PS03 - Tall, Dark & Heartless (55 page)

matched those heartbeats that she could hear now that she'd stopped focusing on what she was seeing and allowed her senses to

expand.

"No, we're not," Caine said as he casually walked down the hall as if he didn't have a care in the world. "There are five

downstairs, two in the basement, seven up here and two in the attic."

She really needed to get control over her abilities, she thought as they walked past a room where a woman, presumably a

hooker judging by her apparel, was giving some guy sporting a wedding ring a blowjob. They didn't seem to mind or care

about her or Caine as they continued.

"I'm guessing it's been a while since you've been here," Caine said dryly as he shook his head in disgust and turned,

leading her back the way that they came. She didn't argue with him since she'd rather get out of here, find a shower and scrub

the putrid air off her skin. This place was nasty.

"No, I think the last time she was here was about eight years ago," a too familiar voice said as the sound of a gun cocking

registered.

Before she could react she was being shoved back and the loud sound of a gun firing tore through the throaty moans and

groans and sent the rest of the crumbling brownstone's occupants running. Caine fell back against her with a small grunt. She

caught him and quickly laid him down on the debris covered floor as her heart twisted in her chest as her eyes landed on the

damage.

"
You son of a
-" she screamed, moving to kill him with her bare hands when she came face to face with the barrel of a gun.

She automatically stilled, but when he went to slam the butt of the gun into her face she moved. Years of training had her

moving to the side, reaching up and grabbing the hand, which incidentally was his only hand and his biggest weakness. With a

well practiced move, she broke his wrist.

He howled out in pain. The sounds of glass breaking and doors slamming shut as the other residents fled sounded

throughout the house, but she didn't care about any of them. The only person she cared about was the one unconscious on the

floor with his heart racing to fix itself.

"Caine?" she said, hoping that he could hear her and already knowing that if he could he wouldn't be able to understand a

damn thing that she said. She needed to get him help.

"Blood," she whispered to no one in particular. She needed to get him blood and there were only two sources available at

the moment. Hers and the bastard's that she was going to kill. Since she didn't know what her blood would do to Caine, Greg

was going to have to make a little donation.

"You fucking bitch!" Greg roared as he pressed his broken hand against his chest and glared at her. "You're going to pay

for that!"

"And how exactly do you think you're going to make me pay?" she asked, holding back her response. She didn't want him

to know that Caine had changed her and take away the element of surprise. If he thought that he was dealing with a human

woman he wouldn't panic and struggle as much, but the second he found out that she was changed he would fight her with

everything he had. She was in no mood to stretch this out any longer than was necessary. She wanted him dead Caine back with

her. The only way to do that was to feed him.

"When he changes me," Greg said, nodding towards Caine's prone body as he dropped his hand away from his chest and

went for another weapon, "I'm going to make sure that your death is as painful as possible."

"Oh, that's not very nice," an amused voice said, startling them both. She noted the way all the blood in Greg's face

drained away as he rushed to grab the weapon he had hidden in his belt. His hand was broken and clumsy, but he still managed

to get his hand on it and almost had the gun out of his pants when a hand closed around the top of his and squeezed, further

breaking the bones in his hands. The sickening sound of bones snapping and grinding reached her too sensitive ears.

She looked up and felt her heart beat speed up. She moved to get between the three large men standing behind Greg and

the man that she loved as he lay unprotected behind her. If it was just her she'd plow through these men and take out as many as

she could, but she couldn't leave Caine alone. She wasn't going to risk them getting their hands on him and hurting him in any

way.

"I see he needs to feed," the large man squeezing Greg's hand said with a slight nod in acknowledgement as he gave Greg's

hand one more squeeze before ripping the gun away from him and tossing it over his shoulder.

The gun skidded to a stop at the feet of two men standing behind Greg. Both men were incredibly handsome, one with

almost jet black hair and the unmistakable aura of authority, reminding her of a cop. The other man had dark blonde hair, a

shifter, had killer green eyes and a bored expression as he watched the third man crush Greg's hand and bring Greg to his

knees. The third man made her nervous enough to reach back and take Caine's cool hand into hers as she looked the man in

front of her over.

He had dark brown hair, beautiful emerald eyes a touch lighter than the shifter's, a handsome face with that bad boy look

that must drive his mate crazy, a nasty pink scar on his neck and the look of a man that loved to use his fists. Unfortunately for

her, the man was a Sentinel. The too sweet smell of his blood was slowly overpowering the rest of the house's foul odor told

her that much. It also told her that she was in deep trouble.

"Let me go!" Greg snapped, trying to pull his hand away, but the large Sentinel wasn't having that.

"Gregory Mitchell, I presume," the Sentinel said quietly. Greg stilled at the man's feet, his pain momentarily forgotten as

he sent her a menacing glare before he turned his attention back to the Sentinel, who shot her a questioning look before

returning his attention to Greg.

Realization dawned in Greg's eyes seconds before he started to struggle to get away, but the man simply squeezed his

hand and kept him where he was. "Danni?" the man said without giving the man howling at his feet a second thought.

"Yes," she said firmly, knowing there was no point in lying. She wasn't a coward and she wouldn't start acting like one

now. They were outnumbered, but that didn't mean that she was going to let them hurt Caine.

"Let me go!" Greg cried out and the Sentinel surprised her by doing just that.

Greg didn't make it far before the man who reminded her of a cop smoothly pulled out a pair of handcuffs and took Greg

down to the ground, cuffing Greg's injured hand to the back of his pants and shoving him down.

"Don't even fucking think of it," the man said in warning before he looked back to her and Caine.

It wasn't too difficult to figure out why a Sentinel was here. The Council found out what Caine did and were here to

punish him. That wasn't happening. They weren't taking him away from her.

"How did you find us?" she asked as she sized up each man, looking for weaknesses. With one look she knew that all

three men were dangerous and she was going to have a hell of a fight on her hands.

"Sorry, but the Q&A portion of this little arrest is going to have to wait until later, Danni," the man in front of her said as

he pulled a pair of shiny handcuffs, making her stomach turn when she realized which handcuffs they were. They were made of

titanium, one of the few metals that she wouldn't be able to break through.

"We're not going with you," she said, slowly standing up, keeping her body relaxed and never taking her eyes off the man

in front of her.

"Do you need help, Chris?" the man with the cop aura asked.

The Sentinel named Chris cocked his head to the side and studied her for a moment before he slowly shook his head. "I

have this, Dad, but if you could be so kind as to get the douche bag over there out of my space I would truly appreciate it."

"I'll be right back," the man said before he leaned down, grabbed a whimpering Greg and disappeared in a flash as dread

soared through Danni. That's why his scent was so familiar, she realized, the man was a Pyte and had obviously mastered his

abilities while she still struggled with hers. If she was going to get Caine out of here it had to be now before the man came

back.

"Move aside," Chris said, gesturing with the cuffs for her to leave Caine's side.

"Sorry, not going to happen," she said, keeping her focus on the man in front of her, but she made damn sure that she knew

the shifter's every move.

"There's no escaping this, Danni. He broke the rules. He has to come in," Chris said as the shifter started forward.

"Take another step,
mutt
," she snapped, purposely using the slanderous name for packless shifters, trying to piss the man

off and unsettle him, "and I'll tear your boyfriend's throat out."

The shifter stilled as both men shot her horrified looks.

"Boyfriend?" Chris bit out in obvious disgust. "Puhlease, like he could land someone like me."

"Like I'd be that fucking hard up," the shifter snapped back and she kind of hoped that it would be that easy to distract them

so that she could get Caine and run away, but of course nothing in life was ever that easy.

"Don't beg, Kale. Just accept the fact that you could never have me and move on" Chris said, never taking his eyes away

from her as she subtly backed up until her foot brushed up against Caine's legs when Chris' words registered. Her eyes shot to

the shifter who was now glaring at Chris.

"Kale Quinn?" she asked, hoping like hell that there were two shifters with that name, because if there weren't then that

meant-

"The one and only, sweetheart, so be a good little girl and move aside so that we can help your mate," Kale said, moving

to take a step in her direction, but she wasn't having that.

She was definitely in over her head here. She had a Pyte, a large Sentinel and Kale Quinn, a well-known mercenary in

their world, trying to take Caine away from her. She really wished Caine could help her, but he couldn't so that meant that she

had to suck it up and distract them long enough so that she could figure out a way to get them out of here. She had a feeling that

they weren't about to simply let her walk out of here with Caine.

"You're not taking him," she said, allowing her fangs to slide down and her eyes to burn as she prepared herself for the

fight of her life.

"I don't want to have to hurt you, Danni," Chris said calmly. "Move aside and let me do my job."

"No," she said firmly.

Chris slowly nodded before he said, "Grab him," and just like that the fight was on.

He was quick, really quick, but then again so was she. She'd trained all her life with Sentinels and knew how to fight, but

with the added Pyte strength and speed she could more than hold her own against them. That gave her an edge, but this man

fought harder and faster than any Sentinel that she'd ever seen. He was quick, blocking all of her shots and when she blocked

his he recovered quickly and took a different approach. He reminded her of the way Caine fought, which was probably the only

reason why she was able to hold her own against this Sentinel. Caine trained her to fight and he made damn sure the lessons

stuck.

She was pretty sure that she could use her strength against him, but the damn man wouldn't stop moving! When her vision

began to dim and muscles began to ache she knew that she was in trouble. It had been more than ten hours since she fed from

Jax and she was using too much energy to fight with this Sentinel. She wasn't going to last very much longer.

The next time he threw a backhanded punch she didn't move fast enough and paid for it. The blow hit her in the side of her

head and just like that the familiar pain that she couldn't seem to escape from brought her down to her knees. She gripped her

head in her hands, trying to fight back the pain as she struggled to get to Caine. She had to protect him, keep him safe and stop

them from taking him away.

"You put up a good fight, but it's time to let us do our job," Chris said soothingly as he reached out and touched her arm,

sending stabbing pain through every nerve in her body. A scream tore through her throat as she dropped to the ground.

As she fell she saw the look of surprise and concern cross Chris' face before black spots took over her vision. She fought

it as long as she could, but the unholy roar that shook the room sent her spiraling into darkness.

Chapter 47

"Get him the fuck off of me!" Chris yelled seconds before the scent of his son's blood reached him.

"Get the fuck away from his mate!" he heard Kale snap, losing his cool for the first time since he met the man.

He shoved the human to the floor. "If you move from this spot I'll rip your throat out."

When the man sent the front door an appraising look, Ephraim decided to do this the easy way. He backhanded the man,

instantly knocking him out, and not caring enough to make sure that the man fell over gently before he took off for the stairs.

"I can't get away from her with him on top of me!" Chris yelled as Ephraim rounded the corner and nearly tripped over his

own two feet.

This was the first time he'd ever encountered someone like himself, a Pyte. It was still a bit of a shock, but seeing a Pyte