Unstoppable

by R. L. Mathewson

She should just make a run for it, Ashley decided with a nod that quickly turned into a heavy sigh since she knew that wasn’t really an option. At least, not while the owners of those incredibly sweet scents that she was really hoping didn’t belong to Sentinels, were in the house. As much as she would love to lie to herself, and right now, she would really love to be able to lie to herself, she already knew that it was pointless.

  Besides the fact that Marc told her all about the occupants of the large mansion that she currently found herself trapped inside of, her mother had explained all about the incredibly sweet scent that Sentinels gave off. It was meant to entice vampires, making it easier for Sentinels to lure them out, but it also made it easy for shifters to avoid them during shifts, something that most shifters used to their advantage. She hadn’t realized just how sweet their scents really were until they’d pulled into the long driveway and she’d realized where Kale was taking her.

  “Why are we hiding under the bed?” Marc asked as Ashley listened for any signs that Kale was coming back.

  “Why did you help them kidnap me?” she countered, really wishing that Kale hadn’t left her in here.

  “Because you’re safer here,” Marc said, shrugging it off as he settled in to get more comfortable, only to gesture towards her. “Why are you wearing headphones?”

  “I’m not used to this much noise,” Ashley said, reaching up to adjust the headphones that Jacob grabbed for her while Kale had been dragging her out the front door.

  “Are they helping?” Marc asked, turning his head to look at her.

  “Not really,” Ashley mumbled, trying to separate all the muffled noises currently bombarding her sensitive ears and figure out where Kale was so that she could glare at the jerk for bringing her here and get some damn answers but she was having a problem doing it. She wasn’t used to this much noise. At home, the only thing that she had to deal with was the sounds of nature, the television, and the sounds that the two shifters that she was no longer speaking with, made.

  It was nothing like this house. She could hear everything from the sounds of people breathing, walking, talking, moving, the sounds of something beeping steadily, a television, someone softly singing what sounded like a lullaby, a baby crying, and more noise than her sensitive ears could handle at the moment. She just wanted to go home, beat the shit out of Kale with a pillow for doing this to her, and try to wrap her mind around the fact that she was pregnant.

  Every time she felt herself getting excited about the possibility of having a baby, she remembered the look on Kale’s face after he told her that everything was going to be fine and felt her stomach drop. Something was wrong and she was determined to find out what that something was, but hopefully from the comfort of home, Ashley thought only to frown when she heard it.

  Footsteps.

  “Oh, god…” she mumbled weakly as the footsteps came closer.

  Swallowing hard, Ashley shifted her attention towards the door and waited for the footsteps to pass by them, only they didn’t. As she lay there, struggling to remember how to breathe, she listened as the bedroom door slowly opened with a small, barely audible click, and then…

  She saw them.

  “Oh, god…” Marc whispered hollowly as a pair of tiny feet with little toes came to a stop in front of the bed.

  That was followed by the cutest little girl that Ashley had ever seen peeking beneath the bed, looking adorably confused when she spotted her only to get a look of pure excitement on her face when she spotted Marc. With an adorable grumble, she quickly made her way under the bed and joined them. Once she was comfortably settled between them, she said, “I hungie.”

  “Of course you are,” Marc said, sighing heavily as he dragged himself out from beneath the bed.

  “Wait! Where are you going?” Ashley asked, trying not to panic as she watched her only ally in this abandon her.

  “To get her a snack before she gets cranky,” Marc said, holding out his hand for the little girl that she was assuming was Jessica, to join him.

  After one last grumble, Jessica did just that, placing her tiny hand in his and quickly climbed out from beneath the bed, leaving Ashley lying there, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth and…

  “Wait,” Ashley said, deciding that staying here by herself really wasn’t an option, not in a houseful of Sentinels.

  Cursing Kale for leaving her in here like this, she climbed out from beneath the bed and quickly joined Marc as he picked up the adorable little girl and followed him, looking over her shoulder the entire way as she continued struggling to block out the sounds assaulting her ears. When they reached the stairs, she slowly exhaled as she leaned over the banister and-

  “They’re not going to hurt you,” Marc said, chuckling as he headed down the stairs, leaving her with no other choice but to follow him or return to the safety of Kale’s bed.

  “I know,” Ashley lied, nodding for some reason as she tried to force a smile as she followed him downstairs, only to wince when the noises became louder and-

  “You are the worst best friend ever!” came the loud announcement that had Ashley wincing as pain shot through her head, turning her stomach, and-

  “I’ve got you,” came the softly murmured words that made everything worse as she suddenly found herself picked up and carried away from the noise making her sick to her stomach.

  Maybe it was morning sickness? Ashley wondered as she closed her eyes and allowed herself to be carried off, too sick to do anything more than bury her face against the hard chest of the large man that she was really hoping wasn’t about to hand her over to a Sentinel.

  “She’s pregnant,” Marc said, tearing a whimper out of her as she reached up and tore her headphones off, dropping them on the floor so that she could cover her ears with her hands since they weren’t exactly helping anymore.

  “A little girl,” the man holding her said, chuckling as he adjusted her in his arms and, thankfully, kept moving away from all that loud noise.

  Shaking her head, Ashley said, “Not a little girl. Pytes can’t be born girls,” until the move caused her stomach to turn harder and she decided to stop shaking her head.

  “This one is and she’s strong,” he said as she felt him place her down on a counter until she shook her head, letting him know that this wasn’t going to work, not unless she wanted to become better acquainted with the nearest toilet. With a murmured apology, he carefully placed her down on the floor and since she was already down here, Ashley decided to lie down and hope for the best.

  A few seconds later, she felt a cold cloth pressed against her forehead as her new favorite person on earth gently pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “Normally, you’re right, but your little girl’s scent is stronger than my son’s was, so I think it’s safe to say that she will be fine. Besides, her shifter blood is protecting her,” he said soothingly as she felt Marc sit down next to her and take her hand in his.

  “The baby’s a shifter?” Ashley asked, opening her eyes only to find her father smiling down at her only…

  It wasn’t her father.

  He had the same blond hair as her father. He was tall and incredibly handsome, but her father had green eyes like hers and this man’s eyes were dark blue. He had kind eyes, Ashley thought as he frowned down at her.

  “Why do you look so familiar?” he asked, gently pressing the cold cloth against her forehead.

  “She’s Kale’s mate,” Marc explained as Jessica climbed onto his lap and settled back with a satisfied sigh.

  Ashley watched as his frown shifted to confusion and then settled on anger as his dark blue eyes shifted to red, and his jaw clenched tightly as he looked at her as though he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. “What’s your name?” he asked, tossing the facecloth in the sink.

  “Ashley,” she whispered softly, unable to look away from him as she pulled her hand free from Marc’s hand and covered her ear with another wince when the yelling started again.

  Nodd
ing, he said, “My name is Christofer,” as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture. Keeping his eyes locked on her, he turned the picture around and showed it to her. Swallowing hard, Ashley took in the picture of a little girl lying in a hospital bed, covered in cuts and bruises. “Is this you?”

  “It used to be,” Ashley mumbled as she looked back at him.

  “Do you know who I am?” Christofer asked as he carefully slid the picture back in his pocket.

  “You look like my father,” Ashley mumbled, trying to figure out what that meant when Kale walked into the room and told her.

  “He’s your brother.”

  Chapter 57

  “I’d really like to go home now,” came the softly mumbled words from the small woman that he never should have brought here.

  “That’s the plan, mo ghrá,” Kale said as he moved to pick Ashley up only to drop his hands away when she rolled over onto her other side with a pained groan, clasping her hands tightly over her ears.

  “Ashley…” Kale said, sighing heavily when she frantically shook her head only to stop doing that with another pained moan.

  “You want to start explaining why you told me that my sister was dead when she’s been with you this whole time?” Christofer demanded only to curse when Ashley released another pained groan and curled more into herself, letting him know that something was seriously fucking wrong.

  She shouldn’t be reacting to noise like this, not now. It had to be the baby, Kale realized, taking in her scent and-

  “You had no right keeping her from me,” Christofer said when Kale sat down next to Ashley and carefully pulled her into his arms.

  “You can bitch at me later. Right now, we need to get her out of here before it’s too late. She’s not safe here,” Kale bit out.

  “Then why did you bring her here?” Christofer asked, swallowing hard as he watched Ashley, looking torn between ripping his throat out and pulling Ashley out of his arms.

  “I needed to make sure that the baby was okay,” Kale said as he met the angry Pyte’s glare, wondering what the hell he’d been thinking when he’d decided to bring her here. It was something that he never would have done before, but then again, he’d never been this fucking terrified before.

  He’d needed to make sure that his mate and child were safe, and he knew that the only way to do that was to bring her here and have the Ion currently glaring at him make sure that they were okay. Pytes had an incredible sense of smell, stronger than even shifters, but Ions could scent things that none of them could. Christofer had been the first one to scent Drew and Kara’s baby girl while the rest of them had been wondering how the Sentinel infant was going to survive the birth without a human twin to make it possible. Christofer had been able to separate the twins’ scents, penetrating through the scents of Sentinel and shifter blood and managed to latch on to the tiny little girl’s scent and from what he’d overheard a few minutes ago, he’d been able to do it again.

  Their little girl was going to be fine, Kale told himself as he slowly exhaled. Their shifter blood was giving their baby girl a chance and Ashley’s body was doing the rest. He just needed to get her out of here before someone working for the Council walked through the front doors and realized just how valuable Ashley’s blood was.

  “She’s not going anywhere,” Christofer said evenly, his eyes flashing red in warning.

  “She’s my mate,” Kale bit out, pulling Ashley closer as he allowed his eyes to flash silver in the only warning the Pyte was going to get if he tried to stop him from getting Ashley out of here before it was too late.

  “I smelled your claiming mark, but from what I can tell, she didn’t claim you,” Christofer said evenly as Ashley pressed her face against Kale’s chest.

  “Then you know that I’m never going to let her go,” Kale bit out.

  “And you should know that I’m probably going to be sick if you keep talking,” Ashley mumbled against his chest only to add, “I’d really like to lie down now,” a minute later.

  “I’m taking you home,” Kale said, tightening his hold around her and moved to pick her up when she whimpered against his chest with a weakly mumbled, “I really liked the floor.”

  “I need to get you out of here,” Kale said, forcing himself to ignore her whimper when he stood up and found Christofer blocking his way.

  “Do you really think that I’m going to let you take her knowing how much you hate Pytes?” Christofer demanded, letting his fangs slide down.

  “She’s not staying,” Kale said, moving closer to the Pyte.

  “I would love to see you try to take her away from me, mutt,” Christofer snapped as he came closer.

  Kale allowed his eyes to flash silver as he moved even closer. “She’s not staying.”

  “You are out of your fucking mind if you think that I’m going to let you walk out of here with my sister.”

  “And you’re out of your fucking mind if you-”

  “Bad Unkie Kale!” came the angry grumble that had them both looking down to see Jessica, who’d apparently managed to give Marc the slip, glaring up at them. “No bad words!”

  There was a heavy sigh, and then, Christofer was leaning down and picking up the little girl that had them all wrapped around her little finger. That was followed by dutifully kissing her rosy little cheek as he leveled a glare on Kale.

  “She’s safer here,” Christofer said, giving Jessica’s cheek another kiss.

  “She’s gonna be sick here,” Ashley grumbled, making Kale sigh as he leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

  “I’ve gotta get you out of here,” Kale said with a pointed look at the Pyte that still wasn’t fucking moving out of the way.

  “Not without me,” Christofer said firmly.

  “Did I mention that I’m going to be sick? Because I really feel like it should be mentioned,” Ashley said, making him sigh as he kissed the top of her head again as he headed for the door, leaving the Pyte with no other choice but to get out of his way.

  “It will be okay,” Kale promised her, heading for the front door.

  “What’s going on?” came the mumbled question as Christofer handed Jessica back over to Marc, who was smart enough to know that it was time to get her out of here.

  “I made a mistake bringing you here,” Kale said, only to curse when she mumbled, “I really don’t feel good.”

  Shit!

  “Noah!” Kale yelled, quickly leaning down to kiss the top of Ashley’s head in silent apology when she released a whimper as he turned around and headed back upstairs.

  “What’s going on?” Jacob asked, quickly catching up with them as they made their way down the hallway and into his room.

  “I have no fucking idea,” Kale said, carefully placing Ashley on the bed as Christofer reached for her hand.

  “Ephraim,” Christofer said, keeping his eyes on Ashley as he turned her hand over and scented her wrist, knowing the other Pyte would be able to hear him.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Kale asked, watching as the Ion frowned in confusion as he scented her wrist again.

  “Her hormones are going crazy. I’m having a hard time separating them. The baby is a Pyte and a shifter, but for some reason, I keep scenting shifter on her,” Christofer said as Ephraim walked into the room. Kale knew the moment that the Pyte scented Ashley’s pregnancy and realized that it was a little girl. His eyes turned red as a flash of pain crossed his features before it turned pitying as his gaze landed on Kale.

  “Who is she?” Ephraim asked, sending him a questioning look as Jacob dropped down on the bed next to Ashley.

  “She’s my mate,” Kale said, watching as the Pyte’s expression turned from pitying to stunned in a matter of seconds.

  “She’s my sister,” Christofer added with a glare aimed at Kale.

  “The baby’s a girl,” Ephraim murmured hollowly as he glanced back down at Ashley.

  “She’s fine,” Kale bit out, wondering how many times he was g
oing to have to tell himself that before he believed it. He just…

  He couldn’t lose his little girl.

  “Tell me if you smell shifter on her,” Christofer said, frowning in confusion as he shot Ephraim a questioning look that turned even more confused when Kale said, “Her mother was a shifter. She’s an Impure.”

  “How is that even possible?” Christofer asked, glancing back down at his sister.

  “I’m guessing that your father’s demon blood had something to do with that,” Ephraim said with a warm smile for Ashley. “How are you holding up?”

  “I’d really like to lie down right now,” Ashley mumbled as she continued squeezing her eyes shut.

  “You are lying down,” Christofer pointed out, only to have his lips twitch when she added, “The floor was quite lovely.”

  “How about we figure out what’s wrong first?” Ephraim suggested, stepping back to make room for Noah.

  “I take it that this is Ashley,” Noah said with a warm smile as he made quick work of checking her vitals. “Want to tell me what’s going on?”

  “I miss the floor,” Ashley said on a groan as she rolled over onto her stomach and buried her face against the pillow, only to decide that wasn’t going to work out well for her and settled for curling back into the fetal position.

  “She’s not feeling well,” Kale said, taking Ashley’s hand away from Christofer as he leaned down and kissed her forehead.

  “She’s not appreciating all the yelling,” Ashley mumbled with a wince as she pulled her hand away and covered her ear only to grumble, grab hold of the pillow and pull it over her head.

  “She’s not getting enough blood,” Ephraim said, rubbing the back of his neck as he gestured helplessly towards Ashley. “She shouldn’t be having a problem blocking out sounds.”

  “No, she shouldn’t,” Christofer murmured as he sent Kale a questioning look. “How often is she consuming blood?”

  “Once a week,” Jacob answered absently as he leaned over and searched through the nightstand.

  “That’s not enough,” Ephraim said, frowning as he shared a look with Christofer while Kale stood there, narrowing his eyes on his mate as a sneaking suspicion tore up his spine.