Unstoppable

by R. L. Mathewson

  That led to her shoving her desk chair against the door and retreating to her bathroom where she curled up in the tub behind the safety of the shower curtain and told herself that everything was going to be fine. She kept telling herself that until she finally worked up the courage to pull the bandage off her neck and run her fingers over the puncture marks that changed everything.

  He’d marked her.

  The realization left her struggling to breathe, telling herself that he wouldn’t have done that to her, not when he knew what Mary’s Pack did to her. She’d spent her whole life as nothing more than property to a Pack that went out of its way to make her life a living hell and now, thanks to Ethan, she was going to spend the rest of her life marked as a minion, letting every vampire, shifter, and demon that crossed her path know just how pathetic she really was.

  She hated him.

  When he quietly walked into her bathroom hours later and sat down next to the tub, she’d hated him even more. While she sat there staring at the wall feeling sorry for herself, he’d sat next to her, mumbling that he was sorry until she finally fell asleep. The next time she opened her eyes, she was curled up in her bed alone, the IV had been removed from her arm, and there was a brand-new lock on her bedroom door.

  Over the past few months, she’d put that lock to good use, keeping her door locked during the day and sneaking out at night when she knew that Ethan was on patrol so that she could grab food, check on the babies, and sit with Danni only to return to the safety of her room as soon as she knew that he was home. Whenever she tried leaving her room during the day, she always found him standing outside her room with those two little words that she was sick of hearing, waiting on his lips.

  Before he managed to get them out, she’d close her door and-

  “Are you ever going to talk to me again, Indie?” came the quietly murmured question from the other side of the door.

  “There’s nothing to say,” Indie said, wrapping her arms around her knees as she dropped her head back against the door and resigned herself to waiting until he left to go on patrol.

  “You shouldn’t be here.”

  “I really don’t have a choice with this mark on my neck,” Indie pointed out, wondering why he wouldn’t let this go.

  Ethan didn’t like her, never wanted her around, and now that she’d finally accepted the fact that he hated her, he wouldn’t leave her alone. She didn’t want to hear him apologize again for something that he would never be able to fix. She just wanted him to leave her a-

  “I’ll change you, Indie,” came the softly spoken words that left her frowning.

  “What?” she asked, knowing that there was no way that he was suggesting what she thought he was.

  “I’ll change you, Indie. We can do it tonight after I get back from patrol and make this right before you have to go to the compound. I should have done it sooner,” Ethan said, sending a chill down her spine.

  “You’re talking about turning me into a vampire,” she said hollowly, not bothering to mention that she wasn’t going to the compound since he’d figure it out on his own later.

  “It’s the only way,” he said, sounding like it was the last thing in the world that he wanted to do, which was fine with her because there was no way in hell that she was going to let him turn her.

  “No,” Indie said, stubbornly shaking her head because that was the last thing that she needed.

  “Indie,” Ethan said, sighing her name while she reached over and grabbed her bag, more determined than ever to go through with this.

  “No, thank you,” she mumbled, knowing just how badly this would end for her if she did it.

  There were Packs all over the world looking for her, determined to make her pay for what happened to Mary and she really didn’t think that it was a good idea to add new ways to torture her into the mix. She could only imagine what they would do with holy water if they ever got their hands on her again. Then again, the same could be said for when they found out that Ethan was the one that marked her. Not that she could blame them since he seemed to go out of his way to hunt down shifters. She could only imagine what they’d do to her if she allowed him to turn her. No, she was definitely better off staying human, more than fine, in fact, especially since she fully planned on leaving here and never looking back.

  She’d go to Boston like she’d originally planned, create a new life for herself, and then…

  She’d figure it out as she went.

  There was a heavy sigh from the other side of the door and then, “We’ll talk about it when I get back.”

  Since she didn’t plan on being here when he got back, Indie didn’t say anything as she waited for him to finally walk away and when he did, she shifted her attention to the alarm clock by her bed and waited ten minutes before she got back to her feet and-

  Quickly decided then and there that she was never having children when Danni released a scream that sounded like she was being ripped in two. Definitely going to take that off her bucket list, Indie decided, wincing in sympathy when the next agonized scream came seconds later. Knowing that this was the best time to make her escape, Indie quickly made her way to the stairs and-

  “Marc!”

  Sighed when she spotted Jessica standing in the hallway, hugging her blanket against her tiny chest and looking adorably grumpy. Before Indie could say anything, the toddler was turning around and marching towards Marc’s room. She didn’t bother knocking, she simply pushed his door open and went inside. When Indie heard the grumbled, “I just tucked you in,” she smiled sadly as she headed downstairs.

  She was going to miss them.

  They were the only family that she’d ever known, but she didn’t belong in this world. She was human and they were…they were…

  What the hell was he doing? Indie wondered as she found herself watching Michael inject black liquid into a pack of blood. That quickly led to her wondering why she’d walked into the infirmary to get a better look instead of running away when she had the chance.

  “This isn’t what it looks like,” Michael said as he carefully placed the bag of blood down on the gurney with the others and set the needle down.

  “The bad guy always says that in the movies when he gets caught,” Indie said, swallowing nervously as she risked a glance over her shoulder, really hoping to find the vampire that loved to glare standing behind her, but there was no one.

  “Then you should know what comes next,” Michael said, sighing heavily as she glanced back at him in time to watch him grab another syringe out of his pocket.

  “You let me go?” Indie said, sounding really hopeful as she took a step back.

  “Not this time,” Michael said with a pitying look that really didn’t bode well for her.

  “Oh…” Indie mumbled hollowly with a nod as she moved to take another step back when he grabbed her, covering her mouth before she could scream and-

  “Change of plans,” Michael murmured in her ear when she felt the pinch in her side right before her legs gave out.

  Chapter 65

  “I don’t have time for this,” came the growled words as Ashley was forced to shift to the right only to bite back a curse and wiggled her way back to the left when Kale reached for her.

  “I’m not going to a compound,” Ashley said with a glare that dared him to argue with her.

  With a muttered, “You really are too fucking adorable to pull that off,” Kale tried to grab her one last time before he finally gave up with a heavy sigh, stood up, and-

  “Uh-oh.”

  -reminded her that he was freakishly strong when he grabbed hold of the bottom of the king-sized bed with one hand and picked it up while he reached down with the other and grabbed her before she could move back. Once he had her where he wanted her, Kale dropped the bed back on the floor and followed that up by gently tossing her on the bed where she decided that perhaps she should approach this from a different angle.

  Clearing her throat, Ashley said, “You need
me,” with a nod, hoping that it would be enough to stop him from asking any follow-up questions.

  It wasn’t.

  “For what?” Kale demanded as he crossed his massive arms over his chest, causing the muscles to flex in a way that didn’t bode well for her ass as his eyes turned silver and she was left with no other choice but to lie to him and hope for the best.

  “Because I have skills,” Ashley said, once again nodding as she crossed her arms over her chest, copying his stance as she tried to turn her eyes silver only to bite back a sigh when they turned red instead.

  “What skills?” he drawled, asking the one question that she was really hoping to avoid if she had any chance of convincing him that sending her to a compound filled with Sentinels was a really bad idea.

  “Pyte and shifter skills, of course,” she said, throwing in a shrug there at the end with a look that told him that it should be more than obvious what her skills were.

  “I see,” Kale murmured, looking thoughtful before adding, “Remind me what those skills are again.”

  “I would. I really would, but I just feel like we’d be wasting time when we really should be going wherever it is that we need to go,” Ashley said with a sad shake of her head and a heavy sigh as she dropped her arms away.

  “I can spare a few minutes,” Kale murmured, gesturing for her to get on with it.

  “Well, I don’t want to overwhelm you,” Ashley said, wondering why he was being so difficult about this.

  “That’s very considerate of you,” he said, clearly not backing down from this, which unfortunately for her, was going to be a problem.

  “I’m strong,” Ashley pointed out with a firm nod.

  When he only glared at her, she cleared her throat and added, “And I’m fast?” which probably shouldn’t have come out as a question, but since she wasn’t exactly sure how true that was, she decided that she should probably play that one by ear.

  “What else?” Kale asked, sighing heavily as he reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, looking exhausted, which might work in her favor, she realized.

  “I can shift,” she said with a nod.

  “And you’re pregnant,” he pointed out with a look that told her that she was wasting her time.

  “Which is why I plan on going in a supervisory capacity to make sure that everything goes as it should,” Ashley explained with a shrug that had him narrowing his eyes on her.

  “Do you know why I’m going to Manhattan, mo ghrá?” Kale asked in a conversational tone as he reached over and grabbed hold of her ankle before she could pull her leg back.

  “To kick someone’s ass?” Ashley asked with a hopeful smile as she was slowly dragged closer to Kale.

  Nodding, he murmured, “You could say that,” as he pulled her the rest of the way until her bottom was on the edge of the bed and Kale was standing between her legs. Once he had her where he wanted her, he released his hold on her leg and leaned over her, placing his hands on the bed on either side of her head as he leaned down and kissed her forehead.

  “Do you know what your blood does?”

  “I have a pretty good idea,” Ashley said quietly.

  She’d been terrified that it wasn’t going to help Danni, but she’d been even more afraid that Noah was wrong about her blood. Knowing that there was a reason why she was the way that she was and that she could help someone…

  It meant everything to her.

  “Your blood fixed a Sentinel who’d been crippled and was facing a very long life of pain, destroyed my scars, and killed the cancer that followed a Pyte into her immortality. Do you have any idea what that means?” Kale asked softly.

  “That you should definitely bring me with you in case you get hurt,” Ashley said with a hopeful smile that she was forced to bite back seconds later when Kale pulled back just enough so that he could glare down at her.

  “You’re not going with me,” he said firmly.

  “And I’m not going to a compound either, so that really doesn’t leave us with a lot of choices, now does it?” Ashley pointed out only to lean up and kiss his chin when he continued to glare down at her.

  “You’ll be safer at the compound,” Kale bit out.

  “That’s not what you told Jacob before,” she pointed out with a satisfied sigh as she dropped her head back down on the bed.

  “It’s been taken care of. You’re going to be brought in while everyone is out on patrol and placed in a secure wing where you won’t have to worry about anyone finding out that you’re there,” Kale said evenly.

  “And if they find out that I’m there?” Ashley asked, watching as a muscle in his jaw throbbed as he ground his teeth.

  “They won’t.”

  “Are you sure about that? I mean, with all the demons, vampires, and shifters that normally roam compounds, it’s only a matter of time before one of them catches my scent and then…” Ashley started to explain, only to let her words trail off with a helpless shrug.

  Eyes flashing brighter, Kale leaned down until his nose was touching hers and bit out through clenched teeth, “You’re going to the compound and that’s final.”

  “Do you think that I’m still in heat?” Ashley asked, worrying her bottom lip as she watched her words sink in and when they did…

  She realized that she could have saved them both a lot of wasted time by bringing that up first as she watched Kale slowly stand up, looking as though he really wanted to spank her ass before he grumbled something to himself that she decided not to inquire about as he abruptly turned around and stormed out of the bedroom without another word.

  Chapter 66

  Williams Mansion

  “What’s wrong?” Caine asked, trying to bite back a smile as he kissed his son’s forehead, knowing that his mate wouldn’t appreciate it at the moment, not when he already knew why the woman that he loved more than anything was pouting.

  “Nothing,” Danni mumbled softly, only to add a sniffle at the end as her gaze once again found the pile of junk food that she would never get the chance to enjoy.

  “Would it make you feel better if I told you that Marc said the pizza that I got for you didn’t have enough cheese on it?” Caine asked, watching as Danni’s eyes turned red as she turned her glare on Noah when the poor bastard made the mistake of chuckling.

  He’d barely managed to find half the items on the junk food list that she came up with when the first text came from Noah, letting him know that Danni was in labor. That had been followed by at least a dozen text messages from the woman currently pouting, letting him know that everything was fine and wondering if he wouldn’t mind grabbing a chocolate shake on the way home. When he’d made it back, without the shake, there had been no question that she was labor, but that hadn’t stopped her from inquiring about that shake or glaring at him in between contractions.

  “Not even a little bit,” Danni said, looking so incredibly beautiful as she sat there pouting that he couldn’t resist leaning down and stealing a kiss.

  “I’m sorry that you didn’t get to enjoy being pregnant,” Caine said, shifting his kisses back to his son’s forehead as he sat down on the bed next to her.

  “No, you’re not,” Danni grumbled even as she couldn’t help but smile as she reached over so that Ash Noah, who’d been named after the two people that saved his life, could wrap his tiny hand around her finger.

  “Would it help if I promised to spoil you rotten next time?” Caine asked, watching Danni frown as his words slowly sank in and when they did…

  “You want more children?” Danni asked with a hopeful look in her eye that told him that he wasn’t the only one that had fallen in love with their son. They’d never wanted children, never planned on having any and now that he was holding Ash in his arms, he couldn’t wait for more.

  “Probably a few dozen more,” Caine said with a teasing smile as he gazed down at the miracle in his arms.

  “What if the cancer comes back?” Danni asked quietly.

  “It
’s not coming back,” Caine said, shaking his head as he leaned down and kissed their baby boy’s forehead, unable to help himself.

  When she opened her mouth to argue, Noah cut her off, reminding him why he liked the human so much. “The cancer’s gone, Danni. It’s not coming back.”

  “That’s what they said last time. How can you be sure that this time will be any different?” Danni asked, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.

  “Because Ashley’s blood worked,” Michael said with a warm smile as he walked into the room carrying several bags of blood in his hands as an odd, slightly acidic scent reached him, making him wonder why it smelled familiar.

  “How are you feeling?” Michael asked as he dropped the bags of blood on the bed next to Danni as his attention shifted to Ash. “May I?” the Sentinel asked, already reaching for the sleeping baby in his arms.

  “Of course,” Caine murmured absently as his attention shifted to Danni in time to see her frown as she caught the scent that was driving him crazy.

  “He’s a handsome little guy,” Michael murmured, smiling down at Ash as he gently shifted him to one arm so that he could fix the baby blanket that he was swaddled in as he walked around the room.

  “Thank you,” Caine said, watching as Noah frowned as he picked up one of the bags of blood that Michael dropped on the bed as the scent of apples reached him, covering the scent that he realized was coming from the bagged blood.

  “You’re a very lucky man, Caine.”

  “Why’s that?” Caine asked, looking up to find the Sentinel watching him as he pulled a syringe out of his pocket and-

  “Because your son was supposed to die like mine did.”

  St. Hope Prison

  One Hour South of the Williams Mansion

  “Chris,” Ephraim said, pinching the bridge of his nose, wondering where he’d gone wrong as his son continued tormenting the nine-foot werewolf.

  “Aw, what’s the matter?” Chris asked with a teasing smile only to laugh when Drew, who’d held off going after Chris longer than Ephraim thought he would, reached through the bars and took a swipe at him.