eyes bright with desire, his lips swollen and red from their kisses. Then he shrugged and said, “yeah, you’re right.” His mouth devoured hers, sucking her tongue into his mouth, licking and tasting her until he pulled back with one final lick over the cut on her lower lip. “Are you sure you’re okay to do this?”

She huffed, pushing at his chest to give her room so she could pull his shirt off him. “I could be half dead and I’d still be okay to do this.”

“That’s my girl.” He helped rip the sweater off then went to work on pulling down her panties. As he pulled them over her feet, he stood up at the end of the bed and quickly undressed, almost tripping in his haste to get out of his pants. He slipped a condom on before placing his knee on the bed, his hands gripping her thighs, widening them.

He crept up her body, taking one nipple into his mouth on the way then switching to the other as cool air hit the one he’d just left. By the time he reached her mouth she was practically begging him to enter her. He kissed her mouth slowly as he positioned himself before thrusting forward until his hips rubbed against her. He swallowed her cry, continuing his assault on her mouth as he moved in a slow, agonizing rhythm.

She lifted her hips whenever he pushed forward, urging him silently to move quicker, harder. Separating their mouths, he lifted himself up on his hands, the muscles in his arms and shoulders straining above her. She let her hands drift over his skin, committing every dip and rise to memory. He started to move faster, pounding against her. Her orgasm hit unexpectedly and she opened her mouth to cry out. One of his hands covered her mouth as she climaxed around him, her inside walls gripping him tightly. He followed soon after, dropping his face into her neck, moaning her name.

Charlotte held onto him tightly as they both regained their breaths. When he pulled out slowly they moaned together. She instantly felt the loss of him. She loved being connected to him in that most intimate way. She didn’t think she’d ever get tired of it. Pete collapsed beside her, drawing her into his arms and covering them with the blanket. She rested her head against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart.

“What are we going to do about Bridgette?” she asked after they lay there in silence for a while.

He shifted so one hand was stroking her arm softly. “I sent a few guys to check things out. She was already inside.”

“If they figure out what my father has done, they’ll kill her.”

“I know,” he said quietly. “We’ll get her back, Charlotte. I promise.”

She traced her fingers down his chest. “What about my father?”

He sighed. “Your dad has lost sight of what’s important. We’re going to need to take control from him. I don’t want to be a part of his movement if he’s going to be spilling blood as easily as Tenebris does.”

“I’d like to say he’s changed a lot since I knew him, but I’m not sure that would be the truth. I think my dad was always as callous as he is now.”

“Well he certainly didn’t show it. He’s showing his true colours, and a lot of us aren’t happy about it. We need to figure out our next steps in saving this rebellion so that there’s actually a population left when it’s all done. First we need to get Bridge.”

She nodded against him. “I can’t lose her again.”

He kissed the top of her head. “You won’t.”

The door opened a fraction, his father’s head popping in to look at them with raised eyebrows. “I told you she needed to rest,” he said accusingly.

“She is resting,” Pete said, pulling her closer.