Unstoppable

by R. L. Mathewson

  “It’s not fair,” Ashley managed to get out, her voice breaking even as she told herself that she had no right to be upset. She was mated whether she wanted to be or not and Kale…wasn’t.

  “What’s not fair?” he asked, stopping her when she moved to pull away from him.

  “Forget it, please,” she said, reaching up to push his hands away, but he wasn’t having it.

  “Tell me what’s wrong,” Kale said, leaning in to brush his lips against hers before adding, “Please.”

  For several minutes, Ashley didn’t say anything as she sat there, thinking about all the things that his mate was going to be able to give him and that she would never be able to and…

  “I wish it was you,” Ashley said, looking up to meet his gaze.

  “What?” Kale asked, frowning in confusion as he tried to make sense out of what she was saying.

  “I wish that you were my mate,” Ashley said, watching him go still seconds before his emerald eyes slowly turned silver.

  Reaching up, she frantically wiped away the tears that wouldn’t stop coming as she said, “It’s breaking my heart knowing that someone else is going to be able to give you all the things that I can’t. I don’t want my mate. I don’t even know him. I hate this. I hate knowing that one day you won’t be mine and I…I hate this, Kale.”

  Swallowing hard, Kale said, “I already found my mate.”

  “What?” Ashley said, frowning as she tried to make sense out of what he was saying, but it didn’t make any sense. If he’d already found his mate, then he wouldn’t have been able to make love to her last night.

  Keeping his eyes locked with hers, Kale raised his right arm and removed the large watch that covered his wrist as he said, “I’ve already found my mate,” as her eyes landed on the mating mark that matched hers. Gently taking her hand into his, Kale pressed his mating mark against hers.

  “You’re mine.”

  Chapter 46

  This isn’t going to end well, Kale realized as he watched Ashley frown in confusion only to watch as her beautiful green eyes turned red, then silver, before turning an interesting combination of both and-

  Definitely not going to end well for him, Kale thought as he watched her eyes narrow dangerously on him as she slowly climbed off his lap and headed for the bedroom door. That was followed by a lot of fucking mumbling as she headed downstairs and…slammed the front door shut behind her.

  “Shit,” Kale said, sighing heavily as he climbed off the bed and felt his lips twitch a few seconds later when he heard the front door open again, followed by Ashley frantically mumbling, “Cold, cold, cold, cold,” as she was forced to come back inside to escape the cold winter air.

  It reminded him that they still had to figure out a few things like why she couldn’t handle the cold now that her shifter side had made itself known. It seemed like she didn’t have any of the weaknesses of a Pyte and all of the weaknesses of a shifter. She could shift at will, flash her eyes silver, loved sweets, but unlike most shifters, she couldn’t handle the cold and her reaction to silver was fucking terrifying.

  Noah needed to move his fucking ass and run the tests on her blood before he lost his fucking mind. He couldn’t protect her if he didn’t know what he needed to protect her from. He-

  Sighed heavily when he heard Ashley march across the living room floor and into her room, pausing only to slam her bedroom door shut before heading to what sounded like the bathroom as she grumbled along the way. Too fucking adorable for words, Kale thought as he climbed off the bed and headed downstairs.

  He didn’t bother knocking, knowing that she would just mumble. He walked inside just in time to see Ashley angrily pull off her socks and threw them at the hamper before shifting her attention to her shirt and shorts. When they joined her socks, she stormed into the shower, turned it on, and crossed her arms over her chest as she pointedly ignored him and just in case he hadn’t figured out that she was pissed…

  “We are no longer speaking,” Ashley grumbled, making his lips twitch because she was honestly too fucking adorable for words.

  “I take it you’re mad,” Kale said as he stepped into the shower stall and leaned back against the wall.

  When that was met with another grumble, he pointed out, “You didn’t want a mate.”

  “And neither did you,” she said, still not looking at him as he took in the firm set of her shoulders as they relaxed and her arms dropped by her sides with a soft little sigh, letting him know that she had already forgiven him.

  She was too fucking kind for her own good, Kale thought, biting back a sigh as he remembered a time when he thought someone else was too fucking kind for his own good. Logan had worn an easy smile and had always been quick to forgive and-

  He should have told him about Elizabeth before it was too late.

  “No, I didn’t, but I want you,” Kale said, not knowing what else he was supposed to say to make this right.

  “Were you ever going to tell me?” came the quietly mumbled question as he watched her stare down at the floor.

  “Yes,” he said, watching as she absently nodded.

  “Were you…were you embarrassed about me?” came the quietly mumbled question that had him frowning in confusion.

  “What?” Kale asked, trying to make sense out of what she was asking.

  “Were you embarrassed because I’m an Impure?”

  The words were barely out of her mouth before Kale was pushing away from the wall and pulling her into his arms. “God, no,” he swore as he cupped her face and kissed her, putting everything that she meant to him in that one kiss. When he was done, she pulled away with another grumble and laid her head against his chest with a heartfelt sigh as she said, “I’m not ready to stop pouting,” making him struggle not to smile, knowing that she wouldn’t appreciate it at the moment as he kissed the top of her head as something occurred to him.

  “You’re going to make me grovel again, aren’t you?”

  “I really am.”

  Williams Mansion

  He was going to spank her ass, Chris decided while he watched as Izzy, who was still fucking lying to him about her hip, gave Trace a pitying look as she said, “I just don’t think that you’re strong enough to carry me downstairs to the meeting,” making his lips twitch.

  God, she was a manipulative little thing.

  Sighing heavily because she was really fucking bad at this, Trace leaned down to pick her up, knowing how much she hated asking for help, only to glare when she said, “Cradling would be best.”

  “Izzy,” Chris said, pinching the bridge of his nose as he used the move to hide a smile that would only encourage her.

  “What? I’m trying to help him,” she said, trying to sound innocent as he dropped his hand away to find her cradled in the large Pyte’s arms.

  “And you couldn’t have asked me to carry you downstairs?” Chris asked as he pushed away from the wall and headed for the door, ready to get this meeting over with.

  “I’m also using this opportunity to get to know Trace better and make him feel welcome,” Izzy said with a long-suffering sigh as Trace quickly caught up with him.

  “Wasn’t that the excuse you used when I found you hiding in his bed this morning?” Chris asked, glancing at his mate to find her glaring at him.

  “That was a misunderstanding,” she said, making the Pyte’s lips twitch.

  “And the insane amount of junk food that I found you devouring was what then?” Chris asked, knowing that he should be relieved that she wasn’t hiding in the asshole shifter’s bed anymore, but…

  She missed him.

  As much as it pained him to admit this, Izzy wouldn’t have been able to get through any of this without Kale. He’d kept her grounded, held her when Chris couldn’t and did everything in his power to make this better for her. Kale still checked in on her, spoke to her every day, and had saved Chris’s sanity more than a few times over the past few months by rushing back here to hold Izzy when th
e pain became too much, but something was different. He couldn’t remember the last time that Kale slept in his room or dropped by just to annoy the shit out of him. He-

  “That wasn’t mine,” Izzy said, dragging Chris’s attention back to his sugar-addicted mate.

  “I don’t eat food,” Trace pointed out, earning an adorable glare from the small woman in his arms.

  “Why are you lying?” Izzy asked, blinking up at the Pyte. “It was your junk food and we both know it.”

  “I think the better question is, why do I keep finding you curled up in his bed?” Chris asked, even though he already knew the answer. Without Kale around, she needed someone else to help her hide her sugar addiction and the large Pyte didn’t have the balls to turn her away. He’d lost count of how many times he’d found her curled up in the Pyte’s bed, sitting between Trace and his incredibly amused mate, watching shitty horror movies at three in the morning, devouring enough sugar to take down an army.

  “Because we’re having an affair?” Izzy said, looking really hopeful, which was really just fucking sad.

  “And Samantha?” Chris asked as they headed downstairs.

  “Has a really open mind?” she said, making him chuckle as they headed down the hallway.

  When they reached the living room, Chris stole his mate back and dropped down on the closest couch with a satisfied sigh that quickly turned to a pained grunt when the little brat shifted on his lap to get more comfortable with a devious look in her eye that had him narrowing his eyes on her.

  “Was that really necessary?” Chris asked, wrapping his arms around her once she was finally settled.

  “Was it really necessary to throw away my peanut butter cups?” she countered and since Drew had actually stolen them from him before he had a chance to throw them away, he simply nodded.

  “Then we are no longer speaking, sir,” Izzy said, crossing her arms over her large breasts as she pointedly looked away from him.

  “Izzy, you-”

  “I’ve changed my mind. I wish to sit on my daddy’s lap,” she said, gesturing for him to carry her across the room so that she could sit on Ephraim’s lap.

  “You do realize that he’s my father, right?” Chris pointed out with a glance at his father, only to swallow hard when he saw the pain on Ephraim’s face.

  Losing Jill had destroyed his father and…

  God, he missed her.

  When they’d turned her over to the Council, he’d told himself that it was just temporary, but then again, he would have told himself anything to keep her safe. She’d been too fucking kind for their world and…

  He missed her so much.

  They never should have handed her over. They should have grabbed her and dragged her back here and figured out a way to remove that fucking mark the leech left on her without killing her and they…

  Couldn’t have done that without putting all the children in this house at risk. That mark was like a fucking beacon, identifying the wearer to every vampire, shifter, and demon that crossed their path that they were a vampire’s property. With so many demons, vampires, and shifters working for the Sentinels coming and going from the house, having Jill here hadn’t been an option, not when the vampire that marked her was the most hated vampire alive.

  When he got his hands on Logan…

  “Why don’t we start?” John, Kara’s grandfather, and the Sentinel filling in for Eric while he healed, said, sighing heavily as he dropped down on the couch across from them. The Sentinel was almost a hundred and eight years old, but like most Sentinels, he didn’t look a day over twenty-five. He also looked like he was fucking exhausted. Between the birth of his great-grandchildren, finding the Sentinel children and keeping them safe, what happened here a week ago, and taking over for Eric while he healed, the Sentinel was running on fumes.

  “What’s going on?” Chris asked, ignoring his mate’s demands and focused on the Sentinel that didn’t look any happier about this meeting than they were.

  “Too fucking much,” John said, rubbing his hands roughly down his face before dropping them away. “We’ve got some news, thanks to Izzy.”

  “I’m very helpful,” Izzy said, once again gesturing for him to carry her over to his father.

  “You really are,” John murmured in agreement.

  “What did she find?” Michael asked, looking just as exhausted as he sat down on the other end of the couch.

  “It’s not good,” John said, sighing heavily as Chris took in the rest of the occupants of the room.

  His father was glaring at the wall, his hands clenched tightly on his lap as he struggled with his grief. On the opposite end of the couch was Drew passed out with his baby girl curled up in his arms. Caine was leaning back against the wall, looking like he was struggling to hold it together. Christofer was sitting against the wall with a sketchpad on his lap, probably drawing more pictures of the sister that he’d just lost and Ethan…

  Was lucky that his son had stopped him from putting a stake through his chest, Chris thought, more than fucking tempted to do it now for what he did to Indie. She’d trusted him and the asshole had ripped into her fucking throat, marking her as fucking property. If Noah hadn’t been here, she would have died instead of spending the past week struggling to pull through.

  “We were able to locate eight of the Sentinel children, including Mason,” John announced, getting to the point. “We’re still looking for the last two children, but we haven’t heard anything so far and we’re taking that as good news. The bad news, we lost several allies and three Sentinels in the process.”

  “Damn it,” Chris said, rubbing the back of his neck.

  “How is Eric doing?” Izzy asked as she took her hand in his.

  “He’s going to pull through. We were able to get him Sentinel blood transfusions in time, but he’s going to be laid out for a while,” John said as Chris’s gaze flickered to Ephraim just as his father’s eyes flashed red and he knew that his father didn’t regret sending the Sentinel out of here on a gurney.

  They’d trusted the Sentinel when he said that he would keep Jill safe and he’d let her get killed by a fucking human. Eric-

  Never would have let Jill get hurt if he’d been there, Chris reminded himself when Izzy gave his hand a comforting squeeze, knowing just how much he was struggling with this. He…he just wanted his sister back.

  “What else?” Chris asked, needing to change the subject before he fucking lost it.

  “We’ve been having problems finding out information. Everything’s gone quiet. Packs and nests are on their best behavior. Human attacks are down, which would normally give us something to be happy about, but not when a war’s brewing. It took some time, but we were able to find out some information. There’s a bounty on Kale’s head,” John explained.

  “There’s always a bounty on Kale,” Chris pointed out, knowing that the shifter would take care of it before anyone was dumb enough to try cashing in.

  “True, but there are also bounties on Indie, Izzy, and on Kara,” John bit out, looking furious that his granddaughter had found her way onto a bounty list as his words sank in and when they did…

  Chris’s furious gaze swung to his father as he tightened his arms around his mate and the realization of what this meant crossed his father’s features. They knew that Izzy and Indie were alive.

  “They know Indie’s name?” Ethan asked, sounding curious.

  “Yes,” John said as Chris swung his gaze back to find the vampire’s eyes flash silver.

  Nodding, Ethan said, “Then you have a problem, Sentinel.”

  “What’s that?” John asked.

  “You have a fucking leak,” Ethan bit out.

  “Why do you say that?” Michael asked, frowning in confusion.

  “Because they didn’t know Indie’s name. They called her Mistake. That was the name they gave her, which means that if they put her name on the list as Indie, then you have a fucking leak,” Ethan bit out.

  “Shi
t,” John said, shoving his fingers through his hair.

  “I think it would be a good idea, at least for the time being, if we stopped using the Sentinel network with anything pertaining to this house with all these cyber-attack attempts and cleared the house of everyone who doesn’t belong here,” Michael suggested.

  “And who would that be?” Ethan asked, shifting his attention to the Sentinel doctor.

  “For starters, you,” Michael said, meeting the vampire’s glare head-on. “Then there’s Noah. The human has no business being here.”

  “He stays,” Caine said firmly, and Chris had to agree. The human was new to their world and was still learning, but so far, he’d proven himself useful.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea. We don’t know anything about him,” Michael said, shaking his head.

  “I don’t give a flying fuck what you think. Noah stays,” Caine bit out.

  “And Kale?”

  “What about him?” Chris asked, wondering where the older Sentinel was going with this.

  “He’s a traitor to his own kind, who can be bought. He-”

  “Would never do anything to harm Izzy or her children,” Ephraim said evenly.

  “True,” Michael murmured before adding, “but he hates Pytes, which puts you and your children at risk. We’ve all heard the stories of what he’s done to Pytes over the years. Not to mention that whoever did this most likely leaked the information that got your daughter killed.”

  “It’s not them,” Ephraim said softly.

  “How do you know?”

  “Because if I thought it was them for even one second, I would have already killed them.”

  Chapter 47

  Two Months Later…

  Boston, MA

  How did Ashley read this shit? Kale couldn’t help but wonder, sighing heavily as he settled more comfortably against the brick wall while he swiped to the next page and-