Charming the Beast (Purgatory 3)

Connor really wanted to shoot the guy.

The truck lurched forward.

Silence.

“Bet you and Duncan didn’t even know about me…I mean I did my research on you two. You were so young, it makes sense you didn’t remember me. And Duncan?” His laughter was low. “He was so f**ked up after our father killed our mom…hell, he didn’t remember much of anything did he?”

Connor just stared at the bastard. But, yes, the guy was right. Connor didn’t recall a damn thing about him and as for Duncan…Duncan didn’t even know me when we first met.

“Do you remember our mother dying?” Keegan asked. “I’ve always been curious about that.”

Connor could hear the echo of screams in his mind.

“Are the stories I’ve heard true? You and Duncan were supposed to stay in the closet, but you ran out?”

He’d been so young. A lost kid. Afraid of the dark.

“Did she die protecting you?”

Connor’s chin lifted. Chloe’s shoulder brushed against his. “Yes,” he said flatly. “She loved me.” He’d always clung to that one truth.

Keegan looked back up at the window. “What a f**king waste.” Silence. “All her family? Guess why they died?”

Connor didn’t want to guess.

“Because they didn’t love me,” Keegan murmured.

Duncan shot off the bench.

Connor grabbed him before Duncan could take Keegan’s head.

Keegan laughed. “This is going to be such a fun night. I’ve got so many surprises planned.”

***

Eric stared at the screen in front of him. “I’ll just bet you do.”

Chloe didn’t have to radio the directions back to him. That whole armored van was wired for sound and video. But Keegan didn’t know that…and anything that bastard didn’t know…

Gives us an advantage.

“All right, people,” he said to the group in his van. “We’re looking at a destination we can access by midnight. As we keep driving, we’ll work to narrow this shit down. We want to know the location as soon as we can. The last thing we want is to send our agents in there blind.” The sooner they knew the location, the sooner he could get an air patrol in to sweep the area.

His gaze stayed locked on the monitor. Keegan should be secured, for the time being.

But worry still gnawed at him because he’d learned long ago…when it came to paranormals…should didn’t apply.

***

“We’re nearing Wessex Road,” Keegan murmured after they’d driven and driven for at least two hours, following his sketchy directions. “Turn right on Wessex.”

Connor heard Chloe speak those same directions into her radio.

“Ah, Chloe…” Keegan shook his head and pulled lightly on his restraints. “I have to confess, I thought you’d be too afraid to come on this particular mission.”

“I’m not afraid of you,” she said, voice flat.

“Liar,” Keegan accused. “Ever since Eclipse, I bet I’ve been starring in your nightmares.” He licked his lips and studied her. “Though you did surprise me there. I was so enraged that you’d screwed Connor, my emotions got a little out of control.”

“I didn’t just have sex with him,” Chloe said, still in that calm, unemotional voice. “I mated him.”

Rage twisted Keegan’s face—just for an instant. “Mating isn’t really for life. It’s just until one of you dies. But, in your case, death doesn’t take, does it, sweetheart?”

“I’m not your sweetheart.”

Keegan leaned forward, as much as his restraints would allow. “You were supposed to be. Your father promised you to me. A perfect virgin werewolf…easy for breeding. He even adjusted your scent so that I’d be pulled in…every time I smelled you, it was like I’d caught a bit of paradise.”

“I can’t even shift,” Chloe said. “Why waste your time with me?”

Keegan shook his head. “Now see, that’s where your thinking was wrong. Your father’s was wrong, too. He thought you had to go full-on wolf to be strong, but you’re better than that. You have the beast’s power, but it never fully controls you. You don’t have to worry about losing yourself to the beast.” He smiled at her. “You see flaws. When I look at you, I see perfection.”

It was taking all of Connor’s control not to leap off that bench.

“Does he see perfection?” Keegan asked and he inclined his head toward Connor. “Have you asked him just what he sees when he looks at you? Because I think his answer might surprise you.”

Connor felt Chloe’s gaze cut to him, but she didn’t speak.

If she had asked, he would have told her the truth. I see my life. My future. Every wish I’ve ever had.

“When I get stuck between shifts,” Chloe said, “is that still perfection?”

“Ah…those happened because of your father. He was messing with you. Trying to draw out the full wolf. I changed your injections back to normal for the last year.”

Connor felt surprise ripple through Chloe.

“Your claws came out, your teeth sharpened, and your enhanced strength was there. All without the pesky problem of being a full-on werewolf.”

Chloe shook her head. “No, those shifts that didn’t work, the pain—”

“That was all on your father. Twisted bastard. He should have just accepted perfection when he had it.”

She trembled near Connor.

“I’m sorry I killed you,” Keegan told Chloe. The jerk’s voice actually sounded almost sincere. What a lie. “But…it certainly opened some new doors, didn’t it? I thought you were good before…and now…oh, now, sweetheart, I’ll do anything to have you.”

Those words sounded like a warning.

It was time for Connor to give his own warning. “And I’d do anything to protect her from you.”

Keegan slanted a fast glance Connor’s way. “Would you kill for her?”

“Yes,” he gritted out.

“Turn on your friends? Your own brother?”

Fuck it. “Yes.”

“Would you die for her?” Keegan taunted.

“Connor, stop,” Chloe said.

“Yes,” he told Keegan. “Anything.”

Keegan inclined his head. “Good. You just might get the chance to prove that.”