Tall, Dark & Heartless: A Pyte/Sentinel Series Novel

by R. L. Mathewson

  And she hated herself even more.

  Out of the corner of her eye she spotted the lake through the trees, but didn't stop. She kept running, needing to put space between them. Most of all she needed to put all the walls that used to protect her heart from him back up. She needed to do it now before she did something foolish and fell for a man who let her know in so many ways just how much he truly didn't care.

  Well, that was fine with her, more than fine actually, because she never wanted to see him again. She was going to run and-

  Agonizing pain exploded in her back and tore through her stomach, shredding tissue and bone seconds before she heard the echoing sounds of a rifle being fired in the not too far distance. A scream escaped her lips as she felt her skin being ripped apart, her organs shredded and her spine shattered before the molten hot bullet made its way through her stomach. Her legs gave out as she plastered her hands against her stomach as if it would stop the pain, but it didn't. Nothing could, she realized as she hit the ground, hard.

  She should be dead, she realized as the pain doubled and she wished like hell that she was just as her reality dimmed and her mind zeroed in on the pain, leaving her in a black haze.

  Chapter 27

  "Son of a bitch!" Jax snapped as he clasped a hand against his neck.

  "Stop bitching," Caine said as he wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand and pushed the Alpha out of his way so that he could go after his mate.

  "Bitching? You don't think you were a tad rough?" Jax snapped, stepping in his path and blocking his way as he held up his hand, showing Caine his bloody palm.

  Caine inwardly winced. He may have been a little rough with the Alpha, but it wasn't anything that he didn't deserve, he reminded himself. "Stay the hell away from my mate."

  "She was more than willing," Jax pointed out as he pressed his hand back against his neck.

  "She wasn't aroused," Caine felt the urge to point out.

  Jax simply shrugged. "She would have been before I took her."

  Caine punched him, sending him stumbling back. Jax allowed his canines to lower as he dropped his hands to his sides and stepped in front of Caine. "I owe you, Pyte, but don't fucking push it. You're the one who fucked up, not me. You made her fair game for everyone in my pack the second you asked if you could have a female to fuck."

  "I don't want a mate!" Caine snapped, feeling panic set in as he looked around and didn't see Danni. Where the hell was she? He scented the air, but there was no trace of her scent. She was too far away.

  Jax rolled his eyes at that announcement. "Nobody does, asshole, but at least you got to choose. All I have to do is come into contact with mine and my dick will go limp for every female out there and I'll be stuck with some bitch for the rest of my life. Count yourself lucky that you at least have someone that loves you."

  All shifters had destined mates. While Sentinels had soul mates who matched almost perfectly even if they didn't love each other, shifters were stuck with whatever shifter was genetically perfect for them. They could only breed with their mate so until they found their destined mates they were free to fuck whoever they wanted without worry. The second they came into contact with their destined mate they would become marked as mated, usually marked by a tattoo somewhere on their hand or arm.

  While the marked female could freely screw whomever she wanted and even enjoy the act, the poor bastard that was mated to her would only be able to get it up for her. He wouldn't even be able to get relief by his own hand. If he was mated to a woman who didn't want him he would live the rest of his life in sexual frustration. He'd heard of several shifters that went crazy that way. He couldn't imagine a more fucked up situation.

  Caine shook his head, clearing his head of that rather frightening thought. "She doesn't love me," he said as he scanned the area again. Where the hell was she?

  "How far away did you say that pond was?" he asked absently as he headed in the direction Danni had left twenty minutes ago.

  "A quarter mile away," Jax said, jogging to catch up to him.

  "I can't smell her," Caine gritted out as he tried not to panic. She wouldn't leave him, would she?

  Of course she would, he thought on a disgusted snort. He'd treated her like shit. Danni didn't put up with bullshit from anyone and he should have realized that he pushed her too far.

  "Really? Maybe that's because you practically coated her in yours. It was a bit much, don't you think?" Jax asked, sounding amused.

  Caine threw the man a glare. "If you knew I marked her, then why the hell were you trying to get between her legs?"

  Jax shrugged as he scratched his stomach lazily. "I felt like pissing you off," he admitted as he pulled his watch out of the jeans Caine made him put on before he fed from him. "We're due to leave in an hour so we'd better find your mate quickly."

  Caine nodded as he scented the air again and froze. He felt Jax go still next to him.

  "Humans," Jax said, adding an inventive curse.

  "We need to get to her," Caine said, moving to take a step when he heard the first gunshot. By the second gunshot he was running.

  "Shit!" Jax swore behind him just as Danni's scent hit them. He almost sighed with relief until he realized why he could smell her so clearly when only a second ago he couldn't scent her at all.

  A roar escaped him as he slammed a thick branch out of his way, sending it flying through the air and not giving a damn where it went. He was barely aware of Jax following him as he plowed through the woods. He needed to get to her, he needed to find Danni.

  In the back of his mind he knew that she couldn't die, but that didn't matter to his heart at the moment. His stomach twisted with dread as he imagined Danni gone and oddly enough his body wasn't mourning the little girl that used to make him dress up every year for Halloween until he finally put his foot down. She'd crossed a line the day she demanded that he wear a Peter Pan outfit. He mourned the strong, stubborn woman that he'd allowed himself to care about.

  "Get her off of me!" a man screeched as Caine broke through the trees. What he saw had his eyes shifting and his fangs dropping so fast in his mouth that they actually cut through his gums.

  "Shoot her again!" a man wearing camouflage from his baseball cap to his hunting boots yelled as he shoved another man in identical clothing in front of him and gestured for him to shoot Danni, who was busy tearing into the throat of a third man.

  Her eyes were red and as wild as her growls. She pinned the fat man down on the ground and sank her teeth into his neck. He screamed as he fought to push her away, but Danni was too focused on the blood to care or even realize what was happening.

  "Fuck me," Jax breathed as he stumbled to a halt next to Caine. They both took in Danni's appearance. She was completely naked now. Her ripped blood soaked shirt was in the clutches of the man trying to get away from her and she was covered in blood and gore that he knew was hers. Her stomach was......

  He couldn't even look at her stomach without feeling rage. He didn't need to see her back to know that the stomach wound was an exit wound and he knew that she'd suffered. His heart ached for her. He'd planned on protecting her so that she would never have to experience pain like this, but he'd failed her.

  "Shoot her, you asshole!" the coward said as he shoved his friend forward.

  With shaky hands his friend raised his rifle and aimed it at Danni's head. It wouldn't kill her, but it would be a memory that would stay with her for eternity. She'd dream of it, wake up at night screaming and praying for death as the phantom pain tormented her.

  "Get the fuck away from my mate," Caine snarled viciously, drawing the man's attention. The barrel of the rifle swung towards him and he'd made damn sure that it stayed that way. He stalked forward, ignoring the man's frantic demands that he back off.

  "Whatever you do, don't go into bloodlust," Jax said as he moved to help Danni. "I'm going to need your help with this one."

  Caine didn't look at the man as he nodded. If he was shot in th
e heart or the head he'd be knocked out, but if he received a blow like the one Danni had he'd go into bloodlust and probably kill every man here before he went searching for the next source of blood, Jax's pack.

  In human form they would be vulnerable. They wouldn't be able to shift without the help of the full moon and that meant they wouldn't be able to heal as fast. They would still heal faster than a human, but that wouldn't be enough to save them from the damage a Pyte in bloodlust would cause. The only one that could shift at will was the Alpha, Jax, and with two Pytes in bloodlust, the shifter wouldn't stand a chance. He knew that if he slipped into bloodlust that Jax wouldn't hesitate to tear the gun away from the frightened man and put him and Danni down so that he could protect his pack.

  "Which one of you shot my mate?" he demanded in a voice that was barely human as he approached the men.

  "I-it was an accident," the one holding the gun pleaded as he stumbled back, banging into the other man who was cowering behind his buddy. "We thought she was a deer!" he said, swallowing nervously as he did his best to keep the barrel of the gun focused on Caine's chest.

  Caine reached out and snatched the gun out of the man's hands, giving the second man a warning glare when he moved to pull his rifle off his shoulder. Keeping his eyes on the men he sniffed the end of the barrel. This one was clean so he tossed it aside and reached past the trembling man who was now muttering, "please, God, save us," to grab the rifle off the coward's shoulder behind him. After a quick check he realized that it was also clean.

  "Go," he said, tossing the gun aside and focusing his attention on the deathly pale man in Danni's arms. He heard the man's heart stutter as it struggled to go on, but it was only a matter of minutes now. Danni had taken too much and there wasn't anything any of them could do to save the man. Not that Caine would have helped the bastard after what he'd done, but he knew that killing this man was going to be a blow to Danni.

  Even as a child she'd had an ingrained sense of honor that both frustrated the hell out of him and impressed him. At Sentinel Compounds, training and education was very hands on and required both the child's participation as well as the parents'. Since Danni's parents had been very hands off that left him to step up and help her.

  During the activities that required adult help she absolutely forbade him from helping her by using his enhanced senses and if she thought for even one second that he was cheating the little dictator would cross her small arms over her chest and glare up at him. That was it, she would just glare at him and for some reason that was always enough to piss him off and get him to agree to stop.

  As soon as he grudgingly agreed to stop cheating she would reward him with one of her big smiles, grab his hand and lead the way. Having to sit back and let a little girl lead him in those activities had been a blow to his pride, but he did it, for her. The first couple of years had been hell for him, especially since the winners of whatever task they were handed always won something and rubbed it in the losers' faces. It fucking sucked to be beaten by Sentinels and humans, but Danni didn't care.

  No matter how many times he tried to convince her to let him help her, a.k.a. "cheat", she wouldn't budge. He offered her ice cream, toys, damn near everything to put him out of his misery. The worst part was when some freckle faced toothless human kid pointed at him and laughed. None of that seemed to matter to Danni. She was determined to do it on her own.

  When she turned nine he'd seriously considered hunting down her parents and making them suffer through that hell, but then something interesting happened. Danni started to win, to really win. At first it was a few times a month and then a few times a week until she was winning every task they were handed and everyone hated them. He hadn't cared, because Danni was proving herself and she was doing it fairly, which really mattered to her. He was happy because he could rub it in the smug little faces of the little bastards. Sure it was petty, but he didn't care.

  Killing someone Danni would consider innocent, even though Caine sure as hell wouldn't call the guy innocent, would destroy her. She wouldn't care that the guy would have killed her had she been human. The only thing that would have mattered to her was that he'd been a defenseless human and she'd given him a horrifying death. This would change Danni, harden her and take away some of her spirit and he couldn't stand by and let that happen.

  He strode over to where Jax was desperately trying to pull Danni away from the dying man as the man's heartbeat began its final countdown. Just before the last weak heartbeat finished he reached down and grabbed the man by the head and with a quick snap, broke the man's neck.

  Danni let out a menacing growl as Jax, sweaty, bruised and a bit bloody, sent him a questioning look. He ignored them both as he pulled Danni into his arms. He scooped her up and moved quickly away from the dead man, hoping Danni wouldn't remember this.

  He ignored her as she scratched and hit him, desperate to get out of his arms and go to her next target which appeared to be Jax. Any other shifter and Caine would have probably just shrugged and let her go nuts, but he had to admit that the man did serve a purpose as well as entertain him on occasion. He tightened his hold on her and took his punishment.

  "I'll go get the van ready," Jax said, sounding relieved as he jogged past him.

  "We'll be right behind you," he said, wondering how long it was going to take Danni to figure out that her prey was getting away.

  It didn't take long.

  She fought him harder. When he stumbled and dropped to his knees, struggling to keep her in his arms he had to wonder if he was like this when bloodlust hit. In the last century he'd only succumbed to bloodlust maybe a dozen times. The last time he went into bloodlust was fourteen years ago when Danni pulled that bullshit and tried to play Superwoman and take on a nest of vampires. When she slammed her elbow into his mouth and knocked out a few teeth he automatically released his hold on her legs to grab her arms, but he didn't move fast enough.

  In seconds, she had him pinned to the ground. He turned his head and spit out the loose teeth and blood even as new teeth took their place. He ignored the stabbing pain in his jaw as the new teeth formed and focused on the feral woman on top of him.

  Danni stared down at him through fiery red eyes and he knew that she really didn't see him. Right now bloodlust was in control and Danni couldn't focus on anything she heard or saw. Blood drove her and he knew that it was only going to get worse if she didn't get more. She'd drained the human, but clearly that wasn't enough to fix the damage from the gunshot and get her out of bloodlust.

  "Danni!" he snapped even though he knew it was useless. If the bloodlust had been a result of anger, he might have had a chance of bringing her out of that by holding her and possibly yelling at her. If that didn't work he would have tried sex, but the bloodlust was a result of damage to her body and blood loss. Given enough time her body would heal and she'd come through the bloodlust on her own, but they didn't have time.

  "Shit," he said, turning his head to the side in offering. He really hated doing this, but there was no way that he could take her near Jax's pack. He couldn't take the chance she'd do something to land them both in a shitload of trouble and force him to take her out. "Just fucking do it," he said, forcing himself to remain still and knowing that this bloodlust was nothing like what she'd gone through last night.

  When she struck, she struck hard. There was no pleasure in this bite, only pain and agony as her teeth sliced through his neck. He forced himself to remain still even as he squeezed his eyes shut and ground his jaw against the pain.

  She needed this, needed him and he would take care of her, always. He couldn't stand to see her hurt and surprisingly it had very little to do with their mating.

  "Take what you need, Danni," he said, hoping Jax was carrying a gun with him because if she continued drinking at this rate he'd go into bloodlust.

  He blew out a breath of relief when she slowed down. Minutes later she pulled away and he knew that his Danni was back. He opened his eyes and loo
ked up at her and felt his heart break.

  She looked so damn frightened as she looked around. Her beautiful violet eyes filled with tears as she looked down at his neck and when they moved to look down at herself she trembled. He knew that she was remembering being shot. That memory would probably never leave her.

  He felt his neck heal as he reached out to comfort her, but Danni wasn't having that. She quickly moved off of him and backed away, but she didn't get far before her eyes fixed on the dead human.

  "Look away," he said, sitting up and moving towards her.

  "What the hell did I do?" she said quietly, her voice breaking.

  "You didn't do anything, Danni. I did that," he said, moving to pull her in his arms only to be pushed away.

  "Don't lie to me, Caine! I can smell his scent on me," she said around a choked sob as she stood up, wrapping her arms around herself. She backed away from the body, her eyes never leaving the man's vacant face.