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

by R. L. Mathewson

  "You going to let them take you in?" Kale asked, drawing his attention to the shifter who stood, leaning lazily back against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest as he watched him.

  "Are you going to collect the bounty?" he asked, knowing the man's reputation.

  Kale shifted his attention to the front door. "If you're stupid enough to turn yourself in I will."

  "Then I guess you'll be collecting a bounty soon enough," he said, heading down the hall towards the sounds of grunts and groans.

  "Man up!" he heard Danni snap and couldn't help but smile as he remembered a time long ago when a six year old with dazzling violet eyes and messy pigtails demanded the same of him as she jumped on his back and attempted to take him down to the ground. He smiled then just as he smiled now.

  "Puhlease, little girl," he heard Chris say as he rounded the corner and headed towards the large ballroom that had been turned into a makeshift gym over the last couple of days, "we both know that I'm holding back."

  "You could have fooled me with that weak little slap you just pulled," Danni said, taunting the man and he wasn't too surprised when he heard her small little squeak and a startled gasp seconds later.

  He stepped through the open double doors in time to see Chris effortlessly slam Danni on the matt. Even he had to admit that the man was good, but of course his Danni was just as good since he'd been the one to train her. She wasn't on the ground for more than three seconds before she turned the tables on Chris and took the large Sentinel down to the ground and had his arm yanked behind his back.

  "Hey, sweetie!" she said excitedly when she spotted him. "Do you want to see me make a Sentinel cry?"

  Chris rolled his eyes even as he made a silly face to his giggling daughter and sleeping son, who were lounging on a thick blanket in the corner that Chris had dubbed 'The baby training area' with a very somber little boy who hadn't so much as smiled in the past three days. When little Jessica kicked out a foot, the boy dutifully picked her up and sat her in his lap. For the past three days the boy hadn't been able to help Izzy enough. He helped with the kids, brought her chocolate, played video games with her and did a hundred other things for her that were probably irritating the hell out of her, but she never once complained.

  Everyone knew that the boy was struggling with the guilt of what happened to Izzy and no matter how many times Izzy told him that it wasn't his fault, or anyone else's for that matter he just wouldn't listen. The blame rested solely with the bastard who walked out on two women who needed his help and he callously injured Izzy. For the past two days Caine had searched the area alongside Kale and Ephraim as they searched for the man, but so far they hadn't had any luck.

  "Chris, I believe the doctors for Izzy are here," he said, forcing a light tone as he locked eyes with Danni. "I need to talk to you," he said, but they both knew that he was saying goodbye.

  "No," Danni said stubbornly as she released her hold on the Sentinel's arm.

  "Don't make this harder for me than it has to be," he said, already wishing that he could make love to her one last time. When he hadn't been patrolling, helping out with the babies and whatever else they needed help with around here he'd been with her, talking with her, laughing with her, making love with her and just enjoying his time with her and making memories that needed to last forever.

  "Harder on you?" she demanded with a disbelieving snort. "How about me? You're planning on leaving me without a fight and you think that's okay?"

  Chris got to his feet and made his way over to the children. He picked up his son, the little boy was luckily fully developed. No one could figure out how that happened, but he had a feeling that having the babies so close together had triggered something in Izzy to help develop the baby faster. Since most Sentinel couples had their children decades apart it was going to be difficult to prove. Then again he wouldn't be around to see if he was right so it really didn't matter.

  "Don't do this, Danni," he said, ramming his hands in his pockets as he struggled against the urge to do just that, but she needed more than he could give her and this was the only way to make sure that she got it.

  "Good luck," Chris said as he carried his little boy out of the room with a somber looking Marc and a smiling Jessica following closely behind him.

  "Just say goodbye to me, Danni, so that I can go," he said, both wanting to get this over with and hold her in his arms one last time before he was forced to let her go.

  She stared at him for a moment, her beautiful violet eyes flickering before they settled on red and intensified as her stubborn jaw set and he knew the damn woman was about to do something that they'd both regret.

  "Fine," she spat out, shaking her head as she walked past him, "you're not willing to fight for us then I will."

  "Why am I not surprised?" he said with a humorless laugh as he went after the woman so he could stop her from doing something that she'd regret later.

  "Danni, get back here!"

  Her answer was a one finger salute over her shoulder without looking back, she stormed down the hallway towards the cloying scent of Sentinels. That beautiful mouth of hers was going to get her in so much trouble. Ephraim better damn well keep his promise and keep her safe, he thought as he quickened his pace to go after her, but of course the woman did the same.

  "Don't do anything stupid, Danni. You need them."

  "Bullshit!" she snapped, turning to face him and he felt his heart break as the first tear streamed down her cheek. "I need you, Caine! Not them!"

  "No, baby, you need them. I can't take care of you the way they can," he said, moving to pull her in his arms, but of course she backed away from him.

  "No," she said, shaking her head, "they can't take care of me the way you can, Caine."

  "Danni,-"

  "Are they going to be there for me? Take care of me? Hold me? Make love to me?" she demanded, getting into his face.

  "They're going to take care of you," he gritted out between clenched teeth as he fought against the image of another man touching her.

  "So, what?" she asked, roughly wiping the tears away. "They'll feed me and I'll have to look elsewhere for a man to take care of my needs?" she demanded with a mock smile. "And you're okay with that?"

  No, he wasn't.

  "Do what you have to do," he said tightly, knowing that he'd probably spend eternity wishing that he could kill every man that looked her way.

  "Oh, I'm going to, don't worry about that," she snapped as she turned on her heel and stormed off, once again leaving him to follow after her.

  "Danni," he said in warning as he followed after her.

  Once they reached the large foyer filled with Sentinels she paused as she ran her eyes over the crowd and he knew the moment her eyes landed on Dimitris, the head of the Council. She nodded firmly to herself before she marched right up to the man and sucker punched him in the face, breaking his nose by the sound of it. Several Sentinels immediately grabbed her and yanked her back before she could go for the man's balls.

  "What the hell was that for?" Dimitris demanded as he held his nose and glared at Danni.

  "That was just the start of what's coming for you if you don't give me the same punishment that you're about to give my mate," Danni said, shocking everyone into silence and making Caine's hand itch to spank her stubborn ass.

  Chapter 50

  "Get your hands off her or lose them. It's your choice," Caine drawled out in a bored tone, but the way he looked at the men holding her said it all.

  Dimitris nodded and just like that all the men released her so of course she went for another shot at the bastard that thought he was going to take Caine away from her.

  "Can't you control her?" Dimitris snapped as Caine caught her around the waist and tossed her over his shoulder like she was an errant child instead of the mate that was saving his ass.

  "No, not really. She's a stubborn pain in the ass," Caine said, making everyone around them chuckle and earning a punch in the ass. He accepted
the hit with a small groan and a discrete pinch on her ass that had her wincing.

  "Put me down, Caine!" she ordered, more than ready to have another go at the bastard.

  "Yeah, let me get right on that," he said dryly, keeping her right where she was.

  "Care to explain why that mad woman just attacked me?" Dimitris asked, in that crisp accented voice that most women probably found sexy.

  "I'd be more than happy to tell you," she offered, trying to get off Caine's back, but he simply ignored her as he answered for her.

  "She's not feeling well so let me just go put her in her room and we can get on with this."

  "Don't. You. Dare," she bit out. If he tried to take her out of here before she saved his ass she would kill him that's all there was to it.

  "I came all the way from Russia to make sure that you're okay and brought my top medical specialists with me to help cure you and this is how you thank me?" the man asked, sounding truly confused.

  "No, this is how I thank you for trying to take my mate away!" she snapped, renewing her efforts to escape only to have her ass pinched again.

  "I suppose we should get down to business," Dimitris announced with a sigh. "Caine, you knew the punishment that awaited you if you changed anyone, correct?"

  "Yes," Caine said with absolutely no hesitation.

  "And you did it anyway?" Dimitris asked, sounding truly confused. "For her?" he decided to add in an insulting tone and she went to fling herself off of Caine's shoulder to punch the jerk again she suddenly found herself shrugged off and landed on her feet as Caine did just that, except he went a tad further than she planned to take it.

  "Shoot him!" someone ordered as Danni craned her head back and watched as Caine shoved the head of the Council into the corner, his head slamming against the ceiling in the process.

  "Don't you ever," Caine growled out, slamming the head of the Council against the ceiling again, "speak of her like that again. Do you understand me?"Caine demanded as he got into the other man's face.

  "Put me down, Pyte," Dimitris bit out tightly, not flinching beneath the Pyte's anger or backing down.

  Caine's response was of course to tighten his grip around the man's neck and slam him again, leaving her with no choice but to try this floating thing to get him down. She slowly inhaled and focused on going to Caine. Just when she thought it wouldn't work she felt herself move and had to fight back an excited little giggle and focus on getting Caine to calm down before he really did something stupid.

  "Put him down, Caine," she said softly, trying not to look down. As cool as this was it didn't change the fact that she was deathly afraid of heights.

  "He disrespected you," Caine said, moving to slam the man again, but she moved in to intervene. She pulled Caine's hand away and probably should have grabbed the man with her free hand so that he wouldn't drop, but she had to calm her mate down before he went into bloodlust over this.

  "Look, I'm working my ass off here to save you here and you're really screwing this up for me," she said, feeling herself start to weaken just as she started to fall. Caine had her in his arms before she could fall on her ass.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face against his neck, ignoring the Sentinels they floated over as she held on tightly to him. "Please don't leave me again, Caine. I love you."

  "I love you too, Danni. That's why I'm doing this," he said as exhaustion crept up her spine and she knew that she'd overdone it today sparring with Chris and her little attack on the council member and her little floating attempt. Soon she wouldn't be able to do much to keep them from taking him away from her. She needed to fight and hang onto him. If she didn't she'd lose him forever.

  "Please don't leave me," she said as her eyes fluttered shut.

  "I have to," he said, tightening his hold around her.

  "I need you, Caine," she said as she felt herself start to let go.

  "I'm doing this for you, Danni. Always remember that, baby. I love you," she heard him say as darkness took over.

  ********

  Five months later......

  "Just tell me," Izzy said, sounding more impatient by the minute.

  "Why?" Danni asked with a shrug as she slapped a sheathed knife against her ankle and attached it. "You already know."

  "Tell me it's a mistake," Izzy demanded, gesturing absently to the raised circle just below her ear.

  "I'm afraid I can't do that. It looks like Chris knocked you up again." She was actually surprised that it took him this long to do it. Once Izzy healed from her last surgery two months ago the two of them had been going at it every chance they got and she did mean every chance. She'd lost count of how many times she walked in on them when she wasn't paying attention, or how many times she woke up from Izzy screaming Chris' name.

  Then again, Ephraim and Madison seemed to have the same problem, which was why three months ago she'd finally had enough and moved all her things to the West wing, the wing Kale claimed for himself. He wasn't too happy to find her living in his wing two months ago when he came for a visit, but he quickly got over it when Izzy told him to stop his whining or she wouldn't keep his room stocked with ice cold Coke and junk food. The man didn't like Pytes, that much was obvious, but when they patrolled together or went looking for Joshua he seemed not to care what she was.

  "I was afraid of that," Izzy mumbled pathetically as she took a long swallow from her can of Coke, probably already knowing that it would be off limits the second Chris got back and discovered that she was pregnant.

  "When's he getting back?" Danni asked as she laced up her boots.

  "Tonight," she said with a sigh.

  Chris and Ephraim left a few days ago to check out a tip Kale managed to get for them regarding Joshua's location, but last she heard it was a dead end. She didn't know the man and had no clue where he ended up, but she knew the second Chris found him that he was probably a dead man.

  Thankfully Izzy and little CJ, Chris Junior, survived, but the man couldn't seem to get over the way he just abandoned Madison and Izzy like that, not to mention the damage he did to Izzy's leg. Thanks to Joshua she had a pretty nasty scar and had problems walking. Kale wanted to kill him as well and when he wasn't working, which wasn't very often, he was searching for Joshua. Ephraim of course still had hopes for Joshua and continued to search for his son, but she knew the way the man looked at his wife and sometimes watched Izzy struggle to walk that he was probably going to beat the hell out of his son before he dragged him back home.

  Her game plan of course was to find Joshua, beat the shit out of him for hurting her friends and drag his ass back into custody. Granted, it was the only thing she had to focus on besides patrolling so she probably put in more hours than anyone else on this little project. It was the only thing that helped her get through the day and not miss Caine. Okay, so she missed him every second of the day, but it gave her a purpose and right now she needed that or she wouldn't be able to get out of bed in the morning.

  "Someone's pregnant," Madison announced as she walked into the room.

  "Shut up," Izzy said, pouting.

  Madison didn't take any offense as she laughed. "Then I guess I shouldn't tell you that this time you can expect one of each," Madison said, laughing harder as she ducked away from the empty Coke can Izzy threw at her.

  "Take it back!" Izzy demanded, looking truly frightened, and she really couldn't blame the poor woman. As a female Sentinel carrying twins she'd be huge in no time.

  "Sorry. No can do," Madison said with a shrug as she shot her a curious look. "Going patrolling?"

  "Yup." She went patrolling every night when she wasn't looking for Joshua and since there was no news about his whereabouts she was going patrolling.

  It didn't matter that they lived on the edge of a small town that had ten Sentinels and hadn't seen a vampire, demon or shifter since they moved here, she still patrolled. It kept her busy and she really needed to stay busy.

  "Have fun," Izzy said
, picking up the baby monitor for the babies nursery and attached it to her belt as she carefully stood up. "I'm going to go find every last drop of caffeine and inhale it before Chris comes home and-"

  "Izzy?" they heard Chris yell from somewhere down the hall.

  "Damn it!" Izzy snapped, reaching up with one hand and yanking free her ponytail so that her hair covered the mark ratting her ass out as pregnant. She slapped a hand against the wall for support as she tried to quickly make her escape before Chris found her, but unfortunately for her she had a very serious limp and a mate desperate to see her.