PS03 - Tall, Dark & Heartless (59 page)

care of my needs?" she demanded with a mock smile. "And you're okay with that?"

No, he wasn't.

"Do what you have to do," he said tightly, knowing that he'd probably spend eternity wishing that he could kill every man

that looked her way.

"Oh, I'm going to, don't worry about that," she snapped as she turned on her heel and stormed off, once again leaving him

to follow after her.

"Danni," he said in warning as he followed after her.

Once they reached the large foyer filled with Sentinels she paused as she ran her eyes over the crowd and he knew the

moment her eyes landed on Dimitris, the head of the Council. She nodded firmly to herself before she marched right up to the

man and sucker punched him in the face, breaking his nose by the sound of it. Several Sentinels immediately grabbed her and

yanked her back before she could go for the man's balls.

"What the hell was that for?" Dimitris demanded as he held his nose and glared at Danni.

"That was just the start of what's coming for you if you don't give me the same punishment that you're about to give my

mate," Danni said, shocking everyone into silence and making Caine's hand itch to spank her stubborn ass.

Chapter 50

"Get your hands off her or lose them. It's your choice," Caine drawled out in a bored tone, but the way he looked at the

men holding her said it all.

Dimitris nodded and just like that all the men released her so of course she went for another shot at the bastard that thought

he was going to take Caine away from her.

"Can't you control her?" Dimitris snapped as Caine caught her around the waist and tossed her over his shoulder like she

was an errant child instead of the mate that was saving his ass.

"No, not really. She's a stubborn pain in the ass," Caine said, making everyone around them chuckle and earning a punch

in the ass. He accepted the hit with a small groan and a discrete pinch on her ass that had her wincing.

"Put me down, Caine!" she ordered, more than ready to have another go at the bastard.

"Yeah, let me get right on that," he said dryly, keeping her right where she was.

"Care to explain why that mad woman just attacked me?" Dimitris asked, in that crisp accented voice that most women

probably found sexy.

"I'd be more than happy to tell you," she offered, trying to get off Caine's back, but he simply ignored her as he answered

for her.

"She's not feeling well so let me just go put her in her room and we can get on with this."

"Don't. You. Dare," she bit out. If he tried to take her out of here before she saved his ass she would kill him that's all

there was to it.

"I came all the way from Russia to make sure that you're okay and brought my top medical specialists with me to help cure

you and this is how you thank me?" the man asked, sounding truly confused.

"No, this is how I thank you for trying to take my mate away!" she snapped, renewing her efforts to escape only to have

her ass pinched again.

"I suppose we should get down to business," Dimitris announced with a sigh. "Caine, you knew the punishment that

awaited you if you changed anyone, correct?"

"Yes," Caine said with absolutely no hesitation.

"And you did it anyway?" Dimitris asked, sounding truly confused. "For her?" he decided to add in an insulting tone and

she went to fling herself off of Caine's shoulder to punch the jerk again she suddenly found herself shrugged off and landed on

her feet as Caine did just that, except he went a tad further than she planned to take it.

"Shoot him!" someone ordered as Danni craned her head back and watched as Caine shoved the head of the Council into

the corner, his head slamming against the ceiling in the process.

"Don't you ever," Caine growled out, slamming the head of the Council against the ceiling again, "speak of her like that

again. Do you understand me?"Caine demanded as he got into the other man's face.

"Put me down, Pyte," Dimitris bit out tightly, not flinching beneath the Pyte's anger or backing down.

Caine's response was of course to tighten his grip around the man's neck and slam him again, leaving her with no choice

but to try this floating thing to get him down. She slowly inhaled and focused on going to Caine. Just when she thought it

wouldn't work she felt herself move and had to fight back an excited little giggle and focus on getting Caine to calm down

before he really did something stupid.

"Put him down, Caine," she said softly, trying not to look down. As cool as this was it didn't change the fact that she was

deathly afraid of heights.

"He disrespected you," Caine said, moving to slam the man again, but she moved in to intervene. She pulled Caine's hand

away and probably should have grabbed the man with her free hand so that he wouldn't drop, but she had to calm her mate

down before he went into bloodlust over this.

"Look, I'm working my ass off here to save you here and you're really screwing this up for me," she said, feeling herself

start to weaken just as she started to fall. Caine had her in his arms before she could fall on her ass.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face against his neck, ignoring the Sentinels they floated over as she

held on tightly to him. "Please don't leave me again, Caine. I love you."

"I love you too, Danni. That's why I'm doing this," he said as exhaustion crept up her spine and she knew that she'd

overdone it today sparring with Chris and her little attack on the council member and her little floating attempt. Soon she

wouldn't be able to do much to keep them from taking him away from her. She needed to fight and hang onto him. If she didn't

she'd lose him forever.

"Please don't leave me," she said as her eyes fluttered shut.

"I have to," he said, tightening his hold around her.

"I need you, Caine," she said as she felt herself start to let go.

"I'm doing this for you, Danni. Always remember that, baby. I love you," she heard him say as darkness took over.

********

"Just tell me," Izzy said, sounding more impatient by the minute.

"Why?" Danni asked with a shrug as she slapped a sheathed knife against her ankle and attached it. "You already know."

"Tell me it's a mistake," Izzy demanded, gesturing absently to the raised circle just below her ear.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. It looks like Chris knocked you up again." She was actually surprised that it took him this long

to do it. Once Izzy healed from her last surgery two months ago the two of them had been going at it every chance they got and

she did mean every chance. She'd lost count of how many times she walked in on them when she wasn't paying attention, or

how many times she woke up from Izzy screaming Chris' name.

Then again, Ephraim and Madison seemed to have the same problem, which was why three months ago she'd finally had

enough and moved all her things to the West wing, the wing Kale claimed for himself. He wasn't too happy to find her living in

his wing two months ago when he came for a visit, but he quickly got over it when Izzy told him to stop his whining or she

wouldn't keep his room stocked with ice cold Coke and junk food. The man didn't like Pytes, that much was obvious, but when

they patrolled together or went looking for Joshua he seemed not to care what she was.

"I was afraid of that," Izzy mumbled pathetically as she took a long swallow from her can of Coke, probably already

knowing that it would be off limits the second Chris got back and discovered that she was pregnant.

"When's he getting back?" Danni asked as she laced up her boots.

"Tonight," she said with a sigh.

Chris and Ephraim left a few days ago to check out a tip Kale managed to get for them regarding Joshua's location, but last

she heard it was a dead end. She didn't know the man and had no clue where he ended up, but she knew the second Chris found

him that he was probably a dead man.

Thankfully Izzy and little CJ, Chris Junior, survived, but the man couldn't seem to get over the way he just abandoned

Madison and Izzy like that, not to mention the damage he did to Izzy's leg. Thanks to Joshua she had a pretty nasty scar and had

problems walking. Kale wanted to kill him as well and when he wasn't working, which wasn't very often, he was searching for

Joshua. Ephraim of course still had hopes for Joshua and continued to search for his son, but she knew the way the man looked

at his wife and sometimes watched Izzy struggle to walk that he was probably going to beat the hell out of his son before he

dragged him back home.

Her game plan of course was to find Joshua, beat the shit out of him for hurting her friends and drag his ass back into

custody. Granted, it was the only thing she had to focus on besides patrolling so she probably put in more hours than anyone

else on this little project. It was the only thing that helped her get through the day and not miss Caine. Okay, so she missed him

every second of the day, but it gave her a purpose and right now she needed that or she wouldn't be able to get out of bed in the

morning.

"Someone's pregnant," Madison announced as she walked into the room.

"Shut up," Izzy said, pouting.

Madison didn't take any offense as she laughed. "Then I guess I shouldn't tell you that this time you can expect one of

each," Madison said, laughing harder as she ducked away from the empty Coke can Izzy threw at her.

"Take it back!" Izzy demanded, looking truly frightened, and she really couldn't blame the poor woman. As a female

Sentinel carrying twins she'd be huge in no time.

"Sorry. No can do," Madison said with a shrug as she shot her a curious look. "Going patrolling?"

"Yup." She went patrolling every night when she wasn't looking for Joshua and since there was no news about his

whereabouts she was going patrolling.

It didn't matter that they lived on the edge of a small town that had ten Sentinels and hadn't seen a vampire, demon or

shifter since they moved here, she still patrolled. It kept her busy and she really needed to stay busy.

"Have fun," Izzy said, picking up the baby monitor for the babies nursery and attached it to her belt as she carefully stood

up. "I'm going to go find every last drop of caffeine and inhale it before Chris comes home and-"

"Izzy?" they heard Chris yell from somewhere down the hall.

"Damn it!" Izzy snapped, reaching up with one hand and yanking free her ponytail so that her hair covered the mark ratting

her ass out as pregnant. She slapped a hand against the wall for support as she tried to quickly make her escape before Chris

found her, but unfortunately for her she had a very serious limp and a mate desperate to see her.

Chris walked into the room, his expression turning murderous the way it did every time he saw Izzy walk before he

managed to pull it back and plaster a carefree smile on his face. "Hey, Munchkin, did you miss me?"

Izzy smiled hugely as she threw them a look that clearly told them to keep their mouths shut. "Of course I did, baby, but do

you think we could have this little reunion with a couple of Cokes?" she asked, sounding hopeful. "I'm really thirsty."

"Okay," Chris said, probably not giving it much thought since the woman was a junk food addict. He paused long enough

to give Danni a loud smacking kiss on the top of her head that had her chuckling and rolling her eyes and did the same for

Madison before he walked over to his mate and gave her a sweet kiss as his hand snaked between them and stole the baby

monitor off her belt.

He pulled back and raised the volume, which of course bugged the hell out of her ears and Madison's. He placed the

monitor next to his ear for a minute as he listened to all four babies sleeping before thankfully lowering the volume and placing

it on the back of his pants.

"Let's go get you something to drink," he said, giving Izzy another kiss before scooping her up in his arms and carrying her

towards the door.

"Coke, remember, I need Coke," Izzy reminded him, overstressing the point.

"Yes, you little junk food addict," Chris said with a chuckle as they disappeared through the doorway.

"Ten minutes," Danni said as she grabbed her jacket and headed for the door.

"Five," Madison said with a smile as she waved goodbye. Any other night and Danni would have bet that Chris wouldn't

notice the mark for two minutes, but the man had been gone for a week and she doubted that he was going to focus on anything

other than getting Izzy naked.

"You're on," Danni said, laughing as she headed for the front door. Living with the Williams family was nice and for the

first time in her life she felt like she finally belonged somewhere, but that didn't make up for missing Caine.

She loved and missed him and she knew that one day that she'd find him. Izzy was using her program
Tattletale
to look for

him, but so far they hadn't had any luck. One day she'd find him, but for right now she kept herself busy. It was either stay busy

or go crazy.

"Hey, baby," Caine said, startling a little squeal out of her as she opened the front door and found him standing on the front

step, drenched from head to toe as it down poured all around him and she knew, just knew that her mind had finally snapped. It