CHAPTER 14
CHLOE
Chloe was shaking. She couldn’t help it. Every blow Mathis took was like a punch in her chest. When the ibex launched itself at his throat, she thought she would pass out.
And Harper knew it. Every gasp she tried to stifle, every time she swayed as Mathis stumbled or took another strike—every time, Harper laughed, as though it was the best joke he’d ever heard.
Even when the fight was over the nightmare didn’t finish. The moment Harper called the match, Chloe spun away, only to be stopped by his iron grip on her elbow.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Back to my quarters,” Chloe hissed through gritted teeth. “You and the guests are going to have drinks in the gold lounge, aren’t you? Like last night? So my shift is over.”
“Oh, my dear Ms. Kent, you’ve quite misunderstood.” Harper chuckled, guiding her back to the middle of the room. “You’re not on duty. In fact, you won’t have any staff duties for the rest of your time here. You’re my guest, and you simply must stay until the night is over.”
Chloe gulped. “I want to see Mathis—”
The words were out before she could stop them. Harper shook his head, a fatherly smile on his lying lips. “Of course you do. That’s what makes this setup so exceptionally useful. Now, just follow me—and remember to smile for the other guests…”
Chloe let him lead her down the corridor to the gold lounge. She didn’t need to smile at the other guests, because none of them looked at her.
Plausible deniability, she told herself, feeling ill. If they don’t see how upset I am, they can pretend they have no idea what’s going on, when all this gets out. And they must assume it’s going to get out someday. They’re too rich not to be paranoid.
Things were starting to click into place. The all-shifter staff, made up of small, weak shifters. The lack of security. The short-to-nonexistent advance notice of any visits. Harper’s island was a fly-by-night operation on a grand scale—and just as easy to break down, if things got risky. Chloe had no doubt Harper would get rid of his staff with no hesitation, and what better way of hiding mass murder than having your victims be a group of birds and tiny creatures?
Chloe felt faint. Thandie and the others. They’re in so much more danger than they know.
She almost stumbled, and Harper pulled her upright. He shoved her towards the window seat at the far end of the room.
“You look tired. Have a seat.”
“I’m fine.” She wasn’t. But she wanted to see Mathis. If he was going to be here—
“I said, sit. And I wouldn’t move if I were you, not until I say so.” Harper’s face split into a thin smile that had too many teeth in it, gray and narrow behind his lips.
Chloe sat, ice crackling up her spine.
She saw Mathis come in. He was human-shaped again, and someone had given him a change of clothes. Black sweats that outlined his thigh and butt, and a white muscle shirt that he was bleeding through.
Chloe could have sobbed. She didn’t care if he thought she had come here to betray all of shifter-kind. She didn’t care if he hated that she was his mate. She wanted nothing more than to run across the room and fling her arms around him, to breathe in his scent and check his wounds.
But she couldn’t. She didn’t know what Harper would do to her, or Mathis, or anyone else if she disobeyed him. So she stayed in the window seat like a bird in a cage as Harper showed off his prize fighter.
She was shaking with rage and exhaustion by the time the VIPs started to disperse. The moment Harper snapped his fingers at her and gestured for her to move, she was on her feet.
“My goodness, you two make a lovely pair,” he said genially, eyes glinting. “Well done, both of you. Now, off to bed. Julian?”
Julian Rouse appeared so quickly Chloe jumped. She hadn’t noticed him before, but he must have been around. He was always around, always just out of sight. She must have been so focused on Mathis that she didn’t notice him.
He was paler this evening than Chloe had ever seen him, a tic twitching at the corner of one eye. Good, Chloe thought heartlessly. I hope you feel bad. I hope this shit keeps you up at night.
Neither she nor Mathis said anything as Julian took them back to his quarters, but Chloe grabbed hold of Mathis’ hand. He didn’t pull away, but to her horror, the further they walked the more he leant against her for support.
He’s exhausted. Chloe’s mouth went dry. So much for our plans. He can hardly walk. Which Harper must be gambling on.
No security team. No cameras. By forcing his victims to fight to exhaustion, Harper ensured their bodies were as much a prison as any cage.
Julian shut the door behind them without a word, and Mathis collapsed onto the bed almost in the same breath.
Chloe swore, panic gripping her. “You’re hurt.”
“It isn’t that bad,” Mathis said.
“Liar.” Chloe gulped. “I’ll get the first-aid kit.”
“There’s no time,” Mathis protested. He braced his arms on the side of the bed and hissed in pain. “I’ll be fine.”
“Sure you will.” Chloe’s insides were churning. She grabbed the first-aid kit from the bathroom and hurried back into the bedroom, standing directly in front of Mathis so there was no space for him to get up. “You’re fine. Everything’s fine. And anyone tracking us will just have to follow the bloody footsteps. Great plan.”
Her voice was harsher than she intended, but to her relief, Mathis stopped trying to get up.
“Good point,” he muttered.
He was shivering, just slightly, but his cheeks were flushed. Chloe frowned. “You’re exhausted.”
“I’m fine. We need to hurry.” Mathis jerked his head away as Chloe put out her hand to test his temperature. “Don’t.”
Chloe snatched her hand back. “But—”
Mathis’ face had been stiff with pain and simmering anger, but just for a moment his eyes softened. “I’m sorry. It’s safer if you don’t touch me when I’m like this.”
Chloe stared at him. “You need medical attention.”
“I need you not to touch me.” Mathis spoke through gritted teeth, the words ripping out of his throat. Chloe stepped back, feeling as though she’d been punched in the stomach.
Mathis sagged. “I don’t mean…” A muscle in his jaw moved and he raised his eyes to meet hers. “You didn’t sign up to be my—for this thing between us. Harper is exploiting it to control you. I won’t. I won’t use you like that. But the more you touch me, the stronger the bond will become.”
Chloe swallowed. Mathis’ words just made her want to hold him more. Everything about him did.
But what he was saying made sense. The mate bond, or connection, or whatever the hell it was, gave Harper a hold over them both. What had Mathis said earlier? That being close to one another would make the bond stronger?
Making the bond stronger would make Harper’s power over them stronger. That made sense. It was logical.
Even if not holding Mathis when he was in so much pain made Chloe’s heart ache.
“Right,” she muttered. “Well—here’s the first-aid kit. Knock yourself out.”
She bit her lip. Oh, yeah. Snipe at him. That’s going to help.
I know what might help, though. Chloe darted across the room and rifled through her suitcase. “Here. Eat this. All of it. I can only imagine how much energy all that healing and transforming takes.”
Mathis took the rest of her chocolate stash with shaking fingers. He ate it in a few bites and then cracked open the first-aid kit. Chloe’s fingers twitched as he swiped antiseptic wipes over the wounds in his chest and side, where the bite and claw marks were already closing over.
Stop it. He doesn’t want your help. You’re a liability. She swallowed. If it wasn’t for you, he could probably have got away by himself by now. Instead of being torn apart for Harper’s amusement.
“This is insane,” she murmured, watching his skin knit itself together. “And—oh, hell, your leg.”
“It’s not that bad.” Mathis didn’t look up.
“The hell it isn’t. You’re not even looking at it. It doesn’t look like it’s healed at all.”
Mathis gritted his teeth. “Give it a few minutes. The chocolate will help.”
It didn’t. At least not visibly. In the end Mathis relented, packing gauze against the wound and wrapping a bandage around it.
He had stopped shaking, at least. He sat on the edge of the bed, and Chloe had to stalk over to the other side of the room to stop herself from sitting down beside him.
“What time is it?” His voice was like a magnet, pulling her back across the room.
Chloe closed her eyes. Stop it. “Are you sure you’re well enough—”
“I have to be. What time is it?”
Chloe sighed and grabbed her phone from her bag. It didn’t have any signal, but it could still tell the time at least. “Ten to one. We need to wait for the cleaning crews to be finished in the tower.”
“You’d better get changed, then.”
Chloe grabbed a bundle of clothes from her suitcase and hesitated. He’s seen it all already, she berated herself. Why are you suddenly so shy?
She swallowed over a lump in her throat. Without even trying to find an answer for her own question, she hurried into the bathroom and shut the door after her.
Chloe practically tore her dress off. She’d stress-sweated so much during the fight that it was grimy already, and there was no way she was wearing it again. She left it in a crumpled heap on the bathroom floor and pulled on her sweats and a long-sleeved shirt. Her heels hit the wall as she kicked them off, before pulling on her trusty sneakers. She might not look glam, but she wouldn’t be a shimmering blood-colored traffic light in the darkness.
Mathis was prowling around the bedroom. He’d turned off the main light, to make it look like they had gone to sleep, and Chloe blinked as her eyes adjusted.
“Have you seen anyone out there?”
“Not yet.”
While Mathis’ back was turned, Chloe went back to her suitcase and palmed the miniature camera she’d hidden in a secret pocket in the lining. Keeping a close eye on Mathis, she put it in a waterproof bag and tucked it into her bra.
It wasn’t that she didn’t trust that he wanted to get them both off this island. She just wanted her own security that once they were free, she would still have some evidence to make someone take notice of what was going on here. Not her editor—Thandie and the others deserved better than being pulled out of this cage into the media spotlight—but someone who could do something about it.
There must be shifter police, right? Someone who can do something about this. Stop Harper from hurting anyone else.
“People.”
Mathis’ whisper brought her over to the window. She recognized the figures traipsing out of the tower’s staff entrance, shoulders slumped and heads hanging with exhaustion.
“That’s the cleaning crew. There should be six of them. There, that’s them all.”
They both waited in silence until Chloe’s six ex-colleagues disappeared around the corner, heading for their own quarters. Chloe took a deep breath, and felt Mathis tense beside her.
“Time to go?” she breathed.
Mathis nodded. “Time to go.”