PS03 - Tall, Dark & Heartless (40 page)

for this family. Well, he could get pissed at her. In the beginning he wanted to kill the vampire and the shifter with his bare

hands, but the damn woman and that trembling lip of hers did him in. She was a manipulative little thing, he thought with a

smile as he watched her pull out two forks and hand one over to Marc.

Without a word, the two began to dig into the cake as he expanded his hearing and focused on his unborn grandson she

was carrying and couldn't help but laugh. Seems his grandson was going to have a bit of a sweet tooth if the excited moves

were any indication.

"It's not funny," Izzy muttered, practically pouting as she handed the cake over to Marc. He was only too happy to help her

out so that she could place a hand on her stomach.

"Of course not," he murmured, biting back a smile as he reached over and laid his hand on her stomach and gently rubbed.

He didn't have to be able to hear to know the baby calmed down. Izzy's sigh of relief as she snatched back the cake was

more than telling. Marc simply followed the cake's departure with his fork and continued, probably more than used to dealing

with the erratic behavior of pregnant women by this point.

When he went to move his hand away she of course pouted adorably so with a resigned sigh he leaned back and continued

to rub her stomach, careful of the cake plate, so that his grandson would stay calm and allow his mother to eat. The poor thing

seemed to be hungry all the time now, which wasn't exactly shocking since she was a Sentinel and their pregnancies only lasted

for four and half months. It didn't matter if they were carrying a human child or a Sentinel child. The mother's chemistry sped up

the process, which was probably meant to get the mothers back in fighting form sooner. The pregnancies put a lot of demands

on Sentinel females, but this one seemed to be putting his mother through hell more than the last one had.

He didn't need an ultrasound to know that this baby was going to be big. He could tell by the changes in sound and scent

that the baby was going to be a big boy. Izzy was going to have a hell of a time bringing this child into the world and

unfortunately for her, the Sentinels had yet to find an effective pain killer for childbirth. They could give her morphine, but

they'd have to triple the dose in order to slightly numb the pain and her baby, a human, wouldn't survive it.

"Why are we stopping on the first sublevel?" Marc asked, shooting a nervous look towards the elevator doors as he

moved in front of Izzy, putting himself between the woman he considered his big sister and whatever person was able to

override the security elevator. Considering what happened a few months ago he couldn't blame the boy. Pride filled Ephraim,

his boy was already turning into a good man, one of the very few good things to come out of this situation. He moved in front of

his children as he allowed his teeth to shift down and prepared himself for the worst.

"It's probably just Kale," Izzy said around what sounded like a huge bite of cake. He caught the shifter's scent and a split

second later he caught the scent of his son's fear. Ephraim considered ripping the bastard apart for the hell he put his son

through, but he owed the man so until he fucked up and made a move against his family the shifter could live.

"How do you know it's him?" Marc asked, trying to sound brave, but Ephraim caught the slight tremor in his voice and

considered beating the shit out of the shifter anyway.

"Because she stole my damn cake!" the shifter snapped as the door opened and he walked into the elevator, meeting

Ephraim's eyes and holding his glare.

"I don't see your name on it," Izzy pointed out as she continued to eat the cake, seemingly oblivious to the tension that now

filled the small space as the elevator doors slid closed.

Ephraim considered asking the shifter how he got the code to stop the secure elevator, but that would have been a pretty

stupid question since he had a pretty good idea who hooked him up with that knowledge. He threw a glare over his shoulder at

his daughter-in law-only to find her shooting a glare that promised all sorts of pain his way, or rather to the shifter in warning.

She'd probably tear the bastard apart if he tried to take the cake, he thought as he shrugged and moved aside, but not before he

grabbed his son by the arm and yanked him back, leaving the pregnant Sentinel and deadly Alpha assassin to battle it out.

As much as he wanted to hate the Alpha, and he did, he couldn't overlook the fact that the shifter would never harm so

much as a hair on Izzy's head and that he genuinely loved her children. The man would do anything for her and for that he

respected the bastard, but that didn't mean that he was going to protect the dumb bastard if he was stupid enough to come

between Izzy and something sweet.

"You know it's mine, woman. You were there when I ordered it," he bit out as he took a threatening step towards Izzy and

the cake.

"Dad, do something," Marc whispered, shifting nervously by his side.

"You obviously didn't want it if you were willing to turn your back on it," Izzy pointed out as she took another big bite of

the cake and made a show of savoring it.

"You play with fire, woman!" the shifter snapped as he reached over and swiped the fork out of Marc's hand. He stole a

huge forkful of cake and shoved it in his mouth, all while glaring at Izzy.

Ephraim barely paid attention to the little showdown, one of hundreds when the shifter was in residence, as he focused on

something else that demanded his attention.

"Son of a bitch!" he snapped, barely aware that the shifter cursed right along with him as he shoved another bite of cake

into his mouth and moved to stand by his side as they waited impatiently for the elevator doors to open.

"Dad?"

"Stay in the elevator, boy," the shifter said, his voice laced with a growl.

"Go back up to your mother and make sure she's okay," Ephraim said softly to his son as he inwardly cursed the elevator

to move its ass.

"What's going on?" Izzy asked, moving closer to the doors and giving them no choice but to make room for the woman.

"Nothing that's going to keep you from marching your ass back upstairs and getting me another cake," the shifter said,

further confirming his suspicions that the Alpha cared about her.

Izzy let out a long drawn out sigh as she shoved the cake in the shifter's hands. "Order your own cake and while you're at

it, order me a strawberry shortcake with extra strawberries," she said as she waddled out of the elevator as soon as the doors

opened and the sounds of fighting became crystal clear.

"Someone needs to spank her ass," Kale said as he turned and placed the cake in Marc's hands. "Order a cake for me, boy,

and make sure to order your sister two large strawberry shortcakes," he said as they both rushed out of the elevator.

"Stop ordering my son around," Ephraim snapped as they headed towards the men beating the shit out of each other while

his daughter Jill yelled for them to stop.

The bastard merely chuckled as he moved in and swept Izzy off her feet as she moved to jump in and intervene. Before she

could argue, Kale deposited her on the corner of the unmanned guard desk across from the cells as Ephraim moved in and

grabbed his son by the arm just as he went to punch the vampire, who was more than holding his own.

Chris moved to push him away, but he wasn't having that. He moved his son back and grabbed the vampire by the throat

and shoved him back before the two of them could go at it again. He was shocked when Chris pushed him aside and went after

the vampire again. It wasn't like his son to lose control like this, but he knew his son was under a lot of stress and he'd feared

that he'd snap sooner or later.

"Calm the hell down," he snapped, once again grabbing his son by the arm, this time when Chris went to push him away he

yanked his son back and sent him flying down the hall and skidding down the tiled floor. "I said, calm the hell down!"

"He's fucking dead," Chris said, getting to his feet and wiping the blood off his mouth and chin with the back of his hand

as he once again went for the vampire.

"Get your hands off me,
mutt
," he heard Logan demand in a bored tone as Chris went to storm past him and go after the

man again.

Ephraim risked a look over his shoulder and cursed as the damn shifter and vampire decided to go at it. That wasn't

exactly a surprise considering there was bad blood between the two of them, but he didn't need this shit.

Not tonight.

Tonight he wanted to spend a normal night with his son, lounging in front of the television and the rest of the night holding

his wife in his arms. He was fucking exhausted and didn't need this bullshit.

"Dad, stop them before they kill each other!" Jill cried as she moved to intervene, but smartly jumped back just in time to

avoid being knocked into the wall right alongside of Logan as Kale slammed the vampire back into the glass wall.

Ephraim opened his mouth to tell her to go upstairs when the scent hit him. His eyes shot over to Jill and zeroed in on her

neck and stayed there as a small drop of blood formed and rolled down beneath the collar of her disheveled shirt. His eyes

burned seconds before he was seeing red and shoving his son and Kale out the way so that he could kill the bastard that dared

to use his child as a fucking meal.

"
You dared to touch my child
?" he roared into the bastard's face as he tightened his grip around the leech's neck and

slammed him back into the glass wall, hard enough to cause a few splintered cracks to tear through the three inch solid

specially formulated glass.

"Dad, please! It's not what you think," Jill cried as she grabbed onto his arm and tried to pull him away, but he ignored her

as he slammed the bastard against the glass again.

"Go upstairs and pack, Jill," he said evenly when all he wanted to do was shake his daughter and yell at her. She wasn't

perfect and had seriously screwed up a few times in her life, all when she was a child, but he never thought she'd be so foolish

to do something this stupid.

"Dad, please! If you would just-"

"Go!" he yelled loud enough to catch her off guard and cause her to stumble back. He ignored the hurt look in her eyes as

he focused on the man that was seconds away from turning into dust.

"Stop," Izzy said softly, taking him by surprise as she placed her small hands over his, but that wasn't what stopped him. It

was her large stomach pressed against his side and the feel of his unborn grandchild poking him that gave him pause. If he

didn't back away now he knew he would lose it and with his children and unborn grandchild in the room that was not an option.

"Stay the fuck away from my family," he said, releasing the vampire with a rough shove. When Jill moved to go to the

vampire he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her towards the elevator.

"Dad, please just let me explain," Jill said as he pulled her into the empty elevator.

He hit the Lobby button with a little more force than necessary, cracking the hard plastic button, but thankfully it worked.

Grinding his jaw, he looked at his daughter, wondering exactly where he went wrong.

"I'd love to hear how you're going to explain becoming a vampire's fucking minion."

Chapter 33

"Keep doing that," Caine whispered against her mouth as she ran her hand slowly down his shaft, giving it a gentle tug

when her hand reached the base and earning a sexy groan from him as she bit back a little triumphant smile.

Caine chuckled against her mouth as he continued to gently caress her jaw with his thumbs. "You're trying to make me lose

control, aren't you?" he asked, smiling against her lips and making her heart skip a beat.

She liked this Caine, the one that was relaxed, smiled, made her feel cherished and wanted. The old Caine, the one who

used to take care of her, was a mixture of grumpy and over protectiveness. The old Caine made her feel safe and cared for, but

he never had this effect on her. For the first time in her life she felt as though she was truly wanted by someone and that she

made him happy.

For the first time in a long time she wanted something that had nothing to do with her job. She wanted to be with him and it

surprisingly had nothing to do with needing to work off excess energy and everything to do with this man. She knew she

shouldn't want this, but she couldn't help herself. For once in her life she was going to do something that she wanted and she

really wanted to see Caine lose control.

"Mmmhmm," she said, brushing her lips against his one more time before she pulled away.

He smiled as he looked down at her. "You can try, baby, but it's never going to happen," he said, pressing a kiss to her

forehead and letting out a deep moan as her hand slid south and cupped his large warm balls and gave them a gentle squeeze.

"Are you sure about that?" she asked, cocking a brow in clear challenge as she gave his balls another light squeeze.

"Positive," he growled out, but his eyes were still a beautiful gray and so far there was no sign of anything sharp and