Chapter 21

The following morning, Jaxson and Charlotte were in bed when he heard Rio yelling for him. Jumping up, Jaxson pulled on his jeans and opened the door.

"What's wrong!"

"He escaped, Jaxson. The slimy little bastard has gotten away! He managed to get away while they were coming for him. Evidently, he was prepared for that eventuality."

Charlotte, standing next to Jaxson at the bedroom doorway, started to shake in terror. Jaxson turned and cupped her face with his large hands and said, "Sweet mate, you will be safe. I will protect you. I promise."

She believed him and nodded her head.

"We will keep you safe, Charly. I can promise you that." Rio said.

"I need to call my cousin." She said, looking up at them.

Rio frowned. "Charley, I thought you didn't have any other family."

"I have family, I just changed my last name so that I wouldn't be associated with them. It could make things....complicated."

"For who, Charley?" Rio demanded.

"Hey, brother! That's my mate you are talking to." Jaxson said, hotly.

"Hey, brother! If she would tell us everything, then I wouldn't stress about this!"

"Jaxson, I really need to call my cousin, Caleb. Please, Jaxson." She pleaded.

"Alright Charlotte, you can call your cousin. We'll call here in a minute. Let's get everyone in the kitchen first. I want Hunter and his guys there too." Charlotte agreed and they moved to the kitchen where their parents were already waiting, having heard everything.

"Rio, she has already told me most of her secrets. I am not going to sit here and badger her, and you aren't either." Amber, seeing the protective nature of both men, placed her hand on Rio's arm.

"Honey, let her alone about this. She is obviously terrified enough. Why don't you go get Hunter and the others and bring them here? They need to know what is going on." Rio nodded and left the kitchen. Soon, the front door slammed.

"I'm guessing I should wait for Rio to get back with everyone." When Jaxson nodded, she looked over at him and said, "I'll need your laptop again."

He nodded and got up to go get it. By the time he came back, everyone was sitting around the kitchen table having coffee. He handed Charlotte the laptop, which she opened and logged into her private account and opened up her Teams account and signed into a video call.

Everyone heard the call dialing, then suddenly a crisp British accent said "Hello Charlotte."

"Hello, Caleb. I am in danger and need your assistance." She said with a grimace.

"Bloody hell, Char! What is it? You wanted to live away from the family and grandfather let you. You wanted to change your last name and the old man let you. This is why he didn't want you to..." The man on the screen was obviously British, and from the looks of his clothing and office decor, extremely wealthy.

"I...I..." Just then Hunter took the laptop and turned it around.

"Dammit Caleb! She is in the thick of something huge! How soon can you get a team to my location?" Hunter asked.

"What are you doing there, Hunter? And why are you in....Eastern Tennessee, in the mountains?" Caleb asked after checking the location of the ping that he had sent him.

"Long story short, Her boyfriend and I are unit mates. Were unit mates. He's not in anymore."

"Boyfriend!" He shouted.

"Not now, Caleb. The team, how long?" Hunter bit out.

"Two Hours. I'll be with them, so will Jack, Caden and Stone." Hunter's eyes got wide when he heard this.

"Caleb, I'm disconnecting the call." He was still cussing and shouting orders when she hung up.

Looking at Hunter, she asked him, "Just who are you."

"I work for your cousin. I'm the leader of the Elite team. Do you know what that is? Do you know who we are, Charlotte? Because I know who you are. Caleb has pictures of you and your cousins all over his office. Both at home and at work."

Charlotte looked at him and said, "Keep your mouth shut! Now is not the time. Soon, but not now!" Jaxson watched the interaction between his friend and his mate with a great deal of interest.

Because Charlotte had told him almost everything, he understood the byplay between the two. However, this would just make his brother more angry, because he didn't understand or know what Jaxson knew.

"Hunter, sit down. We can have some coffee and Rio can call Nathan to see what's going on." Jaxson said, using the Alpha command.

His father looked at him in surprise.

Then Rio said, "You should see what Charlotte can do with his bear."

"She made him retreat," Jaxson said with a smile. "And we aren't fully mated yet."

"Your connection is very strong if she can do that. Not even your mom could do that before we were mated." Miney looked over at the couple and smiled.

"Indeed Anders, she is very special."

"Charlotte are you hungry, honey? You need to eat something." Jaxson asked. Picking her up and putting her in his lap, he held her close and she laid her head on his shoulder.

"I'm just tired, Jax. I'm so tired. I want it to be over. All of it." She started crying. "I just wanted to try to live a normal life. When Caleb gets here, all hell is going to break loose. I'll be surprised if my grandfather isn't with him. Then it will be...what's the word you used? Oh yeah, a real shitshow."

"What are you not telling us, Charlotte? Just who are you?" Amber asked.

Charlotte took a deep and began to speak. Only Jaxson had any idea of what she was about to say. It shocked everyone at the table with the exception of her mate and Hunter.

"I am the only granddaughter of Graeham Dylan Frazier. I and my identity was kept a secret from the world. Everyone was told that I died at birth." Charlotte closed her eyes and ducked her head under Jaxson's chin.

At the collective gasp in the room, she knew that everyone was aware of who her grandfather was. He was one of the most powerful men in the world. Financially, politically, with his finger on the pulse of the world economy. As the most powerful man in the world, his grandchildren were targets for kidnapping schemes. As such, she was trained to fight, with and without weapons. Martial arts, boxing, and various other self-defense styles were taught to her and her cousins.

"From the reaction of everyone gathered, I take you know who my family is?" She turned and faced the security team and her mate's family.

Looking over at Rio, she said, "I'm sorry, Rio. If you knew how many kidnapping attempts I have lived through? You cannot imagine what it was like growing up with that kind of life. Sometimes, I would cry just because I wanted to be 'normal.'"

Getting up out of Jaxson's lap, she went to the large pantry and pulled out the ingredients for pancakes and muffins.

"Charlotte honey, what are you doing?" Jaxson asked her.

"We still have to eat Jax. My personal crisis cannot disrupt our daily lives. I'm going to fix pancake and sausage and banana and chocolate chip muffins" She always baked when she was stressed or upset.

Jaxson watched his mate, without a clue as to what to do for her. Looking over at his dad, he could see him trying to figure out a solution too. His mom was the one who did something.

"Now darling, come on. You let someone else do that for you. You and I need to have a little talk about my youngest son." Miney wrapped one of her arms around Charlotte's shoulders and led her away from the kitchen and out the back door and into the backyard.

"Now then, dear. Let's talk. You need to vent. I'm pretty sure you don't have a mom because all you mention is your grandfather. Am I right?" At her nod, Miney continued. "You know, Jaxson's father almost had to kidnap me to be with me." Charlotte's eyes widen when told this. Miney laughed. "Yes, you heard correctly. My dad was bound and determined that I would not be a shifter's mate. I grew up in this town. Went to school here, learned how to drive here. Anders is older than me so we never ran into each other in school. After I graduated from high school, I went away to college. I hated it. I decided that I would come back home after two years. It just wasn't somewhere that I wanted to be. Everyone was there to party and have a 'good' time, it seemed and I just figured that I could work somewhere that didn't require a degree. Just so long as I could come home. My second day home, I ran into Anders, quite literally. I was coming out of the drugstore and he was going in. He grabbed hold and said the rest was fate." Miney laughed. "I agree. We fought my dad, who wanted me to get married to a human. The only problem with that was that Anders ran off every male that my dad set me up with. By the time I had gone through six no-show blind dates, I came home in tears. I was missing my mate and once that connection is established then there is no going back. Shifters mate for life. They always have and always will. So, you will be together until one of you die. They will never fall out of love. They will never get tired of you. As a matter of fact, the longer you are together, the more you want to be with them."

Charlotte looked towards the house where Jaxson stood at the backdoor watching her and his mom. He could hear everything that they were saying because of his enhanced hearing. He watched his mate as his mom told her their story. There was hope on her face and determination.

No, her family would not take her from him. As much as he didn't want to, he would fight her family to keep her. His love for her knew no bounds and soon, he hoped, hers wouldn't either.

Hearing Amber and Rio talking about the food cooking, he turned and watched as Rio took the muffins out of the oven and he also noticed the growing stack of pancakes in a large platter next to the stove. On another plate was also a growing pile of sausage. Rio took the muffins out of the pans and put them on a plate and set them in the center of the kitchen table, along with butter and real maple syrup. Again, large cartons of juice were placed on the table along with milk.

He opened the door to call his mom and his mate and that breakfast was ready. As they entered the kitchen, everyone turned to look at the two women.

Jaxson's mom put a stop to that.

"Alright, that's enough. Everyone, get to eating. Nothing happening here. Just two women talking."

Heads lowered and food was consumed.

Charlotte was so nervous, she was sure that she wouldn't eat. But, Jaxson coaxed her to eat a muffin with butter and a piece of sausage with some coffee and a glass of juice. Hunter and his men cleaned up after breakfast. It didn't look strange to her to see these battle-hardened men cleaning and doing what a lot of people would still consider "women's work." Dishwasher loaded, leftovers put away, table wiped, floor swept, stove wiped down.

As they were about to go and take care of the animals, a helicopter landed in the front yard of the house, causing Charlotte to freeze where she stood.

Jaxson, seeing the abject terror and misery on his mate's face stopped him in his tracks and he just gathered her up in his arms and picked her up and held her against him.

Charlotte liking how Jaxson was holding her, decided to wrap her legs around his waist instead of letting them hang. She still laid her head on his shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Don't let them take me from you, Jaxson. Grandfather will lock me away and I will never see you again." She said on a whimper.

All of the shifters heard had heard her and growled loudly. You don't separate mates. It could cause a shifter to go feral and the non-shifter mate to grow weak and even die.

A deep voice sounded loudly in a shout, "Charlotte, get out here right now!"

Jaxson felt his bear coming forward at the threat to his mate. Anders, realizing what was happening to his son, stopped in front of him and said, "Calm down son. You'll do her no good by shifting. You actually make things worse. Your mother and I will go and speak to her grandfather and see if we can calm him down." At his son's nod, Anders stretched out his hand and Miney took it. Together they walked out of the front door.

When Anders walked out he was not surprised to see men in combat gear, fully armed and spreading out. What did surprise him was the college dorm mate that was standing next to the man who, Anders could only surmise was Charlotte's grandfather.

"Anders? Is that you?" The man asked.

"Charles, what are you doing here and why are you with Charlotte's grandfather?" The older man quirked a single eyebrow, otherwise, his expression never changed.

"Charlotte is my niece. I became her guardian after her parents died." The family resemblance was there if anyone cared to look. The shape of the face, the eyes the hair color. "What are you doing here, Anders." His eyes swerving over to Miney. "Both of you."

"Charlotte is Jaxson's mate, Charles. My son, both of our sons, are inside. Jaxson is guarding Charlotte and if you are here to try to take her from him, you will not like the results. If you do manage to separate them, she could die."

"What are you talking about Anders?" Charles demanded.

"Charlotte is a shifter mate. They cannot be separated, He will go feral and she could die because of the connection they share. There are things that you don't know. Why don't you and your dad come into the house and let them talk to you." Anders didn't wait, he turned and started walking towards the house. Turning back to the two men, he said, "There are more things involved than just Charlotte's safety. A lot more. And you need to understand that Charlotte has been through a lot since the last time you most likely spoke to her."

He and Miney went inside followed by the two men. When they entered the very large kitchen, the first thing that they saw was Charlotte being held in the lap of a very large, very muscular man who favored Anders. She had been crying, that was the first thing apparent. The second thing was the care that the man holding her displayed. With one hand he held the back of her head ad the other was gently rubbing her back to calm her.