by Haley Weir
“That ain’t the tune you were singing a few days ago, partner.” Jesse quirked his brow at Wesley. “We need to be prepared if she ain’t in control of herself. As much as Itsá has helped us over the years, he has a cunning way about him that I don’t quite trust just yet.”
Boone stood up and grabbed a lantern from the table. He walked out the back door and greeted Charlotte with a hug as Wesley watched through the window. The moment felt unreal. Part of Wesley was happy to see her breathing; the other half of him knew he had to apologize. Beth punched him in the hip and joined the others outside. He lingered for a moment longer and then walked towards the door.
The moment the wind blew his way, he smelled her tantalizing aroma. There was something so unique about the way Charlotte smelled. It was like a perfume had been made just for her. Wesley followed his senses, and they led him right to his wife. She looked up at him with so much anguish in her eyes that he could do nothing more than hold her in his arms.
Chapter Seventeen
Silver Fox Ranch
Charlotte stiffened in Wesley’s arms as her own hung limply at her sides. She swallowed thickly and pulled away, ignoring the wounded look he cast her. There were more important things to worry about than their falling out, and Charlotte wanted to focus on keeping her friends safe. “We have some information that I think you all need to hear,” she announced. Itsá set his hand upon her shoulder in a show of support that Wesley seemed to sneer at.
Abigail stepped forward. “Everyone come inside from the cold. We have a few things to discuss as well.” The kind-hearted woman shepherded the group inside and put a hot pot of coffee on the stove. Instead of sitting at the table, Charlotte stood with her back against the wall. She set her bow and quiver upon the window shelf and kept her eyes trained on the forest.
Wesley brushed her as he passed by on his way to his chair.
She bit down on her tongue to keep from sighing like a pathetic schoolmarm with a crush. Gabriel was quiet for the first time since she met him, but he stood beside her as Itsá took her usual place at the table next to Wesley. “What have you learned about fighting the wendigos?”
“This knife works well, but it’s barely effective if I’m the only one here who can fight with a blade quick enough to kill a wendigo,” Beth pointed out. “Unless you’ve got more of those ancient bones lying around, we won’t be able to make more blessed daggers. Not to mention, we’ll have to wait until you return from the mountain.”
Gabriel shifted subtly. “You gave them my blade?”
Itsá sighed and pointed to his brother. “This is Gah—”
“Gabriel,” the man beside Charlotte interrupted. “And I’m his better-looking brother.”
“The blade I gave to Beth was intended for him, but you all needed it far more than he did. As for making more weapons, it will take time, but I can get it done.”
“Seems like you would have been a real help if you hadn’t been running around with another man’s wife,” Wesley hissed bitterly. Charlotte did not know what his problem was. It had been his actions that pushed her away. “And what about the fact that your sister was the one who blessed the mirror that allowed Sam to injure one of the witches?”
“Aani’s magic was very powerful. It was what made her a target for the settlers. She helped those who showed her kindness. If my sister helped your bloodline, that is a very high honor.” Itsá’s gaze locked onto Charlotte’s, and she saw the pain in their depths. “Not everyone appreciates a woman with power, Wesley.”
“Can the blessing be replicated so we can attack the witches?”
Itsá looked away and nodded. “Charlotte can do it. I have been training her. If anyone is even half as powerful as Aani, it would be her. Kaia and the others are threatened by her growing power, and so is the Wendigo Spirit. That is why he attacked her and took control. He knew if he could turn the town against Charlotte, she would be weakened and without allies.” The native man’s stare fell upon Wesley. “You proved him right.”
Charlotte wanted to defend Wesley, but she could not. He had failed to stand beside her in her time of need. And she hadn't forgiven him yet. "The witches will not be hard to find," she said, breaking through the tension in the room. "They'll be hidden in plain sight but use illusions to keep people from suspecting."
Charlotte's words seemed to pique Mary Ann's interest. "Can you track them? With the ingredients that Beth and Wesley found?"
Charlotte, Itsá, and Gabriel shared a look.
Itsá leaned over the table and asked, "Did you break the connection?"
The confused expressions told Charlotte all she needed to know. She walked over to Wesley. "They've been using them to listen to everything we've been saying."
Boone stood up and punched the wall. "That's how Ethan knew we were goin' to trap him on that train. We should have acted right away, but we waited too long."
"Trapping him would not have done you much good," Itsá said. "He would have left the body and found a new one. To trap him would require more than ordinary ropes and chains, my friends. My brother can break the connection, so no one else is in danger...or...Charlotte can use the connection and reverse whatever spell they are using to overhear your conversations."
"Fine." Wesley stood up and looked directly at Charlotte. "Help us. Help me."
She reached out and snatched the totem from around Wesley's neck, the totem that kept his wolf at bay. “You asked Itsá to keep us from bonding,” she said quietly. “I want all of you or nothing, Wesley. I’m tired of begging you to love me.”
Charlotte pressed her hand to his chest and he wrapped his fingers around her wrist reflexively to defend himself, but she felt the bond finally rear its head. Her skin burned where he touched her, and the true mark of his claim appeared when he snatched his arm back.
Charlotte dropped her arm and held perfectly still. Wesley pushed his shirt aside and glared down at the mark on his chest. “What...all this time?” he stumbled back, but Jesse caught him before he could fall. Bewilderment and...regret?...entered his gaze. She wondered if he ever remembered asking the shaman for an altered spell when he first fell the pull of their bond. Even so, Charlotte wasn’t sorry that she had forced him to open his eyes.
The totem had dampened his emotions long enough.
“I’ll help you, but we do things my way.”
~*~
Wesley stared at Charlotte as though it was the first time he had ever laid eyes upon her. He took her hand and attempted to pull her away, but Itsá and his brother stood guard. Charlotte moved from behind them and nodded when they gave her a questioning stare. She followed him up to their bedchamber and stood beside the wardrobe. “We have to talk,” he said.
“Can this wait? I think Kaia and the others are more important right now.”
“No. It can’t wait. Nothing will ever be more important than us.” Wesley tossed his hat aside and looked at Charlotte. “I should have known the totem was holding me back. You saw that when I failed to, and I’m sorry.”
She smiled, but the emotions behind her eyes were anything but happy. “You are sorry for not mating me completely, allowing our bond to flourish. But not sorry that you failed to protect me when I needed you most?” Charlotte lifted her arm as if to attack.
The room was dark in the late hour.
And Wesley acted on his instincts. The click of the hammer on his revolver startled them both as he held the gun aimed at her chest. Charlotte counted to ten with deep breaths and braced herself. Her green-gold eyes flashed in the faint light of the candle flickering upon the bedside table. Wesley stared down at his hands as if he did not recognize them as his own. Perhaps he was afraid of her power.
"You want me to be your wife, and yet this is how you react to me? Must I worry for the rest of my life that if I make a sudden movement, I risk being shot by my own husband?" She stepped forward, and the floorboard beneath her feet creaked.
"Don’t you come any closer, Charlotte. Not un
til we’ve talked."
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Wesley knew he was digging himself deeper with every word that left his mouth, but he could not stop. "Do you think I'm stupid? Did you think I would not find out eventually? The betrayal is..." Wesley exhaled. "It hurts like nothing else ever could. We had our secrets when we got married, but this...this is too much. You could have told me you had feelings for Itsá or that you needed space."
“Feelings for Itsá?” She kept her hands in the air where he could see them, but Wesley saw the exasperated expression on her face. “You are so blind, Wesley…”
Wesley sucked air in through his nose and watched the flood of tears cascade from her eyes. She was forced to open her mouth to get enough oxygen as the sound of her heartbreaking whimpers echoed through the room. Wesley could not help but feel as if she had been steered directly into his life to make sure that he fell to her treachery. “A witch...”
“Is that all you see when you look at me?
“No. Because I see a beautiful, fragile woman. I see my wife, and yet I also see you kneeling on the floor covered in blood every time I close my eyes.”
"I never meant to hurt you, Wesley. I merely wanted to protect myself, and when you left me here alone each day, you sealed my fate. I was ready to ride to the ends of the Earth with you by my side, to fight this war together, but I was abandoned long before we knew about the Wendigo Spirit. I was merely someone you passed the time with.”
Wesley shook his head. “I just wanted a choice. When you came after me the first time, you took away my choices. For a while there, I started to fall in love with you. But I ain’t falling anymore, Charlotte. I love you with all my heart, and you hurt me.”
“No, I was the one who was hurt. You’re still just catching up, Wesley."
"Maybe so, but I ain’t a cold-blooded killer. No matter how the story spins, darling, you slit a man’s throat and taunted the others."
"Is that what they said?" she snapped. “Funny how you’re quick to believe strangers over your own wife. But you know I’m telling the truth. You’re just afraid of loving me.”
“You calling me a coward?”
"I'm calling you a fool, Wesley James. I used to think that you had compassion and a soul that is capable of doing the right thing, but word around Wolf Valley is that you’ve been torturing outlaws to find Ethan Tate. I might be damaged, Wesley, and I might be dangerous, but at least I’m not lying to myself about who I am.”
“The black smears upon my soul are the price to pay to keep everyone safe."
Charlotte closed her eyes, letting three large tears escape from beneath her lashes, and Wesley kept his gaze trained on her hands. She squared her shoulders and the fight bled from her body as if she had given up entirely. "I love you, Wesley. No matter how this ends, you will always be my first and only love—the best thing that has ever happened to me. So, if you feel this is the only way you can be sure...do it. Shoot me."
"This some kind of trick?" Wesley hated the break in his voice. He hated that she told him to pull the trigger. "You told me that taking my own life would be selfish. Even if the bullet comes from my gun, this is the same thing, Charlotte.”
"We've been down this road before, I know. But you wanted a choice, right? Here it is, Wesley. I won't be angry. I could never truly be angry at you. If you don’t pull that trigger, someone else will. So, either shoot me dead right now or live with the fear that I am a witch.”
Wesley hesitated. “This ain’t the choice I want.”
“Too late.”
Chapter Eighteen
She had intended for their talk to end a different way.
Charlotte had wanted for them to talk and for Wesley to realize that she posed no threat to him so long as she was in control of herself. Charlotte had chosen to save him instead of letting him die. She chose to love him when he continued to push her away because she knew the truth of his heart. So why couldn’t he see the truth in hers? And there he was, standing in the bedchamber where they had made love, his gun aimed at her.
When Wesley's injured hand faltered, Charlotte punched him in the face. The sudden attack allowed her to ram her forearms into his chest to knock him off balance. The movement dislodged the pistol and sent it skittering across the floor a few feet away. Wesley twisted her arm behind her back and forced her against the wall, but Charlotte dropped down and kicked his leg over and over until he fell to the floor.
She rolled and grabbed the pistol.
Wesley stiffened beneath her as she straddled his abdomen.
Charlotte shoved the gun into his hands and then wrapped her fingers around his, holding the gun where it had been aimed before. "If this is what you believe I deserve, then get it over with. But if there is some part of you that sees the real me, the Charlotte you chose to marry, then let’s end this once and for all."
Her fingers squeezed his and tried to force the trigger down, but his reflexes won the battle. Wesley tossed the gun aside, and Charlotte watched a single tear run down the side of his face to get lost in his hairline. The storm that had been raging between them finally subsided, and Charlotte collapsed against him. She felt his arms come around her as he held her tight.
She pressed her full lips against his and melted beneath his touch.
He rolled her over until she was beneath him. Charlotte gasped as he reached behind her and pulled out her knife. Her heart stuttered for a moment, but he used the blade to slice open the front of her corset before he stripped her clothes from her. Charlotte moaned as he kissed every cut, bruise, and red mark on her body that blended with the scars of her past.
She hissed quietly when his soft lips brushed against her hip bones and moved lower. Wesley growled deep in his chest, and Charlotte now knew that he was scenting her arousal. She whimpered as his broad shoulders stretched her thighs wide open. She licked her lips as he kept his eyes trained on her in the way that said he wanted her more than anything.
Charlotte surrendered herself to him as he loved her with his mouth. Wesley stared into her eyes and drank in her femininity. His tongue slid up the length of her core, moaning at the taste of her excitement. She ran her fingers through his hair as his hands gripped her thighs. Charlotte gently rocked her hips against him. She was in control. Her fingernails brushed against his scalp, tugging slightly on the strands of his hair.
She bucked her hips in a rhythm that drove him mad.
Charlotte reached down and grabbed one of his hands. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as she clenched her thighs. A thick finger prodded her opening, and Charlotte could not take it anymore. “I need you, Wesley.”
Wesley crawled up her body, and she worked quickly to remove his belt. When the leather strip fell at his sides, she reached between their bodies and raked her nails down his bare chest before reaching down the front of his trousers. Wesley hissed and thrust against her hand. His kiss tasted of tears and whiskey. She was furious that they had allowed anger and jealousy to come between them. Charlotte whispered in the darkness, "From this day on, I’m your wife and your mate. For real this time, Wesley. The world may see me as a witch or an heiress that lost her fortune when she ran away from her guardian, but when we’re together...I’m yours. That’s it.”
“I love you, Charlotte. You own the best parts of me.”
Her palms squeezed and stroked him to a full erection while he pushed the fabric of her skirt up. Charlotte kicked her boots off and shoved her feet against the floor, lifting her hips as his fingers ran up the inside of her thighs. Hot cream wetted his fingers as he spread her intimate folds. Charlotte pushed against his shoulders, and he sat back, giving her room to move. Instead of leaving, she lifted up once more to ease him out of his trousers and then slid down onto his length. Wesley stretched her to the limits.
There was nothing delicate about the way their bodies connected at that moment. Wesley held her hips with one hand, and she braced her hand upon his shoulders to steady herself as he thrust up into her. "I m
issed you, Charlotte," he whispered in her ear. “When our words fail us...this is how we communicate. This is how I love you.”
She locked her legs around his waist and crossed her ankles. Charlotte lost all of her inhibitions and tightened around him. Every thrust caused the muscles in Wesley’s back to flex. "Will you love me when it’s over?" she asked against his sweat-slicked skin. He shivered when the warm puff of her breath caressed his shoulder.
“I will love you forever. When you tried to pull that trigger, my heart stopped. I ain’t alive without you, Charlotte. I mean that. I know you will need more than words, and I’m willing to try.”
They moved faster, getting lost in one another as the end drew nearer. Charlotte felt the rise of tension in her body just moments before a wave of pure pleasure crashed over her. She trembled in his arms as he released inside of her. It was more intense with the mark on her arm and the matching symbol on his chest. Bonded. Mated. Married. Loved.
~*~
Morning came with the sound of birds chirping. Wesley rolled over in the bed and stared out the window as Charlotte snuggled up against his back. He had pictured her return many times before, but never had he imagined feeling so raw. She had torn open his heart and forced her way inside, leaving him with no choice but to love her the way she had always loved him. Wesley knew deep down his heart had always belonged to Charlotte. He could blame the totem or the fact that she was a witch, but it simply wasn’t true.
“You are awake,” Charlotte said suddenly. “I felt the change in your heartbeat.”
He turned to face her and brushed a lock of lovely hair from her face. “So much has changed. But now that the truth of how we feel is out...I’m starting to feel a sense of freedom I’m not familiar with. There’s no curse or fear...I just feel whole.”
She pressed a kiss to his shoulder. “You know what has to happen today, right? I have to use the connection to track those witches. It’s something I have to do without you, Wesley.”