Charming the Beast (Purgatory #3)(19)
Author: Cynthia Eden

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.”

Eric pointed to Duncan. “The werewolf we recovered at the safe house—get him. Make him tell you every single thing he knows about this Keegan.” Then he looked at Chloe. “And you tell me everything you know.”

But Chloe shook her head. “His name is all I know.” Her hand lifted. She tucked her hair behind her left ear. “Just his name, nothing more.”

Eric’s gaze had noted that movement. His stare slid toward Connor.

Connor’s muscle locked down because he knew that Eric was about to say—

“Connor, make her tell you everything she knows.”

***

Harris had been tortured. Tortured. He’d been bleeding and Keegan had driven his claws into the guy.

Chloe paced the small quarters that she’d been given. Bonus for her, she wasn’t back in a silver jail cell. Instead, she’d been returned to the first room she’d been given at the base, the room she’d awoken in hours before. The narrow bed was still there. So was the table. The chairs—well, the chair she’d threatened to use on Connor was still tossed on the floor.

She paced back and forth, her mind spinning. She had no idea what the Eclipse was, but midnight would be there all too soon, and Chloe figured she’d be finding out all about the place real fast.