Tempting the Fire

by Sydney Croft

Now she called, “Chance, is it okay if I come in?” through the door, and heard a sharp “Sure” in response.

  As she elbowed her way in, Sela’s warnings continued to echo in her ears.

  Stay with Chance. Keep him calm. Don’t tell him what’s happened to him.

  Chance was sitting on the edge of the cot, dressed in sweats. His restraints had slightly longer chains now and his hair was damp from a recent shower.

  But it was the way he stared at her that truly made her blush.

  “I, uh, wasn’t sure if you’d gotten lunch brought to you already,” she started lamely.

  “I did, but I’m still starving.”

  The familiar blush heated her body as she drew closer to him. She put the tray down on the table between them, which was about two feet from his cot. His restraints were long enough that they allowed him to sit at the table to eat.

  He could fall in love with you.

  You could be mated for life to this man.

  Stop it. Dammit. It was time for Convincing, to find out about his family, to find out if he continued to remain off the radar, disappearing totally, would anyone notice?

  Well, beyond the U.S. Navy, and Devlin had a way of taking care of that. “So, have they let you call your family?”

  He shook his head.

  “I’m sure they’ll be worried.”

  He shrugged.

  “How many people are in your family?”

  He stared at her across the table, asked, “What’s with the twenty questions?” and shit, why did she suck at this with him?

  Questioning and information-gathering was something she could normally do. Easily.

  But with Chance, she was tripping over her tongue, while her insides did flips.

  Chance, whom she’d slept with. Who didn’t hate her after.

  Who turned into a chupacabra when anyone tried to touch her because she was mated to him. For life. Maybe.

  Did ACRO agents hyperventilate? Because she was pretty sure she was going to. “Sorry. I didn’t mean … I’m not used to … this.”

  “Hey, it’s okay. I’ll answer your questions if that’s what you need to stay calm. If that’s what it takes to keep you from freaking out about me.”

  “It’s not that. Exactly.” She looked at him, was grateful that he’d taken her nervousness well. She wasn’t as forgiving of herself, but despite her screwup, it looked like she’d get the information. “Maybe a little.”

  “Yeah, well, me too. And I don’t admit to being freaked out very often.” He ran his hand through his hair, longer than a typical military cut, and his eyes, the color of sea glass, raked over her with an intensity that made her squirm.

  Who was she kidding—she squirmed the second she came within twenty feet of him. “So, about the family thing …”

  “Well, there’s no one who’ll miss me, if that’s what you’re asking. No one to send a rescue squad, except the Navy. My closest friends were part of my team.” He looked up at the ceiling for a second. “I guess they’re watching over me now.”

  She’d never been particularly religious and she was more than a little curious at his words. “You believe in God?”

  “Gotta believe in something.”

  “Someone must be worried. Your house—”

  He sighed. “I pay everything online; it’s automatically deducted. No paper trail. My neighbors know me as the guy who’s never there, but they’re all military too, so they get it. Don’t ask questions.”

  “You weren’t dating anyone?”

  “No one special. My momma made sure of that. I don’t trust well, Marlena. Especially not women.”

  Why did her heart surge at the fact that his transition to ACRO might actually be easy for him? That maybe when all this was over, he wouldn’t totally hate her, because even though he didn’t trust easily, he seemed to trust her. Or at least it seemed as though he wanted to.

  “My turn. Are you really a cryptozoologist’s assistant?” he asked between bites, and she froze. For someone confined to this damned tent, he certainly knew a lot of what went on around this camp.

  Yes was the safest answer—the only one. “You could say that.”

  He stretched then, the muscles in his chest and arms flexing, and her body stirred again. She was almost insatiable around him.

  “So you’re here to hunt down the creature that killed my team,” he continued.

  Tread carefully, Marlena. “We heard rumors and our boss sent us here to check things out.”

  “You can’t go anywhere near that thing. It’s strong and smart and bullets don’t seem to do shit to it.” His voice hardened as he spoke.

  “Do you remember what happened to you?” she asked, hating to see the pain return to his face at the mere memory.

  “Yeah, I do.” He swallowed hard. “This thing—it looked like a goddamned horror show monster. Came out of nowhere, a blur of destruction. And when it came after me, I swore I wouldn’t go down. I fought, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up in a tent in this camp.”

  “Were you in a lot of pain?”

  “No, I wasn’t.” He lowered his voice, and she could barely hear him. “I’ve always healed unusually fast. When I was a kid, I got hit by a car and broke my leg—it healed in a quarter of the time it should have; and once I got stabbed in the thigh and should have bled out, but by some miracle I didn’t, practically watched the wound seal up.”

  “And this time …?” she prompted.

  “This time, that thing should’ve killed me almost instantly, the way it did the others. There’s no rational explanation for why I’m still alive. He attacked me for a long time, Marlena. And when I woke up weeks later, all I had to show for it were superficial bruises and cuts.” He paused, looked back at the door as if he expected someone to jump out any minute.

  “So you healing fast might not have anything to do with the fact that you were bitten,” she said slowly.

  He shrugged. “Other weird things are happening, but that … I’m not a hundred percent sure but the healing thing isn’t new.” He took her hand in his. “You’re not going to tell anyone, are you?”

  “Sela—my boss—she needs to know this to help you.”

  He took his hand away. “How the hell can she help?”

  “The more she knows … I mean, we’ve been pulled away from our jobs, this might be the only way she can get her research done. The only way to help you.”

  But he’d stopped listening to her. He put a finger to his lips and stood as if prepping for battle.

  She froze, waited for men to burst in, but nothing happened.

  “Do you hear that?” he asked.

  “I don’t hear anything.”

  He stared at her as if she were crazy. “Marlena, they’re talking so loudly—they’re right outside the door.”

  She cracked the door open. Shep and the doctor were at least thirty feet away. Unless Chance was wearing some kind of listening device, there was no way he was hearing them.

  Unless … maybe, since he was part chupacabra, maybe he could really hear those men. Maybe this was one of the weird things happening to him that he’d mentioned.

  She walked back to him. “What did they say?”

  “Shep was talking about the mission—he said some guy from Itor Corp’s been calling here nonstop, wants to speak to Logan.”

  She felt a chill go up her spine as his gaze met hers. Think fast. “What’s Itor?”

  “I overheard Logan talking about them earlier. I guess they’re some sort of paramilitary company that sells their services to the highest bidder. It didn’t sound like he thinks very highly of them.”

  He rubbed a hand along the back of his neck and then stopped, listening again. “The doctors say they want to run some tests on me.”

  Another pause while he listened, and then, “They said … they’ve gotten orders from some man named Richard to run the tests. He just arrived at the camp and he insists there’s no time to waste.”

 
Maybe they were going to take some blood—something simple.

  But if GWC was involved with Itor, then the tests very well could be more involved than taking blood samples.

  His expression hardened and her fears were confirmed. “They’re talking about heavy sedation. Stronger chains. Cerebral and spinal fluid tests.”

  Marlena’s heart pounded—what the hell were these men thinking, attempting to test an unstable entity? Didn’t they see what happened to Chance yesterday when he was threatened?

  No, none of this could end well. And there was no way for her to get in touch with Sela.

  Chance had turned his full attention to her now. The chains clanked as he moved until mere inches separated them.

  “I know something’s going on with me, Marlena. Because, these?” He held up his arms and indicated the chains. “We both know I can break these if I wanted to, just like I did earlier. That’s not normal. I was never able to do that before I was attacked. I mean, Jesus, I’ve heard of adrenaline being responsible for superstrength, but this … this is weird as shit. And then there’s you. Fuck, you’re beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but it was, like, if I didn’t have you immediately, I would die.”

  She didn’t say anything. What could she tell him? The truth? And risk flipping him out more?

  He deserves to know. “What have the doctors told you?”

  “Not much. What have they told you?” he countered. “Because I’ve got a really bad feeling about this testing. And you do too—I can see it. You can’t lie to me. Whatever bond we’ve got now, I know you. I know that you’re scared of me and want me at the same time. And that you’re holding back something major from me.”

  She took a deep breath, tried to think of a way to stall. “You might want to sit down.”

  When he spoke, she knew he was repeating what he’d heard, word for word. “Cerebral and spinal fluid from Chance can be compared to the original chupacabra. If we kill him, we’re in trouble, so take it slowly.”

  Dear God.

  He held up a wrist and yanked the chain. With seemingly little effort, it broke apart. He did the same to the other one and then worked the ones on his ankles off too, leaving them in a pile on the floor. “Fuck sitting. Fuck everything. Tell me what you know.”

  There was no turning back now. “The animal that attacked your team is called a chupacabra. Sela’s a cryptozoologist—she studies phenomena like that. Near as we can tell, when the chupacabra bit you, it—for lack of a better word—infected you.”

  “What do you mean, infected me?”

  “Yesterday, when you attacked Shep, you turned into a chupacabra. I saw it happen with my own eyes.”

  He took a step back then, as if she’d punched him hard in the gut, pivoted away from her. She heard his breathing turn harsh and she wondered if she’d made a huge mistake by telling him. And then, with his back still to her, he asked, “What does this have to do with what’s happening between us?”

  “According to Sela, chupacabras … possibly mate for life.”

  “Mate for life?” He repeated the phrase slowly as he turned to face her. Narrowed his eyes. “You are fucking kidding me. What the hell—like a goddamned swan?”

  “Kind of.” She blew out a long, drawn-out breath and prayed he kept his temper under control. Probably would’ve been better to let Sela explain everything, as she’d wanted to.

  Damned twenty-twenty hindsight.

  There was a combination of fear and anger in his eyes when he said, “And I’ve mated with you.”

  She nodded slowly. “I feel it too, when I’m near you. It’s a pull. But I think it’s worse on your side. Because if I hadn’t come to you yesterday—”

  He held up a hand. “Don’t say it.” His voice was hoarse.

  “Chance, I know this is all …” Freaky. Hard to hear.

  “Completely fucked up?”

  “Okay, yes.” What now?

  “You shouldn’t be here. Jesus Christ, I can’t believe they left you alone with me, knowing what I could turn into—knowing what I am.”

  “You didn’t hurt me when you changed,” she pointed out. “You were angry because Shep was trying to take me away from you.”

  “You think that’s the reason I … turned?”

  “It makes the most sense. You didn’t change when you were with me, and you’re not changing now.”

  He stared at her, an intensity in his eyes she hadn’t seen before. He swallowed, hard, and she prayed that her theory was correct.

  A FUCKING CHUPACABRA. ONE OF THOSE … THINGS … FROM horror movies and speculative documentaries. Chance’s head spun—he didn’t want to believe it, but why the hell would Marlena lie to him?

  He almost laughed at that, because in his experience, women lied about everything. It was a heavy lesson for a kid to learn from his mom, but the harsh education helped him in a variety of situations.

  Except this one, where he was a mated-for-life chupacabra.

  Maybe Marlena was different. She smelled of pure honesty … and yet, somehow, he knew she was still holding things back, maybe for his own good.

  Or maybe for hers. “I’m sure you get a lot of things by just walking into a room. But I learned a long time ago that pretty packages can house a whole lot of bad shit. I’ve seen what a woman can do, the ways she can manipulate in order to get what she wants. And I promised myself I would never get sucked in by a pretty face who spoke even prettier words,” he told her with a growl. “But now I think I’m getting sucked in by you, Marlena. In more ways than one. So tell me, what secrets are you hiding behind that pretty face?”

  She swallowed, hard. “I can’t say I haven’t taken advantage of my looks in the past. But I’m not making this up, Chance. You had physical symptoms when I didn’t stay with you. And now they’re gone.”

  It would certainly be a small consolation if her theory was true, that he’d turned last night because he was protecting her. It would mean he wasn’t a vicious murderer like the monster that killed his friends.

  He stared at his hands as if they were still clawed. There wasn’t a trace of the beast left on him, except for the fact that all his injuries, pre-chupacabra shift, had healed.

  That alone left the doctors scratching their heads.

  It also left him with chains that couldn’t hold him, and considered far more dangerous than this camp was ready to handle.

  Logan was hunting down the original chupa to kill it. What the hell were they planning to do with him? That thought alone was enough to keep him from spiraling into a pity party. Because even though he was part monster, his survival instinct was strong.

  And he’d known something was happening to him, from the second he’d regained consciousness. Still, nothing could’ve prepared him for what he’d just learned about himself.

  He had so many questions—maybe Marlena’s friend had more answers, more scientific data. But could he trust either one of them?

  Logan had told him yesterday that he was safe. But Chance didn’t know these people from Adam. There were a lot of men with big weapons running around in the middle of the Amazon jungle. He’d figured drugs or guns. He’d also figured that Logan was ex-military; Chance could recognize it a mile away.

  He ran a hand through his hair, his voice sounding tired when he spoke. “They definitely don’t have Logan’s approval for the testing they want to do on me. Any idea when Logan’s coming back?”

  “Sela said before dark—it’s too dangerous in the jungle after that.”

  “It’s just as dangerous here,” he murmured, his gaze dropping to her full breasts even as he acknowledged the inappropriateness of the action. “Something’s happening to me, Marlena. My senses are on overdrive. It’s only a matter of time before I turn into a beast again. What if I don’t change back to human?”

  “You can’t think like that.”

  That set him off, because how the hell could he not think like that? “What do you care? What the hell is in it for you?” He w
as yelling now, grabbing her shoulders and fighting the urge to shake her. “Why are you staying here unless you’re collecting data? Is that it? Is it part of your job to fuck a half man, half beast?” He let her go and she backed away from him. “That’s it, isn’t it? That’s why you’re here, to study me. I must be very interesting stuff for a crytopzoologist’s assistant.”

  She took a tentative step forward, and this time it was he who backed up. “You don’t understand.”

  “Yeah, actually, I do. You’re scared of me. You should be. And you should go now.”

  “I don’t want to leave you alone, Chance—it’s not safe. You said yourself they plan on testing you.”

  “You can’t stop them. Neither can I. Maybe if you go be nice to them, they’ll give you their data.” He heard the harshness in his tone and saw her flinch as if he’d slapped her. Not like someone who was hanging around him simply looking for scientific evidence.

  But he couldn’t believe she might actually … like him. Not when a big part of her was still terrified of him, of the monster that lurked inside of him.

  “I’m not worried about data. I’m worried that if I leave you alone for too long, you’ll get sick again.”

  The problem was, every fiber of his being ached at the thought of her leaving him. “How the hell will this ever work? I don’t want to be your science project. But I do want to be with you, inside of you, fucking you again.” He rubbed his face with his hands, felt stunned. Numb. “They’re going to take me soon. There’s nothing you can do to stop them.”

  “I’ll stay. Try to talk them out of it.”

  “This might be the only way to reverse whatever’s happened to me. If I submit, they can test everything. Come up with some kind of cure. Be able to give me some answers.” He paused. “If you’re with me when they come for me, I might …”

  “Turn again,” she finished for him. And yeah, as much as he didn’t want Marlena to leave his side, he had no intention of changing back into that monster—not if he could help it.

  But still, the thought of sitting here alone, for hours, waiting … that was too much to handle.

  “They’re not coming for me for a few more hours—at least from what they said,” he said finally. The new guy and the doctors called it making preparations. “I could, ah, use the company for a while. If you want.”