PS02 - Without Regret (45 page)

shoulder before he once passed out once again.

“What do you think?” he asked his father as he packed up his bag.

Ephraim sighed long and heavily. “I think it’s going to be a bitch to carry them out of here like that.”

Chapter 38

Boston, MA

Kale threw back his head and inhaled deeply.

She was close, very close. He stepped back into step with the early morning crowd as they passed the row of modest

brownstones. Not one of them had a clue that behind those walls housed at least a hundred Sentinels and several fucking

traitors that threw over their packs and nests to serve the fucking Sentinels.

That would never be him. He would never be anyone’s lapdog, but they could never seem to get it through their thick skulls. It

seemed like every other decade they were hunting him down to beg him to reconsider working with them and each and every

time he turned them down flat.

He had his own agenda and goals to focus on. He didn’t need to add the Sentinel’s “Save the humans” bullshit onto his list. The

only thing that mattered to him was reaching his goal and disappearing away from all of this bullshit. He wanted to live out the

rest of his immortal life relaxing in a small cabin on a large piece of land away from all the human bullshit. After this job, he

would be so much closer to that goal and he wouldn’t let anyone stand in his way.

His eyes shifted to the large group of brownstones that lined the street and concealed the huge compound that lay behind those

bricks. There was just one more thing he had to do before he took his next job and if he did it right he wouldn’t have to worry

about a really pissed off Pyte coming after him for eternity.

********

“Where the hell are we?” he asked, his throat feeling raw as he tried to shove away the panic that was threatening to take over.

Where the hell was his mate and what the hell had happened? He remembered his little Munchkin holding him in her arms and

feeling afraid that he wouldn’t be able to take care of her, but everything after that was kind of fuzzy.

“In a van,” Joshua said, chuckling.

He sent his brother a glare for stating the obvious. “I meant, where are we going?”

“Well, you didn’t ask that,” Joshua pointed out, as he shifted out of Chris’ view and revealed his little Munchkin curled up on a

makeshift pad, all tucked in and looking utterly beautiful.

He ignored the ache in his side and shoved his blankets away and moved onto the blanket pallet right behind her and curled up

around her body. All the tension in his body seeped out of him as he released the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

She was fine. She was in his arms, snoring softly as she cuddled back against him. Everything was fine.

It took everything he had not to drop his hand to her stomach and make sure their baby was okay. Not their baby, he reminded

himself. It was a mistake, a mistake they’d soon correct, he reminded himself, shoving away the pain that that thought created.

He couldn’t allow himself to soften any more.

“She saved your life you know,” Joshua said conversationally as he sat down and leaned against the privacy wall behind them

and started loading a gun.

Shame filled him at the reminder. He’d fucked up by taking the fall the way he had, but he hadn’t been able to stomach the idea

of his mate getting hurt. Instead of taking the fall to his side, he’d taken it to his back, started the roll down the hill wrong and

slammed his ribs into a rock, breaking several of his ribs and putting his mate in a fucked up situation.

“I told her to run, but she wouldn’t listen.” Something they’d be discussing before she left for the island. If one of her

protectors told her to do something she damn well better do it, especially if meant her life.

Joshua chuckled. “I didn’t mean Izzy. I meant your little girl. If it wasn’t for her you wouldn’t be here right now. We had to

give you some of Izzy’s blood and thanks to the baby her blood was a hell of a lot stronger and fixed that mess you made of

your ribs quickly.”

“Don’t call her that,” he said tightly.

“What? Izzy? You call her that. I mean I could understand you getting pissed if I called her Munchkin, but-“

“I didn’t mean her. Don’t call…..,” he took a deep breath and shook his head, trying to clear it. “We’re not keeping it.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Joshua asked, sounding truly confused and Chris had absolutely no doubt that he was.

While he’d been waiting for his mate to have a partner, someone to share his duty with, his family had waiting for him to start a

family of his own, because they believed that would make him happy.

It wouldn’t.

Having a family of his own was too much. He couldn’t handle the stress of being responsible for them, disappointing them or

letting them down because he wasn’t good enough. He also couldn’t stomach the idea of them getting hurt or losing any of them

and he sure as hell couldn’t handle the thought of outliving his children and that’s exactly what would happen if they had this

child, this human child.

If they were lucky they’d have eighty or ninety years with her, but it would come at the price of watching her age and slowly

die. Then he’d be stuck living the next ninety years with the pain of losing his child. No, fuck no, he couldn’t do it.

“We’re not keeping it so let it the fuck go, Joshua,” he said, pushing himself into a sitting position. He looked himself over and

noted that he was wearing one of his father’s grey tee shirts and a pair of his jeans, but he needed a pair of shoes. He looked

around the van at the shelves and drawers built into one side of the van and knew it belonged to one of the compounds.

Had they stopped off at the Boston compound on the way to find him? he wondered, but pushed the thought away. He’d find out

later, but right now they had more important things to worry about. He kept a hand pressed against his aching ribs as he moved

over to the backdoors and shoved the dark curtain aside so that he could see where the hell they were. It didn’t take him long to

figure out that they were in Boston, which meant he had to get his ass in gear. He spotted his steel tipped hiking boots beneath a

small heating fan and pulled them on.

“Why the hell not, Chris? You love kids,” Joshua reminded him as if he’d somehow forgotten.

“I love you guys and I’ll no doubt adore and spoil whatever little demons you have, but I don’t want any kids of my own,

Joshua,” he said, giving his brother his back as he loaded up, pulling a Kevlar vest of his head and trying not to wince when it

brushed against his sore ribs.

He didn’t have to ask to know that he was a lucky son of a bitch. He remembered how fucked up his ribs and lung were last

night or rather this morning. There was no question in his mind that he should be dead.

“What about her?” Joshua demanded.

“What about her?” he asked, not bothering to look over his shoulder.

“Does she want this baby? She’ll never forgive you if you push her into getting rid of a baby she wants,”

Joshua pointed out unnecessarily.

“It doesn’t matter if she forgives me or not. She’ll be on the island where she belongs,” he said, loading up on weapons and

wondering how badly his father wanted to pull over the van to rail into him about this.

“You’re still going to send her away?” Joshua asked hollowly.

“Yes,” he said with absolutely no hesitation whatsoever.

“But-“

“There are no buts, Joshua. We have no future together,” he said firmly, hating who and what he was for the first time in years.

He hated having to make a choice between Izzy and his family. He hated this fucked up situation and he fucking hated knowing

that he had to send his mate off to a fucking island just so he could sleep at night, knowing that she was okay.

For the first time since he found out that he was different he wondered what it would be like to be a regular man, with a regular

job and a normal life expectancy. Would he have turned out like the loser that so many people predicted? Or would he have

proved them all wrong and straightened out and made something of his life? Would he even be good enough for Izzy?

No, he wouldn’t. He knew that without question. Hell, he wasn’t even good for her now and he was supposed to be her soul

mate, her other half. He was supposed to protect her and be there for her and he couldn’t even do that without fucking up and

leaving her vulnerable.

The best thing he could do for her was to send her where someone could.

“As soon as we reach the compound she’s leaving,” he said, ignoring the way his heart ached at the thought of being without

her. He’d only known her for a few days, but already she’d become his entire world and he couldn’t allow that, not if he

wanted to keep her and his family safe.

“That’s not your choice.”

He chuckled without humor. Why did it not surprise him that his little mate was still being stubborn?

“Yes, you are,” he said evenly, resisting the urge to look over his shoulder and soak up the image of her and burn it into his

memory.

“No, I’m not,” she said firmly as the van rolled to a stop.

He ground his jaw and kept his mouth shut. He didn’t want to fight with her. They didn’t have much time left and he wasn’t

about to waste it on petty bullshit, besides he needed to keep his mind on the job ahead.

They needed to get her inside the compound and soon.

“Izzy, no!” Joshua yelled, the same time something black flashed in his peripheral vision.

He turned around just in time to see his little mate trying to make a run for it. She had the back door open and was desperately

trying to pull herself out of the van, but thankfully his brother had her by the ankle, her bare ankle. Chris swore roundly as he

looked his mate over and when he did he sent a murderous glare at his brother who had the balls to smile ruefully as his mate’s

bare ass swayed back and forth as she tried to kick Joshua’s hand off.

Throwing his brother one last glare, he grabbed the hem of the large black tee shirt, Joshua’s tee shirt and the knowledge that

she was wearing it didn’t piss him off, not at all, and yanked it down to cover her adorable little ass before he yanked her back

and slammed the door shut.

He threw his brother a glare as he said, “Get up front with dad.”

Joshua grabbed another gun and a box of ammo. With a put out sigh, he unlatched the privacy barrier’s door and slid it open

and moved through it.

“I think your son’s pissed because his mate wants me,”

Joshua said, chuckling.

“You noticed that too, huh?” his father said, sounding amused.

Bastards.

Joshua threw him a wink as he slid the panel closed and locked it, leaving him with his half-naked and really pissed off mate.

“Let me go!”

“Nope,” he said, letting the word pop as he grabbed her shirt and yanked it off, hoping his brother hadn’t worn it. He needed it

to be completely enveloped in her scent.

“What the hell are you doing?” she practically screeched as she reached up and covered her breasts, well tried to. They were

large after all. The reminder had his cock stirring in his pants.

He released her so he could pull his vest and shirt off.

He tossed them to the side and grabbed the shirt he’d taken off her and pulled it on. It was a tight fight, but he managed. When

she lunged for the door, he didn’t bother stopping her. He knew his father probably disabled the lock from his end.

“Damn it!” Izzy snapped, trying to shove the door open.

“Were you really going to run buck naked through Boston?” he asked as he carefully laid back down on her makeshift bed.

She threw him a glare over her shoulder. “Yes!”

Her glare instantly turned into a frown when he gestured for her to come to him.

“What?”

“If we’re going to get you into Boston safely then I need you to do a little something,” he explained, feeling his patience fray.

They needed to haul ass and get this over with.

“Do what?” she asked cautiously, hugging herself even tighter as she looked around small space.

“To rub all over me of course.”

Chapter 39

“I’m sorry, what’s this now?” she asked, already knowing that she’d misheard the man.

“I need you to rub all over me,” he said, opening his arms and gestured for her to come to him. “Now get your cute little ass

over here and commence with the rubbing.”

“Why?” she asked cautiously as folded her arms over her chest, well aware that it was useless trying to cover the damn things

up with only her arms. Then again it was kind of pointless trying to cover up in front of the man who’d spent the better part of

yesterday licking and touching every part of her body.

“Remember that fun little experience in the clearing the other night?” he asked.

Her eyes narrowed to slits on him as she hissed out a, “Yes.”

“Well, there will be a lot of those in human form as well as demons waiting for a chance to hunt you down. I just need your

scent to confuse them for a few minutes.”

If possible her eyes narrowed just a little more. “Why?”

“So that I can get you into the compound,” he said in a tone that indicated that she was slow, something she didn’t appreciate at

all.

“No, I meant, why do you want my scent. You’re not planning on doing any stupid, are you?”

“Of course not. It’s just a distraction,” he said, but the way he shifted his eyes made her feel a little uneasy.