Tall, Dark & Heartless: A Pyte/Sentinel Series Novel

by R. L. Mathewson

  Chapter 16

  Danni squeezed her eyes shut tightly as she waited for the first drop of blood to hit her tongue. She didn't care how good he smelled, she knew the second she tasted his blood that she was going to be sick. Oh God, she couldn't do this. She couldn't drink blood. There had to be another way. She knew Pytes couldn't eat human food, but maybe the council could come up with something because she-

  A moan ripped through her throat as she got her first taste of his blood. It was so good, she thought as she sucked on his neck, desperate for more as her stomach growled almost viciously. Never in her life had she tasted anything so delicious.

  A moment later she changed her mind as a new flavor mixed with the blood and caused her toes to curl and her legs to widen. It took her a moment to realize that she was tasting and smelling his arousal and that her body was reacting like it was an aphrodisiac, and maybe it was. When she felt moisture pool between her legs she knew that she should stop and gain some distance, but she was helpless to stop drinking.

  Her arms wrapped around him as if they had a mind of their own while her hips rolled against him, desperate to get closer to him. When she felt the metal ring of his piercing slide between her slit she moaned against his neck. For a brief second he stilled above her before releasing a small groan as the delicious scent that was wafting off his body intensified until all she could think about was taking his large cock inside of her.

  The thought surprised her. Growing up she'd had a school girl crush on him that morphed into attraction as she got older, but she'd never allowed herself to imagine what it would be like to have sex with him. Now she couldn't stop thinking about it. She wondered if she could take his large, thick cock to the root even as she wondered if she'd be able to feel the piercing once it was inside of her.

  "We have to stop, Danni," Caine said tightly, letting out a little groan as the tip of his cock along with the piercing slid more firmly between her slit.

  She pulled her mouth away from his neck only to leisurely lick the drops of blood that spilled down his skin as she rubbed herself against him. Every time the warm metal of his piercing slid across her clit a surge of pleasure shot straight to her core.

  The low growl of warning that tore through the room only intensified her need for him. She ran her hands down his warm muscular back, loving the way his muscles flexed beneath her touch as she licked and kissed his neck, unable to get enough of him. She wanted more, but the stubborn man refused to move. He held himself completely still above her as he continued to growl in warning.

  She knew she should stop, but she couldn't. It was like someone threw a switch and suddenly she felt as though she'd die if he didn't touch her. It was crazy. She knew that she shouldn't be doing this, especially not with Caine, but she couldn't help herself. She needed him so badly that she actually hurt from it.

  "Stop!" Caine snapped and she knew he was right. This was wrong for so many reasons, not to mention that she never behaved this way with men. Usually when she was involved with a man she kept it simple and straightforward. She'd been with a few men over the years, but none of them ever made her feel out of control. Not like she'd die if he didn't take her.

  It was time to stop, she realized, forcing herself to drop her head back on the bare mattress and away from that neck and the tattoo that she wanted to trace with her tongue. After a slight hesitation she was able to drop her hands completely away from him and force them to remain at her sides.

  What in the hell was wrong with her? She didn't act this way and she sure as hell shouldn't be acting like this towards Caine, but that didn't stop the need to reach up and run her hands all over him. She looked away from his neck, knowing instinctively that if she didn't she would attack him again and met his eyes, the same grey eyes that used to give her comfort as a child.

  In an instant her lust was gone and replaced by disgust. This was the same man who used to kiss her scraped knees better and tuck her in at night. He was also the man who turned his back on her and a little blood had her forgetting all of that and practically raping him. Her stomach clenched painfully at the thought as she moved to get away from him, but he wouldn't let her go.

  He dropped down on her, forcing her to take his weight. When she tried to shove him away he moved his arms beneath her and wrapped his arms around her so that she couldn't move. When pushing him away didn't work she resorted to squirming which was just as ineffective.

  "Get off, Caine!" she snapped, wondering why the hell he wasn't getting off her. He should be able to smell the change in her body and know that she needed some space, but he wasn't giving her any.

  "Not until you calm down, Danni. All it's going to take right now is one look at you to know that I've changed you and then you're going to have to deal with something a hell of a lot worse than your response to me," he said evenly as he held her tightly against him.

  She gritted her teeth against the lust that was determined to come back at the feel of his large warm muscular body pressing down on hers. The fact that his erection was pressed against her, wasn't exactly helping her calm down. If anything, it was making it worse for her.

  "I can't calm down with you on top of me," she admitted through clenched teeth, hating any type of weakness and there was no doubt in her mind that the way her body was reacting to him was a weakness. She needed to be in control, always. She hated herself for reacting to his scent and that damn erection poking at her that he couldn't seem to control.

  "Close your eyes and pretend that I'm not here, Danni," he ordered as his grip around her tightened.

  "That won't help," she bit out, hating herself as she felt more moisture pool between her legs.

  "Try," he snapped, sounding irritated as he tried to adjust himself on top of her. There was no way that he could hide that large erection that was pressing against her stomach.

  "I can't!"

  "You can!" he said, glaring at her through gray eyes, letting her know just how easily it was for him and how weak she was.

  She let out a humorous chuckle that had him frowning down at her. How pathetic was she? Even as a Pyte, one of the strongest creatures on earth and she was still weak, pathetic. He might be hard and unable to hide the scent of his lust, but he was still in control of his body. She didn't need to run her tongue over her teeth to know that she was not.

  Just in case her teeth hadn't clued her into the fact that she wasn't in control, her vision did. Everything was in tints of red and as hard as she tried, she couldn't get her vision to shift back to normal. It pissed her off like nothing else. She hated not having control almost as much as she hated being weak. She closed her eyes, squeezing them shut as she willed her body to get back under control. After about a minute she opened her eyes and let out a frustrated groan and did it again to no avail. She couldn't do it, she couldn't shift her eyes back to normal and couldn't retract her fangs and she hated it.

  Her eyes welled up with frustrated tears as she gripped his shoulders and shoved him away. She wasn't sure if she was stronger than she thought or if he let her do it and she really didn't care. The only thing that mattered was getting some space. She was off the mattress and across the room before she took her next shaky breath.

  "Danni,-"

  "Just leave me alone, Caine!" she snapped as she went over to the still running shower and switched it to cold before stepping under it. She sat down beneath the spray of water, hugged her knees to her chest and closed her eyes, praying that this was all a dream.

  It didn't matter that she'd been dying and he'd just saved her from an agonizing death. She didn't want this. She didn't want to fight for control of her own body and she sure as hell wasn't happy that he'd given Greg and whatever Master he worked for exactly what they wanted.

  She never thought of herself as a coward, but as she sat there freezing beneath the ice cold water she couldn't help but tremble at the thought of what would happen to her once they realized that she wouldn't cooperate. From what little Caine had told
her years ago and what she now knew Greg was capable of, she had a pretty good idea about what she could expect if they discovered what she was now.

  Over the past couple of months the knowledge that she'd suffer at the end of her life had damn near set off a few panic attacks, but she knew that there would eventually be an escape even if it was by death. Now that Caine made her into a Pyte there was no escape for her or him, when they realized that they didn't need him anymore. They could try to force him to make them an army, but she didn't think they'd bother now that they had her and it wasn't too hard to guess why.

  Caine would fight them tooth and nail and never give in no matter what they did to him. He had centuries of experience on his side and could probably withstand most things, but she didn't. She couldn't even handle a migraine. How was she supposed to handle torture? She couldn't and she knew it. They'd break her and that disgusted her most of all.

  *********

  Boston Compound

  "I didn't think you'd come."

  "I almost didn't," Jill admitted with a shrug. "I shouldn't be talking to you like this," she said, knowing that was an understatement.

  Her brother and father would flip out, but it was hard to care when talking to Logan was the only thing that helped her relax most days. As much as she loved her family, and she did, sometimes she just needed a break from being everything to everyone. She always had to be the listener, the shoulder to cry on, the one everyone could count on for anything. It didn't help that she was all alone and now that she was at the compound she had no job, no friends, nothing to keep her busy or distracted.

  Out of everyone here, she was the only one that didn't belong. She was neither a Sentinel nor an employee of the Sentinel Council. She was just the daughter of the Pyte that worked for them and the sister of the Sentinel in charge of training. Every day since she arrived several months ago it had been a battle not tell her family goodbye and head back home to her life and her job, but she couldn't leave them. They needed her and it didn't matter that it was a constant struggle for her to stay here. She would never hurt them.

  There was very little need for her. She helped out with her niece and spent time with Marc so that he wasn't lonely and visited Joshua every day, but other than that it was a struggle to fill her days. She would have liked to spend more time with Madison and help her since she was nearly nine months pregnant with twins, but Madison spent most of her time with Ephraim who was still having a hard time with what happened to Joshua. When Madison wasn't with Ephraim, she was with Chris since they were best friends. It made Jill feel left out, but she was used to it, well at least it didn't hurt as much as it once did.

  Then there was Isabella, Chris' mate. She really liked Isabella and loved spending time with her. Isabella was open, honest, sweet and funny, but unfortunately for her, she was also a busy mom who ran the IT department for the Sentinels and was expecting another baby within a few short months. If she wasn't working then she was with Chris. If Eric or Kale were at the compound then Izzy was spending time with them. Kale was Isabella's B.F.F. as she'd heard Izzy refer to the cranky Alpha several times, probably to annoy the hell out of him, and Eric was the one she loved to beat at video games.

  Jill didn't play video games, didn't go out on patrol, wasn't married, didn't work here and had no reason to stay other than just to make sure that everyone was alright. Simply put, she didn't belong here, but every time she tried to bring it up she was swamped with guilt so she sucked up her misery and contented herself with leading a pointless life at the moment. The only thing that made this situation somewhat tolerable was the vampire in the glass cage before her.

  "What's wrong, Angel?" Logan asked softly in that incredibly sexy voice that she could listen to day and night.

  "Nothing's wrong," she lied, leaning against the mixture of glass and metal bars as she forced a smile, but it didn't go far.

  "Then why do you look seconds away from crying?" he asked soothingly as he reached through the large square section of bars in the thick glass wall and took her hands into his. "Come on, Angel, talk to me," he said as he caressed the back of her hands with his thumbs.

  Instead of pulling away like she knew that she should, she angled herself towards him and welcomed his touch. She looked up into his beautiful baby blue eyes that were several shades lighter than her own and her father's and couldn't help but melt. This was wrong for so many reasons.

  She was human and he was a vampire that would probably be staked as soon as the council was done with him. There was no future and at the moment none of that mattered. He soothed her in a way that no one ever had before. He also made her feel whole and needed. She knew this was foolish, but she couldn't help wanting to be near him.

  Staying away from him during the day was a struggle, one she fought with constantly. She knew what would happen if her brother, Chris or her father or Eric for that matter caught her with him. They'd probably take away her access to this floor. There was also a chance that they'd send him away. She didn't want them to send him away so during the day she forced herself to be patient. When the majority of the Sentinels left for patrol and the IT department called it a night she came to visit Joshua. She'd sit outside his cell for a while before she would finally allow herself some time with Logan.

  "I'm fine," she said, forcing a smile.

  Logan released one of her hands so that he could reach through a higher opening in the bars and cup her face in his hand. "No, you're not," he said quietly.

  Her smile slipped as she opened her mouth to argue, but there was nothing to say. She wasn't fine. This whole situation wasn't fine. She wanted her brother back and out of that cell. She wanted to see her father with a carefree smile again and she wanted to matter in some way. She needed to do something, anything that mattered. She hated feeling useless mostly because it reminded her of her birth mother, Candy. She never wanted to be like that woman and this situation came damn close.

  While Candy would have been more than happy with other people taking care of her and supporting her, Jill was not. She liked to earn her own money. It was the reason why she turned down her father's offer of a trust fund. She wasn't useless and refused to let anyone think that she was.

  There was a time when it wouldn't have bothered her to have someone else take care of her, but after Ephraim came into her life, things changed. He treated her with respect, didn't hesitate to tell her when she was being foolish, but most of all he was the kind of man that she wanted for herself one day. She wanted a man to love and respect her. She knew the only way that would happen is if she respected and loved herself and that would never happen if she led a pointless life.

  "Shhhh, Angel, don't cry," Logan said soothingly. Until then she hadn't realized that she was. This was humiliating. She was strong, independent and didn't give into drama or any nonsense anymore. She certainly never felt sorry for herself, but it looked like she was doing just that.

  "I'm sorry," she said, clearing her throat awkwardly. "I should go."

  He shook his head. "No, you should stay," he said as he gently pulled her face closer until he could brush his lips over hers through the bars, startling her.

  "Stay," he whispered against her lips.

  "I can't," she said, but made no move to leave.

  "Stay with me, Angel," he said, brushing his thumb over her bottom lip and God help her but she couldn't say no. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't. She needed him almost desperately.

  "Okay," she said with a small nod as she allowed him to kiss her again.

  Chapter 17

  "How much do you want me to give them, sir?" Jonathan, a vampire who'd been a doctor when he was human, asked.

  "As much as you can give them without killing them," Lucan said, not bothering to look up from his computer screen, but he didn't need to look up to know that the five "volunteers" for this little project noticeably relaxed. He could smell the stench of fear in the room weakening with every passing second.

  "It n
eeds to stay in their system for at least ten minutes to make sure that it hits their bloodstream," Jonathan explained.

  "Leave it in for twenty minutes before drawing their blood," Lucan said, not bothering to watch as Jonathan injected each minion with a large dose of the aphrodisiac.

  As the drug did its work he double checked the Master's holdings and looked into what the other Masters' activities were. Several months back all the Masters grudgingly agreed to form an alliance, all in the hopes of bringing down the Sentinels, shifters and everyone else that got in their way. While the Master had been giddy at the prospect of going to war and finally ridding the world of the Sentinels, Lucan had been against the entire thing.

  An alliance done right could have been beneficial for everyone, but that's not what the others had in mind, especially not his Master. His was one of the weakest and for many reasons. He had no shifters under his control. He only had a small army of vampires that Lucan had to keep in line, but they feared the Master because he was prone to emotional outbursts. His Master also had an annoying habit of thinking with his cock and focused too much of his attention on the minions under his control for sex, for everything else the Master simply ignored them.