PS03 - Tall, Dark & Heartless (33 page)

shifter's ass. Now she was willing to fuck the man?

Bullshit.

Danni wasn't into shifters, vampires or demons, he reminded himself even as unease crept up his spine. That was before

he changed her. What if she was seeing things in a whole new light now? She sure as hell better not, he thought as he glared at

the woman. She ignored him as they made their way through the thick brush.

"Let me check on my pack first and then I can help you find the pond," Jax said as they stepped into a large clearing set up

with tents, supplies and shifters just starting to shift back to their human forms. "That is, if Caine doesn't mind," Jax said,

drawing Caine's attention.

Minded? He was going to fucking gut the bastard.

"I'm not with him," Danni said with a careless shrug as she perused the campsite, purposely letting her eyes drift over the

naked forms of the males and allowing her eyes to linger where they shouldn't.

Fuck that.

"Good," Jax said, grinning. "I'll be right back."

"Don't bother," Caine said as he reached out and wrapped his hand around Danni's beautiful raven hair and pulled her to

him. Before she could tell him to go to hell he dropped his mouth to hers and showed every male in that campsite that she

belonged to him.

When she bit his lip in warning he chuckled, but didn't stop. By the time he released her there would be no question in her

mind that she was his mate. He didn't share and if she thought to allow another male to touch her then she'd better rethink that

little plan because he wasn't fucking playing around.

********

else? That really was just sad, she thought as she ignored her body's response to him and shoved him away.

But he didn't go far.

He cupped her face in his large warm hands as he forced her to look up and meet his red eyes. "You're mine, Danni," he

said firmly.

She reached up and gripped his wrists. "No, I'm not," she said, shoving his hands away and forcing herself to ignore how

much it hurt to say that. It felt like her very soul was screaming in protest at the claim.

Sleeping with him had been a mistake. She should have never done that. She wished she could take it back. Being with

him last night had been wonderful, thrilling and felt so right, so perfect. She'd forced herself to leave before either one of them

could wreck it, but apparently she hadn't moved fast enough. He ruined everything when he demanded a warm body or two in

front of her like she was nothing. Did he really think that it wouldn't hurt her?

No, he probably hadn't cared.

"Go feed," she said, forcing the words out of her mouth as she pretended that the very suggestion didn't leave her feeling

empty. "I'm going to get cleaned up."

"Danni,-"

"Bon appetite," she said with a mock smile before she turned around and headed for the woods, hoping that she'd be able

to scent the fresh water. She prayed that it was a good distance away from the camp because she knew hearing him with

another woman would kill whatever hope she had left that she meant something, anything to him.

She forced herself to walk to the woods, refusing to look back at him and let him see how truly pathetic she was. While

she was hoping that she meant something to him, in truth she was just a fuck. He'd admitted as much last night, but that hadn't

stopped her from hoping that she'd meant more to him. She hoped he'd realize how much she meant to him and come after her.

God, she really was pathetic.

To him, she would always be an old responsibility that he couldn't escape and now that he'd turned her he was stuck with

an old obligation that he clearly didn't want, she realized as anger surged through her and she moved faster through the woods

until she was running. She didn't want this, didn't ask for this. Up until a couple of days ago she'd been dying of cancer and

preparing herself for the inevitable.

If it hadn't been for Greg, the sadistic bastard, Caine never would have found out. Maybe they would have found a way to

escape before the disease spread to her skin and gave her away, but if he had asked, and she doubted that he would have, she

would have refused to be turned. This wasn't the life she wanted for herself.

Being a monster with an endless life wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to work for the Sentinels, to be accepted as one

and to be the best at what she did so that no one ever doubted that she belonged again. Now she didn't even have that. She

could never go back to work for the Sentinels because she would be putting Caine in danger.

She hated him for making her love him so long ago, for making her think that someone actually cared about her only to

have her heart broken without so much as an explanation. She hated the way he acted like he didn't know her over the years.

Hated how he treated her like she was just another human that annoyed him. She wished like hell that he kept that act up and left

her for dead when Greg threw the switch. Most of all she just hated him.

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