Charming the Beast (Purgatory 3)

Harris clamped his hands over his ears. “I hear him…again and again…can’t stop him… ‘Get Chloe. Kill her. Get Chloe. Kill her. Get Chloe’—”

“Kill me. Yes, right, I get the idea.” What she got was that the guy was being compelled. That had to be it, right? “I really don’t want to hurt you anymore. You seemed like a decent guy before you changed, and I know it can suck when wolves bite you and your life goes to hell and—”

“You know nothing!” Harris roared.

“Really? Try telling that to a sixteen year old girl who gets attacked by a pack of wolves. I was bitten seven times. I don’t think they wanted me to live, they sure didn’t want me to transform.” But she’d survived. And I’m going to survive now. Chloe knew Harris was going to follow the compulsion he was under. She would have done anything for Connor when he’d been compelling her.

So Chloe figured there were two ways out of this mess.

Option one: Kill Harris.

Not so good for Harris.

Option two: Knock him out. Because if the guy was unconscious, then he couldn’t follow any compulsions.

Now, to just find a way to knock out the guy.

“I don’t want to stab you,” she told him.

“‘Get Chloe. Kill’—”

She sliced him across the stomach. He yelled and stumbled back and Chloe leapt to her feet. Her gaze flew to the left, then the right. She grabbed a lamp from the guard’s desk and held it like a baseball bat. She’d hit Harris and knock the guy out. She swung out—

He just yanked the lamp from her fingers.

“Silver hurts.”

“Newsflash,” she told him as she backed up. “It’s going to hurt a whole lot worse once the full moon rises and your change is complete. You’re still in the honeymoon phase, buddy.” Which meant he didn’t have full werewolf strength.

But…but Connor had told me that I had more strength. He said I threw a man across Eclipse after I did my rising-from-the-dead routine.

Of course, she didn’t remember that particular act but…

Her hands fisted and she punched at Harris, as hard as she could.

He didn’t fly across the room. He tried to look down at his now bleeding lip, then back up at her.

The knife—

His fingers locked around her neck. “Got you,” he said.

No, no, not again. Please, no, not this.

His hands were tightening around her neck. He wasn’t breaking her neck. He was choking her!

“Seriously, Harris,” Connor roared, “I’m kicking your ass.”

And, just like that, she was free because Connor had jerked Harris away from her. Connor spun the guy around to face him as Chloe fought to suck in some desperately needed air.

“You don’t mess with her,” Connor shouted. “You…never hurt her…” He drove his fist into the guy’s face.

Harris’s nose broke.

“He’s…under a compulsion,” Chloe managed to say. “I think…Keegan is controlling him…”

“That so?” Connor shoved the guy against the nearest wall and sank his teeth into Harris’s throat. The move was so fast and so brutal that Chloe stood there, shocked.

This was different from when Connor drank from her. It was savage. Designed for pain. It was—

Connor pulled back and blood dripped down his chin. “Now I can control you.” He glared at Harris. “You never hurt, Chloe, understand? You protect her at all costs. You never hurt any of the Para Agents. We’re on your side.”

Harris’s eyes still had that glassy look.

But he wasn’t attacking, so that was good, right?

“Now come back to the land of the living,” Connor snarled at him. “Shake Keegan’s orders and get your ass in gear.”

Harris shook his head. “C-Connor?”

Surprise rolled through Chloe.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Connor said. “That shit worked.” He glanced over at Chloe. “One compulsion can cancel out another.” He swiped away the blood on his cheek. “Good to know.” But she noticed that he didn’t back away from Harris, not yet. “Are you in control?” Connor demanded of the other agent. “Or do I need to knock you out?”

Harris was tentatively touching his nose. And wincing. “I’m…in control. But I’m a little sketchy on how…I wound up here.” His hand dropped and he glared at Connor. “You broke my nose, didn’t you?”

Chloe cleared her throat. “He did that because you were trying to kill me.”

Harris glanced at her. Horror flashed on his face. “I remember that! I’m so sorry!” Then his hands were running through his hair. “I hurt…I hurt a lot of people.” Then his knees seemed to give way and he sank to the tiled floor. “Oh, God, what did I do?”

Connor stared down at him. “Not you, man. You were under a compulsion. It was Keegan. The bastard thought he could control you and that you’d do his dirty work for him.” He looked over at Chloe. “He wanted you to kill her, but that wasn’t happening.”

She’d tucked the key card into her back pocket. Carefully, Chloe pushed it even deeper into that pocket.

Connor crossed to her side. His gaze swept over her. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. Fine.” Should she tell him that she’d been running away? Make a big confession? Or keep that bit quiet?

“We need to find out what the hell other plans Keegan has in motion.” Connor threaded his fingers with hers. “From here on out, I need you to stay with me.”

Right. Staying together with the extra strong vampire-wolf sounded like a wonderful plan to her.

Harris pushed to his feet. “I…I lost the collar.” He shook his head. “No, I convinced the other agents that…it was defective. Burning me too badly. They took it off.” Fear flashed in his gaze. “I need something to control me! What if the beast comes out? What if—”

“It’s several hours until the moon rises,” Connor snapped. “If you get crazy before then, I’ll deck you, okay?”

Harris nodded.

“Now let’s get to the lab before Keegan springs any more surprises on us.” His fingers tightened around Chloe’s. Then he yanked her into his arms and just…held her. “Bastard thought he was going to take you from me. That won’t happen.”

She could feel the frantic beat of his heart against her. “I’m not going anywhere,” she told him.