She had absolutely no idea where she was, but she knew that wherever she was, that someone had a few issues that they needed to work out. Taking a quick peek around the large open living room to make sure that she was alone, she decided that it was time to end her visit and re-enter the world of the sane. Well, at least go back to her normal life, she rectified a few seconds later when she decided that she really couldn’t refer to her life as, “sane,” not with Packs trying to kill her, and having absolutely no purpose in life.
Wow, was that depressing.
No, she had the baby and Drew, she tried to tell herself, but as much as she wanted a family of her own, she couldn’t see herself devoting every second of her life to chasing down babies so that she could wipe their bums or counting down the minutes until her mate came home. She needed a life of her own, to follow her own dreams, but now…
Now she was going to cry, which was just so damn helpful at the moment.
Refusing to cry, mostly because she knew it had to be the hormones surging through her body, she angrily wiped away the tears streaming down her face and headed for what she hoped was the exit. She opened the door slowly, peeked out, bit back a groan and slowly shut the door and locked it.
Okay, so she was in a Sentinel Compound. She wasn’t exactly sure how she got here, but she knew that this definitely was not the place for her. As a shifter, finding herself sleeping in a creepy room in a Sentinel Compound was not a good sign. She had no idea how she got here, what they wanted to do with her, but she knew enough to know that it was time to leave.
Chewing on her bottom lip, she carefully walked across the plush carpet that felt like heaven on the bottom of her feet and headed towards the group of windows on the other side of the room. When she got there, she threw another nervous glance over her shoulder to make sure that she hadn’t been discovered yet, reached up, flipped open the lock and quietly opened the window, which of course set off a very loud alarm.
As she ran back towards that creepy room, she silently berated herself for not thinking about the possibility that the windows would be alarmed. This was a Sentinel Compound for God’s sakes, which meant that breaking out was not going to be easy, but she was determined to do it.
As she neared the door to that creepy room, she realized that she really couldn’t force herself to return to that room and decided to take her chances with all the lovely armed Sentinels roaming the hall. Straightening the large shirt that practically swallowed her whole, she marched back over to the door, opened it and walked into the hallway among the Sentinels, acting like she belonged.
Okay, so it was obvious that they weren’t buying it, but as long as she made it to the exit, was able to flag down a cab and convince the cabbie to drive her back to the club with the promise that someone at the club would pay him, she should be good.
Acting like she didn’t have a care in the world, she walked down the hallway towards what she hoped was the way to an elevator or a set of stairs that would take her out of here. The fact that the alarm that she’d set off was still going off really wasn’t helping her situation since every Sentinel that she passed threw her a questioning look.
That was fine with her, because that meant that they weren’t trying to capture her and lock her back up. Actually, now that she thought about it, she couldn’t help but wonder why they were letting her walk freely down the hallway, wearing only an oversized shirt while an alarm was going off. It was clear that she didn’t belong and that she wasn’t one of them, so why weren’t they trying to take her down and throw her in one of their infamous cells?
She paused as a better question hit her, why was she wearing Drew’s shirt and where the hell was he?
Oh, God…
They had him!
Swallowing hard, she looked around the long hallway, hoping to spot him amongst the Sentinels, but he wasn’t there. Closing her eyes, she scented the air, searching for his scent, but she couldn’t detect it over the overly sweet scent of Sentinel blood surrounding her.
Trying not to panic, she quickened her pace until she was practically running. She pushed past Sentinels, uncaring that she was definitely giving herself away and kept running until she found a stairwell. Throwing the door open, she ran down the stairs, searching for his scent, but it wasn’t there.
The holding cells.
He had to be in the holding cells, she realized as she ran down the stairs, praying that the rumors were true and that she would find the holding cells in the basement. She knew that the odds of getting Drew out of the basement alive was pretty much impossible, but she couldn’t stomach the idea of leaving him here. She couldn’t live without the big jerk, she realized as she stumbled down a few steps and barely caught herself before she did a header down the stairs.
She had to get to him before it was too late.
Then, she was going to kick his ass for scaring her like this, because she had no idea what they were doing to him right now. As she headed down yet another flight of stairs, she prayed that they weren’t torturing him for information. She knew the stubborn bastard would keep his mouth shut and take whatever they did to him and that scared the living hell out of her, because Sentinels could be vicious when they needed to be.
She just prayed that she was able to get to him before it was too late.
*-*-*-*
“Watch your fucking back, bitch!” the Sentinel next to him snapped, earning another sigh, because this was just fucking sad.
With a couple of quick jabs and a shift to the right, he caused his opponent to fall off the building and land on the ground for the hungry horde of zombies to devour. It hadn’t even been a difficult, but the little bastard had challenged him and who was he to turn down a chance to kick a Sentinel’s ass?
“You…bitch!” the sore loser sitting next to him on the couch gasped with a glare that just said it all.
He was going to demand another rematch when all Drew wanted to do was go upstairs, crawl in that creepy fucking pink bed and hold his mate, but her grandfather and the Sentinel medics had insisted that she needed to rest. So, for the past fifteen hours he’d hung out in the game room, kicking Sentinel ass, hitting the cafeteria and devouring some of the best steaks that he’d ever had and checking out the place.
He had to admit that he’d been shocked to find the place so…
Normal.
He wasn’t exactly sure what he’d expected, but it sure as hell hadn’t been this. The large Boston compound was a community that acted more like family. Even the shifters, demons and vampires that had joined their ranks had each other’s backs. Everyone here was laid back, but they still took their job seriously. He knew that they were curious about him and were keeping an eye on him, but as long as they didn’t threaten to put him in one of their cells, he was fine with whatever the hell they wanted to do.
They could stare at him, glare at him, question him and demand rematches after he’d kicked their asses for as long as they wanted to just as long as they didn’t try to bullshit him and so far, they hadn’t given him the, “You need to join us,” speech, which he definitely appreciated.
He had no idea what he was going to do now, but he wasn’t sure that joining them was even an option. He had a mate and child on the way that needed his protection and they were all that mattered to him. So, for now he would suck it up and-
“Hey,” he heard the soft whisper come from behind the couch the same time he caught her scent, “don’t worry. I’m here to get you out of here,” his mate said, earning an eye roll from the Sentinel sitting next to him even as Drew had to smile, because his mate was just so damn cute sometimes.
Even those times like right now when he was going to spank her beautiful ass for leaving her bed before she’d been medically cleared. With that in mind, he tossed his game controller to the Sentinel shaking his head in disgust, stood up, reached over the couch and grabbed his mate, who released an adorable little squeal as he threw her over his shoulder and proceeded to bring her back to
that room that reminded him of Pepto Bismal.
“Ow! You ungrateful bastard!” she gasped as he gave her bottom a small swat, clearly letting her know that he was annoyed with her. “This is the last time that I try to save your ass!”
“Ow! Would you stop doing that?” she demanded as he gave her ass another swat, noting that his mate mark wasn’t making him wish for death, which of course meant that his mate liked to be spanked.
That was something to remember later, but for right now he needed her to get her beautiful ass back in that horrifying room and rest before he broke the bad news to her.
Chapter 44
“I swear to God that I will rip your balls off if you put me back in that fucked up room dedicated to fucking cotton candy!” she promised him, because there was just no way that she was going back into that room.
There was just something unsettling about that room and not just because it was pink. When she was in it, it felt like a living memorial. The pictures lining the wall had only made it even more unsettling. Just the thought of going back to that room had her skin crawling.
“Kara,” the ungrateful bastard said, sighing her name heavily in a manner that she just did not appreciate at the moment. Not after she’d literally risked her life to save him.
Ungrateful bastard!
Next time she was going to worry about saving her own ass and leave him at the mercy of the vicious Sentinels determined to wipe their kind off the face of the earth. You would think that he would show a little appreciation, but not Drew. He simply acted like it didn’t matter that she’d almost been killed trying to save him!
“Why is she up?” a kind voice asked, sounding concerned, which she had to admit was a bit unnerving.
“Because she’s a pain in the ass,” Drew said as though she was his burden in life to bear.
“Put me down!” she demanded only to get ignored as Drew carried her to…
Well, she had absolutely no idea where he was carrying her since she was thrown over his shoulder and she was staring at his lower back, which was actually upsetting her stomach.
“Drew?” she said, closing her eyes and holding her breath, because this was starting to make her nauseous.
Her tone must have clued him into the fact that something was wrong, because he immediately stopped walking, gently took her off his shoulder and set her down on a chair placed against the wall. Kneeling in front of her, he took her hands into his as she looked down at the floor and slowly breathed in and out, fighting the temptation to give into the morning sickness demanding that she find a bathroom or a trash can and let these Sentinels know that she had a weakness.
She knew better than to show weakness.
She’d learned a long time ago that it was always better to pretend that something wasn’t bothering her no matter how scared she was, wanted to cry or scream for help, because things could always be worse. So, instead of letting these Sentinels know that she was weakened because of pregnancy, she just sat there, breathing through her nose, opening her eyes and glared down at their hands like nothing was wrong.
“Kara, sweetheart, are you okay?” the man with the kind voice asked, taking a knee next to her, but she refused to look up from their hands, because she knew that if she did she might lose the battle.
“Go away,” she said evenly, not caring that she came off as a bitch, because she just couldn’t handle this right now.
She needed to get out of here, to be alone with Drew and let him hold her, because she knew that he would make this all better.
Instead of going away, two large, tanned hands slowly reached over, cupped her face. Those large hands gently raised her face so that she was looking into the kindest green eyes that she’d ever seen.
“Your Grandmother used to suck on sugar cubes to combat morning sickness,” he said with a kind smile that robbed her of the ability to think. “I can get you some if you want.”
Nodding numbly, she couldn’t help but stare at him, making note of the features that matched her own. “Grandmother?” she heard herself ask weakly, trying to wrap her mind around what she was seeing…
He looked so much like her, but he looked more like her mother, except for her eyes had been cold and hollow and his were filled with warmth and life. God, it felt so wrong to see her mother’s eyes filled with love.
It was wrong.
So God damn wrong, because her mother never had a reason to smile and this man looked as though he smiled every day.
Fated Page 33
