Tall, Silent & Lethal (Pyte/Sentinel #4)(15)

The representative had been sent to the mansion to check on their security, look in on the children, and to make sure that their newest inhabitants, a Pyte couple, were following the rules. Caine was still on probation for the destruction he’d caused years ago as well as for turning his mate, Danni, without the Council’s permission.

Not that they would have given him permission had he asked. From what he’d heard and knew about the Council, they didn’t trust Caine. The only reason that he wasn’t at this moment encased in cement and rotting for eternity in the bottom of the ocean or in a volcano somewhere was because his mate was the daughter of Sentinels and had been a well-respected member of their human squad. They also wanted to keep her now that she was a Pyte.

They all knew that the Sentinel Council had released Caine in the hopes to use his mate to control him and keep him working for the Council. As long as Danni depended on the Council to supply her with demon blood to keep the cancer that had followed her into immortality at bay, the couple didn’t have much of a choice. He hadn’t said anything, but he seriously doubted that the Council was in much of a rush to cure Danni and lose the only hold they had over the Pyte couple.

The representative the Council had sent last time had made it more than obvious that the Council didn’t trust Caine. The little bastard followed him around, taking notes on everything that Caine said or did until the Pyte finally had enough, grabbed his mate and took off for a few days. With his main reason for visiting gone, the representative had turned his attention on the rest of them.

When the little bastard had started to pay a little too much attention to his sons and made suggestions that he should talk to Madison and consider sending their young children to one of the Sentinel compounds in Europe for training, Ephraim had calmly listened to the man before he grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and hung him upside down from the second floor balcony.

After that, the representative had focused his attention elsewhere for the remainder of his stay, not that it had been very long once the dumb bastard had made the mistake of describing Izzy as a useless cripple in what he probably thought was a private phone conversation with one of his superiors. Then again, if the representative had known that the shifter had been standing behind him at the time, he probably would have waited until he was well away from the mansion before he called his superior to give his report.

“I don’t understand why you don’t believe me,” Izzy said with an adorable pout as Chris carried her into the hallway and joined them as they headed towards the large conference room in the basement. “It was him!” she said in exasperation as she pointed an accusing finger in Kale’s direction.

“Uh huh,” Chris sighed absently, obviously not believing the little sugar addict.

Ephraim didn’t need to ask to know what the two of them were fighting about. He’d caught part of the conversation going on in Kale’s room about an hour ago when he’d walked into the foyer. When he’d realized that Izzy had been caught binging again, he’d blocked out the rest of the conversation and focused on a hot shower and getting his mate to do all the naughty things that he’d been fantasizing about all night.

“I’m really hurt that you don’t believe me,” Izzy said softly, sounding upset as she looked up at his son with doe-like eyes as she allowed her little chin to tremble.

Ephraim had to turn his head and force a cough to hide his chuckle. He knew that she was lying. He could smell the chocolate and sugar smothering her scent. She was so damn adorable sometimes.

“You’re not getting cake for breakfast so just drop it,” Chris said firmly, probably hoping that his tone would be enough to put an end to the sugar addict’s pleas.

“But-”

“Drop it.”

“It wasn’t me, I sw-”

“Let it go.”

“If you would just ask him, he’d tell you!” she protested, gesturing wildly to the shifter who simply sighed and continued walking ahead of them towards the conference room.

“This is just getting sad,” Chris mumbled, shaking his head in disgust before he leaned down slightly so that he could kiss the tip of her nose.

“Then put me down if you don’t believe me,” Izzy said in a huff, no doubt planning on storming off to get her next sugar fix.

“Nope, sorry can’t do that. I like carrying my munchkin around,” Chris said with a shrug, instead of pointing out that the conference room was a good five minutes away and that Izzy wouldn’t be able to make it there without hurting herself.

As long as no one pointed out the reason behind their obsession with carrying her, Izzy was fine with being carried around. They all came up with some bullshit story to do it and as long as the story was somewhat believable, Izzy accepted their piss poor excuses. It was the only way to save her pride and allow her to pretend that they weren’t all worried about her or that the sounds of her weeping quietly in a corner somewhere didn’t break their hearts.

“I don’t want you carrying me if you don’t believe me, Chris,” Izzy said, crossing her arms tightly over her large chest as she pointedly glared off. “You may hand me over to my Daddy.”

“Izzy-”

“You heard me,” Izzy said stubbornly.

“But-”

“I said good day, sir!”

With an annoyed sigh, Chris turned and handed her over to him. He gladly took her. He loved her a great deal, adored her really. It didn’t matter to him that she was his daughter-in-law, he thought of her as his baby girl, which was probably why she’d requested to be handed over to him, he realized with an inward groan.