Charming the Beast (Purgatory 3)

Her steps were slow but certain as she headed to her room. Chloe kept her head down, hoping the pose made her look defeated, but…she wasn’t.

I won’t stay caged forever. She’d find a way out of this mess, sooner or later.

***

“What’s Pate going to do to me?” Harris Grey asked, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “I busted ass to get into the Para Unit. This shit matters to me!”

He’d busted ass, huh? Connor had gotten in a different way…mostly by attacking the Para Unit. Rather specifically, Connor had attacked his do-right brother Duncan, a guy who’d been human for far too many years.

Not anymore. Now Duncan is like me.

Connor had been on the wrong side in the battle with the Para Unit. Now, he was having to make amends for the deeds he’d done. Keeping Chloe alive? That was his current—and last—atonement.

“Can you…can you put in a good word with Pate? I mean, he likes you.”

Connor laughed as he climbed up the stairs. They creaked beneath his weight. “I don’t know if Eric Pate likes anyone.” Maybe one person, his sister Holly. Everyone else? Not so much. Eric had a reputation for being cold as ice.

“But…but you’ve worked with him before.”

Connor grunted. Worked with him…been blackmailed by him…same thing as far as Eric was concerned.

“This job matters to me.” Harris straightened his shoulders. “Vamps killed my parents when I was thirteen. I know the monsters are out there. I want to stop them. I want to make a difference.”

Right. Connor paused in front of the guy. “There’s an important lesson that you’ve missed here. Those monsters you want to take down? They can look just like everyone else. Hell, they can even look like a sexy, little, dark-haired minx with big, blue eyes…” He looked over Harris’s shoulder and saw that Chloe had turned back to look at him. She was gazing at him, her expression stricken. Hell. “Chloe—”

“Right.” Harris nodded. “I forgot. She’s not…human. She just—she looks so innocent, you know?”

Chloe turned on her heel. Went in the bedroom. Quietly shut the door.

“You always have to be on guard,” Connor said. “Especially with the innocent ones.” Then he slapped his hand on Harris’s shoulder. “Go home. Get some rest. I’ve got the next twelve hours covered.” Actually, he’d be keeping a twenty-four, seven watch from now on. Because, yeah, Eric was going to totally rip Harris a new one when he found out that the guy had let Chloe escape.

I got her back though. She’s safe.

Harris looked relieved. “Thanks, man.” He grabbed his bag and headed out. As Connor watched him go, he wondered…just how would the guy react if he knew he’d just been talking with one of the monsters out there? One of the beasts he wanted to stop?

The big, bad wolf.

That’s me, all right.

Connor prowled around the little cabin. He secured the doors. Checked the front windows. He watched through the glass as Harris drove away. Then, there was just silence. The thick, engulfing silence that came from being far away from the city. That night, even the insects weren’t chirping.

No sound at all.

He tensed.

Why aren’t the insects making noise? He stared out into the darkness, but saw no threat.

He turned off the lights in the cabin and headed for the bedroom. The floor gave a faint creak beneath his feet.

***

His phone rang again. He’d left the town, left the body where it fell. Why not? He didn’t care if Wesley was discovered. Let the cops find the body. Let the ME cut into him and see that monsters were horribly, terrifyingly real.

He was tired of being in the shadows. He and Senator Quick had made plans, so many plans. The monsters shouldn’t have been in the dark anymore.

The senator also shouldn’t have been dead.

Chloe has more fire inside than I realized.

He put the phone to his ear. “You have Chloe.”

“We’re watching the house right now.”

A smile curved his lips.

“Looks like it’s just her and that other wolf—Connor.”

Connor Marrok was a problem that needed to be eliminated. Unfortunately, it wasn’t always easy to eliminate an alpha. They could be frustratingly strong.

His pack member gave him directions to the location and ended, saying, “We’re two hundred yards away. We won’t close in, not until you arrive.”

“Good.” Because if the wolves got too close to Chloe, there would be no controlling them. Chaos would reign. It wasn’t time for chaos, not yet. “I’ll be there soon.” He put the phone in his pocket. Looked up at the moon. Such a beautiful sight.

Had Connor enjoyed the moon that night? He certainly hoped so…because Connor would never live to see another one.

I’ve been planning to kill you for a long time, Marrok. The fact that the bastard was with Chloe now, well, that just meant the timeline for his death had been moved way, way up.

***

Chloe ditched her clothes. She shoved off her shoes and jeans and threw her shirt across the room. He said I was a monster! Damn him. Did Connor have any idea how much his words had hurt her?

She stood there, clad in her bra and panties, as rage and pain twisted inside her. Connor had no clue about her past. He didn’t know what it had been like for her all those years. Not human, not werewolf. A freakish mixture of both.

The door opened. She whirled around, her hands automatically rising to cover herself in a sad and feeble attempt at modesty.

Connor stood in the doorway. It was dark behind him, and the darkness just made him look all the more menacing.

She’d never been attracted to dangerous men. Or at least, she hadn’t, not until she’d met him. The guy was so much trouble.

Chloe notched up her chin. “You don’t need to come in here and tell me to stay inside. I’m not planning on running, okay?”

He stalked into the room. Shut the door. That golden stare of his raked over her. Her skin actually seemed to warm as he looked at her.

“This isn’t a peep show,” she shot at him. Chloe grabbed for the sheet and wrapped it around her body. “And you can show some courtesy and knock when you enter a room. That’s what normal people do.”

He shrugged. “I’ve never been accused of being normal.”

Her eyes narrowed on him and he just…kept stalking forward. Toward her. Toward the bed. “Wh-what are you doing?”