Charity was totally embarrassed and completely humiliated. But she’d long ago learned that as uncomfortable as both feelings were, they didn’t kill you. She tilted her chin up and tugged at her wrist.
Adrian shook his head. “You’re not going anywhere. You’re mine and you’re staying with me.”
Adrian knew his pronouncement had shocked the three other people in the room. Hell, it shocked him too. But there it was. Charity may or may not be part of a conspiracy by the General to trap him, but it didn’t matter. She was part of him now and he knew he could never let her go.
Tienan would understand what he meant better than the women. He’d thought Silence had betrayed him early in their relationship, yet he’d been unable to leave her alone. As Alphas, once they had a goal or a mission, there was nothing that could sway them from their course. His body, mind and soul had decided that Charity was the woman for him, the one he’d been waiting his entire adult life to find. It might not be convenient timing or the best of situations, but that didn’t matter to Adrian. He was an Alpha. He’d been designed to deal with less than ideal conditions.
He was keeping Charity and that was the end of it. He’d get past all her objections later. Right now, he needed to plan a strategy.
“Any idea when Logan will be here?”
“Did I hear my name?” Large and blond and every inch an Alpha, Logan stood in the doorway, a short, light-haired woman in front of him.
Charity was quiet beside him, her eyes wide as she studied Logan. Adrian wrapped his arm around her shoulders, tucking her closer to his body. She glared up at him, but said nothing. “Charity, this is Logan and Mercy.” They both nodded a greeting. They seemed more interested in the way he was holding Charity so close. There would be questions later. But that was okay. Both men would understand.
“Let’s get Derrick up here and we’ll start planning.”
Charity curled up in a chair, her eyes closed. She wasn’t asleep, but close to it. She didn’t know how Adrian was still awake. She resented the fact that he seemed as fresh as if he’d slept for eight hours straight. She’d been dozing on and off for hours as the men talked and strategized. The other women, Silence and Mercy, had stayed for a while and then disappeared to wherever. Charity knew better than to try to leave.
The words hadn’t been said, but she was a prisoner. Until Adrian decided to let her go, she was stuck here. What shocked her was the fact that she wasn’t really upset about the idea. After all, she had nowhere to go in the outer city, nowhere to sleep that was safe. At least here she was sheltered and presumably would be fed eventually.
She ignored the little voice in the back of her head that pointed out that she could also be with Adrian longer. The man was a jerk. A sexy one, but a jerk nonetheless. He’d slept with her in order to pump her for information. Except he hadn’t asked her any questions after they’d had sex.
They’d been interrupted, she reminded herself. But still. Now she was grasping at straws. Sighing, she shivered and rubbed her hands over her arms. Adrian rose from his desk, head cocked to one side as he listened to Tienan. He went to the corner of the room, leaned down and picked up a blanket from the pallet. He walked back to her side and spread the blanket over her.
“That should help.”
Charity didn’t know what to think. It was disconcerting to realize that he’d been aware of her the entire time, even while she’d been sleeping. “Thanks.” She gripped the top edge of the blanket and pulled it tight around her.
“You can lie down if you want. You’d be more comfortable.”
Her eyes were drawn to the pallet in the corner. His bed. It would smell like him. Her nipples tightened and she shook her head. That was the last thing she needed. She needed to build some barriers against this man. “I’ll stay here.”
Adrian nodded and turned back to the men. “If the General wants a fight, it’s time we take it to him. There has to be a way for us to get inside. If Charity got out, we can get in.”
Logan leaned back in his chair, long legs kicked out in front of him. “We could take down a garbage detail. Hide a group in the back of the truck. Once we’re through, we can disarm the security post and lower the entrance to the Gate.”
Tienan rubbed his hand over his chin. “It’s risky. He could be expecting us to do just that.” He glanced at Charity. He didn’t need to say the words for her to read the subtext. He thought she was a spy for the General. She didn’t dare tell them she was his daughter. They’d kill her outright. After they tortured her.
“I could get in,” she offered. Four heads swiveled in her direction. She wished she’d bit her tongue. She’d just escaped the inner city and her father’s long grasp and now she was offering to go back in.
“No.” Adrian’s expression was dark and forbidding.
“Yes,” she countered. The more she thought about it, the more sense it made. The guards wouldn’t kill her, not outright. Her father would probably have her tortured and kill her himself, but that would come later. She remembered Manuel—beaten, tortured and dying—and the way he fought until the end. His life meant something. If this gave the Resistance the opening it needed, then she needed to try.
It wasn’t like she had a home to go back to. By leaving the city and bringing Manuel’s message to Adrian, she’d basically thrown her lot in with the Resistance. If she was of no use to them, she’d be on her own out here. And with her lack of skills, she knew she wouldn’t last long. There really wasn’t a choice.
She pushed the blanket aside and stood. “It makes sense. I can sneak in like I did before. If you have some sort of explosive device you could give me, I could blow the control center at that entrance of the Gate.”
“Or you could sneak back inside and betray us all,” Tienan pointed out.
“I could, but I won’t.” Her hand went to her face and the scar that ran down her cheek.
“I don’t like it.” Logan raked his fingers through his hair. “It’s risky and there is no guarantee of success. It should be one of us.” He pointed his finger at Adrian and Tienan. “We have skills the others don’t have.”
“Skills?” she asked. “What skills?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Tienan taunted. “That would certainly be some juicy information for the General.”
Everything clicked into place at once. The way the men moved, their confidence, the sheer power that seemed to surround them. The rumors. The heightened security patrols to the outer city. The whispered conversations she’d overheard in several government buildings. Alphas. Two Alphas had recently disappeared. When she was much younger, a group of them had been disposed of. Those were her father’s words, as though they were garbage instead of people. Maybe some of them had survived. Most of the general populace in the inner city thought these genetically enhanced assassins were nothing but a myth. She knew better.
Growing up in the General’s household, Charity had learned many things, including classified, dark secrets. One of which was that Alphas were very real. As a child, she’d been all but invisible at home. As a result, she’d overheard much more than she should have. She’d had nightmares about the Alphas coming and killing her in her bed. As she’d grown older, she’d come to pity those men who’d been raised as a lab experiment and knew no other life.
Charity swallowed hard and tried not to show any expression. “I wouldn’t tell him anything.”
“We only have your word for that.” Tienan shook his head. “Sorry, sweetheart, but that’s not good enough for me.”
“I’ll go with her.” Adrian’s pronouncement was met by silence and then by vehement objections. He raised his hand and the men fell silent again. “It makes sense. I can get inside with her and disable that entrance to the Gate. If it’s a trap, they’ll take me. If it’s not a trap, you can sneak the rest of our people in and proceed to take
out all the targets we need to bring down the Ruling Council and take control of the inner city.”
“There are tunnels under the inner city.” All the men gave her their full attention. It was more than a little unnerving. She swallowed the lump in her throat and continued. “They start under the security headquarters and radiate out to various government buildings and the homes of the Ruling Council. It’s an escape route in case something happens.”
“Why are you telling us this?” Tienan’s suspicion was expected. She glanced at Adrian, but couldn’t quite tell what he was thinking.
“Because you need to know.” Either they believed she was on their side or they didn’t. Maybe it was too much to ask for their trust, but she didn’t want them going into the situation blind, not if she had information that might help.
“I don’t like this.” Derrick spoke up for the first time. Charity had noticed that the man said little, but when he did speak, the others listened. He turned and addressed Adrian. “You’re our leader. The people need you.”
Adrian shook his head. “No. The time has come. Either we strike now or we lose the opportunity. I’m the best man for the job.”
“I’ll go,” Tienan offered.
The corners of Adrian’s mouth turned up in a sad smile. “No. You have Silence. And she’d kill me if anything ever happened to you.” He turned to Derrick. “We’ll leave here tomorrow afternoon. That will give me time to scope out the area before the garbage detail arrives. I’ll need weapons and we’ll need to get our people into position.”
He nodded at Logan. “You get your people into place at the next entrance to the east. We’ll take that one down second. We need to make this happen.”
Derrick rose. “I’m on it. But I still think it’s a mistake.”
“So noted.” Adrian stood. “I’m going to rest for a few hours and then we’ll go over the final plans one more time.”
Derrick hurried from the room, but Tienan and Logan paused. “You don’t have to do this. We can find another way.” Logan held out his hand to Adrian as he spoke.
Adrian took his hand and shook it. “It has to be me. And it has to be now. This has been brewing for a while. I know it’s time.”
Tienan clapped Adrian on the shoulder. “If that’s what you want.”
“It is. And if this doesn’t work out...”
“Understood,” Tienan replied. “I’ll take care of Silence and the rest of your people.”
The men filed out and she and Adrian were left alone. She glanced at the door but knew she wouldn’t make it. And where would she go? She had no home, no shelter. She belonged nowhere.
“You know, don’t you?”
“Know what?” She wasn’t quite certain what he was referring to.
“You know what I am.” He strode toward her. She jumped out of the chair so she wouldn’t be trapped there. Not that she had anywhere she could run. “I saw it in your eyes,” he continued.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She raised her chin and glared at him.
The corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled. “You’re a terrible liar.”
She’d always thought she was a very good liar. She’d been fooling her father and others for years into thinking she was content with her life. She was so good a liar she’d even fooled herself for most of her life. “No, I’m not.”
Adrian captured her face between his palms and stared down at her face. “Yes, you are. You look guilty when you lie.”
She nibbled on her bottom lip. That couldn’t be true. Could it? It must be if he knew she was lying.
“Tell me the truth,” he prodded.
“You’re an Alpha, aren’t you?” she blurted.
Chapter Four
Adrian watched Charity carefully. As much as he wanted to believe in her innocence, she knew more than she should. The fact that Alphas were real wasn’t common knowledge among people outside the Ruling Council and the Piedmont Corporation. They were more myth. Legend. Ghosts. Whenever anyone died a suspicious death, people talked. There were always rumors about the Alphas.
“Why do you say that?” He was curious to see just how much she’d admit to. She looked adorably rumpled after napping in the chair. He wanted to take her to bed, bury himself in her heat and fuck her until they were both sated. Then he wanted to snuggle her in his arms and sleep.
The last was the surprising part. He’d never actually slept with a woman before. And he’d certainly never cuddled one. He wasn’t the cuddling type. Or so he’d thought. Right now, the idea of having Charity’s body nestled tight to his was very appealing. His cock flexed. Seemed as though his body was in total agreement with his plans. His mind, however, demanded answers first.
“It was something Tienan said about the three of you having skills.” She paused to collect her thoughts. “You all move differently. You don’t walk as much as prowl. There’s a sense of power that surrounds all of you. For big men, you all move like ghosts.” She crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself tight. “You heard Silence coming earlier when I didn’t hear a sound. The way you all think, reason, pulled facts and figures from memory when you were talking strategy.”
“But Alphas aren’t real,” he told her.
“Now you’re lying.” She frowned and rubbed one hand over her face. She looked tired. More than that, she looked exhausted. There were dark circles beneath her eyes. Adrian didn’t like that.
“Why would I lie?” he prompted. He hated to push her, but he needed answers.
“To protect yourself. And you should. If he got hold of you—” She shuddered.
“If who got hold of me?”
She yawned, covering her mouth with her hand. “I’m sorry. The General. If he caught you, he’d kill you, after he tortured you.”
“You think so?”
Charity shivered again. “I know so. The man is ruthless, mean as a snake and just as quick to strike. He can’t be trusted. He’s a monster,” she whispered.
Adrian stared at Charity. There was no doubt in his mind that she knew the General, and well. The fear she had of him, the way she talked about him, spoke of personal knowledge. His gut clenched. “Are you his lover?”
Her face paled. “God no.” She shook her head. “No. That’s sick.” She doubled over and shrank away from him when he went to touch her.
“But you know him,” Adrian pushed.
Charity huddled in the corner of the room. Sliding to the floor, she wrapped her arms around her legs. Adrian wanted to comfort her, take her into his arms and reassure her that everything would be all right. He was no longer sure that was possible. Not until he discovered the secret she was hiding. He had a feeling that whatever it was, it wouldn’t be good.
“Who is he to you?” Adrian stood over her, legs braced, hands on his hips. “Did he hurt you?” The thought of her in the General’s hands sickened him.
“Did he hurt me?” She laughed and there was a slight hysterical edge to it that worried him. “He hurt me for years. A slap here. A beating there. Little cruelties both mental and physical.” She raised her gaze and her brown eyes were filled with such pain and suffering it brought Adrian to his knees in front of her.
“Tell me.” He gripped her shoulders in his hands, barely resisting the urge to shake her.
Her skin was deathly white. Even her lips were pale. The only blaze of color came from the anguish in her golden-brown eyes. “My father. He’s my father.”
Charity waited for the first blow to fall. Surely it would come after the revelation that she was the daughter of Adrian’s greatest enemy. Her father was a monster, a mass murderer, a crazed megalomaniac masquerading as a man. He wore the façade of a stern military man, strong but fair, doing the hard things that needed to be done in order to protect the inner city. To many he was
a hero. But then, they didn’t know him the way she did.
Adrian stood and began to prowl back and forth across the room. She could practically hear his brain working as he processed all the implications of what she’d just told him. He paced for several minutes, his mouth a thin line, his eyebrows drawn down in a frown. She glanced away and stared at her bent knees, absently noting a small tear in her pants.
He made no sound as he crossed the floor, but she knew the moment he was standing in front of her. A sense of energy, of purpose, surrounded her. She glanced down, and sure enough, the toes of his boots were almost touching hers.
She didn’t want to look at Adrian, to see the fury and disgust in his eyes. She wanted to remember the wonderful sensual interlude earlier when they were nothing more than a man and a woman. She’d been simply Charity to him. A woman he wanted. Not her father’s daughter to be courted for favors. Not an enemy to be fought or tortured for information. Although that wasn’t quite true. She suspected he’d slept with her to get information, to make her more sympathetic to his cause and to him. Still, she couldn’t regret the time they’d spent together. It was one of the best moments of her life, which was kind of sad when she thought about it.
The silence grew until it unnerved her. Drawing on the last reserves of her courage, she raised her head and looked up at him. Adrian slowly reached out his hand. “Come to bed.”
Momentarily shocked, she was unable to move. Come to bed. That’s all he could say after her earth-shattering pronouncement? She shook her head, not in denial, but in frustration. Surely she hadn’t heard him correctly.
He reached down, wrapped his fingers around her wrist and tugged. Charity allowed him to pull her to her feet. They were so close that her nose was pressed against his chest. He wrapped his arm around her and gave her a gentle hug. “Come to bed. We’ll talk after you’ve had some rest.” His expression told her nothing of what he was thinking.
Charity began to shake. It started in her legs and worked its way up her torso until her entire body was encompassed. She didn’t understand Adrian. Why wasn’t he yelling at her, questioning her, trying to intimidate her into telling him everything she knew?
Alpha’s Revenge Page 5