Tall, Silent & Lethal (Pyte/Sentinel #4)(123)

“Shit!” Christofer said, rushing across the room towards the door, shoving his hand through his hair, his pants unbuttoned and his-

“You may want to put that thing away,” she said, trembling as she watched him, torn between amusement and frustration as he grabbed his erection, forced it back into his pants and-

“God damn it!” he shouted, stumbling into the wall, wincing as he reached down and cleared the zipper.

“Christofer?” she said, trying to get his attention as he continued towards the door.

“Be right back,” and with that, he was gone.

“Okay……….,” she said, watching as the door closed behind him, leaving her to wonder what the hell just happened.

One minute he’d been driving her out of her mind as he’d kissed his way down to where she really needed him and the next he was falling off the bed, stumbling to his feet and racing for the door. She’d still been able to scent his lust, but there had been another scent coming off him, one that she couldn’t quite figure out.

As she sat there, struggling to catch her breath, she thought over what had happened over the last few minutes, trying to figure out what she’d missed. Maybe-

“Go sniff her,” Christofer suddenly demanded just as the bedroom door flew open and Ephraim and Caine came stumbling into the room, struggling to zip up their pants.

“Ummm,” was her only response, because really, what else could she say when the man that she loved left her naked, trembling and alone in bed only to return a few minutes later, shoving two half na**d men into their room and demanding that they sniff her.

“Bossy bastard,” Ephraim muttered as he finished buttoning his pants.

“You could have at least waited until I was done!” Caine snapped.

“Sniff!” Christofer bit out, pointing at her.

It took a few seconds for what he was asking them to do to really sink in and when it did, her jaw dropped. He didn’t just seriously ask them to-

With a muttered curse, Ephraim walked over to her, leaned over and inhaled, but before she could die of mortification, Caine followed suit, swearing more vividly as he leaned over, inhaled, frowned, inhaled and muttered a whole new genre of curses.

“Is she?” Christofer demanded, staying where he was by the door.

“Yeah,” Caine said, rubbing his hands roughly down his face.

“It’s fresh. Probably by just a few hours,” Ephraim explained, doing a wonderful job of keeping her in the dark.

“It shouldn’t be possible,” Caine said, dropping his hands by his sides as he shared a look with Ephraim.

“She was fully marked.”

“It must have grown back during the change,” Caine said, shooting her a curious look that had her pulling her sheet up higher as she tried to make sense of their words.

“We overfed her,” Ephraim explained. “It was probably enough blood to fix everything and restore her body.”

“What grew back?” Christofer asked, and at that moment she could have kissed him, because she was wondering the same damn thing.

“Her uterus,” Caine said gravely, his expression full of pity as he looked at her. At least she thought he’d said her uterus, but that was impossible.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Christofer demanded. “What does her uterus have to do with her being marked?”

And just like that, she lost the ability to breathe.

They knew.

“When a shifter marks a human,” Ephraim explained, looking disgusted, “they make it impossible for their property to have a child. They want their property sterile. They might tolerate their property ha**ng s*x with someone else, but they refuse to allow anyone else to set any type of claim.”

And just like that, her stomach dropped with the realization of why tearing her back apart hadn’t been enough for the beast that attacked her. He’d wanted to make sure that she could never have a child, because he’d seen her as nothing more than a thing to do with whatever he’d wished, even making sure that she was never able to live a full life and to-

“She’s definitely pregnant,” Caine announced. “It’s a Pyte,” he added, sounding relieved and making her wonder what else he’d expected it to be when his announcement registered.

“I’m sorry, but what did you just say?” she asked, absolutely positive that she’d misunderstood him.

Caine opened his mouth only to quickly close it and shoot Ephraim a panicked look. Ephraim simply rubbed the back of his neck as he muttered, “We f**king suck at this.”

“There’s no way that I could be pregnant,” she said, expecting all three men to quickly agree, but they didn’t.

“Can we have a minute?” Christofer asked, suddenly looking exhausted.

“Congratulations, Cloe,” Ephraim said with a warm smile as he headed for the door. Caine said something, probably congratulating her also, but she couldn’t hear him over the loud buzzing going off in her head as she struggled with the news.

“Are they sure?” she found herself asking as she sat there, feeling numb.

Christofer walked back over to the bed and sat down next to her, he took her hand into his, entwining their fingers and nodded, slowly, looking shell shocked. She expected him to say something, to explain how this happened, to reassure her, to tell her that everything was going to be okay and that this wasn’t some sick joke, but he just sat there, staring off at nothing. She didn’t know what to say or do at this moment. It wasn’t something that she’d ever expected to hear and it sure as hell didn’t feel real by having three men sniffing her.