Compatible
The paper trembled in my hand.
“Her numbers are off the charts,” Everett said, drawing my gaze to his. He nodded toward the paper. “And there’s more. I tested your blood with her DNA. The cellular attraction between your samples was extraordinary. She’s not just a match. It’s like she was made specifically for you.”
I lowered the paper and rubbed my jaw, relief and something else mingling in my chest. Dread, maybe. Because telling Charlotte meant making her choose between me and the life she’d built.
“This is good news, right?” Cal asked, watching me with careful eyes.
“She’s a gifted scientist,” I said. “She has a career waiting for her in Colorado. Job opportunities. A whole future she’s worked hard for. If I tell her about us, I’ll be asking her to leave all that behind. She’ll have to give up her dreams.”
Cal and Everett were quiet. Then Cal spread his hands. “Maybe she won’t see it that way. She might decide you’re offering her something better.”
I wanted to believe it. But I’d spent days with Charlotte in the forest. I’d seen her eyes light up when she spoke of her research. She was a prodigy, and her brilliance had carried her from foster homes to a prestigious career. Did I really expect her to throw all that away for a bed and breakfast and a fifty-year-old bear shifter?
“There’s something else,” I said. “I found Charlotte sleepwalking at 3 a.m. last night. When I got her back inside, I saw faded marks on her neck. They looked like puncture wounds.”
Both men straightened.
I relayed the whole story, telling them about the insomnia pills and my suspicions about Dr. Henry. When I finished, Everett and Cal shared a grim look.
Everett frowned. “The scars could be from something else. An old injury, maybe.”
“Maybe,” I conceded, “but my gut tells me something is wrong.” I tapped the paper with the compatibility results. “And now we know Charlotte is a perfect match. What are the chances a human scientist trained to investigate wildlife anomalies just happens to be highly compatible with our species? And now her advisor has sent her here with a bottle of pills she didn’t get from a doctor?”
Cal scowled. “If it’s what you think, this Dr. Henry could have been setting this up for years. He’s mentored her since she was fourteen. He probably learned of her compatibility early on. But what could he want with us?”
“His credentials are real,” Everett said. “Nothing says a vampire can’t be an expert in a scientific field. It’s like he groomed Charlotte. Turned her into a weapon.”
My growl filled the kitchen. Wood creaked, and I looked down to see that I’d gripped the edge of the table and was in danger of snapping off the edge.
Something hard and fierce glinted in Cal’s eyes. “We need to find out what’s in those pills.”
I released the table, but my fury remained. “Henry isn’t going to get near her again.”
Worry covered Everett’s features. “Ancient vampires are powerful enough to maintain a long-distance link on their victims. If you try to tell Charlotte the truth about him?—”
“He could access her mind and compel her to destroy herself,” I finished, my bear rising under my skin.
Cal’s expression mirrored Everett’s. “The vampires could wipe us out if they wanted to. We’re not a match for them, Beck. If Charlotte is part of some kind of trap?—”
“She’s not,” I growled, my voice an octave lower than usual. And my beast must have shone in my eyes because both men lowered their heads.
I dragged in a deep breath, willing my bear to settle. “She’s not,” I repeated more quietly. “Charlotte doesn’t know what she is. I’d stake my life on it.”
Cal looked up, his gaze steady in the face of my beast. “You might be.”
I leaned back, and I drew another breath before I said, “I know the risk. But I also know Charlotte.” I looked between the men closer to me than anyone else in the clan. “I’m falling for her. Vampire bait or not, I’m falling in love with her. Maybe I already am.”
“What are you going to do?” Everett asked.
Silence stretched, the kitchen quiet except for the drip of melting snow outside.
“I’ll get you those pills,” I said finally. “I want you to find out exactly what’s in them. In the meantime, though, I need to tell Charlotte the truth about us. Let her see with her own eyes what we are. Then we can figure out who Dr. Henry really is and if he’sa vampire. But I can’t tell her about my suspicions. Not until we know for sure he can’t reach her.”
“And if he can?” Cal pressed.
“Then we deal with it,” I said. “But first, Charlotte deserves to know what she is. She’s precious to us. To me. She’s rare and not just because she can bear cubs for the clan. I’d love her no matter what.”
