Unstoppable

by R. L. Mathewson

  “What else would I be?” Ashley asked as she continued to sip that delicious beverage, somehow resisting the urge to risk a peek to see if he believed her.

  “That’s a good question,” he murmured. “So, then why did he grab you?”

  “Who?” she asked with a frown before asking, “The asshole?”

  “Yes, the asshole,” he said, sounding amused.

  “And that would be…” Ashley said, letting her words trail off as she returned her attention to the lifesaving elixir even as she started to feel herself drift off.

  “Kale Quinn,” he said with a heavy sigh that once again had her frowning because she had absolutely no idea who that was or why he’d grabbed her.

  Well, that wasn’t entirely true because she actually had several ideas about why he’d grabbed her, but since mentioning any of those concerns would give too much away, Ashley decided to keep them to herself. Wondering what her cellmate, or whatever he was, had done to land himself here, she asked, “And why did he grab you?” right around the time that she realized that everything hurt, really hurt, more than it had a few minutes ago.

  “Oh, shit,” he suddenly said, making her blink her eyes open to find a really angry man glaring at them through silver eyes standing at the foot of the bed and before she could ask a question that she probably didn’t want to know the answer to, agonizing pain tore through her stomach, robbing her of the ability to breathe before it swallowed her whole.

  “What the hell did you do to her?” Kale snarled as he grabbed the little bastard that he’d been forced to hire by the throat and shoved him off the bed so that he could check on the small girl that he was trapped with for eternity as she continued to scream, something that he really should be used to by now.

  “Planned a jailbreak,” Jacob said with a pained cough and a groan as he dragged himself back to his feet so that he could grab the large bowl of M&M’s that Kale had been saving for later, off the nightstand. He helped himself to a handful of M&M’s while Kale checked the little girl, and there was no way in hell that he could think of her as a woman, as she released another bloodcurdling scream.

  “So, what is she?” Jacob asked around a handful of candy.

  “None of your business,” Kale bit out as he checked her pulse, noting that it was racing and that her breaths were shallow. “What did you do to her?”

  “Fed her,” Jacob said with a shrug and another handful of M&M’s.

  “What?” Kale snarled, barely resisting the urge to tear the annoying bastard’s throat out. It was only the reminder that he needed the shifter’s help that had him grinding his jaw shut and biting out, “What did you feed her?”

  “Coke mixed with the blood I found in the fridge,” came the mangled answer around another mouthful of candy as Kale swore roundly. “I was curious,” Jacob added with a shrug.

  Cursing, Kale pressed his hand against the little girl’s head to find her burning up. “You should have minded your own fucking business,” he snarled, wishing that he could just walk away and let nature take its course, but thanks to their mating, that wasn’t an option.

  For a moment, Kale simply stood there, staring down at the little girl, blocking out her screams and thinking about just how easy it would be to walk out that door and never look back. He couldn’t kill her or harm her in any way or he’d pay the price, but he could walk away and leave her to die. As long as he didn’t do anything to harm her, he would survive her death. No matter how badly he wanted to walk away and god, did he fucking want to walk away, he couldn’t leave her and it had nothing to do with their mating marks. He’d been raised at a time when you didn’t turn your back on your mate and that was the only reason why he carefully picked up the screaming female and carried her past the nosy bastard and into the large bathroom.

  “Maybe you should give her more blood,” the little prick called after him as Kale stepped into the large shower stall.

  Ignoring him, Kale turned on the shower, set it to hot, and sat down with the unwanted bundle in his arms as he did his best to block out her screams, wondering how much more of this he was going to be able to take before he found a way to put them both out of their misery. If it had been anyone else, he would have already found a way to do it, but their connection wouldn’t allow it. It didn’t matter that she was suffering or that her bones weren’t healing and that she was slowly starving to death, their mating wouldn’t allow him to harm her in any way. So instead, he was forced to watch her die.

  “You know,” Jacob drawled as he walked into the bathroom and leaned against the wall, “I couldn’t help but notice that you’re not looking too good.”

  That’s because he was dying.

  “How much blood did you give her?” Kale asked, changing the subject because he wasn’t about to admit a weakness to anyone, especially not to another shifter.

  “A cup or two,” Jacob admitted with a careless shrug as Kale sat there, holding the little girl that he was pretty sure was killing him.

  Every time Kale tried to help her, he was punished, letting him know that everything that he was doing to help her was only making her worse. When he gave her saline to hydrate her, he’d been knocked on his ass with a fever so high that it had left him barely able to move for two days. When he’d put a feeding tube down her throat, every bone in his body felt like it was about to snap in two. If he’d just left her alone, he would have been fine, but because he’d done something to make her worse, he’d been punished, which was the only reason why he hadn’t given her blood before because he wasn’t sure that he’d be able to survive the next blow.

  “Maybe we should give her some of our blood,” Jacob said, looking thoughtful.

  “That was my blood,” Kale bit out.

  “Then we should definitely give her more.”

  “And why the hell should we do that?” Kale snapped, in no fucking mood to deal with any more bullshit tonight.

  “Because she’s growing.”

  Chapter 6

  Williams Mansion

  “Can I ask you something?” Marc asked as he joined her at the kitchen table.

  “Of course,” Indie said, forcing her attention away from the patio doors that overlooked the large pool that looked really inviting and focused her attention back on the ham sandwich that she’d been picking at for the last hour.

  She’d considered asking someone to teach her how to swim, but…

  They were already doing so much for her and she hated asking them for anything else. Besides, she really didn’t want them to know how truly pathetic she was, not that they didn’t already know. Still…

  “What did you think you were?” Marc asked, throwing her a curious glance as she debated how to answer that.

  For a long time, Indie thought that she was a shifter. She just figured that she was a low-ranking member of the Pack like the ones that had been left behind to look after her. When she was little, she used to dread the full moon, terrified that she was going to turn into one of them, only it never happened.

  “I wasn’t sure. The only thing that I knew was that they told the vampires and demons that my blood would kill them,” Indie admitted as she forced a smile for the boy that had taken her under his wing as her attention once again went to the pool and-

  “I could teach you how to swim,” Marc offered, correctly guessing just how pathetic she really was.

  “I don’t like cold water,” Indie mumbled absently, wondering if she would even be able to force herself to go near the pool without losing it.

  Probably not, Indie thought, biting back a sigh since she couldn’t seem to force herself to go near the large tub in her bathroom either. Most days, she couldn’t even look at it without feeling her stomach turn. Just the idea of submerging herself in water had her breaking out in a sweat and-

  Nope.

  She couldn’t do it.

  “Neither does Dad. He had a water heater installed before they bought the house,” Marc said, already reaching for her ha
nd. “Come on, I can show you.”

  “No, thank you,” Indie mumbled nervously as she sent another anxious glance at the pool.

  “I won’t let you fall in. I promise,” Marc said, giving her hand a gentle tug and-

  “Indie, can I see you in the living room?” Eric, the Sentinel leader that was never able to look at her without pity, said, drawing her attention to find him standing in the doorway.

  “Of course,” Indie said, forcing a smile as she reluctantly followed him. With a groan, Charlie stood up and stretched before shaking it off and joining her.

  Marc didn’t wait for an invitation. He simply followed her, determined to make sure that she was okay. He was always doing that, but then again, so was everyone else in the house. Well, everyone except for the man standing on the other side of the large, dimly lit room that hadn’t said a word to her since they were rescued, Indie amended a moment later when she walked into the living room.

  “What’s going on?” Indie asked, forcing her attention to the man that she really hoped wasn’t here to send her to live on a Sentinel Island because she really didn’t want to spend the rest of her life in captivity. The first twenty-five years had been more than enough.

  “I need to discuss something with all of you,” Eric said with a reassuring smile as Indie glanced around the living room, noting that there was no one else in the room.

  “They’re, ummm, coming,” Eric said, his lips twitching as he cleared his throat, making her frown as she glanced over in time to see Trace and Samantha walk into the room with sheepish smiles on their faces.

  “Apologies,” Trace murmured absently as he sent his father a questioning look.

  “I was helping Trace with something,” Samantha said, gesturing absently back the way they came as a blush made its way up her neck and Indie decided that it would probably be for the best if she didn’t wonder about what Samantha had been helping him with.

  “And I’m sure he appreciates it,” Eric managed to say with a straight face as Ephraim walked into the room.

  “I really did,” Trace said, chuckling when his wife shot him a murderous glare that quickly narrowed on Charlie when the large German Shepherd curled up in front of Indie’s feet, all while glaring in Samantha’s direction.

  Marc went to sit next to Indie only to sigh when his father beat him to it. With a wink, Ephraim sat down next to her, letting her know that everything was going to be okay. When she came here a little over a month ago, Eric suggested that she might feel safer on one of the islands, only to change his mind when Ephraim told him that she wasn’t going anywhere.

  He’d promised Indie that she could stay here for as long as she wanted and so far, he hadn’t changed his mind, which she definitely appreciated since she had nowhere else to go. She also didn’t have any money, an ID, any credit cards, a job, a car, a high school diploma, or any idea how she was supposed to take care of herself.

  It was definitely something that she needed to figure out soon because she couldn’t stay here forever. She’d spent enough of her life locked away. She needed to figure out what she wanted to do with the rest of her life and she had no idea where to start.

  “How soon before we can move Jill?” Ephraim asked, getting to the reason that she heard him pacing the long hallways late at night.

  He was terrified for his daughter and from what she’d heard, he had a good reason to be. There was a huge reward on Jill’s head and a Master hellbent on getting his hands on her. There were demons, shifters, vampires, and minions determined to do whatever it took to get their hands on her, and once they did…

  Indie didn’t like to think about that conversation that she’d overheard Ephraim having with Eric a few weeks ago when he’d begged the Sentinel to allow him to get his daughter. Ephraim wanted to take Jill out of the country and hide her, but the Council wouldn’t allow it.

  Ephraim wasn’t allowed to visit his daughter, call her, text her, send her a letter, or even send her an email because of what was happening. Every day, they had to deal with constant attacks on their network as well as attacks on Sentinels, their allies, and the compounds. It had gotten so bad that the Boston and New York compounds had been forced to evacuate their children and send them into hiding.

  Right now, there were only rumors that Jill was in Boston and they wanted to keep it that way so that the attacks were spread out. If they ever found out that Jill was being kept in the Boston compound, the Sentinels wouldn’t be able to protect her.

  “Soon,” Eric promised.

  “How soon?” Ephraim pressed.

  “Three months,” Eric said after a slight hesitation.

  “No,” Ephraim said evenly. “You’re not leaving my daughter in a fucking cell for three more months, Sentinel.”

  “We don’t have a choice,” Eric reminded him. “We need to wait until November when they’re distracted so that we can get Jill out of there.”

  “What happens in November?” Indie found herself asking as Ephraim shared a look with Eric.

  “Every Master, demon, and shifter will be looking for the next line of Sentinels born on the twenty-fifth. They’ll be shifting their attention to hospitals, midwives, and clinics, looking to get their hands on a Sentinel child before the Council can find them and protect them. We’ll be doing the same, but we’ll also be using that time to pull off a few things that we couldn’t do while the compounds are being watched,” Eric explained.

  “Three months and that’s it. After that, I’m getting my daughter,” Ephraim said as Indie sat there, worrying her bottom lip because they might not have to wait three months.

  “What if you let them know that I’m still alive and then move me to the New York compound so that-”

  “No,” came the firm reply that had her wondering who’d said it first.

  “You don’t know what they’ll do to you, Indie,” Eric said, leveling a glare on her that told her that wasn’t an option.

  “I have a pretty good idea,” she mumbled, considering that she’d seen firsthand what Packs did to traitors. It didn’t matter that the Pack that had kept her locked away had been destroyed, the other Packs would still punish her for the role that she played in Mary’s death.

  “We’ll wait until November,” Ephraim said firmly before shifting his attention back to Eric. “What else?”

  “We were able to find most of Mary’s personal assets as well as those that belonged to her Pack and after discussing it with the Council, we’ve decided that the money should go to the people whose lives they destroyed,” Eric said as he looked at Trace. “This won’t change what they did to you, but it should make things easier and give you a chance to start a new life. We’d love to have you join us, but that decision is up to you. We’ve set up an account for you and your mate for twenty million dollars.”

  Before Trace and Samantha could respond, and right now, it didn’t look like they knew how to respond, Eric looked at Ethan. “For what she took from you, we’ve sent ten million to”

  “Give it to the human,” Ethan said dismissively, cutting Eric off before he could finish.

  “We’ve already taken care of Indie,” Eric said, moving to continue only to close his mouth when Ethan said, “And now you’ve given her more.”

  Shaking his head with a heavy sigh, Eric looked at her and said, “Well, it looks like you have twenty million dollars, Indie.”

  “Thank you,” Indie murmured absently, trying to pretend that being called “the human” by the man that she couldn’t stop thinking about didn’t hurt as she forced herself to ask the only thing that mattered to her.

  “Were you able to find my family?” Indie asked even as she told herself not to get her hopes up.

  “I’m sorry, Indie, but we haven’t been able to find them yet,” Eric said, not quite able to meet her eyes as the politely murmured words left his lips, making her wonder what else they were trying to protect her from.

  Chapter 7

  “I don’t think that’s h
elping,” Jacob said, sounding bored as excruciating pain shot through Kale’s arm, making it difficult to breathe as the bag of human blood that was making this worse slipped from his fingers and fell to the shower floor where it slowly made its way down the drain.

  “I know that,” Kale snapped, struggling not to fucking pass out as he tightened his hold around the small girl that wouldn’t stop crying.

  “Just trying to help,” Jacob said, shrugging it off as he tossed another handful of M&M’s in his mouth while Kale sat there, struggling to figure out a way to fix this.

  He couldn’t fucking think right now. God, the pain…

  Never should have given her blood, Kale thought numbly as he sat there, wondering how much longer it would be before it was finally all over. Judging by the way that the small girl in his arms struggled to breathe, probably not much longer.

  After nine hundred years, this was how it was going to end, Kale thought numbly, unable to help but chuckle weakly as he dropped his head back against the tiled wall and closed his eyes on a pained groan. He should have just left her to die in that hospital bed and walked away.

  “We should just give her our blood. It was working,” Jacob said, sighing heavily as Kale struggled not to pass out.

  “She should be able to handle human blood,” Kale said, still trying to figure out why this wasn’t working. She was a Pyte, which meant that she should be able to consume human blood, but so far, all it did was make everything worse and they couldn’t figure out why.

  This should be working.

  His blood had helped her grow a little, he’d been able to clearly see that by the tan lines that were now half an inch lower than the large tee-shirt they’d put on her, but it had also caused her pain and he honestly wasn’t sure that he could stomach putting her through that again. Then again, so was this, Kale thought as the pain tearing through his arm made its way up his shoulder and shot down his spine.