Page 50 of Crimson Heart

He ascended the stairs to the second floor. Austin had moved into Cameron’s room after the arrival of Jude’s team, and he knew that he’d given his room to Charlotte and would share Mason’s room while she was visiting. The corridor was dark, and he didn’t switch on any lights, not wanting to draw any attention to himself. He treaded silently, avoiding those floorboards that creaked. Having grown up in this house, he was familiar with all of them. In fact, it had helped him and his brothers sneak out in the middle of the night when they were young, without their parents hearing them. The house had a few other aces up its sleeve that only a family member would be aware of, and he certainly had no intention of giving away all their secrets. At some point, he might have to draw on them should he ever get into a situation where he had to make a quick escape.

In front of Charlotte’s room, he stopped. Should he knock, risking somebody hearing him? Better not. He reached for the doorknob, already turning it, when he heard a sound behind him.

He whirled around, and only his superior Lycan vision allowed him to see that somebody was hiding in a dark corner diagonally across from Charlotte’s room.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Wendell said, stepping out of the shadows.

“What the fuck!” Byron hissed below his breath. “You can’t stop me from seeing Charlotte.”

Byron lifted his chin in defiance and growled.

“Maybe not by himself. But he’s not alone.”

The second man who’d hidden in the shadows and now made himself seen was Austin. Clearly, somebody had put them up to guard Charlotte’s room. Jude didn’t want to give him a chance to speak with her.

“So that’s how Jude thinks he can keep us apart?” He scoffed. “By imprisoning her? Does he really think that’s gonna work? Wait till Charlotte finds out about this. He’s practically driving her into my arms.”

Charlotte hadn’t escaped from her parents because they were trying to push her into a mating she didn’t want, only to let her brothers make decisions about her life. No, Charlotte had her own mind.

He shook his head. “Maybe tonight Jude has won, but trust me, neither you nor your team can watch her twenty-four-seven. She won’t tolerate it.”

Austin pinned him with a glare. “If you think you’ll get another chance at fucking her while she’s in heat so you can get her pregnant and think that will sway my family to accept you as her mate, I’ll let you in on a little secret: that child will grow up without a father.”

“You think I’d get her pregnant so she’ll mate with me? Then you don’t know Charlotte at all! She isn’t ready for children. If I tried to bind her to me by getting her pregnant, it would be over before it begins. I respect Charlotte’s wishes. And I don’t need to resort to dirty tricks to get her, because I love her, and she loves me. You’ll see! All this interference by you and your family will only lead to one thing: her turning her back on all of you. Do you really want that? Or do you want Charlotte’s happiness, even if that means you’ll have to accept me as your brother-in-law?”

Austin’s lips turned into a thin line. For a few seconds, there was no sound in the dark corridor other than their breaths and their heartbeats.

Byron turned on his heel, went back to the stairs, and headed for the third floor, where his own bedroom was located. This night wasn’t over yet. If Jude and his team thought they could prevent him from seeing Charlotte, they had another think coming. He’d grown up in this house, and he and his siblings had explored every nook and cranny. He’d escaped from his room whenever he’d been grounded by his parents, and therefore knew how to get in and out of his room and many of the others in this house without being seen.

He entered his room and locked the door behind him, then rid himself of his shoes, before changing into a black T-shirt and jogging pants of the same color. Barefoot, he walked to the door leading to a tiny Juliet balcony and opened it. It was purely for decoration and to let fresh air into the room. He glanced around. His room overlooked the driveway. Cameron’s old room, which Charlotte currently occupied, was one story below him, though not directly beneath his. It was to his left, and he could see light coming from the window. Charlotte hadn’t drawn the curtains closed yet.

Byron lifted himself up onto the banister, then reached for the iron fire ladder that ran between his room and the room next to his, all the way down to the first floor. It was hidden under the heavy ivy that had grown over it in the last few decades. Newcomers like Jude and his men had no idea the ladder even existed. If they did, they would have had another man standing sentry outside to make sure nobody entered Charlotte’s room through the window.

He swung himself onto the ladder and, like a cat burglar, he descended until he was at the same height as the window to Charlotte’s room. He leaned over, continuing to hold onto the ladder with one hand. With his other hand, he gently tapped on the window, loud enough so Charlotte would hear him, but quiet enough so the men guarding her room wouldn’t be alerted. He noticed movement in the room and finally saw Charlotte, dressed in a short red nightgown, approach the window. When her gaze fell onto him, her eyes widened, and she quickly opened the sash window.

“Byron,” she whispered.

“Hey, babe,” he replied just as quietly. “Move to the side a bit, so I can get in.”

She did as he’d asked, and he heaved himself through the opening. A moment later, he was in the room. He instantly closed the window and the curtains so that nobody outside the house would be able to see them.

Charlotte put her arms around him. “We have to be careful. Jude put somebody outside the door.”

“I know,” he whispered. “I already tried that. But I thought getting into a fight with two of his men wouldn’t help our cause.”

“Two men? One wasn’t enough? Damn it, I’ll rip Jude’s head off in the morning.”

“Shh.” He put a finger over her lips. “It doesn’t matter right now. I found a way to be with you anyway.”

He dipped his head and slid his lips over hers and kissed her. She responded to the kiss, pressing her warm body to his. Through the thin fabric of her nightdress, he could feel every curve of her body. His own body awoke instantly, ready for more than just a kiss, but he had to talk to her first. Reluctantly, he severed the kiss.

“I spoke to Tim, the bounty hunter, earlier this evening.”

Her eyes widened with excitement. “He found something?”

“He has a lead. Not sure yet, whether it’ll pan out, but I’m hopeful.”

“What kind of lead?”