Charming the Beast
Page 22

“The better to control and to kill,” Connor muttered.
Eric nodded. Chloe didn’t think Connor saw that faint movement.
Her heart seemed to be encased in ice. Those people—they could be suffering or dying right at that moment.
No, no, he said they had until midnight.
“I doubt they’re criminals,” Eric continued. “Probably just unlucky bastards that the senator found and imprisoned. Victims that he didn’t think anyone would miss.”
Her father had been such a stellar human being. Shame wrapped heavily around her. “We have to find them,” Chloe said.
All eyes turned to her—including Connor’s glittering stare.
“If they’re out there, we have to help them.”
“The only person who knows their location is Keegan,” Eric said, his jaw locking. “Shane checked with the other prisoners, he compelled them…but they don’t know where the place is.”
“Then we can compel Keegan! We can make him—”
Connor shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way. You can’t compel…someone…something like us.”
Connor wasn’t a thing. He was her lover. Her mate.
Her shoulders straightened. “Keegan said he would take us to them.”
“No,” Holly’s voice was soft. “He said he would take you to them, Chloe.”
She nodded. “Then let’s do it.”
And they were all back to looking at her like she was crazy. So maybe she was. After everything that had happened, how could she not be?
“We can’t leave them. We have no idea what’s being done to them. What if Keegan left orders for someone to make a paranormal army? What if my father did?” Because that crap would be right up his alley. “This started with me, and it needs to end with me.” So many lives wasted, and why? For her?
I’m not worthy of anyone else dying.
“You’re not a Para Agent,” Eric pointed out.
Uh, yes, she was aware of that fact. No shiny badge for her.
“And I’m not just going to let a powerhouse like Keegan waltz through the doors of this base and head out into the sunset.”
And the sun was setting. The full moon would be out soon. She could feel it calling to her.
“Then what are you going to do?” Chloe wanted to know. “Ship him off to Purgatory? Keep him in isolation there? Hope he never breaks free and drinks from all the werewolves there? Compels them—”
“I’m working on a game plan,” Eric said.
Right. “In the meantime, I have a plan.” After years of being afraid and hiding, it was time for her to do something. “I’m the unkillable woman.”
She saw Eric’s eyelids flicker.
Connor took a step toward her.
“What’s the worst that can happen to me? I mean, I go in with Keegan and he kills me again. So, what?” Her gaze slid to Olivia. “I’ll just come back.”
Olivia had paled—and she was a vamp now, so she’d been a little pale to begin with. “But what if you don’t?” Olivia asked. “My wishes…they were messed up, Chloe.”
“You wanted me to always come back,” she reminded her.
“But that doesn’t mean you will always come back the same!” Olivia fired back. “Who knows what could happen to you! You can’t just—”
“I’m like a cat with nine lives.” She lifted her chin and glanced back over at Eric. “Come on, if I were one of your agents, you know you’d use me.”
“The f**k he would,” Connor snapped and he stalked toward her.
But Eric nodded and looked thoughtful. “I would.”
“Then send me out. Connor and Duncan are the two who can defeat him in a fight, right? Send them as back-up, just like you did at Eclipse. If anything goes wrong, they can attack with fangs bared and claws at the ready.” Her words were coming a little too fast. She needed to slow them down and also slow down her racing heartbeat.
Connor stood in front of her now. A furrow had appeared between his brows. “Why are you saying this? There’s no way Eric is going to let you walk out with a killer!”
Actually, she thought Eric was considering it.
Connor’s hands curled around her shoulders. “Why?”
“Because it’s not about me. It’s not about me running and protecting myself.” What she’d always planned. To run. To disappear. To leave everything else behind.
Selfish.
“Those people out there…if they were imprisoned because of me, then I owe them. I have to try and help them.”
“Even if you die?” Connor asked.
She smiled at him. “I come back.” I’ll always come back for you.
Being with Connor had made her realize something important. She wasn’t alone. There were others out there that she could depend on, others who could depend on her. With the Para Agents in that room, Chloe actually felt as if she belonged. She hadn’t belonged anywhere, not really, in a very long time.
I belong with Connor. And she needed to prove herself. To Connor. To them all. To show them that she could be more than the woman who tried to escape.
She could be the woman who fought.
“No.” Connor shook his head. “No, you can’t be put at risk like this. No.”
“Yes,” Eric said in the same instant.
And Connor rushed across that room toward Eric. His hands slapped onto Eric’s desk. “I’m done. No more jobs for you. Nothing. You want to throw my ass back in Purgatory? Then go ahead.” He gave a grim shake of his head. “But I’m not working for you. I’m not going to let you risk Chloe. I’m taking her out of here. That’s what she wanted from the beginning, and I should have listened to her. I should have put Chloe first because she is the one who matters most to me.”
Chloe couldn’t breathe.
“Her protection, her safety, will always come first. She is mine, and I am damn well hers.”
She had to blink away tears. Connor was so sexy to her right then.
Even though his claws were digging into Eric’s desk, he was just hot.
Then Connor spun toward her. He marched back to Chloe’s side, and he offered her a claw-tipped hand. “Let’s get the hell out of here.” His gaze held hers. “Any place you want to go. No one will know your past and we’ll make the future anything you want it to be.”
She wanted to take his hand. “I love you.” She was certain of it. The wild tumble of emotion she felt for Connor had to be love.
His eyes widened.
“But I can’t go with you. If Keegan is telling the truth, and those people die—”
“They’re paranormals,” Eric pointed out. “Not just people—”
“Same thing,” Chloe said flatly.
“Yes…” Eric murmured.
“I can’t live with that on me.” Okay, technically, she could pretty much keep living through everything. “I need to help them. It’s not just about me.”
“Baby.” Connor’s hand cupped her cheek. His claws never so much as scratched her. “I just want you safe.”
“And I will be safe because you will be there with me every step of the way. You and Duncan are stronger than he is. I know you are.” She trusted him completely. “You’ll have my back.”
“Always,” he whispered as his head lowered toward hers. “But don’t do this…don’t take this risk. We can leave. I want to go with you. Before, I wanted to go with you when we were upstairs. I want you.”
She kissed him. Right there. So what if everyone was watching. Her hands slid over the hard line of his jaw and she rose up against him. “I want you more than anything,” she said, meaning those words with every fiber of her being. “We’ll help these people. We’ll win, and then we can be together. We can look to the future.” Because she wanted her future to be with him. Whatever came her way, it would be with him.
His eyes closed. “I can’t deny you.”
Her heart raced faster.
“I wish I could.” His eyes opened and they were glowing with power. “If Keegan makes one wrong move, he’s a dead man.”
Yes! He was going to help her. Chloe threw her arms around Connor and hugged him tight.
He lifted her up against him and held her, so close. So close.
Over Connor’s shoulder, she saw Eric watching them. His head had cocked and his gaze had turned calculating.
Uh, oh.
“Before this mission,” Eric murmured, “Connor, I’ll need a word alone with you.”
Chloe pulled back. She shook her head—
“Only a moment,” Eric said and he smiled. That smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I have to make sure that Connor fully understands the mission.”
It was a recovery mission. What more was there to understand? Even she got that.
But the others were filing out of the office.
“You’ll all be briefed soon,” Eric promised as he rose from his desk. “Every precaution will be taken. Every single one.”
Connor squeezed Chloe’s hand. “Wait for me in the courtyard.”
She nodded. Her gaze searched his a moment more, then she slid from the room. When the door closed behind her, Chloe clenched her hands into fists. She looked up and found Olivia staring at her.
“Are you sure about this?” Olivia asked her, worry darkening her eyes.
“Yes.” It had to be done. And she wasn’t going to just hide in the shadows and wait for someone else to save the day. She tried to smile. “Are you sure you don’t have another wish in you? Maybe one that makes me indestructible and lets me live forever with the man I love?”
Olivia hesitated. “I wish I could do that for you…”
Chill bumps rose on Chloe’s arms. Olivia had just used the big W word.
Olivia hugged her. “Be safe, my friend.”
***
“So…you’re done with the Para Unit, huh?”
Connor glared at Eric. “If Chloe is going on this mission, I’ll be at her back. But after this…yeah, the slate was supposed to be clean, remember? Chloe was my last case.”
“She’s more than a case, isn’t she?” Eric opened his laptop and flipped it around to face Connor.
What was the guy planning?
Eric tapped on a few of the keys.
“You’re willing to give up everything for her, aren’t you?”
Yes.
He’d realized that fact when he’d seen her fighting with Harris.
“What do you think she’d give up for you?”
His chin lifted as Connor crossed his arms over his chest. “It doesn’t matter.” She’d said she loved him. With every bit of his tattered heart, he wanted that to be true. But with all the sins on him, hell, why would she love someone like him? Chloe was good. She was risking her life for people she didn’t even know. She was—
“I’ve got something for you to see,” Eric muttered. He tapped on the keyboard once more.
Chloe’s image appeared on the screen.
“This is from my security cameras. It was taken earlier, you know, before all hell broke loose.” Eric sat on the edge of the desk. “That right there…of course, is Chloe.”
Connor growled.
“She’s got a key card. Tricky little wolf. I didn’t even see her swipe it from my office.” He paused and glanced around. “Huh, wonder if she took anything this time?”
Connor leaned toward that small screen. “She’s…leaving.” Leaving me. Because I said I wouldn’t go with her. He knew this had been right after Chloe told him that she could love him…and I didn’t say a damn word back to her.
“See…right there…she only has one more door and she’s free. Watch it, watch—yes, that door is opening now.”
Freedom was right in front of her.
“This is when the screaming starts.”
He saw Chloe whirl around.
Eric paused the video.
“She could’ve left then. Just headed out into the night and vanished. We sure had our hands full. It would have been a while before we could search for her.”
Connor shook his head.
“But watch this…” Eric hit the button to play the video once more. The camera had a perfect shot of Chloe’s face and the fear in her expression stole Connor’s breath. So much fear and—
“Ah, did you see it? She said something.” Eric rewound the video. “Let’s watch again.”
And he could see it. Perfectly. It looked as if Chloe was yelling something.
Connor!
He rubbed a hand over his chest.
“She was free and clear to leave. But she ran right back into hell for one reason,” Eric said.
When Connor looked over at Eric, he saw that the other man wasn’t watching the video. Instead, Eric was staring straight at Connor.
“Now you know what she’d do for you.” Eric’s gaze swept over Connor. “The question is…what would you do for her?”
“Anything,” he promised.
Eric smiled. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
Chapter Fourteen
The night truly was beautiful.
Chloe stared up at the stars. Bright and glittering. She didn’t see the moon, not yet, but she could feel it. A starry, moon-filled night.
Her arms wrapped around her stomach as she stood there. She didn’t like the silence. It was giving her too much time to think and to fear. To wonder…what if?