Sweet Charity

by N. J. Walters

“I don’t like it.” Logan ran 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 disappeared. Most of the general populous 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, 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. “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.”

  “I don’t like this.” Derrik spoke up for the first time. Charity had noticed that the man said little, but when he did speak, the others listened. “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 Derrik. “We’ll leave here tomorrow afternoon and get into position. 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.”

  Derrik 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.”

  Derrik 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 now. 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. I can see it in your eyes. 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 true identity of Alphas weren’t common knowledge among people outside the Ruling Council and the Piedmont Company. 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 his 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.

  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?

  “Stop thinking about it,” he told her. She glanced up at him but his attention was focused on the rumpled pallet in the corner. “It’s not much but it’s better than nothing.”

  She was worried about being tortured and he was worried about the bed being comfortable for her. She started to laugh.

  Adrian’s arm tightened around her. “Are you okay?”

  The laughter grew. She tried to stop but it was as though a floodgate had been opened. “Am I okay? I’ve watched a tortured man die, escaped the inner city, betrayed my father to the Resistance and had sex with a man I barely know. I’m currently in the hands of my father’s most feared enemy and he knows who I am. Of course, I’m fine.” The laughter ended as suddenly as it began. Tears filled her eyes and began to stream down her cheeks. She swiped at them, hating each one that fell. “I’m sorry. I don’t normally cry.”

  Adrian scooped her into his arms, went down on one knee and laid her on the pallet. “I didn’t think you did,” he assured her. He pulled a blanket over her and brushed his fingers over the scar that bisected her cheek. “It takes a lot of courage to do what you’ve done.”

  She shook her head. “I’ve been scared spitless the entire while. I almost gave up and went back to my apartment and forgot everything.” She couldn’t allow him to think she was brave when she wasn’t.

  He pulled up the bottom part of the blanket and began to remove her boots and socks. He didn’t say anything until her feet were bare. “Real courage is being afraid and doing it anyway.”

  She didn’t know how to answer that claim. She’d always felt like a coward, unable to find her way free of her father’s machinations and then her husband’s. It always seemed as though she’d been afraid her entire life. Even now, she still felt the sharp edge of fear, but it was quickly becoming dull beneath Adrian’s care.

  If he were going to hurt her, he wouldn’t be tucking her into bed. Would he? He reached for the fastenings of her pants and before she could react, he shoved them down her legs and off.

  Did he think she’d have sex with him? Now?

  Her mind whirled at the implications but her body responded with a resounding yes! God, he confused her. Adrian, unaware of her internal turmoil, stood and went back to the chair, retrieved the other blanket and brought it back to the pallet, covering her with it.

  The sun was coming up, but it didn’t matter to Charity. She was so tired she could sleep standing up. Adrian blew out the candle on the desk, drew a blind down over the window and returned to her side.

  Without a word, he yanked off his boots and pulled off his shirt. He kept his pants on as he lowered himself onto the pallet next to her. Charity lay next to him, almost afraid to move. She wasn’t certain if she wanted him to touch her or not.

  She was still upset at the thought that he’d slept with her strictly to get more information out of her. Not that he’d needed to do that. She’d ended up telling him everything he wanted to know. No torture necessary. No sex necessary.

  Her pussy clenched as she thought about sex with Adrian. Her breasts were swollen, almost tender, and her nipples were puckered tight. No doubt about it, she didn’t have to worry that she was frigid any longer. If anything, Adrian had turned her into a sex fiend.

  Next to her, his big body was tight with tension. She could feel the heat rolling off him in waves. He swore softly under his breath. “Come here.” He didn’t wait for her to move, but pulled her into his arms.

  Charity didn’t resist. When he was done arranging her how he wanted her, her head was resting on his shoulder, her hand was on his chest and her right thigh was draped over his legs just above his knees.

  “Sleep.” His lips grazed her forehead. “We’ll straighten everything out later.”

  How did he think she could sleep? As exhausted as she was, she was still too churned up to rest. He began to run his large hand up and down her back, soothing her. She sighed and closed her eyes. She’d rest for just a minute and then she’d think about everything.

  The sensation of something brushing her lips woke her. Her eyes flew open and she met Adrian’s pale blue gaze. He ran his finger across her bottom lip. “I can’t wait any longer.”

  She recognized the depth of the longing she saw in his eyes. It mirrored the same need burning deep in her soul. She didn’t say a word. Instead, she parted her lips and kissed him. It was deep and hot and overwhelmingly beautiful. Adrian’s tongue stroked hers as he sought out every crevice of her mouth, touching, tasting.

  Charity didn’t want to think about her father or what would happen tomorrow. The only time she had was right here, right now. With Adrian. He should be her enemy. He was an Alpha. A killer. She should be terrified of him. Instead, she’d never felt safer in her life.

  He broke the kiss, his hands reaching down to grab the hem of her shirt. “Let’s get this off you.”

  Charity was silent as she helped him strip away her clothing. His pants came next. In under a minute, they were both naked. The sun was peeking in around the edges of the blinds on the window. She had no idea how much time had passed, how long she’d slept.

  Adrian stretched out beside her, laying his hand over her left breast.
“You have pretty breasts. Not too big. Not too small. Just the right size for my hand.” He rotated his palm. Her nipple puckered, stabbing the center. Her legs moved against the thin mattress. She felt restless. Empty.

  The corner of his mouth kicked up, the beginnings of a smile. “I love the way you respond to me. You don’t hold anything back.”

  She didn’t understand how he could be so gentle with her. Why he would even want her. Not after her confession. “I don’t understand,” she muttered.

  He shrugged. “What’s to understand? I want you. You want me.” He tweaked her nipple between his thumb and forefinger, wringing a gasp of pleasure from her.

  She licked her lips and undulated her hips as fire spread from her breasts to her pussy. “My father,” she began.

  “Has nothing to do with us.” His touch was gentle, but his voice was hard. Unforgiving. “As long as you don’t lie to me, you have nothing to fear.” His hand drifted up to encircle her neck, his fingers caressing the slender bones and tendons. “You told me the truth, didn’t you? Told me everything?”

  A sick feeling washed over her. This had nothing to do with him wanting her and everything to do with getting what he wanted. She had to admit, as an interrogation technique it worked well. She was aroused and scared to death at the same time. How that was even possible she didn’t know. She suspected it didn’t say much for her intellect or common sense.

  “Let me up.” Her voice was barely a whisper, but he heard her. He frowned, staring down at her.

  “Why?”

  She swallowed hard. His palm moved up and down her throat in a slow caress. “I don’t want this.”

  He wasn’t touching her except where his hand rested on her neck. “Your body says different.”

  Her laugh was tinged with bitterness. “My body isn’t very smart when it comes to you. I’ll tell you whatever you want. You don’t have to fuck me to get it.”

  His hand froze on her throat, his fingers tightening almost imperceptibly. “What do you mean?”

  Was he really that dense? “What do you think? You get me naked and aroused and then start threatening me not to lie. I know my actions might have shown otherwise, but I do have a brain and it’s time I started using it. How better for you to get revenge at the General than by fucking his daughter. You don’t care about me. I could be anyone and you’d be doing the same thing.”