Tall, Silent and Lethal

by R. L. Mathewson

  “He didn’t grab her until after the van had already rolled over once,” Kale said, looking equally thoughtful. “She should have had a few bruises or cuts from that crash, but she didn’t. Not a single one.”

  “She was wrapped up in a blanket so for all you know, she could have had a few injuries,” Chris said, giving up on trying to sit up and just laid there, staring up at the early morning sky.

  Caine shook his head right along with him as he answered, “We would have smelled the blood pooling beneath her skin. She wasn’t injured.”

  “Now that I think of it,” Caine said, looking a little confused, “her back healed a hell of a lot faster than it should have.”

  “That’s because we kept a line down her throat, pumping blood inside her the whole time,” Chris added, but the expression on his face told him that even he realized that she’d healed a little too fast.

  “The cut on her hand didn’t heal quickly,” Danni pointed out, reminding them of Ephraim’s fuck up.

  “No, it didn’t,” Ephraim said, frowning as he tried to make sense of everything.

  “But she also didn’t slip into bloodlust,” Kale announced, drawing everyone’s attention.

  “How do you know?” Caine asked before Ephraim or anyone else for that matter, got the chance.

  “Because I slipped back up to their floor and listened,” Kale admitted with a careless shrug.

  “He probably fed her,” Danni pointed out around a yawn as she settled more deeply in her mate’s arms.

  “Not for a few hours,” Kale said, leveling a pointed look on Ephraim, making sure that he got the message.

  He definitely got it.

  There was something different about Christofer’s blood, something that allowed the woman he’d turned to put off bloodlust a hell of a lot longer than she should have been able to after being freshly turned and losing blood. If what Kale said was true, and he had no reason not to believe it, something had changed since the last time that they saw the couple and when they returned for them and he had a feeling he knew what that something was.

  “He’s fed her his blood,” Caine murmured, a pained expression on his face as he looked down at Danni, who was looking worse as the morning progressed.

  “Maybe he’s part demon,” Chris suggested, raising his broken arm and resting it across his stomach, taking Ephraim’s arm right along with it. The bones had fused back together so that the arm was no longer hanging at an odd angle, but it was still broken. He could smell the marrow slowly seeping out.

  Kale shook his head as he pulled his leg up, which of course dragged Chris’ good arm up along with it since it was handcuffed to the shifter’s ankle. “We would have smelled demon blood on him.”

  “Then-”

  “Oh my God!” a woman’s shriek drew their attention to a man and woman stumbling out of the woods to their left.

  “What the hell happened?” the man, who appeared to be around fifty, demanded as he pushed past the gawking woman and rushed over to help them.

  “Oh, this?” Chris asked, all innocence as he raised his head to give the man his most charming smile. “Just a simple misunderstanding.”

  “A misunderstanding?” the man repeated back, sounding horrified as he looked at what was left of the van.

  “What should I do, Alfie?” the woman asked, shifting nervously where she stood, gawking at them.

  “Call 911,” Alfie said, moving to help them, but came up short when he saw that they were all handcuffed to one another. “Why are you handcuffed?”

  “Our friend has a sick sense of humor,” Chris claimed with a straight face as the rest of them were forced to look away so that the couple didn’t see them all roll their eyes.

  Ephraim would have said something, but since the scent of the human blood had caused a rather unpleasant reaction, he decided, along with Caine and Danni as it turned out, that it was probably for the best if they just went ahead and pretended to pass out while Chris used a mixture of charm and bullshit to get them out of this without the humans finding out that they’d stumbled upon a group of ravenous Pytes and an asshole.

  *-*-*-*

  “She bit me!”

  “Great,” he sighed, wondering why he’d let Cloe talk him into this.

  Oh, that’s right, because she’d woken him up just in time for him to watch as his cock disappeared inside her tight pussy and had taken advantage of his distracted state. While he’d been sleeping, she’d been thinking, and at some point she’d come to the conclusion that they needed this group’s help.

  When he’d pointed out that he could damn well take care of her and that he didn’t need any help, Cloe had given him what he could only describe as evil smile as she ground down on him, shifting her hips in a circular motion that had made it impossible for him to talk, never mind argue. So, now he was here, hauling ass through the woods and trying to figure out the best way to accept their offer without having to grovel.

  Or apologize.

  “Call the police, Mary!” a guy screamed just as Christofer picked up the scent of freshly spilled human blood.

  “I can’t!” a woman, whom he was guessing was Mary, screamed. “I don’t have a signal!”

  “Run!” Ephraim roared just as Christofer stepped out of the woods and into the small clearing by the road.

  Yup, he definitely regretted leaving Danni’s hand free, he mused as he reached out and grabbed Cloe by the arm to steady her as she stumbled out of the woods.

  “Thanks,” Cloe murmured absently, her attention on the large pair of boxers that she was once again forced to yank up or risk giving little woodland creatures a show. Once she had the boxers yanked up and the large tee shirt that he’d given her pulled down, she looked up and frowned.

  “What…..,” she paused to lick her lips and give her head a little shake as though that would somehow help her make sense of the scene before them, “Why is Danni playing tug of war with that man?”

  “Because she apparently went into bloodlust,” he said, sighing heavily as he watched Danni try to drag the human male kicking and screaming back while Caine tried to pull her away. The fact that his left arm was cuffed to her and his right arm was cuffed to Ephraim, who had positioned himself in front of Chris, was making things a bit awkward.

  “That’s what I look like when I go into bloodlust?” Cloe asked with a frown as she watched Danni trying to drag the human back with one hand, but from the looks of things, the human was winning.

  “No,” he said, pausing to press a small kiss against her lips before he headed over to the group screaming for Danni to let go, “you would have torn that poor bastard apart by now.”

  “Well, that’s comforting,” Cloe said dryly as she followed after him.

  “I’m sure it is,” he returned as he walked around the group struggling to get Danni under control and protect Chris. Without pausing, he grabbed the screaming male by the arm, yanked him out of Danni’s grip and dragged him over to the screaming female by the woods.

  “Go,” he simply said as he released his hold on the male and sent the couple running for their lives.

  “Oh, shit!” Chris yelped, dragging his attention back to the group and to the woman now trying to climb over her mate and Ephraim to get to Chris, who was now pressed back against the pain in the ass shifter. Kale struggled against his chains as he yelled at Danni to stop.

  That was interesting….

  But something that he was going to have to worry about at another time since Cloe had taken it upon herself to help out. With a muttered curse, he walked over to the group, grabbed Cloe just as Danni snarled a warning to get the hell out of her way. With a sigh, he threw Cloe over his shoulder and carried her over to the van and put her down with another swift kiss, simply because he couldn’t help himself.

  “See if any of the blood is still cold,” he said abruptly as he turned to-

  “Mother fucker!” Chris shouted as Danni somehow managed to squirm her way between Ephraim a
nd Caine and sank her teeth in Chris’ broken arm.

  Sighing, he walked back to the group, leaned over Chris and pinched Danni’s nose closed. He ignored everything around him and just focused on the stubborn woman refusing to release her hold on the Sentinel reciting every swear imaginable. Shimmering red eyes shifted to him and narrowed as she released what she probably thought was a vicious growl, but really, it was just too damn cute to be taken seriously.

  She didn’t need air to live, but without it, swallowing that sweet blood that was now permeating the air became damn near impossible. It took her a good minute to realize that she had to let go and when she did, he was ready. With a snarl, she released her hold on Chris and went for him. Before anyone could react, he had her on her stomach and was pinning her down with his knee.

  “Don’t fucking hurt her!” Caine roared, reaching for him, but Ephraim grabbed him by the arm and held him back before he could do anything to make Christofer lose his hold on Danni.

  “Relax,” he said to no one in particular as he reached down, grabbed Danni and Caine by their wrists and yanked, breaking the small chain connecting their handcuffs. As soon as her hand was free she began thrashing beneath him, desperate to get free, desperate for blood.

  “Any of that blood cold, mein Schatz?” he asked, keeping just enough pressure on Danni’s back to keep her down.

  She really was a weak little thing, he thought with a frown as he reached over and broke Caine’s other cuff, deciding that it would probably keep the other man from going into bloodlust if he could hold his mate. The second that Caine’s chain broke he was by Danni’s side, holding her hand and calmly promising to put her over his knee and spanking her ass until it was black and blue for scaring the shit out of him.

  “This cooler is still cold,” Cloe said, dragging the large cooler over to him. He opened his mouth to tell her that she could probably lift that thing with one hand, but decided against it since it would probably lead to more of her “experimenting.”

  He shifted his attention from his mate’s long, tanned legs to Caine. “Think you can get her to eat if I flip her over?”

  “Yes,” Caine answered hoarsely, reluctantly releasing his mate’s hand.

  Within seconds, he had the growling, snarling woman on her back, her hands pinned to her stomach with one arm and was reaching with the other for Ephraim’s chain, deciding that an extra set of hands couldn’t hurt. With a flick of his fingers he broke the chain. Ephraim didn’t waste any time. He moved until he was sitting behind Danni and then just as quickly, propped the pissed off woman’s head on his lap so that Caine could feed her. He watched as the Pyte bit into his wrist and placed it against Danni’s mouth as he released her hand so that he could stick a bag of blood against his teeth.

  “How did you do that?” Ephraim asked, looking truly confused.

  He opened his mouth to answer, but he never got the chance as Kale made an announcement that he fully supported.

  “I’m a fucking idiot,” the shifter said with a humorless chuckle. “He’s ion.”

  “He’s what?” Chris asked, cringing in pain as he shifted his bleeding arm against his chest.

  “He’s a pure Pyte,” Kale said as though that made any sense to them.

  “What the hell are you saying?” Christofer demanded, looking up from the struggling woman.

  “He’s saying,” Ephraim said, drawing his attention to find the other Pyte looking at him curiously, “that your father is really fucking old.”

  Chapter 49

  Williams’ Mansion

  “Chris!”

  The excited squeal drew Cloe’s attention to a short woman standing at the top of the grand staircase with beautiful long blonde hair, a huge smile and an even bigger stomach. When the woman took an unsteady step down, Chris and Ephraim tried to go to her, but since Ephraim was still supporting most of Chris’ weight, he’d barely stumbled two feet before Kale shoved past him and raced up the stairs to stop her from taking another step.

  She watched as Kale swooped the smiling woman off her feet and proceeded to carry her down the stairs. About halfway down the stairs her smile faltered and her expression of pure joy quickly turned to dread.

  “Ummm, maybe you should bring me back upstairs?” the woman suggested, keeping her eyes locked on the foyer as she nudged Kale several times to turn around.

  “Don’t you want to see your mate?” Kale asked, his tone mocking as he glared down at the woman in his arms.

  “Ummm no, that’s okay,” she said, licking her lips anxiously as she shot another nervous look down at the foyer where they all waited.

  Curious, Cloe followed the other woman’s gaze and found herself taking a step closer to Christofer and thanking God that the murderous look on Chris’ face wasn’t directed at her. Since the woman wasn’t screaming for help, Cloe stayed where she was, watching the scene unfold with morbid curiosity.

  “You haven’t seen him in two weeks, no doubt you’re eager for a reunion,” Kale said casually as he walked down the stairs, bringing the panic stricken woman closer and closer to her doom. Cloe listened as the woman’s heartbeat quickened with every passing second.

  “I’m more tired than anything,” the woman said, adding a really loud, and really fake yawn at the end that for some reason, she couldn’t explain, had Cloe biting back a smile.

  “You can take a nap afterwards,” Kale said, taking that final step down.

  “But I would really like one now,” the woman insisted, swallowing nervously as she grabbed onto Kale’s shirt and held on.

  “And I would really like to know why you were trying to use the stairs,” Chris said, pushing away from his father to go to the woman that Cloe was assuming was his wife or mate, or whatever the hell they called each other.

  “Ummm,” the anxious woman said, obviously searching for the right words as she gave Chris a tentative smile, “because it was the quickest way to run into your arms?”

  “You’re supposed to use the elevator,” Chris growled, reaching out and taking one of her hands away from Kale’s shirt so that he could press a tender kiss against her palm before he entwined their fingers.

  “But I really missed you,” she said with a sniffle.

  Chris muttered something as he leaned in, ignoring the shifter’s scowl and kissed her. “Little liar,” he said, chuckling as he shifted his backpack forward and carefully reached in with his still-healing arm and withdrew a small white confectioners box.

  The woman gasped. “Is that-”

  Chris cut her off with a frown. “It’s empty.”

  Immediately her gaze shifted to Kale, who merely shrugged as he moved forward and handed her off to Ephraim. “Didn’t see your name on it,” he said, turning away and heading back up the stairs.

  “You bastard!” she hissed in outrage.

  “I’ll have more fudge delivered, Izzy,” Chris promised, stuffing the empty box back in the bag as leaned over and pressed a kiss to her pouting lips.

  “It won’t be the same,” she muttered with a slight wince as she shifted in Ephraim’s arms.

  “Hip acting up?” Chris asked, his expression and tone tender as he carefully laid his hand just above her left hip.

  “It’s fine,” Izzy mumbled, not quite meeting Chris’ gaze and making the nurse in Cloe wonder just how bad her hip was.

  “Izzy,” Caine said softly as he stepped up beside the small group with Danni in his arms, who was looking paler and weaker than before, “did they deliver Danni’s blood?”

  “I’m fine,” Danni muttered weakly as she lay limply in Caine’s arms.

  “Blood was delivered this morning. I’m not sure about the demon blood though,” Izzy said, her expression full of worry as she looked at Danni.

  “What’s the demon blood for?” Cloe found herself asking without thinking and just like that, everyone’s attention was back on them.

  Well, it had been nice while it lasted, she mused with an inward sigh. For the past six h
ours their little “rescue” group had been eying them curiously, except for Kale that is. If anything, Kale seemed to hate them even more now. She still wasn’t sure why. She also didn’t know why they kept looking at her and Christofer like they had two heads. Christofer on the other hand hadn’t seemed at all interested or looked like he cared. Once they’d told him the truth about his father, he’d shut down and hadn’t talked to anyone since.

  Not even her.

  When she’d tried to talk to him, he’d simply shook his head and turned his back on her. If it had been anyone else, she wouldn’t have cared, but it wasn’t anyone else and she did care, a lot more than she wanted to. As she’d watched him walk away she’d felt like he was taking a chunk of her heart along with him. It hurt more than anything she’d ever experienced before, more than she’d ever imagined it could, but it hadn’t hurt for long.