Charming the Beast (Purgatory 3)

A knock sounded at the door. He woke instantly, his body fully alert.

“Connor?” Chloe murmured. “What’s happening?”

“Connor!” Eric’s yell. “I need you, now.”

Hell. He pressed a kiss to Chloe’s lips. “Stay here, baby. I’ll be right back.” He grabbed his jeans, yanked them on, then pulled on a t-shirt. When he opened the door, he made sure not to open it wide enough for Eric to see inside. Connor sure didn’t want the guy getting an eyeful of a na**d Chloe.

“About time,” Eric muttered. “Man, you are slow as shit.”

Connor glared at him. “And you are always pounding on our damn door. You know what you need, Eric? A date. A woman. You need to have issues of your own.”

Eric turned on his heel. “I need you downstairs.”

Connor hesitated.

“Chloe is fine.” Now Eric sounded annoyed. “And as your boss, I’m giving you an order…come downstairs.”

Connor followed, but he wasn’t happy about it.

Only Eric didn’t stop at the first level of the base. He went all the way down to containment.

“We got some new prisoners this morning. I thought you might want to see them…” Eric typed in his passcode and the doors to the containment area slid open. “Oh, and by the way, you can thank me with a case of beer later.”

Connor’s shoulders stiffened as he saw the werewolves. At least a dozen of them. All in silver cages. All wearing silver collars.

“We rounded up all the ones who followed my little bit of bait and the ones who’d stayed behind to keep surveillance running on this place.” Eric sauntered toward the cages. “Like I didn’t realize they were out there, watching. That shit was just insulting. What kind of security do they think I have? With the way things went the last few months, I stepped up everything.”

Some of those werewolves smelled familiar. They were at Eclipse. He whirled back to Eric. “They’re Keegan’s pack.”

Eric nodded.

“You knew they were watching the base? With Chloe here?” He shot forward. “What the hell—”

“I didn’t transfer Chloe immediately because I wanted them to watch the place. I needed them to stay close so I could keep up my surveillance on them.” Eric said this as if it should have been obvious. “And my trap worked.”

He was going to hurt Eric. In so many ways.

“Sheath your claws and I’ll show you just how well it ended.”

He could barely growl out a response. But Eric had just turned on his heel and headed down a narrow hallway.

Toward maximum security containment.

Silver doors barred the way. Artificial sunlight pumped into the area.

“Of course, these containment measures aren’t stopping him, so we’re having to keep the prisoner sedated, for the time being. Until other…means…can be discovered to neutralize the threat he poses.”

They eased around a corner, but Connor had already caught the bastard’s scent. Rage fueled his blood, and it took every ounce of power that Connor had to not race across the room and kill the guy in that cell.

Keegan was there. His arms were shackled. His legs secured. His head sagged forward.

For an instant, the world went red for Connor. He stared at Keegan and his claws stretched from his fingertips. He had never wanted to kill anyone more, not even his bastard of a torturing father.

“Keep that control,” Eric warned him. “Hell, your reaction right now is the reason I didn’t take you out on the mission with us. I worried that if you went with that team—”

“You wouldn’t bring that bastard in alive.”

He wanted to rip through those bars and attack Keegan.

At that moment, Keegan’s head tilted back. He stared at Connor out of bleary eyes, and the guy grinned.

Oh, the hell, no.

Eric slapped his hand on Connor’s chest. “Don’t. I need him alive, got it? I have to see how many werewolves are involved in the mess the senator left behind. I have to find out how the hell Keegan managed to become a cross-over.”

“He needs to be in the ground.” Connor was definite on this. “After what he did to Chloe, there’s no question of what we should do to him.”

Eric sighed. “Things aren’t always black and white. You of all people know that.”

Connor knocked his hand away.

“He’s in custody,” Eric said. “He can’t hurt Chloe again. He won’t hurt anyone. It’s over for him.”

“So what? He gets a fast trip to Purgatory? Don’t you get it, Eric? That’s probably what he wants!”

“I’m going to interrogate him soon. I’ll find out every secret the guy has.”

Eric thought he was the one in control.

But Keegan was still grinning.

And Connor wanted to rip his head off.

“He’s contained,” Eric told him. “That’s a good thing. A win. Chloe doesn’t need to be afraid any longer.”

But then Keegan said… “Yes, she does.” His voice was low, rasping. “Because I’ll be…leaving this place…soon…and my Chloe will come with me.”

Connor raced forward. He wanted to sink his claws deep into Keegan’s chest, but when he touched the cage, an electric surge shot through him.

He snarled at the flash of pain.

“That’s some new, enhanced security we have.” Eric’s voice was flat. “You aren’t killing him. Not when I’ve gone to such trouble to bring the guy in alive.”

He wanted that bastard dead.

“You can let Chloe know that the threat to her has been eliminated.”

The threat hadn’t been eliminated, not yet. It had just been brought right to her. Up-close and personal.

Connor whirled on his heel and marched away from Keegan. He had to leave, if he didn’t—he would be killing that werewolf.

“She isn’t clear yet, agent,” Eric said. “Chloe can’t leave the facility.”

Connor stopped.

“Just didn’t want you getting any ideas.”

Connor glanced back at Eric.

“Chloe Quick is still a person of extreme interest for the Para Unit. She might not be in a containment cell, but that doesn’t mean she can walk free.”

Connor shook his head. “You really are a bastard, you know that, Eric?”

“Never pretended to be anything else,” Eric murmured. “Brief Chloe and then…then I’ll be transferring Keegan to Holly’s lab for tests. You might want to stop by for that part.”