PS02 - Without Regret (14 page)

“You didn’t think this was going to be easy, did you?”

Ephraim asked, chuckling, but Isabella really didn’t see what was so funny about this situation. Then again she was the kidnap

victim here so her perspective on everything was obviously going to be less than amused.

“Thanks for leaving extra guards at the house. I can’t believe I fucked up on that tonight of all nights.”

“Not a problem,” Chris said absently as he pointed ahead. “This should be it. We can cut through the woods and should be able

to catch up with them in a mile or two.”

Ephraim rolled the car to a stop and threw it into park.

“Make sure you keep an eye on your wife. For the first few minutes she’ll be completely defenseless so we’ll have to cover

her until her instincts kick in.”

“I’m not going to let anything happen to her,” Chris said in a bored tone as he climbed out of the car. She ignored their crazy

conversation since she really just didn’t care and focused on what she was about to do.

Oh god……

This was it. Chris opened her door and gestured for her to get out. With a nervous nod she moved to comply, waiting for the

perfect opportunity to put her plan into motion and when her chance of escape came she didn’t hesitate.

Chris merely shook his head in resignation as he caught her foot before it could make contact with his family jewels. “This is

just getting sadder and sadder,”

he mumbled as he tightened his hold on her foot and yanked her out of the vehicle, catching her around the waist and easily

throwing her over his shoulder even though she was doing her best to kick his ass.

“Are we all set?” Chris asked his “father” as if she wasn’t currently pounding on his back.

“Do you want the night vision goggles?” Ephraim asked from somewhere behind them.

“I don’t think we’ll need them tonight. The full moon should make is easy enough to see,” Chris said, shifting her weight on his

shoulder as he headed for the woods and probably her shallow grave, she realized when she noted that neither man had

bothered with a shovel.

She did her best to squash down the terror that was threatening to take over, but it was a losing battle. She couldn’t focus on

anything other than having her body dumped in the woods and left as a midnight snack for grizzles.

Chapter 10

“Chris,” his father said, stressing his name as he shot him a questioning look over his shoulder.

“It’s fine,” he gritted out, already knowing that his father was concerned about the woman over his shoulder. Chris didn’t need

Pyte abilities to know that the fear was practically pouring out of the woman.

“Are you sure about this? I can handle this if you want to take her back home and find a different way to prepare her,” Ephraim

offered, punching a branch out of his way instead of ducking beneath it, breaking it with a loud crack that had his little mate

tensing over his shoulder as it snapped off and sailed through the air crashing into another tree with a loud crash that had his

little mate digging her nails into his back.

Chris chuckled at his father’s lack of control. “What did Madison do now?” he asked, knowing his best friend was without a

doubt behind this.

“It’s what she didn’t do that’s the problem,” Ephraim ground out.

“Maybe you should go home and let her take care of that little problem and leave us to handle this,” Chris said, having

absolutely no doubt that once his little mate’s skills kicked in that she would be able to hold her own as he took care of the

situation that had them all hauling ass into the middle of nowhere.

He didn’t expect Izzy to suddenly become Bruce Lee and be able to kick everyone’s ass with a simple flick of her wrist. That

would never happen. Any fighting skills she used would have to be learned and honed to perfection. Her natural abilities were

brute strength, enhanced reflexes, and speed. Add those with her enchased senses and she could be turned into a very deadly

predator. Tonight though all he cared about was breaking through the mental block that kept her abilities at bay.

After a long pause Ephraim sighed heavily. “Madison would kill me if I left. Besides if they’re determined to do this you’re

going to need my help. She may be able to defend herself, but she’ll be no help to you if you have to put them down.”

“I don’t think they’re going to be stupid enough to argue,” Chris said, hoping he was right.

“It’s a full moon and they’re desperate,” Ephraim pointed out as he kicked a small boulder out of his way instead of stepping

over it, earning an eye roll from Chris.

“Is this what I have to look forward to for the next nine months?” he asked, hoping like hell it wasn’t. Having to deal with

Madison’s hormonal bullshit was more than enough, especially if it was going to be doubled because she was having twins.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Ephraim snapped, breaking a large branch the size of Chris’ leg off a tree for no good

reason that Chris could see.

“Your anger management issues,” Chris mused, earning a fiery red eyed glare from his father that he was glad his little mate

couldn’t see.

“Asshole,” Ephraim muttered as he turned back around.

Chris chuckled. “Is that really any way to speak to your favorite child?”

“You’re not my favorite,” Ephraim argued, but they both knew that was bullshit. “I don’t have any favorites.”

“Puhlease,” Chris said. “You fucking adore me. I’ll bet when you realized that Madison was pregnant again you sent up a silent

prayer that they would be just like me.”

“You really think so?” Ephraim asked, sounding amused and thankfully less pissed off. He was going to have to have a word

with Madison about at least giving him a warning if she was sending Ephraim off frustrated. He just knew the man was going to

take it all out on the pack they were tracking and leave him with nothing to do but sit on his ass and twiddle his thumbs.

“Without a doubt. We both know that’s what you were hoping for when Marc was born,” he drawled as he made his way up a

steep incline as his little mate held onto the waist of his jeans tightly. Did she really think he’d drop her? That was actually

kind of insulting.

Ephraim laughed. “I don’t think I could handle two of you.”

Chris sighed heavily. “I’m a pleasure to be around and you damn well know it.”

“Uh huh, just tell your brother that. When I left the house he was still limping and looking for an ice pack for his ass.”

“I had to make my point,” Chris said, chuckling.

“And that was….,” Ephraim prompted even though they both knew the answer already.

This was just bullshit chit chat to kill time until they intercepted the pack. Normally they’d be running through the woods, but

right now with his untrained mate they settled for doing it at a clipped pace. Besides, if the pack shifted directions his father

would scent it and have them haul ass.

“Not to fuck with my sleep,” Chris informed him as he tried to give his trembling little mate a reassuring pat.

“Stop. Touching. My. Ass,” she bit out from what sounded like clenched teeth.

“Just making sure you’re okay,” he explained as he gave her ass one last rub and nearly groaned. He really needed to figure out

how to handle the changes she was bringing out in him.

“I’d be okay if just let me go!” she snapped.

“Really?” he asked, knowing he was irritating her and unable to stop himself. It had been a long time since he’d enjoyed

screwing with someone.

“Yes!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes! Now let me go, damn it!”

“Sure…wait, nope can’t do that,” he said, chuckling when she let out a frustrated groan and slapped his ass.

“You’re an asshole, did you know that?” she asked in a huff.

He sighed heavily. “Yes. Yes, I did know that.”

Her cute little frustrated growl earned a laugh from him that she apparently didn’t appreciate if the little punches against his ass

were any indication.

“I. Hate. You!” she bit out, punctuating each word with a direct hit that he sadly didn’t really feel, making him wonder how in

the hell she survived this long without drawing the attention of a vampire, demon or shifter, anything that would make her

abilities kick into gear.

Hell, his abilities started to surface when he was a kid when his mother’s boyfriends and his foster parents started slapping

him around and they’d only been human. Something or someone should have triggered the change in her a long time ago instead

of leaving her helpless and afraid. Hearing that his mate actually cowered or ran away like a coward when faced with any type

of confrontation hadn’t exactly been his favorite moment. The shame of having her as his mate that followed was even worse.

He’d forced himself to shove his reaction to her little announcement away and reminded himself that it had obviously been a

matter of bad luck or good luck; however one looked at it that kept her from discovering the real world she lived in up until

this point. He was just glad that it was going to be him and his father that took care of showing her their world. Not that he

didn’t trust other Sentinels with preparing his mate, but….

Who was he kidding?

He wanted the job done right without any fuck ups and he knew the only people that he trusted to make her training go off

without a hitch and make sure she could protect his family was himself, his father and Eric. If anyone else had trained her he

would have insisted that she go through training again with him just to make sure she knew her shit.

“You know I don’t scent any drugs in her system, right?” Ephraim suddenly announced.

“I know,” he said on a resigned sigh, noting that his little mate gave up her sad little attack to listen. He knew the moment she

announced that she’d been drugged that she hadn’t.

The amount of drugs that it would take to screw with a Sentinel’s body or mind was insane and there was no way she wouldn’t

notice that she was drinking a cup filled with straight medicine or a bowl of ice cream with pills sprinkled over it. She’d also

have to consume the drugs at a constant rate for hours to have any real effect on her.

He’d admit that he had panicked slightly when she made the claim. For a moment he’d been frightened that someone had hurt

his mate and hadn’t been thinking. Once rational thought kicked in he realized that she was confused and knew he’d discovered

the reason why she wasn’t freaking out.

Besides, his father or Madison would have been able to scent the amount of drugs she’d have to take to be affected fifty yards

away. There were a few things that they couldn’t scent off a person like disease and problems with the blood like anemia that

would require a taste test, but drugs, hormones, and about a hundred and one other little things could be scented off a person

from a short distance away.

He knew he should probably explain to her what they were about to do, but he was afraid she’d chop the whole thing up to

drugs and let herself get hurt. He’d rather her first reaction be an honest one and hope a spike of adrenaline would kick in and

keep her safe.

“We’re about a hundred yards away,” his father suddenly announced as he stopped walking.

Chris stopped next to him. “Have they scented us yet?”

His father didn’t say anything as he listened. Finally he shook his head. “No and I don’t think they will until they shift. I don’t

scent an Alpha among them.”

That surprised Chris. “Seriously?”

A pack without an Alpha was one of the stupidest things a group of shifters could do. He understood the concept behind it, but

that didn’t make it any less stupid. Having to obey someone because they were naturally more powerful had to fucking suck and

he could understand getting sick and tired of being bitch slapped into submission. If he’d been born a shifter instead of a

Sentinel and had an asshole for an Alpha he’d leave too. He wouldn’t be dumb enough to join a pack of low level shifters who

were of equal strength and all thought they had what it took to be pack leader.

There was a reason why there were Alpha’s. They could shift at will, or use their strength even in human form to protect their

pack when they were most vulnerable.

They also had the power to keep their pack in line and stop them from doing anything stupid like what this group had planned

tonight.

He really wasn’t looking forward to this bullshit tonight, but at least there was a good chance that it would trigger Izzy’s

abilities. Maybe they’d also luck out and get the group to disband and join more appropriate packs with an Alpha that wouldn’t

allow something this fucked up to happen again. He could hope at least.

“Alright, down you go, Munchkin,” he said, shifting his load to the ground between him and his father.

“You son of a-whoa!” She broke off her rather touching endearment when she stumbled, probably from the blood rushing from

her head, he decided as he reached out and grabbed her arm steadying her as his father did the same with her other arm.

His eyes dropped and narrowed on his father’s hand and he barely stopped himself from reaching out and tearing the man’s arm

off. It startled the hell out of him to realize that for a second there he’d come close to hurting his father over a woman he didn’t

even know.

What the hell?

“You’ll get used to it,” his father said, sounding amused.

Chris inwardly winced, knowing his father could smell his aggression over a woman he didn’t know was embarrassing.