Tall, Dark & Heartless (Pyte/Sentinel #3)(121)

*******

"Oh my God, you sick bastard!" Danni snapped as she struggled to hold onto the tree limb he'd left her on twenty minutes ago.

"Stop being such a baby and get down here," he said, gesturing impatiently once again for her to simply let go of the limb and float the thirty or maybe it was more like eighty feet down. It was really a simple concept and he couldn't for the life of him figure out why she was having such a tough time of it.

"Get me down!" she snapped, which of course was followed by a little squeal as she opened her eyes and looked down before snapping them shut once again.

"Are you going to go get her?" Jax asked, standing next to him and still pointing that damn flashlight on Danni, which of course could be one of the reasons why she was squeezing her eyes shut. The man didn't need the flashlight. Thanks to his Alpha blood he could see just as clearly as Caine could, but the rest of his pack couldn't and they would bitch and whine if Jax shut it off.

He considered going back up there and getting her, but really, how would she learn anything if he did? When they left the comfort of their tent an hour ago they worked on controlling her fangs and eyes, but when it became obvious that she wanted to see if she could kick his ass he decided that they should move onto other things.

If all she wanted to do was spar he would probably be alright with that.....in time, but no, not Danni. She wanted to go full-contact and see if she could hold her own against him, or judging by that devious little smile she sported just before he floated her ass up to that tree limb, she wanted to see if she could kick his ass now that she'd been turned. She wouldn't be able to of course. Well, not now anyway, since she didn't have full control of her abilities yet and they would never find out one way or the other, because he would never be able to raise his fist against her. He loved her too much to do anything that would hurt her.

"This is kind of cruel," Jax said, making no moves to get the woman down, Caine noted. Then again the man knew him well enough to know that he'd simply grab her and put her sexy little ass right back up there. Actually, he'd probably put her a good ten feet higher to teach her a lesson about letting other men touch her. The other reason the Alpha wasn't moving his ass to save her might have something to do with the little betting pool they had going. Not him, the pack. Jax bet that when she fell she'd break both legs, half her ribs and her arm.

That was pretty stupid, because he'd catch her before she hit the ground. He of course mentioned that when the stubborn pack decided that he couldn't partake of the bet. Cheap bastards. For clarity sake he of course pointed out that if he didn't catch her, which he was ninety percent sure that he could, that she would probably break all her limbs, a few ribs, her hip and her neck on the way down on the long thick branches that would slow her fall, but they wouldn't listen to him.

"Don't you have a better way of showing her how to float?" he asked, gesturing to the woman hugging the tree branch while muttering, "Don't look down," every other second.

Where the hell was the trust? He told her he loved her, so why the hell was she worried about getting hurt? To prove her love and devotion to him she should let go and get her hot little ass down here and finish tonight's lesson so that he could get her beneath him again.

Jax pursed up his lips in thought as he studied Danni. After a long minute he exhaled long and loud while shaking his head. "I really don't."

"I do!" Danni yelled, letting him know that her Pyte hearing was working just fine. Until they figured out how to kill this damn mutated cancer in her body he was going to have to keep an eye on her abilities to make sure that everything was functioning correctly. If they started acting up again he'd have to feed her immediately.

"We've already been over this, Danni."

"Let's go over it again!" she snapped, still squeezing her eyes shut. He really could not believe the lack of trust. She was really going to have to work her ass off later in bed to make this up to him.

"Just get your cute ass down here, Danni, so that we can move onto the next lesson," he said, wondering just how long she was planning on drawing this out. He didn't have all night. He still needed to feed, make her scream his name a few times, feed her, feed again and get some sleep before they had to move out in the morning. If she didn't move her ass he'd have to give up all hopes of getting a nap and so he could let her make this up to him.

"You said you loved me!" she snapped, letting out a little yelp as a gentle breeze caused the small branches surrounding her to brush up against her.

"I do," he said firmly before adding, "so let go!"

"No!"

"Don't make me come up there, Danni!" he warned. If he went up there he was moving her fifteen feet higher and then he was shoving her off that damn branch. It's how birds did it, wasn't it? Not that he really cared because his plan was sound. She'd fall or jump, at this point it really didn't matter, and then her natural instincts would kick in and save her or he'd catch her. No matter what happened she wouldn't be landing face first in pine needles and she really should know that by now.

"Come on up, Caine," she said, risking a peek down only to squeeze her eyes shut a second later. "I'd love to have a word with you about this."

Typical Danni, he thought as he shook his head in disgust, he was trying to teach her something and all she could focus on was kicking his ass.