Without Regret (Pyte/Sentinel #2)(28)

Any doubts that she was a natural born Pyte flew out the window when years later she’d been forced to try and change her husband, her mate. Everyone had been stunned when the man awoke not as a stronger vampire, but as a Pyte.

The story had caught his attention for several reasons.

Before he signed on with the Sentinel Council he had never met another Pyte and was desperate for any information about them. He’d had absolutely no idea how to turn someone, how he was created, or if he’d been a freak accident. The other reason the story was never far from his thoughts was the fact that the woman had been a Sentinel and had changed her Sentinel mate, something that should have been impossible.

Sentinels were put on earth with prolonged life, enhanced senses, natural ability, and added strength to protect the human race at all costs. Fearing they’d become too powerful or put their own needs above God’s they were given a time limit and cursed with the inability to “change” in order to escape being called back to heaven. Any attempts to change a Sentinel into a vampire or a shifter were usually met with a pretty violent death, or so he’d been told.

But that story about the Sentinel couple that managed to change……

That gave him hope and when the time came he planned on taking a chance and changing Chris. Not that Chris or anyone else for that matter knew his plans and he had absolutely no intentions on sharing.

He’d almost tried to change Chris eleven years ago when he thought he was about to lose him, but held off.

Barely.

He promised himself that night that he would never be forced to sit around and listen to his son’s heart stop again. When the time came, whether it was during a fight or when Chris’ two hundred years were up, Ephraim would try and change him. He knew the odds were slim, but he had to try. If there was any way to keep his son he had to try.

It was the same reason he planned on changing Jill and Joshua when the time was right. He wasn’t about to wait until they were old and in their death beds before changing them, but he was also in no rush to change their lives forever.

His daughter Jill was twentyfive, funny, kind and still his little girl. She was such a sweet young woman now doing her best to help others and he didn’t have the heart to take that away from her. Not just yet. He also wanted to give her a chance to experience motherhood.

As a vampire, even as slightly enhanced one, she wouldn’t be able to do that. So, he was giving her time to experience life now, but he wouldn’t wait forever.

He was holding off on changing Joshua for the same reasons. He was still a twenty-one year old kid and needed to figure his life out before Ephraim stepped in, but he would if either of his human children needed him to. There was no way he would be able to stand back and lose them. Not to mention what it would do to Madison if she lost them. Even though Jill and Joshua were biologically her siblings she’d never truly seen them that way.

She’d raised them single handedly since she was a child when their natural mother had wanted nothing to do with them. Almost from the start she’d loved them as if they’d been her own children and ten years ago when she’d been presented with the opportunity to legally make her brother and sister their children she’d jumped at the chance. Even though he’d save his children because he couldn’t bear to lose them he was also doing it so that Madison would never have to experience the pain of living without them.

That type of pain would never go away and he didn’t want that for her.

“Baby? Are you okay?” Madison asked, frowning up at him as she cupped his face.

“Yes,” he said, trying to clear his head of thoughts that already kept him up late at night. There was no need to share his concerns with her. She didn’t need to worry.

He would take care of everything when the time was right and after it was done he would take his punishment from the Sentinel Council for going against his word and changing humans.

“You didn’t answer me. Why didn’t her skills kick in, Ephraim?” Madison asked, her voice breaking at the end.

“Shh, it’s okay, baby,” he said, pulling her closer and pressing another kiss to her forehead. He noted her heartbeat beginning to race with fear and the scent of her arousal starting to wane. He knew she’d been worried about Chris and hoping he’d find someone that could love him and take care of him. No doubt Isabella was nothing like the woman she’d pictured for her best friend. She was probably scared shitless that the woman wouldn’t be able to have Chris’ back in a fight.

They didn’t need this f**king drama right now. After what Madison went through losing Julia, their baby girl who hadn’t survived the birth, he was going to make damn sure she didn’t have to worry about anything during this pregnancy other than having her beautiful ass spoiled.

“I asked Eric, sweetheart. He said the attack was unexpected and it was over before she could blink.

There was no real time to give her skills a chance to surface. But don’t worry. Tonight she’ll have her chance and once she realizes what she can do she’ll be more open to our world and we’ll hopefully have our answers by morning,” he promised her, knowing he’d damn well make sure everything worked out tonight.

“Are you sure?” Madison asked, dropping her hands back down to his shoulders.

“Yes,” he said, leaning down to kiss her worries away.