Chapter Seventeen （Gonzo Gets More）

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (GONZO GETS MORE)

GONZO

I ran away from Hazel. Fate was cracking itself up with my life. Making me have feelings for my own assassin? Yeah, fucking hilarious.

This had gotten complicated. Admittedly it made the heavy petting even hotter. I could get off purely on the idea of her finding out who I was while squirming under me in bed. I loved her needy, but I'd also love to see rage in her eyes. The absolute anger she'd have, the bone-deep desire for murder. Yet I'd have my hands all over her making her moan.

If I ever got inside her it was over. One thrust at a time, I'd tell her what all I did. Evading her for years. Finding out her weakness. Discovering her lifelong determination to kill her brother. The rumors of a basilisk at Verfallen. Getting myself incarcerated and then transferred to the asylum. The anonymous letter telling her exactly where her brother was. The deals, the schemes, the lying.

One thrust at a time I'd make what I did known until both of us were spent.

Then I'd probably die.

"Fuck." I continued down the hall, headed towards my final solution. It was time for yet another deal.

My plans were starting to make me feel nauseous. What was I doing—holding her in bed and asking about her problems? The relief I felt when I found her breathing after her run in with Baz exhausted me. I couldn't keep doing this.

I needed Hazel dead as fast as possible and I was going to do something stupid because of that. When wasn't I doing something stupid? How many deals had I made from point A to point B?

Well, now I was going to make a deal with the devils of Verfallen. Sell my soul to the villains.

I had to convince Bree to kill Hazel. I knew she wanted to but her hands were tied. So I was going to offer a solution to her. Give me the venom and let me do that job.

My heart rate picked up as I got closer to Bree's room. I reached out to knock.

Something sharp kissed my neck. I swung around and the hallway spun with me. Round glasses, dark doctor's coat, syringe in hand.

"You've been very bad, Gonzo," Doctor Stein growled. His furious voice made all the hairs on my arms rise. Clutched in his other hand was Hazel's notebook—the hit list. Right outside the door to my final solution and I was fucked. So close , I told myself.

Then I hit the floor and was out.

When I woke up I was strapped belly down and my mind was still spinning. Glass jars filled with pieces of brain tissue were surrounding me on shelves. I heard the whisper of glass on glass. My vision swayed and blurred. Stein stood at his desk with his back to me, pressing the lid back onto one of the jars.

"Wha…" I slurred. He twisted around.

"You want to kill her," he said. There was something different about him. He was angry. It was more than that though. Something had been changing in him every day since Hazel got here. I thrashed, my strength slowly coming back. The leather straps held as I strained in them. My cheek pressed into the plastic.

The animals inside me were going insane. I couldn't tell if they were panicked or excited. They were acting rabid, like maniacs, frothy-mouthed and loud, filling my head with chaos.

"I want to live," I hissed. "Can you blame me for that? She's the Red Viper assassin and there's no one she wants to kill more than me."

"Oh? What about her brother?"

"Please," I scoffed. "She likes Baz. She fucking hates me." I thrashed as he stepped closer.

"I really don't care about your reasons, Gonzo. You've done what you do best, right? Tricked everyone. Tricked them into sending you here. Tricked me into helping you. Tricked her into your bed." I couldn't see him anymore. He was too close and I couldn't spin my head around like a fucking owl, could I? Goosebumps prickled on my neck. Why the fuck was I strapped face down?

"You plan to trap her here, don't you? Keep her as your little fuck toy. You're a sick fuck," I hissed. He walked around me and I saw his hips come into view. Then he bent over and smiled wildly.

"Well then we're both sick fucks, aren't we?" His hand shot out, grabbing a large empty syringe. The needle was the length of my forearm.

"What are you going to do?" I asked, my eyes widening. He pulled up my shirt, his fingers brushing my back. Then he grabbed my pants and I struggled as he tugged them down, exposing my ass.

"I'm going to turn something on, Gonzo." His fingers pressed against the small of my back. I tensed as he ground against the spot in circles.

"Turn— AH!" I yelled when he suddenly pushed the needle into my back. I could feel it working its way deep into my body. It burned and my vision went white as he sunk it into my bone. I panted against the chair.

"I'd have used pain medicine before I realized you were trying to kill her" I couldn't talk. A moment later he was pulling the needle back out. He carried the full syringe to a black tabletop counter. There were so many fucking tables in here. Tables and bookshelves and jars. Why were there so many fucking jars with pieces of brains?

He left me exposed, not bothering to pull my pants back up. I growled and thrashed some more. I could hear the leather starting to rip.

"What do you mean turn something on?"

"Trickster shifters are interesting in that they don't have the ability to mate," he said over his shoulder while he worked. "No matter how old or where they come from. I've heard of an ancient Celtic trickster who can turn into humans. I think I'd get along with him."

"This is about that ?" I asked in astonishment. I'm not sure what I expected but not this. When I was younger, I hated that I didn't have the ability to have a mate. That was a long time ago.

I was better on my own. I had a hard enough time keeping myself alive. Caring for someone else would be a nightmare. I'd fuck it up. I'd fuck them up. And I'd seen what happened to people who lost their mates. I didn't want that pain.

"You still have the gene for mating but it's deactivated."

"You don't know what you're doing."

"I know exactly what I'm doing. The people who run this place are angry with me, Gonzo."

"Like I give a shit! I don't need a mate!"

"And they're very interested in making big developments," he said, ignoring me.

"What for?"

"Who knows why they make me torture everyone here," he said apathetically. "Maybe to help people, maybe to hurt them. Although really, I think they just want to make money."

"You're a piece of a fucking work," I said. He spun around with the syringe in his hand. The color was slightly different now.

"But you get why I do this, don't you? I'm just trying to survive." He smiled at me.

"We're nothing alike," I snapped as he got close. I pulled my body to the side, hearing the leather give more.

"Why? Because you don't like me?"

"I hate you," I seethed. He bent down in my face, threading his fingers in my hair and tugging.

"And I fucking despise you," he said. I couldn't look away from his eyes until he shoved my head back down. He sighed and walked away, needle still in hand.

"Do you really not want it?" He asked.

"I…" I felt all the old feelings about it come to the surface. "No, I don't." I ground my teeth. Liar . Stein was leaning against his desk, watching me with a bored expression.

"It'll work, I suppose there's no point in testing it."

"Suddenly find your morals?" I asked.

"Perhaps. Or maybe I'm just tired of being someone's pet scientist." He stared at the syringe in his hand, a frown on his face. I didn't care. I'd find a way to kill him and I'd do it the moment the strap gave. There wasn't a choice in the matter. He knew I was trying to kill Hazel. That wasn't going to work out for me.

"You've forgotten something," I growled, reaching inside myself and pulling the fox up to the surface. My body expanded, the straps straining. I wasn't a normal shifter. I could make myself large and I could partially shift. Sharp teeth grew from my mouth. My eyes glowed. It all happened in an instant.

The strap snapped. I twisted around and ripped the remaining straps with my clawed hands. Stein reached for the walkie-talkie and brought it up to his mouth. I de-shifted and rushed him, smacking it from his hands. It crashed to the floor and broke into pieces. Stein looked down between us. I looked down too.

The needle had accidentally pierced me and the plunger had been pushed in. Warmth spread across my body and a strange tingling went right to the roof of my mouth. My eyes watered.

"Fuck," I hissed.

My hands wrapped around his coat and I flung him against the wall. He grabbed me and brought me with him. This wasn't the same man who I made a deal with all those weeks ago. That man didn't have an emotion in him. This one bled anger and fought back. But he was weak and I was strong. I pinned him and dove in to rip out his throat with my teeth.

I pushed my face against his neck. The tips of my fangs settled against his skin. The odd scent of him hit me. I always found it strange. I inhaled, pushing my nose behind his ear, trying to figure it out. He didn't smell right. It wasn't displeasing, it was something else.

Something hit me in the chest, feelings emerging like a pandora's box of horrors. No , not him.

"Fuck!" I growled. I grabbed his head and pressed my thumbs into his eyes. If I destroyed him quickly, I could fix this. My thumbs pressed and pressed but wouldn't go in any further. I couldn't hurt him. I kept trying though, my arms shaking.

"This is a very sad attempt at murder," he commented without emotion. I dropped my hands in defeat. Our faces were too close. Our bodies were too close. My eyes focused on his mouth. He had perfect lips. All of him was attractive, wasn't it? He was like a painting with all the perfect strokes.

"Gonzo," he commented. "Don't tell me…" he trailed off.

"I fucking hate you," I said. Then I pressed my mouth against his. He inhaled sharply, his hands tightening around my arms. My body tingled, my mind felt numb. Just the smallest, softest touch of his mouth.

I choked and flung myself off him as I felt my body react.

"What have you done?" I whispered. "You did this on purpose, didn't you? Punishment, that's what you kept going on about. How I deserved to be punished."

"You're wrong about whatever you're feeling," he said and the words enraged me for some reason. I attacked him, dragging him down the floor. He pushed me off but I crawled back on top of him. There would be no getting away from me. He was mine and I fucking hated it.

"You knew the perfect way to punish me. The perfect trick ." I bent down, pressing my mouth to his ear. "The most devious, conniving, trick I've ever come across," I rasped in awe. No, fuck !

"Whatever you're feeling is just a side effect, it's misplaced on me. Your mate is probably close by." He spoke calmly and slowly.

"Tell me you didn't do this on purpose," I growled.

"I didn't do this on purpose. That's impossible and you're wrong. A mate bond with me wouldn't make any sense because I…" his words are cut off. "Because I—" again his words cut off abruptly.

"What?" I asked. I flipped him around and Stein shoved me off him. I crawled on top of him again. Stein opened his mouth and I watched in confusion as he seemed to struggle to say anything. He was clearly frustrated.

Something was wrong with him and it made me upset. I closed my eyes and tried to push the feeling away. Finally, Stein sighed and gave up whatever he was trying to say.

"Get off me," Stein said, looking at my mouth. That's when I realized I'd been leaning closer and closer. I couldn't even stop myself, could I? I'd never felt anything like this before.

"Fuck, I can barely control myself," I said as desire hit me in the chest. "What have you done?" My hand slipped under his neck, cradling it.

"You're the idiot who rushed someone holding a needle," he said.

"Guess we're both to blame," I whispered before I pressed my mouth to his. I kissed him deeply and my chest felt warm. It was making an uncontrollable need rise up in me—a wave so big it was going to drown me. It was terrifying. I was going to lose control.

I ripped myself off him and scrambled up, desperate to escape. This… was a blip in the plans. Things were messier than before but they weren't entirely fucked. I just… I just needed to get to Bree. I needed to convince her Hazel was a threat and then I needed to make a deal with her.

Then I'd fix this mating issue.

I ran, again. Sometimes it felt like that's all I did.