The Blessed And The Beast

Ten: Charlie

Charlie’s P.O.V.

I used to think that redheads had the shortest tempers. That was until I watched Paxton throw a fit when he thought his favorite pair of pants had blown away from where they had been hanging. He had a terrible habit of never putting his clothes away after they dried and would get angry when the wind took them.

It became a running joke. When it was time for Paxton to do his laundry, we always expected to find them strewn about the forest floor at some point. Sometimes, even with no wind or storms, Diego would take something and hide it just for the hell of it.

Paxton never learned his lesson. It was hilarious.

I had never stolen his clothes myself, nor had I hidden them before. That was all Diego, so Paxton didn’t bother to accuse me when the men returned to camp, and he saw they were missing.

He had been searching the woods around the camp for over an hour before giving up, cursing and grumbling under his breath. It wasn’t an attractive look, and if any of his countless women saw it, they would probably change their minds about him. But it was hilarious.

I was grateful that Damien walked off in Paxton’s pants, ill-fitting as they may have been. After what I had done with Damien in them, I wouldn’t have been able to meet Paxton’s eyes while he wore them.

The next morning, it seemed that Paxton was still on the hunt as his loud cursing had woken me up.

“This is such bullshit!” He sounded put out, immediately bringing a smile to my face as I pulled my sleeping roll closer to my chin. Only it wasn’t my sleeping roll. The blanket was thick and heavy, and I tried to keep things light since we traveled with so much.

I opened my eyes to see the unfamiliar brown fabric draped over my body and smiled even wider when Damien’s scent hit me. Had he brought me a blanket? How did I not hear him entering my tent, and where was he now?

The sweet gesture warmed my heart, and I clenched the blanket tightly in my fists as I held it to my chest. The sun had been up for a while based on how warm it was, and it had to have been the longest night’s sleep I had had since living in the castle.

I enjoyed it for one more moment before getting dressed and tripping over myself to get out of my tent. My foot snagged the bottom of the blanket as I tumbled out of my tent. Arms wrapped around my waist, catching me before I could hit the ground.

“Easy there, girl,” Neil said, spinning us around fluidly like a dance before letting me go and walking toward the fire. “Running a bit late today?”

I nodded, rushing to make myself some coffee and grab breakfast to head out. I had already lost so much time from sleeping in and wanted to see Damien. After what happened yesterday, I needed to know if his showing up here and what we did was his way of giving me a chance.

had a problem with it before. If they did, they didn’t say anything. They

looked forward to the day Killian found his mate and could stop

but I have to get going.” My words were followed by my chugging the hot cup of caffeine, although I probably didn’t need it with how much sleep I

than my enhanced eyesight could follow. Diego had rolled up his bedroll and sat a few feet down from him,

bold. I’ll give you that. I sent Roman after him last night, and the guy still came back an hour later, walked right into our camp and to your tent.” The smirk on Diego’s face made me blush. They had known he had been in camp while they were gone yesterday. Not only could they smell him, but the stew I had been making had boiled over when Damien and I had walked away from the camp to part ways by the river, and they laughed at me for getting distracted. I was slightly disappointed that

they did until Paxton noticed his favorite pants

If anyone approached him last night, I was glad it was

and Barley, it was a toss-up for which one would remain the most civil. Barley was the Papa Bear of the group, but Roman was the calm and civil protective brother who would support me to take on any

the cards between

him. The man risked his life coming in here to keep

at him and hid my

Even if you had been standing and fully armed, he could have just stepped on

I heard a grunt as he launched himself onto Neil. Short jokes were the easiest way to work Diego up. He was like a little stick of dynamite. You only had a

into a chunk of bread as I turned back to face them, finding the cards

did the others go?” I asked and received a curt grunt of ‘hunting’ in

rushed away so quickly that

sound of wood being chopped. I was waiting for him to stop me, to tell me that I needed to turn

in my chest. There was a beautiful cabin that, had it not been in the woods and made out of logs, rivaled the size of a

it was exactly the kind of place I had dreamed of living in as a teenager. The small, quiet life in nature where

to be one of the bears that preferred to live in a cave. Many of them lived that way, and I was pleasantly surprised that wasn’t the

from his incredible home to the man standing by the front corner of the house with an ax on his bare shoulder and his shorts hanging

“Charlotte.”

as I let out a breath of relief at how happy he sounded. A small part of me had been expecting him to be angry that I had come here after he had made it clear that he

forcing my eyes to stay on his face and not drop down to his chest, which was glistening with sweat. “I wanted to thank you for

unless he asked for it back, I wouldn’t return it. I liked having something that smelled like him and proved that he did care for me, no matter how resistant to

spinning around

I waited a few seconds, and when I heard him resume his wood chopping, I followed him. It sure was a sight to behold, and my thighs pressed together as I watched his