Tall, Silent and Lethal

by R. L. Mathewson

  He shook his head as he picked up the bag and headed for the door. “We can’t wait another day,” he said tightly, making her frown as she hurried after him.

  “Why not?” she asked, catching up to him by the time he made it to the living room. “What difference will one more day make?”

  He didn’t look at her as he answered, “A world of difference.”

  “And why exactly is that?” she asked, struggling to keep up.

  He paused at the penthouse door with his hand on the handle, his back to her as he gave her the answer that she’d really wished he’d kept to himself.

  “Because I’m having a hell of a time keeping my hands off you right now. All I can think about is taking you back to bed, licking you clean, sliding my fingers deep inside you, taking you against every surface until you squeeze my cock dry, but I know that if I touch you right now that I won’t be able to stop myself from sliding my fangs inside you and draining you dry the next time I hear you scream my name.”

  “Oh,” was her lame reply as she tried to think about anything other than the visual that he’d just created in her mind and failed, a few times.

  Was it wrong that she was actually thinking about saying the hell with it and tackling him?

  Probably, she thought, absently frowning as she heard something like a motor and-

  “The elevator,” Christofer growled out viciously as he tore open the door and stormed out of the penthouse, leaving her standing there, debating her options.

  After only a few seconds she came to the depressing realization that she really didn’t have any other options.

  *-*-*-*

  Orlando, Florida

  “We found her,” came the announcement that he’d been waiting for.

  “Where is she?” he asked his Beta, not bothering with any pleasantries as he abruptly hung up the phone on one of his suppliers.

  His beta stood in front of his desk, his hands clenched tightly by his sides, his gaze downcast in submission as he admitted, “She’s gone.”

  “Gone?” Aidan repeated with disgust.

  Brock opened his mouth to explain further only to abruptly shut his mouth, nod and tense up as he risked a quick glance at his Alpha.

  “How can she be gone if you found her?” Aidan asked, leaning back in his chair as he studied his beta, waiting for an answer that would satisfy him.

  Licking his lips, his beta rushed to explain, “We were able to convince a human working at the agency that employed her to help us. She gave us an address in Massachusetts. I sent a team to retrieve her this morning.”

  “Then why isn’t she here now?” he wondered out loud, his fingers drumming against his desk as he waited, patiently in his opinion, for his Beta to explain why his property wasn’t at this moment quivering at his feet and begging for his forgiveness.

  He saw his Beta hesitate for a moment and knew that he wasn’t going to like what was coming. His Beta apparently sensed that as well since he started to take a step back only to remember how Aidan felt about cowards.

  “Sentinels,” his Beta said, keeping his gaze locked on the floor.

  “Sentinels?” he repeated, the word leaving a sour taste in his mouth.

  Brock nodded firmly, once. “It appears as though they’re cleaning out the house.”

  “She was working at a Sentinel home?” he asked, wondering what kind of Sentinel would be stupid enough to harbor a bitch.

  She was clearly marked and even though the Sentinels did everything they could to stop the practice of marking humans as property, once a human was marked, they couldn’t do shit about it. That is, unless the human asked for help, but even then most Sentinels were forbidden to interfere, because of the potential for war. Knowing the Sentinels were involved, he couldn’t help but wonder if she knew what he was and what that made her.

  He’d rather keep her in the dark until he could claim her as his. He wanted to see the terror on her face when she realized what he was, her master. If the Sentinels had let that particular secret slip he may have to pay a visit to this Sentinel home in Massachusetts.

  “I don’t think it was a Sentinel home before,” Brock said, his jaw clenched tightly as he forced himself to stand there.

  “And now?”

  A muscle ticked in Brock’s jaw as he nodded, igniting his curiosity even further.

  “And the family that lived there?” he asked in a deceptively calm tone as he waited for the bad news that he knew was coming. He could smell the spike of adrenaline coursing through his Beta’s body, demanding that his beta make an escape or defend himself, but Brock would do neither. Not if he wanted to live.

  “They’re gone. No one in town has seen them in over a week,” Brock rushed to explain.

  “Does anyone know where they’ve gone?” he asked, relishing in the feel of his fingernails shifting to claws as he continued to drum his fingers against the desk, waiting for an answer that would lead him to his property.

  “No,” Brock reluctantly said as he continued to force himself to stand there, averting his gaze as Aidan digested his answer and when he did…..

  “You lost my property?” he snarled in his Beta’s face seconds later as he wrapped his hand around his Beta’s neck, allowing his claws to dig into the vulnerable skin protecting his throat.

  “It’s complicated,” Brock said, swallowing hard.

  “I asked you to retrieve my property. What’s so difficult about that?” he demanded, his voice deepening as he allowed his beast to come to the surface.

  “The people that she was working for weren’t human,” Brock gasped out, forcing himself to keep his hands by his sides.

  “Another shifter touched my bitch?” he snarled, his teeth shifting to fangs.

  “No,” Brock said, shaking his head adamantly. “The man that owned the house that she’d worked at was rumored to drink animal blood.”

  “Demon?” he asked, running possibilities through his head.

  “We’re not sure,” Brock admitted, gasping for air when Aidan abruptly released his hold and began pacing the office.

  “Tell me about him,” he demanded, flexing his hands, trying to shake off the need to rip his Beta apart.

  “He looks like he’s in his late twenties, but the people in town swear that he’s been living with his sister for over forty years. He never ages, can go out during the day and is rumored to drink animal blood,” Brock explained as he rubbed his neck.

  “And the sister?” he asked, wondering why the couple stayed in one area for so long.

  “Human as far as we can tell,” Brock said, piquing his curiosity.

  “Human?”

  “She was well into her eighties.”

  “Hmmm,” Aidan said, tracing his claws over his desk as he walked past it, running several possibilities through his mind. “Any chance that they were only posing as siblings?” he asked, wondering if it was just a case of a demon falling for a human that he couldn’t change.

  Eyes locked on the floor, Brock shook his head, wincing when the action obviously pained him. “No, it was pretty clear to everyone in town that they were siblings. They somewhat welcomed the sister into the community, but it was pretty clear that they feared him.”

  Nodding absently, he drummed his claws against the desk as he digested the information. It was possible that this “brother” was a demon and that the mother had fucked around. Possible, but he didn’t think so.

  He wasn’t a hundred percent sure, but he had a suspicion that his Beta had just stumbled across a way to make his old dream into a reality.

  Chapter 39

  “Wow, I didn’t know your son was a pussy,” Caine said conversationally as he watched the large Sentinel struggle to get out of the obviously pissed off Pyte’s hold.

  Ephraim sighed heavily as he shook his head, watching as Chris continued to struggle while the Pyte stood there, looking bored. “I didn’t know either.”

  “Mother fucker!” Chris roared as the sound of a bone
popping out of place echoed throughout the large elevator.

  Caine pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a sigh of disgust as he muttered, “Fucking pathetic.”

  “Bring us to the ground floor…..now,” Christofer said, keeping his gaze locked with Ephraim’s as he gave Chris’ dislocated arm a slight pull, earning a pained groan from Chris as his son finally went still in the Pyte’s arms.

  Ephraim ground his jaw firmly shut as he looked from the pissed off Pyte holding his son hostage to his son, who looked absolutely furious and a touch embarrassed at having been taken so easily. It had happened so fast that he hadn’t had time to react. The funny thing about it was, they’d all expected an attack and had been ready for it, but Christofer had taken them all by surprise.

  Before the elevator doors opened, Ephraim heard the other Pyte approaching the elevator at the same as Caine. Without a word, they’d signaled to Chris to expect an attack. They’d shifted to the sides of the elevator, drew their weapons and-

  Blinked in surprise to find the Pyte standing in the far corner with Chris pulled in front of him like a shield, a hand wrapped around his son’s throat and the other twisting Chris’ hand behind his back. No one seemed more surprised than Chris. It was a move that Chris normally would have seen coming a mile away, one he could easily avoid, but he hadn’t seen it coming.

  None of them had.

  Christofer had moved faster than a Pyte should have been able to, his brute strength alone was amazing. It made him wonder what would happen if Christofer learned how to control that strength. It also made him wonder how Christofer had learned to harness the strength and speed that Ephraim could only touch when he’d slipped into bloodlust. He wanted to learn that kind of control for himself and judging by the calculating expression on Caine’s face, he wasn’t the only one.

  But first, he needed to get this situation back under control. His gaze shifted to the woman standing by Christofer’s side and for a brief moment he considered grabbing her to ensure his son’s safety, but he knew that would only make things worse. Right now Christofer was in control, but if either one of them laid so much as a finger on the Pyte’s mate, that control would snap and Chris would pay the price.

  “We came to get you,” he said, moving his attention back to the Pyte as he slowly reached over and flicked open the elevator button and scanned his fingerprint.

  “You’re about five days late for that,” Cloe said, shifting her attention from him to Caine and then back again.

  “And I apologize for that, but the situation was out of my control,” he explained calmly as he pressed the button for the ground floor, cursing the Sentinel leader and his fucked up plans to hell and back again. “I’d like a chance to explain things to you before-”

  “You had your chance,” Christofer said, his hold around Chris’ throat tightening just enough to keep him from doing anything stupid.

  “You can’t leave,” Chris bit out, wincing when the Pyte’s hold around his neck tightened even more.

  “Watch me,” Christofer said, the threat softly spoken, but it was enough to send Ephraim’s heart racing, because he knew that this Pyte had been pushed too far.

  It also let him know that the time for diplomacy and finesse was long gone. If he was going to get his son out of this safely and keep this Pyte couple out of the hands out of a Master, and the girl from the horrible fate that awaited her, he was going to have to be blunt.

  “The moment that she steps out of this compound, every shifter within a hundred mile radius will be after her.”

  *-*-*-*

  “What did you just say?” Christofer asked after a slight pause as the force of Ephraim’s words nearly knocked him on his ass.

  “They won’t have a choice,” Chris bit out.

  “Bullshit,” he said, praying that Ephraim was lying his ass off to manipulate them into doing what he wanted.

  “She’s marked,” Ephraim explained in a hard tone. “You’ve not only fed from her without permission, but you’ve changed her and claimed her.”

  “You’ve stolen a shifter’s property,” Caine added as he sent Cloe a pitying look.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Cloe demanded, shifting the tension in the elevator as every man noticeably went still, even the man he held by the throat.

  Two pairs of red eyes suddenly locked on him as Ephraim demanded, “Why the hell didn’t you tell her?”

  He shoved the Sentinel away so that he could get in the other Pyte’s face. “That was your job,” he snarled.

  “Someone want to fill me in?” Cloe demanded, but his focus was locked on Ephraim.

  “She’s your mate!” Ephraim snapped, shoving him back.

  “Ah, no I’m not,” Cloe said with a snort of annoyance that he chose to ignore, mostly because this wasn’t the time or place to explain that she did in fact belong to him. Besides, she’d eventually realize it on her own.

  “We came here for the information that you promised,” Christofer said, shoving Ephraim back and getting back in his face. “You’re the one that fucked up when you didn’t give us the answers that you promised us.”

  Ephraim shoved him back, getting right in his face. “We didn’t have a fucking choice. As soon as we left you so that you could calm your mate down, our access to your floor was taken away. For the last week we’ve been stuck here, dealing with bullshit and trying to get our access reinstated so that we could keep our word to you.”

  Breathing hard, Christofer held the other man’s murderous glare as he reached over and took Cloe’s trembling hand into his. “You have an hour to explain what’s going on and then we’re leaving.”

  “One hour,” Ephraim agreed with a firm nod.

  “Fucking bastard,” Chris muttered as he turned around and slammed his shoulder into the elevator wall in an attempt to put the bone back in its socket.

  Caine sighed heavily as he reached out, grabbed Chris by the shoulder with one hand while he placed the other against his back. With a slight push, he had the bone shoved back in place with a sickening pop that had Chris grunting in pain.

  “Thanks a lot, you fucking-oh, shit!” Chris snapped as he slammed back against the elevator wall, reached out, grabbed Caine by the arm and yanked the large Pyte in front of him.

  Caine opened his mouth, then shut it as his eyes went wide and he noticeably swallowed, making Christofer frown as he muttered, “Oh, shit.”

  It wasn’t until Ephraim muttered an, “Oh, fucking hell,” and stepped back to block Chris from view that he realized something rather important.

  Cloe’s hand wasn’t trembling because she was upset.

  She was trembling because she had slipped into bloodlust….

  While they were stuck in an elevator………

  Yeah, this wasn’t going to end well, he thought dryly as he dropped her hand and rubbed his hands roughly down his face.

  A small, vicious growl to his right had him reaching out and grabbing Cloe as she moved to attack the two men guarding Chris. There was no doubt in his mind that she was after Chris. The normally overly sweet scent that the Sentinel gave off was saturating the air of the enclosed space. He’d found the aroma a little distracting, but nothing that he couldn’t ignore.

  Cloe on the other hand…….

  Had been turned only a week ago, hadn’t learned self-control, was apparently seriously pissed and had slipped into what the other men had dubbed, “bloodlust.” The scent of Chris’ blood would be too much for her to ignore, especially right now.

  “Mein Schatz,” he said, turning around as he grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her into the corner away from the trio behind him.

  One look at her beautiful red eyes and he knew that there was no point in trying to talk any sense into her. Cloe wasn’t in charge right now, which meant that there was nothing that he could say or do that would convince her that tearing Chris’ throat open was a bad idea. Not that he really gave a fuck if the little bastard got his thro
at ripped open, especially since no one had given a damn that they’d risked her throat being ripped open when they’d locked her up with him.

  He should let her do it, but he knew that she would hate herself later when she realized what she’d done. As tough as Cloe came off, he really didn’t think that she was the type of person that could shrug off killing someone even if it had been out of her control. The other reason that he was stopping her from crossing that line was currently pulling his weapon free from its holster and cocking the weapon.

  There was no question that she’d survive a gunshot wound, but the idea of her getting hurt was enough to make his stomach drop. He wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt her, but if she got past him he might not have a choice. Ephraim would protect his son, Cloe would be hurt and that was all it would take to make him lose control of the monster inside him, something that he hadn’t worried about since his days in the lab.