Without Regret (Pyte/Sentinel #2)(101)

It had forty or fifty feet up.

They should have been killed or seriously hurt, but she didn’t have a mark on her and was pretty sure that she wouldn’t have a single bruise later. She was pretty damn sure it had nothing to do with being a Sentinel and everything to do with the way Chris took them down. He held her tightly against him as they dropped and when they landed he turned over, taking the hit and rolled them down the hill. It was the craziest and scariest thing she’d ever done in her life and she never wanted to do it again.

“Aw, thanks, Munchkin. That was really sweet, but we have to get going now,” he said, grabbing a Ziploc baggie out of his bag and tossed his cell phones and wallet in it before stuffing the baggie in his front pocket. As he walked over to her bag and picked it up she couldn’t help but notice that he was limping or that his jaw was set firmly.

“Are you okay?” she asked, wondering if maybe they weren’t so lucky with that jump after all.

He shrugged it off as he grabbed her bag and handed it to her. “Just a few aches, Munchkin. Nothing to worry about, besides the cold water will help.”

“Cold water?” she murmured in confusion as she followed his gaze to the right and felt her jaw drop. He couldn’t be serious.

Oh, but he was.

He grabbed her hand and hauled her right behind him into the frigid water. In less than a minute she was soaking wet, freezing and wondering when he’d lost his damn mind. When he didn’t cut across the river like she expected him to, but turned right and continued to drag her through the water, this time against the current she wondered if he’d hit his head during the drop.

“What the hell are we doing, Chris?” she demanded as she slipped on a slimy rock and almost went face first in the water. Thankfully Chris yanked her back to her feet before that happened.

“We’re using the water to cover our scents,” he explained, sounding a little out of breath, which was understandable she supposed since moving through the mid-thigh level water was a bit of a workout.

“Okay…..,” she said slowly, not really understanding.

“Won’t they be able to just figure out that we went by the water?”

His hand tightened around hers as he shook his head.

Well, she thought he shook his head, but she couldn’t really tell because she was being dragged behind him and he was moving really fast.

“The smoke from the fire is going to blanket this entire area for a while and make it difficult for them to find our scent. Add the scent of a hundred or so frightened humans into the mix and it’s going to become damn near impossible for them to find our scent,” he explained as he caught her once again with a pained grunt.

“Um, if the smoke and human scents are going to give us cover for a little while then why are we walking in the water? Why don’t we cross and walk on land where it’s warmer?” she suggested even as she tried to release his hand to do just that.

“Oh no, not so fast, my little Munchkin,” he said, pulling her so that she could walk right alongside of him. “The other scents will confuse and cover our scents, Munchkin, but it won’t be long before they figure out that we never came out the front. They’re going to look for us and when they don’t catch our scent then they’ll split up and I don’t know about you, but I’d rather only have to deal with one of those dumb asses if I have to.”

Actually she’d rather not have to deal with any of them if given the choice. They’d scared the hell out of her when they grabbed her and whisked her off to that room. She truly thought they were going tear her apart.

What she hadn’t expected was that little sniff fest of theirs. Talk about creepy. Speaking of which.

“Chris?”

“Yes, Munchkin?” he asked distractedly as he watched the woods around them for any movement, she supposed.

“I don’t think we really have to worry about them being able to scent us and come after us. They thought they scented a pregnancy on me so I think we’re in the clear if we want to walk on land now, okay?” she explained, wondering why he didn’t come to the same logical conclusion sooner as she gave his hand a tug as she tried to go towards land only to have him haul her back to his side.

“They weren’t wrong, Munchkin,” he said tightly, not sounding pleased at all.

“Ah, yeah, they were,” she said, feeling her patience fray. Not being able to have children was a sore spot for her and not something she could joke about. She’d always wanted kids, and when she found out that she couldn’t have any it damn near destroyed her.

“No, they weren’t, Izzy. You’re pregnant. That mark on your neck is a pretty clear indication and those dumb f**ks took away any lingering doubts,” he said evenly as he doubled his pace, forcing her to practically run through the water to keep up with him.

“You mean my rash?” she asked, wondering what the hell was wrong with everyone. She’d seen the blockage in the ultrasound images and knew there was absolutely no way that she could be pregnant.

None.

“It’s only appears as a rash in the beginning, but now it’s a circle, the symbol that you’re carrying a human child. If you kept the child you would only be pregnant for another four months. Sentinel pregnancies only take half the time of human pregnancies whether you’re having a human or a Sentinel baby,” he said, but she was only half listening as she reached up with a shaky hand and traced the small raised circle beneath her ear where the rash used to be.