Charmed by the Beast: an Adult Paranormal Shifter Romance (The Conduit Series Book 3)

by Conner Kressley

  “He’s still alive,” Abram said. “Which means he’s still dangerous.”

  “You didn’t—?”

  Abram grimaced. “I wanted to. But—” He looked down at Charlie’s body. “I didn’t have to, and if I did it when I didn’t have to, you would never forgive me.”

  There was hurt in his voice. Hurt that I had unintentionally put there. In some way, he probably felt I was choosing Charlie by not wanting him to die. But the truth was, I just didn’t want an innocent person to take the fall for a demon’s spirit. And whatever had taken over Charlie…well, I could think of no other way to describe it.

  Abram kneeled beside me and took my face in his hands. “I didn’t, Charisse, but you know it has to be done. I think you should be the one to do it.”

  Chapter 9

  Charlie was still unconscious when we got to the warehouse. I hadn’t seen this place in years, and the last time I had, it was under very different circumstances.

  I pushed the door of the huge space closed as Abram lugged Charlie toward the far end and Satina ‘spelled’ us up some light in the pitch-black area.

  I was tired. More than tired, I was defeated. Sure, we had won, if you could even call it that. We were still alive, and Charlie was subdued. But at what cost?

  He wouldn’t sleep forever. I wasn’t that powerful. Abram had already told me what the plan was when he regained consciousness.

  He took Charlie into one of the small rooms off the main area and chained him up. Satina followed, spelling the chains so that, even when he did wake, they would still hold him.

  If that would even work.

  Charlie was more powerful than anyone we had ever faced before. His abilities seemed to sprout up from nowhere, appearing and disappearing like a light switch being flipped.

  If Satina’s spell didn’t work—if those chains didn’t hold him—I would be expected to deal with it.

  I took a deep breath, looking at the most important man in my life, who was securing chains around the person who used to be the most important man in my life.

  And I thought my life couldn’t get any stranger.

  “That should hold him,” Abram said, looking over at Satina.

  “Should,” she said with less energy than was usual for her.

  Abram came over to me, limping slightly as he made his way.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, looking him up and down.

  “Nothing.” He eased himself onto an overturned empty crate, stretching one of his legs out in front of him. “I think I twisted my ankle in the fight. It’s fine. It’ll heal.”

  “Slowly,” I said, pursing my lips. “It’ll heal slowly. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because I’m not a child,” he snapped. “I don’t need to come running to you every time I get a boo-boo.”

  I sighed, kneeling beside him. “This,” I said, waving at him, “is the only childish behavior I see. Adults go to doctors with their injuries, too, you know. Now, come on. Let me fix it.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” he said, waving me off. He got back to his feet as if to prove a point. “It’s a twisted ankle. I’m perfectly capable of making due without magical assistance.”

  “Says someone who hasn’t had to do so for over a hundred years.” I placed my hand on his knee. “I think you’re forgetting how inconvenient something like this can be.”

  “Then let me remember,” he said, grabbing my shoulders and standing me back upright. His touch, though still capable, lacked the innate strength it did before.

  “Why?” I asked, pulling away from him. “I get that you don’t want to look weak, but letting yourself suffer when I can help you is just stupid and prideful.”

  “It’s not about looking weak, Charisse. It’s about being weak.” He crossed his arms. “You’re right. All of this is new to me. It is. So, by God in heaven, let me learn to deal with it. How am I supposed to be the best person I can be when you’re rushing over to put a kiss and magical bandage on every scrape and bruise? I need to be strong in whatever way I can. If that means I have to trudge through a little bit of pain to do it, then so be it. It’s worked for those in armed services. It’ll work for me, too.”

  Maybe I’d misread him, even if I still didn’t see it his way. I thought this was pride, that Abram was afraid of looking less than capable, of feeling emasculated. But it wasn’t. He wanted to hone himself like iron in the fire. In my opinion, that made him a lot stronger than any beast.

  Powers or not, he was my hero and always would be.

  “Where’s Satina?” I asked.

  “She’s doing some spell on Charlie while he’s unable to fight her off. Trying to see what’s going on inside of him, I believe.”

  Behind Abram, the door of the room he’d lugged Charlie into earlier was now closed.

  “Good,” I said. “This will give us some time to talk.” I took his hand. Making soothing circles across his palm with my finger, I led him to the far end of the room.

  “How did you know about this place?” Abram asked as we sat on a windowsill, high enough that my feet dangled in the air.

  “You’re not the only one who’s lived a different life.” I grinned at him. “I’ve got my secrets, too.”

  “Is that right?” He scooted so close that his warmth radiated off him and warmed up the side of my body. “I suppose I’m going to have to pry the truth out of you then.”

  “Really?” I quirked my lip in a teasing smile. “And how do you plan on doing that?”

  “I have my ways, Miss Bellamy,” he muttered. Just the way he said my name sent a shudder through my body. His hand slipped between my legs, and I bit my lip.

  “They’re right in the next room,” I whispered, cheeks flaring with heat.

  “That didn’t stop you back at the hotel.” He leaned in and pressed his mouth, hot and wet, against mine, and my legs parted as if of their own volition.

  “That was different,” I said in a hushed fever.

  “Was it?” he asked, moving higher up my thigh and tickling my exposed skin. “It feels very much the same to me.”

  My entire body trembled, and the world blurred at the edges. Even if Abram weren’t enchanted, there would always be an air of magic about him.

  “So,” he said, his voice heavy in its seduction. “Tell me.”

  As his hand traced small circles on my inner thigh, I quivered. “Tell you what?” I whispered.

  “About that secret life of yours.” His fingers drew up higher, rubbing around the lace of my panties. God, I wanted to stop talking and do…other things. “Tell me about the real Charisse.”

  “I think you know enough,” I said, folding around him so that I was sitting in his lap now. I could feel his erection straining his pants and pressing against my moist underwear, and although I wanted to grind into him, I kept very still.

  Abram’s hand slipped around to cup my ass under my dress, and his mouth trailed from my jaw down to my neck, his breath falling against my skin in passionate pants, his free hand moving to wrap around my wrist and hold it at the small of my back.

  In that moment, I knew I was his. Totally and completely.

  Beast be damned—all I needed was the man inside. This man. The rest of creation could have fallen away and I wouldn’t have noticed.

  Abram stood and turned, pressing me against the window and slipping his other hand back between my legs again to tease me, trailing his finger along my most-sensitive spot. I couldn’t help but squirm, my hips lifting slightly forward in anticipation.

  “Shhh,” he said. “Not yet.” He trailed kisses along my collarbone and nipped at my shoulder. “First,” he whispered, “I want to know everything about you. I want to know who you are, who you were, and everything in between.”

  My mind was a delicious, muddled mess. I couldn’t think of anything but this. Who I had been? How the hell was I supposed to know? Nothing existed outside of this moment. Nothing had come before, and nothing would come after.
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br />   There was only us and the mounting cliff of satisfaction that his fingers were so deftly edging me toward. His thumb rubbed my sweet spot through my panties now, building that need within me faster than I thought possible.

  But he wanted to know about my past, and I knew if I didn’t tell him, he would pull back.

  I latched onto the first thing I could think of. He wanted to know how I knew about this place…so I told him.

  “We used to have parties here,” I panted. My teeth dug into my lip and my back arched. Abram leaned in, kissing my neck and using his teeth to tear at the buttons of my blouse.

  “Go on,” he said. His mouth tasted the soft skin of my breasts as though he had a map of my pleasure points. “I’m waiting, Miss Bellamy.”

  “It was when I modeled,” I said to keep him going. “I got invited to a lot of parties.” I didn’t give a damn about that. All I cared about was him, this moment, and what was surely going to be one of the best orgasms of my life. “They would happen in all sorts of shut-down places.”

  He moved to my lips, biting me just enough to illicit a moan, and then paused, a silent warning I had better not stop talking.

  “We had parties here all the time,” I said, gasping.

  He nibbled at my earlobe now. “Did you bring him with you?”

  “Yes,” I said, hating that it was the truth I had to tell. “But I wish it would have been you.”

  “Did things get intense?” he whispered, his voice getting darker.

  I shook my head. “Nothing like it is with you,” I whispered.

  Abram licked his lips. “You haven’t seen anything yet,” he said, “but I’m curious how far you will go.”

  “As far as you’ll take me,” I challenged, running my free hand up along his arm and smoothing my palm against his strong shoulder.

  Abram slid his fingers beneath my underwear, dipping inside of me just enough to let me know he was there, and that he could give me what I wanted…or not.

  “Don’t tempt me,” he said. “My human side can be even more animalistic than the beast.”

  That didn’t surprise me. After all, wasn’t that how he’d become cursed in the first place? But I knew he wasn’t the same man now that he was then.

  “You don’t scare me, bad boy,” I whispered.

  This seemed to send him over the edge, and I wasn’t sure if he was turned on or if I had just inspired him to challenge that thought.

  He pressed further into me, nearly lifting me against the clouded glass with the force of his passion.

  “You’re not serious!” Satina’s voice cut through the air, effectively the biggest cock block in all of creation. “Gosh, I hope I’m interrupting you two. God knows someone needs to do it.”

  Abram leaned against me, sitting me down and turning toward her, thankfully blocking me from her view. “We were just going over our options,” he said. I could hear the grin in his voice, and I smiled despite my embarrassment.

  Over the ridge of Abram’s shoulder, I could just make out Satina raising her eyebrows. “I hear ribbed are fun for everybody.”

  I got down from the ledge, straightening the skirt of my dress and trying to keep the mortified blush off my face. “What is it you want, Satina?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “To actually deal with the homicidal maniac in the next room, perhaps? Though, if we’re just going to turn the place into a brothel, maybe I can just let him loose and everyone can go to town.” She grinned. “That could be interesting.”

  Abram growled. “Stop it, Satina.”

  “Me stop?” she asked. “You’re the ones acting all Bonnie and Clyde with someone chained up in another room. I mean, come on! You’re going at it while doom sits waiting in the wings.”

  “Doom?” I asked, moving forward. “What did you find out?”

  Satina’s face paled. “I did a spell to remove the masks surrounding Charlie. I knew it wouldn’t strip him of the powers, but it would at least let us see what was going on. That was the idea, anyway.”

  Abram rubbed the side of his face and shook his head. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

  “It’s a hard spell,” she continued. “Old magic. And honestly, I wasn’t sure this vessel was capable of it.”

  “So?” I asked. “What happened?”

  “I tapped into it,” she said. “But what I found created more questions than it provided answers.” She shook her head, finally turning serious. “There’s a lot going on in there and also somehow…well…nothing.” She spread her hands. “You were right, Charisse. It’s not him…not exactly. And then, it sort of is.”

  “What are you talking about?” Abram asked. “You’re not making any sense.”

  “That’s because there is no sense,” she said. “Charlie is here, but he isn’t. He’s this thing, but he isn’t. I’ve never seen anything like it before. The only thing I know for sure is that if something has hijacked his body, he won’t survive us fixing it.”

  Chapter 10

  I couldn’t catch my breath. My throat closed up, my stomach fell, and tears burned my eyes.

  It wasn’t Charlie, not really. I knew it. I knew I couldn’t have loved someone who was capable of those horrors. I knew the eyes looking back at me as he said those awful things weren’t his.

  Now I knew whatever had hijacked his body wouldn’t leave without killing him. It was an impossible situation, the latest in what seemed like a never-ending line of them. And, like always, I had no idea what we were going to do.

  “That can’t be right,” I said, shaking my head. “There has to be something we can do. You said it yourself. It’s not Charlie. He doesn’t deserve to die for something he doesn’t have control over.”

  “When has what someone deserved ever had to do with anything?” Abram asked, squeezing my hand.

  I pulled away. “You can’t just throw some one-liner out there and expect that to be good enough for me. We have to keep fighting. We have to free him.” My hands curled into fists at my side. “If it was someone you cared about, I wouldn’t stop.”

  “I believe that.” Abram nodded. “I don’t have any intention of stopping, Charisse. I’ll fight until we can’t fight anymore. I’m just not sure how much longer that will be.” He stepped closer. “I won’t let him kill anyone else. Whatever we have tied up in the next room gets off on killing ex-girlfriends. It tortures and mutilates innocent people. If Charlie has to die to stop that—”

  “Charlie’s innocent, too,” I said, glaring at Abram.

  “Then he’ll be the last innocent person to die.” Regret colored Abram’s voice. “It’s not ideal. It’s not right. But if it’s necessary, it will be done. You can’t ask me to stand back.”

  “I could,” I said softly. “I could ask you.”

  “You could,” Abram admitted. “But you wouldn’t. You’re too good a person to let evil run free, no matter whose face it happens to be wearing.”

  “What if I asked you to, Abram? Then what?”

  “You would learn that I love you enough to know when to say no.”

  Satina stepped between us. “That’s enough. You’ll have to can it for now. I need Char’s help with something.”

  “With what?” I asked.

  “With figuring out what’s going on,” she said. “Alone, I didn’t have the power to undo the knots and folds that cover the truth inside of Charlie, but together, I think we might.”

  “I don’t want to do that. What if he’s in pain?” I waved my hand toward the room where we had him chained up. At some point, Abram had strolled over there and was standing with his arms crossed, staring into the room. “What if he’s hurting and I can’t do anything to save him?”

  She grabbed my shoulders. “Get your shit together, Charisse!” She clenched her teeth. “You think fate handed you all this power so you could use it to act like a spoiled little bitch?”

  “Satina,” Abram shouted from across the room.

  “Don’t Satina me!
She needs to hear this.” Her eyes glowed bright with anger as she refocused her attention on me. “For the last few days, I have watched you hemming and hawing as if you have the luxury of indecision. Trust me, Supplicant, you don’t. The world is teetering on the edge of a knife, and if you don’t suck it up and do what you need to, it’ll fall down.” Letting go of my shoulders, she stepped back. “So I suggest you cut the crap and grow up! Your ex-boyfriend is in trouble. So is mine.” She motioned to Abram. “You don’t see me falling the fuck apart about it, do you?” She glared at me. “Now I’m going to go in that room. I expect you to woman up and follow me. If you can’t do that, then you might as well leave, because I don’t want you here if you aren’t going to help.”

  She stomped off. I pulled myself together—as much as I could—and followed her into that horrible room.

  When I entered, I sucked in a breath. Charlie was bound and unconscious on the filthy concrete floor. Satina, kneeling before him, turned to me as I entered.

  “You made the right decision,” she said.

  “Let’s just get this over with.” I settled beside her, in front of Charlie. He looked so peaceful lying there, so Charlie-like. But he wasn’t. Not completely.

  Blinking back tears, I placed my hand against his heart. It thumped hard, fast, and strong. “Before Charlie had the surgery, I used to lay awake at night listening to his heart. It was so weak, and I was afraid it was just going to stop. I used to dream about the day we’d get the phone call telling us they’d found a heart.” I wiped the tears from my cheeks. “When it actually happened, when they called us and told us they were ready for the surgery, all I could think about was laying my head on his chest and feeling how strong his new heart was.”

  I shook my head. “I thought I loved him. I thought I knew what love was, but I didn’t. Neither did he. I know now though, Satina, and I want that for him, too. We have to save him, because if I can’t at least give him the chance to find someone who can show him what real love feels like—”

  “Do you feel guilty that you moved on?” Satina asked. “Or do you just feel guilty that this horrible world you’ve found yourself in has wrapped itself around this man’s throat? Either way, those feelings won’t help. All we can do is get to the bottom of this.” She placed her hand on mine, and a spark ran through me and into Charlie. “Now focus, and help me get answers.”