PS03 - Tall, Dark & Heartless (34 page)

one."

Caine didn't look at the man as he nodded. If he was shot in the 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 looked 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.

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