Charming the Beast (Purgatory 3)

***

Ten minutes later, she wasn’t feeling so relieved. Eric had just put her in a cell—a cell lined with silver bars. “This wasn’t part of the deal!” Chloe yelled at him.

Connor was nowhere around. It was just her and Eric and he was shrugging.

“No one can touch you in there. You’ll be safe in containment.”

Containment?

She inched toward the silver bars. Would they hurt her if she touched them? Chloe was so sure her beast was dead. And, back when Eric had first been running his tests on her, he’d put silver against her skin.

Back then, it had done nothing.

But…what if something had changed? What if…?

“The cell is for your protection. Connor keeps telling us that your scent is acting as some kind of lure for werewolves. By putting you behind the silver bars, I’m ensuring that no werewolf can gain access and hurt you.”

She’d realized—once she saw the cell—that she was in one of the secret Para bases. A place used for field work operations and for temporary containment of prisoners. “Are there other werewolves here?” Her voice came out softer than she’d intended. The area behind her cell was dark and she hadn’t wanted to take her eyes off Eric long enough to look back there.

Eric stared at her with a guarded expression on his face. “People are never who we actually think they are.”

What? That wasn’t an answer to her question!

“Sit tight. Once Connor is back, we’ll…revisit…your involvement in your father’s business plans.” He turned on his heel and headed for the exit.

She almost grabbed the bars. Fear held her back. “I wasn’t involved!” Chloe yelled after him.

Eric didn’t look back. He yanked open the door and headed outside. Chloe was left in her prison, a cot behind her and a toilet to the right.

She looked down at her hands. Saw her small nails. Nails, not claws. She hadn’t been able to grow claws since her “death” at her father’s hands. Was her werewolf truly dead?

She reached out to touch the bars. Her fingers were shaking. She should be fine. She hadn’t burned before when Holly and Eric had tested her. She should be—

Her fingers curled around the silver.

Chloe screamed as her flesh burned.

***

Connor tensed. He glanced back at the Para Unit’s base. From the outside, the place just looked like some rundown factory. Inside, well, that was where all the real action was.

“Problem?”

He turned at that voice—his brother’s voice. Duncan was just a few feet away, studying him with a worried gaze. Connor had spent most of his life hating Duncan, blaming him for the hell that Connor had endured at their father’s hands.

When it was all my own fault.

He’d originally hunted Duncan with the intent of destroying the guy’s life, but then…well, shit, Duncan was his brother. Duncan was also one of those unfortunate true-blue types. It was because of Duncan that Connor wasn’t rotting in Purgatory, though he probably belonged there. Duncan had been the one to work out the deal with Eric.

In exchange for helping the Para Unit, Connor’s past was being erased. A past that included a rather bloody pack life.

“Connor?” Duncan pressed. “What’s wrong?”

“I thought I heard a scream.” It shouldn’t have been possible. He knew the walls to that building had been reinforced. The whole place was sound-proofed, but, for an instant, he could have sworn that he’d heard Chloe’s cry.

Eric gave me his word. “Do you trust Eric Pate?” Connor demanded.

Duncan hesitated. “Well, I guess it depends.”

Connor spun on his heel and started marching back toward the building.

“Hey, whoa! Wait, man, wait.” Duncan rushed into his path. “This is about the Quick woman, isn’t it? Look, she’s safe. I heard Pate give the order. He was putting her in a containment area, but no one was getting close to her. You don’t have to worry.”

Then why was he worried?

“You know werewolves move fast,” Duncan continued. “If we’re going to catch their trail, we need to go, now. Hell, even with you and me out there, we may still lose their scent.”

Because Duncan was exactly like Connor. Not just a werewolf, but more. Vampire. They had all of the strengths of both paranormal creatures. All of the strengths and none of the weaknesses, at least, according to Eric.

And that was why Connor could stand strong out in the sunlight. It didn’t burn him. Silver didn’t burn him, either.

“You ready?” Duncan pressed.

Connor cast one more look at the facility. He didn’t hear any sounds from that building then. No more screams. “I’m ready.”

But I’ll be back, Chloe. He wasn’t going to leave Chloe on her own.

***

“You lost her? Every single trace of her?”

He glared at the men in front of him. Fucking useless. If werewolves couldn’t track, then who could?

“Sir, I—”

He fired a silver bullet into that werewolf’s heart. The guy who’d foolishly tried to speak—he hit the ground.

“I don’t want to hear excuses,” he muttered, disgusted. “I told you that if Chloe wasn’t caught, then death would follow.” He’d given the idiots every single opportunity to follow his orders. They’d fanned out, hitting the woods, racing as beasts. “I mean, really, one alpha werewolf stopped you all?” Fucking unbelievable.

He raised the gun, preparing to fire at the next man. A blond male with dark brown eyes—angry eyes.

“I did my best!” The guy snarled. “That guy—something is off with him. You saw how many silver bullets we pumped into him, but he didn’t go down, not until we started using the tranq…”

He lowered the gun. Yes, that had been interesting. Is he more like me than I realized?

“You should have told us what we were up against,” the werewolf snarled at him. “You should have—”

He fired the gun. The guy howled and spun before he hit the dirt.

“I am your alpha. I don’t have to explain anything to you. You follow my orders or you die.”

“Alphas…don’t have to…use guns…” The man on the ground—the unfortunately still alive man—spat. “Where are…your claws? F-fight…”

Oh, so the fool thought to challenge him? That wasn’t going to happen. He aimed. Fired—