Charming the Beast

Page 9

Holly turned away. Her shoulders sure looked stiff. Great. Chloe realized she’d just insulted the doctor. Probably alienated the one person who could help her. “You’re…one of us, aren’t you?” Chloe asked. It was just something in Holly’s voice. Her tone.
Holly glanced back. Flashed fang. “I don’t feel the urge to pretend as much any longer.”
Chloe’s heartbeat slammed into her chest. “You’re a vampire.” A vampire doc? How had Chloe missed that?
“That’s what I am, now. Just as you—you’re not human any longer. You have to accept that fact. Move on. Grieve for what you had, I did. But know that life isn’t over. You can still be happy. You can still love and be loved.”
Obviously Holly had never lived with Senator Donald Quick. Because Chloe had never actually felt loved. She’d been an appendage to him. The daughter to parade in public. Hell, half the time, she felt that she’d been his sympathy vote. Look…the handsome senator is caring for his daughter…isn’t it such a shame about what happened to his wife? To die so early, such a tragic, tragic accident.
Accident, Chloe’s ass. For the first eighteen years of her life, she’d thought her mom died in a car accident. A random, terrible accident caused by a drunk driver. Then she’d learned the truth. Her mother had been running away with her lover, leaving Chloe and the senator behind.
Only the senator didn’t like to get left.
“Chloe?”
Her head snapped up. She’d gotten lost in her past and now Holly was frowning at her. “Chloe, I asked…those marks on your wrist…those are vampire bite marks, aren’t they?”
Holly would know.
The door to the small lab opened. Connor stood there, frowning at them. “You about done, Holly?”
“That depends.” Holly’s head cocked as she studied him. “Want to tell me why you’ve been drinking from her?”
Chloe turned her wrist over. She tucked her loose hair behind her ear. “It’s not a big deal. I offered my blood to him because he needed it.” The doctor didn’t need to know that Connor had been desperate and that he’d nearly scared her to death when he sank those fangs of his into her flesh.
“Connor…” Holly headed toward him. She put her hand on his shoulder. “You know the risk of taking from a live source. You have to be careful.”
Chloe’s eyes narrowed as she looked from the doc’s hand to Connor’s strong arm, then back again. Well, well, wasn’t the doc awful familiar with her vampire-wolf guard?
Oh, hello…is this jealousy? Because it sure felt like it and she sure didn’t enjoy that feeling.
Chloe jumped from the exam table. “I’ll get dressed now.” Despite the battery of tests, the doc hadn’t given her any answers, at least, not yet. Maybe her blood work would turn up something they could use.
“I am careful,” Connor said to Holly, his voice almost gentle. He’d never used that gentle tone with Chloe.
Jerk.
She grabbed her clothes. Marched to the changing area. If Connor was involved with the pretty doc, then he should not have gone for that kiss in the alley. The kiss had just made Chloe want…things.
You can still love and be loved.
Dammit. What was the doc? A greeting card?
She blinked away the stupid tears that wanted to fill her eyes. She changed behind the screen and heard the thud of footsteps heading to the door. The lab door squeaked when it opened and then closed.
Her spine sagged a bit as she stood behind the screen. She was on her own, Chloe knew that. The Para Agents would use her, then discard her when they were done. She could only hope she didn’t wind up in Purgatory. She had to get away from Eric and his agents. Just vanish. Only then would she truly be safe. Only—
“Are you going to stay back there forever?” Connor asked.
Hell. He hadn’t left. She poked her head out from behind the screen. He was standing near the door, his arms crossed over his chest, one dark brow cocked. His eyes—that gold was just too gorgeous, really—glinted at her. “Because I was starting to worry I would have to go back there and get you.”
She was dressed. Mostly. Chloe slipped into her shoes and headed out to face him. She hoped her fear was hidden, but, hell, even if the fear didn’t show on her face, he’d smell it.
He had too many advantages.
She was tired of that.
As she approached, he pushed away from the wall. He strode to meet her, and his hand lifted. His knuckles skimmed down her cheek. “I’m sorry,” Connor said, surprising her, “I didn’t know Eric was going to put you into containment with David Vincent. The guy’s a dick.”
“Who’s a dick? Eric or David?”
“Both of them.”
Her lips curved. He was right. They both were.
His gaze dropped to her mouth. “You don’t do that often enough.”
Her smile faltered.
His hand moved down a bit. His thumb slid over her bottom lip. “You should always smile.”
And he should…he should move his hand because his touch was doing all kinds of not good things to her. Like making her heart race too fast. Making her breath come in pants. Making her want to open her mouth and suck his thumb.
Settle down!
She backed up. “You and Holly, you two are a thing, right? So how about you not get all touchy-feely with me and—”
He laughed. Chloe wasn’t sure she’d ever heard him laugh, not a real laugh, anyway. His laugh was a deep, sexy rumble. His eyes crinkled, and what could have almost been a dimple flashed in his right cheek.
Trouble.
“Oh, baby, no. Just…no.” He shook his head. “She’s with my brother.”
Shock stole her breath, then she sucked it back and demanded, “You have a brother?” There were two men like him running around? She didn’t know if the world was equipped for that. Chloe knew she wasn’t.
“An older brother, one I hadn’t seen in years. One I tried to kill.” His laughter was gone. “But that’s a story for another day.”
It was a story for right then. “Seriously, Connor, you can’t drop bombshells like that and just expect me to not ask questions. You tried to kill your brother?” Now she realized that maybe David hadn’t just been bullshitting her back in containment. “Why?”
“Long story.” He took a step toward her.
She almost retreated, but didn’t. Her shoulders straightened.
“Maybe,” he said, “when you trust me enough to tell me more about your past, then I’ll tell you mine.”
Her gaze searched his. “What do you want from me?”
“Right now, I want to kiss you.”
Her breath came even faster.
“A real kiss, Chloe. Not one because someone is closing in and I don’t want you screaming for help. I want a kiss that lets me taste you. A kiss that shows us both…do we really go f**king nuclear or was that all just from the adrenaline before? The heat of the moment?”
Fucking nuclear. She could admit, to herself, that she’d felt exactly that way in the alley. She’d been furious one moment and then nearly clawing at him in the next.
“No one else is here right now. Just you and me. I want a kiss, Chloe,” he said again, his voice roughening a bit. “Will you kiss me?”
There were a million reasons why she shouldn’t. Probably far more than a million.
And there was only one reason why she should.
Because I want him, the way I haven’t wanted anyone in a very long time. No, the way I’ve never wanted anyone else.
She didn’t answer Connor. Instead, she closed that last little bit of space between them. Chloe rose onto her tip toes, she curled her arms around his neck, pulling him toward her, and she kissed him. Their lips touched. One soft touch—
She was lost.
Chapter Six
He’d never wanted a woman the way he wanted her. An insane, consuming, f**king, mind-blowing desire. Maybe Connor should have been cautious, careful, because of that wild need. Maybe he should have questioned it.
Her scent had been changed to lure in werewolves. What if the senator had done something else to her, too? What if the desire he felt wasn’t real? What if—
Screw it. He didn’t care. He just wanted her.
Her lips were on his, her body crushed to his, and he just needed her. Her mouth parted and her tongue swept over his lips. Hell, yes. His c**k was already fully extended and rock hard, shoving at the front of his jeans. When she gave a little lick with her tongue…desire made him drunk.
He kissed her. Tasted her. Loved the way she felt against him. Loved the little moan that she made in the back of her throat.
Connor lifted Chloe into his arms. He took two steps and put her down on the exam table. Her legs were parted, and he pushed between them. His hands curved over her jean-clad thighs. He wanted her jeans gone. He wanted to damn well feast on her. Every bit of her.
Her nails were digging into his arms, and Connor loved that bite of pain. It just made him ache for her all the more. Her head tipped back, and he put his mouth on her throat. Her blood was pounding so fast, right beneath his lips, his tongue. His teeth burned as they extended in his mouth. He wanted to pierce her flesh, right there, to take a few sweet drops of her blood.
When he’d first changed, the idea of ever drinking anyone’s blood—straight from a throat, true vampire-style—had sickened him.
He wasn’t feeling sick right then. He was f**king horny, and he wanted her.
His teeth raked over her neck. It would be so easy…so easy…
The door opened behind them. His nostrils flared as fury poured through him. I was so close. So close and now—
“Uh, yeah, I didn’t expect this,” Eric said as he cleared his throat. “I put you on guard duty because I thought you weren’t influenced by that scent mumbo-jumbo…”
His hands tightened on Chloe’s thighs. He looked up and into her eyes—such deep and beautiful eyes. Desire was in her gaze, but, now, so was confusion.
He figured it was time to get a few things straight. “I want Chloe.”
She swallowed.
“Not because of her scent. Not because of her blood.” He needed her to understand this. “Because she’s…Chloe.” And she’s going to be mine.
“How about you step away from her now? Because I need you, Agent.” Eric’s voice had hardened. “We’ve got a problem, and I’m afraid the problem involves you and Chloe.”
Her breathing was uneven. Her cheeks flushed. He needed to kiss her again. He wanted to do a whole lot more than just kiss her.
As soon as we’re alone…
But he backed away, for the moment. Because no matter what Eric might be thinking, Connor still had his control. That was the difference between Connor and his father…Connor kept his beast in check.
I don’t let the animal take the power.
When he backed away, Chloe closed her legs and jumped off the exam table. He stayed close to her because—shit, because he liked staying close to her. But when he looked over at Eric, Connor realized something was very wrong.
The guy’s expression was even more tense than normal.
“You both need to come with me,” Eric said. “Now.”
Then Eric turned on his heel and headed out. Connor wanted to talk with Chloe, but he knew that this wasn’t the time. He was aching for her, his jeans were way too tight around his cock, but something was going down. The sex he wanted with her—the awesome, mind-numbing sex they would have—it had to wait a bit. Fucking hell.
So he followed Eric, and Chloe was right at Connor’s side. They entered Eric’s office and Connor saw that Duncan was already waiting there. Duncan’s face looked just as grim as Eric’s.
This definitely wasn’t good.
“We found Harris,” Duncan said. He reached for the laptop on Eric’s desk and turned it so the screen faced Connor. Duncan tapped the keyboard, and a video began to play.
“We have your agent.”
In that video, Connor could clearly see that Harris was tied to a chair. The guy looked scared as all hell. Blood was on his face. On his shirt.
“OhmyGod…” Chloe leaned closer. “What’s going on? What—”
“We’ll trade him.” That voice was coming from off-screen because the only person in the video was Harris. “Give us Chloe Quick and you can get your agent back.”
Fury burned in Connor’s blood. His fangs were out and so were his claws.
“If you don’t deliver her, you’ll get the human back in pieces.”
Chloe shook her head. “I-I think I know that voice.”
What? But, before he could question her, another man moved into the scene. A man with wide shoulders and dark hair. A man with claws sprouting from his fingers. He drove those claws into Harris’s side. Behind his gag, Harris screamed.
The dark-haired man turned to look at the camera. “In pieces,” he said again. “Bring her to the Eclipse, be there at midnight…or we start cutting off parts of the human.”
Harris was yanking against his ropes, obviously trying to talk but the video stopped.
“That’s the problem,” Eric said. “A big f**king one.”
“I know that man,” Chloe whispered.
All eyes went right to her.
She wrapped her arms around her stomach. “The man who hurt Harris. I know him. He—I met him at my father’s office.”
“A name,” Eric said. “Give us—”
“Keegan,” she seemed to barely breathe the name. “He said…he was Keegan James.”