Lincoln (Canyon Hollow Shifters Read online

  Chapter 3

  Charlotte

  I was standing in front of the long mirror in my bedroom, staring at my belly bulging under the dress. It wasn’t that I told my parents about the pregnancy because I wanted to, or that I thought I would get their support. Their anger at my state was obvious. There was no way they would look at this pregnancy as a blessing.

  I had to tell them because I was beginning to show and I couldn’t hide it from them anymore.

  I realized I was pregnant within three weeks of returning home. At first, I was panicked and I locked myself in my room, feeling shattered and miserable. Lincoln was going to be the father of my child, and there was no way for me to get in touch with him. Chances were, that I’d never see him again. I thought my life was destroyed.

  I tried to keep the pregnancy a secret for as long as I could. But when I started to show, I had no other choice but to tell my parents. I knew what was going to happen—they were going to be disappointed and angry.

  My father felt shame. He thought I was embarrassing him in front of all his friends. He knew he couldn’t keep it a secret, even though he ordered me to never go to the country club again.

  But word eventually got out. Andrew Williams’ perfect daughter was pregnant, and nobody knew who the father was. I refused to give them a name. Lincoln had no clue he was going to be a father, and it would have been unfair for me to tell my family about him.

  My parents were furious, especially dad. He couldn’t believe I’d done this. That I’d ruined my life like this. I had proven to him that he never should have given me the freedom I’d demanded. He shouldn’t have allowed me the year off.

  Now it was September, and my time was running out. Not only was I going to have this baby soon, but my gap year was coming to an end too. Dad had decided my fate for me. His plan was that I’d give birth and then go to Law School. They were going to hire nannies to raise my child. And that killed me, because I wanted to raise this baby.

  Over time, I had realized that this pregnancy was a blessing.

  Now that I was going to be a mother, I had the courage to change my life. There was no way I’d stay here at home, let dad rule my life and the life of this child. My plan was to give birth and then leave. I’d go somewhere dad and his associates would never find me. Somewhere I could raise this child the way I wanted to. I wasn’t going to Law School, dad just didn’t know it yet.

  My hand flitted over the baby bump as I stood in front of the mirror and stared.

  Dad’s charity auction party was today, and he’d ordered me to dress appropriately. Now that everyone around us knew that I was pregnant, they were all going to be talking about me.

  I didn’t care.

  I was proud of my body and my baby. I was tired of the claustrophobic life I had to led all these years. It was time for me to rebel.

  I’d chosen a form-fitting dress for the occasion, just so my body would be a constant reminder for my father. My bump was accentuated by my dress and I stroked my belly lovingly. I knew this child already. It was mine, even though it would never know its father. I felt at peace as I held my belly, knowing that I was going to be a mother soon.

  I was willing and waiting for my whole life to change, even though I was going to have to do it without any support. Without Lincoln. But wherever in the world he was, I now knew that I’d never be able to forget him.

  ***

  At the auction, I could see dad socializing with the crowd. He looked pleased with himself, with the turnout. This was an event which he organized on an annual basis, and everyone in the city wanted to attend it. So, all eyes were on us.

  I tried to stay away from the cameras as much as possible because I wasn’t interested in being in the limelight. I knew what people were saying about me. Andrew Williams’ daughter was pregnant, she was going to be a single mother, nobody knew who the father was.

  I remained in the background, trying to socialize as little as possible. I could sense eyes on me wherever I tried to hide. Even though everyone wanted to come to this party because of how highly publicized it was, they were all fueling the gossip mills with my presence too.

  It made me feel sick. That people around me were using my baby as a source of entertainment.

  Dad and mom barely spoke to me throughout the event. They wanted to draw as little attention to me as possible as well.

  Dad was pretending like nothing new was happening, that there wasn’t this big scandal surrounding my family. The fact that tension had been high in our home ever since I started showing—was very carefully hidden right now.

  Dad remained calm and handled the spotlight well as he interacted with the guests. While I lingered in the background, watching them, trying not to explode.

  The more time went by, the more I realized that we were approaching the moment when we all would have to go up on stage. It was making me nervous. I wished dad changed the tradition a little this year, but he wasn’t going to. He was going to follow every set pattern, to prove to people that nothing had changed in the family.

  ***

  They were inviting us up on stage, and I had to force myself to go. Dad was going to make a speech, and talk about the charity he had picked this year to raise money for. In the meantime, mom and I would have to stand with him and we’d have to pretend to be a happy family.

  I’d never enjoyed being up on stage like that, pretending to be supportive of dad while he ran our lives in the background. But I’d been doing it all these years, and I would have to do it again. It’s just the way my world worked.

  Mom caught my eye and her first instinct was to look down at my belly.

  “You should have worn something different, Charlotte. Something less tight on your body,” she whispered beside me, while she kept the smile plastered on her face. “Dad is angry with you, because the dress is drawing attention to the pregnancy,” she added.

  I rolled my eyes. How was a dress going to stop the wagging tongues? I felt like I had nothing to hide. I wasn’t ashamed of my pregnancy and I wasn’t going to hide my child either.

  “Don’t you roll your eyes at me, young lady!” mom snapped as we took up our positions behind dad.

  “Maybe stop telling me what to wear!” I snapped back.

  I was twenty-four years old, and it was hard to believe that I was still having petty quarrels with my mother. Over a dress!

  I looked away from her, while the crowd cheered and clapped at the venue. It was a bright evening, without a cloud in the sky. Dad had picked this spot on the museum grounds so we could organize the auction on stage, with plenty of seating. All eyes were on us now and as I looked around, I noticed the men for the first time.

  I caught sight of a handful of them, spread around at the back ends of the venue. They reminded me of Lincoln, in their body shape and tattoos. What were a bunch of strong men doing at dad’s event?

  There was no way that my father knew men like them personally. I could feel my body stiffening up as we stepped up to the stage. Dad and mom were ahead of me, smiling and waving at the crowd like royalty. I felt a little dazed, still confused by the presence of these biker men in our midst.

  Would I even have noticed them if I hadn’t gone to the campsite? If I hadn’t met Lincoln?

  I walked slowly to the center of the stage to take my position. All eyes were on us, especially on me. I searched the crowd, my heart racing. Suddenly, I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that Lincoln was here too.

  Then I saw him. My eyes met his. He was at the back, standing with his arms crossed over his expansive chest. When I saw him, I knew that he wasn’t expecting to find me here either. What was he doing here? Why was he in Nashville? At my father’s charity auction?

  I thought I felt my knees wobble and I was going to collapse to the ground.

  Chapter 4

  Lincoln

  “We in the Secret Service or what?” Grant joked when I handed him the walkie earlier in the day.

  “Yeah, except t
hat they don’t exactly shift into bears,” Jackson replied, taking his ear piece from me and fixing it in his ear.

  “Maybe they should,” I commented and the others sniggered.

  I’d charted out a plan for the event to the last position. Ford expected it of me and I was determined to do a good job. The entire clan was in on this, which meant that we had at least forty of our men at the venue.

  Every inch of the premises was covered, with most of the men scattered in the crowd and keeping an eye on the stage and the perimeter. Grant, Ford and I were in-charge of this group, while Jackson was in the building overlooking the museum, with his own group of men. We had to make sure that the place was being watched by us from every angle.

  The day before, I’d met with Andrew at his office and gone over the plan. He was pleased with the level of security and said that he was going to stop worrying.

  I hadn’t met or seen his family yet, but I knew they were going to be there at the event.

  When I got there and when the evening started, I noticed his wife. She was on his arm the whole time and interacted with the guests.

  “Where’s the daughter?” Grant asked me, while we walked through the crowd, trying to keep our eyes on everything. I looked around. I hadn’t noticed her yet. I should have at least asked for a picture of her from Andrew, that way I would have known who I was protecting.

  “Find the daughter. We need to keep an eye on her too,” I told Grant.

  “Roger that,” he said and went in search of the daughter. I figured it wouldn’t have been hard to find her. I expected Andrew to keep his family close to himself, especially since he was aware of the threat on his life.

  But then Grant returned a few minutes later, looking confused.

  “Nobody seems to know where the daughter is,” he hissed in my ear.

  “Fuck!” I growled and ran a hand through my hair.

  “Nobody knows what she looks like?” I asked and Grant shrugged.

  “Okay, keep the boys on the lookout. I’m going to take Andrew aside and ask him to point her out to me. She has to be here somewhere,” I replied.

  I started heading towards Andrew, while barking out orders on my walkie. Then I stopped, because I saw that he was walking towards the stage. I didn’t have enough time to intercept him and ask him about his daughter.

  “Shit,” I mumbled under my breath as I looked around the crowd. I had no idea what his daughter looked like, and this was my fault. Why hadn’t it occurred to me earlier to ask him about her? I thought I was so on top of my game, and I’d majorly fucked up.

  And now if something happened to his daughter; I wouldn’t be able to stop it. She could already be missing, for all I knew!

  I was cursing myself as I watched him walk up on stage. Then I noticed two women following him up. I couldn’t see their faces yet. I was standing at one end, and the women’s backs were turned to me. But I could sense that one was much older and one younger. They had to be his wife and daughter. It was a relief. At least now I would know what the daughter looked like.

  I stood back, keeping my eyes on the stage while the women took up their position beside him. Andrew was getting ready to make his speech and clearly he wanted his family there with him.

  I watched and waited, for the daughter to look up so I could see her face. There was something familiar about her, I couldn’t put my finger on it. Even from this distance, it seemed like I’d seen her somewhere, that I knew her.

  My eyes roamed over her, and I could see that she was pregnant. Did I know any pregnant women?

  Then she looked up, and everything around me stood still.

  It was Charlotte.

  As clear as day. I would have recognized her anywhere. Her hair, her face, her eyes…everything was the same. Only now, she was dressed in a sophisticated blue tight dress and had a bulging baby belly.

  She was looking around in the crowd, until finally; her eyes landed on me.

  I wasn’t very close to the stage, but she’d seen me. She’d picked me out in the crowd and now we were staring at each other. There was no doubt in my head that was her. She’d recognized me too, and immediately, the color seemed to drain from her face.

  She was Andrew Williams’ daughter? The girl I’d fucked at the campsite was Charlotte Williams?

  And she was pregnant!

  I couldn’t hear anything, I couldn’t feel anything. Every ounce of my energy was focused on her, and on her belly.

  What the fuck was going on?

  I’d fantasized about seeing her again, of finding her, but not like this! Not as the daughter of the man who was giving me truck loads of money to protect him. She was my job too now. Keeping Charlotte safe was a part of my detail.

  But most importantly, whose baby was she carrying?

  Chapter 5

  Charlotte

  I couldn’t believe Lincoln was here, at my father’s event! I had no idea what he was doing here, and now I knew that the other strong looking men were with him here too. Why? Did dad know who they were?

  I tried to look away from him, to pretend like I hadn’t seen him. But the truth was that there was nowhere to hide. I was up on a stage. In the tightest dress I could have worn.

  Not only had he definitely seen me, he had also most definitely seen my belly. He knew I was pregnant.

  I tried to focus on the audience as dad talked. I needed to get away from here. I felt overly exposed, I could feel the heavy intense gaze from Lincoln, even though there were hundreds of other people in the crowd too.

  I reached for my mother’s hand to steady myself, and thankfully, she didn’t pull away from me. Then I squeezed her hand and stepped away.

  I hoped my parents would assume I was just feeling sick. Which I was.

  Seeing Lincoln again, when I least expected to, had overwhelmed me. I didn’t know if I was hallucinating or not, if I was actually sick. But every time I looked in his direction, there he was; glaring back at me.

  I walked slowly away off the stage, heading to the backstage where I knew I could lock myself in a bathroom.

  Behind me, I could still hear dad continuing with the speech. Just before I took the last step down, I looked over my shoulder at the spot I’d seen Lincoln. I half-expected him to be gone, hoping it was just my imagination.

  But he was still there, still glaring at me like he’d seen a ghost.

  Had he found me? Was he following me? Were his friends going to cause a scene here? I had no idea what was going on and now I was panicking.

  I rushed backstage, covering my belly with both my hands. What was I protecting my baby from?

  I hoped that Lincoln hadn’t noticed my belly. But that wasn’t possible. This tight dress had definitely given everything away.

  I locked myself in the bathroom, feeling out of breath. I wondered if I could leave without being noticed. I could always give the excuse that I was feeling sick. Dad wouldn’t be happy about it, but at least I would get a moment to just think and work it all out.

  Had he heard I was pregnant? Had he come in search of me?

  Deep inside me, I was excited to see him again. I’d got the same thrill I felt when I first saw him at the campsite. But now things were very different. I was carrying his child and I had no idea if he knew it or not.

  What was he going to do?

  Chapter 6

  Lincoln

  Charlotte was even more beautiful than I remembered her. Or was she just a dream?

  When I saw her on stage, I was stunned for a few moments. I couldn’t move and neither could I look away. All I could do was stare at her. She was Andrew Williams’ daughter.

  I could taste her in my mouth now. I could hear her moaning in my ears as I entered her. She was so soft and sweet, so delicious. Flashes of that week raked through my mind and I was frozen to the spot.

  Then she was on the move. I stood there, watching her while she slipped off stage and disappeared somewhere in the back. I still couldn’t get myself to foll
ow her. It was like I was stuck.

  Was Charlotte really pregnant? There was no denying that she was. In that beautiful blue dress she was wearing, her stomach bulged. Her face glowed and her blue eyes shone. She had a rosy pinkness in her cheeks, even though she’d turned deathly pale when she saw me.

  I tried to work it out in my head. We were at the campsite in early April. It was nearly the end of September now. Five months had gone by, and five months was enough time for her to start showing a baby bump. The child could be mine!

  I sprung into action when that thought entered my head.

  Slipping the walkie out of my holster, I spoke into it.

  “Grant and Ford, I need you to hold the fort here. I’m going to go check on the daughter,” I said.

  “Yeah, we saw her on stage. She’s gone backstage now,” Grant answered back.

  “I’m going backstage, going to make sure everything’s good.”

  Fixing the walkie back in position, I sifted through the crowd, trying to make my way to the back of the stage.

  I knew that the guests at the event had noticed us already. Me and the rest of the clan stuck out like sore thumbs in this crowd. Being a shifter was pretty obvious by our body type. I knew what these people were thinking—what are these guys doing here?

  None of them could imagine that Andrew Williams himself had invited us. I guessed nobody knew that he even needed protection.

  I made my way towards the back, trying to keep a lookout for trouble at the same time. Even though I knew I had to find Charlotte, I couldn’t stop working either. I was here to do a job, and I was going to make sure that there was no trouble at the event.

  I didn’t want Charlotte to distract me from doing my job, but the truth was I couldn’t think of anything else but her at this point. And the fact that she could be carrying my baby.

  I reached the back and jumped over a gate that was constructed to divide the front from the back.