Tall, Dark & Heartless (Pyte/Sentinel #3)(113)

"Don't be stupid, Caine. You're going to need help."

He opened his mouth to argue, but Jax cut him off. "She's weak, really f**king weak and from what you've told me you've got a shitload of trouble coming your way. My pack will be able to change tonight and tomorrow we're going to figure out what to do. We can guard her and while I'm regaining my strength you can help protect my pack," Jax said, knowing just what to say to make him fold.

Jax was weakened thanks to them and until he got a little rest and had a chance to shift he wouldn't be able to protect his pack if they'd led trouble to Jax's doorstep. He also liked the idea of having extra help to protect Danni.

"In the morning you can feed off my pack and regain your strength and get Danni back to normal," Jax added, sealing the deal.

"Fine. Two days should be more than enough," he agreed as he gently picked up Danni's hand and brought her finger to his mouth. He gently pricked the finger with the tip of his fang before swiping the drop that formed up with his tongue. When the flavor hit him he nearly gagged.

"Still there?"

"Yeah, but not as strong," he said, pressing a kiss to the tip of Danni's rapidly healing finger in apology for causing it harm before he placed her hand back beneath the blanket.

"I guess we're going to have to help her along," Jax said with a resigned sigh.

"It's going to take all night and a hell of a lot of blood to wash this out of her system."

"Sounds like fun," Jax said with a groan.

He doubted that anything they did in the next twenty-four hours was going to be fun, but at least he'd have his mate back.

********

Ten more minutes and she'd get up, she thought sleepily as she rolled over on the rather firm mattress. Not even a minute later she was fully awake, throwing the covers off of her and making a mad dash for what appeared to be a tent opening.

Thankfully it wasn't zipped closed because at that moment precious seconds counted. She stumbled out of the tent, catching her knee in the oversized tee shirt someone dressed her in and nearly landed face first in the mud as the scents of sex and shifter hit her hard. A quick look around to take in her surroundings had her frowning and then nearly gasping as the urge to find a bathroom tripled.

Why the hell did she feel like she was about to burst? she wondered as she stumbled through the camp, trying to avert her eyes away from the na**d shifters making out or worse as she tried to get her ass to the cover of the nearby trees before she embarrassed herself. An erotic moan and a familiar scent had her head whipping to the left and locking on the couple across the small opening.

What she saw had her seeing red, literally.

A na**d woman writhed in Caine's arms as he held her from behind. Danni watched in disbelief as the woman licked her lips and grinded her bottom back against Caine as she ran her hands over her br**sts and between her legs. The scent of the woman's arousal was so thick that she nearly choked on it.

That son of-

Tree, she definitely needed to find a tree and soon. Then she was so out of here.

What. An. Ass, she thought as she abruptly turned and switched directions so that she could storm off in the other direction. She quickly found a tree to hide behind and relieved her bladder. Once that was done she continued moving her ass as she put as much space between her and the ass**le as she possibly could.

She actually thought that she meant something to him. It was a moment of stupidity on her part. If he didn't care about her then that was fine with her, she decided as she carefully scented the air, making sure that there weren't any humans around since she really didn't feel like having a repeat of the other day. When she didn't smell anything other than dirt, grass, trees and the lingering scents of animals and shifters she decided to keep moving her ass.

Caine could go f**k him-

His deep chuckle of amusement as she let out another one of those embarrassing squeals simply pissed her off as he threw her over his shoulder and kept on going.

"A bath sounds like a great idea, Danni," he said, sounding amused and happy.

She rolled her eyes as she slapped her hands on his jean encased ass and moved to get off his shoulder and get a face full of dirt when he slapped her ass, shocking the hell out of her and making her squirm in a not so unpleasant way, which she promptly ignored.

"Behave," he warned on a growl as he rubbed her ass.

The scent of the woman's arousal and several other's registered in her mind and if she hadn't already decided that enough was enough that would have done it for her. She was leaving, but first she was going to finally have it out with Caine. Once that was done she was out of here and she was never looking back. If they crossed paths somewhere down the line he'd better move his ass out of her way or she was going to-

"I love the way you squeal," he said, chuckling as he moved her until the lower half of her body was completely submerged in the surprisingly warm water.

"It's a hot spring," Caine explained as if she asked or cared as he settled her on a smooth flat rock in the water and stood up.

She moved to climb out only to stop short when he sent her a glare of warning. With a glare of her own she crossed her arms over her chest as she watched with disinterest as he pulled off his soaked blue jeans and tossed them off to the side next to a large duffle bag that he must have been carrying and decided to toss before he scared the hell out of her.