Charming The Beast

by Cynthia Eden

  Right. The two bouncers—wounded now—were staying down.

  Duncan opened the door to Eclipse. Connor went in first. Chloe sucked in a quick breath, and she followed right behind him. Duncan was pulling up the rear, and she didn’t look back, but she strongly suspected he had his gun at the ready.

  Eclipse was so bright inside. Every light was on, so it was easy to see Harris Grey. He was in the middle of the room, bound and gagged and bleeding. His eyes were terrified as he stared at them, and he muttered frantically behind the gag.

  “I can smell them,” Connor said, “their scents are all over this place.”

  But no wolves were actually there. At least, not any she saw.

  Chloe hurried toward Harris. Her fingers fumbled as she reached for his gag.

  “No!” Harris yelled. “Get out! It’s a trap!”

  Chloe shook her head. “It’s a trade. Me, for you.” She yanked at his ropes and her claws cut right through them. Well, at least her claws were coming in handy.

  There was so much blood on Harris, and the man was deathly pale. She pulled him to his feet. “Go out the door. Eric is waiting in the SUV.”

  But Harris didn’t move. “He…bit me.”

  Oh, hell. A werewolf bite would mean either transformation or death.

  Duncan grabbed the guy and shoved Harris toward the door. “Get to Pate, get to him now.”

  ***

  Keegan James stared at the bar. His hands were clenched into fists, and his claws cut deeply into his palms.

  He’d kept the pack away, because he hadn’t wanted them to go wild when they caught Chloe’s scent. He’d intended to go in Eclipse for her. He had snipers set up to take out the two Para Agents who’d gone in with her but…

  Something is different with Chloe.

  Her scent had changed. It didn’t lure him now. Didn’t tempt and torment.

  Because she was fucking mated.

  He lifted his phone. The order would be given to all. “Kill every single one of them. They don’t get out alive. None of them.”

  He strode from the shadows and headed toward Eclipse. He would handle Chloe personally.

  Once, he’d had such fine plans for her. Now, she was fucking useless to him.

  So he might as well kill her.

  She’ll see…no one betrays me and lives. No one.

  ***

  Chloe looked around the bar. She still didn’t see any of the werewolves. There were long claw marks on the walls, on the floor. But where were Keegan and his pack?

  Then she heard the howls. They were coming from outside. A wild chorus that was getting…louder? Closer?

  “Am I supposed to stay here?” Chloe asked, her heart racing. “You guys take Harris and they take me?” Because from the sound of those howls, the pack was closing in—fast.

  Connor shook his head. “That isn’t how this will work.”

  The howls were louder. She flinched. Harris had gone outside and Duncan had run out, too. Probably to make sure Harris didn’t get eaten on his way to safety.

  She lunged forward because she needed to make sure they were both okay.

  Glass exploded from the window to her right. A fully shifted werewolf had just leapt through that window and sent glass raining down on her.

  Another wolf burst through the window to the left.

  Those two wolves lunged at Connor, their mouths snapping as saliva dripped from their fangs.

  “Connor!”

  He drove his fist right at one charging werewolf. The other sank its teeth into Connor’s leg.

  She ran toward him—

  “No, you don’t get to help him.” A hard hand grabbed Chloe and yanked her back.

  That voice. Chloe knew that voice. Her head turned and she stared into Keegan’s glowing eyes.

  “I had such fine plans for you, but you went and screwed that up…by screwing him.”

  More werewolves were rushing inside. Several had surrounded Connor. He was fighting them, swiping out with his claws even as they leapt at him.

  “Did you think I wouldn’t know?” Keegan pulled her even closer against him. “I can smell him on you.”

  “Keegan…”

  “That scent trick of your father’s isn’t working anymore. I can see you for the useless wolf you are.”

  Chloe shook her head.

  “Smart of him,” Keegan continued, voice almost thoughtful. “He must have done it to try and attract a powerful mate for you. Guess he thought an alpha’s blood would carry down to any children you had.”

  “Chloe!” Connor roared her name.

  She risked another glance at him. Four werewolves were on the ground near him and Connor was turning toward her, but two more wolves had just jumped on him.

  “But you picked the wrong alpha, sweetheart.” Keegan’s hands lifted and locked around her neck.

  Is he going to strangle me?

  She struggled against him. Clawed him, kicked him, fought—

  “You should have picked me.”

  Then he just…snapped her neck.

  Chapter Eight

  “Chloe!”

  He heard the snap, a soft crack, as the dark-haired bastard broke Chloe’s neck.

  Connor threw the wolves off him and leapt toward Chloe. She was falling—Keegan had just dropped her, and Connor grabbed Chloe before she could hit the ground.

  “Too late, asshole,” Keegan snarled.

  Connor didn’t look up at him. He couldn’t take his eyes off Chloe. She was so still. Her head slumped to the side. “Chloe, baby, open your eyes!”

  “Hard to do…” That fucking bastard said, “when she’s dead.”

  Connor put his hand on Chloe’s throat, desperately trying to find a pulse. But there wasn’t one. No pulse and she wasn’t breathing.

  “I snapped too hard, hmmm? She always was too weak.”

  A shifted werewolf slammed into Connor’s back. He felt teeth tear into his shoulder.

  “Kill him,” Keegan ordered. “Let him join the slut in death.”

  Connor heard the growls. The howls. The other werewolves were closing in on him.

  Connor’s head lifted. His gaze met Keegan’s.

  Keegan smiled. “Aw, did I just kill the bitch you’d taken for a mate? My bad.”

  “I am going to hurt you so fucking much,” Connor promised him. “By the time I am done, you will be begging me to end you.” She can’t be gone. She can’t be gone.

  Fury and fear exploded within him, spiraling out of control. His claws and fangs were fully extended. Rage ripped through him, and Connor felt his bones begin to snap.

  She can’t be gone.

  He lowered her to the floor, touched her hair. His hands were still those of a man, even though he had claws.

  He could hear thunder in the distance. So much thunder.

  Gunshots?

  The wolves were swiping at him. He didn’t feel pain. His rage was too strong.

  I will kill them all. Every single fucking one.

  Chloe’s eyes were closed. Her heart wasn’t beating.

  And Keegan was still laughing.

  Connor swiped out at the wolf nearest him. He caught the bastard in the throat. Blood flowed.

  I will kill them all.

  His bones were popping. Fur burst along his arms. His hands slammed onto the floor—but, they were changing, too. He had paws. His spine reshaped, he transformed—

  Bam! Bam! Bam!

  The wolves around him fell back and the scent of burning flesh and silver filled the air.

  “Shit, he’s shifting!” That was Duncan’s voice. And when he looked up, he saw Duncan in that doorway, right beside Eric. Both men held guns in each of their hands, and they were firing, again and again.

  The wolves weren’t stopping though. One jumped onto Eric and took the man down. They crashed onto the floor.

  Two more lunged at Duncan. He shot one and the other attacked with his mouth open. “I don’t think so,” Duncan muttered. “
Been there, done that bite shit before.” He kicked out and the werewolf flew back against the wall.

  Destroy. Kill. Connor’s thoughts were becoming more primal as he shifted. Chloe was on the floor, her eyes closed, her body chillingly still. It shouldn’t have been that way for her. He’d promised to protect her.

  Grief tore through him and pumped up his rage and hate to killing levels. All control was gone. It was—

  Her eyes opened.

  The world stopped for him right then. Chloe’s stare met his. Her eyes were so big, so blue, so alive.

  He knew she’d been dead just seconds before. But Chloe was rising, pushing herself up. Her hair slid over her cheek as she slowly turned her head. Her neck popped a bit, as if the bones had slid back into place.

  She came back to me!

  His wolf howled.

  “What the fuck?” Keegan shouted. “How in the hell are you still alive?”

  Kill. Connor flew at the man. He took him down, slamming Keegan onto the floor. He went in ready to rip the guy’s throat right out, but Keegan threw him off and jumped right back to his feet.

  “Fool!” Keegan glared at him. “You think you’re the only one who can drink vamp blood and become something more?” He flashed fangs. “Yeah, I know what you are. I realized it the other night. Now let’s see which alpha is stronger.”

  “C-Connor?”

  His head whipped to the right. Chloe was on her feet. She looked lost, confused. She rubbed her neck and glanced around the chaos in Eclipse. The scene was filled with fighting wolves and blood. “Connor!”

  He realized that she didn’t know he was a wolf. She was searching for him, moving so slowly and seeming confused by everything around her. Everything and everyone.

  Because she was dead before.

  “This is interesting,” Keegan said. “Maybe there are more surprises from my Chloe.” His eyes glinted. “I just have to make sure I kill the bastard who mated her first.” He moved in a blur, running right for Connor and he swiped his razor sharp claws along Connor’s back.

  Connor was distracted—still looking at Chloe—and he turned back to Keegan too late.

  The bastard laughed as he retreated. “First blood’s mine. Ready to see what a real alpha can do?”

  But right then, another wolf slammed into Chloe. She screamed and then her arm flew out. Connor knew the wolf was going to bite her. Connor’s hind legs pushed down, and he surged across the room, focused only on getting to her.

  But Chloe grabbed the wolf around the neck. “No.” Connor heard her soft voice so clearly.

  Then she just tossed that wolf aside as if he weighed nothing. With one hand.

  What?

  More gunfire thundered and—

  “Get her the hell out of here, Duncan!” That was Eric’s voice, barking a command.

  Connor stood in front of Chloe.

  She shuddered and looked down at him. Did she even know it was him? He needed to shift back to his human form, but if he did, he’d be vulnerable for attack.

  Chloe looked at her hands, then at him. “What did I do?” She backed up, then focused on him again. “Connor?” She stared down at his wolf, and he knew right then that she saw him.

  He pushed against her legs.

  “I don’t want to hurt you,” she whispered. “Something is wrong. I-I don’t think…I can’t seem to control myself. I have this need…” Her whole body shook. “I want to kill.”

  He was one hundred percent sure the woman had just risen from the dead. She was shaking and too pale and he wanted to get her back to Holly’s lab ASAP.

  “Please help me,” Chloe begged.

  He looked across the bar. Keegan had vanished. The other wolves were fleeing through the windows. Probably because Eric was shooting silver in a frenzy.

  Connor let the fire of the shift sweep through him. Hot, consuming, and his bones began to reshape.

  “Now I get to kill you…”

  Keegan’s voice.

  Connor’s head snapped up. Keegan was just steps away, but Connor hadn’t scented the bastard. He’d thought the guy had cut and run from Eclipse.

  Now Keegan’s claws were coming right for his head.

  Gunfire rang out. A blossom of red appeared on Keegan’s chest. He looked down… “Dammit!” Keegan shouted and he stumbled back.

  Duncan, his gun still at the ready, rushed forward. “You don’t get to kill my brother, asshole!”

  Keegan scrambled away, moving fast for an injured bastard.

  For just an instant, Connor remembered another time, another place. So long ago. Another attack with wolves and blood. He’d been a child, begging for his brother.

  But his father had been there. That sick, twisted jerk had taken Connor away while he’d cried out for his brother

  Duncan took up a protective stance in front of Connor. “Finish the shift, and let’s get out of here. Those wolves could be going for reinforcements.”

  Connor’s back bowed as the final surge of the transition swept over him. When it ended—that hard, burning agony—his hands were slapped against the floor. He was naked and back in human form.

  He looked up. Chloe was staring at him. What did she see? The monster?

  He rose to his feet.

  Chloe wrapped her arms around him and held tight. Her whole body was trembling. “Something is wrong with me…” Chloe said again. “The fire…I can feel the fire everywhere.”

  And she was hot to the touch. She’d been ice cold when she was on the floor. When she lay there, her neck twisted, a broken doll because of Keegan’s attack.

  Connor lifted her into his arms. Eric ran out ahead and Duncan covered their backs while they left that bar.

  Harris wasn’t out in the SUV. Connor knew that a back-up team had been waiting in the wings. Their mission had been to get Harris to safety.

  Now Connor’s only goal was to get Chloe the hell out of there. Eric jumped in the front seat, Duncan rode shot-gun, and Connor climbed into the back, holding Chloe close.

  She died. She died.

  But she’d come back.

  Eric gunned the SUV, and it lurched forward. They were hauling ass, and Connor looked back, trying to see if the werewolves were following them.

  He didn’t see them. Didn’t smell them—Eric had left the windows open, probably thinking that Connor or Duncan would sense a tail on them.

  “What’s wrong with me?”

  He looked down at Chloe.

  “What happened in there? Why…why do I feel so strange?”

  Connor didn’t know what to say. His gaze jerked to the front of the SUV. He caught Eric’s stare in the rear-view mirror. Eric shook his head.

  Screw that. I won’t lie to her. Not to Chloe. Not anymore.

  He pulled her closer. Buried his face in the curve of her shoulder. Her arms were around him, holding tight. Her sweet scent flooded him, reassured him.

  “Tell me…what happened…”

  His hold hardened on her. “Baby, you died.”

  ***

  Everything seemed too loud. Too bright. And Chloe felt far too hot, as if she were burning from the inside. Eric had taken them back to the base, but only after he’d driven what felt like hell-of-forever. She knew he’d been trying to ditch anyone on their trail, but had he succeeded in losing a pack of werewolves? Was that even possible?

  When he’d gone over the mission plan, Eric had said he was sending in a small group of agents to lower the risk that they’d be followed back to base. But then, she knew he’d also planned for a successful mission. One that had him returning triumphant.

  He didn’t look triumphant.

  Eric was pacing in front of her. Connor—now wearing jeans and a t-shirt that stretched across his chest—was at Chloe’s side.

  I died? Again?

  “We need Olivia in here,” Connor said, his face and voice grim. “She’s the one who did this—whatever the hell it is.”

  Chloe flinched at Olivia’s name. Once
upon a time, Olivia Maddox had been her best friend. As kids, they’d been inseparable. Then their lives had been shattered. At sixteen, they’d been attacked by a pack of wolves. Those wolves had been after Olivia, and Chloe had tried so hard to protect her friend.

  But she hadn’t been strong enough. So she’d been bitten, again and again.

  Then the real nightmare had begun.

  Olivia had been bitten as well, only she hadn’t transformed, and she hadn’t died. Olivia had healed instantly. Chloe’s father had discovered that Olivia was actually someone quite unique, a djinn. A real, modern-day genie, and he’d made it his mission to take her power.

  By any means necessary.

  “Olivia is on her way,” Holly said as she took another blood sample from Chloe. Chloe held herself completely still as the needle went into her vein. “But she’s…different now, so I don’t know how much help she’ll be.”

  Chloe hadn’t seen Olivia in weeks, not since that last, fateful encounter.

  When my father killed me, Olivia brought me back…and then I murdered dear old dad in an act that I can’t even remember!

  “Her heart rate is elevated, and her body temperature is a bit higher than normal,” Holly said as she stepped back from Chloe. “But otherwise, everything is normal. She doesn’t even appear to have her silver sensitivity any longer.”

  Chloe swallowed. “That’s the way it was last time.” Because she’d lived this scene—well, almost this scene—before. The first time she’d died, she’d found herself in Holly’s lab, undergoing test after test after test.

  Holly’s head tilted to the side. “Since the silver sensitivity came back before, we can only assume it will return again. Maybe your body goes through some sort of stabilization period…?”

  Connor cleared his throat. “You need to check her strength.”

  “My what?” Chloe asked.

  Connor shook his head. “Your strength, baby. Because I saw you pick up a werewolf and toss him across the room as if he were no heavier than a pillow. I can do that, Duncan can—but you already know where our power comes from.”

  Super wolf. Super vamp. She nodded, but rubbed her neck. It ached a bit. “I don’t…remember doing that.” Her hand dropped. “I just remember looking for you.” At first, she’d been looking for him as a man. She’d only seen wolves though. Then she’d looked into the eyes of a big, powerful wolf…and she’d seen Connor. His golden gaze had stared back at her.