Charming The Beast

by Cynthia Eden

  “I want to give you pleasure, baby.”

  He was still way too close to her throat. Her heart was galloping like a race horse. Her knees were shaking and his teeth—they’d better not be growing.

  “Connor—”

  The door opened. It flew open and banged against the wall. Connor spun at once, pushing her behind his back. She was afraid she’d see a pack of foaming-at-the-mouth werewolves in that doorway, but…

  A man stood there.

  A man with blond hair. Blue eyes. A handsome face that didn’t seem threatening at all. It should have seemed threatening because she knew that man.

  Eric Pate. Leader of the FBI’s Seattle Para Unit. And, if her father’s whispers had been right, the man poised to take over the entire Para Division.

  Eric looked at Connor. He looked at Chloe. He looked back at Connor. “Your fangs are out.” Eric stepped into the room. “Tell me, tell me that you didn’t drink from her.”

  “There wasn’t a choice,” Connor said. “She wouldn’t leave me at the safe house—”

  “Well, no,” Chloe muttered, and she knew she sounded disgruntled. She felt that way, too. “I thought you’d die if I left you. You’re welcome, by the way.” Had he thanked her? No, he’d just taken her blood.

  Connor slanted her a fast glance. Then he focused on Eric again. “The silver didn’t slow me down, but then they hit me with tranqs. After the fourth dart hit, I went down. I would have stayed down, but Chloe was there. She reached for me and I….” His voice roughed. “I bit her.”

  Chloe waved her wrist at Eric. “Yes, he did. Right here, see it?”

  But Eric was only looking at Connor. “You know what you’ve done? The drug we’ve been using on you might not work any longer. You’ve been so careful with the karahydrelene, but what the fuck happens now? We don’t even know what she is!”

  She wasn’t the one who was some strange vampire and werewolf mix.

  “They were trying to take her,” Connor snapped back. “What did you want me to do? Let them have her? It was a pack—I’m guessing the remnants of David Vincent’s pack. The guy was tied up with her father, and, now that Senator Quick is out of the way—”

  Chloe flinched at the mention of her father.

  “They’re trying to get their hands on her.”

  Now Eric turned his attention on her. His gaze seemed so cold that she almost shivered.

  “We don’t know it was their pack,” Eric murmured as he tilted his head to the side. He seemed to be considering things. She didn’t really like it when Eric considered things. After a long moment, he nodded. “Connor, take a team back to the safe house. Search it. Find me a live wolf from that pack, and we’ll make him talk. We’ll find out just why she’s suddenly so important to that group.”

  But Connor didn’t exactly jump to do his boss’s bidding. In fact, Chloe saw Connor’s hands clench into fists. “And while I’m gone, what happens to her?”

  “Holly is here. I called her in. She can run more tests.”

  More poking and prodding with needles? “I don’t want more tests!”

  Eric took another step toward her. “Do you want to be sent to Purgatory?”

  Her blood completely iced. She knew what Purgatory was. Her father had mentioned it to her time and time again.

  Purgatory was the only paranormal prison in the United States. Modeled after Alcatraz, it was supposed to be an inescapable strong-hold. Vampires and werewolves were carefully contained there. Werewolves were fitted with silver collars so that they could be controlled. Vampires were given drugged blood. From all accounts, the place was a living, breathing nightmare.

  And Eric wanted to send her there? “Why?” Chloe whispered.

  “You killed your father, Chloe,” Eric said, his voice like the arctic. “There were plenty of witnesses to the crime.”

  Her lips parted to reply, but it was Connor who sprang forward. He stood toe-to-toe with Eric. “That bastard had just stabbed her in the heart. He’d killed her!”

  “But Chloe didn’t stay dead, did she? And we don’t really know just how involved Chloe was with all of her father’s…plans.” Eric stepped around Connor. Stalked to Chloe. “I mean, were you involved with him? Working at his side every step of the way?”

  Frantic, she shook her head.

  But Eric said, “Your father wanted the paranormals to come out, to take over the cities, the world. He had grand plans, didn’t he, Chloe? Only, you won’t share those plans with us. You won’t name the people who were working with your father. You won’t give us any evidence to use.”

  She was shaking. Close to breaking apart. “I didn’t help him! I never helped him!” She hadn’t realized just how dangerous he was until the last few years. He’d…gotten worse. After she’d been attacked at sixteen, something had happened to him. He hadn’t been horrified by the attack. He hadn’t been sympathetic. He hadn’t sworn vengeance.

  I should have been the one to change! He’d been…jealous of what she’d nearly become. But when her shifts wouldn’t work completely, her father had started to search desperately for a cure.

  Not a cure to make her human again. A cure that would fully bring out her wolf.

  And his. Because her father had wanted desperately to become an alpha werewolf. He’d had the DNA necessary for the transformation, so had she. But before he’d been willing to suffer the bite, he’d wanted to make absolutely sure…

  That he didn’t wind up like me.

  “You lived with him.”

  He hadn’t let her live anywhere else. She’d had guards every single moment, and that was why she wanted so desperately to escape Eric and the Para Unit. She didn’t want her every moment tracked. She’d already lived through that hell for over ten years.

  “You worked with him, on his campaign, on his projects at Capitol Hill.”

  “I did charitable work.” Her father had thought the work made for good press. He’d never really given a damn about those she helped. He’d never really given a damn about her.

  “You had twenty-four, seven access to him,” Eric charged, “so don’t lie to me and expect me to believe that you didn’t—”

  “She’s not lying,” Connor snarled at him. And, just like that, Connor was back to her side. His arm brushed against her. “Now back the fuck off, man. That’s the last warning you’ll get from me.”

  Eric blinked. She saw surprise flash over his face.

  “Y-you can’t send me to Purgatory,” Chloe said. “I’m not a werewolf! I’d be dead within days.”

  “I’m not sure what you are.” Eric’s gaze swept over her. “That’s the problem.”

  She inched a little closer to Connor. In that instant, she figured he was her safest best, vampire-wolf or not.

  Eric’s avid stare noted the movement. It almost looked as if he smiled. Almost—if that weak movement of his lips counted as a smile. “I gave you an order, Connor. I need you to get out to that safe house with a team, now. Try to pick up the scents before it’s too late.”

  But Connor still wasn’t jumping to obey Eric’s orders.

  “If I don’t go?” Connor drawled. “Will you send me to Purgatory again?”

  Again?

  Eric’s gaze darkened. “Your debt isn’t paid.”

  Connor swore. “And she isn’t to be hurt, got it? I’ll go, but only if you fucking swear she stays safe until I get back here.”

  A muscle flexed in Eric’s hard jaw.

  “Not so much as a needle prick, understand?” Connor’s voice seethed with fury. “No one touches her until I get back.”

  Oh, that sounded fair to her. A good plan. No needles. No touches. Nothing.

  And Eric…nodded. “Bring me back a live wolf.”

  “Keep everyone away from her,” Connor fired back.

  “Deal.”

  Chloe’s breath rushed out in a relieved sigh.

  ***

  Ten minutes later, she wasn’t feeling so relieved. Eric had just put he
r in a cell—a cell lined with silver bars. “This wasn’t part of the deal!” Chloe yelled at him.

  Connor was nowhere around. It was just her and Eric and he was shrugging.

  “No one can touch you in there. You’ll be safe in containment.”

  Containment?

  She inched toward the silver bars. Would they hurt her if she touched them? Chloe was so sure her beast was dead. And, back when Eric had first been running his tests on her, he’d put silver against her skin.

  Back then, it had done nothing.

  But…what if something had changed? What if…?

  “The cell is for your protection. Connor keeps telling us that your scent is acting as some kind of lure for werewolves. By putting you behind the silver bars, I’m ensuring that no werewolf can gain access and hurt you.”

  She’d realized—once she saw the cell—that she was in one of the secret Para bases. A place used for field work operations and for temporary containment of prisoners. “Are there other werewolves here?” Her voice came out softer than she’d intended. The area behind her cell was dark and she hadn’t wanted to take her eyes off Eric long enough to look back there.

  Eric stared at her with a guarded expression on his face. “People are never who we actually think they are.”

  What? That wasn’t an answer to her question!

  “Sit tight. Once Connor is back, we’ll…revisit…your involvement in your father’s business plans.” He turned on his heel and headed for the exit.

  She almost grabbed the bars. Fear held her back. “I wasn’t involved!” Chloe yelled after him.

  Eric didn’t look back. He yanked open the door and headed outside. Chloe was left in her prison, a cot behind her and a toilet to the right.

  She looked down at her hands. Saw her small nails. Nails, not claws. She hadn’t been able to grow claws since her “death” at her father’s hands. Was her werewolf truly dead?

  She reached out to touch the bars. Her fingers were shaking. She should be fine. She hadn’t burned before when Holly and Eric had tested her. She should be—

  Her fingers curled around the silver.

  Chloe screamed as her flesh burned.

  ***

  Connor tensed. He glanced back at the Para Unit’s base. From the outside, the place just looked like some rundown factory. Inside, well, that was where all the real action was.

  “Problem?”

  He turned at that voice—his brother’s voice. Duncan was just a few feet away, studying him with a worried gaze. Connor had spent most of his life hating Duncan, blaming him for the hell that Connor had endured at their father’s hands.

  When it was all my own fault.

  He’d originally hunted Duncan with the intent of destroying the guy’s life, but then…well, shit, Duncan was his brother. Duncan was also one of those unfortunate true-blue types. It was because of Duncan that Connor wasn’t rotting in Purgatory, though he probably belonged there. Duncan had been the one to work out the deal with Eric.

  In exchange for helping the Para Unit, Connor’s past was being erased. A past that included a rather bloody pack life.

  “Connor?” Duncan pressed. “What’s wrong?”

  “I thought I heard a scream.” It shouldn’t have been possible. He knew the walls to that building had been reinforced. The whole place was sound-proofed, but, for an instant, he could have sworn that he’d heard Chloe’s cry.

  Eric gave me his word. “Do you trust Eric Pate?” Connor demanded.

  Duncan hesitated. “Well, I guess it depends.”

  Connor spun on his heel and started marching back toward the building.

  “Hey, whoa! Wait, man, wait.” Duncan rushed into his path. “This is about the Quick woman, isn’t it? Look, she’s safe. I heard Pate give the order. He was putting her in a containment area, but no one was getting close to her. You don’t have to worry.”

  Then why was he worried?

  “You know werewolves move fast,” Duncan continued. “If we’re going to catch their trail, we need to go, now. Hell, even with you and me out there, we may still lose their scent.”

  Because Duncan was exactly like Connor. Not just a werewolf, but more. Vampire. They had all of the strengths of both paranormal creatures. All of the strengths and none of the weaknesses, at least, according to Eric.

  And that was why Connor could stand strong out in the sunlight. It didn’t burn him. Silver didn’t burn him, either.

  “You ready?” Duncan pressed.

  Connor cast one more look at the facility. He didn’t hear any sounds from that building then. No more screams. “I’m ready.”

  But I’ll be back, Chloe. He wasn’t going to leave Chloe on her own.

  ***

  “You lost her? Every single trace of her?”

  He glared at the men in front of him. Fucking useless. If werewolves couldn’t track, then who could?

  “Sir, I—”

  He fired a silver bullet into that werewolf’s heart. The guy who’d foolishly tried to speak—he hit the ground.

  “I don’t want to hear excuses,” he muttered, disgusted. “I told you that if Chloe wasn’t caught, then death would follow.” He’d given the idiots every single opportunity to follow his orders. They’d fanned out, hitting the woods, racing as beasts. “I mean, really, one alpha werewolf stopped you all?” Fucking unbelievable.

  He raised the gun, preparing to fire at the next man. A blond male with dark brown eyes—angry eyes.

  “I did my best!” The guy snarled. “That guy—something is off with him. You saw how many silver bullets we pumped into him, but he didn’t go down, not until we started using the tranq…”

  He lowered the gun. Yes, that had been interesting. Is he more like me than I realized?

  “You should have told us what we were up against,” the werewolf snarled at him. “You should have—”

  He fired the gun. The guy howled and spun before he hit the dirt.

  “I am your alpha. I don’t have to explain anything to you. You follow my orders or you die.”

  “Alphas…don’t have to…use guns…” The man on the ground—the unfortunately still alive man—spat. “Where are…your claws? F-fight…”

  Oh, so the fool thought to challenge him? That wasn’t going to happen. He aimed. Fired—

  The bullet sank into the bastard on the ground. His rasping words stopped.

  “I know where one of the agents went!” A smaller werewolf stepped forward. A man with stopping shoulders, a ladder-thin frame, and a big, slanting nose.

  “I-I didn’t try to follow the alpha,” he confessed. A heavy southern drawl coated his words. “Figured the others were on him. I-I went after the human. The one here earlier.”

  Yes. Now this was intel he could use.

  “Since the human was working with them, I thought he’d know where the alpha went when he raced away.”

  He holstered his gun. “You’ll show me where the human is.” What was that wolf’s name? Bryant? Bennett? No, Barrett.

  “I will,” Barrett promised with a fast nod. “I will.”

  Then we’ll find the human, and I’ll make him tell me everything he knows.

  Humans were so very easy to break.

  ***

  Chloe waved her burning hand in the air. She could see the blisters on her skin. Big, red and—fading?

  The blisters disappeared in seconds. The dark red burn turned a light pink.

  She sat down, not on the little cot, but on the floor. She stared at her hands. Silver burns, but I heal faster now.

  So much faster. What did that mean?

  Only…she looked at her left wrist. The fang marks were still there. She hadn’t healed from Connor’s bite. The marks were still just as bright, seeming to mark her skin. His mark.

  Her hands curled around her knees as she hunched forward. She’d spent so much of her life afraid. Would the fear ever stop?

  Maybe it never would. Death certainly hadn’t slowed things
down. She was still—

  The lights flashed on above her. Too bright, blinding.

  “Chloe…” Her name came from the area behind her cell. A shiver slid over her spine. “I see you, Chloe…”

  Slowly, her body turned toward that voice. Now that all the lights were on, she could see that there were other cells back there. One of those cells was occupied by a man.

  He was standing in a cell about twenty feet away. He wasn’t touching his bars. He was just watching her.

  “Do you remember me?” he asked her.

  Chloe shook her head. Was she supposed to?

  “That’s right…we only met at the end, didn’t we?” He laughed and she hated that grating sound. “Maybe I started by saying…I knew your father.”

  She jumped to her feet.

  “I was the werewolf alpha he partnered with. The one who was helping him to cure you.”

  No, no, this couldn’t be happening. Eric wouldn’t have locked her up with that guy. Would he?

  “I’m David Vincent,” he whispered. “I was the alpha, until you and your fucking father ruined everything.”

  He lunged forward then and grabbed the bars. She thought he’d scream. She thought she’d smell the stench of burning flesh.

  He didn’t scream.

  He didn’t burn.

  “I was alpha!” Now he was yelling and his words echoed in that cavernous space. “Until you and your father brought hell to my life! He promised me power…and all I got was the death of my beast! My wolf is dead! Dead!” He was jerking on his bars and yelling at the top of his lungs. “Now you…you’re going to be dead, too, bitch!”

  Chapter Five

  The werewolves had cleared out. And they’d torched the safe house before they left. How fucking annoying of them.

  “He’s dead,” one of the Para Agents said as he stood over the body of a werewolf. Connor knew the guy on the ground was a werewolf because his claws were out. At death, a werewolf’s teeth and claws always came out. As if the beast inside had died too, but wanted to leave his mark on the world.

  “He’s dead…” Connor agreed as he inhaled…and then he turned to the right. “But that one isn’t.” He and Duncan raced ahead at the same moment, following that scent in the air. Blood and wolf. They exploded into the woods, rushed forward and saw the man. Staggering, bleeding…and not getting away.