PS03 - Tall, Dark & Heartless (46 page)

snapped at his mate, somewhat surprising Jill since her brother normally went out of his way to keep his cool around his mate.

"It doesn't count!" Izzy snapped, pointing an accusing finger at Kale. "He took it!"

"You took my cake, woman!" Kale snapped back, which wasn't at all surprising since the two sugar addicts were

constantly coming to blows over something.

"And I'll do it again, you bully!"

Chris rolled his eyes in exasperation as he made his way over to the desk and pulled the chair out with his foot and sat

down, quickly rearranging Izzy on his lap so that she could lay her head against his shoulder while he laid a possessive hand on

her large stomach.

Jill couldn't help but smile at the sight. For a while there, she thought her brother was going to doom himself to a life of

misery by sending his mate away, but thankfully Izzy convinced him that she was worth the risk. She was happy for him and for

Izzy. She was especially happy with her little niece, Jessica. She loved that little girl as if she were her own.

When Chris wasn't carrying Jessica around she was with Izzy and if for some reason Izzy couldn't watch her, then her

father and Madison, Eric and even Kale watched her. Jill would have loved to have at least filled in as the baby's nanny while

she was here. It would have made sense since she had no other duties and really hated not having anything to do, but it seemed

that she wasn't the only one who fell in love with the little girl.

Sometimes she felt like she had to take a number just to spend any time with her adorable niece. Of course, it made the

time she did have with her niece more precious. It didn't really matter because one day she planned on having a houseful of

children that she could love and cherish.

She would make sure that her children always knew how much she loved them. She would do her best to be like Madison,

who had done whatever it took to raise them and always let them know how much they meant to her even when Jill acted like a

spoiled little brat. One day she'd find a good man and settle down and she'd make sure to cherish every minute of it.

"Don't worry about packing her up, Dad," Chris said, drawing her attention and gaining her undying gratitude. At least she

could count on her brother to see reason, because sending her away would be-

"I have four Sentinels waiting by the elevator to escort her home. She still has some things at the old house, so there's no

need to pack her things just yet," Chris said, leveling a glare on her that dared her to argue and if she was anyone else other

than his sister that look would actually frighten her.

"That's not your decision to make, Chris," she said firmly. If he thought that he was going to boss her around and

intimidate her like he did everyone else then he had another thing coming.

"Chris,-" Izzy started on a sigh only to get cut off by the man Jill fully planned on having a word of her own with when

they no longer had an audience. She no longer did the drama nonsense, not like when she was a kid. Now she kept her cool and

her tone soft and friendly as she told him to go to hell.

"I'm not arguing this about this, Munchkin, so save your energy to give me a proper goodbye in about an hour," he said,

pressing a kiss against Izzy's temple as she openly glared at her mate.

Jill wasn't exactly surprised when Izzy didn't listen to her mate. "She's not going," Izzy said stubbornly as she struggled to

get off Chris' lap.

"Yes, she is," Chris said, trying to bite back a smile as Izzy continued to struggle to get off his lap, but her large breasts

and equally large stomach prevented her from doing very much other than cause her to get good and mad as she kept dropping

back on his lap every time she made even slightest bit of progress. Even Jill had to admit that it was kind of amusing to watch

the woman shoot her mate a murderous glare as tried to rock hard enough to give her the momentum to jump off his lap.

"Help me get up so that I can kick your ass, Chris!" Izzy snapped.

"Yeah, let me get right on that," Chris mused as he pulled his mate closer to him and made it impossible for her to do

much more than pout.

"Just so you know, I'm kicking your ass the first chance that I get," Izzy muttered as she tried to fold her arms over her

chest, but her large breasts and stomach got in the way.

"I'm quaking with fear, my little Munchkin," Chris said against the top of her head as he kissed her.

”Look, I know everyone's mad and I understand why," Jill said, deciding that this might be the best moment to get a word

in before her brother or father started yelling.

Her father opened his mouth, but it was the shifter that spoke. "You don't know who you're dealing with, little girl," Kale

said, surprising her since the man had barely acknowledged her existence since they met months earlier.

"I'm not dealing with anything," she said, shooting her father a pleading look. "If you'd just let me explain you'll see that

this is just a misunderstanding," she said, using the same calm tone she used to use when she counseled clients down at the

shelter.

"You're going home, Jill. End of story," Ephraim said firmly and she knew that her only hope was getting to Madison and

talking this over with her. Madison would help her. Madison was-

Madison was going to kill her, Jill decided exactly ten seconds later when she watched the very pregnant woman come

storming into the room, Madison's eyes lit up in a fiery red as she went right for Jill, her little brother running behind her as he

tried to catch up with his mother.

"Tell me that your brother was wrong," Madison said as she waddled over to her.

"Madison, I-"

"You're going home to your grandmother," Madison said and Jill would have argued except for one thing.

She used the tone that Jill hadn't heard in years, not since she was a fifteen year old drama queen screwing up her life and

disappointing everyone around her. It felt like a physical blow, knowing just how easily her family readily saw her as the same

old screw-up.

Maybe they never truly saw her as anything more than a screw-up and all these years they'd just been waiting for her to

mess up. All her hard work to change herself and to grow into a better person was for nothing. The first time she screwed up in

years and her family was ready to write her off.

Maybe it was for the best if she left and gave them time to cool off. She could go back to her old life where she felt useful

and didn't need to depend on a vampire to feel needed.

It was time to go home, she thought as she simply nodded and walked out of the room, ignoring her father and brothers as

they asked her to come back. There was nothing to talk about as far as she was concerned. She walked down the large hallway,

taking several deep breaths and resisting the urge to give into the tears and feel sorry for herself. No matter what they thought,

she wasn't that girl anymore and never would be again.

Chapter 38

"What the hell is wrong with her?" Jax whispered as he stuffed another white powered donut in his mouth.

"If I knew-" Caine began tightly only to be reminded when his mate let out a pained cry to lower his damn voice or risk

her scaring the hell out of him again by passing out. Since it was something he'd rather not experience any time soon he

dropped his voice down to a whisper. "If I knew what the hell was wrong with her I wouldn't have asked for your help,

asshole!" he softly hissed out.

"Good point," Jax whispered with a nod as he shoved another donut in his mouth.

A whimper drew their attention back to the naked woman currently curled up in the fetal position with a pillow pulled

down on her head. Since she hadn't been able to do much more than whimper and groan since she gained consciousness, he

assumed the pillow was meant to block out all the sounds and probably the light as well. He couldn't figure out why she was

reverting back to the point when she woke up after he changed her. Her senses should be somewhat under control by now. They

shouldn't be bothering her and they sure as hell shouldn't have been so bad that they caused her to pass out.

He had a vague recollection of what he went through when he first woke up to the changes and he couldn't remember it

being this bad that he couldn't move without agonizing pain and he sure as hell didn't black out because of it. This wasn't right.

She shouldn't be suffering.

"I thought Pytes healed quickly," Jax said as he reached for the second box of donuts he left on the nightstand.

Caine considered telling the shifter to take his food and get the fuck out, but he needed him and unfortunately for him, the

shifter needed to eat a shitload of food after a shift. He forced himself to focus back on the woman curled up in the middle of

the bed and felt his stomach twist. His mate was suffering and he didn't know how the hell to stop it.

He reached out to give her thigh a comforting rub only to cause Danni to let out a blood curdling scream that had him

yanking his hand back and his heart thundering against his chest as realization dawned on him.

She'd been poisoned.

"
What the fuck
!" Jax roared seconds later when Caine had him by the throat and slammed him against the wall, cracking

the drywall. Large chunks fell among the debris as Caine pulled him forward so that he could slam the man against the wall,

again. This time he sent the shifter through the wall and into the large bathroom.

With a growl, he followed after the shifter as Jax's eyes flashed silver in warning. He was with an Alpha and the man held

his strength in human form. He could also change at will, but Caine didn't give a rat's ass at the moment. He'd happily kick the

shit out of him as a man or as Fido, he didn't care which at the moment. His mate couldn't tolerate sound, light or touch, all her

senses were fucked up and for a Pyte that meant poison.

"Back off, Caine," Jax said in a voice that was more of a growl as his long fangs slowly slid down, ready to tear Caine's

throat out.

"You poisoned my mate, asshole," Caine said as he went after the man seconds from shifting into a large beast.

Instead of shifting, Jax stilled. "How the fuck did I poison her, you asshole? I wasn't even here when this started!" he

snapped, sounding truly pissed.

"You gave us the blood!" he roared, feeling his fangs grow impossibly longer as he truly considered tearing apart one of

his oldest friends.

"You were there when the order came in, Caine," Jax ground out. "Besides that you would have scented it!"

Not everything, Caine reminded himself as a low vicious growl escaped his lips.

"I didn't poison the blood,
Pyte
," Jax snapped as he shoved Caine into the wall and held him there. "Now calm the fuck

down so that we can figure this out and help her!"

"I am calm!" he shouted as the fact that Danni wasn't crying out in pain registered in his mind. "Son of a bitch!" He shoved

the Alpha away, stormed through the open doorway and headed to the bed only to find Danni right where he left her except for

one very important thing.

Danni wasn't breathing.

"I don't hear a heartbeat," Jax said, sounding close to panicking as he came up behind him and for good reason.

If Caine lost Danni he would tear this fucking world apart and everyone in it.

"She's a fucking Pyte. I can smell it on her so why the fuck isn't her heart beating?" Jax muttered nervously as he crawled

onto the bed and pulled Danni onto her back, exposing his mate's body.

"Don't. Touch. Her," he bit out through clenched teeth as he shoved the shifter away from her and scooped her up in his

arms.

"Caine," Jax said, holding up his hands in front of him in a placating manner as he slowly came towards him, "I'm trying to

help her, but I can't do that unless you let me look at her."

His breath sped up and his heart thundered in his chest as he looked down at the woman in his arms that appeared to be

dead, but she couldn't be. He'd changed her and knew that she'd turned. She had fangs for fuck's sake! He could smell the

change on her even now.

She couldn't die on him. She was just hurt, he told himself. As soon as he figured it out he'd make this okay and take care

of her like always. He'd fix this, he promised her as he kissed her cool forehead.

"Caine, I need you to stay in control while we figure this out," Jax said calmly as he pulled a cell phone from his pants

pocket.

"Who are you calling?" he asked in a guttural tone, never taking his eyes off his beautiful mate.

"I'm calling Ethan. If anyone would know what's wrong with her it's him," Jax said absently as he dialed.

The Alpha's friendship with the vampire always confused him, especially given the vampire's tendency to slaughter

shifters. Then again the man did have a reason. Over four centuries ago his son, a sixteen year old Pyte who hadn't yet made his

transition, was kidnapped and God only knows what else by a pack up in Maine.

Personally, Caine thought the pack probably tore the kid apart to make sure that he didn't reach his maturity, but the

vampire wouldn't hear it. He was hell-bent on finding his son and had no qualms with killing anyone that stood in his way,

something that Caine actually respected about the cold bastard.