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

by R. L. Mathewson

  Chris walked into the room, his expression turning murderous the way it did every time he saw Izzy walk before he managed to pull it back and plaster a carefree smile on his face. "Hey, Munchkin, did you miss me?"

  Izzy smiled hugely as she threw them a look that clearly told them to keep their mouths shut. "Of course I did, baby, but do you think we could have this little reunion with a couple of Cokes?" she asked, sounding hopeful. "I'm really thirsty."

  "Okay," Chris said, probably not giving it much thought since the woman was a junk food addict. He paused long enough to give Danni a loud smacking kiss on the top of her head that had her chuckling and rolling her eyes and did the same for Madison before he walked over to his mate and gave her a sweet kiss as his hand snaked between them and stole the baby monitor off her belt.

  He pulled back and raised the volume, which of course bugged the hell out of her ears and Madison's. He placed the monitor next to his ear for a minute as he listened to all four babies sleeping before thankfully lowering the volume and placing it on the back of his pants.

  "Let's go get you something to drink," he said, giving Izzy another kiss before scooping her up in his arms and carrying her towards the door.

  "Coke, remember, I need Coke," Izzy reminded him, overstressing the point.

  "Yes, you little junk food addict," Chris said with a chuckle as they disappeared through the doorway.

  "Ten minutes," Danni said as she grabbed her jacket and headed for the door.

  "Five," Madison said with a smile as she waved goodbye. Any other night and Danni would have bet that Chris wouldn't notice the mark for two minutes, but the man had been gone for a week and she doubted that he was going to focus on anything other than getting Izzy naked.

  "You're on," Danni said, laughing as she headed for the front door. Living with the Williams family was nice and for the first time in her life she felt like she finally belonged somewhere, but that didn't make up for missing Caine.

  She loved and missed him and she knew that one day that she'd find him. Izzy was using her program Tattletale to look for him, but so far they hadn't had any luck. One day she'd find him, but for right now she kept herself busy. It was either stay busy or go crazy.

  "Hey, baby," Caine said, startling a little squeal out of her as she opened the front door and found him standing on the front step, drenched from head to toe as it down poured all around him and she knew, just knew that her mind had finally snapped. It was either that or the cancer that refused to go away finally found a way to screw with her head.

  "You going to invite me in?" Caine asked, managing to look incredibly sexy even drenched. Yup, definitely a psychotic break, she decided.

  When she didn't answer, the hallucination decided to take her silence as an invite. She stepped back as he approached her. He sent her a questioning look as he closed the door behind him.

  "You don't seem happy to see me, Danni," the hallucination said as it reached for her. Before she could step away it had her scooped up into his arms and was heading upstairs with her.

  As far as hallucinations went, this one was a good one, she decided as Caine paused on the second floor landing and scented the air before he turned left and made his way straight to her room. Once inside he kicked the door shut behind him and carried her over to the bed where he placed her. He then proceeded to take of its clothes, making this the best hallucination ever.

  ********

  "You don't look very excited to see me," he noted as Danni continued to sit there staring at his erection.

  "This is the best hallucination ever," she muttered quietly as she reached over and took his cock in her hand, slowly caressing it and making him lick his lips in appreciation.

  For five long months he'd dreamt of her touch and he had to admit that it was better than he remembered. Already she had his balls drawing up tight and ready to explode.

  "Why do you think this is a hallucination?" he asked as he reached over and began helping her with her clothes. She released his cock only long enough to get her shirt and bra off, then she was back to driving him crazy, paying special attention to his piercing as always.

  "Because you're at the bottom of the ocean, Caine," she mumbled, tearing her eyes away from his cock to look up at him with the saddest expression he'd ever seen and one that he was going to make damn sure never graced her beautiful face again.

  He shifted back, pulling his cock out her hand and kneeled in front of her. "No," he said, making quick work of removing her boots, weapons, pants and panties, "they decided not to drop me in the middle of the ocean," for which he would be eternally grateful, "they kept me locked away at the Boston Compound as punishment."

  There was a long pause before she slowly said, "I see."

  Honestly, she could have said more, but he wouldn't have heard her since he could barely take his eyes away from the beautiful dark curls between her legs. He leaned forward to bury his face between her legs and put himself out his misery when he suddenly found himself shoved to the ground and Danni on top of him.

  "You've been locked up for the past five months while I've been worried sick about you!" she snapped as she held his hands down by his head. "You jerk!"

  "Would you be happier if I was at the bottom of the ocean?" he asked, flipping her over and pinning her to the floor as he shifted and thrust home and couldn't help but let out an appreciative moan that she more than matched as he found her hot, wet and more than ready for him. Her walls clenched around him in welcome as he moved to pull out when he found himself once again on his back and Danni straddling him.

  "You could have sent word to me!" she snapped, sitting up only to drop back down and do a little twist with her hips that had him closing his eyes and dropping his head back in resignation. She could punish him all night and day if that made her happy and he'd gladly take it.

  "I couldn't, baby. That was part of the punishment. They wanted to make sure that you weren't going to be a problem," he said, nearly crying when she stopped moving.

  "Meaning?" she asked with a slight yelp as she once again found herself on her back.

  "Meaning," he said, rolling his hips, "that they wanted to make sure that you were really my mate and that I wasn't trying to pull any shit on them. Seems that they've decided that I'm allowed a mate. Now I never have to leave you again, Danni."

  "Then why did they lock you up?" she demanded as she wrapped her legs around his hips, obviously giving up on trying to take control as she urged him on with a little wiggle of her hips.

  "Because I beat the shit out of the head of the Council. Why else?" he asked, not mentioning that he also took her punishment for decking the guy. It added two months onto his sentence, but it had been well worth it to him to know that she was safe and being taken care of.

  He knew that they hadn't found a cure for her, but the doctors did find a potent mixture of his blood and demon blood that helped keep her strong and healthy. So every day he drank as many bags of blood as he could before he felt like he would explode and had his blood drawn until he could barely move and was on the verge of bloodlust at which point he would start the process all over again.

  She had enough of a buildup in her system now that she could now drink a normal amount from him and a few bags of demon blood every day and she'd be fine, more than fine. As long as they continued to work for the council they'd keep supplying her with demon blood and she'd be okay. Of course, he couldn't quit because Danni loved this job and he loved her and that was more than enough for him.

  "They gave you five months for that?" she asked, sounding disgusted. "What a wimp."

  He chuckled as he leaned down for the kiss he'd waited five months for. The moment his lips met hers nothing else mattered, not the fact that she was most likely going to try to kick his ass for leaving her, the five months they spent apart, not even the muted sounds of Izzy screaming for help and Coke?

  "I think Chris just found out that he's going to be a daddy again," Danni said, laughing sof
tly as she reached up and gripped his hair to hold him right where he was.

  He sighed against her lips. "This is a really weird family."

  Epilogue

  Two months later.....

  "But I tagged him!" Danni pointed out as she gently tapped CJ's little foot, making the infant coo excitedly as two sets of hands clamped down tightly around her ankles and dragged her back to the middle of the large training mat and flipped her on her back.

  As much as she would have loved to get up and kick Chris and Ephraim's asses, she was a little too busy trying to catch her breath and willing her legs and arms to work. For the past hour they'd been having their fun with her and up until a half hour ago she'd done pretty well, but then she started to get tired, but of course Chris wouldn't let her quit. She needed to build up her endurance and make the demon blood work for her and what better way to do that than to tag team her ass.

  "B-but," she took a deep breath, licking her parched lips as she weakly pointed back to the baby who was now fast asleep, "I tagged him. Go kick his a-um, butt instead," she said, catching herself before she swore and got her ass kicked all over again by Chris.

  Chris and Ephraim shared an amused look as they chuckled. "Come on, don't be a wimp," Chris said mockingly as he nudged her with his foot. "Come on, you big baby, get up. We're getting bored here."

  "Come on, Danni, you can handle this," Ephraim said as he reached down and grabbed her right hand as Chris grabbed her left.

  "Can I have a nap first?" she asked, sounding pathetic and not caring one bit.

  For the past week she followed leads on Joshua with Caine all over New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Connecticut, but they were all dead ends. While they searched for Joshua they also helped clear several nests, stop a small war between the Packs and she'd been looking forward to getting some sleep. They hadn't had much time to do more than drive and work over the past week. She desperately needed some sleep, a hot bath and her mate, in that order.

  Unfortunately for her, Chris and Ephraim had other plans for her. Since the Williams pretty much adopted her and made her one of them, Chris and Ephraim decided that meant they had to help her learn her abilities and build up her strength. She'd admit that the trainings had been helping her along with the blood. It had been about three months since the last time the cancer kicked her ass and she reminded Chris and Ephraim of that fact several times in the last half hour as she tried to leave and find her bed, but they simply wouldn't hear it.

  It really was sweet that they cared so much about her, really it was, but right now after seven days without sleep she desperately needed rest and at this point she really didn't care where. In fact, if they just let go and dropped her ass back on the mat she'd be more than happy to take a nap right here.

  "Sorry to interrupt, gentlemen," Caine said as he walked into the large room and scooped her up into his arms. "But, Danni is needed elsewhere."

  "That's fine," Chris said, shrugging as he reached over and gave her head a condescending pat in an annoying big brother kind of way that made her wish that she wasn't too tired to kick his ass. "I'm going to put my babies down for their naps and go find my mate."

  "Same here," Ephraim said, shooting her a wink as he walked over to the nap area and somehow managed to pick up both his babies without waking them up from their naps.

  Caine chuckled as he walked after the two men. "We probably won't see them until tomorrow night."

  "Thank God," she said, letting herself go limp in his arms as she laid her head against his shoulder and relaxed for the first time in a week. In another ten days they'd be doing this again when it was their turn to look for Joshua and Ephraim and Chris came back from their turn. For the past few months they'd been taking turns searching for the man. They hadn't found him, but what they had found out wasn't good. The man was turning out to be a bigger asshole than she'd originally thought and she couldn't wait for the day when she got her chance to kick his ass.

  "Why didn't you rescue me sooner?" she asked, closing her eyes and enjoying being close to him.

  "I had to save Marc from little Jessica," he said, sounding amused and making her smile.

  "Poor Marc," she said, not bothering to open her eyes and she snuggled into him. Since the little girl learned to walk several months ago, she followed Marc everywhere. The poor kid couldn't seem to get a break and while they all thought it was cute, and it was, Marc really needed a break. The poor kid was having a tough time of it with what happened to Joshua, his sister and grandmother refusing to come live with them, but most of all he was having a hard time dealing with what happened to Izzy.

  Izzy tried to comfort him, but her limp really didn't help or the fact that sometimes she went and hid in a room so that no one would see her crying when the pain became too much. Pain medication didn't work for Sentinels and to get even a small amount of relief she would have to take a dose that would be lethal to humans and since she was pregnant with human children that meant that she couldn't take anything and was forced to suffer through it.

  Chris already promised her that they were done making babies for a while and each time he hunted her down and held her as she sobbed in his arms he promised her again. It was one of those times that she hated have really sensitive hearing. Their pain was private and she felt like an intruder when she overheard them.

  "I think Kale's coming tomorrow night," Caine grumbled, which was understandable since the shifter merely tolerated their presence. He didn't like Pytes and that would probably never change. Whenever Chris was away he usually dropped whatever he was doing to be here for Izzy and the babies. He'd take over helping with the babies, carry Izzy around like Chris did so that she didn't have to suffer and go to her when it became too much and she needed to stop putting on a brave face for everyone.

  They all tried to help Izzy, but the attention seemed to embarrass her and make her self-conscious so they usually left it up to Chris and Kale to comfort her. The rest of them settled with helping with the babies and sneaking her junk food when Chris' back was turned which seemed to please her immensely. Of course, no one was stupid enough to sneak her Coke or anything caffeinated since that would set Chris off on an hour long lecture about not giving that type of shit to his unborn precious babies.

  "Why don't we take the night off?" Caine suggested and normally she would kick his ass for saying such a thing, but right now all she could do was sigh in relief.

  "Please."

  He chuckled as he laid her on their bed and slowly undressed her. "I was thinking we'd eat, get some sleep, make love in the bath tub, against the wall, and a few other places before we settled in and made love on the bed. What do you think?"

  "It sounds absolutely perfect," she murmured sleepily as she tried to roll over and curl up, but Caine wasn't about to let her go to sleep without feeding.

  "Sorry, Danni," he said as she felt him lay down beside her. Seconds later he was pulling her into his arms and she nearly purred with contentment when she felt his warm naked skin rub against hers. "But you need to eat," he explained as he positioned her on top of him.

  "Fine," she mumbled sleepily as she nuzzled his neck as she allowed her fangs to drop and once they did she didn't hesitate. She was too damn tired and she knew that he wouldn't let her go to sleep until she drank from him and had at least one bag of the demon blood the Council supplied.

  A few minutes later she was more alert and couldn't help but notice the delicious scent Caine was giving off or the large erection poking her. She shifted her hips, teasing his erection as she continued to feed.

  "You know what, Danni?" Caine said as he shifted his hips and thrust home, slowly filling her with his length. "I think that we're going to have to move making love in bed up the list."

  With a smile she pulled her teeth from his neck and pressed a kiss to the already healing skin as she moved back so that she could look down at him.

  "If that's what you want," she said with a small moan as she pushed back. />
  "It's exactly what I want, Danni," he said, sitting up and wrapping his arms around her as he leaned in and kissed her, "and you're exactly what I need."

  *******

  Rerum, New Hampshire

  "Hey, beautiful, wanna make all my dreams come true?" a cute guy asked as she walked past him and headed for the door.

  "Maybe another night," she said with a smile as she sidestepped a couple coming out of the restaurant.

  Her stomach rumbled, urging her on and reminding her that behind those double doors lay the best onion rings in town and that she of course skipped lunch. Well, she didn't so much as skip it as it was stolen out of the fridge, but that was fine with her. She'd found the little culprit minutes later, hiding beneath the employee sink as he finished off her roast beef sandwich. Bobby was five, cute as a button and unfortunately had a mother more interested in getting her next fix, than feeding him. Before she called it a night at the community center, where she now worked, she made sure that she found him a hot meal and a place to sleep. Hopefully the social worker she called tonight would be able to do more for him.