PS02 - Without Regret (26 page)

found her mate then the bastard was good as dead.

**********

to the ground where she would up her attack by kicking his ass.

When he first threw down his little challenge she’d admit that she’d been a little reluctant about it, but once she realized that

this may be her only chance of escape she threw everything she had into it. After a few mishaps that were more embarrassing

than painful she was sure she was in the zone now. Another minute, two tops and he’d be crying uncle and she’d have her

chance at a reprieve so that she could buy herself a little more time to plan an escape.

As she tightened her hold around his neck and continued her kicking assault on his legs she actually started to feel a little bad.

Then she remembered that he’d stolen her chocolate and all the other hell he’d put her through and kicked harder.

“This is just getting sad,” he said, sounding bored when he really should be begging for her mercy at this point.

“Look, Munchkin,” he said, placing his hands on her hips as he tried to pull her off of him, “as much as I appreciate a good hug,

I’m afraid we’re going to have to end this now.”

“No!” she snapped, trying to wrap her legs around his waist but he wasn’t having that. He gripped her hips tightly and managed

to pull her legs away, but she refused to release her grip around his neck.

The bastard was going down!

“Are you going to let go?” he asked, sighing heavily as she moved to wrap her legs around him again, but somehow he

managed to block her once again.

“No!”

“Fine,” he said as he pulled her off and tossed her away, earning an embarrassingly high squeal from her as she landed on the

middle of the double bed.

She sat up, shoving her hair out of her face so that she could glare at the man. “I get another chance.”

“You’ve had ten already. Give it up, Munchkin. In a few hours you’ll be leaving for your own good.”

Just as she was about to explain that she wasn’t going anywhere a cell phone went off. Without another word Chris pulled out

that sleek black cell phone that she’d love to get her hands on and left the room, closing the door behind him.

For all of ten seconds she debated on staying to get her answers, but then decided that she could probably find everything she

needed to know on the internet. After one last glare at the door she hauled ass to get the hell out of there.

She opened the window and screen as quietly as she could and carefully climbed out into the pitch black night and perched on

the windowsill. Swallowing hard, she did her best to convince herself that the distance to the large oak tree branch that she

was currently pining all her hopes and dreams on was less than six feet away. When her brain reminded her that she wasn’t an

idiot and that it was at least ten feet away and that she was going to fall flat on her face she hesitated.

Of course she’d rather take her chances and fall then put up with people pushing her around, hanging her upside down, dragging

her off to watch men turn into large scary beasts and having her chocolate stolen.

That lost thought gave her pause. Now that she thought about it, she realized that they probably wouldn’t give her any

chocolate.

A life without chocolate?

She’d never survive, she realized as she sucked in a deep breath and shoved away from the window. As it became painfully

obvious that she wasn’t going to reach the branch she squeezed her eyes shut and hoped for the best and for once luck was with

her. Thankfully she didn’t break her arms or her legs when she hit the hard ground, but if the pain was any indication she may

have actually broken her ass.

As quietly as she could she climbed to her feet and cringed once or twice as pain shot through her right cheek. She was actually

quite proud that she hadn’t screamed one or two choice words. It had been a close call, but then she remembered that Ephraim

and Madison had super hearing. With that thought in mind she began to wobble as quickly as she could towards the backyard

and what she hoped was freedom.

Not even twenty steps later someone sounded the alarm, literally. She bit her lip as she quickened her pace as the blaring alarm

threatened to make her head explode. She was about twenty yards from what she believed was the edge of the woods when she

heard someone running towards her from that direction.

Mentally cursing whoever just wrecked her plans, she abruptly turned and ran towards the left side of the house

When the ground suddenly gave out beneath her she opened her mouth to scream only to find it suddenly filled with ice cold

chlorine flavored water. With a choked gasp she broke the surface of the ice cold water and swam towards what she hoped

was the side of the pool.

“I heard something over here,” a man shouted just as her hand closed around the cold metal of the pool’s ladder.

With a muttered curse she sucked in a deep breath and ducked back under the water, using the ladder to help push her deeper.

She squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to ignore the cramps that were forming in her lungs until she had no choice but to get

some air. As gently as she could manage it she broke the surface and sucked in a deep breath before ducking back beneath the

cold water. At least the cold water numbed the pain in her butt, she thought as she fought to go longer without air.

The water was too cold, she realized. There was no way she could stay in the pool for much longer. She’d have to make a run

for it and hope that she came across someone before frostbite set in. Since it was still dark out and no one had tried to scoop

her out she figured she at least had a chance.

As carefully as she could she broke the surface and nearly screamed in frustration when she opened her eyes and saw that not

only was the pool suddenly lit up, but so was the backyard. When she spotted the man glaring down at her she may have let out

an embarrassing little squeal that seemed to piss him off more than anything.

“Get. The. Fuck. Out. Of. There. Now,” he bit out through clenched teeth.

She automatically reached for the ladder to comply when survival mode kicked in. With a firm shake of her head she shoved

away from the side of the pool just as he reached down to grab her. Halfway to the other side he stopped her dead in her tracks

when he made a very valid point.

“I’ll just catch you,” he said, sounding irritated.

“Damn it!” she muttered, knowing he was right.

“We don’t have time for this shit, Izzy. Get the fuck out of there. We need to go, now!” he snapped.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. She was not going anywhere with him and she damn well was not going to leave this pool

until she came up with a decent escape plan.

“Exactly how long do you think you’ll be able to stay in there, Izzy? It’s barely forty degrees outside and the pool has to be at

least twenty degrees colder. It’s going to make it really hard for you to keep treading water and you know damn well the weight

from your clothes is going to bring you down. So why don’t you save us both a lot time and bullshit and get the fuck over here!”

“I’ll stay in here for as long as I damn well please!” she snapped back, sick and tired of being yelled at and bossed around.

“If you don’t get out of there right now I swear to god I will spank your ass!”

“No!” she yelled even as she anxiously looked for a way out. She knew once she climbed out of the pool she was going to have

to make a run for it and right now she really didn’t think that was possible. She was beyond exhausted, her arms and legs were

getting tired, she was freezing and unfortunately Chris was right about her clothes. They were making it really hard to stay

afloat. She just wanted to find some place warm, curl up and go to sleep.

Chris clenched and unclenched his hands as he glared down at her. “Have you ever heard of a man named Kale Quinn?” he

asked through clenched teeth.

“No,” she answered slowly, having a bad feeling that she wasn’t going to like whatever he was about to tell her.

“He is over nine hundred years old,” he said, causing her eyebrows to arch and her mouth to drop. “Most importantly he’s an

Alpha who has not shifted to his beast form in centuries. Do you have any idea how much power that takes not to shift?”

“N-no,” she answered numbly. She had absolutely no idea about anything because no one would answer her damn questions!

“He’s a mercenary, Izzy, and he’ll do any job for the right price and right now that job is locating you and I can’t let him find

you here, Izzy. There’s no way in hell I can let this war come to my door.”

She was just about to remind him that he was the one who was keeping her here when he said something that floored her.

“Please,” he said, holding out his hand to her. “I can’t put any of my family through that, Izzy. Madison’s pregnant and my

grandmother, brother and sister are completely vulnerable and if they find Marc,” he said, his voice breaking on his little

brother’s name. He sucked in a harsh breath before he continued. “I just can’t let that happen, Izzy. We need to leave.”

She was already swimming towards him, more frightened at the moment for his family than for herself, which was saying a lot

because right now she was scared out of her mind.

Chapter 21

“I’m going with you,” Ephraim said, reaching for his emergency pack.

He really didn’t have time for this shit. “I’ve got this, Dad.”

“Bullshit.”

“Wow, your faith in me is so overwhelming that I may cry,” he said flatly as he added two more fake ID’s and an envelope of

money to his pack.

“This has nothing to do with having faith in you and everything to do with the fact that you have Kale Quinn on your ass!”

Ephraim snapped, his eyes flashed red and Chris knew his father was scared out of his mind for him.

Not that he could blame the man, because right now he was fucking terrified that Kale Quinn was going to find a trail that

would lead him straight to his family. He needed to move his ass and bring the man’s attention the hell away from his family,

New Hampshire, hell, the whole east coast. He did not want a fucking Alpha known for doing anything and everything to

complete a job coming within a hundred miles of his family.

Everyone in their world knew that if Kale Quinn was after you, you were as good as found. There was nothing and no one that

would come between Kale Quinn and his mark, which was the reason why no one flinched at his insane asking price. Hell, he

knew for a fact that the Council had tried to hire the man more than once over the last few centuries, but he refused to work for

Sentinels. It hadn’t mattered that the Council had supposedly offered to double his fee, Quinn turned them down flat.

While it wasn’t surprising that a shifter, even a mercenary, refused to aid the Sentinels in any way it sure as hell was a

disappointment. Having a man with Quinn’s determination and skill working for them would have made hunting down

dangerous packs and nests easier and saved a lot of human lives. As much as Chris would like to add a man with Quinn’s skills

to the mix he couldn’t blame the man for refusing. Any shifter, demon, or vampire that aided the Sentinels in any way was seen

as the enemy in their world and for a shifter without a pack, even for a man like Quinn that was a dangerous move.

“This is a simple job, Dad. I’m going to bring Izzy to Eric. Then Eric is going to have her transferred to one of the island

compounds. It will be a quick job, one that doesn’t need the two of us,” he said, lying to his father and hating himself for it, but

he needed to make sure that Quinn came running and he knew of only one way to do that.

He was going to use his mate as bait to pull the attention the hell away from his family and bring this shit to an end. If she

survived this he would hand her over to Eric, but if she didn’t survive he would learn to live with the loss. As long as his

family was okay he could handle anything.

His father silently watched him for a moment before he spoke. “She’s your mate, Chris. If you wanted to go with her, you know

we would all understand,” he said quietly.

“And you’re my family. There’s no comparison,” Chris said, grabbing his pack and heading towards the basement stairs.

“I think you should think about this, Chris. Once you make this decision she may never forgive you,” his father said, following

him up the stairs.

“It doesn’t matter,” Chris said, knowing his father was right and not giving a damn at the moment. If they survived this then she

could hate his guts for the rest of his life and he wouldn’t care as long as his family was safe.

“You say that now, Chris, but you might change your-“

He cut his father off as they stepped through the security door and headed for the foyer where his mate damn well better be

waiting. If she gave Madison and Jill any shit he would throttle her cute little ass.

“I’ll be back soon, Dad, but if I’m not and something happens-“

“I’ll get everyone the hell out of here,” Ephraim promised, grabbing Chris’ arm and pulling him to a stop. “Just make sure you

don’t do anything stupid or I’m going to be really pissed.”

“Everything will be fine, Dad,” he said, forcing a smile.