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

by R. L. Mathewson

  He stood up and cupped her face and this time when she tried to back away he refused to let her go. He forced her to look at him and away from the body. "Listen to me, Danni. I know you're confused and scared, but we need to go."

  When she didn't say anything he snapped at her, "Danni!"

  She looked away from him as she reached up and pushed his hands away and after a slight hesitation he let her. He nearly sighed in relief as she turned her back on the body and nodded woodenly. "Then let's go."

  He gave her back a gentle nudge in the direction of the pack's camp. Thankfully she moved without an argument. As they walked through the woods for the first time since he was a human he felt awkward. She was upset and he had no idea what to say or do. When she still didn't say anything after a few minutes he sighed and reached out to put his arm around her only to have her shake her head.

  "Just leave me alone, Caine."

  It frightened him a little to realize that was no longer an option for him.

  Chapter 28

  "You don't need to chain her," Caine bit out as the Alpha moved towards her.

  Jax snorted out his disbelief. "Not even thirty minutes ago she was in bloodlust and going nuts. If you want a ride then she's going to be chained, Pyte," he practically snarled as he continued to move towards her only to be cut off when Caine stepped in front of her.

  "You're not chaining her up," he said softly, but the threat was clear. If she wasn't so shaken up after what she'd just experienced that she probably would have rolled her eyes, shoved Caine out of the way and told Jax to shove the chains up his ass, but she was emotionally drained.

  She needed to leave. She needed to put distance between herself and the memory of seeing that body, of being shot, and being shoved into a black oblivion where all she knew was pain and agony. She wanted out of here and she was afraid that if they didn't leave soon that she would break down and lose it and she was afraid that if she did that there would be no going back.

  "It's fine," she said hollowly as she stepped past Caine and held her hands out.

  "Danni, you don't need to do this," Caine said tightly.

  She shook her head. "No, it's fine. I understand. Let's just get out of here," she muttered as she struggled to keep it together.

  Jax's brows pulled together as he studied her. After a moment he shook his head. "Just handle her if she loses it again," he said with a tired sigh. He dropped the set of heavy duty chains in a five gallon bucket in the back of his navy blue work van. The van reminded her of the vans the Sentinels used when they needed to get in and out of an area without drawing attention.

  "Get in," Jax said with a nod before he walked over to his pack, who were watching them cautiously from a safe distance away. No doubt they weren't happy about traveling with the crazed Pyte, she mused absently as she climbed into the back of the van and sat down in the corner behind the driver's seat. She pulled her knees to her chest, thankful for the clothes one of the women had given her when they made it back to the campsite.

  She caught the scent of her blood mixed with the human's and nearly gagged. Caine had washed her in the lake before they returned to the camp. While the lake water did a good job of rinsing off the blood and gore left on her body, it did very little to wash away the scent of what happened. If that wasn't enough to remind her of what happened than her sore stomach was. Thankfully it was healed, but it was still tender where she was shot. Her back was also sore where her spine had regenerated. It was yet another reminder of the monster that she was and what she was capable of doing.

  Never in her life had she'd felt so scared or lost. She wanted to hide, scream, run, anything to escape. When she was a little girl she would have simply hunted Caine down and crawled onto his lap, but she couldn't do that now, couldn't cling to him as he soothed her. She couldn't-

  "Come here," Caine said, startling her as he sat down next to her and picked her up before she could react. He placed her sideways on his lap as he shifted over to take the spot she'd just vacated. Once she was in his arms she found that she didn't want to refuse him. As much as she hated to admit it, she needed him too much at the moment.

  She curled up in his arms and laid her head against his chest as he held her, taking the comfort he offered as she closed her eyes and focused on the way he soothingly rubbed her back. It was foolish to allow him to comfort her, to allow herself to believe that he really cared about her, but she didn't care. Right now he made her feel loved and protected when she felt like her whole world was falling apart.

  When some of the pack members climbed into the van she turned her face against Caine's chest, refusing to see the looks of disgust and fear on their faces. She'd lost control and brutally killed a man, an innocent man who hadn't deserved it. She realized that if Caine hadn't changed her she would still be dying in that cell and the man would still be alive.

  "Shhhh, Danni, it's okay," Caine said softly as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "It's okay, baby," he whispered, holding her tightly against him.

  It wasn't until that moment that she realized she was crying. Not just crying, but sobbing almost hysterically against Caine's chest as she gripped the borrowed shirt he was wearing and buried her face tightly against his chest as her grief overtook her. She'd killed a man today, someone's husband, father, son, brother, and friend because she was a monster.

  Never again, she swore to herself even as she continued to cry. She would never feed from the source again and she would make damn sure that she never allowed herself to go into bloodlust again. She would treat this like a disease. As soon as she showered and got some rest she was going to take off and go to the house her parents left her in Pennsylvania.

  It wasn't too far away, plus the Council didn't know about it. She'd go there and contact the blood delivery service the Council ran, a global effort to keep vampires from living off humans. She'd just have to be careful. The service was very discrete and used a number system so she didn't have to worry about the Council finding her, but that didn't mean that she was going to take any chances. She'd lay low there until she got this thing under control and once she did she was going after Greg and the bastard that ordered her capture. She was going to show them just what kind of monster they helped create.

  ******

  "I'm fine, Caine," Danni said on a tired sigh as she walked up the back stairs to the guest apartment above the garage that Jax gave them for the night.

  Usually the Alpha liked to keep his guests close so that he could keep an eye on them, but it had become more than obvious by the time they arrived on the large estate that most of the pack feared having Danni under the same roof. Well, the women did at least. The men looked a little too interested in his mate for Caine's comfort. He may have threatened to rip the balls off one or two of them, which probably was the real reason why they were being exiled to the garage apartment.

  "You don't have to follow me everywhere. I'm not going to break down again," she said firmly as she opened the apartment door and strolled inside.

  "I'm not following you," he lied. "I want to refuel with some blood and sleep before we take off," he said as he shut the door behind him. He placed the small blue cooler full of blood on the table by the door.

  He owed Jax big time for ordering the blood while he'd been dealing with Danni's bloodlust episode. Of course, his pack probably begged the Alpha to order the blood seeing how most of them were unwilling to be tapped by a seemingly unstable Pyte. Not that he could blame them. He'd never been on the other end of bloodlust before and he'd have to admit that it wasn't something he'd volunteer for. Then again if anything with fangs came after his neck he'd just fucking kill it and be done with it, but this was Danni and it was his job to take care of her.

  Danni nodded absently as she stared at the cooler. After the damage her body just went through she was going to need to feed soon. Her body had worked double time to get itself healed and although the blood she took from the human and him took care of the damage, she
was still weak.

  Without a word she walked past him, noticeably swallowing as she opened the cooler. She reached into the cooler, but hesitated to touch the bags full of blood.

  "It won't taste as good as it does from the source," an understatement, it tasted like shit until you got used to it, "but it will do the job," he explained, reaching into the cooler and picking up a bag of blood. He handed it to her.

  She tentatively took it from him. When she turned to leave he moved to grab one for himself when she suddenly turned around and quickly picked up two more bags. He cocked a brow at that, but said nothing. He doubted that she'd be able to handle even half a bag of blood. She'd probably gag and have to work at not vomiting, but it would be enough.

  He fed her his own blood during her transformation so her body was used to the warmth and taste of fresh blood. If he had used bagged blood it would have been a hell of a lot easier for her now and her stomach would have been used to the cold metallic taste of bagged blood. As long as she managed to hold down half a bag she'd be fine. She'd have to feed more often for a while until she was able to tolerate the stuff, but in time she'd be able to limit her feedings to twice a day.

  "I'm going to go take a shower," she said, walking to the open bathroom door as she hugged the blood against her chest.

  "Fine," he said, letting his fangs slide down as he prepared to eat his meal.

  He watched her shut the bathroom door behind her and heard the click of the lock a few seconds later. After he finished off four bags he walked over to the small sitting area and plopped down on one of the loveseats. As he looked around the plush apartment he had to admit that he much preferred this, over one of the rooms in Jax's house. He'd have to make sure to request it the next time he was in the area and needed to lay low for a night or two.

  Then again, the next time he was in the area could very well be a century from now and Jax and his pack would have already moved on. Like him, shifters didn't age once they were fully matured. Some stopped aging as early as twenty-two while others didn't reach their immortality until their early thirties.

  Living among humans for long periods of time was a problem for them since humans tended to notice that sort of thing and overreact. Jax usually didn't keep the pack in an area for more than ten years. Since he'd already been here for nine years the Alpha was probably already looking for a new home.

  "Come on," he heard Danni say, sounding frustrated.

  He shrugged it off. She was probably just having problems keeping the cold blood down. He looked around and sighed heavily when he didn't spot a microwave in the apartment. He'd have to tell the man to get one for the next place. Not that it would really improve the taste of the blood all that much, but it was better than drinking it cold. He really missed the days when he lived off the source, but once he started working for the Sentinels he hadn't had much of a choice in the matter.

  Not that he had much of a choice now. If he wanted to stay off the radar he was going to have to drink the bagged shit since an epidemic of neck bites would probably attract the attention of the Council. If he was careful, he could probably get away with-

  The sound of glass shattering yanked him out of his thoughts and off the couch. He was across the room and breaking down the bathroom door in the next second and what he saw when he stepped into the bathroom felt like a physical blow to his gut.

  Danni stood in front of the bathroom sink, her bloody hands cupping her face as her body trembled. His eyes darted over to the large shattered mirror, the broken glass on the sink counter and floor among the drops of blood and finally down to the neatly stacked pile of undamaged bags of blood.

  "It's okay, baby," he said, having absolutely no idea what to say to the woman as she continued to cry.

  He could count on one hand the number of times she'd cried as a child. Even as a little toddler she'd been a tough kid and usually only cried because someone else was hurt or sad. She didn't cry if another kid was mean to her, if she got in trouble, or when she threw one of her adorable fits that used to make him laugh when she didn't get her way.

  She never once cried for herself and that had amazed him back then considering her less than normal childhood. He remembered the few times that she did cry. When another child lost his father during a raid on a rather nasty nest, she'd cried quietly in his arms for an hour. The moment she was able to pull back her tears she wiped her face, grabbed her favorite teddy bear and gave it to the little boy, promising him that the teddy bear would watch over him and love him now.

  The time he decked her father and broke his jaw had been a memorable affair. Then again, he probably wouldn't have done it if the bastard hadn't promised Danni that they'd be home for Christmas that year and didn't show up or send her a present. Danni hadn't cared about the presents. The only thing she did care about was that her parents were never there on Christmas Eve to help her lay out stockings and were never there on Christmas morning. It broke Caine's heart when Danni came running out of her room, grinning hugely as she looked past the Christmas tree he put up for her and the presents from the toy store that he'd bought. She always searched for her parents who were never there.

  She always made sure to force a smile as she opened her presents, barely aware of what he'd bought her as she threw hopeful glances at the door, but they never came. The only thing that seemed to give her any joy on Christmas morning was his reaction to the gift she'd given him. It didn't matter if it was a glob of glue, glitter and a bunch of other shit she'd put together for him, he smiled each and every time and made damn sure to act like it was the best gift he'd ever gotten all while wishing that he could get his hands on her parents and smack some sense into them.

  The year she turned twelve she told him that she didn't want to celebrate Christmas and asked if they could just hit the movie theatre and the Chinese buffet instead. For a while he'd considered making her an orphan. When her father called a few weeks before Christmas and out of the blue promised that they would be home that year he damn near sighed with relief.

  Any relief he felt was short lived when they didn't show up on Christmas Eve and when Christmas morning rolled around and Danni walked out of her room with a hopeful smile he'd had enough. He didn't let her know how pissed he was. Instead he focused on her. He brought her to the movies, sat with her at the buffet and even let her win their yearly snowball challenge. She put up a tough front and pretended that it didn't bother her that they hadn't showed up or even called for that matter and he pretended that he hadn't noticed.

  When her parents finally showed up, six months later, Caine walked right up to the bastard and punched him, sending him flying twenty feet through the air and crashing into a wall. Unfortunately for him, Danni chose that moment to come into the room. A second later so did half the compound with their weapons drawn.

  It seemed the rule about him not harming a Sentinel included beating the shit out of one that had it coming. They sentenced him on the spot to a month in a cell, like that would really bother him. He'd get to relax, have all the blood he wanted and all the books he could read. The only thing that bothered him about the sentence was not being there to take care of Danni, but they'd make due. She'd come visit him and before they knew it the month would just fly by.

  That's what he thought at least.

  Instead they threw him in the lower levels of the compound, let him have all the blood he wanted, he got peace and quiet and as many books as he wanted but they took away Danni. She was forbidden to visit him. When they announced that, Danni walked up to the Sentinel that sentenced him and punched him as hard as she could.

  When the man glared down at her, she demanded a cell right next to his and all the ice cream that she could eat, because according to her, if she didn't get an unlimited supply of ice cream she got cranky. The Sentinel didn't have a sense of humor and sentenced her to one month confinement in her room, alone, which set him off.

  She had no one. Caine knew that her parents weren't going to stick aroun
d so that meant they were sentencing a twelve year old child to stay by herself for a month. They'd look after her, send her meals from the cafeteria and check up on her, but she would basically be in solitary confinement, something she didn't deserve.

  They literally had to tear her off of him and he was forced to stand there and allow it. He didn't want to take the chance of them punishing her more to get back at him. So while she cried and screamed for him, he ground his jaw shut. He allowed them to lead him down to the lower levels and thankfully the Sentinels were sympathetic to the situation since nobody in the compound was happy with the way Danni was treated and they promised to spend time with her and sneak their kids in to see her.

  The month he spent in the cell had been hell for him, but it had been worse for Danni. Her parents stayed for a week while her father's jaw healed. Thanks to the Sentinel blood it had taken six days to heal and they ignored Danni the entire time, simply forgot her because she was in her room. That was worse than anything on Danni, having them so close and being ignored. That experience hardened her heart and helped make her the woman she was today, brave, loyal, tough as hell, but still too damn vulnerable on the inside.