Tall, Dark & Heartless (Pyte/Sentinel #3)(78)

Never in her life had she'd felt so scared or lost. She wanted to hide, scream, run, anything to escape. When she was a little girl she would have simply hunted Caine down and crawled onto his lap, but she couldn't do that now, couldn't cling to him as he soothed her. She couldn't-

"Come here," Caine said, startling her as he sat down next to her and picked her up before she could react. He placed her sideways on his lap as he shifted over to take the spot she'd just vacated. Once she was in his arms she found that she didn't want to refuse him. As much as she hated to admit it, she needed him too much at the moment.

She curled up in his arms and laid her head against his chest as he held her, taking the comfort he offered as she closed her eyes and focused on the way he soothingly rubbed her back. It was foolish to allow him to comfort her, to allow herself to believe that he really cared about her, but she didn't care. Right now he made her feel loved and protected when she felt like her whole world was falling apart.

When some of the pack members climbed into the van she turned her face against Caine's chest, refusing to see the looks of disgust and fear on their faces. She'd lost control and brutally killed a man, an innocent man who hadn't deserved it. She realized that if Caine hadn't changed her she would still be dying in that cell and the man would still be alive.

"Shhhh, Danni, it's okay," Caine said softly as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "It's okay, baby," he whispered, holding her tightly against him.

It wasn't until that moment that she realized she was crying. Not just crying, but sobbing almost hysterically against Caine's chest as she gripped the borrowed shirt he was wearing and buried her face tightly against his chest as her grief overtook her. She'd killed a man today, someone's husband, father, son, brother, and friend because she was a monster.

Never again, she swore to herself even as she continued to cry. She would never feed from the source again and she would make damn sure that she never allowed herself to go into bloodlust again. She would treat this like a disease. As soon as she showered and got some rest she was going to take off and go to the house her parents left her in Pennsylvania.

It wasn't too far away, plus the Council didn't know about it. She'd go there and contact the blood delivery service the Council ran, a global effort to keep vampires from living off humans. She'd just have to be careful. The service was very discrete and used a number system so she didn't have to worry about the Council finding her, but that didn't mean that she was going to take any chances. She'd lay low there until she got this thing under control and once she did she was going after Greg and the bastard that ordered her capture. She was going to show them just what kind of monster they helped create.

******

"I'm fine, Caine," Danni said on a tired sigh as she walked up the back stairs to the guest apartment above the garage that Jax gave them for the night.

Usually the Alpha liked to keep his guests close so that he could keep an eye on them, but it had become more than obvious by the time they arrived on the large estate that most of the pack feared having Danni under the same roof. Well, the women did at least. The men looked a little too interested in his mate for Caine's comfort. He may have threatened to rip the balls off one or two of them, which probably was the real reason why they were being exiled to the garage apartment.

"You don't have to follow me everywhere. I'm not going to break down again," she said firmly as she opened the apartment door and strolled inside.

"I'm not following you," he lied. "I want to refuel with some blood and sleep before we take off," he said as he shut the door behind him. He placed the small blue cooler full of blood on the table by the door.

He owed Jax big time for ordering the blood while he'd been dealing with Danni's bloodlust episode. Of course, his pack probably begged the Alpha to order the blood seeing how most of them were unwilling to be tapped by a seemingly unstable Pyte. Not that he could blame them. He'd never been on the other end of bloodlust before and he'd have to admit that it wasn't something he'd volunteer for. Then again if anything with fangs came after his neck he'd just f**king kill it and be done with it, but this was Danni and it was his job to take care of her.

Danni nodded absently as she stared at the cooler. After the damage her body just went through she was going to need to feed soon. Her body had worked double time to get itself healed and although the blood she took from the human and him took care of the damage, she was still weak.

Without a word she walked past him, noticeably swallowing as she opened the cooler. She reached into the cooler, but hesitated to touch the bags full of blood.

"It won't taste as good as it does from the source," an understatement, it tasted like shit until you got used to it, "but it will do the job," he explained, reaching into the cooler and picking up a bag of blood. He handed it to her.

She tentatively took it from him. When she turned to leave he moved to grab one for himself when she suddenly turned around and quickly picked up two more bags. He cocked a brow at that, but said nothing. He doubted that she'd be able to handle even half a bag of blood. She'd probably gag and have to work at not vomiting, but it would be enough.

He fed her his own blood during her transformation so her body was used to the warmth and taste of fresh blood. If he had used bagged blood it would have been a hell of a lot easier for her now and her stomach would have been used to the cold metallic taste of bagged blood. As long as she managed to hold down half a bag she'd be fine. She'd have to feed more often for a while until she was able to tolerate the stuff, but in time she'd be able to limit her feedings to twice a day.