“You okay?”
“Yeah. Of course, I’m great.”
“You’ve been in here for eons.”
“I’m taking my time. Just was about to shower. I’ve got things on my mind.”
“Wanna unload?”
“It’s just…” She drew in a breath and let it back out. “Ever since the mugging, nothing has happened. Not even so much as a hiccup. Your mail is being monitored, security has never been higher, and of course all the personal guards. I just don’t understand what’s going on.”
“I’m sure your people will figure it out. You’ll get it.”
The back of her neck prickled with unease. Something was wrong here and she had the bad feeling that it was going to get worse before it got better. She felt like she was trying to get through this labyrinth of a problem blindfolded and it bothered her that Zane didn’t have a concern in the world. If nothing else, she expected him to worry about the fans.
“You’re so carefree. I wish I could feel that relaxed.”
At her words, he took her in his arms. Leaning into his embrace, her back pressed to his chest, Charlie relaxed and enjoyed the clichéd pink hue that truly did seem to be following her. They hadn’t been doing much besides a lot of laughing and a lot more loving, but each day they bonded more fully and it melted the doubts and worries away. She wanted this tour to continue on forever. If only she could relax, escape from the nightmares of the explosion, the nightmares of finding Zane’s body, horribly still and broken.
Shifting and cuddling her head onto his shoulder, Charlie breathed deeply. “What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you had to go meet with the guys and get ready for tonight’s show. You’ve only got three more until this tour is officially over. I’m sure you guys are going to have all sorts of shenanigans planned.”
“Shenanigans?” He laughed. “What are you, eighty?”
“You know what I mean.” As his hands played across her skin, she shook her head. “Quit that.”
“You’re fussing too much. I have a little more time with you, so I might as well make things more interesting for the both of us, rather than you fussing like a wet hen.”
Feeling his hands roving along her stomach, dipping lower towards the cradle of her hips and going lower, she hissed and squirmed.
“You like that baby?” The rough gravel of his voice made Charlie tremble and buck her hips towards his questing fingers.
“Oh god.”
The fingers stopped. “You didn’t tell me you liked it.”
“You know I do.”
A chuckle sounded in her ear. “Say it.”
“Yes. Yes, I like it.”
“What am I doing?”
“Touching me…”
“Where?”
Charlie felt the embarrassment, the arousal burning hot across her face and she couldn’t bring herself to say what he wanted. She shouted the words in her head, but they died when they reached her throat.
“Do you want me to stop?”
“No. God.” She cursed. “Give me more. Touch my pussy, fuck—touch anything. Please.”
“Mmm, good girl.”
Charlie shuddered and pressed back against him, rubbing her ass back and forth against his erection, hoping to entice him to quit teasing her. “Zane, please.”
“Please what?”
“I can’t handle anymore…”
“Yes you can. Watch in the mirror and see just how much you can take.”
Charlie’s eyes, passion-glazed and fiery, swung to the mirror and zeroed in on his lean musician’s hands moving among her curls, dancing lower to find her most sensitive spot. The gasp drug from deep within her and vibrated through her already burning body.
“Please… Please, I want you inside of me.”
Sagging back against in him surrender, she whimpered, the mewling sounds her only way of speaking. When it felt like she might collapse on the bathroom floor, the hands that had been teasing her so mercilessly spun her, cupped her bottom, and set her up on the counter. Spreading her legs willingly, she stared into Zane’s eyes as they joined and set a rhythm together, as old as time. Both already heated to an almost boiling point, they raced headlong towards the end.
Their mutual climax a short time later, a mind-numbing explosion for both of them, left Charlie limp and leaning against Zane’s chest. “Wow.”
“Yeah.” He panted. “Wow.”
Curling trustingly against his chest, not wanting to bother with words that would shatter the tender moment between them, she drifted to sleep. Awhile later, Charlie woke alone in her bed. She shifted to look around. No Zane. The rat bastard had had his way with her and left her to wake on her own.
“Mrph.” Finding it too much effort to be mad about being loved and then tucked into bed, she curled back up and sniffed the pillow she had been cuddling. His scent had soaked through to the downy feathers inside.
Trying to build up the energy to get up and get ready for the concert, Charlie relaxed and replayed the conversation that had led up to their lovemaking. Why did she have the bad taste in her mouth that there was something wrong with Zane, not wanting to talk about the bombing or the attack. Did he know something she didn’t? Was he hiding something from her? The nagging unease at the pit of her gut was enough to make her head for the once-forgotten shower.
***
“Another explosion?” Micah’s brow lifted in disbelief.
Zane ran his hands through his hair, pushing through damp tangles. “Yeah. We need to do something. People—namely Charlie and Conner—are getting antsy, suspicious, like they know something’s off but they just can’t put a finger on it. Make a bigger impact. A bigger bomb. I don’t fucking care, just fix it.”
Despite his mind playing various scenarios to a dynamic soundtrack in his head, Zane didn’t miss the look that Parker and Micah shared. He stiffened, his lip raising. “What?” God, he needed to chill out. Stress made him act like a caged beast. He took a deep breath in, let it rush out through his nose, and softened his tone. “What?”
Instead of replying, they only smiled. Parker gave a silent little chuckle that made his body quake, and Micah shook his head slowly, but both of them stayed quiet.
“No, really guys. What?”
“You’re seriously freaked out about this, huh?” Parker asked, lacing his fingers behind his head in a carefree, devil-may-care manner that looked natural on the young wolf.
“What?”
“Your plan worked—you got in good with Charlie…and, just like you planned, you’re in love with her. You got it hard, Z, and hell, maybe Charlie does too. I don’t know, I got an F in the class of love. But whatever. Now it’s crunch time and you’re scrambling to figure out how to take control of the situation.” Micah snorted.
When Zane frowned, struggling to control the temper that played just beneath his skin, making him hot all over, Micah grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a little shake. “Zane, look at me. I’ll make it happen. I’ll mix it up a little bit. Chill. I’ve got your back, bro.”
“But this time, we need to act a little more freaked out. Char’s sharp. She’s suspicious because we’re not worried and we’re the supposed targets.”
Zane’s tension eased a notch and he nodded. “Thanks guys. Really. I…I don’t even know what else to say.”
Parker grinned and slapped himself in the chest. He pinched his fingers together, as if he was turning a knob right above his heart. “Okay. Worry button is officially switched on. Now tell me, Alexander—what about that new song you’ve been playing with?”
A smile flared to the surface. “You know me so well, it’s scary. It’s nothing big, just a short little piece I’ve been pushing around, but I think we could pull it off, debut it at tonight’s show, kind of a thank you to the fans. What do you think? I need input, guys.”
Micah nodded. “Works for me.”
“Same. Do I get a solo?”
Zane grinned. “It’s heavy on synth, so yeah, if you want it.”
“Hells yeah!”
“Go fetch Benji. We have a couple hours before crunch time. Let’s smash!”
***
Since Micah preferred to freestyle the drum set in new songs anyway, he’d disappeared to set up the next incident while Zane, Parker, and Benji practiced “Heart of Light” in the little recording studio in town, far enough away from where they were set up that no one would overhear them. It would ruin the surprise of a surprise song, after all. And when the show started and the lights dimmed, the worries and frets Zane had been carrying with him all day melted when Micah gave him a thumbs up.
The concert flowed like water under the bridge on a peaceful summer’s day, smooth and serene. Even the fans were quieter than usual—not to say they weren’t loud, just a little more patient, not as bloodthirsty.
When the lights cast the stage in pink and purple hues, Zane stepped up, center stage, and addressed the crowd. “This is a new piece, never before played at any show. It’s a giant thank you to all of you, our fans—we’d really be nothing without you.” The crowd whistled and Zane strummed the quiet acoustic while Parker’s synth keyboard played a tune. Micah’s drumsticks tapped the cymbals lightly, a hushed sound compared to his usual strong beat.
When Zane began to sing, the crowd fell silent, straining to pick up each and every word. His eyes skimmed the crowd until they landed on Charlie, who was watching, her eyes latched on him and only him. He smiled and sang the words to her, attempting to reach out, deep into her soul. The song, about finding light in darkness, was inspired by none other than her.
And she seemed to realize it. Her hand fluttered at her chest and he could’ve sworn he could feel her heart beating there, soft and pattering. The look in those baby blue eyes was of adoration—love—and he knew that he was an open book to every single person in that audience, but his heart soared sky high and continued to fly until the concert ended.
When he saw her backstage, he expected soft and gentle, but instead Charlie strode up to him with a storm behind her step, her eyes clouded. He skidded to a stop. He opened his mouth to speak, but she clamped her hands on either side of his face and pulled him roughly down for a kiss so passion-driven that it took his breath away.
For a moment he just stood there, gaping at her. Then she smiled. “I see what you did there, Alexander.”
Relief flooded his system and he stole another kiss, smiling into it. “So you liked it then?”
“Loved it. How’d you manage to come up with it that quickly? I didn’t even hear you guys practicing this past week!”
“We’re gods, that’s how.” The cockiness slid away as fast as it’d come. He took a breath, took her hands in his, squeezed them. They stood close, yet apart, and everything began to bubble inside of him, frothing to the surface.
He had to tell her. Look deep into her eyes and touch her soul and tell her that he loved her, because he did. And if she loved him like he thought she did, he had to tell her about the set up. That there was never a real threat; that the bombing, the mugging—they were just part of the plan. A devious, horrible plan.
He had to own up.
He opened his mouth, but before he could say a word, a crack sounded through the air and a bullet sang, whizzing right past Zane and Charlie’s heads. Zane jerked as a chorus of screams rose up, a shrill and terrible song. One of those voices was Charlie and Zane’s wolf reared up, ready and willing to protect his mate.
“Get down!”
His arms wrapped around Charlie in a bear hug as he dragged them both to the ground. He covered her with his body as the thick scent of blood filled the air. He looked up to see that the bullet had embedded itself in the chest of one of the lighting crew, who was growing paler by the second as blood pumped onto the floor beneath him.
His mind spun, bile touching the back of his throat. That could’ve been Charlie. Two inches and it would’ve been. It had somehow gone right between them, missing them both, but only by inches… His body began to tremble as he held her close to him, feeling her heart thundering in her chest.
“You all right?” He smoothed down her hair, needing to touch her, needing the reassurance for himself. He had never been a coward, but…
Her eyes were wide with shock, but she nodded soundlessly, and he held on for dear life.
Chapter Thirteen
Screams and slow motion movement seemed to echo everywhere. Charlie lay on the ground, Zane’s body on top of hers, and just focused on breathing. She had been trained in life and death situations, yet when her own life—when Zane’s life—had just received the ultimate of threats, she was frozen to the ground like a scared child.
Adrenaline sang through her veins, beating a staccato tempo as it slowly pushed away the fog cloaking her mind. Finally, after what seemed like hours but was probably only a few moments at most, her eyes focused on Zane’s face and she reached a hand up to cup his cheek.
She really just needed a minute to reassure herself that he was okay, that he’d be around for her to fight with for another day. Taking a deep breath, Charlie broke the eye contact and glanced around to see if she could spot Conner.
The scene around her seemed a cruel wasteland. Panic was etched into features, people were running blind, and the sound of helpless screams and whimpers filled the air. Some, like Zane and herself, had chosen to duck and cover while a countless mass had fled for their lives.