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

by Conner Kressley

  “Well, if you’d met me sooner, you wouldn’t be saying that.”

  “See!” I pointed my fork at him, and then stabbed another bite of salad. “That, Abram, is exactly my point. You changed, and so can Charlie. You deserve happiness, and he does, too.”‘

  “But I’m not sure he has changed, Charisse. He tried to kiss you.”

  I sighed, folding my napkin in my lap. “Either way, he deserves to live.”

  A waiter clad in red settled in front of us. He rattled off something about dessert and asked if we wanted drink refills. I sent him away, but by the time he moved, Cindy had vanished.

  “Damn it,” I stammered, standing. “Come on, before she gets away.” I left a handful of money on the table and ran out the door, Abram right behind me.

  “I could have paid,” he said.

  “Shhh,” I held up a hand, trying to concentrate on our surroundings. “She has to be around here somewhere. Should we split up?”

  “That won’t be necessary.”

  Cindy stood a few feet away, glaring at us with a bottle of pepper spray in her hands. It was held out toward me in a ridiculous display of aggression.

  “Cindy—”

  “Don’t come any closer!” She jerked backward, the bottle wavering in her shaky hand. “I knew you were following me. Since the second I saw the two of you staring at me in the restaurant.” She sneered. “Did you think I wouldn’t recognize you from the pictures in Charlie’s yearbook, Charisse?”

  My eyes went wide.

  “Oh, didn’t think I’d know your name?” Cindy grimaced. “How could I forget it? I looked at the damn thing plastered across his back for nearly a year!”

  I froze, suddenly struck by how Charlie must have felt for me. Apparently, it was strong enough to get my name tattooed on his back after we split up. I didn’t know who to feel worse for—him, or Cindy.

  “Whatever you people are cooking up with Charlie,” she said, backing away, “you tell him I want no part of it! He’s trouble. The things he said to me—” She shook her head. “Just stay away from me!”

  With that, she turned and hurried down the sidewalk.

  Chapter 15

  “That went well,” I muttered. Looking up at Abram, I asked, “What do we do now?”

  He glanced over at me. “He has your name tattooed on his back?”

  I rolled my eyes. “That’s what you took away from this?” I started down the sidewalk. “Typical.”

  Abram came up beside me and took my hand in his. “It’s not all I took away from it. Come on. I’m sure we can find her.”

  But we couldn’t. We searched the city all day. She wasn’t at her apartment or her office, Satina wasn’t here to help me with the whole ‘magical scrying’ thing, and this city had over seven million people in it.

  The rub was, if Abram still had his abilities, he would have sniffed her out in two minutes flat. One and done. But he didn’t, and he never would again.

  I rubbed at my temples, trying hard to push the inconvenient truth out of my head. The idea of Abram being human, of him living a human life, having kids, growing old, and making memories that lasted simply because you knew they were never meant to—that part sounded lovely.

  But I couldn’t deny that he was right about one thing—being human made him vulnerable. I was the strong one in the relationship now. And what the hell was I supposed to do about that?

  “We should get back to that abandoned building,” Abram said. “It’s getting late.”

  One glance around told us time was running short. The sun was setting. We walked back toward our little lair in silence, but I wasn’t ready to go in yet. Not if Charlie might be there waiting, and me with no good news to tell him.

  I leaned up against the alley wall, sighing the full weight of my defeat.

  Abram came up beside me. “We’ll find her,” he said.

  “Will we?” I peered up at him, wishing he could mean what he said. But how could he know it the way I needed to know it? “What if she left town? What if this was one too many and she ran back to Omaha or Mount Pleasant, or wherever it is she’s from?”

  “She’s from here,” he answered, steeling his gaze. “She’s from Queens. It says so on her LinkedIn profile.”

  I was about to muse at how far Abram had come. When we first met, he didn’t know what a selfie was, let alone how to search through the web for professional social media sites. But then he said something that struck me.

  “It takes more than one setback to make someone leave their home, Charisse.”

  “Not for me,” I said, shaking my head. “I ran away from that place as soon as I could put one foot in front of the other. And so did you for that matter.”

  His hands balled into fists at his side. “It took more than one poor choice to push me away from my home, much more than one.”

  Something in his tone pulled at me, and I sensed I was edging toward the secret world of the past, the one he and Satina shared. I wanted to push him on it, but I wasn’t sure the time was right. We had all been pushed so much lately. Was now really the right time to delve into things Abram probably had no intention of reliving?

  Luckily, he didn’t give me the chance.

  “We will find her though, Charisse. I have faith in us.” He took my hand. “I know how important it is for you that she’s saved, that Charlie has his chance to find—”

  “What we’ve found,” I finished, squeezing his fingers. “But that isn’t all. Forgetting the fact that she threatened me with pepper spray, Cindy is innocent. She’s just an average everyday girl who got dragged into this.” I nodded. “I know what that’s like. And if I can’t save one person, just one, then I don’t know what all of this is for anyway.”

  “Then we will,” Abram answered, enough vitality in his voice to make me rethink my self-appointed position as the strongest person in the relationship. “We’ll find her and save her. After which, we’ll save Charlie and get to the bottom of whatever The Brothers are up to. Then…” He stepped in front of me, his body pressing against mine as he dipped his face closer to my own. “We’ll finally get to be alone.”

  “We’re alone now,” I said, wrapping my arms around the thick brunt of his back.

  “So we are, Miss Bellamy.” He grinned, pulling me off my feet and kissing me deeply on the lips.

  Sirens blared through the air, and I pulled away.

  Sirens were always going on in this damned city. It was as frequent as passing cars. But not these sirens. Not this close. This encompassing. They called to me. I knew my luck. I knew fate. These sirens had something to do with me, and they weren’t good.

  “Abram,” I whispered, “they’re headed to the abandoned building.”

  We took off toward the old warehouse. As we turned the corner, my fears were realized with a sickening thud.

  The building was surrounded by police cars, red and blue lights flickering off into the air. Bystanders stood on the sidewalk, some with their phones in the air, recording as Charlie was pulled from the building in handcuffs and escorted to one of the closer police cars.

  My hand flew to my mouth. “What happened?”

  “Murphy’s law, the same thing that always happens,” a familiar voice said from beside me.

  I looked over to find Satina standing in the crook of a building. She looked smaller than usual, somehow less intimidating.

  “Apparently some kids were in there earlier,” she continued.

  Abram and I exchanged a look. That was what the noise had been. They must have run off before he checked.

  “Okay, and then what?” I asked.

  “And they saw someone chained up inside,” she spat. “That’s what! They reported it.”

  “But Charlie isn’t responsible for that. We had him chained up!”

  Satina motioned toward the police scene in the distance. “Want to tell them that? Be my guest.”

  I crossed my arms. “I thought you weren’t going to help us.”

>   “I’m not. But I’m not gonna miss the show, either. Come on, you know me better than that.”

  Satina was no better than the bystanders videotaping the whole thing with their cell phone cameras.

  “Well, you still haven’t explained why they’re arresting Charlie.”

  “They think the chains are evidence that he’s been keeping captives there, especially with the reports. They figure they have enough now to charge him with those murders.”

  “He can’t go to jail for that. It wasn’t him! Satina, do something!” I ran my panicked fingers through my hair. “Put them all to sleep like you did back in New Haven, and we’ll bring him back to the hotel.”

  “To what end?” Satina asked. “It’s already happened. I can’t make an entire city forget what they saw. Even if I could, the video is probably already up on that ridiculous tube thing.”

  “We can’t just let this stand,” I said through clenched teeth. “He’s innocent!”

  “Right,” Satina said. “But he’s also not alone. You forget that he’s carrying the will of The Brothers inside of him. They want that lunatic running free, and trust me when I tell you, they’ll split the earth in half if that’s what it takes to accomplish their goals.” She tilted her head. “Of course, my guess is you’ll just have a jail full of dead police officers and inmates.”

  Dead officers and inmates whose blood would be on Charlie’s hands. This would ruin his life. Plus, he would never forgive himself. I had to make this right. I had to stop it from happening.

  And I had no idea how.

  Chapter 16

  As I sat in the car, looking out at the police station, power surged through me. It was the same station I had been hauled to after my seventeenth birthday when they caught me vandalizing a squad car with a couple of my friends over spring break. It was the same station Mom had to pick me up from when I was caught drinking a full two years before my twenty-first birthday. It was the same station Charlie had been held in when he and a few of his buddies decided setting a bathtub on fire was a good college prank. And now it was the same one he was going to sit in until he was tried for murder.

  This had to stop.

  “You need to calm down,” Abram said, staring at me from the driver’s seat. “You’ll burn a hole in the upholstery.”

  Sure enough, sparks were practically shooting out of my fingertips. I balled my hands into fists, letting the heat from my powers harmlessly warm me.

  “I disagree,” I answered through clenched teeth. “I think calming down is the absolute worst thing I could do. Calming down means I power down. Calming down means I lose this fire in my chest. Calming down means that this voice in my head—the one that’s telling me I need to march into that jail and tear the goddamn thing down brick by brick until I pull Charlie out of there by his government-provided jumpsuit—will quiet itself, and then I might lose my nerve.” I clenched my fists even tighter. “Nope. Calming down isn’t something I need to do at all.”

  Abram pressed his lips together and wrapped his fingers around the steering wheel. “I understand this is difficult for you, but I can’t have you succumbing to baser instincts right now. Too much is at stake.”

  Good thing my glares didn’t shoot lasers. “Are you joking?”

  “Not even a little,” he said, no nonsense in his voice. “I need you to find Cindy and keep her safe. Let me worry about getting Charlie out of this.”

  “What?” I scrunched my nose. “Absolutely not. What good would you be? You’re about as powerful as a battery-operated flashlight.” The instant the words left my mouth, I knew they were a mistake. I braced myself for the inevitable hurt to flash across Abram’s face, but nothing came. “Look,” I said softly. “I’m just upset. I didn’t mean to—”

  “Stop worrying about my feelings, Charisse. I’m aware you’re stronger than I am at the moment. That’s why I need you to take care of the things that are important.”

  “And keeping that thing inside of Charlie from killing everybody in that place isn’t important?”

  “Of course it is.” Abram scraped his fingers through his hair. “But I can get him out of there. Believe it or not, I’m not completely useless without my abilities.”

  His words caused a flicker of guilt to dance across my chest.

  “People have escaped from prisons for as long as there have been prisons to escape from. You don’t need powers for that. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for facing down super-powered serial killers.”

  “But he’s in there,” I countered. “Charlie is in there, which means that Mr. Mandrake is in there, too. There’s nothing to attack Cindy so long as Charlie is in lockup.”

  “We don’t know that.” Abram crossed his arms and readjusted his large frame in the small seat of the rental car. “The Brothers are after her. If Satina’s right, her father has returned, too. I’d rather face down a pack of rabid dogs than that man.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “So you’re sending me to where you think he might be? I’m not sure whether to be worried or flattered.”

  Abram heaved a sigh. “Don’t you get it? The sooner Cindy is dead, the sooner your name comes up on whatever sick rotation The Brothers have going. Keeping her safe keeps you safe. And that’s all I care about.”

  “But Satina’s father—”

  “Doesn’t stand a chance against you.” Abram clamped his hand down over mine. “Even if he’s there, he’s no match for you. You’re one of the most powerful creatures in the world. The Brothers themselves are afraid of you. He’d have to be a lunatic to take you on by himself.”

  “Oh, good,” I muttered. “I just have to hope that the craziest person you and Satina have ever met isn’t a lunatic. I’m sure that’ll work out just fine.”

  Abram’s hand slid to my cheek, and a rush of warmth lit up inside me. “Hey, now. You’re the one always telling me trust in your capability. Well, here it is. Here’s my trust. I’m trusting you with the one thing I love more than anything else in this world—you.”

  I took in his rugged beauty and blinked hard when I thought the sheer sight of him might be too much for me to contain. Looking past him, I took in the building that now held Charlie and our fates.

  “Just get him out, Abram,” I said, a quiet edge to my voice. “Get him out of there and help me find a way to end this.”

  * * *

  I stood at the corner of Cindy’s office building. Turned out Satina had found her when we couldn’t and left her whereabouts for me as a sort of parting gift.

  Staring up at the huge silver skyscraper, I sighed. I didn’t want to do this, to march up to Cindy, explain who I was, what was going on, and why it was imperative that she listened to me. She hated me. She hated Charlie. She already considered us dangerous, and, at least from her perspective, she wasn’t wrong.

  But Abram was right. Keeping Cindy safe was important, not only for me, but for Charlie. He loved this woman. And what was life without love?

  That thought was more than enough for me to push through those doors, magically shutting down whatever security system this building had in place.

  This was a little sad. Cindy was pretty successful—that much was easy to see from the elegance of the building and the staff plaques on the wall of the office I was now walking through that referred to Cindy Rembly as ‘Senior Vice President of Sales.’ But the fact that she was here this late in the evening alluded to a distinct lack of personal life.

  Still, there was plenty of time for all of that once I made sure she didn’t end up dead. As soon as this was over, I would convince her to give Charlie another chance.

  One thing at a time.

  I marched through the office, pushing back fear as it bubbled up in my gut. I was strong. Abram said as much. I was the strongest person in the whole freaking universe. That was what he said, wasn’t it?

  And Abram wouldn’t lie to me.

  A loud boom sounded through the floor, so fierce and startling that it seemed to shake the
entire building.

  I stumbled back, holding onto the wall to steady myself. Once the sound leveled off, I heard panting. Cindy came stumbling out, her blouse torn and bloodstained, her lip busted, and her hair a stringy mess.

  She blinked from behind her tangles. “Did you…did you do this?”

  “My God,” I stammered, letting go of the wall and rushing toward her.

  “Get away from me!”

  I swooped onto her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and pulling her forward. “Come on,” I said. “We have to get out of here.”

  Maybe she was too tired or afraid, but she wordlessly did as I asked, limping toward the door of the building in pace with me.

  “Who was he?” she finally asked. “Who was the monster?”

  “Doesn’t matter,” I said, but a whoosh of energy disagreed.

  It knocked me backward, ripping me away from Cindy and knocking me flat on my ass. A man settled in front of me dressed in a three-piece suit with a bowler hat and a mustache that twisted up into curls at either end. I knew without asking who he was.

  Satina’s father.

  He had a blade in his hand and a smirk on his face. As he stared down at me, a shudder ran through my entire body.

  “So it’s you,” he said in a rough and distinct accent. “You’re the one The Brothers want.” He pointed his blade at me. “I wonder if they’ll settle for you in pieces.”

  Chapter 17

  I stared up at this man, at this monster who was apparently so twisted and terrifying that he made scary things scared. If people like Satina and Abram—who had faced down every creepy and crawly thing that the Underworld had to offer—got shaken at the thought of this man popping back up on their radar, then what chance did I have?