Tall, Dark & Heartless (Pyte/Sentinel #3)(129)

"She needs me," Caine said, reaching out and taking the woman and he let him. Caine gave him a nod of thanks before focusing on the woman in his arms whose breaths were becoming shallower with every passing minute.

"You know you're under arrest," Ephraim reminded him to see what the Pyte would do. Now that he had his mate he could make a run for it and Ephraim would of course go after him, but he was curious to see how far the supposed selfish-bastard, according to everyone at the New York compound, would go for this woman.

"Don't f**king care," the Pyte said, stepping into the back of the van, "she needs more help than I can give her," he said softly, his voice cracking with the admission. When the Pyte sat down he followed him inside and grabbed the chains they'd used earlier that day to lock Joshua in.

Caine didn't even flinch when the cuff closed around his ankle.

"I'm sorry," Ephraim said, because he just couldn't help but feel that this was wrong and it killed him to be a part of this, but he needed the protection the Sentinels offered his family. He felt like an ass**le for doing this.

"Me too," the Pyte said, looking down at the woman's face as a sad smile tugged at his lips.

*******

"We're ten minutes away from the compound," the Sentinel driving said and Caine forced himself not to think about what that meant for him. The only thing that mattered was Danni.

He couldn't protect her, not like this and it had taken bloodlust for him to see that. Thanks to him she'd been left unprotected and vulnerable and it had cost her. The cancer was too strong and he would never be able to keep up with her needs or his own. If he fed her day and night from his own vein he would be left weak and he wouldn't be able to protect her, not from humans, vampires, the Sentinels, no one.

The Council would act swiftly and get rid of him, but they'd do everything they could to figure out what was wrong with Danni and if they couldn't find a way to destroy the cancer then they would easily keep her supplied with immortal blood so that she could keep doing the job that she loved and would never have to suffer another moment from this illness.

"You should eat," Ephraim said quietly as he held a bag of blood out to him.

They both knew that this was probably the last time he'd ever eat. It was a last meal of sorts, but he wouldn't take it for him. Danni was hurt and needed his blood. He took it with a nod and placed it at his mouth and drank while he kept his other arm wrapped around Danni that helped to cradle her against his body.

"Maybe you should see if you can feed her as well," the other Pyte suggested as he held out another bag.

Caine took the bag and shook his head. "Human blood is too diluted. It has to be immortal blood," he said before he devoured the second bag. Ephraim's brows arched in surprise as his eyes dropped to Danni.

"Why is she sick?" Kale asked as he yanked his shirt sleeve up and allowed his fangs to drop. Caine couldn't hide his surprise when the shifter rumored not to have a heart bit his own wrist and pressed it against Danni's lips.

"Cancer," he said, watching as the shifter reached out with his other hand and gently massaged Danni's throat to get her to swallow.

"Is that why you changed her?" Ephraim asked before grabbing a bag of blood and consuming it.

"No, they killed her," he said, hating himself for that moment when he failed to protect her. Of course, if he had known she was dying of cancer he would have done it sooner.

"How?" Ephraim asked around a mouthful of blood.

"They electrocuted her," he said, hollowly, barely aware of a cell phone ringing behind the barrier at his back and not really caring enough to listen. Before that they had tortured her and he never wanted her to experience anything like that again. He licked his suddenly dry lips before he said, "Make sure they take care of her and don't let her go patrolling alone, because she has a hell of a temper and she's liable to do something that will get her in trouble." He tried to ignore the panic that those words caused, but it was difficult.

He wouldn't be there to protect her. She'd be all alone and there wasn't anything that he could do to change that and God, how he wished that he'd done things differently. He'd give anything to go back in time and stop himself from making the biggest mistake of his life. He would have found a way to deal with the pull of her blood and keep her in his life and he knew that in time he would have fallen in love with her and changed her before the cancer took over and she wouldn't be facing dying for eternity.

"Make sure she knows that I love her," he said, wishing that he could tell her himself, but by the time she woke up he'd already be encased in his tomb.

"I'll make sure that she knows," Ephraim said after a minute and not sounding thrilled with the job. He didn't care if the man was comfortable doing it or not. He'd damn well better-

"What do you mean she's in labor?" he heard the Sentinel demand.

Both men went still as they listened to the conversation. Kale pulled back his hand and Caine wasted no time in biting his own wrist and replacing it as a little boy, from the sounds of it, explained to the Sentinel in front that two women were in labor. He could hear a baby crying in the background, but he didn't think it was the sound of a newborn.

"Slow down, Marc," the Sentinel said calmly, but he knew from the scent the man was giving off that he was anything but calm.