It had been easy enough. “I hitchhiked.” She’d gotten incredibly lucky. After she’d run to the main road, she’d found a big rig cruising by. The driver had taken her close to the city, and, well, freedom had been at hand.

“Hitchhiked.” He shook his head as he climbed off the bike.

She yanked off the helmet and tossed it to him.

Of course, he caught the helmet. Connor grabbed it in one of those too-fast moves of his. He stared down at the helmet a moment, then looked up at her. “You know, the wrong person could have picked you up.”

“The risk was worth it,” Chloe said as she turned away. She started marching toward her prison.

She’d taken about two steps when he grabbed her and spun her back around.

“Dying would have been worth it? I’m protecting you! That fool you ditched earlier—the one that Eric is probably going to fire from the Bureau—he was protecting you, too!”

Now she had to wince. Chloe had known it would be too hard to escape when Connor was keeping his too attentive eyes on her, so she’d waited until he’d gone to check in with his boss. While Connor was gone, a younger agent, a man named Harris Grey, kept tabs on Chloe. Unfortunately for Harris, he was only human. So he’d actually trusted Chloe and thought she was sleeping in her room and not, um…running wildly through the woods as she tried to escape.

“I would have thought dying once would be enough for you,” he muttered, his eyes a golden fire in the dark.

But his words—they struck right to her heart and Chloe felt her own anger burn inside of her. “You don’t know anything about dying or about what I want.” She jerked away from him. “You’re my jailer, right? Nothing more and nothing less.”

And I shouldn’t have kissed you! I should have clawed out your gorgeous eyes! But she hadn’t. She’d pretty much been rubbing against him like a cat in heat.

Or a werewolf in heat.

They glared at each other.

“Don’t ever kiss me again!” Chloe fired at him. “I have enough to deal with as it is! I don’t need you—I just don’t need you!” Then she spun around and started her furious march once again.

“Oh, baby…”

Her eyes closed. Why was his voice sexy?

“You definitely need me. And I’ve got the claw marks on my shoulders to prove it.”

Her eyes flew opened. She glanced down at her hands. Saw the small nails there. Nails, not claws. Chloe kept walking. She heard him swear behind her, and then the thud of his footsteps followed her.

Chloe climbed up the rickety steps that led to the porch. Three of them. They squeaked beneath her feet. She reached for the door—

Harris yanked it open. His blond hair was mussed, as if he’d raked his fingers through it again and again. His brown eyes were stormy and his face—a fairly handsome face, but not that hard and sexy like Connor’s—showed his fury. “If you’re here for protection,” he snapped at her, “you aren’t supposed to run!” He stabbed his index finger toward Chloe. “We protect you! You aren’t supposed to run from us!”

“Ah…” Chloe nodded and glanced over her shoulder at a watchful Connor. “He missed the memo, huh? Didn’t get that whole part about me not being here willingly?” Well, now she didn’t feel so bad about ditching him. She looked back at Harris. “It’s not protection, it’s prison. And inmates, well, they try to escape prison. It’s just sort of what they do. A thing.”

His mouth opened and closed, rather fish-like. She gave him a grim smile. “But I am sorry if you get in trouble.” Those words slipped from her, utterly sincere. Harris had been good enough, as jailers went. She certainly didn’t want the guy getting booted from the Para Unit because of her. “Maybe I can talk with Eric.” And while I’m having that talk, I can try and convince the guy to let me go.

I mean, really…so a girl’s father turns out to be an insane werewolf megalomaniac. Doesn’t mean I’m like dear old daddy.

Her father’s image flashed in her mind, and pain shot straight to Chloe’s heart.

“Oh, I’m sure Eric will have plenty to say to you soon,” Connor murmured. “For now, go inside and crash. You have to be dead on your feet.”

Actually, she wasn’t. That was the problem, right? She was supposed to be dead, only she was definitely back in the land of the living, even if she had been stabbed in the heart. By my dad and then…then I turned on him.

Only she didn’t remember that particular attack.

Harris was still glaring at her. Obviously, he was more than a bit angry. Not that she blamed the guy. Not at all. “Sorry,” she said. “Sorry for sneaking out while you were in the bathroom.”

His glare got worse, and he flushed a deep crimson. Maybe she should have kept the bathroom part quiet. She slipped around him and headed back for her room. There was one bedroom in the place—hers. The men had been bunking on the couch, so at least she had a little privacy. She liked that privacy, especially when the nightmares came to her.

And they came every single time she closed her eyes.

Her steps were slow but certain as she headed to her room. Chloe kept her head down, hoping the pose made her look defeated, but…she wasn’t.

I won’t stay caged forever. She’d find a way out of this mess, sooner or later.

***

“What’s Pate going to do to me?” Harris Grey asked, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “I busted ass to get into the Para Unit. This shit matters to me!”

He’d busted ass, huh? Connor had gotten in a different way…mostly by attacking the Para Unit. Rather specifically, Connor had attacked his do-right brother Duncan, a guy who’d been human for far too many years.

Not anymore. Now Duncan is like me.

Connor had been on the wrong side in the battle with the Para Unit. Now, he was having to make amends for the deeds he’d done. Keeping Chloe alive? That was his current—and last—atonement.

“Can you…can you put in a good word with Pate? I mean, he likes you.”

Connor laughed as he climbed up the stairs. They creaked beneath his weight. “I don’t know if Eric Pate likes anyone.” Maybe one person, his sister Holly. Everyone else? Not so much. Eric had a reputation for being cold as ice.

“But…but you’ve worked with him before.”

Connor grunted. Worked with him…been blackmailed by him…same thing as far as Eric was concerned.

“This job matters to me.” Harris straightened his shoulders. “Vamps killed my parents when I was thirteen. I know the monsters are out there. I want to stop them. I want to make a difference.”

Right. Connor paused in front of the guy. “There’s an important lesson that you’ve missed here. Those monsters you want to take down? They can look just like everyone else. Hell, they can even look like a sexy, little, dark-haired minx with big, blue eyes…” He looked over Harris’s shoulder and saw that Chloe had turned back to look at him. She was gazing at him, her expression stricken. Hell. “Chloe—”

“Right.” Harris nodded. “I forgot. She’s not…human. She just—she looks so innocent, you know?”

Chloe turned on her heel. Went in the bedroom. Quietly shut the door.

“You always have to be on guard,” Connor said. “Especially with the innocent ones.” Then he slapped his hand on Harris’s shoulder. “Go home. Get some rest. I’ve got the next twelve hours covered.” Actually, he’d be keeping a twenty-four, seven watch from now on. Because, yeah, Eric was going to totally rip Harris a new one when he found out that the guy had let Chloe escape.

I got her back though. She’s safe.

Harris looked relieved. “Thanks, man.” He grabbed his bag and headed out. As Connor watched him go, he wondered…just how would the guy react if he knew he’d just been talking with one of the monsters out there? One of the beasts he wanted to stop?

The big, bad wolf.

That’s me, all right.

Connor prowled around the little cabin. He secured the doors. Checked the front windows. He watched through the glass as Harris drove away. Then, there was just silence. The thick, engulfing silence that came from being far away from the city. That night, even the insects weren’t chirping.

No sound at all.

He tensed.

Why aren’t the insects making noise? He stared out into the darkness, but saw no threat.

He turned off the lights in the cabin and headed for the bedroom. The floor gave a faint creak beneath his feet.

***

His phone rang again. He’d left the town, left the body where it fell. Why not? He didn’t care if Wesley was discovered. Let the cops find the body. Let the ME cut into him and see that monsters were horribly, terrifyingly real.

He was tired of being in the shadows. He and Senator Quick had made plans, so many plans. The monsters shouldn’t have been in the dark anymore.

The senator also shouldn’t have been dead.

Chloe has more fire inside than I realized.

He put the phone to his ear. “You have Chloe.”

“We’re watching the house right now.”

A smile curved his lips.

“Looks like it’s just her and that other wolf—Connor.”

Connor Marrok was a problem that needed to be eliminated. Unfortunately, it wasn’t always easy to eliminate an alpha. They could be frustratingly strong.

His pack member gave him directions to the location and ended, saying, “We’re two hundred yards away. We won’t close in, not until you arrive.”

“Good.” Because if the wolves got too close to Chloe, there would be no controlling them. Chaos would reign. It wasn’t time for chaos, not yet. “I’ll be there soon.” He put the phone in his pocket. Looked up at the moon. Such a beautiful sight.

Had Connor enjoyed the moon that night? He certainly hoped so…because Connor would never live to see another one.

I’ve been planning to kill you for a long time, Marrok. The fact that the bastard was with Chloe now, well, that just meant the timeline for his death had been moved way, way up.

***

Chloe ditched her clothes. She shoved off her shoes and jeans and threw her shirt across the room. He said I was a monster! Damn him. Did Connor have any idea how much his words had hurt her?

She stood there, clad in her bra and panties, as rage and pain twisted inside her. Connor had no clue about her past. He didn’t know what it had been like for her all those years. Not human, not werewolf. A freakish mixture of both.

The door opened. She whirled around, her hands automatically rising to cover herself in a sad and feeble attempt at modesty.

Connor stood in the doorway. It was dark behind him, and the darkness just made him look all the more menacing.

She’d never been attracted to dangerous men. Or at least, she hadn’t, not until she’d met him. The guy was so much trouble.

Chloe notched up her chin. “You don’t need to come in here and tell me to stay inside. I’m not planning on running, okay?”

He stalked into the room. Shut the door. That golden stare of his raked over her. Her skin actually seemed to warm as he looked at her.

“This isn’t a peep show,” she shot at him. Chloe grabbed for the sheet and wrapped it around her body. “And you can show some courtesy and knock when you enter a room. That’s what normal people do.”

He shrugged. “I’ve never been accused of being normal.”

Her eyes narrowed on him and he just…kept stalking forward. Toward her. Toward the bed. “Wh-what are you doing?”

“After the stunt you pulled, did you really just think you’d be sleeping alone?”

“Yes, I did.” He’d better not say—

“You’re a flight risk now. To make sure that you don’t try to escape through the window in the middle of the night, I have to stay close.” His hand lifted and his knuckles skimmed down the side of her arm. “Very close.”

She jerked away from him. “You are not sleeping in my bedroom!”

He nodded. “I figured I’d just sleep in the bed with you. Someone had to make the sacrifice.”

What? Sacrifice? Her jaw dropped.

He smiled. Then he reached out his hand and turned off the lamp.

Her own hand flew out, fumbling as she tried to turn that light right back on. But he caught her fingers in his. Held her easily.

“This isn’t happening,” Chloe said. Why was her voice all husky? She cleared her throat and said, “You aren’t staying in my bed!”

“I’m not saying we’ll be f**king.”

She was grateful for the darkness right then. She could feel the heat stinging her cheeks and knew that she’d flushed a dark red.

“But I have to make sure you don’t run.” His voice was a hard rumble. “You’re my assignment. And unlike Harris, I won’t be fooled by a pair of big, blue eyes.”

Right. “Because you know I’m a monster.” His words had hurt. Cut her to the quick. Mostly because…she felt like a monster. When she thought of the things she’d done, there was no denying her nature.

“You’re my assignment,” he said again. “Eric Pate wants you protected, and I’m here to make sure that you keep living.”

Wonderful. Jailer.

“So climb into bed, close your eyes, and get some sleep.”

Sleep would be impossible, especially if he was right next to her.

“I promise,” he added as his fingers slid away from hers, “I won’t touch you. I’ll stay on my side of the bed and you can stay on yours.”