Tall, Silent & Lethal (Pyte/Sentinel #4)(46)

Not that he was going to complain. She had a chance and he was going to make sure that she took it. He didn’t care what he had to do to make it happen. After rushing to the bathroom to grab a small stack of facecloths, he shoved his keys in his pocket, replaced the blood soaked towel with the small pile of facecloths and gently picked Cloe up. He was careful not to shift the cloths away from her wound that was barely bleeding any longer, not a good sign, but for the moment he ignored the implications and moved his ass.

He headed for the back door, shifted her in his arms and opened the door, praying that he was able to-

“I have your……..,” Seth started to say as soon as Christofer yanked the door open only to let his words trail off as his gaze fell to the bleeding woman in his arms before shifting back up to his face. Seth closed his eyes in resignation and shook his head with a sigh as he murmured, “Please tell me that you really didn’t mark that bitch.”

*-*-*-*

“Whoa!” Seth snapped, holding his hands up in surrender as he backed away quickly only to manage to stumble over the coolers that he’d stacked near the backdoor.

“What did you just call her?” Christofer demanded between clenched teeth as he descended on the bastard, barely aware that the monster inside of him was struggling to take over and rip the vampire’s throat out.

“I didn’t mean it like that!” Seth rushed to explain, getting back to his feet and moving to put some distance between them.

“Then what did you mean?” Christofer snapped, moving to go after him when the sound of a small groan drew his attention back to the woman in his arms, reminding him that he had more important matters to deal with than a prick with a death wish.

“Where the hell are you going?” Seth demanded, moving quickly to his side, deciding that a peek at Cloe was worth the risk of having his throat torn out.

“To the hospital,” he gritted out, praying that the precious seconds that he’d just wasted wouldn’t-

“You can’t do that,” Seth snapped, quickly moving in front of him to block his path.

“Watch me,” Christofer said, stepping past the vampire and heading for his truck.

“No,” Seth said, once again blocking his path, his hands held up, but this time to stop Christofer, “I mean you really can’t do that.”

“She’s dying,” Christofer bit out, losing the tenuous hold he had on his patience as he tried to move past the determined vampire only to once again find his path blocked off.

“Then let her,” Seth said, shooting nervous glances around the poorly lit yard.

Let her die?

Not f**king happening.

He’d been forced to watch a lot of people die over the years and he wasn’t about to add Cloe to their ranks. She deserved better than this and he would do whatever it took to make sure that she got it. He’d royally f**ked up, lost control and he’d be damned if Cloe was going to pay for that. He’d promised himself that he was going to take care of her and that was exactly what he was going to-

“She’s been f**king marked!” Seth shouted, placing his hands on Christofer’s arms where they cradled Cloe and shoved him back.

“I don’t have f**king time for this!” Christofer shouted back, the sounds of Cloe’s heartbeat slowing down even further, making it harder with each passing second not to give into the monster inside of him, but he fought it with everything that he had.

It would be so easy to give in and let it take over, but he knew that if he did that Cloe wouldn’t survive. He didn’t know why the monster had given her up when it had, but he wasn’t about to give up control a second time and give it a second shot at finishing off Cloe.

“What the hell are you?” Seth suddenly asked, gesturing to his face and making him realize that he’d f**ked up for the second time that day as he noted that everything had taken on shades of red.

“No f**king clue,” Christofer bit out, shifting back so that he could move around the vampire when his next words stopped him.

“If you bring her to a hospital they’ll kill her.”

“What are you talking about?” he snapped, moving to take another step towards his truck, but fear for Cloe made him hesitate.

“She’s a shifter’s marked property, a bitch,” he explained with a sheepish shrug when Christofer narrowed his eyes on him.

Ignoring the bitch comment, for now, he asked, “What’s a shifter?”

Seth opened his mouth to answer, shut it, shook his head and then ran his palms down his face, sounding tired as he said, “This is going to be a long f**king night.”

*-*-*-*

“She needs to go to the hospital,” he stubbornly said even as he gently laid her back on his bed.

Seth simply shook his head as he leaned over Cloe and carefully peeled back the blood-soaked facecloths. “You can’t bring a marked human to the hospital bearing your…..,” his words trailed off with a frown as he peered down at Cloe’s wound. “Why are you so goddamn hell-bent on bringing her to the hospital for a scratch?”

“What are you talking about?” he demanded, shoving the vampire aside so that he could look at Cloe’s wound. What he saw had his stomach twisting in dread.

“Please tell me that you didn’t turn a shifter’s property,” Seth grumbled, but Christofer was barely listening as he ran his fingers over what should have been torn flesh.