Charming the Beast
Page 2
She was dead wrong.
But then, he wasn’t going to give her the chance to reach them.
He could see her easily now. Just a few more feet, and she’d break free of the darkness that clung to the alleys and the nooks near the buildings. She’d be able to run out onto the street. Be right in front of the bar.
Not going to happen, baby.
He shot forward and grabbed her arm. But Chloe swung around, a broken bottle in her hand.
He growled.
She yelled.
He knocked that bottle right out of her hand. I’m the one saving her ass…and she’s trying to attack me? Anger boiled within him. The bottle had crashed, splintered on the ground. He pushed Chloe up against the nearest wall. His hands wrapped around her wrists, and he penned them to the wall. “Is that really how you say thanks? By trying to cut me open?” He kept his voice low and he made sure to keep them in the shadows. The last thing he wanted was some do-gooder human coming around.
Her breath panted out as she heaved in his hold. He didn’t let her go.
“I…I didn’t realize it was you.”
Right. He could actually buy that. Seeing as how she kept having werewolves stalk her, she truly might have thought someone else was after her.
“It’s me,” he told her grimly. “You ran from me.”
He could see every beautiful detail of her face, even in the darkness. He had perfect vision—perfectly enhanced vision. There was no missing the fear in her expression. He didn’t like Chloe’s fear. Even when he was pissed at her, Connor didn’t want her to be afraid.
“You know I won’t hurt you,” he said, his voice a low rasp.
“Then let me go.”
If only things were that simple. “I can’t.”
Her lips trembled. Her lips were the first thing he’d noticed about her—they were full and red. The kind of lips that instantly made him think of sex. Then he’d gotten caught in her eyes. No one should have eyes that blue. Maybe it was because her hair was so dark, a perfect black, and, in contrast to that darkness, her eyes appeared to be such a bright, electric blue.
Her face was heart-shaped, her cheekbones almost ridiculously high. She had a small nose and a slightly pointed chin. Her skin was pale, probably because the Para Unit had been keeping her in various stages of isolation and she hadn’t exactly been free to roam in the outside world and soak up a bit of sunshine.
But that was what happened when you killed a man…and when you rose from the dead. You get monitored by the Para Unit.
Chloe Quick wasn’t supposed to be in front of him. She’d died a few weeks ago. Not some near-death BS, either. She’d been knifed in the heart. She’d died.
Then she’d come back, thanks to the dark wish of a djinn. Only now, the Para Unit didn’t exactly know what Chloe was.
“I warned you not to escape,” he told her. The other werewolf had been right. Her scent was damn near intoxicating, and if he’d just been a werewolf, he probably would have been nearly mindless in his desire to claim her.
But he wasn’t just a wolf, and that was why Eric Pate had given him guard duty with Chloe. Because I’m supposed to be able to control my baser impulses. But if that were truly the case, would he be holding her so carefully, his fingers sliding over her wrists, his body pushing ever closer to hers?
And would his c**k be so heavy with arousal?
“I can disappear,” Chloe promised him, her voice breathless. “Just give me a head start. I’ll vanish and I promise, the Para Unit won’t ever have to worry about me again.”
Part of him wanted to let her go. It was her eyes…that gaze could make a man—or a paranormal—weak.
He didn’t know exactly what end game Eric had planned for Chloe, but if Connor let her vanish, then he’d be the one paying for it. His freedom hinged on his doing this mission, and no one—not even a woman as sexy as she was—would stop him.
Connor shook his head. “No head start. You don’t escape from me.”
Then he heard footsteps—people approaching. Dammit. His head turned and he saw three men stumbling toward him. Their scents marked them as human, and in another instant, they’d see him and Chloe.
He felt Chloe tense against him. He knew she wasn’t going to just let this opportunity pass by. She was going to scream and no doubt bring those drunken fools running. Then he’d just have to hurt them.
Before she could scream, before those fools could rush to her aid, he lowered his head, and he kissed her.
She bit his lip.
Deep inside, his wolf growled in pleasure.
Chloe, no, you know the beast likes things like that.
She strained against him. She opened her mouth, as if to scream even then—and his tongue swept inside.
He’d known for a while that he wanted her. Most men looked at Chloe Quick and wanted her. But until that moment, until he’d had his first taste of her, he hadn’t realized just how truly dangerous she could be to him.
Because something happened. To him. To her. He felt her body stiffen, felt shock rock through them both. Because the desire that came right then—as he kissed her, as his tongue slid into her mouth and she actually f**king kissed him back—was unlike anything he’d felt before. It was as if a match had been ignited, and that small flame turned into an explosion, consuming him.
He couldn’t get close enough to her. Couldn’t kiss her deeply enough. His hands let hers go so that he could touch more of her. He had to touch her. His fingers curled around her waist, and he lifted her up against him. Chloe was so small and delicate compared to him. Chloe curled her legs around him, arching toward him. Her nails sank into his shoulders, and she kissed him with a fierce desire that matched his own.
His c**k shoved against his zipper. He needed his jeans out of the way. Needed her na**d so that he could thrust deep and hard into her. Needed—
“Get a room!” The shout was followed by drunken laughter.
His body tensed. Arousal and fury battled within him. Need her. Want her…and they’re in my way. His thoughts were primal. Animalistic.
His head turned. He saw the three men, now just steps away.
“Fuck me,” one muttered. “Am I drunk…or are his eyes glowing?”
A warning snarl broke from Connor. The three men turned then, and they ran away, screaming.
“Let. Me. Go,” Chloe gritted out her order.
She wasn’t trying to desperately pull him close any longer. Now she was shoving against him. “Let me go,” she said again. “Then tell me what the hell is wrong with me. Why did I just do that? With you?”
Slowly, he lowered her back to her feet, but he caught her left wrist, his fingers winding tightly around her. “The why is easy.” His heart was racing and desire had him aching. “Because you want me and you’ve been fighting the urge to jump me from the moment we met.”
She gasped. “I have not! I do not—”
“Save it, baby.” He choked down his lust. For the moment. “We need to haul ass. Those drunk bozos will be back soon. Right now, they’re shouting to anyone who will listen about the monster they just saw in the alley.” He backed away from that wall, pulling her with him. “Now you either run with me, or I’ll carry you away. But we are getting out of this place.”
“You’re the one who went all glowing eyes on them,” she muttered, tugging against him. “I’m not—”
“Option two then,” he decided. “I’ll carry you.” He could make better time that way. She wasn’t equipped for super speed. Thanks to the Para Unit, he was.
She yelped when he hefted her over his shoulder, but then Connor was racing away, zipping through the maze of alleys and heading back for his motorcycle. The last thing he needed was to deal with a group of angry humans. Better to have an empty alley waiting when the three drunks returned with their reinforcements. Then everyone else would just think their story of a monster in the dark was total BS. The way everyone usually did when a monster story was being passed around.
In moments, he was back at his motorcycle. He lowered Chloe to her feet. Her glare seemed to singe. “I could have ran,” she muttered. “You didn’t have to turn me into a sack of potatoes!”
He hopped on the bike. Handed her the helmet. “Come on, baby. Time to haul ass.”
“Stop calling me baby.” She yanked the helmet away from him. “You don’t mean it when you say it, so just stop. I’m not your baby, not your sweetheart. I’m nothing to you, and we both know it.” Despite her angry words, she climbed on behind him. He noticed she was making an extra effort not to touch him. That wasn’t going to work.
“Hold tight,” Connor told her, his voice flat. “This will be one hell of a ride.” Because he needed to get out of there fast—fast enough that any other werewolves who might be in the area wouldn’t be able to follow them…or follow Chloe’s scent.
He revved the engine. Her hands fluttered around his waist.
“Chloe…” Her name was a warning.
She slid closer. Her thighs curled around him, and her arms slipped around his waist. Much, much better.
He shot away from the curb. He thought he heard Chloe yell, and she definitely tightened her grip on him then. In fact, she started holding onto him as if her very life depended on him.
It was time she realized that fact.
He’d been assigned her case because his job was to make sure that Chloe Quick stayed alive. While the Para Unit might want her to keep breathing, his boss believed there were others out there who had far more sinister plans for Chloe.
The motorcycle whipped through the streets.
And Chloe held tight to him.
***
He stepped into the shadows as the motorcycle roared away. Chloe Quick…his informant had been right. She was still in the Seattle area. Oh, that was certainly a huge mistake for the Para Unit. They should have taken her far away.
She might have been safe then.
Might have been.
Now, she was just easy prey. He pulled out his phone. His pack was stationed throughout the city. Eyes and ears everywhere. “They’re on a motorcycle, heading north.”
And the Para Agent called Connor was driving hell fast. No doubt, the alpha thought he could ditch any pursuers they might have.
But Connor was wrong. He hadn’t counted on the fact that a full pack was hunting for Chloe. He didn’t understand how important she was—but I do.
“Do not engage them,” he said softly. Connor’s motorcycle had already vanished in the distance. “Just follow them. When you find the safe house,” the spot the Para Unit had been using to hide Chloe, “take up a position nearby and contact me.” Because he had to plan his attack carefully. Chloe couldn’t escape him.
Not when the full moon was getting so close. He had plans for Chloe and that moon. He’d waited too long to claim her. When that moon rose, when his beast surged with power, he would be mating her.
He ended the call. He heard the hard rasp of breathing and the shuffle of footsteps. A blond male ran toward him. The guy was rubbing his jaw.
His eyes narrowed on the man—the werewolf.
“That was one tough bastard,” Wesley Green muttered. “Didn’t even shift to fight me.”
Interesting. Not surprising though, not given what he knew about Connor. “And he was still stronger, even in human form?”
Wesley nodded.
He didn’t know if that information made Wesley especially pathetic or if it made Connor particularly dangerous.
“Never…never seen anything like him.” Wesley yanked on his jaw. Bones cracked. “I think…think he’s even stronger than you…”
Not possible. His eyes narrowed. “You were supposed to just follow Chloe. Didn’t I give you that order?”
“But her scent…it was so sweet…”
He knew all about Chloe’s scent, and that was one of the reasons he’d stayed back. Why he’d told the others not to engage. Chloe’s father had manipulated her biology, nearly turning her into a perfect weapon. Her scent drove werewolves wild, and anything that wrecked a werewolf’s control was very, very dangerous indeed.
“You’re in my pack,” he murmured. His…ever since the last alpha David Vincent, had been captured by Eric Pate and his Para Unit ass**les. “So that means you follow my orders.”
“But—”
He drove his claws into Wesley’s chest. “There is no ‘but’ in this,” he said. “Because of you, Chloe got away again. I’m the alpha of this pack…”
A gurgle slipped from Wesley’s throat.
“You follow my orders,” he said, and he twisted his claws, moving for maximum damage in the man’s chest, “or you die.”
His hand jerked back. Wesley fell to the ground. A big hole was where his heart had once been. But, just to make certain…
He pulled the gun from his waistband. Aimed right between Wesley’s eyes. Those eyes were wide and terrified.
He fired, and the silver bullet exploded from his gun.
Chapter Two
I kissed him! I kissed him—why in the hell did I kiss him?
Connor braked the motorcycle at the edge of the woods. They were once again back at her home away from home—courtesy of the Para Unit. A snug cabin in the woods, complete with twenty-four, seven guards.
Connor shoved down the kickstand.
She quickly pushed away from him and hopped off the bike. Her thighs were a little trembly after that insane drive, but she locked her knees and just rode out that quiver.
“Been wondering…” Connor murmured, his voice a low rumble. “Just how you made it all the way to town.”
But then, he wasn’t going to give her the chance to reach them.
He could see her easily now. Just a few more feet, and she’d break free of the darkness that clung to the alleys and the nooks near the buildings. She’d be able to run out onto the street. Be right in front of the bar.
Not going to happen, baby.
He shot forward and grabbed her arm. But Chloe swung around, a broken bottle in her hand.
He growled.
She yelled.
He knocked that bottle right out of her hand. I’m the one saving her ass…and she’s trying to attack me? Anger boiled within him. The bottle had crashed, splintered on the ground. He pushed Chloe up against the nearest wall. His hands wrapped around her wrists, and he penned them to the wall. “Is that really how you say thanks? By trying to cut me open?” He kept his voice low and he made sure to keep them in the shadows. The last thing he wanted was some do-gooder human coming around.
Her breath panted out as she heaved in his hold. He didn’t let her go.
“I…I didn’t realize it was you.”
Right. He could actually buy that. Seeing as how she kept having werewolves stalk her, she truly might have thought someone else was after her.
“It’s me,” he told her grimly. “You ran from me.”
He could see every beautiful detail of her face, even in the darkness. He had perfect vision—perfectly enhanced vision. There was no missing the fear in her expression. He didn’t like Chloe’s fear. Even when he was pissed at her, Connor didn’t want her to be afraid.
“You know I won’t hurt you,” he said, his voice a low rasp.
“Then let me go.”
If only things were that simple. “I can’t.”
Her lips trembled. Her lips were the first thing he’d noticed about her—they were full and red. The kind of lips that instantly made him think of sex. Then he’d gotten caught in her eyes. No one should have eyes that blue. Maybe it was because her hair was so dark, a perfect black, and, in contrast to that darkness, her eyes appeared to be such a bright, electric blue.
Her face was heart-shaped, her cheekbones almost ridiculously high. She had a small nose and a slightly pointed chin. Her skin was pale, probably because the Para Unit had been keeping her in various stages of isolation and she hadn’t exactly been free to roam in the outside world and soak up a bit of sunshine.
But that was what happened when you killed a man…and when you rose from the dead. You get monitored by the Para Unit.
Chloe Quick wasn’t supposed to be in front of him. She’d died a few weeks ago. Not some near-death BS, either. She’d been knifed in the heart. She’d died.
Then she’d come back, thanks to the dark wish of a djinn. Only now, the Para Unit didn’t exactly know what Chloe was.
“I warned you not to escape,” he told her. The other werewolf had been right. Her scent was damn near intoxicating, and if he’d just been a werewolf, he probably would have been nearly mindless in his desire to claim her.
But he wasn’t just a wolf, and that was why Eric Pate had given him guard duty with Chloe. Because I’m supposed to be able to control my baser impulses. But if that were truly the case, would he be holding her so carefully, his fingers sliding over her wrists, his body pushing ever closer to hers?
And would his c**k be so heavy with arousal?
“I can disappear,” Chloe promised him, her voice breathless. “Just give me a head start. I’ll vanish and I promise, the Para Unit won’t ever have to worry about me again.”
Part of him wanted to let her go. It was her eyes…that gaze could make a man—or a paranormal—weak.
He didn’t know exactly what end game Eric had planned for Chloe, but if Connor let her vanish, then he’d be the one paying for it. His freedom hinged on his doing this mission, and no one—not even a woman as sexy as she was—would stop him.
Connor shook his head. “No head start. You don’t escape from me.”
Then he heard footsteps—people approaching. Dammit. His head turned and he saw three men stumbling toward him. Their scents marked them as human, and in another instant, they’d see him and Chloe.
He felt Chloe tense against him. He knew she wasn’t going to just let this opportunity pass by. She was going to scream and no doubt bring those drunken fools running. Then he’d just have to hurt them.
Before she could scream, before those fools could rush to her aid, he lowered his head, and he kissed her.
She bit his lip.
Deep inside, his wolf growled in pleasure.
Chloe, no, you know the beast likes things like that.
She strained against him. She opened her mouth, as if to scream even then—and his tongue swept inside.
He’d known for a while that he wanted her. Most men looked at Chloe Quick and wanted her. But until that moment, until he’d had his first taste of her, he hadn’t realized just how truly dangerous she could be to him.
Because something happened. To him. To her. He felt her body stiffen, felt shock rock through them both. Because the desire that came right then—as he kissed her, as his tongue slid into her mouth and she actually f**king kissed him back—was unlike anything he’d felt before. It was as if a match had been ignited, and that small flame turned into an explosion, consuming him.
He couldn’t get close enough to her. Couldn’t kiss her deeply enough. His hands let hers go so that he could touch more of her. He had to touch her. His fingers curled around her waist, and he lifted her up against him. Chloe was so small and delicate compared to him. Chloe curled her legs around him, arching toward him. Her nails sank into his shoulders, and she kissed him with a fierce desire that matched his own.
His c**k shoved against his zipper. He needed his jeans out of the way. Needed her na**d so that he could thrust deep and hard into her. Needed—
“Get a room!” The shout was followed by drunken laughter.
His body tensed. Arousal and fury battled within him. Need her. Want her…and they’re in my way. His thoughts were primal. Animalistic.
His head turned. He saw the three men, now just steps away.
“Fuck me,” one muttered. “Am I drunk…or are his eyes glowing?”
A warning snarl broke from Connor. The three men turned then, and they ran away, screaming.
“Let. Me. Go,” Chloe gritted out her order.
She wasn’t trying to desperately pull him close any longer. Now she was shoving against him. “Let me go,” she said again. “Then tell me what the hell is wrong with me. Why did I just do that? With you?”
Slowly, he lowered her back to her feet, but he caught her left wrist, his fingers winding tightly around her. “The why is easy.” His heart was racing and desire had him aching. “Because you want me and you’ve been fighting the urge to jump me from the moment we met.”
She gasped. “I have not! I do not—”
“Save it, baby.” He choked down his lust. For the moment. “We need to haul ass. Those drunk bozos will be back soon. Right now, they’re shouting to anyone who will listen about the monster they just saw in the alley.” He backed away from that wall, pulling her with him. “Now you either run with me, or I’ll carry you away. But we are getting out of this place.”
“You’re the one who went all glowing eyes on them,” she muttered, tugging against him. “I’m not—”
“Option two then,” he decided. “I’ll carry you.” He could make better time that way. She wasn’t equipped for super speed. Thanks to the Para Unit, he was.
She yelped when he hefted her over his shoulder, but then Connor was racing away, zipping through the maze of alleys and heading back for his motorcycle. The last thing he needed was to deal with a group of angry humans. Better to have an empty alley waiting when the three drunks returned with their reinforcements. Then everyone else would just think their story of a monster in the dark was total BS. The way everyone usually did when a monster story was being passed around.
In moments, he was back at his motorcycle. He lowered Chloe to her feet. Her glare seemed to singe. “I could have ran,” she muttered. “You didn’t have to turn me into a sack of potatoes!”
He hopped on the bike. Handed her the helmet. “Come on, baby. Time to haul ass.”
“Stop calling me baby.” She yanked the helmet away from him. “You don’t mean it when you say it, so just stop. I’m not your baby, not your sweetheart. I’m nothing to you, and we both know it.” Despite her angry words, she climbed on behind him. He noticed she was making an extra effort not to touch him. That wasn’t going to work.
“Hold tight,” Connor told her, his voice flat. “This will be one hell of a ride.” Because he needed to get out of there fast—fast enough that any other werewolves who might be in the area wouldn’t be able to follow them…or follow Chloe’s scent.
He revved the engine. Her hands fluttered around his waist.
“Chloe…” Her name was a warning.
She slid closer. Her thighs curled around him, and her arms slipped around his waist. Much, much better.
He shot away from the curb. He thought he heard Chloe yell, and she definitely tightened her grip on him then. In fact, she started holding onto him as if her very life depended on him.
It was time she realized that fact.
He’d been assigned her case because his job was to make sure that Chloe Quick stayed alive. While the Para Unit might want her to keep breathing, his boss believed there were others out there who had far more sinister plans for Chloe.
The motorcycle whipped through the streets.
And Chloe held tight to him.
***
He stepped into the shadows as the motorcycle roared away. Chloe Quick…his informant had been right. She was still in the Seattle area. Oh, that was certainly a huge mistake for the Para Unit. They should have taken her far away.
She might have been safe then.
Might have been.
Now, she was just easy prey. He pulled out his phone. His pack was stationed throughout the city. Eyes and ears everywhere. “They’re on a motorcycle, heading north.”
And the Para Agent called Connor was driving hell fast. No doubt, the alpha thought he could ditch any pursuers they might have.
But Connor was wrong. He hadn’t counted on the fact that a full pack was hunting for Chloe. He didn’t understand how important she was—but I do.
“Do not engage them,” he said softly. Connor’s motorcycle had already vanished in the distance. “Just follow them. When you find the safe house,” the spot the Para Unit had been using to hide Chloe, “take up a position nearby and contact me.” Because he had to plan his attack carefully. Chloe couldn’t escape him.
Not when the full moon was getting so close. He had plans for Chloe and that moon. He’d waited too long to claim her. When that moon rose, when his beast surged with power, he would be mating her.
He ended the call. He heard the hard rasp of breathing and the shuffle of footsteps. A blond male ran toward him. The guy was rubbing his jaw.
His eyes narrowed on the man—the werewolf.
“That was one tough bastard,” Wesley Green muttered. “Didn’t even shift to fight me.”
Interesting. Not surprising though, not given what he knew about Connor. “And he was still stronger, even in human form?”
Wesley nodded.
He didn’t know if that information made Wesley especially pathetic or if it made Connor particularly dangerous.
“Never…never seen anything like him.” Wesley yanked on his jaw. Bones cracked. “I think…think he’s even stronger than you…”
Not possible. His eyes narrowed. “You were supposed to just follow Chloe. Didn’t I give you that order?”
“But her scent…it was so sweet…”
He knew all about Chloe’s scent, and that was one of the reasons he’d stayed back. Why he’d told the others not to engage. Chloe’s father had manipulated her biology, nearly turning her into a perfect weapon. Her scent drove werewolves wild, and anything that wrecked a werewolf’s control was very, very dangerous indeed.
“You’re in my pack,” he murmured. His…ever since the last alpha David Vincent, had been captured by Eric Pate and his Para Unit ass**les. “So that means you follow my orders.”
“But—”
He drove his claws into Wesley’s chest. “There is no ‘but’ in this,” he said. “Because of you, Chloe got away again. I’m the alpha of this pack…”
A gurgle slipped from Wesley’s throat.
“You follow my orders,” he said, and he twisted his claws, moving for maximum damage in the man’s chest, “or you die.”
His hand jerked back. Wesley fell to the ground. A big hole was where his heart had once been. But, just to make certain…
He pulled the gun from his waistband. Aimed right between Wesley’s eyes. Those eyes were wide and terrified.
He fired, and the silver bullet exploded from his gun.
Chapter Two
I kissed him! I kissed him—why in the hell did I kiss him?
Connor braked the motorcycle at the edge of the woods. They were once again back at her home away from home—courtesy of the Para Unit. A snug cabin in the woods, complete with twenty-four, seven guards.
Connor shoved down the kickstand.
She quickly pushed away from him and hopped off the bike. Her thighs were a little trembly after that insane drive, but she locked her knees and just rode out that quiver.
“Been wondering…” Connor murmured, his voice a low rumble. “Just how you made it all the way to town.”
