by Cynthia Eden
“It was just a bite.” She said the words to convince herself. And him.
He shook his head. “It’s more, and you know it already, don’t you?”
“Keegan…he freaked…said he knew I’d mated with you.”
His face hardened. “And that’s when he broke your neck. Because of me.” He whirled away from her.
“No!” She grabbed his arm. Swung him right back around. “He hurt me because he’s an evil bastard. That’s the same reason he hurt Harris. The same reason his pack came after us all so hard. You didn’t do it. He did.”
And Connor was nothing like Keegan.
Her shoulders sagged as the moonlight fell down on her. “What am I going to do? I-I don’t…I just don’t know what’s coming. If the silver sensitivity returns again, that means the wolf is still inside me. But I could never fully shift. Will I just get stuck again? Trapped in limbo?” Trapped in that hell forever?
“Holly will help you.” He sounded so confident of that.
She wanted to believe him. Chloe stared up at him. “Is it really true what they say about vampires?”
“People say plenty about vampires, and I’m not exactly a normal vamp.”
No, he wasn’t. “Can you control people?” Eric had wanted him to control her, but Connor had refused.
The idea of that much power…the idea that someone out there could do that…
He nodded. “I can.”
Goosebumps rose on her arms.
“And we’ve got a big damn problem on our hands, because that guy out there—Keegan? I think he’s like me, Chloe.”
She stumbled back a step.
“Silver didn’t hurt him. It didn’t slow him down. So I think he’s changed, too. As far I know…well, as far as I knew…Duncan and I were the only two cross-overs.”
“A cross-over? Is—is that what you are?”
“That’s what Eric has been calling us. A crossed mix of vampire and werewolf. A super beast.”
Her body seemed to have iced. “How did Keegan change?”
“It’s not easy, but maybe the senator helped him. We already know the guy was doing a lot of experiments, so maybe Keegan was one of the senator’s projects. Maybe he amped up his power. Maybe—” Connor stopped. “Shit.”
“Connor?”
“Maybe that was the plan all along. The senator wanted the paranormals to come out, to show the humans just how strong they were, but what’s stronger than a werewolf? Stronger than a vampire?”
He was running back toward the building.
“Connor!”
He looked back at her. “Cross-overs. A vampire can’t be made into a werewolf, but a werewolf can become a vampire…all of the strengths, and none of the silver weakness. It’s not supposed to happen. But Eric figured out it could happen, if the werewolf was an alpha. The alphas are strong enough to last through the change. They’re strong enough—”
“To cross-over,” Chloe finished.
“Maybe that’s why your father wanted so many powerful vamps and werewolves sent to Purgatory. Not to keep the streets safer for humans, but so that he could see if they could cross-over. Fuck, he could have set up the prison just to make his own damned army!”
An unstoppable army.
He offered his hand to Chloe. “Come on, we need to find Eric, right now.”
***
“Are you going to kill him if his wolf takes over?”
Eric had known that Duncan would ask that question, sooner or later. The guy had obviously opted for sooner.
They were in the hall, right outside of Harris’s room. The agent was still strapped down and collared. He shouldn’t be a threat to anyone then.
Shouldn’t.
“Hopefully, I won’t have to make that decision.” Because he was going to bet on Harris. The man could prove himself to be a fighter.
Before Duncan could say anything else, Eric heard the rapid pound of approaching footsteps. He looked up and saw Connor and Chloe heading toward him.
The expression on Connor’s face told him this wasn’t going to be a friendly little chat.
“Did she die again already?” Eric asked, shaking his head. “Hell, man, I told you to keep her safe—”
Connor’s low, lethal growl cut through his words. “You knew what they wanted from Purgatory, didn’t you?”
Careful now, Eric said, “A war? Yes, I’ve told you for a while now that forces are working to stir up the paranormals, to—”
“You were against Purgatory. You told me before that you thought it was dangerous.”
“Putting all the most powerful paranormals together in one place is a recipe for disaster.” He kept the emotion out of his voice and he shrugged. “But I was out voted originally.” His gaze slid to Chloe. “Other, more powerful voices held sway with the government. My job was to follow their orders.”
“The senator’s voice,” Connor charged.
Eric nodded. “His was the loudest at the time. He told everyone that putting the paranormals in prison was far more humane than outright killing them. And he convinced the powers that be that we needed one prison for a test run.”
“They’re trying to cross-over, aren’t they?” Connor demanded.
“I hope the fuck not,” Duncan muttered.
Chloe just watched them argue. He saw her gaze dart between them all.
“Crossing-over isn’t that easy. If it was, the ground would already be thick with other bastards like you two.” Eric waved his hand toward them. “I have security in charge at the prison. The werewolves are separated from the vampires at all times. They don’t have the chance to try and power up each other. Fuck, why would the vamps want to do that? If they bit the werewolves, if they actually found an alpha who could survive being near death and then getting a surge of vampire blood…well, they’d just be making a super beast that could kill them.”
But Connor just glared at him, and Eric realized the guy wasn’t buying the story. Yes, join the freaking club. Not like I buy it either. “I pushed for separate prisons, it didn’t happen.” Because you’re right…the senator did want to make cross-overs, but it’s not that easy of a task. It’s a one in a million shot.
Connor had survived and so had his brother Duncan. There had been others that the government had experimented on…other alpha werewolves.
They hadn’t transitioned. They’d died—horrible, painful deaths.
So while the others thought it was just about being an alpha, Eric knew the truth. More was at work…and that was why he had his scientists studying Connor and Duncan’s DNA. They were brothers, and with both of them being cross-overs…the key has to be within them.
He hadn’t told Holly about his research yet. Mostly because he didn’t want her to freak out when she realized he was studying her lover, but soon, he’d have to pull her in. She was the best in the field of paranormal genetics, and he needed her help.
“You’re worrying for no reason,” he told Connor with another shrug. “You and Duncan are the only two who have managed—”
“Keegan is just like us.”
Eric didn’t let his surprise show. “That’s not possible.” It had better not be possible.
“It is…I saw him with my own eyes. Silver didn’t burn him. He had fangs! He was just like us.” Connor glared at him. “And if he can transform, others out there can, too. Purgatory is a powder keg, and if we don’t do something soon, it will explode.”
Didn’t the guy think he was working on that shit? “I have guards there. They are making absolutely certain that the prisoners are contained at all times. The vampires are separate from the werewolves. And, again, they can’t cross-over, even if they broke out into all-out brawls.”
“Then explain Keegan to us.”
“I can’t, not yet.” He thrust back his shoulders. “So that means getting that guy into custody is our number one priority. The sooner we have him on Holly’s exam table, the sooner we can figure out just what the hell is going on.”
His gaze slid to Chloe. She looked so fragile, and there was no missing the worry in her eyes. Hell, the woman had died that day, and while he’d played his part before when they’d been in the lab, sympathy did push through him as he gazed at her. Others might think he didn’t have a heart, but it was there.
Just buried deep.
“You should get some rest,” he said to Chloe. Because, unfortunately, in order to get Keegan, they’d be using her. “Dawn will come all too soon.”
He inclined his head to Connor and Duncan. “Gentlemen, we’ll plan to meet again at 0800.” He turned from them.
Headed down the hallway.
He wasn’t particularly surprised to hear footsteps following him. Connor’s hand flew out and grabbed his arm right before Eric went into his office.
“Do you think I don’t know?” Connor said, his voice low and rasping.
Tread carefully. Eric let his brows climb as he looked at Connor. “Know?”
“You were bitten at Eclipse. I saw it happen, man.” And the guy sounded as if he cared. How touching. “What can we do? Does Holly know? Does—”
He stepped back, sliding away from Connor’s hold. “You’re mistaken. Sure, that wolf was coming at me with fangs bared, but he never bit me. I broke his jaw.” He shrugged as he walked toward his desk. “End of story.”
“Then why do I smell your blood?”
Damn enhanced senses.
“Because I was cut in the battle,” he said smoothly, “but not bit. Save your worry for Chloe. I’m fine.”
Connor marched into his office. “Why do I need to worry for Chloe? What the hell have you got planned?”
Ah, now anger was in the guy’s voice.
“We have to bring in Keegan,” he said. This should be obvious. “To get him, we have to use something he wants.”
Right then, the only thing he seemed to want was Chloe.
“Sonofabitch,” Connor muttered.
Chloe entered his office. She’d sidled up behind Connor. She looked between the two men, and Eric could practically feel her nervousness. “You should get some rest,” he told Chloe. “There’s a…lot coming.” Talk about a serious understatement.
She headed toward his desk. Her hands flattened on the surface and she stared into his eyes. “Is there any chance that I can ever live a normal life again?”
He didn’t look away from her. “I’ve always thought normal was way over-rated.”
She swallowed.
Connor’s hand curled over her shoulder. “Come on, Chloe.”
Her fingers slid over Eric’s desk. She didn’t speak again, but Connor did. He stopped on the threshold and looked at Eric. “You don’t want to see what happens if I’m pushed too far.”
Actually, no, he didn’t want to see that.
Connor shut the door. When Eric was sure that no one else was about to barge into his office, he took off the coat he’d grabbed from his SUV. The coat that had been covering him the entire time he’d been in Holly’s lab. The coat had gotten soaked with blood, and he had to pry it away from his shoulder.
Without the jacket, the holes in his shirt were obvious. The werewolf’s fangs had torn deep into him when the guy had made that bite.
Fuck.
It was a good thing he’d prepared for this situation…He wouldn’t be transforming. At least, not any more than he’d changed in the past.
Chapter Ten
Chloe wasn’t talking.
And Connor didn’t know what the hell he should say to her.
They were back in the room she’d been given at the Para Base. Chloe was sitting on the bed, her shoulders hunched, staring down at her hands.
Eric was planning to use her. To dangle her as pretty bait to pull in that bastard Keegan.
I can’t let that happen.
Because the last time that Chloe had gone out on one of Eric’s missions, she’d died in front of Connor. There was no way he could let that happen again. It wouldn’t happen.
“I know what he’s planning.” Chloe’s head tilted back, and she stared up at him. “You don’t need to stand there and try to figure out a way to tell me.”
“Chloe…”
“It’s obvious. If Keegan really is like you and Duncan, then Eric will do anything he deems necessary in order to bring the guy in. So he’ll use me and try to get Keegan to come rushing into whatever trap he has planned.” She stood up. “But Keegan doesn’t want to do anything but kill me. I mean, that’s obvious right? He broke my neck the last time he saw me. I don’t think the fellow is exactly driven wild by love for me.”
“I think he is driven wild,” Connor said carefully. “By jealousy.” And this was on him. Connor crossed the narrow room to stand by her side. “I marked you, and he knows it.” His hand sank beneath the curtain of her hair. “If I’d kept my hands off you—” He broke off, because he didn’t want to say the rest.
Her sad smile told him that she already knew. “Then he would have marked me? Right? You think he wants me? As a mate?”
Yes, he did.
“But I can’t even shift, I—” Her eyes widened. “My scent. That’s what you’ve all been talking about. What David Vincent was saying. My father changed my scent so that the male wolves would be drawn to me.”
Like a moth to a fucking flame.
“But now the scent is different,” Chloe said. “Because you marked me.”
Grimly, Connor nodded.
She jerked back. “Oh, my God.” Her hands wrapped around her stomach. “You—you didn’t even want me, not really, did you? It’s all about that stupid scent! Whatever, he did to me, it messed with your wolf’s instincts. You didn’t even want—”
“Let’s get one thing real clear.”
She gazed up at him.
“I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone in this world. I told you, your scent didn’t work on me the same way because I’m part vamp. So me, wanting you…” He nodded. “That is just me wanting you. Me needing you more than I need anything else.”
“Th-that’s the way I feel about you. I wanted to be with you. Wanted to know what it was like to give in to a desire like that, just once.”
“Once isn’t all we’ll have.” Because he had no intention of letting her go.
And right there, in that little room, the memories surrounded him. He’d had her on that bed. Been driven out of his head by her touch and her silky body. He wanted her then. Always. Wanted to plunge into her again and again.
“Connor?”
His jaw was clenched and his cock shoved against the front of his jeans.
“You can compel me, can’t you?”
“I haven’t.” He didn’t want her to think that her desire for him hadn’t been real. The feelings they shared—they were one hundred percent real.
“But…you can. Vampires can compel their victims if they take their blood.”
Yes, that was how it worked. But he’d tried to be so careful. Always keeping his bloodlust in check. He knew that werewolf blood was supposed to be particularly dangerous, particularly addictive, to vampires.
“I’ve never compelled anyone,” he said. “And I don’t plan—”
“I want you to compel me.”
Now she’d shocked him.
“I want you to compel me, and then I want you to teach me how to resist the compulsion.”
“Baby, that can’t be done.”
She rubbed her arms. “It has to be done. Because if Keegan is like you, then—then he can compel me, too. I have to be able to break away if he tries. I don’t want to wind up being some kind of sick puppet for him.”
Now he had to touch her again. The pain in her voice pierced right through him. “I’m not going to let that happen.”
“What if you can’t stop him? What if no one can? I don’t know how big his pack is. That’s why Eric wanted him brought in, right? To break up that power network?”
One of the many reasons.
And I just want to kic
k his ass for what he’s done to you.
“Compel me,” Chloe said, her voice urgent. “Teach me how to resist.”
His fangs were stretching in his mouth. “He can’t compel you unless he drinks your blood. That won’t happen.” He wasn’t going to let that bastard get close to Chloe again. Screw whatever plan Eric thought he’d use. Chloe wasn’t going to be put at risk.
“I’m going to leave,” Chloe said, raising her chin. “I’m going to walk out that door and out of this base. I’m going to keep going. You won’t find me, but he might.” And she pulled away from him. Headed for the door.
“Chloe!”
“Stop me,” she said, without looking back.
He caught her arm and spun her around. “I don’t have to compel you to stop you.” He had easily over a hundred pounds on her. Plus werewolf and vamp power. “You’re not going out there.”
“I need to see what it feels like,” Chloe told him. Her blue gaze was stark. “If I don’t know, then how can I prepare for him? I want to be ready.”
She jerked against his hold. Opened her mouth and screamed.
“Chloe, shit, stop!”
She screamed louder.
He clamped his hand over her mouth. “What are you trying to do?” Connor demanded. “Bring a ton of guards racing up here?”
Her gaze held his.
No, hell, he knew exactly what she was trying to do.
“You’re not going to like it,” he whispered. “Baby, I don’t want to do this.” His hand slid away from her mouth.
“I need to know what it feels like,” Chloe argued, her delicate jaw set. “I have to know what I’m up against.”
She wasn’t backing down. And maybe…maybe she did need to see what it would be like if she was trapped under a compulsion. I just don’t want to do this! I never want to hurt her. “Okay.” He fucking hated this. Connor rolled back his shoulders. He sucked in a deep breath. And he looked into her eyes. “Chloe…”
He could feel the power rising within him, a darkness that he’d never felt before. One that tempted, one that whispered so seductively…one that wanted him to use the link he’d forged through blood.
One that wanted him to control Chloe.