Chapter 12

Jaxson and Charlotte lay in the bed, in each other's arms. Jaxson could hear the wheels in Charlotte's mind turning.

"What are you thinking about so hard over there, little mate?" Jaxson took a finger and pushed her dark hair off of her forehead so that he could see her eyes.

"Rio and Amber. There's something about her. I can't quite put my finger on it. Something that is buried so deep, that if she ever talks about it, I would be surprised. She's hurting, Jaxson. Bad." She whispered in the quiet of their room.

Jaxson sighed. "Yeah, I know. I felt it too. I hope she can trust my brother enough to help her heal. As it is, they are in for a rough road."

"Do you think that they will accept each other?" She asked.

"I don't know. What I do know is that if Rio has anything to say about it, she'll mated and marked before the week is out." Jaxson had moved his hand and it was now resting on her hip, where he moved it in a small circular motion, creating heat to shoot through her body.

She was almost afraid to speak, the thoughts in her head were heavy.

"Jaxson?"

"Yeah."

"Why haven't you marked me?" Charlotte leveled herself up and turned to look down at this beautiful man. "Don't you want me that....way?"

Jaxson could see the blush that stole over his innocent little mate's face.

Instead of doing what he wanted, which was grabbing her hand and bringing it to another part of his body, he sat up, as well, and wrapped her up in his arms fully and then lifted her onto his lap.

"Do you feel that, Charlotte? Does it feel like I don't want you?" He blew out a frustrated sigh. "You have been in so much pain and then you were healing. Now, we have to survive what's coming towards us. Because believe me when I tell you that I can think of a hundred reasons to mate and mark you. But, the one reason I don't, is to keep you safe."

Charlotte frowned. "I thought it would be better if you complete the process."

Jaxson groaned as she shifted a bit in his lap. "Yeah, better for me. But, only in one way. Once we complete the mating process, we will not be able to be separated for more than a few minutes. Frankly, I'm not sure you won't go into heat. Most bears don't. But because of the stress that you have been under, running, hiding, being injured, well, I'm not so sure what it would do. And I won't take any chances with your safety, Charlotte. "

Jaxson leaned in and moved the hair off of her neck and placed an open-mouth kiss on it, sweeping his tongue across the skin, causing her to shiver and moan.

"That's the effect you have on me just by being in the room with me. Can you imagine what it would be like to get a taste of each other, then have to put a stop to it because we would have to separate." He smiled as Charlotte like out a small whine.

"I know, honey. Me too." He picked her up and laid her back down next to him and pulled her close. "Let's get some sleep. It's probably going to be a few days before we get a good night's rest again." Feeling her nod, he placed a kiss on the top of her head and then rested his chin there, before closing his eyes.

In another bedroom, another couple was in bed together. This couple, however, wasn't so at ease. Rio's whole body was rock hard with tension and Amber was hugging the edge of the bed.

Rio gritted his teeth so hard, he was afraid that they would crack. What was she afraid of? He had had enough. Reaching out, he grabbed her and pulled her close to him. The instant their bodies made contact, he relaxed. But only for a moment.

The next breath all hell broke loose in that bed. Amber was screaming, biting, kicking. Anything she could do to get away from him. The reek of fear was so strong that he wanted to gag.

Holding her tight without trying to hurt her was difficult. Rio understood what this was. He had seen this reaction in trafficked females. Women forced to submit and endure hours of rape or sex while too drugged to fight back. Rio felt his heart break inside his chest for his mate.

"Shhhh. Amber! It's okay. I got you. You aren't going to have to do anything. Just let me hold you. I promise I won't touch anywhere else but where my hands are right now." Rio held her and listened as she sobbed and shuddered in fear. Eventually, she stopped crying and lay there in silence.

The agony that Rio felt in the region of his heart was terrible. His mate had suffered. He had not been there to protect her. The guilt he felt was heavy and he thought in just a quick second or two, that the weight would crush him. He felt his own tears leak from his eyes. His mate had suffered for an unknown length of time.

Gathering her even closer, it was his turn to shudder as he cried for her, for what she had gone through. When he could speak, he said, "I'm so sorry, Amber. I wasn't there to protect you. The one job of a mate is to protect their other half. I failed you." Rio buried his nose in her neck to allow her scent to calm him.

"How long?" he asked.

At first, Amber was silent, then she began to speak in a whisper, "When I was twelve my mom met a guy. He seemed like an okay guy at first. Then, one day, I came home from school and they had gotten married. Momma was high as a kite and had a large bruise on her throat. She had ligature marks on her marks on her wrists and she looked in complete terror, along with red and swollen eyes."

"He beat and raped her." It wasn't a question.

"Not only that, he pimped her out to his friends while I was at school. I didn't find this out for a few years. This went on until I was fifteen. On the night of my sixteenth birthday, he came into my room and raped me. He told me if I told anyone he would kill momma. She was just an empty shell by then, but she was still my mom. She was all that I had left." Amber paused to get herself under control.

Rio took a breath to calm himself, as well. "Where was your dad? What happened to him?"

Amber shook with emotions. " He and mom were divorced. It seems that out of spite, she hid me from him. He had been looking for me for years, apparently. My mom, you see, she had a bad habit of keeping 'bad' company" Amber closed her eyes, trying to use her breathing to calm herself down. "My stepdad would continue to rape me for two years. I got to where I would just lay there. This made him angry, so he would beat me before and while he would take me. Just so I would scream or cry, or both. Then he would strangle me." Amber listened as Rio quietly cussed under his breath. "To this day, I can't do anything tight around my throat."

"Wait a minute. What about your dad? How did you get free?"

"Mom overdosed. The doctors said it was an accident. I think she did it to escape. I can't really blame her. But, anyway, evidently, my mom still had him listed as her emergency contact. He came and when he saw me, he almost lost it." Looking over at him, she smiled, "He was a cop. His division was violent crimes. He knew instantly that Mom and I suffered. He took me home with him that night. For the first time in over two years, I could sleep in a bed without having to worry about invasion of my body. He arranged for me to have therapy and planned Mom's funeral. The best thing was when my stepdad was found dead. The victim of a violent crime. He had been beaten to death and raped. His fingers were cut off and his, his .... was cut off and shoved in his mouth." Rio sat up and did something he had been wanting to do all day. He picked her up and sat her in his lap. He wrapped his arms around her waist and laid his forehead on one of her shoulders.

"I still have nightmares. Only occasionally now. Before you, I couldn't stand to have a man touch me. You are the first outside of my doctor or my dad." Amber reached up and wiped her face of tears. Except, they didn't seem to want to stop. They continued to pour out of her eyes. But she realized that her shoulder was wet. Rio was crying too.

"Don't cry for me, Rio. I'm recovering. slower than I would like. But my doctor said that I was doing better than anyone could have expected." She swallowed loudly. "All I ask is that you be patient with me and I will be your mate. The things that Charlotte talked about? I want that. No intentional physical pain. No infidelity. The drive to protect and provide. The love without limits. I want these things. I'm just afraid. Afraid that I will wake up and it will all be a dream and I'll be back in that bedroom with my stepdad beating and raping me and this will all vanish."

Looking up at Rio, she reached up and curled her palm around his jaw cupping it. "I don't know if I can stand that. I have lived through a lot, Rio. But, I don't think I can live through losing you."

"Ah, love. I know. I look at you and the very foundations of my world are shaken. In just seconds, you became my world, the center of my universe and the rest of my life will be spent proving it to you." Amber decided to trust and leaned back against her mate.

Her mate. She liked the sound of it. So much that she said it out loud. "My mate."

"Yours. Forever." Rios responded. "Do you feel like lying down?"

She nodded and together they scooted down and Rio covered them as they lay there waiting for sleep. Rio never let her go all night.

Morning came early for the pair of mates and Nathan Powers. All gathered in the kitchen around the table while the coffee brewed. The men sat and talked while the women cooked breakfast. Amber fixed pancakes with blueberries and strawberries cooked in. Charlotte cooked bacon and sausage and scrambled eggs.

Breakfast was a quiet affair. Nathan watched with a great deal of pleasure as Rio took Amber's hand and brought it to his lips to kiss before releasing it and continuing to eat. Evidently, her secrets were divulged last night. He had heard her scream. But, also knew that Rio would never hurt her. So, he had lain there in his bed, waiting to see if she needed him.

Jaxson and Charlotte watched the new mates with smiles. Both were glad for each of them.

Charlotte was the first to break the companionable silence of the breakfast table.

"If you guys will wash dishes and clean, Amber and I will get some pens and paper. Jaxson, do you have a laptop?"

He nodded and told her where it was in their bedroom and she went and retrieved it. While she was in the bedroom, she noticed the photos all over the room. All of them were of the same men. Some of them had them with what looked like their families. Some they in combat dress. But all of the photos were of the same eleven men and Jaxson.

She would ask them about them when she got a chance. Gathering up everything, she returned to the kitchen where Nathan was wiping down the stove and taking a plate of sausage and bacon and wrapped it up in plastic wrap and placed it in the large capacity refrigerator. At the sink, Rio was washing and Jaxson was drying the dishes.

While setting up everything there was a strong knock on the front door. All three men grabbed the guns that they were wearing and flipped off the safety. Rio went to answer the door, only to find Misty and Bill.

Rio arched a brow at the sheriff when he took a deep whiff through his nose as his lips twitched.

Misty with her fair complexion gave everything away. Rio's eyes also zoomed in on the hickey on her neck.

"Misty, there's some coffee in the kitchen and some leftovers, if you're hungry." He watched her walk away and turned back to Bill. You sly old dog you."

Bill, uncomfortable discussing his exploits, cleared his throat and said, "Yes well, a man gets lonely."

"You gonna keep her.?"

"I'm going to try. If she'll stay and have me. But, we need to get through the next week or so."

Bill turned and walked to the kitchen to get him some coffee.

After all of the hellos. Everyone sat down while Jaxson went to retrieve the SD card that Henry pulled out of Charlotte's body. Gathering up the foam tips, alcohol and a can of compressed air and an adapter for the laptop.

Jaxson carefully cleaned it and then loaded it into the adapter, then plugged it into his laptop to see the information for the first time for himself.

As it loaded he opened the program that they would be using. He then passed the laptop to his brother. Rio went over the information with Powers and Bill, breaking down the information.

Rio looked up at Charlotte and said in an incredulous voice, "You got everything. Every single crime I had seen him commit or admit to." Looking back down at the screen, Rio looked over at this younger brother.

"Jaxson, you better see this." Jaxson joined the three men at the end of the table while Rio pointed out the information that he just found on the SD card.

Jaxson released a deep growl and a loud, "You son of a bitch! I knew you sold us out!"

Charlotte, sensing that Jaxson was close to shifting in his anger, went to him and spoke to him quietly.

"Jaxson. Jaxson. Look at me, my love. Look at me." Reaching up she cupped his face in her hands and tried to tilt his face down. "Mate, please. I need you."

That shook Jaxson out of his rage. He gathered his little mate up in his arms and held her while he and his bear calmed down.

Bill patted the younger man on his shoulder. Knowing what he knew, he understood the man's rage.

Rio looked at this brother in a questioning manner. Jaxson nodded.

Sitting down at the opposite end of the table, he pulled Charlotte down into his lap and took a deep, hopefully, calming breath.

"My last mission was a shit show. It should have been a walk in the park. Easy in, easy out. Only, they knew we were coming. It was supposed to be a simple snatch-and-grab mission. My team had twelve men, myself included. We trekked up that mountain in the dark so that we wouldn't be seen. It was supposed to be a small presence. The guy we were after, a cook, roughly five to ten soldiers, some animals for food. Only, it didn't happen that way. The first clue we had that something was wrong. It had thick mud walls, instead of the simple wooden walls we were informed about. There were gun towers in the corners of the compound and at least fifty armed men. They killed everyone but me and a corporal, who died in the helicopter after the rescue. I lost 11 men. Men with families. Good men. Good soldiers. Because of greed."

"The men in the photos in our bedroom." It wasn't a question.

He nodded.