Tall, Dark & Heartless (Pyte/Sentinel #3)(38)

They had a seriously pissed off Pyte who wouldn't let anyone in the room except to bring the woman food and coolers of blood for him. Actually, the Pyte demanded a week ago that they double the amount of blood. His reason was valid. According to the Pyte he was close to bloodlust. For every vampire here, who knew just how bad bloodlust could get, that was more than enough reason to comply. The little prick of course tried to interfere with the blood and food deliveries.

When the Pyte had taken out the cameras, Lucan had been out of the building looking into another matter. By the time he'd been notified he'd been sure that it was too late and that they were not only going to have to find a new female, but they were also going to have to deal with a seriously pissed off Pyte. He'd made it to their cell just as Greg ordered a small group of vampires to enter the room and retrieve the body. The man had looked damn near giddy at the possibility of seeing the woman's dead body.

The men didn't get five feet into the room before the screams of terror began. He shoved Greg out of the way and walked into the room only to come to a halt as he watched the Pyte tear into the throats of his men and take his fill. Even as the Pyte fed he made damn sure that no one got near the body on the mattress. Lucan took one look at the man's feral expression and knew he'd hit bloodlust so he ordered his remaining men back, knowing it would be pointless to stay in the room. Just as he was about to step out of the room he heard it.

The small, weak sound of her heartbeat, but it was enough. She was alive and he knew it would be foolish to try to take the woman out of the room or even attempt to reattach the barbaric device to her ankle since the Pyte would probably kill anyone that went near her. Deciding it was time to retreat, he sent in two large coolers of blood, hoping the Pyte would overindulge in the cold liquid and leave the woman alone. She was the key to their plans and they couldn't afford to lose her.

Not now.

It had been a week since the ass**le almost killed her and he was starting to worry. As far as he knew she hadn't woken up yet. She just laid there. The only thing that kept him from storming the room and taking her out, well, besides the Pyte that would rip his throat out, was that her heartbeat was strong. Somehow the Pyte was managing to get the food that he sent, into the woman and she was slowly recovering. He hoped the Pyte was in a better mood today because they needed to talk.

"I'll take that," he said, taking the large cooler out of the vampire's hands and heading for the room only to have Greg step smoothly in his way and try to block him. He didn't even blink as he shoved the human out of his way and entered the room. When the stubborn man tried to follow him, he slammed the door in his face.

He shot a look over at the still figure on the mattress and wasn't too surprised to find the Pyte crouching in front of her, ready to tear his heart out. The good news was the Pyte had definitely staked a claim on the woman. If they played their cards right and kept that ass**le Greg away from the couple, they might just end up getting that Pyte child sooner than he'd hoped. The bad news, the Pyte had staked a claim on the woman and was too damn focused on protecting her to allow any of Lucan's men to check on her so they could try to get her better faster. They needed these two to produce a Pyte.

True, it would be sixteen years according to what they'd learned before the child came into his powers and a few days or months shouldn't matter in the scheme of things, but they did. They needed the army the Pyte could create. They were desperate for the Pyte the child would be able to create once he went through his change. It would be much better if the Pyte in front of him turned the woman into so they could take her under their control and get that army he needed for his Master that much faster.

"Get out," the Pyte practically snarled.

Lucan cocked his head curiously to the side, but didn't say anything as he placed the cooler on the ground and kicked it in the direction of the Pyte. The man was too close to the edge, at the moment, to be of much help with their problem. The Pyte needed to calm down and the only way to do that was for Lucan to leave the room so the Pyte could relax and tend to his female. He shot a look towards the sleeping woman and felt himself relax when she mumbled something and turned onto her side. The Pyte kept his eyes locked on him, but Lucan could tell that the man wanted to go to the woman, but refused to as long as there was a threat in the room. With a nod, Lucan left the room, hoping the woman was recovered enough to move onto the next phase of the plan. Even if she wasn't, they couldn't wait any longer. He didn't want to, but it looked like he was going to have to help this plan along before Greg convinced the Master to kill her and start all over again.

********

Why the hell was she so hungry? Danni wondered as her stomach rumbled almost viciously. She grabbed her stomach as she rolled over onto her back, ignoring her sore muscles as she slowly opened her eyes.

The sound of the toilet flushing sent shockwaves through her skull, causing her to cringe as she squeezed her eyes shut. It looked like she hadn't slept through her migraine. Although it didn't exactly hurt, it didn't feel great either. Why was everything so painfully loud, she wondered as she listened to the almost deafening sounds of Caine's chains being dragged across the tile floor as he walked closer to her.

She turned onto her side, deciding that she'd better get to the toilet before her migraine came back. As she sat up she caught a whiff of herself and nearly groaned. She smelled of old sweat and about a hundred other things that she didn't want to think about. In fact, the whole room was full of odors that were attacking her poor nose.