Tall, Silent & Lethal (Pyte/Sentinel #4)(10)

He called the police next only to learn that he needed to wait twenty-four hours before he could file a missing person’s report. Why in the hell was he paying taxes if they weren’t going to do their job? He asked them that only to have them hang up on him.

Finally, he walked out onto the front porch and waited and wondered what the hell he should do next. This wasn’t like Marta. She hadn’t stepped out of the house without him in almost four decades.

No, something was wrong here. Someone had taken his sister. He slowly got to his feet, allowing the anger to build inside him. He was going to kill whoever dared lay a finger on her. His fangs shot out of his gums as his eyes burned and for the first time in nearly fifty years he welcomed them. He would never allow anyone to hurt his sister, not again.

Just as he was about to tear the town apart to find her, a small black SUV pulled into the driveway and parked next to his truck.

His jaw dropped as he watched….no, it couldn’t be. It was! Shit. Hunger slammed into him as he watched Cloe climb out of the vehicle. He squeezed his eyes shut and forced them to shift back to normal. It took a few swipes of his tongue before his fangs receded. When he felt like he had a good grip on his control, he opened his eyes to watch her every move. She didn’t even glance his way as she walked quickly around the car and helped someone out.

Marta.

He watched through narrowed slits as his sister grabbed her cane with a polite “thank you” and a big smile. She walked around the vehicle, grinning hugely as if he hadn’t just spent the last two and a half hours worrying about her.

“Oh! There you are!” Marta said when she spotted him standing on the front steps. “Oh, I had such a wonderful time! First we went to the buffet that I've wanted to go to for years! Oh, it was so delicious! They cut the meat right there for you!”

She continued rambling on, oblivious to his seething anger. “I had a salad, and then some pasta, ham, turkey, fried chicken. Oh, it was so delicious! Then we went and tried the soft serve ice cream over on Wilmington.” He stood there waiting for her to realize that she was in trouble. He had no idea where that woman got off taking his sister, but he was going to find out. Then he was going to drain her dry for taking his sister without his permission and scaring the ever-living hell out of him!

“Did you know that they had electric scooters at the grocer’s?” she asked in an accusing tone, cutting into his murderous thoughts.

Shit.

He had known. He just hadn’t told her because he didn’t want to chance even that slowing him down. He hated going out in public and having her along would just prolong the experience.

“It was so nice to pick out my own fruits and vegetables. The produce and meat departments are so much larger than I remembered. Cloe was so nice. She never once complained about how slow I was going,” she said casually, but he didn’t miss the reproachful tone in her voice.

He watched the woman in question open the hatch of her SUV. Something whacked him on the thigh, rather hard. He glared down at his sister who made no move to hide the fact that she’d just hit him with her cane.

“Don’t just stand there. Go help her bring in the groceries,” Marta said with a huff before she continued making her way inside the house.

Oh, if she was about forty years younger he’d actually consider pulling her over his knee and spanking her like their father had when they were children. She sent him a look that told him if he didn’t move his ass soon that she would come back down the stairs to give the other leg a good thump. Damn it, when had she gotten so bossy? He grumbled about annoying little sisters as he walked over to Cloe.

Cloe had three bags in her arms when she finally turned around and spotted him. Her warm smile appeared genuine, making him instantly cautious. No one looked at him that way except for Marta. Everyone else looked at him as if he was a freeloading freak. No, this woman was up to something. She’d already kidnapped Marta. Granted, she’d returned her, but from what he’d heard she was already spending Marta’s money like there was no tomorrow. Correction, she was spending his money like there was no tomorrow.

“Hey, Hoodie, I’m surprised to see you here,” she said as she somehow managed to pick up another bag.

“It’s Christofer,” he said evenly, making her smile falter a little.

“Yes, of course. I’m sorry,” she said sheepishly as she moved to step past him. He moved to the right, cutting her off.

“As much as I’d love to stand here and chat with you, Christofer, these bags are kind of heavy,” she said as she tried to adjust her grip on the bags.

“What are you doing here, Cloe?” he asked softly as he fought the urge to lean in and inhale her scent more deeply into his lungs.

“At the moment? Probably developing a hernia,” she groaned.

His lips twitched, despite his mood.

“Christofer, you help her!” Marta yelled from the front steps.

Grinding his teeth so that he didn’t say something that would upset his sister, he reached out and relieved Cloe of the bags. She took a deep breath and nodded. “Thank you,” she murmured with a grateful smile.

He expected her to go inside and leave the bags to him, but instead, she turned around and grabbed three more bags and easily stepped around him and headed for the house, leaving him to follow after her or stand there looking like an idiot.