“And then what happened?” came the softly whispered question that had Trace looking up from the book that he was reading to his wife to find four women watching him.
Clearing his throat, he gestured towards his wife who was still in her coma, “She likes it when I read to her.”
“No one told you to stop,” Izzy said, gesturing for him to get on with it with a forkful of chocolate cake while Indie sat on her bed, sipping from a juice box that Marc had given her, watching him through innocent baby blue eyes as she nodded in agreement.
“We’re gonna need you to go back to the part about the kissing,” Kara said as the rest of the women nodded in agreement.
“I love his voice,” Madison said with a dreamy sigh as the shifter two beds over stood up, reached over and snatched the plate of chocolate cake from the small Sentinel, glared and returned to his bed, grumbling as he finished it off in one bite.
“Me, too,” Kara readily agreed as Trace sat there, not really sure how to take that.
“Keep going,” Izzy said, gesturing for him to get on with it.
Lips twitching, he looked back down at the book when movement from the door caught his attention. He looked up and found his father standing there, watching him. Without a word, he stepped back from the door and walked away, letting Trace know that his reprieve was finally over.
“We’ll watch her,” Madison promised with a warm smile as Trace stood up and after he leaned over and kissed his wife’s forehead, he forced himself to walk away.
Three hundred and fifty-four years was a long time to wait, Trace thought as he released a shaky breath when he spotted his father waiting for him. When Trace walked into the large foyer, his father’s eyes turned silver and-
His father reached over and grabbed him, pulling him roughly into his arms and held him tightly as Trace stood there, thinking about that moment when he took one last look at his father before he’d walked out of the cottage, all those times that he screamed his father’s name until his voice was raw, the moments when he would have done anything to see his father again, and-
He lost it.
One minute, he was standing there with his arms hanging by his sides and the next, he couldn’t seem to hold his father tight enough, couldn’t seem to catch his breath, and he couldn’t believe that it was finally over.
“I’m sorry, Father. I’m so sorry,” Trace said as held onto his father.
“Shhhh, it’s okay, Trace,” his father managed to get out, holding him just as tightly.
“I’m so sorry,” Trace said, wishing that he could go back to that moment even if it was only so that he could tell his father how much he loved him.
“I never stopped looking for you,” his father said hoarsely. “I never would have stopped until I found you.”
Chapter 46
Ten Days Later…
She was in real trouble here, Samantha thought as she opened her eyes and found herself smiling when she realized that she was sitting in another corner.
“You’re awake,” the man that had saved her life for the second time said as he pressed a kiss against her neck while she sat there, enjoying the way it felt to have his arms wrapped around her.
“Why are we on the floor?” she asked around a yawn since she was pretty sure that they’d actually made it to the bed last night.
“Bed was too soft,” Trace said as she felt his fingertip brush along the side of the beautiful wedding band that he’d given her last night.
“It was comfortable,” she mumbled as she laid her head back against his chest and closed her eyes.
“I’m more comfortable,” Trace said as she felt his hands slide over her stomach.
“Yes, you are,” she had to admit as she felt one hand move over her breast as his other hand slid between her legs and-
“Mmmm,” she couldn’t help but moan as he ran his fingers between her legs.
“I’m still mad at you,” he said as he continued teasing her.
“You are?” Samantha asked, licking her lips as she spread her legs further apart for him.
“Furious,” he murmured, caressing her breast as he slowly teased her clit with his fingertip.
“About?”
“Everything,” he said, kissing her neck.
“Do you think you could it narrow it down for me?” she asked, licking her lips as she watched his hand move between her legs.
“I could…”
“But you’re not going to,” she guessed, feeling her lips pull up into a smile when the smart ass said, “It’s like we’re connected.”
“What if I did that thing that you like?” she asked, feeling him go still.
“Which thing that I like?”
“That thing that you really like that requires a bed,” she said, barely finished getting the words out when she suddenly found herself picked up off the floor and carried across the room. When Trace dropped her on the bed, she sat up to do that thing that he liked so much only to drop back on the bed with a moan as he did that thing that she really liked.
Everything turned red as she felt her fangs slide down as her husband slid his tongue inside her while she ran her fingers through his hair. He felt so good, she thought as he ran his hands over her stomach that was a lot smaller than it used to be.
When she’d first opened her eyes and realized that everything was in red, she’d admit that she may have umm, freaked out a bit, for which she’d profusely apologized to Chris…once he regained consciousness, but once everything had been explained to her, she’d been fine.
Really.
Sort of…
For a brief moment, at least until she’d panicked and realized that old habits are really hard to break. But once she came to, she was fine after that and umm, eventually Drew, whom she’d also profusely apologized to, had been fine as well. After an unfortunate incident that had occurred when they’d tried to get her to drink blood, everything had been fine.
Except for when Noah made the mistake of coming into the room and she’d caught his scent, which…
Well, he was fine now and as soon as he stopped running away when he saw her, she planned on apologizing to him, again. Once she’d finally calmed down and managed to drink the rest of the blood without gagging, much, she’d been allowed to leave the clinic, mostly because they’d needed the beds for the all the men that she’d owed an apology to, and went up to the room that they’d given them.
When she’d walked into the bathroom and saw her reflection in the mirror, she’d been surprisingly okay with the changes. So, when Trace wrapped his arms around her and told her how sorry he was that he had to change her to save her life, she’d grudgingly accepted his apology…for the good of their relationship, of course. It had nothing to do with the thirty pounds she’d lost overnight or the fact that her breasts were firmer along with her ass and the double chin that had been threatening to develop was now a thing of the past. Finding out that she would never have to pluck, wax, or shave another thing in her life had also helped.
“Have you decided what you want to do?” Trace asked, flicking his tongue between her legs in a way that made it difficult to focus.
“This?” she said, making him chuckle as though she was kidding.
She wasn’t, and if she stopped doing that thing with his tongue, then she would probably be forced to kill him.
“I meant,” he said, pausing so that he could run his tongue between her legs again, “once we’re allowed to leave.”
“You know that might be a while, right?” Samantha asked, worrying her bottom lip, wondering if he knew about-
“I heard,” he said, chuckling as she winced, trying not to think about the unfortunate incident that had occurred earlier when she’d made the mistake of answering the door when the mailman knocked.
“Are you mad?” she asked because she knew how hard it was for him to wait to see all those changes that he’d been learning about.
“No,” he simply said as he pressed a kiss bel
ow her navel before he made his way up her body.
“Why not?” she asked, worrying her bottom lip as he settled over her with one of those smiles that she loved so much.
“Because I have everything that I’ve always wanted right here.”
Epilogue
Williams Mansion
“Are you okay?” Marc, who was probably her favorite person on earth, asked from his spot on the floor.
“Fine,” Indie lied as her grip tightened around her blankets as her gaze shifted to the lamp on her nightstand only to remind herself that everything was okay.
She was safe.
Definitely safe.
But just in case she wasn’t….
She glanced back at the lamp that she really wanted to turn on, but-
There was a heavy sigh and then Marc was pushing his sleeping bag open, grabbing her iPad off the nightstand and climbing onto the large bed next to Charlie, who followed her everywhere.
“You want to watch a movie?” Marc asked as he reached over and turned the light on.
“Are you sure?” Indie asked, noting the time and couldn’t help but feel bad because she knew that he had school in the morning and he was going to be exhausted.
Again.
God, she was pathetic, but even knowing that didn’t stop her from glancing around the large bedroom to make sure that they hadn’t followed her. She’d broken a rule in that basement, one that she knew was going to get her kil-
Stop it! Indie mentally berated herself, reminding herself that she was safe.
Mary was dead and the rest of the Pack, the ones that hadn’t been there, had already been rounded up and taken into custody by the Council. As far as they knew, Indie was dead. There was no reason for anyone to look for her and even if they did, they wouldn’t know where to find her, she reminded herself as her grip on the blankets turned painful when her bedroom door suddenly opened.
“Sorry,” Ephraim said around a yawn, absently scratching his bare chest as he walked into her room and joined them, making her wince when she realized that she was giving off the scent of fear.
Again.
That was confirmed when Trace and Samantha stumbled into her room a few seconds later and-
“Move over,” Kale said, picking her up and handed her over to Trace, who pulled her closer so that he could wrap his arm around her, something that he did when she was scared. Kale grabbed the remote off the nightstand, turned the television on and-
“Move over, brat,” Nathan said with a wince as he pressed a hand against his stomach and flopped down across the bottom of the bed with a sigh.
“What are you doing?” Chris asked, drawing her attention to her bedroom door where he stood, holding his son in his arms as Kara and Drew walked past him and headed for Marc’s abandoned sleeping bag. In seconds, the shifter was sitting back against the nightstand with his mate sitting comfortably between his legs.
“Harry Potter marathon,” Marc said, climbing onto his father’s lap and got comfortable as Chris decided to join them, dropping down on the chair by the bed with his son fast asleep in his arms.
“What’s Harry Potter?” Trace asked, frowning only to glare when his wife said, “A goblin.”
“I freaking love Harry Potter,” Jacob, who had a habit of showing up in the middle of the night, said as he sat down on the floor in front of the bed with a heartfelt sigh.
As Indie sat there, squished between a Pyte and an Alpha, who always stole her dessert, she slowly exhaled as she looked up and-
Found herself looking at Ethan as he stood in her doorway, slowly taking in the scene before him. When his gaze landed on her, his eyes turned silver and-
She bit back a sigh as she watched him walk away.
*-*-*-*
“She’s fine,” Madison promised him with a warm smile as Caine scented Indie’s fear and considered going to get the human and bringing her in here to keep her safe, but it seemed that he didn’t have to, not with the rest of the house looking after her.
They were all very protective of the small human, especially after finding out what that sick bitch had put her through. When the Council found out about Indie, they’d made arrangements to have her sent to the New York compound where they could protect her, but Ephraim had refused to send her away.
She belonged with them.
None of them would have allowed her to be sent away, not after what she went through, and definitely not after what she did for them and not after they’d been forced to stay away from Jill.
“How is she doing?” he asked, watching as Noah double-checked Danni’s pulse, which Caine already knew had slowed down since the last time.
“It’s starting again,” Noah said, biting back a sigh as he said, “I’m sorry.”
Grinding his jaw, Caine nodded absently as he glanced at his mate, who was about to fall into another coma before his gaze shifted to Izzy and the sweet little girl curled up next to her and-
“Get them out of here,” he bit out as he sat down in the chair that he kept next to the bed for nights like this and watched his mate, waiting for the moment when her heart stopped beating and his definition of hell was redefined.
*-*-*-*
Boston Compound
Boston, MA
“Please don’t do this!” Jill screamed as she was pulled out of the holding cell that they’d thrown her in five months ago and dragged towards the tunnel that would take her to a future that would destroy her.
“I’m sorry,” the shifter said, throwing her a sympathetic look before he turned her around and yanked her arms behind her back.
“You don’t need to do this!” she said, biting back a sob when she felt the bite of cold steel close around her wrists.
“I know you don’t believe it, but this is for your own good,” the demon that was supposed to escort her to the island said with a pitying look as the panic that she’d been struggling to hold back since she’d realized what was happening threatened to destroy her.
“Look, I’ll leave and d-disappear,” Jill pleaded in a rush as she was dragged into the tunnel.
“They’ll find you,” the demon explained as they continued to drag her through the tunnel.
“Who? I don’t understand why you’re doing this! I didn’t do anything wrong!” Jill yelled as she tried to pull free only to have them tighten their hold on her.
“It doesn’t matter,” the shifter said as they rounded the corner and she forgot how to breathe when she spotted the steel door at the end of the tunnel.
“Please don’t do this!”
“It’s for your own good,” the demon said, repeating the words that had sealed her fate.
She opened her mouth to beg them to call her father, but…
He’d turned his back on her.
That was fine, Jill told herself because she didn’t need anyone. More importantly, she didn’t want to need anyone. She was sick and tired of everyone that she ever cared about treating her like she was a second thought and she knew that a big part of that was because she was human. She didn’t belong in this world and that was more than fine with her.
She didn’t want to belong.
She didn’t want to live forever with all those things that she wanted to forget haunting her every waking moment and tormenting her every time she closed her eyes. She didn’t want to remember all those times that Candy had broken her heart when she was little, the things that she’d let happen to her, made her do, or the things that she’d forced herself to do to keep her siblings safe.
She just wanted to forget.
She wanted to forget everything, forget that Jill Williams ever existed and start over. She wanted a new life where she wasn’t constantly reminded of her mistakes, where she wasn’t in the way or treated like she was just one more responsibility. She wanted to move somewhere where no one knew who she was, who didn’t care who her family was, or all the mistakes that she’d made. She wanted to live a normal, boring life in a normal boring town and ma
rry a good man, have children, grow old, and pass away in her bed, but that was never going to happen if she let them put her on that plane.
As soon as they opened that door, she was going to make a run for it. She was going to do whatever it took to get away from them and then she was going to run, and she wasn’t going to look back. She was going to get the hell out of here, away from this compound, and everything in this world and she was going to do whatever it took to get that perfectly average life that she’d always dreamed of, she promised herself, as the door was shoved open.
In seconds, she found herself outside with the sun beating down on her and the sounds of the city surrounding. She raised her foot, moving to take out the shifter’s instep like her brother showed her even as she opened her mouth to scream for help only to stumble when her legs suddenly gave out. Trying to make sense out of what was happening, Jill watched as a man that she’d never seen before glared at her through cold grey eyes as her knees hit the unforgiving pavement and her mind registered the sounds of a gunshot.
Numbly, Jill looked down, barely aware of the demon and shifter cursing as they reached for her. A weak groan left her as they pulled her back to her feet as her head dropped forward and she watched in fascinated horror as a red stain appeared on her shirt and spread across her stomach.
“Oh, god,” she mumbled weakly, as everything went black.
A slight jostle had her struggling to open her eyes as Jill felt herself pulled into a pair of strong arms as the scent of something burning teased her nose and found herself looking up into a pair of silver eyes, blistered skin marring an incredibly handsome face covered in cuts and bruises as smoke rose off his skin and-
“We’re not done yet, Angel,” came the softly spoken words as she felt him press his wrist against her lips and realized what he was doing when warm liquid streamed down her chin. She opened her mouth to scream only to have Logan take advantage, pressing his wrist tightly against her mouth, ensuring that she didn’t miss a single drop.
Tall, Dark & Furious (A Pyte/Sentinel Novel Book 6) Page 27
