Authors: Susan A. Bliler
Aries
turned to eye
the front door. The Walkers that had entered were now closer to the sitting room, so if she skirted the dining room table, she could be out the door before any of them had a chance to grab her. She took a slight step toward the door.
“Please don’t Ms. Bracken.”
She lifted her eyes to meet Monroe’s bored expression. “You’d never make it and there are children in the halls. It is a school day after all.
How did he know I…
Aries swallowed hard when
Conn turned to look at her. He was angry, but she read more than anger in his expression.
Defeat
? N
o, resignation.
She knew then that he had no intention of protecting her. He’d allow Monroe and his men to take her. While the realization sliced through her, she lifted her chin to frown
up
at
Conn
before extending both her wrists. She’d accept the cuffs and her fate. She didn’t need Conn, she didn’t need anyone.
Stupid! Should have known better than to trust him!
When Conn’s features softened and he opened his mouth to speak to her
,
she
slid
her eyes from his to Monroe’s. “If you’re expecting me to beg, you can forget it.”
Monroe smiled at her then.
“And as for the cuffs,” she spoke while King gently placed her wrists in shackles. “You’re wise to use them. I haven’t found a
captor
I
haven
’t escape
d
.” All eyes in the room were on her as she stood facing Monroe with her back to Conn. “And fair warning. When you slip up…and you
will
slip up.” She gritted her teeth in resentment, “I’ll fucking disappe
a
r!”
Chapter 13
The beasts that shared Conn’s soul howled in rage at his relinquishment of Aries. He couldn’t understand the reaction. He tried telling himself that he hadn’t claimed her, but the animal spirits within vehemently disagreed.
He paced his suite long after Aries had
walked out
with Monroe and his
minions.
Fucking chumps!
Even still he was fighting the urge to stalk to Monroe’s office and demand the return of the woman. But why? She wasn’t his, and he had no reason
or right
to take her. He stopped pacing the room then to rest his head against the wall. He was exhausted and hungry, but still he couldn’t eat or sleep.
The lines of his body were
tau
t with tension and his face was fraught with weariness.
He’d struggled all during the sleepless night to keep down the few shots of
liquor he’d had at the Crow’s N
est, and eventually
ended up
purging
them
sometime during the night.
He needed food, needed rest,
he
needed….something.
I can’t go on like this!
The door to his room opened, and he knew it was York before the man entered. “Everything okay boss?”
“No!” Conn snapped, shoving off the wall to resume pacing. “Monroe’s taken Aries.”
York’s brows hiked in confusion, “Uh, I thought we were delivering her.”
“We were! But she’s not the right woman.”
York’s face contorted in concern. “The wrong woman? Shit! Are they still paying us or sending us back out?”
“That’s not the fucking point,” Conn barked turning on his mercenary. “
We ripped her from her home and drug her across the country and she’s not even involved in whatever it is Mason’s got going on. She’s
innocent. A casualty o
f this fucking
Walker
existence, and now
because I exposed
her to our kind
, she’ll be held until Monroe’s satisfied she can be trusted to never divulge that information.
”
“
How will Monroe know if she can ever be trusted?”
Conn sto
pped pacing to tilt his head back
, his features grim
. “He won’t.”
“
Why don’t
we
just take her back.”
“Because,” Conn
dropped his head and crossed the room to slap
a vase that sat on a small table sending it crashing against the far wall. “
Tyce
has accepted payment
.”
York shrugged negligently, “Then the package is delivered, let’s get the hell
outta
here.”
“She’s
not
a fucking package!”
York’s eyes narrowed on his C
ommander as if seeing him for the first time. “Boss, I don’t mean to be
outta
line, but you look like shit. Are you feeling okay?”
Conn raked an angry hand through his hair. “No.” He answered
,
working his jaw.
“I’m starving, exhausted, and…” He didn’t finish the comment.
York watched him curiously for several moments. “Maybe we should visit
Doc
Arkinson
before we leave.
Exasperated, Conn exhaled harshl
y before striding angrily past
York and throwing the door open before disappearing from
the
suite.
Dr. Jenny
Arkinson
, is exactly who I need to see!
***
Chief of Surgery Jenny
Arkinson
, was greeted in her office by Commander Conn
Drago
.
“Commander
Drago
,” Jenny greeted
merrily before striding past with her mug of coffee and taking a seat at her desk, “what is it I can do for you this fine winter morning?”
“Answe
rs!” Conn demanded, eyeing the D
octor as
she
sipped at her coffee.
Jenny set her mug down, “Ah, finally r
eady to come to terms with the a
ffliction I see.”
“When will it end?”
“When you make your move C
ommander.”
Conn crossed the room and braced his arms on her desk, scowling down at her. “Are you telling me that if I fuck Aries, this’ll all just go away?”
Jenny smiled and shook her head. “No. You’ve not been listening.” She motioned for Conn to take a seat and when he continued to frown down at her she sat back in her chair and folded her hands in her lap.
Conn exhaled gruffly before stepping back and
dropping into the proffered
seat. Once he did, Jenny leaned forward and rested her arms on her desk.
“It’s more than just sex Commander
Drago
. It was designed to be that way.”
“Why?”
Jenny frowned at his impatient intrusion into her explanation. “Because,” she began, “if mere sex cured it then
no
Walker
man would be compelled to claim his
angel
, bind her to him.” She waved her hand, “You’d all just be running around fucking like rabbits, pun not intended.”
“So if sex won’t cure it, what will?”
Jenny smiled then, dropping
a hand to the double helix band around her throat
as she tilted her head to eye him critically. “A binding.”
Conn growled, “
I’m not relinquishing my halo so
stop speaking in fucking riddles and just tell me what’s wrong with me and how to fix it?”
Jenny shook her head, “Honestly, it’s not that
difficult to understand. You
Walker
men simply make it more difficult by always trying to find some non-existent loophole.” She stood then and crossed to sit on the front of the desk. “I’ll make this as clear for you as I possibly can.
”
She crossed her arms over her chest, “Your beasts have claimed Aries. She’s the one,
your
one. You can run, you can hide, you can fuck around,
hell you can even fuck her. B
ut you’ll not eat or sleep until you
claim her as your angel and bind her to you for the rest of your life by relinquishing your halo
.”
“What if I don’t want her?”
“Don’t you?” Jenny challenged before uncrossing her arms. “Look, your bod
y’s slowed it
s metabolism
to allow you time to come to terms
with what it has already decided. You need to get on board, because while
it has
slowed it hasn’t stopped.” Concern crinkled her brow then. “You can’t
go on like this forever Conn, your body
will
shut down.”
Conn’s frown deepened, “How long?”
“The worst I’ve ever seen was…” Jenny ducked her head, shame igniting her cheeks. “
Bishop
fought it for weeks.
It nearly killed him.” Her voice dropped to a whisper, “It nearly killed both of us.”
Conn was watching her closely. “Weeks? It’s only been days. I have time, find me a cure.”
Jenny shook her head. “Bishop only lasted weeks because he didn’t know what was happening to him. I didn’t tell him.
He visited the infirmary daily and I injected him with nutritional supplements to keep him going, but he never knew what was really happening to him, to us.
”
Conn shook his head, “Why?”
“Because we didn’t want each other. I was trying to start a career and he was trying to advance his status here. We didn’t even know each other, we didn’t…” Jenny’s words died as
she shook her head. “If you have any affinity towards Aries it’ll only make the symptoms worse.”
“Affinity?”
“Yes. Friendship, respect,
any appreciation for the type of person she is. It
only works to solidify your be
stial claiming.
If you
’
r
e
outright attracted to her…well, you may as well walk out of here right now and give her your halo.
”
Conn placed his elbows on his knees and allowed his head to hang low, “I’m not doing this Jenny.” He looked up then, his grey eyes imploring. “I
can’t
do this.” He stood then and strode to the door. “I suggest you find a cure in the next few weeks.”
He was halted at the door by Jenny’s voice. “Conn, you need to know one more thing.
”
He turned to stare at her.
“If you don’t claim her, bind her to you by choice.” Tears pooled in Jenny’s eyes, “That choice will be taken away
from you
”
“What are you saying,” Conn’s face flushed in anger, “are you saying I’d…
rape
her?”
Jenny didn’t answer
at first
, she simply blinked forcing her
tears back
as she dropped her head. “
I’m saying that the beasts within will force you to claim what they want.
Take
what they want.
It’s not the waiting in a dark alley to attack kind of rape, but if you
’
r
e
alone with her and you haven’t…” Jenny stopped and lifted her eyes, “
It’s like a
man stranded at sea who eventually
succumbs to
drink
ing
th
e
salt water. His rational though
t
would tell him not to do it
. E
very fiber of his being would
tell him that doing so would only make matter
s
worse. But if he’s thirsty enough, been without long enough,
nothing
—not even
his own will
—would be able to keep him from doing it.”
He reached for the door
but Jenny stopped him.
“
One more thing b
efore you go
.
I think you should know that Remy was just here.”
Conn ground his teeth together, “And I give a fuck why?”
Jenny slowly stood, “He
asked about
Aries. Her health, her
mating
status. I think he’s interested
in her
.”
“He hasn’t
even met her!”
Conn’s tone
dripped with acid.
Shrugging Jenny continued, “You know Remy. He doesn’t need to meet them to think they should be his. He’s showing no symptoms, but
as you said,
he hasn’t met her yet either.”