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

by Conner Kressley

  I pulled back, my body tensing and my head spinning. That wasn’t right. He was hurting, and I was in love with someone else.

  “Charlie,” I said calmly, trying to find the words to back him down without hurting him more. “You can’t just—”

  A growl from behind me sent my stomach to the floor.

  I turned to find Abram glaring at us with coffee and a bag in his hands.

  His scowl squeezed around my heart. “Am I interrupting?”

  Chapter 12

  I stared at Abram, my eyes wide and my mouth twisted in what had to be the most unattractive shape ever.

  How long had he been standing there? What exactly had he seen? Surely, he had gotten the wrong idea about what was going on. If he’d seen the entire exchange, he would know there’d been nothing seductive about the exchange…up until Charlie kissed me. And I’d pushed him away.

  I opened my mouth, but it was dry and empty of any words that might do me any good.

  As it turned out though, Charlie didn’t have that problem.

  “Dude,” he said, moving forward so that the chains around him pulled and clanged together. “I know what you’re thinking, but—”

  Abram growled, which shut Charlie right up. He dropped the coffee and bag to the concrete floor. “Shut up.”

  “But see, you’re not getting it,” Charlie continued. “The whole thing was just a—” He pursed his lips. “Let me see if I can explain this in an intellectual manner.”

  Oh God, Abram’s going to murder him.

  “Shut. Up.” Abram’s voice was sharp and final. His eyes were filled with the sort of anger I hadn’t seen in him since the beast left.

  “And I will.” Charlie nodded. “Right after I explain. I don’t want you to walk out of here with the wrong idea, bro.”

  “You should be happy to see me walk out at this point,” Abram answered with a low, gravely threat in his tone.

  I stood up and turned to Charlie with wide eyes and a warning in the way I shook my head. “Charlie, just…stop. Okay?” Turning to Abram, I flinched as I saw the coffee pooling on the floor. “Hey, if you would just—”

  Abram grabbed my hand, his jaw clenched, and pulled me forward. “Come with me,” he commanded. He jerked me toward the door with enough strength to make me forget that he was functionally powerless now.

  “Guess I’ll just wait right here,” Charlie muttered. “Don’t worry about me.”

  Abram pulled me into the main area and spun me around before slamming the door hard behind him.

  “Abram, if you would listen to me for a second,” I said. “He kissed me, not the other way around.” I bit my lip. “He’s going through a rough time right now, and I think what you saw was just a reaction to all that.” I splayed my hands. “You have to know I would never, ever—”

  “Go that way,” Abram said, pointing to the door that sat right beside the room Charlie was captive in.

  Huh? My mouth twisted into a frown and my eyebrows knit together. “I’m sorry, what?”

  “You heard me,” he said. “Get inside that room right now.”

  I looked at him skeptically, studying the intense look in his eyes. “Abram, I don’t know what you’re—”

  He pulled his belt off slowly and held it in his hands, never breaking eye contact. Something fluttered inside me, sending a rush of heat through my cheeks and down my back. “Now,” he said. He reached behind me, leaning in so close that our lips nearly grazed, and pushed the door open.

  “O-okay,” I breathed.

  I turned around and walked into the room, my heart clattering madly in my chest. The space inside was empty save for a boarded-up window and an old desk. The door hadn’t been open in quite some time, judging by the frigid nature of the room.

  Abram pushed the door closed and advanced on me.

  “Abram, I feel like you’re angry. I really don’t want—”

  “Quiet,” he said, his voice low, menacing, and sexy at the same time. He wrapped the belt around me and used it to pull me against him.

  As my body pressed into his, I felt his passion rising between us. The heat of his chest, the touch of his breath against my ear, and the swelling proof of his arousal as it throbbed against me.

  I felt the belt, too, sliding up my back until it came to rest on my shoulders. Then he brought it back down. Abram’s hands weren’t touching me, but somehow, the belt was just as sensual. It grazed up my back, lifting my skirt just enough expose me to the room’s cool chill.

  “Take it off,” he commanded without blinking.

  “Take what off?” I asked, half hesitant, but still desperate to do as he asked, to please him in whatever way I could.

  “All of it,” he answered. “I want to see you.”

  Without thinking, I slid off my dress. I was braless today, which left my chest exposed in the open air. The coolness of the room hardened my nipples and left a light blush against my large breasts.

  Abram drank me with his eyes, savoring every inch as he perused me. He dropped one end of the thick leather belt and folded it in half.

  “The rest of it,” he barked, eyeing my pink, admittedly now wet, panties.

  There was something about that hunger in his eyes, that fury burning beneath the surface that, for reasons perhaps no sane person could understand, tempted me to taunt him…to see how far he would go.

  “Are you sure?” I asked coyly.

  Wordlessly, his hand wrapped around my back. He slid down, grabbing my ass and ripping the panties off in one quick motion that left me completely naked and at his mercy.

  “Don’t speak,” he said, his mouth set and his muscles taut. “Not until you’re commanded to.

  I opened my mouth to say something, again wanting to test him, but memories from Grimoult stirred in me, reminding me that, to Abram, this was not a game. This was a life he knew more about than I could ever imagine. And it was everything I needed.

  The only thing I wanted in the whole world right now was to do as he desired, to serve him in every possible manner.

  “Turn around,” he said.

  I did as he asked.

  “Good.” The word was a small reward, but it did nothing to ease the growing nerves in my stomach. “Now bend over.”

  With a slow, steadying exhale, I leaned forward and braced myself against the desk with my elbows, sticking my ass out as far as was tasteful. Biting my lip, I expected to feel him enter me. Instead, the cool touch of the belt slid against my flesh again.

  It traced up my legs and over the curve of my ass. Then it found its way between my legs, teasing me and soaking up the moisture pooling there.

  He pulled it out quickly, depriving me of the pleasure of truly feeling it.

  Leaning over, he breathed hot and steady against my neck. “Do you want to feel all the pleasure I have to offer you, Miss Bellamy?”

  I didn’t answer. Didn’t know how to answer that or if I was even supposed to.

  “Speak,” he commanded. “Do you want to feel it?”

  I ran my tongue over my lips. “Yes.”

  “Beg me,” he said, running it up and down my back.

  “Please,” I whispered.

  “That’s not begging,” he said, dipping a finger inside of me and moving it just enough to make me squirm.

  “I’m begging you,” I said.

  “Louder,” he commanded.

  “Please,” I said, my voice a little louder than I would have liked, given there was nothing more than a thin wall separating us from Charlie.

  He slipped another finger beside the first and pushed deeper. “Louder!”

  My hands gripped the desk. “Please!”

  “Louder!” His growl boomed through the room.

  “Please,” I said, matching his volume and damning the thin walls. “Please, Abram. Please let me feel it!”

  He pulled his fingers from me, slapping the belt against my ass hard enough to make my legs buckle. “Manners, Miss Bellamy,” he said, spank
ing me with the leather again. “Say thank you.”

  My entire body quivered with pleasure at the sweet sting of the belt. I was in Grimoult all over again, but this time, I wanted more. “Thank you,” I said, bracing myself.

  He slapped my ass with the belt again. Before I could say anything else, his erection pressed against me.

  “Thank you…” I repeated as he pushed past my lower lips and opened me up wider than I had ever been before.

  Abram’s free hand came up to wind through my hair, holding me firm while he slammed hard into me. The belt, still in his other hand, whipped against the side of my thigh, making me cry out in pain, yet intensifying my pleasure.

  My mind swam with thoughts that couldn’t bubble past the pleasure. I was lost in the feel of him, the sound of his grunts, of him fucking me in a way I’d spent my life too embarrassed to even imagine.

  He wanted loud. I gave it to him. My moan was so long and loud that my lungs stretched.

  I moaned as he pulled my hair and rocked into me faster, his cock growing harder with each thrust. Pleasure, as if the world had been shaped for only this moment, shot through me.

  He was sex. It was named for him. Every song, every poem, every thought that had ever been crafted about the act was in homage to this man. I was certain of it.

  “Tell me what you want, Miss Bellamy.”

  I bit my lip, knowing exactly what he wanted me to say…knowing exactly what I wanted… To hell with it. We were past being shy now.

  “Make me come, Abram.” I panted as he pounded into me harder. “Please.” I was near tears with need, so close, just mere moments away from complete and utter mindless bliss.

  “I can’t hear you,” he said, a playful lilt in his voice. “What is it you want?”

  “Abram, please,” I begged, noticing the way he was slowing down. “Please!”

  But he stopped. He spun me toward him, leaned my sore ass against the desk, and teasingly kissed me. I moaned desperately against his mouth, squirmed in need against his body, but to no avail.

  “Damn it, Abram, fuck me,” I begged, trying to pull his body closer to mine.

  He smiled against my mouth. “I love it when you talk dirty.” Sighing, he moved his lips away from my mine. “You were good, Charisse. But there are still some things I want to teach you.”

  Oh my God. He was not stopping. He wouldn’t.

  And yet, he made no move to continue. Instead, he swept some loose tendrils of hair from my face and kissed my eyelids. “One: No one will ever make you feel the way I do.”

  It was a cocky thing to say, but it was true. No man could ever hold a candle to him, not with chained kisses or happy memories.

  “And two?” I asked.

  “Two,” he said, “is that patience has its rewards. However frustrated you feel right now…you will feel satisfaction like that ten times over.”

  “Thanks, I guess,” I mumbled.

  “Three,” he continued, “if that son-of-a-bitch ex ever kisses you again, there’s nothing you can say or do to stop what’s coming to him.”

  Of course. That was the whole reason Abram wanted me to be loud. This wasn’t just a lesson for me…it was also to remind Charlie exactly where he stood.

  Abram leaned in, kissing me deeply. “I promise you, Miss Bellamy, later you will scream twice that loud, and it won’t be because I’ve ordered you to.”

  * * *

  Before we moved back into the room with Charlie, Abram gave me one last naughty look. I steadied myself and patted down my hair so it didn’t look as though I had just been given the ride of my life.

  The instant I entered, I knew things were not the same. He wouldn’t look at me, wouldn’t look at either of us. Suddenly, a shot of guilt sprung up in my chest. I had just enjoyed myself, and Charlie had basically been given a front row seat to that. Sure, he hadn’t seen anything. But with pleas that loud and banging that pronounced, I wondered if he couldn’t piece every movement together for himself.

  I stared at him, at the visage of this man who used to mean so much to me. He had gone through a lot since we’d parted ways, and I could honestly say he deserved none of it. And this—having to sit chained in a room while Abram flaunted me in his face in the most vulgar, albeit pleasurable, way possible—was it too much?

  It hadn’t felt that way in the room, with Abram’s hands on me and his lips caressing mine. It felt right and true. But now, seeing the result, I couldn’t help but feel the sting.

  “Charlie, are you okay?” I asked, instinctively flattening the wrinkles from my dress with the palms of my hands.”

  “Fine,” he answered. “Not as good as either of you, but I’m fine.”

  I winced. “Do you want some food or something?”

  “How much longer do I have to stay here?” he asked, his eyes still fixed on the floor.

  I was about to speak, to tell Charlie that he’d only have to stay for a little bit longer, just until we figured out how to purge the serial killer Conduit from his body without killing him, when Abram spoke.

  “Not another minute,” he said, his voice strangely flat. “In fact, I’ll loosen your chains myself.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked, grabbing Abram’s arm and stopping him from moving toward Charlie. “We’re just going to let him go?”

  “What do you suggest, Charisse?” Abram asked me, genuine concern in his eyes. “This man hasn’t done anything wrong. I may have been hard on him when I was under the impression he was to blame for all of this, but, in the end, it would be unethical to punish him for the actions of another.”

  “But the killer is inside of Charlie, Abram. Letting him loose would put innocent women in danger, wouldn’t it?” I looked over at Charlie, who maintained eye contact with a grease spot on the concrete floor.

  “We know a lot more than we did about the perimeters of Mr. Mandrake. So long as Charlie promises to come back here before nightfall, I don’t foresee any complications.”

  Charlie pulled at his chains. “Fine. Whatever. Can I go now?”

  “Is this about you not wanting him around me?” I asked, looking at Abram and remembering the audible show we just put on for Charlie.

  Abram stared into my eyes. “This is about me knowing what it’s like to be blamed for the actions of the monster inside of you.” Gently, Abram pulled his arm from my grasp. “That’s all, Charisse.”

  He moved toward Charlie, but he froze when something clattered in the back room.

  “What was that?” I asked, an icy cool pinching up spine. “I thought we were alone here?”

  Abram put his finger to his lips, waiting a moment as if listening, and then motioned for me to stay put. On silent feet, he disappeared into the background. My heart pounded in my chest as I waited, the whole world seeming to stand still. If someone saw us here with a man chained up…. That wouldn’t be good.

  But there were also things—darker things—in this world that made me think whatever was in that back room could be worse.

  When Abram returned, I was still holding my breath.

  “It was nothing,” he said, and I exhaled. “Some cans fell over.” He continued over to Charlie, back to the task at hand. “Come on. Let’s get you down.”

  Abram pulled at the chains until they were a mess of enchanted metal on the floor, and Charlie stood, carefully dodging my gaze.

  “Be back before sunset,” Abram said, no nonsense in his voice. “Don’t make me come looking for you.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it,” Charlie said, rolling his eyes. “I wouldn’t want to interrupt anything by making you hunt me down.”

  Embarrassment and a little bit of regret stung me. “Charlie, listen—”

  He brushed past me without even breaking his stride.

  “Charlie,” I said as he walked through the door, closing it behind him.

  “Let him go,” Abram said. “He’s just upset.”

  “Shouldn’t he be?” I asked, turning back to Abram.
“What you did was completely unnecessary!”

  “I didn’t do it by myself, Charisse, and I don’t remember you complaining.”

  My cheeks reddened. “You know what you did,” I muttered. “Do you really think letting him go right now was a good idea? He’s mad. What if he doesn’t come back? What will we do then?”

  “He’ll come back. Whether I like him or not, he’s not a bad man. He won’t put people’s lives at risk.”

  “Really?” I said, shaking my head. “If I’ve learned anything since all of this started, Abram, it’s that good men do bad things every single day.”

  Chapter 13

  Satina burst into our ground-floor penthouse without so much as knocking.

  “What did you do to him?” she asked.

  You would have thought, judging by what she saw the last time she barged in on us, that she would tread with a lighter step. But whatever had her so upset certainly superseded that. At least in her eyes.

  Abram looked up from the TV. We had just started the third episode of Daredevil for the day, giving a lame new meaning to the whole ‘Netflix and chill’ phenomenon.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” he asked.

  With a flick of her hand, Satina sent a spark flying through our smart TV, shorting it and sending Matt Murdock into eternal darkness.

  “Hey,” I said, spinning toward her. “Now we’re gonna have to pay for that!”

  “You’re lucky if that’s all you have to pay for,” she said, moving in front of us in a huff. “Charlie got arrested.”

  My body went stiff on the couch. “What?”

  “Yes. He got arrested and he called me…the one-hundred-and-fifty-year-old Conduit he barely knows.” Satina shook her head. “As opposed to you, the girl he practically grew up with, the girl who claims to be his first love. He had one phone call, and he used it on me. So, I’ll ask you again, and this time I expect an answer, what did you do to him?”

  “He was arrested?” I asked.

  “What did you do to him?” she screamed. Knowing Satina, her anger was more for show than her actually caring, so I didn’t so much as bristle at her tone.