Charmed by the Beast: an Adult Paranormal Shifter Romance (The Conduit Series Book 3)

by Conner Kressley

  She pressed a thumb against my forehead, and the entire world fell away.

  I wasn’t me anymore. I wasn’t Satina or even Charlie. I wasn’t anyone I recognized—I was no one I had ever seen before.

  In a mirror across the room, I caught a glimpse of the man whose eyes I was now looking through. He sat with legs crossed, flipping through a magazine, his lips quirked up in a crooked smile. He had dark eyes flecked with gold. His hair, black and brushed flat against his head, shone under fluorescent lighting.

  Though he said nothing, I knew so much about him. He was old, almost ancient. There was magic nearly pouring out of him in unseen droves. He was a Conduit. I knew it as well as my own name. More than that, he was pure evil.

  I didn’t know how I came across this information. It just existed inside my head, part of the spell Satina and I were now casting. A sort of knowing that happened, similar to what I experienced during my Awakening back on the island of Grimoult.

  He threw the magazine down as a leggy blonde walked through the door and asked, “Are you ready, Mr. Mandrake?”

  The magazine, as anyone with any sense of fashion could tell, was Vogue, February 2010. I’d know that slip dress anywhere. What I was looking at now was five years in the past.

  Mr. Mandrake stood. With the same crooked smile, he followed the woman into the next room.

  My visage followed as well, coming with Mr. Mandrake as he neared a massage table.

  But darkness nipped at my metaphorical heels as the man circled the woman, removing his jacket and dropping it to the floor. He wasn’t here for a massage. My gut told me that. Soon enough, my eyes would, too.

  “Mr. Mandrake, would you please lie down?”

  “I don’t think so,” he answered, his grin wide.

  The blonde woman’s eyes narrowed. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

  Mr. Mandrake moved forward. “Well, then, let me educate you.”

  Energy swirled around the man and cascaded over the women like an acid fog. The poor woman screamed, but I knew it wouldn’t matter. She would die, and I wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop it.

  Then, like Superman’s cape, a familiar axe flew through the air, smashing into the massage table and shattering it.

  “Huntsman…” I muttered, my heart skipping a beat.

  He appeared with my words, jumping into action as he fought off Mr. Mandrake with all the vigor I had come to expect from him.

  I wanted to scream, to tell him I was there—even though I wasn’t. But, of course, I could not.

  His axe flew through the air, rushing back to him the way it had in Grimoult, and he swung it at Mr. Mandrake again.

  Damn, this man was impressive.

  I closed my eyes, waiting to hear a crunch or a thud, hoping to all hell I wouldn’t feel it, too.

  But nothing came.

  When I opened my eyes, I was in a hospital room. Mr. Mandrake was on a gurney, electric paddles at his chest.

  “Call it,” a doctor said. “Time of death, 10:34 PM, 2010.” He turned to the nurse. “This man’s an organ donor. Get a team in here.”

  The world shimmered away again. When it returned, Charlie was on the table. It was his operation. He was getting his new heart.

  Oh, God. Suddenly, I understood what I was looking at. I remembered that night. They’d needed him to come in right away. Hearts had a short life out of the body. We’d never gotten across the city so fast before in our lives.

  And now I knew—the heart they placed in Charlie’s chest wasn’t any regular organ. It belonged to that monster. It belonged to Mr. Mandrake.

  The world digressed into a wash of images and blood. Mr. Mandrake killing a woman, Charlie killing a woman, me walking away from Charlie for the last time.

  How long had this been going on?

  And then, with the world jamming to a halt, I was met with those four eyes, the same I saw when I tapped into the dark magic.

  Charlie/Mandrake stood before the eyes, pacing back and forth.

  “I know you can restore me. If anyone can, it’s you. Just tell me what I need to do.”

  He stayed silent, nodding as if he was listening to something in the silence.

  “Really? She’s that powerful?” he asked. Nodding, he replied to the silence again. “Well, she must be if you are afraid of her.”

  He threw his hands out. “Okay, afraid was a poor choice of words. I apologize. Look, I’ll do whatever you ask me. I could get this done a lot faster if you just told me who she is.”

  After another pause, his eyebrows went up. “Well, that’s an interesting game. Fine. But if I prove my worthiness by figuring it out without your help, then I want to keep the Prince’s body. Not just at midnight. All the time.”

  Mandrake paced. “That’s a bit unfair,” he said. Back and forth. Back and forth. “How many others are after her, then?” He waved his hand. “You know what? Forget I asked. If the Oracle says she who rises is among the number of lovers the dullard I now inhabit has counted as his own, then I’ll rip through every one of them until I get to her.” He smiled. “Does that work for you?”

  Spinning on his heel, Mandrake headed toward a door that appeared to lead to nothing. “Even better.” He turned the handle. “Then she won’t see me coming.”

  With a jolt, Satina and I were pulled back into the real world.

  Abram stood over me. “Thank God,” he stammered. “It’s been nearly a day.”

  “No,” Satina screamed, quickly standing. “No! No! No!”

  “What?” I asked, stumbling to my feet.

  “What?” she blustered. “Didn’t you see that? Didn’t you see the eyes?”

  “Yeah. So? I think we have more concerning things to worry about than floating eyeballs.”

  “No,” she said. “We don’t. That was The Brothers. The goddamn Brothers!”

  Abram tensed beside me.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  “The Brothers are looking for you, Charisse. They put this thing into Charlie because they want to find you.”

  “Then we stop them,” I said. “We know what’s going on now. This is what we wanted.”

  “No,” Satina said. “This is certainly not what we wanted. The Brothers can’t die, Charisse. They’re as old as the world. And where they go, everything dies.”

  Chapter 11

  “Who the hell are The Brothers?” I asked, looking at the obvious panic on both Satina and Abram’s faces.

  Abram stared past me. “I didn’t think they were real.”

  “I did,” Satina answered. “I always knew. I never thought I would see them, never thought they’d ever actually touch my life.” She was breathless, free of the sarcastic know-it-all lilt that so often colored her voice. “And here they are.”

  “Who?” I demanded. “Here who are?”

  “The people who made you,” Abram said. “The people who made all of us.”

  “Are you saying that I just saw God? That God is trying to kill me?”

  “Not exactly.” Abram ran his hands through his hair. I’d never seen him look exasperated before, but there was no other way to describe the way he looked now. “The Brothers aren’t God. They were created, too. And, no, they didn’t give you life…but they did make you who you are…in a roundabout way.”

  Satina sat on an overturned crate and rubbed her temples. “When the world was young, The Brothers were among the only creatures in existence,” she said. “They were two of the five Eternals, forged in the fires that built the earth. But they were lonely and bored. When that boredom got the better of them, they decided to do something about it.” Satina swallowed hard, straightening her posture. “So they brought magic to the world. Every spell, every curse, every creature and event that the old you would have sworn couldn’t actually exist—all that is here because of The Brothers. They’re the architects of the world you’ve found yourself in, of the person you’ve found yourself as. We’re all their creatures, Cha
risse. And now they want one of their creations dead.”

  “Me?” I asked, the color draining from my face. “But why? If they’re freaking gods, why would they want me dead? I’m an ant. I’m smaller than an ant. I’m whatever ants call other ants when they want to talk about how small they are.” I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes. This couldn’t be happening. This was too weird. Even for me. “There’s no way that beings like the ones you just described would waste their time worrying about somebody like me. I’m not worth it.”

  “You’ll get no disagreement on my part,” Satina said. “But The Brothers obviously feel different about it. Why else would they nudge these pieces into place? Putting Mr. Mandrake’s heart into Charlie’s body was a surgical cut in more ways than one. It was meant to cut you down before you could even grow.”

  “Grow into what?” I asked, my eyes moving over to Abram. He offered nothing. I turned back to Satina just as she was spreading her hands.

  “I have no idea,” she said. “But whatever it is, The Brothers don’t want it. And I’m not quite sure how we fight that.”

  Abram stepped in front of me. “The same way we always do,” he said. He turned to face me. “We make a way where there is no way. This isn’t going to take us down, Charisse.”

  “You’re right,” Satina said. “But only because it already has. Why do you think any of this happened? Don’t you see? You’ve been walking into their trap since the instant you started down this path. It’s all so clear now. The other beast helping Dalton, Ameena’s uninterrupted reign of terror, the way your memory of marrying Charlie was shielded until you laid eyes on him…it was all meant to bring you here. And here you are, scarred from everything you’ve been through, with a powerless protector, and a memory of what you and Charlie were that is so fresh and new in your mind that you won’t be able to force yourself to walk away from this.”

  “No,” I said, shaking my head. “I remembered Charlie before this. I remembered him back on the island.”

  “Remembered him,” Satina said. “But not that you two were married. Did you ever remember him back in New Haven?”

  I shook my head. “But I had a lot going on…”

  “Bull. You had less going on then than you did on the island. Grimoult was a magical clusterfuck. Nothing worked there the way it should, and some of your memories of Charlie filtered through because of that.” She waved her hand, as though dismissing it all. “Doesn’t matter anyway. You’re here now.”

  “Enough, Satina,” Abram growled. “Do you really think telling her how powerless she is will do any good? We need to formulate a plan. Determine what to do next.”

  “What to do next?” Satina scoffed. “She dies, Abram. I know you love her and I know you’re a stubborn as a newborn bull, but we both know there isn’t a way out of this. The Brothers’ power is unfathomable and without limit. Nothing can save her now.”

  Now she was just pissing me off. I brushed past Abram, folded my arms, and scowled down at Satina. “If that’s the case, why haven’t they killed me already?” I asked. “If they’re so big and bad, then why haven’t they vaporized me with their super ginormous power set?”

  Satina narrowed her eyes. “Because they don’t know.” A smile inexplicably danced across her lips. “Remember what Mandrake said? He told The Brothers that he’d rip through all of them.” She clapped hard. “They must have gotten ahold of an oracle. The future is a mystery, even to The Brothers. They must know that the person they’re looking for is a girlfriend of Charlie’s. They just don’t know which one.”

  “But you just said they pushed me into place, that they screwed with my life,” I said.

  “And they did, but I doubt you’re the only one who experienced that. The Brothers are notorious for using supernatural creatures as pawns. There’s a reason all of Charlie’s victims have been in New York. I’m willing to bet that they were all called here, the way you were called to Grimoult.”

  She spun around and headed toward the door.

  “Where are you going?” Abram called after her.

  “Gonna break into the police station,” she said.

  “Oh, good.” Abram threw up his arms. “And here I thought you were going to do something stupid.”

  Satina spun around, just in front of the exit. “There’s a pattern to these deaths. If I can figure them out, then we’ll know exactly when Charisse’s name will come up on The Brothers’ little murder list. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing.”

  “Satina, don’t—”

  Abram put his hand on my arm, silencing me.

  Once Satina was out the door, I turned to him. “Why did you do that? Even if she does find out when my number is up, it won’t change anything. I won’t just sit back and watch Charlie murder people until it’s my turn.”

  “I know that, Charisse. Every life matters to you. It’s one of the reasons I love you. But having more information can’t hurt. And, if I’m being honest, I can think of worse things than giving Satina a reason to get out of our hair for the night.”

  “She was starting to rub at me, too,” I said with a sigh. “But what if she’s right? What if we can’t do anything to stop The Brothers? Are they really immortal?”

  “We don’t need to stop The Brothers,” Abram said, taking my arms in his hands and staring into my eyes. “They won’t come into this directly. I’m not even sure they could if they wanted to. That’s why they employ these stooges. This Mandrake person is only the latest in a line of hired cronies. He, I’m sure, is decidedly not immortal.” He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Let’s not focus on The Brothers. All we have to do is take down Mandrake. I’ll tear him into pieces if he tries to hurt you.”

  I ran my fingers through Abram’s dark hair. “Except the pieces you’re talking about would be Charlie’s.”

  * * *

  I didn’t sleep that night. I just sat and watched Charlie. Abram kept me company until the sun came up. After that—after the threat of Charlie “turning” for the night had passed—Abram went out for coffee and pastries.

  My eyes were finally starting to get heavy when I heard Charlie’s chains rustle. Body tensing, I hopped to my feet, energy bubbling up in my body as a precaution.

  But when Charlie’s eyes opened, they were afraid and panicked. They were—they were Charlie’s.

  “Oh, God,” he muttered, realizing he was bound. “It is me, isn’t it? My God, it’s me.” Tears pooled in his eyes and he blinked hard, trying to keep them from falling. “Who did I kill, Char? How many people?”

  He couldn’t keep the tears at bay any longer, and I couldn’t stop myself from moving toward him.

  “Don’t worry about that now,” I said, placing my palm against his jaw. “We’re trying to figure out a way to help you.”

  “I’m a monster,” he said, shaking his head. I dropped my hand away and stepped back. “I’m just a goddamn monster.” He looked at me, his eyes wide and serious. “Why didn’t you just kill me?”

  Tears gathered in my eyes now, too. ““Don’t say that.”

  “I bet he told you that you should. I would, if I were him.”

  “It’s not you,” I assured him. “Not really. Someone has…sort of taken you over.”

  His eyebrows knitted together. “What?”

  “Your heart,” I said, placing my hand on his chest and taking a deep, steadying breath to prepare myself for the explanation to come. “They gave you a Conduit’s heart. A killer.” I neglected to mention The Brothers. What good would that do? “His name is Mr. Mandrake. He’s been finding the people you care about and murdering them, but it’s not you. I knew it couldn’t have been you.”

  His head dropped, and tears ran down the bridge of his nose. “Cut it out.”

  “Charlie—”

  “Cut it out!” He lunged forward, pulling the chains taut, and then crumbled where he stood. “Please, Charisse.”

  God, he was so helpless. My heart ached at his obvious despe
ration. But I couldn’t do what he asked. I crouched beside him and put my hand on his back, between his shoulder blades.

  “You deserve better,” I said, my voice near a whisper. “We’re going to get through this. We’ll get through it like everything else we have, Charlie. We can do this.”

  “No, Char,” he said, shaking his head. “If it’s my heart that is doing all this, that is hurting all these women, then I want you to cut it out.”

  My soul went cold, and I fiercely shook my head. “I’m not going to do that.”

  “I don’t want to hurt anybody else.” He sobbed. “I don’t care about the rest of it.”

  I grabbed his face in my hands. “You listen to me, Charlie Prince. I’m sure as hell not going to let you give up on yourself. You don’t deserve to die, and I’ll be damned if I let you believe you do.” Using my thumbs, I brushed the tears from his cheeks. “This is what I do. I save people. I’ve saved complete strangers, and I’ll be damned if you end up being the one person I can’t save. Do you hear me? We are going to save you. Nobody else is going to die.”

  I wrapped him up into a hug. His breaths were short and shallow, and his face was hot and wet on my neck.

  “You’re such a good person,” he said against my collarbone. “You’ve always been a good person.” He sighed. “I’ve always been an idiot.”

  “You’re not an idiot,” I said, patting his back.

  “Yes, I am,” he answered. “How else would you explain all the stupid stuff I’ve done? How else would you explain me driving somebody like you away?”

  I pulled back, looking at his face.

  “I really did love you, you know?” he said.

  “I know,” I answered. “I know.”

  “You were so kind, so smart. You were just so…so…”

  With that, Charlie Prince leaned forward and kissed me hard on the lips.