Charming the Beast
Page 15

“Look, everybody…” Duncan’s loud voice caught his attention. “This isn’t such a bad thing. We’ve got an indestructible woman. There are plenty of people out there who wish they could bounce back from any injury.” Duncan slanted a glance at Eric. “I’m betting you could use a few others folks like her on your team.”
Eric didn’t reply.
Knowing the sneaky SOB, yeah, he probably did want more folks like Chloe. And all those tests that Holly had been running…Connor would bet that Eric was hoping Holly would find something in Chloe’s blood work or in her DNA that would let the doctor replicate the condition on some federal volunteers.
“I need to go check on Harris,” Eric said, giving them all a curt nod. “Connor, I trust you’ll make sure that Chloe doesn’t leave the facility?”
“But—” Chloe began.
“Under the circumstances, I’m sure you’ll agree that you’re far safer here with us,” Eric said smoothly. “After all, it seems there’s a pack out there that wants you dead. Since you keep rising, how many times do you think they’d kill you before they got the clue that you weren’t exactly the type to stay in a grave?”
She blanched.
“Exactly. Connor, keep her here. Holly, please let me know immediately if you find out anything in her blood work and Olivia…”
Olivia glanced over at him.
“To play things safe, let’s keep up your current order protocol, shall we? Don’t make any wishes, don’t even think them. I don’t want to tempt fate.” He inclined his head toward Duncan. “Follow me for a briefing.” His gaze cut to Shane. “You, too.”
Shane’s brows lifted. “You know I don’t really work for you anymore.”
“Hell, you never did. But I need a favor, and if you can help, I’ll owe you.”
Now Shane looked intrigued.
But Connor just felt worried. He knew Eric was already cooking up some new plan, and whatever that plan was—it wouldn’t be good and it wouldn’t be safe. Eric’s plans never were.
“I need to go outside,” Chloe said as she tugged him toward the door. “I can’t breathe in here.”
Like he was going to deny her anything. “I know a place.” There was a small, enclosed courtyard in the middle of the facility. Eric actually used that courtyard when he was interrogating vampires. A little sunlight could go a long way.
But it was night then, and the darkness…the glittering stars…they could be just what Chloe needed.
He was at the door when Eric spoke again. “Don’t let her out of your sight.”
Connor glanced back at him.
“This thing isn’t over,” Eric told him quietly. “Those wolves aren’t stopping, not until we stop them.”
“More for Purgatory?” Connor hated that place. Mostly because he’d nearly died there.
“Purgatory isn’t the answer,” Eric muttered. “It’s the damn problem.”
***
Eric braced himself before he went into the next exam room. Harris Grey was strapped to the table, and a glowing silver collar was locked around his neck.
When he heard Eric’s approaching footsteps, Harris’s head snapped to the left and he locked his gaze on his boss.
There was desperation in Harris’s stare. Fear. Fury.
“Kill me,” Harris said.
Eric shook his head. “You’re not the first agent who’s been bit. Death isn’t the solution.”
Sweat soaked Harris’s body. “If I…don’t change…I’ll die anyway.”
A most painful death.
“You have the DNA that will allow you to change. You can survive this.” He’d learned a lot since taking over the Para Unit. Some good things, some bad.
The door opened behind him. He didn’t look back. He knew it was Duncan McGuire. After all, he’d ordered the man to come in. Duncan had always been a good agent.
A better man.
That’s why I let the lucky bastard stay with my sister. I knew he’d die for her.
Especially after what had gone down in Purgatory…yes, Duncan was a man worthy of Holly.
“I don’t want…to hurt anyone…” Harris whispered. “Saw what…wolves do…”
Eric shook his head. “You saw what some wolves do. They aren’t all like that. Werewolves are just like humans.” A lesson he’d learned. “Some are good, some are evil.” He stared into Harris’s eyes, needing the guy to understand this message. “You aren’t evil. You never have been, and I don’t think you ever will be.”
Harris’s body shuddered. “I’m…scared.”
Duncan stepped to Eric’s side. “You should be. I won’t lie to you, this isn’t going to be easy and it sure won’t be pretty, but you can survive it. You will survive it.”
“The first full moon will be the hardest,” Eric said. Unfortunately, the full moon would be coming soon. “Get through that, and you’re good.”
And if he didn’t…if his beast took over and the guy went feral, then Eric would deal with him. But Eric would not take out this agent without giving Harris a fighting chance.
“I’ve been where you are,” Duncan said to Harris. “There’s a choice other than death.”
But Duncan had been an alpha, and Harris…Eric didn’t know how much fight the guy had in him. He’d been one tough cop in Atlanta, and he’d transferred, aiming hard and fast to move into the FBI and up the ladder there. The guy had popped up on the Para Unit’s radar because his parents had been killed by supernaturals, and…well, he’d seemed properly motivated to join the group.
Now they would wait and see. Either Harris’s human side would win this battle, and he’d keep the baser instincts of the werewolf in check…
Or I’ll have to put him down.
***
Connor typed in a code and opened the heavy, metal door. It squeaked on its hinges as it swung out, and Chloe saw the glitter of stars. She hurried outside, but stopped short. The entire area—Connor had called it a courtyard—was enclosed in a large fence. A fence made out of what looked like—
“Silver,” Connor said. “So, just to be on the safe side, don’t touch it, baby.”
She walked to the middle of that area. Tilted her head back and stared up at the sky. The moon was up there. Big and bright, but not quite full. Not yet.
“The full moon is close,” Connor murmured. “You know that’s bad for a werewolf.”
Because the beast inside got stronger then.
“You scared the hell out of me.”
She glanced over at Connor. His gaze wasn’t on the stars or the moon. It was totally on her.
“I thought I’d lost you.” He closed the distance between them. Reached out to touch her, but then stopped. “I was terrified.”
Chloe shook her head. “No, not you, you don’t fear anything.”
“I can’t lose you.” Then he leaned forward. He pressed a light kiss to the curve of her neck.
Her heart gave a little jump.
“I’ve lost too much in my life. Some things I can’t ever get back.” He kissed her neck again. “I don’t want to lose you.” He eased back and stared into her eyes. “I’m not your jailer, Chloe. I’m here, with you now, because I want to do everything within my power to keep you safe.”
“Connor—”
“It felt like my heart had been ripped out,” he confessed gruffly. “And, baby, I didn’t even know I still had one. Figured I’d lost it years ago when my old man was cutting into me.”
Her gaze searched his.
“You got to me, Chloe,” he said. “You’re making me feel things that I shouldn’t.”
Her lips pressed together, then she made a confession of her own, saying, “I’ve wanted you from the beginning.” But she shook her head. What she felt for Connor was more than just desire. So much more, and she didn’t fully understand it. Or him. “What’s happening between us?”
“Do you know how mating works for werewolves?”
She shook her head. Not really. She knew where the mating bite was given, but…not much else.
“We can mate with those who are a match for us. Genetically. Physically. We can scent the connection there, and we know that we can have children with potential mates.”
Children? No, she couldn’t think that far ahead. She couldn’t—
“I’ve never wanted to mate with anyone before. When I was with you, I couldn’t stop myself from marking you. I did that, and I should’ve had control. I should’ve held back.”
“It was just a bite.” She said the words to convince herself. And him.
He shook his head. “It’s more, and you know it already, don’t you?”
“Keegan…he freaked…said he knew I’d mated with you.”
His face hardened. “And that’s when he broke your neck. Because of me.” He whirled away from her.
“No!” She grabbed his arm. Swung him right back around. “He hurt me because he’s an evil bastard. That’s the same reason he hurt Harris. The same reason his pack came after us all so hard. You didn’t do it. He did.”
And Connor was nothing like Keegan.
Her shoulders sagged as the moonlight fell down on her. “What am I going to do? I-I don’t…I just don’t know what’s coming. If the silver sensitivity returns again, that means the wolf is still inside me. But I could never fully shift. Will I just get stuck again? Trapped in limbo?” Trapped in that hell forever?
“Holly will help you.” He sounded so confident of that.
She wanted to believe him. Chloe stared up at him. “Is it really true what they say about vampires?”
“People say plenty about vampires, and I’m not exactly a normal vamp.”
No, he wasn’t. “Can you control people?” Eric had wanted him to control her, but Connor had refused.
The idea of that much power…the idea that someone out there could do that…
He nodded. “I can.”
Goosebumps rose on her arms.
“And we’ve got a big damn problem on our hands, because that guy out there—Keegan? I think he’s like me, Chloe.”
She stumbled back a step.
“Silver didn’t hurt him. It didn’t slow him down. So I think he’s changed, too. As far I know…well, as far as I knew…Duncan and I were the only two cross-overs.”
“A cross-over? Is—is that what you are?”
“That’s what Eric has been calling us. A crossed mix of vampire and werewolf. A super beast.”
Her body seemed to have iced. “How did Keegan change?”
“It’s not easy, but maybe the senator helped him. We already know the guy was doing a lot of experiments, so maybe Keegan was one of the senator’s projects. Maybe he amped up his power. Maybe—” Connor stopped. “Shit.”
“Connor?”
“Maybe that was the plan all along. The senator wanted the paranormals to come out, to show the humans just how strong they were, but what’s stronger than a werewolf? Stronger than a vampire?”
He was running back toward the building.
“Connor!”
He looked back at her. “Cross-overs. A vampire can’t be made into a werewolf, but a werewolf can become a vampire…all of the strengths, and none of the silver weakness. It’s not supposed to happen. But Eric figured out it could happen, if the werewolf was an alpha. The alphas are strong enough to last through the change. They’re strong enough—”
“To cross-over,” Chloe finished.
“Maybe that’s why your father wanted so many powerful vamps and werewolves sent to Purgatory. Not to keep the streets safer for humans, but so that he could see if they could cross-over. Fuck, he could have set up the prison just to make his own damned army!”
An unstoppable army.
He offered his hand to Chloe. “Come on, we need to find Eric, right now.”
***
“Are you going to kill him if his wolf takes over?”
Eric had known that Duncan would ask that question, sooner or later. The guy had obviously opted for sooner.
They were in the hall, right outside of Harris’s room. The agent was still strapped down and collared. He shouldn’t be a threat to anyone then.
Shouldn’t.
“Hopefully, I won’t have to make that decision.” Because he was going to bet on Harris. The man could prove himself to be a fighter.
Before Duncan could say anything else, Eric heard the rapid pound of approaching footsteps. He looked up and saw Connor and Chloe heading toward him.
The expression on Connor’s face told him this wasn’t going to be a friendly little chat.
“Did she die again already?” Eric asked, shaking his head. “Hell, man, I told you to keep her safe—”
Connor’s low, lethal growl cut through his words. “You knew what they wanted from Purgatory, didn’t you?”
Careful now, Eric said, “A war? Yes, I’ve told you for a while now that forces are working to stir up the paranormals, to—”
“You were against Purgatory. You told me before that you thought it was dangerous.”
“Putting all the most powerful paranormals together in one place is a recipe for disaster.” He kept the emotion out of his voice and he shrugged. “But I was out voted originally.” His gaze slid to Chloe. “Other, more powerful voices held sway with the government. My job was to follow their orders.”