Chapter 16
Lincoln
I crashed on to the couch in the living room, feeling lightheaded and wide awake. Being with Charlotte again had woken something up in me. I felt alive. Like I could do anything.
Whatever dared to stand in my way, between Charlotte and my future; I was going to crush it into nothingness with my bare hands. Nothing was going to stop me from making that woman happy.
The mother of my child.
My true mate.
I sat on the couch, staring up at the ceiling and dreaming about Charlotte’s naked body in my arms.
The crash came out of nowhere, the sound was ringing with a buzz in my ears. It sounded like glass smashing into a million pieces, and it came from upstairs. I heard it clearly as if I was in the room.
I jumped off the couch, and felt my bear shift underneath my skin. I ran up the stairs to Charlotte’s room, knowing right away that was where the sound came from.
I kicked the door open and found her crouched on the floor beside her bed. I ran over to the open window, where the curtain was billowing in the breeze. The glass pane was missing, but I saw nothing there. I turned back towards her.
“Hey, are you okay, princess?” I asked, as I rushed to her side. She was crouched on the carpet, with her knees up to her chin, tears flooding down her cheeks.
“I came up here and within minutes, someone threw a brick.”
“A brick? What brick? What did you see?” I asked, kneeling down in front of her.
“I didn’t see anything. I don’t know who did it. I just saw the brick,” she said.
There was a brick beside her and a note was taped to it. Keeping my eyes on Charlotte, I read the note.
Your dad should have stopped when we told him to. And now we’re coming to get you.
I looked up at Charlotte. She had her face turned away from me. She was rocking back and forth, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs. I had never seen her this frightened before.
“Hey, it’s going to be okay. I’m here now…” I said and reached for her. She fell into my arms, pressing her cheek to my chest as she cried.
“Why is this happening to us, Lincoln. Why won’t dad just stop the construction?” she cried.
“What construction are you talking about?”
“There is a project that he is working on. Called, The Eagle Project.” I heard some things in the news about The Eagle Project but I never put much thought to it.
“In order to build the new condos,” she continued. “They have to kick out the current residents. Who happen to be shifters. And while some of them were fine accepting a payment that my dad offered. Others weren’t.”
I wasn’t expecting this. When I convinced Andrew to give our clan this job, I didn’t think there was any real danger involved, other than a few empty threats which was commonplace in a business like his. But this attack on Charlotte changed everything.
This note and brick was proof that my clan and I were needed. I had made the right decision by coming here.
“I’m going to find the guys who did this and they’re going to pay for this,” I said and stroked her hair.
“Charlotte!”
We both heard Andrew’s voice outside and footsteps approaching the room. She hurriedly pulled away from me, just as the door opened.
I was still crouched on the carpet, close to Charlotte, but we were not touching anymore.
Andrew threw open the door and rushed in, behind him was his wife, clutching a robe tightly around herself.
“What the hell is going on?” Andrew yelled, staring at his daughter and then at me.
“I heard the crash and came up here to check on Ms. Williams,” I said. Slowly, I stood up and stepped away from Charlotte.
This was not how I wanted Andrew to find out, not on a night like this when Charlotte’s safety was threatened.
Mrs. Williams went to her daughter, throwing her arms around Charlotte. Andrew remained standing over her, glaring at me.
“What did you see? What happened?” he asked me.
I looked over at the window.
“Someone threw a brick in. There was a note taped to it,” I explained.
While Charlotte remained in her mother’s embrace, Andrew picked up the brick and read the note.
“Those bastards!” he said under his breath.
“Daddy!” Charlotte said.
I went to the window and looked out. I used my powerful sense of hearing and sight but was nothing there.
“I’m going to check the perimeter and make sure we don’t have any trespassers on the property,” I said.
Mrs. Williams was staring at me with fear in her eyes. Now that I saw the family together, I could see how very different they all were from me. Charlotte was right when she said she belonged to a different world. Now I knew what she meant by never having been with a man like me before.
“Yes, you should do that, thank you, Lincoln,” Andrew said. He walked with me to the bedroom door.
I was just about to step outside when he stopped me.
“Lincoln, I am grateful to you for being here,” he said.
I looked over his shoulder at Charlotte, who was still huddled on the floor with her mother.
“It’s no problem, Mr. Williams. I’m just doing my job,” I told him. Andrew looked even more worried now than he did before.
“I need you to keep an eye on Charlotte. My daughter is the most important thing in the world to me. I want you to personally safeguard her.”
I nodded.
Then Andrew shut the door, so he could go and console his daughter too. I walked away, rushing out of the house so I could make the rounds of the premises.
The fact that Charlotte’s life could actually be in danger was just now hitting me. I was glad I was here. I was glad I’d spoken to Andrew and convinced him to hire us.
I could see now that Charlotte was close to her parents. Even though she was pregnant out of wedlock, and things might have been difficult in their family lately—the truth was that her parents loved her more than anything. I just needed Andrew to see that I felt the same way about his daughter too.