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Canna do this, canna handle this-

The beast rose, roaring free

Chapter Twenty-Three

MacRieve, you're scaringat her with un her, she screahtened around her upper arht they'd break His eyes turned ice blue and glowed Fangs protruded froers

"No' you, no' you!" He lifted her until her feet were dangling, then drew her in close, those huge fangs inches froaze bored into hers

She turned her head ahi her to the bed She scra speed Confusion roiled as she backed into a corner

He swung around to pound his palainst the wood-paneled wall, then slashed those claws straight down Splinters arced across the room

When he faced her once more, it wasn't him Not hu at hisbeast A aze, she saw

She shook so hard her head bobbed

He slashed down the wall again, roaring at the ceiling, "I fuckin' give up! YOU BLUIDY WIN!"

Munro charged into the rooo

Before and after

"Will? What's set you off?"

MacRieve growled, "Get her out of azed at Chloe huddled in the corner, shaking "Do you want her to die of fright?"

He roared back: "YES!"

Munro's eyes began glowing blue as well "That's my deirfiur I will no' let you hurt her"

"She's a goddaasped "Succubus?" She'd read about them They derived nourishment fromsex

MacRieve's twin scented the air, went ods"

Chloe was an iered

Munro quickly recovered, shoving a snarling MacRieve toward the door "Outside!" Over his shoulder, Munro told her, "If you value your life, doona leave this room" The door slammed

She sat dazed She didn't knohat terrified her most: MacRieve's true self-or the revelation of hers

Succubus

By the way these two ured succubae weren't exactly universally beloved And her ed to rise, then stumble into the bathroom Her reflection stunned her Her face was softer, her hair now curling past her shoulders and still growing

Her irises were glowing a rich green She'd read that all Lore creatures had eyes that changed with ee back?

She pinched up the he the mirror, and found her hips were rounder, her breasts plu the basin for support, noticing her nes They were pink like her nails but had tapered tips and sharp edges

Freaking claws

And even ained hat she'd lost

All her scars were gone

She supposed hted; Chloe was pissed She'd earned those es

The one on her ankle had re Brazilian ht into the hospital-and how, the next season, that girl had paid

Now Chloe saw that her knees were sone That type of surgery was like a rite of passage Even the scar froht, the one that would've re

Her badges Gone

With a yell, she shot her fist out, breaking the aped down at her lacerated hand Stupid, stupid She needed to be figuring out a way to escape this place before MacRieve returned to finish her off The hatred in his eyes

How could he treat her like this? After what they'd just shared?

All those promises he'dthat beast part of hilade, but she'd thought he was talking metaphorically

She hadn't knohat she was-but he'd known fully what he was There was a part of hilad she had seen it so soon, before she'd fallen for him coht, a pang of loss battled her fury

That bewildering pang hurt worse than her neound

She turned on the water, wincing as she ran her hand under it As the blood washed away, she saw that her skin had already begun regenerating Because I arabbed a small towel and knotted it around her hand

She'd known so This shouldn't be such a shock, Chlo Not like the shock that had hammered her with her first look at the real MacRieve He was disgusted with her? Mutual He'd been repulsive Her beautiful Scot hadthat the creatures at the eren't as bad as the thing she'd just been in bed with, she picked out a shard fro a washcloth around it

If she ran into that wolf-ut it She kneas kill or be killed

And she was no victi the shard in her back pocket, concealing it with a long sweater She didn't hear anyone outside the door, so she turned the knob, found it locked Frustrated, she yanked on it

It broke off in her hand

She stared down at it in wonder was she?

Desperate to escape, she used her claws to ji Downstairs in the great room, Ronan and Ben sat stiffly on the couch

Ronan flashed her a confused look

Ben shook his head slowly in clear warning "Chloe, you need to wait up there for Munro You canna be near Will"

She faded back into the roo out the

"If you kill her, you canna ever get her back"

After an unavoidable exchange of bloith Munro, Will tore through the woods, his brother's parting words replaying in Will's disordered mind

Munro seemed to think Will shouldn't murder the parasite who had wormed her way into their home and lives She was lucky his beast had risen Otherwise she'd likely be dead

Will had been e-yet his beast had accepted Chloe as his, had been te Will's actions Even as Will had craved to kill her, his Instinct had been co him -Protect, provide-

He wondered if his Instinct understood that providing for herher venom bond

A succubus just fed off ht he'd choke on it This couldn't be happening He'd bloody liked Chloe, relishing her passion, her spirit He'd thought his life was finally turning around

I thought I could refashion h he could nor winded, he couldn't catch his breath He stu in air

Suffocating The deep pulling him down Chloe had fed off hi into his hips as she sucked him, fed, then teed hi Because she would never be satisfied