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

by Conner Kressley

  Abram stood to meet Satina. “Nothing,” he said. “And watch how you talk to her.”

  “Nothing?” I asked, peering up at him. “Well, that’s not exactly true, is it?”

  Satina shot us a withering look, but she didn’t say a word.

  Abram sighed. “It seemed as though Mr. Prince was intent on blurring the lines between himself and Charisse. I made sure to give him a bit of clarity where that was concerned.”

  “Is that right?” Satina scoffed. “What’d you do, put him in a dunce hat and make him watch as you and the little Supplicant went at it?”

  I blushed because she was closer to the truth than she knew.

  “You know what?” Satina said, raising her hands. “Never mind. I don’t want to know. I just want you to fix it.”

  “Absolutely not.” Abram crossed his arms. “It needed to be done, and the fact that he’s gotten sloppily drunk and depressed on some sidewalk somewhere isn’t going to change that.”

  Satina rolled her eyes. “Leave it to a man to think the entire world hinges on the prowess of his cock.” She gritted her teeth. “We’re in deep here, ladies and losers. Deeper than I care to even consider at the present moment. And if there’s a rift between the three of you, then it seems even more unlikely that anyone will survive what’s coming. You three need to be able to trust each other, especially given that I—”

  “Enough,” I said. “I don’t care about the Full House moral of this story. Charlie’s in jail. We need to get him out. Does that about cover it?”

  “I already got him out,” Satina said, glaring at me. “He’s in a hotel on 33rd.”

  “We have a hotel room here,” I said, waving my hand at our surroundings. “I’d rather have him underfoot with everything that’s going on.”

  “Well, it turns out that he doesn’t want to be underfoot. At least not under yours.”

  The stinger returned to my chest.

  “Besides,” Satina said, “it turns out I sort of own the stupid thing. My great-nephew Conrad founded the business a few decades after my untimely demise.” She shrugged. “Who knew a surname like Hilton would ever come in handy?”

  “Your name is Satina Hilton?” I asked, my mouth dropping open.

  “We have bigger things to concern ourselves with, like the favor our favorite Prince asked of me after I put him up in the presidential suite.”

  “Presidential suite?” I muttered, suddenly feeling as if our room was a little claustrophobic.

  “What did he ask of you, Satina?” Abram asked from beside me.

  “About the only thing that ever seems to matter to charming cads, regardless of the century they find themselves in—a girl.” She reached for my glass of champagne on the counter and helped herself to it. “That, in fact, was the reason he was arrested in the first place.”

  “Explain,” I urged, biting my lip.

  “Apparently, there’s a woman—one of the endless hordes of blondes who comprise Charlie Prince’s pool of exes. He went to see her today and spilled the entire story. Magic, monsters, and serial killers who had a hold on him thanks to tainted organs.”

  “Oh God…” I muttered.

  “That’s not all.” Satina tapped her fingernail against the champagne glass. “It just so happens that this particular girl has a restraining order against Charlie.” Satina grinned. “And we all thought he was so innocent. So that, coupled with the crazy talk, was enough to get him thrown into a cell for the afternoon. They’d have kept him, too. They’re itching to find a connection between Charlie and the murders. Luckily for everyone, I can be more than a little persuasive when I want to be.”

  “You made the jailers think they were chickens again, didn’t you?” Abram asked.

  “French maids,” Satina said. “But only for long enough to get him out, and it was absolutely necessary.”

  “I’m sure it was,” Abram said, his nostril flaring. “But that doesn’t answer the question. What did Charlie ask of you?”

  “He asked me to kill him,” she said.

  Just like that, the hairs on my neck stood up straighter. I gasped. “You didn’t!”

  “Of course not.” Satina sneered at me. “That’s more of a last resort than anything else. First, I’m supposed to keep the little trollop safe. Only if it becomes clear that Cindy will die—that’s her name—only then am I to be sure to kill him.”

  I sighed, relief washing over me. “You should have led with that.”

  “I’m missing something,” Abram said, beginning to pace the living room. “Charlie’s had a lot of girlfriends. As far as I know, he hasn’t approached any of them. He certainly didn’t warn you or Briar about any of this. Why go to this girl, especially given what must have been the tumultuous nature of their relationship?”

  “Perhaps because he now knows that he’s to blame,” Satina said. “At least from a physical standpoint.”

  Abram rubbed his hand down his scruffy five-o-clock shadow. “Perhaps…”

  “No,” I said, shaking my head just a little. “That’s not it. He went to this Cindy girl for the same reason that it’s so important to him that she stays safe. It’s the same reason I’d do all of it for you, Abram, even with a restraining order in place.”

  Satina and Abram turned their stares toward me, as though waiting.

  “Don’t you get it?” I asked. “He loves her.”

  The whole thing unfolded in my mind like a soap opera. Here I was, thinking Charlie was still holding a torch for me, thinking I needed to keep my distance. All the while, he was in love with someone else, blustering and impetuous kiss notwithstanding. I didn’t dwell on it; he had bigger things to gain Cindy’s forgiveness for.

  “He loves her,” I repeated. “It’s the only reason that makes sense.” I looked to Abram. “It’s the only reason that matters.” The idea seemed to put peace in me. It made me feel better than I could have hoped for, knowing Charlie had found love, even if it wasn’t exactly requited.

  “You’ll do it for him, won’t you, Satina?” I asked. “You’ll keep her safe?”

  “Well, actually…no. I won’t.”

  “What?” I rose to my feet now. “You’ve got to. He deserves something out of all this!”

  “We all deserve something, Charisse. That very rarely matters to anyone outside of ourselves.” She spread her hands. “But that’s neither here nor there. I won’t keep her safe because I can’t keep her safe. And I can’t keep her safe because I won’t be here.”

  Abram stopped pacing and spun toward her. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “I can’t stay here, Abram. I want to. I feel like I need to. But I just can’t.” She stared down at her hands. “I’m afraid the two of you are going to have to do this on your own.”

  “You bitch!” I lunged for her, but Abram put out his arm. It was enough to stop me because I wasn’t exactly a guest on Jerry Springer. “You just get scared and run away? Don’t you think I’m scared? Doesn’t mean I get to throw my hands in the air and say forget it!”

  “Don’t speak of what you don’t understand,” Satina hissed at me. “You’ll find that a dead person doesn’t fear much, Supplicant! Now I told you that I must take my leave from here. You’ll just have to take my word when I say there’s a good reason for it.’

  “Bullshit!” I narrowed my eyes at her. “You’re afraid! At least admit it. That’s the only thing that would pull you away from this.”

  “Not the only thing,” she said, her lips pulling into something between a scowl and a frown. “There’s one other reason.” She looked to Abram. “The same thing that pulled me away from everything I’ve ever wanted.”

  Abram glared at her. “And what’s that?”

  “Who’s the most wicked man you’ve ever known?”

  His eyes narrowed, but then his expression softened. “No, Satina. That can’t be right. That’s not possible.”

  “But it is,” she said, her expression almost mournful. “Not only is
it possible, but it’s also already true.” She turned away from us, wringing her hands together, her hair trembling with the quake of her body. Voice trembling, she whispered, “My father has returned.”

  Chapter 14

  “Your dad?” I asked, more confused than I had been in a while. Which was a real feat for somebody with my backstory. “But you’re like…two hundred years old!”

  “One hundred and seventy-six, though I’ve been told that I don’t look a day over twenty-two,” Satina shot back at me. And, of course, she didn’t. She never borrowed a body older than that. “Besides, haven’t you learned at this point that death is more of a light suggestion than anything else?”

  Abram scraped his palm against his perpetual five o’clock shadow. “You can’t be right about this, Satina. Your father was banished nearly a century ago. He went to the Underworld, and rightfully so.” He dropped his hand away from his face. “There’s no coming back from that.”

  “I’d have said the same thing, but we have no idea what we’re dealing with here.” Satina spread her hands. “The only thing we know for sure is that The Brothers are involved. Where they’re concerned, nothing is impossible.”

  I glanced back and forth between them. I hated that Satina and Abram shared a past, an entire world that I could never be part of. But more than that, I hated that I had no idea what was going on.

  “Could someone please clue me in? I can’t help if I don’t know what the problem is, exactly.”

  “Like yours, my father possessed Conduit genes,” Satina said. “Unlike yours, mine was a son of a bitch who valued nothing more than power and cruelty. He believed fear resided in the heart of love. Because of that, he tortured those closest to him.”

  “You’re being too kind,” Abram said, folding his arms across his chest. “He was a sadistic bastard who deserved to be burned for the way he treated you and your family.” Abram nodded at her. “It would certainly explain why you fell for me. I was an awful person then, but your father was such an unfathomable asshole that he made me look downright chivalrous by comparison.”

  “And now he’s back.” Satina shrugged. “And working alongside a serial killer brutal enough to send shivers down even my seasoned spine.” She sat on the couch and stretched out her feet in front of her. “And under direct orders from The Brothers, no less. This is an unenviable mountain if I ever saw one.”

  “How do you know that?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. “How do you know your father is back? Abram,” I said, turning to him. “You said that returning from the Underworld should be impossible. Maybe Satina just saw someone who looked like her father.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” Satina sighed. “I didn’t actually see my father, not with my eyes. That would be much too vulgar a meeting after all these years.” She pulled her feet up and wrapped her arms around her knees, then peered up at Abram with her chin rested on her knees. “I used to have a seer on the payroll. He told me about my father. Said he was on the hunt for Cindy. Unfortunately, save for that, he was a bit sparse on the details.” She shrugged again. “You know how seers are, I suppose.”

  “Did your seer happen to say how Edwin freed himself from the Underworld or what condition he returned to us in?” Abram asked. “He could have any sort of power set if The Brothers have been tinkering.”

  “I’m afraid all of that fell under the ‘vague’ umbrella.” Satina dropped one of her legs back down. “Though, I’ll thank you not to use my father’s Christian name. I prefer to address him as ‘the monster who stole my childhood’.”

  “So what do we do?” I asked. “And why on earth would your dad be after Cindy?”

  Satina’s grinned smugly. “Isn’t it obvious?”

  Uh, no. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have asked.

  “He obviously believes her to be the subject of the prophecy, the one Charlie is tasked with killing. Perhaps because he values her above all others.”

  “That means we have to keep her safe, right?” When no one answered, I raised my eyebrows. “Right?”

  “Does it?” Satina popped back up to her feet and started toward the door. “I was going to say that it gives you at least a few days head start, but I suppose stupidity is to be expected from your generation.”

  “Is cowardice to be expected from yours?” I asked the back of her head. Satina froze mid-step. “Cindy is in this mess because of me, because I exist. I’ll be damned if I’m going to let her be killed because of it.”

  “Oh, sweetheart,” Satina said, slowly turning back toward me. “I think you’re going to be damned either way.”

  Abram growled from over my shoulder. “Enough, Satina. Charisse is right. We can’t lose ourselves just because the odds are against us. We have to do what’s right.”

  Satina’s lips curled, and she quirked an eyebrow. “It doesn’t hurt that keeping Cindy alive means your girlfriend’s husband is otherwise preoccupied, I’m sure.”

  Abram stepped around me now, closing the distance between him and Satina. “Not everything is about us.”

  “You could have fooled me.” Satina waved a flippant hand. “In any event, if you’re going to fly in the face of my advice, the least I can do is wish you luck while you do it.”

  “You’re…you’re not going to be here?” My chest tightened. She couldn’t possibly be walking out now.

  “What do you expect me to do?” she asked, throwing up her hands. “I told you. I can’t be a part of this.”

  “You have to,” Abram said. “I don’t have…I’m not…” He clenched his jaw. “If we’re to face a Conduit serial killer and the reoccurrence of your dear old dad, then we’re going to need your help.”

  “What help would I be?” Satina asked, twirling away from us and wrapping her hands around her arms. “He’s my father, Abram. I couldn’t kill him if I wanted to.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “And I do. I want to more than anything.”

  “Then prove it,” I said.

  “Could you kill your father?” she asked, her fear barely masked by the anger in her tone. “Even when you thought he left you—that he abandoned you to care for a dying mother and navigate a strange new world without either parent to guide your hand? Even then, could you end his life? Something tells me that you could not.”

  She was right. I never could have hurt my father. Even when I hated him, even when I wished him dead, I knew I could never do anything to harm him if I was ever given the chance.

  “Fortunately for you,” Satina continued, “this Cindy girl is a creature of habit. Tomorrow is Wednesday, which means the little Barbie doll will be lunching at The Patio on Vine Center. She’ll be there a little after noon, which will give you a chance to start tailing her, should you actually go through with your harebrained desire to keep her safe.”

  “I have to keep her safe,” I said. “I owe that much to Charlie.”

  “All right.” Satina blew out a slow breath. For a moment, the room was quiet. Too quiet for us three to be in it. Finally, Satina spoke again. “Listen, I know we haven’t always gotten along.”

  “That’s an understatement,” Abram murmured, but it didn’t deter Satina.

  “But the truth is, I do believe in you, and the time I spent with the two of you has been some of the most exciting and important moments of my life. So be careful.” Her hands clenched at her sides before she opened the door. Then, before closing it behind her, she added, “I’ll see you on the other side. One way or another.”

  * * *

  I shuffled in my seat. It wasn’t that I felt out of place here—much to the contrary. Though the Patio was a relatively new restaurant, it was definitely the sort of place I would have frequented back in my modeling days: sleek, minimalist, and best of all, exclusive.

  In fact, it took all I could do to score a lunch reservation. If not for the fact that the hostess recognized me from a five-year-old Gucci ad, we’d have had to spy on Cindy from the bushes outside.

  As it was, I nursed a Cobb salad to Abram�
�s tuna stack and watched the woman in question from a distance.

  “Honestly, I don’t see what’s so special about her.” I dabbed my fork around the piles of lettuce, egg, and cheese. “I mean, she’s basically a twig.”

  Cindy sat across the room, alone at her table, save for a copy of The Kite Runner, which was garnering her full attention. Her curly blonde hair bounced a little when she turned the pages, and her deep-set blue eyes contrasted sharply against her pale skin. Okay, so I could see what was special about her. But other than that, I could have pulled a better-looking girl off the street in five minutes.

  “She’s definitely not my type,” Abram answered, not even glancing toward the woman. “But I suppose there’s no accounting for taste.”

  “I used to think his tastes were pretty good.”

  “Used to be they were,” he said, giving me a playful look behind his fork. “And who’s to say they’re not now? There’s more to love about someone than their curves.” Abram finally glanced over at the woman. “Or lack thereof.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I get it.” I pursed my lips. “It’s just that this girl doesn’t really seem like Charlie’s cup of tea.”

  “Why do you care what his cup of tea is?” Abram asked with raised eyebrows.

  Tread carefully, Charisse.

  “Look, this might not make any sense to you, but whether or not Charlie Prince is happy is important to me.” I placed my palms flat against the table, keeping an eye on Cindy as she read and sipped coffee. “In a way, I feel responsible for him. I broke his happiness a long time ago. If I can, I’d like to fix it.”

  “He was unfaithful to you, Charisse. In my day, that would have been enough to have him shunned.”

  “In which day?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. “Not in your day where they treated women like property. This must be a different day you speak of.”

  “One of them,” he muttered. “Is this stakeout going to turn into a deposition?”

  “Not at all,” I answered. “For either of you.” I leaned in. “Charlie and I were young when we were together. Whatever mistakes we made, I think we can forgive each other for them.” I shook my head. “This isn’t about what we deserve. If it was, I’d have never landed a guy like you.”