Tall, Silent & Lethal (Pyte/Sentinel #4)(92)

It also let him know that the time for diplomacy and finesse was long gone. If he was going to get his son out of this safely and keep this Pyte couple out of the hands out of a Master, and the girl from the horrible fate that awaited her, he was going to have to be blunt.

“The moment that she steps out of this compound, every shifter within a hundred mile radius will be after her.”

*-*-*-*

“What did you just say?” Christofer asked after a slight pause as the force of Ephraim’s words nearly knocked him on his ass.

“They won’t have a choice,” Chris bit out.

“Bullshit,” he said, praying that Ephraim was lying his ass off to manipulate them into doing what he wanted.

“She’s marked,” Ephraim explained in a hard tone. “You’ve not only fed from her without permission, but you’ve changed her and claimed her.”

“You’ve stolen a shifter’s property,” Caine added as he sent Cloe a pitying look.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Cloe demanded, shifting the tension in the elevator as every man noticeably went still, even the man he held by the throat.

Two pairs of red eyes suddenly locked on him as Ephraim demanded, “Why the hell didn’t you tell her?”

He shoved the Sentinel away so that he could get in the other Pyte’s face. “That was your job,” he snarled.

“Someone want to fill me in?” Cloe demanded, but his focus was locked on Ephraim.

“She’s your mate!” Ephraim snapped, shoving him back.

“Ah, no I’m not,” Cloe said with a snort of annoyance that he chose to ignore, mostly because this wasn’t the time or place to explain that she did in fact belong to him. Besides, she’d eventually realize it on her own.

“We came here for the information that you promised,” Christofer said, shoving Ephraim back and getting back in his face. “You’re the one that f**ked up when you didn’t give us the answers that you promised us.”

Ephraim shoved him back, getting right in his face. “We didn’t have a f**king choice. As soon as we left you so that you could calm your mate down, our access to your floor was taken away. For the last week we’ve been stuck here, dealing with bullshit and trying to get our access reinstated so that we could keep our word to you.”

Breathing hard, Christofer held the other man’s murderous glare as he reached over and took Cloe’s trembling hand into his. “You have an hour to explain what’s going on and then we’re leaving.”

“One hour,” Ephraim agreed with a firm nod.

“Fucking bastard,” Chris muttered as he turned around and slammed his shoulder into the elevator wall in an attempt to put the bone back in its socket.

Caine sighed heavily as he reached out, grabbed Chris by the shoulder with one hand while he placed the other against his back. With a slight push, he had the bone shoved back in place with a sickening pop that had Chris grunting in pain.

“Thanks a lot, you f**king-oh, shit!” Chris snapped as he slammed back against the elevator wall, reached out, grabbed Caine by the arm and yanked the large Pyte in front of him.

Caine opened his mouth, then shut it as his eyes went wide and he noticeably swallowed, making Christofer frown as he muttered, “Oh, shit.”

It wasn’t until Ephraim muttered an, “Oh, f**king hell,” and stepped back to block Chris from view that he realized something rather important.

Cloe’s hand wasn’t trembling because she was upset.

She was trembling because she had slipped into bloodlust….

While they were stuck in an elevator………

Yeah, this wasn’t going to end well, he thought dryly as he dropped her hand and rubbed his hands roughly down his face.

A small, vicious growl to his right had him reaching out and grabbing Cloe as she moved to attack the two men guarding Chris. There was no doubt in his mind that she was after Chris. The normally overly sweet scent that the Sentinel gave off was saturating the air of the enclosed space. He’d found the aroma a little distracting, but nothing that he couldn’t ignore.

Cloe on the other hand…….

Had been turned only a week ago, hadn’t learned self-control, was apparently seriously pissed and had slipped into what the other men had dubbed, “bloodlust.” The scent of Chris’ blood would be too much for her to ignore, especially right now.

“Mein Schatz,” he said, turning around as he grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her into the corner away from the trio behind him.

One look at her beautiful red eyes and he knew that there was no point in trying to talk any sense into her. Cloe wasn’t in charge right now, which meant that there was nothing that he could say or do that would convince her that tearing Chris’ throat open was a bad idea. Not that he really gave a f**k if the little bastard got his throat ripped open, especially since no one had given a damn that they’d risked her throat being ripped open when they’d locked her up with him.

He should let her do it, but he knew that she would hate herself later when she realized what she’d done. As tough as Cloe came off, he really didn’t think that she was the type of person that could shrug off killing someone even if it had been out of her control. The other reason that he was stopping her from crossing that line was currently pulling his weapon free from its holster and cocking the weapon.