Charming the Beast (Purgatory 3)

She rolled back her shoulders. She was getting out of this place. And she’d be getting out that day.

Good-bye, Connor. Because she would miss him. Always.

But she wouldn’t give up her life for him.

***

Connor shoved open the door to Holly’s lab. He wasn’t particularly surprised to see the crowd that had gathered inside. “Looks like the gang is all here,” he muttered.

Holly stood a few feet away, garbed in green scrubs. Duncan was at her side, like the guy always was. But if Eric was really going to have Holly run tests on Keegan, Connor had been sure that he’d find his brother in the room.

Shane was there, too. The vamp’s expression was carefully schooled, but his body was tight. He might not look worried, but Connor knew the fellow was.

Olivia paced a few feet away. Nervous energy rolled off her body.

“Did you all know that Eric was bringing the bastard in?” Connor demanded.

“No,” Duncan said immediately. “I didn’t.”

Shane shook his head. “I’m not in the loop anymore.”

Holly sighed. “Eric thinks he doesn’t have to answer to anyone.”

“He’s wrong,” Connor said flatly.

Holly glanced back toward the door. “He’s going to be bringing Keegan in any moment. I don’t…I don’t think you want to be here for this part.”

“Hell, yes, I do.” But that was a lie. He actually wanted to be on a motorcycle, with Chloe holding tight to him, as they rode hell-fast out of there.

So why am I here?

Chloe’s image flashed in his mind. Her eyes had been so blue, her expression so stark. Do you think you could love me?

He didn’t know anything about love. He knew about hate. About rage. About possession and obsession.

Love?

Hell, did it even exist?

“How’s Harris?” Connor asked as he tried to shove the image of Chloe from his mind.

Duncan approached him. “He made it through the night. That’s something.”

Yeah, it was.

“But you know Eric. He wanted the guy put in a cell, just until the full moon passed. With it coming tonight, he didn’t want to take any chances.”

Connor had already felt the pull of the moon.

“Connor, if you’re going to attack Keegan, you know you can’t stay in here.”

Connor cracked his knuckles. “I’ll play nicely…”

“Are you sure you know how?” This came from Shane.

Connor gave him a hard glare. “I’ll play nicely…as long as he stays under Eric’s control. If the bastard makes an attempt to attack, he’s done.” Because Connor couldn’t allow Keegan to threaten Chloe again.

Chloe.

The woman was haunting him right then. She’d been so hopeful, but he truly wasn’t the barbecue and picket fence type. His instincts were too dark. Too dangerous.

Chloe hadn’t seen the real Connor, not yet. She thought he was one of the good-guy agents. She just didn’t get it.

And maybe I don’t want her to get it. Maybe I want her to keep looking at me with that light in her eyes.

Because when she really saw him for the beast that he was, Chloe wouldn’t think that she could fall in love with him. Chloe would run as fast and as hard as she could—as she tried to get away from him.

***

Chloe’s fingers slipped beneath the mattress. When Connor had stormed into Eric’s office late last night, she’d tagged along. And while Connor had questioned Eric, she’d helped herself to one of Eric’s precious keycards.

So maybe she had some sticky fingers. Maybe she’d had to escape the guards her father had put on her over the years.

She’d stared right into Eric’s eyes as she’d palmed the keycard off his desk. For someone who was supposed to be so savvy, Eric had sure not even noticed her little theft routine.

Her hand curled around the keycard. She’d been watching closely each time she was led through the facility. So she should be able to get back down to the lower level, using that keycard at all the right intervals, no problem. Then she’d find her way out and vanish.

She wouldn’t see Connor again. She wouldn’t see Olivia.

She’d be on her own.

Would she change into a wolf again? Chloe didn’t know, but she did know that she couldn’t stay in that base. She wanted a life, and she’d take it.

She opened her door. No guard stood on the other side. Connor must have really thought that she was fine with being a prisoner at that place. Pain gnawed through her.

Why couldn’t he have come with me? But more, it seemed as if the real question was…Why couldn’t he have chosen me? Because she felt as if it had been a choice for him.

Her…or the Para Unit.

She slid into the hallway. She could hear voices coming from the stairwell. Squaring her shoulders, Chloe took a deep breath. This was it.

She kept a tight grip on that keycard and headed down the stairs.

***

“Keep him sedated,” Eric ordered the guards as they strapped Keegan to a gurney. “I don’t want this jerk getting any chance to slip away from us.”

The guards dosed Keegan again. Good. Eric nodded. Then he turned on his heel. He had to make sure that Holly was ready for her latest patient. As he swept out of the general containment area, his gaze slid to the right. Harris Grey was there, watching him. The silver collar seemed to glow around Harris’s neck.

Eric paused. “The collar is just for your protection.” And for the protection of every staff member in that base. “After the full moon passes, we’ll know that you control your beast.”

Harris was sitting in the middle of the cell. “And if the beast controls me…what then? You going to put me down? Ship me off to Purgatory?”

“I’ll deal with you.” That was all he’d say because the last thing Eric wanted to do was hurt a loyal agent.

He marched out of the area. Hell, he sure hoped Holly was ready for Keegan. Because they had to figure out how the guy had become a cross-over.

No one else can be allowed to change.

Cross-overs were far too dangerous.

***

The drugs were filling his veins. Cold, like ice that chilled him from the inside. The guards had strapped him down on the gurney, securing him so tightly. Too tightly, but they hadn’t cared.

Now they were wheeling him out of the cell. His head sagged to the side, and he knew that he looked as if he were barely conscious.

Appearances could be so very deceiving.