Devotion (Chosen by the Karal #5)(36)
His seed spurted deep inside her, and the fusion of their bodies meant the chances of Tikki becoming pregnant were increased. She cried out as she throbbed and pulsed around him, and he kissed her lips, drowning out her voice so that she didn’t wake Charlie.
For now, he wanted her all to himself. He intended to spend a sleepless night finding out exactly what she liked. Her body fascinated him, the way she moved, the way she liked to be touched, and as he breathed in, even the smell of her ignited a flame inside him that he never wanted to extinguish.
Chapter Twenty-Four – Tikki
She woke and stretched, opening her eyes to see Charlie standing looking at her. Not exactly what she was expecting, and her heart rate registered the shock. Sitting up, she pulled the covers up around her and let her brain fire into life. The first thing to register was just how dark it was outside, which meant it was too early for him to be up.
“What’s wrong, Charlie?” She sat up. “Did you have a bad dream?”
“Teddy did,” Charlie said, cradling his teddy in his arms.
“If you back to your room, I’ll come and sit with you for a while.” The little boy turned and left the room, while Tikki pulled on a shirt. Then she left the warm bed and a sleeping Okil, and followed Charlie.
“There, you cuddle teddy and he will feel better soon.” She smoothed Charlie’s hair while he lay with his eyes wide open staring at the window.
“Teddy is scared bad men will come and take him away.”
“No one knows teddy is here,” Tikki said. “He doesn’t have a tag, so no one can find him.”
“Yes he does,” Charlie said.
“No, we checked, remember, it has been removed.” Tikki’s hand automatically went to the nape of her neck where the small wound had nearly healed. She would have to ask Okil about having a new one put in.
“Teddy has one. Charlie doesn’t.”
Tikki made her hand keep moving in a steady rhythm over Charlie’s hair. Calm, soothing, she tried to slowly let out the sharp breath she had taken, so that she didn’t scare him. “Why does teddy have a tag?”
“So that he can keep secrets.”
“What kind of secrets does teddy know?” Tikki asked lightly. “The kind about what Charlie’s favourite cookie is? Or whether Charlie has tidied his room?”
“No. Those aren’t important secrets.”
“And teddy has important secrets?”
“Yes.” Charlie turned to look at her. “I’m not supposed to tell anyone. Sienna Mommy doesn’t know I saw her put the tag into teddy.”
“Why weren’t you supposed to know?”
“She told Funny Daddy that it was dangerous, that it might get you killed.”
“Me? Get me killed?”
He nodded and then threw his arms around her. “I don’t want you to get killed. Can’t we take it out and throw it away? Will the doctor be able to take it out of teddy?”
“Let me see if I can take it out. Wait here.”
She went to the kitchen and got a small knife, and then she came back and asked Charlie, “Can I cut the seam on teddy? I promise I will sew him up as good as new.”
Charlie clutched teddy tightly to him and then handed him to Tikki. “Don’t hurt him.”
“I’ll be really careful. Do you know where the tag is? In his neck, the same as mine was?”
Charlie nodded and then hid his face in his pillow while Tikki cut the cotton that held the old stuffing in. Then she very carefully took looked inside. The problem was the tags were so small it could be anywhere. Carefully, she felt her way through the soft downy stuffing, thinking Charlie had made it all up. And then her fingertip touched something hard. Very carefully, she pulled out a tiny tag.
Staring at it, she couldn’t believe that Charlie had been carrying it around with him all of this time. Had it been used to track him, to track them both? Why would Sienna risk placing the tag in the teddy, if she wanted to keep the boy safe?
Wait, what had Charlie said? The tag might get her, Tikki, killed.
“It’s all done, Charlie. I have the tag. Teddy is safe now. So you cuddle him gently and I will wake Okil and find out if he was a needle and thread, OK?”
“Yes.” Charlie looked up and then took teddy from Tikki.
“Charlie. I don’t want to upset you. But I need to know. What happened to your mommy and daddy?”
“A bad man kept them prisoner. He made them do things that made mommy cry.”
“OK.” She dared not ask what kind of things.
“Sienna Mommy took me so that they didn’t have to do bad things anymore.”
“As far as you know, your mommy and daddy are still alive?” It was a difficult question to ask.
“Yes. Sienna Mommy and Funny Daddy came to help my real Mommy and Daddy. They took them from the bad man. They said it would be safer if me and teddy went far away from them. They took out my tag, and Mommy and Daddy’s tag. Then they took me away.”
“And you lived with Sienna?”
“Yes, but then the other man found her. Sienna Mommy told me to hide. But she was scared he would come back. She said she knew someone who would keep me safe.”
“Me?” Tikki asked. “So your mommy and daddy are still alive somewhere on Earth?”