Chapter 17

"Remember, Charlotte, people will try to get close to you, to build a relationship with you, just because of the family you belong to." She could hear her grandfather now. His voice was gruff from years of smoking. His face when he would look at her was almost always loving. Occasionally, it would be angry, sometimes even stern. But always the love was there. To the world, he had been a mean, outspoken even snobbish man. However, the side that he had shown her, his only granddaughter, had hardly ever been anything but kind and caring.

She had been made to understand at a very young age that who she was and what she was, was carefully hidden from the 'real' world. She had never been seen associated with or in the presence of her grandfather or her cousins. When they were gathered in the secure family compound, they were safe to interact with each other and often did.

Her cousins, however, were large, muscular men. Men trained in combat, self-reliance, and warfare. Her oldest cousin was the one she had been the closest to. He had been the most protective of her. When their training classes took on a deadly note, he ofter who try to have her step out of class. But their grandfather insisted that she knew the things that they knew.

"There will come a time in your life Charlotte, that you will need this training. It will help you survive. There will be things that you are not taught, however. But, I want you to know how to handle yourself in any given situation."

Charlotte pulled herself out of the memory after realizing that Amber was speaking to her. She smiled at the agent and said, 'I'm sorry, Amber. I was a million miles away."

"That's okay. I was just saying that I wish I could be as creative as you were when it comes to cooking. I can cook, quite well, in fact. But I'm a little jealous." She replied with a smile to let the other girl know that she wasn't serious.

"Thank you. But, I have never really thought of myself that way. I just think about how certain things will taste and try to achieve that." There was no false modesty or humility in her words, just simple truth. "Besides, I love to cook. If I hadn't gotten a nursing degree, I would have gone to culinary school, I think."

Her words shook Bill and Jaxson,, Rio of course had known.

"You're a nurse?" Bill asked.

"Yes, sir. An RN. I just couldn't do it anymore. I had thought that specializing in geriatrics would be fulfilling, and it is in a lot of ways. But, it's also heartwrenching. Especially when it's a person dying alone or a couple having to watch the spouse that they have been with almost all of their life die. My self-care routine was quickly leaning towards alcohol, and I didn't want that. So, I left nursing. I still keep my license up and my continuing education classes. But, I didn't think I could go back to hospital work again. That's how I ended up in Tampa, working with a "trade broker, " it was different and that was what I needed at the time. But, I started noticing things that I probably shouldn't have. Like a weight being off, the invoice would be missing information, etc."

"You know, Charlotte, Henry has been looking for a nurse for his practice. He would probably love to have you. When all of this blows over, why don't you talk to him about it?" Bill stated.

"Now just a minute, Bill! I just found her and you're trying to take my mate away from me." Jaxson said, only half joking.

Rio was snickering, thinking that he wouldn't have to go through a separation with Amber. Nathan reminded him, "Rio, you and the rest will most likely have to attend closed-door hearing about the things that this guy did. Especially while he worked for the CIA. " Nathan let that sink in a while then he said, "They are already under heavy scrutiny for several bad calls that they have made and some spying that they have done here in the US. Which is a no-no for them. While all of this is going on, you will all be separated so that you cannot sync up your testimonies."

Rio growled, not liking that at all.

"Sorry, son. Just trying to give you some warning. All of you. Anyone who had anything to do with this operation. Jaxson, if I understand things correctly, you better mate and mark that girl pretty fast. Because she is going to need as much support as she can get. This sleazeball is pretty well connected and they will try to destroy Charlotte's character in order to discredit her." Turning to Charlotte, he said,

Why can I not find any trace of you before you graduated high school at the age of 16?"

Charlotte smiled a secretive smile and looked around the table. "That's my ace in the hole. Let it go, Powers. You'll thank me when the time comes"

Jaxson frowned. "Charlotte, I don't like us keeping secrets from each other."

Charlotte reached and grabbed her mate's hand and said, "Trust me, Jax. It will only help us. It's something that no one would expect and can very well keep us safe once revealed." His eyes pleaded with him to accept this and let it go.

Jaxson nodded warily at her.

"I have aminals to tend to. It's safe for us to go outside right, Powers?" Jaxson asked in a rough voice, still upset at the idea of Charlotte keeping a secret from him.

"Yes, for now. Just keep your head on a swivel and your ears open for any sort of trouble or anything out of the ordinary." Jaxson nodded and got up from the table. With one last look at his mate, he left the kitchen and soon they heard the front slam.

Charlotte cringed. This was their first fight. It felt so uncomfortable and she felt tears sting her eyes.

She felt someone place a hand on her shoulder, and tell her, "Go. He is hurting because he cannot see any reason for the center of his world to keep secrets from him. Go and tell him, Charlotte. It will ease his mind. Don't start out like this. He'll keep your secret, even from me." When she hesitated just a second, Rio urged her again, "Go, Charlotte."

She got up and almost ran out of the house. She knew Jaxson would be in the barn. So that's where she went. She could hear the horses, they were making a lot of noise in their stalls.

"Jaxson, you're scaring the horses, love. Please calm down." Jaxson threw the pitchfork he was using to put fresh hay in the stall that he ad just cleaned.

Turning around, he stalked towards her. "Mates don't keep secrets from each other, Charlotte. Not ever."

She knew she should be afraid. He looked larger and rougher than usual, his bear trying to come forward. Charlotte knew he was hurt by what she had said in the house. She was here to resolve that. "I know that Jax. That's why I'm here. I really need to tell you this when no one else is around." He was getting a little bit calmer, realizing that she really had intended to tell him. "I was going to tell you tonight when we were in bed, but evidently that wasn't a good idea. So, I came out here to tell." Looking around, she said, "Probably more private out here, anyway. Come on, let's go somewhere we can sit and talk."

Taking his hand, she led him out of the barn and to the orchard where they had talked just a few days earlier. Had it really only been two or three days ago?

Jaxson was amused by his little mate's take-charge attitude. Indeed, she would make an excellent female Alpha and the town was going to love her. Smiling, his good humor having returned with her words, he followed her and they sat down on the ground in the apple orchard to talk.

In the house, Amber and Rio were cleaning the kitchen. She yawned. None of them had gotten much sleep the night before. So Rio started a pot of coffee. once Amber had finished the dishes, she set out the pork chops that Charlotte had intended to cook for dinner.

Bill walked to the screen and spotted the couple coming back. He noticed that Jaxson looked a lot more relaxed and Charlotte no longer looked like she was carrying a weight on her shoulder.

When they came up to the porch, she yawned. They were all tired from lack of sleep overnight.

"I think I'll take a nap. Want to join me? I know you didn't sleep much last night either."

Jaxson knew his mate wasn't trying to be coy. She was genuinely tired and would probably sleep better with him next to her.

"Yeah, sure. Sounds like a great idea. Let me go let Rio know." Jaxson found his brother in the kitchen with Amber. Both were tired as well. When he suggested a nap they both seemed to like the sound of it.

Bill, seeing that the pair of mates were going to be and knowing that his mate was also tired, suggested they go home and take a nap as well. The idea had been well received.

Waving goodbye as they pulled out from in front of the house, Jaxson turned to Nathan, who was still sitting in the living room.

"Sir, we are all going to take a nap. We're tired, the mates are tired. We should be safe enough according to your friend. Why don't you take a nap as well?"

He nodded to the younger man. "I think I'll do just that."

With that Jaxson turned and headed to his and mate's bedroom. She was already in the bed, dressed in one of his shirts. As quietly as possible, he stripped down to his boxer briefs and climbed into bed beside her. He gathered her up in his arms and almost instantly fell into a deep sleep.

"No! No!! Stop! Seamus!"

Jaxson realized that Charlotte was in a full-blown nightmare when he woke. He didn't want to startle her, so he just reached out and pulled her back against his chest and whispered in her ear, "Charlotte. Charlotte, wake up love. Wake up. It's just a dream."

"No, it's not. It's a memory. It's the reason why no information on me can be located before I graduated high school." Sitting up, she pushed her dark hair out of her eyes and scrubbed a hand down her face, not relishing what she was about to tell him.

"I knew we were different. I knew because my friends didn't have bodyguards. They didn't have guys that hung around that always wore dark suits, sunglasses and carried guns." Drawing a deep breath, she continued. "I was 10 and I was at a birthday party of a friend. He was a sweet boy. His daddy was a high-ranking member of the House and was on several committees. I remember him being so excited because the Senate was not in session that week, so he got to spend some real time with his dad. The party was to be at their house. It was of course a big to-do. Most politicians have to throw parties like that. They can't afford to offend an ally or even a frenemy. It's really ridiculous how soft you have to walk in Washington." Jaxson frowned at the words, Charlotte not realizing what she was given away.

"Anyway, back to the story. So, the party was just getting started when it happened. Apparently, one of the Senators had sponsored a very controversial bill and some very dangerous people took offense to it. So, why not crash a 10 year old's birthday party? What better way to get your point across."

Charlotte took a shuddering breath before continuing. "Before I knew what was going on, I was targeted as were almost all of the children there. My bodyguards, one of them, Seamus, grabbed me and turned and ran with me. He wasn't wearing body armor...." She hiccupped and cried. "He died to protect me. He was my favorite. He always helped me with my homework, with picking out a gift for my parents. He was MY bodyguard. Assigned to me and to me alone. We were close. I found out later that he was married, and that he had his own children. They were grown, but still. They were without a father now." Jaxson gathered her close to him and then sat her in his lap.

"What triggered the dream, Charlotte?" He asked her quietly.

"Telling you about today. That's one of the reasons I wanted to wait. I knew that this would happen and I was trying to take the coward's way out by not telling you."

"Ahh Charlotte. You aren't a coward, you are one of the strongest women, strongest people, that I know. Trust me when I say that you are very brave. I feel like an ass now. I know that we don't know each other very well on the surface. But, down deep, where it matters, we know each other. I knew that you had to have a good reason for keeping your secret but I wanted all of you. I wanted you to show me that you trusted me. So, I threw a fit. I'm so sorry, love. Look what I did to you." It was Jaxson's turn to take a shuddering breath.

"Nonsense, Jaxson. You needed me to trust you. After the shot storm you went through two years ago, I honestly can't say that I wouldn't have reacted the same way." She was about to say more when her stomach growled.

Blushing to the roots of her hair, she got out of bed and went to the bathroom and changed back into her clothes.

As she was coming out of the bathroom, Jaxson was just getting off of a call.

"Who was that, Jaxson?'

"A buddy of mine. He and a few friends are headed this way to "visit" us." Translation, they were coming in case of a firefight. Charlotte didn't say this out loud, but it lay unspoken between them.

Nodding her head, Charlotte opened the bedroom door and was met with the delicious aroma of smothered pork chops,, macaroni and cheese, the homemade kind, eggs, some kind of greens, and pie. Blueberry pie.

Walking into the kitchen, Amber turned around and said, "I hope this is okay, I didn't want to intrude. But, Charlotte has done most of the cooking and I wanted her to enjoy sitting down to a meal and not having to worry." Looking at her, Amber said, "It isn't that I don't love your cooking, I do. I just wanted to do something nice for you to say thank you. We invaded your home and stole your time that should have been spent getting to your mate; instead, you helped compile data to bring a truly bad man to justice.