Charming the Beast (Purgatory #3)(35)
Author: Cynthia Eden

I’ve got too much of my father in me.

“The vamps who compel and kill…their victims never have a chance, do they?”

No, they didn’t.

“If you shoot a vamp in the heart with a wooden bullet,” Connor knew his voice was still too rough, “that can stop a vamp in his tracks. Freeze him, and make him look and act as if he’s dead.”

“But…does that work on you? Silver doesn’t hurt you, so do you still have a vamp’s weakness for wood in the heart?”

“Sunlight doesn’t slow me down,” Connor confessed.

“Does the wooden bullet stop you?”

Grimly, he shook his head.

Her breath rushed out. “Then it won’t stop him, either. Not if he’s really like you.”

There was another way. A fool-proof one. “Cut off his head,” Connor said. “That stops werewolves and vampires.”

Chloe stared up at him. “I’m scared.”

So the f**k was he.

“I’m scared of him. I’m scared of what I’ve become, and Connor, I’m scared of you.”

Shock held him still. I terrified her. When I was using the compulsion…shit, now she looks at me as if—

“I’m scared because I want you, Connor. I know you’re dangerous, and I don’t care. I look at you and I want.” She wet her lips. “What does that say about me? When you were compelling me to offer my neck, I did…I moved automatically, but deep inside…I wanted you to bite me. I wanted you to taste my blood.” She paused. “And I still do.”

“Be careful…what you say…”

“It’s just like before. I don’t know what will happen when the sun rises. But I know what can happen right here, right now between us.” Staring at him, she started to strip.

The woman knew he got weak when she did that. “Chloe—”

“You’re not compelling me. I’m seducing you.”

“You—you should rest. You should—”

“I want to be with you. Because there is no way that it was really that good before, right? I’ll have sex with you again, and I won’t feel the same way.” Her shirt hit the floor. “I won’t feel like my soul is touching yours. I won’t feel like I fit you.”

She was clad in just her bra and panties. When her hand moved to the clasp of her bra, he stopped her, catching both of her hands in his. “You’re making a mistake.” His body curled around hers. His c**k shoved against his jeans and wanted in her. So deep. He wanted to hear her scream for him.

“I don’t have a soul,” he told her. If only. “I lost that long ago.” It had been clawed out of him.

But Chloe shook her head. “Liar,” she accused then she rose onto her toes. Her mouth pressed to the curve of his shoulder and she—

Bit him. Marked him, right there, in the way of werewolves.

It was a shock to his system. Because that part of his body was damn sensitive and for Chloe to mark him there, for her to lick and bite and—

“You’re mine now,” Chloe told him, “just as I’m yours.” Then she licked his neck.

His control shattered. The marking was primitive, elemental, and so was his response. He yanked her up against him, spun around and pinned her to the wall.

Chloe would have known…the one thing designed to rip through his control…the one thing that would call up his beast with a ferocious hunger…

To be marked.

Claimed.

He lifted her up higher and yanked away her panties. He could feel the spot she’d marked on his shoulder, it was warm, the heat spiraling through him.

“I want you to bite me,” Chloe said, her voice a husky temptation. “It feels so good…”

Yes.

Her head tilted back. He wasn’t compelling her. She was offering herself to him, and he couldn’t resist her. His fingers pushed into her sex even as his fangs sank into her throat. Her taste was heaven on his tongue, and she was growing hotter and wetter against his fingers. Her h*ps arched toward him as she cried out his name.

A wave of power and euphoria swept through him. He thrust his fingers into her, but that wasn’t enough. Not nearly.

He withdrew, pulled out his cock, and positioned her. He should go slower, take more care, but he couldn’t.

The blood was burning in his veins. His thoughts had splintered and all he knew was her.

Take.

Mate.

Mine.

He sank into her and felt her come around him. Her sex squeezed him tight, nearly making him go insane. Her contractions slid around the length of his aroused flesh, driving his hunger higher, wilder…

And still he drank from her.

Chloe.

He locked his hands around her waist and lifted her against him. He held her there, moving her against his rocking hips. Then he licked her neck, kissing the wound he’d made.

She was still cl**axing. Whispering his name and shuddering against him.

He let go then. Connor emptied himself in Chloe. He f**king got lost in her as his orgasm pounded through him.

When it ended, he carried her back to the bed. He tucked her in. Pressed a kiss to her lips.

And Connor knew he was well and truly f**ked.

Nothing can happen to her…because I can’t let her go.

Chloe was his, and he was hers. If Keegan tried to get her again, the bastard wouldn’t live to see another sunset.

***

“Let me go…”

Connor opened his eyes. He’d fallen asleep in the chair next to Chloe’s bed. He could have left her, but…he’d wanted to stay. Just in case she needed him.

“Chloe?”

She was twisting on the bed. “I…like it here…” Her head moved from the left to the right, twice, in a frantic shake. “Let me go…let me stay…it doesn’t hurt here.”

A chill skated up his spine. There was something about the way Chloe was talking…

“So beautiful…” Chloe whispered. “I want to stay. Let me go so I can stay!”

He reached out to her. Caught her hand in his. “Chloe, wake up.”

She didn’t. “Want to…stay…but…Connor?”

“Chloe, wake up.” The chill was growing worse. He almost felt as if Chloe was slipping away from him, right then. “Wake up!”

She gave a little gasp and her eyes flew open. Her hand grabbed onto his. “Connor?”

He eased onto the side of the bed, needing to be closer to her. “You were having another nightmare.”