Free Charlotte & Sebastian by Leanne Crabtree Page A

looked away first, unable to cope with the intensity of his stare.
    “Sit, please,” the Director said waving at the chairs in front of his desk.
    They sat and she waited for whatever he was about to say.
    “She's stable?”
    Sebastian answered in a calm voice, “She's as stable as she can be considering she has only been a vampire for five days; almost four of those were her recovering from the change and injuries she had at the time of her transition.”
    “Senses?”
    “ We worked earlier this evening with the help of Adrianna to see how well she could differentiate between floors and hear pulses. She was very good. We haven’t managed to test her eyesight yet, but I have an idea of what we could do.”
    “ Blood?”
    Charlotte flinched at the word and Sebastian found her hand and squeezed. “She is having some trouble in regards to blood. Half of her is repulsed by the act of feeding while the other half hungers for it. We're still working on it but in the mean time I suggest you pair us for missions until she's able to overcome it. I'm the only one who'll be able to keep her in control since I'd rather her trigger happy colleagues not shoot to kill.”
    “How have they taken the news?”
    “ Terribly,” she said before Sebastian could.
    The Director raised a brow.
    “Charlotte's best friend hasn't taken the news well and basically told her to watch her back. Everyone else seems curious about her; probably wondering if she'll turn out an ally, like me, or an enemy, like Lucien.”
    A hiss left her at the mention of that monster. “Like I'd let myself do the same as that monster did to me and my family.”
    Their boss held up a hand. “I trust Sebastian's judgement of you and I'll tell Adrianna to put you back on rotation.” His eyes went between them before settling on Sebastian, “I'm trusting you to keep her under control. If you don’t, I'm afraid she'll have to be terminated.”
    Her lovers grip tightened on her fingers, almost grinding the bones together, as he tried to fight whatever was warring inside him.
    Surely what the Director said hadn’t come as a shock to him? They killed rogue paranormal creatures daily: it was their job. If she went rogue—and she was going to do her damnedest not to—then she knew she would die at the hands of someone she knew.
    “ I understand,” Sebastian finally growled and climbed to his feet, pulling Charlotte with him since he still held her hand.
    “ Dismissed.”
    They quickly left his office and in a blink, Charlotte found herself sitting on the edge of Adrianna's desk, Seb between her spread thighs. His forehead was resting against hers and she could see his body vibrating with some intense emotion.
    “Sebastian?” She asked softly. “Seb?” Her free hand came up to touch his cheek and his eyes caught and held hers.
    “ I can't lose you, Charlie.”
    “ You won't,” she said, with as much conviction as she could.
    His head moved from side to side slowly, “I should never have turned you.”
    “Then you really would have lost me,” she reminded him.
    “ Maybe. But as least I wouldn’t have—” he broke off and pulled away from her, shoving his hands into his dark hair.
    Charlotte watched him warily, her chest aching, “At least then you wouldn’t have what?”
    He cursed loudly and then turned back to her. “Charlie. There's still so much you don’t know.”
    “ Then tell me!”
    “ Vampire's can have mates; like shape-shifters, only it's a bigger commitment.”
    When he didn’t elaborate, she thought it through in her head but couldn’t come up with anything. “Bigger commitment how?”
    Sighing at length, he gripped the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “Okay. Like I said: vampires have mates, too. The probability of finding him or her gets lower the older you get, though it isn’t impossible. A vampire can sense their mate, it's like a tingling under their skin, a prickling of their senses, whenever they're