Without Regret (Pyte/Sentinel #2)(3)

“Well,” Jill started to say as she switched out his navy blue tie for a black one, “you know every ten years that ten Sentinels are born, five males and five females.”

“I already know that!” Joshua interrupted. “Dad, told us and so did that crazy woman.”

Jill ignored him. “They make five destined pairs. From what Eric told us, two pairs from Chris’ group have already formed. That leaves three unmated pairs and since there are three unmated females in Boston today one of them is Chris’ mate.”

“Oh,” Joshua said, sounding a little disappointed.

Chris looked over to see what was wrong with his little brother. “What’s up, little man?” he asked, forcing himself not to go back to staring at the door.

Joshua shrugged his little shoulders. “Nothing,”

muttered, “I just like having you around.”

“Why wouldn’t I be around?” he asked, chuckling.

“Cause you’ll be married and starting a family like mom and dad,” Joshua said, sounding truly miserable.

Chris rolled his eyes and moved his wheelchair over to his brother, ignoring his sister’s dirty looks because he was “exerting” himself as their grandmother liked to say.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he promised, reaching out and snagging the ball away from his brother in midtoss.

“You’re stuck with me, punk, so get over it.”

Joshua grinned. “You’re the punk, punk,” he said as he took the ball back. “Are you going to have babies soon?”

He just barely stopped himself from cringing. Kids?

Him? Hell no. He would never do that to a child, but instead of saying that to his eleven year old brother he simply shrugged and said, “We’ll see.”

“But-” Joshua started only to be cut off when the door opened and his father walked in the room with a somber looking Eric.

Chris shifted in his chair, ignoring the slight pull on his stitches and tried to look past the men for his mate.

“Where is she?” he asked impatiently when he didn’t spot her.

His father and Eric, the Sentinel leader for their area, shared a look, a look that really pissed him the hell off.

“Tell me where she is,” he demanded with as much attitude as he could to cover his fraying nerves.

“Why don’t you kids go see if your grandmother needs help making dinner,” Ephraim said quietly.

Jill worried her bottom lip as she headed for the door, pausing only long enough to send Chris a hopeful smile. Joshua looked like he was going to protest, but one look from their father had him hauling his little ass out of there.

“How are you feeling?” Eric asked, taking Joshua’s vacated seat.

“Cut the shit and tell me what’s going on. Where’s my mate?” Chris demanded.

Eric sighed heavily, running a hand over his red tipped black hair. “As you know there were three girls from your group being escorted to Boston today,” at Chris’

nod he continued, “two of the girls found their mates immediately.”

“Well, no kidding, Eric. I wasn’t there to meet her.

Where is she? Is Madison talking to her or something?”

he asked, shooting another glance towards the doorway, hoping that Madison would drag his mate in to see him.

“No, she’s not here. The third girl is dead,” Eric said.

Chris’ head whipped around as the words sunk it.

“Dead?”

This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t f**king be happening. His mate was dead? Tendrils of fear crawled up his spine. He was going to be alone, truly alone for the rest of his life. The one thing he truly feared was happening.

“You killed my f**king mate?” he screamed as he tried to lounge for his friend’s throat.

His father caught him around the shoulders the same time Eric grabbed his hands in his and gently brought them against Chris’ body. Chris couldn’t stop struggling as panic set in.

Alone.

He was all alone.

“Chris, calm down!” his father snapped.

He couldn’t. He just couldn’t. He tried to lash out against the pain as he screamed, cursed and threatened to kill whoever hurt his mate until he found himself lifted out of his chair and restrained on the floor.

“Calm the f**k down and listen to me,” Eric said, gripping Chris’ chin and forcing him to look at him.

“She wasn’t your mate.”

“Bullshit!”

“She was a minion, Chris. Someone placed a tattoo on her and she found a way to sneak in undetected to the compound. It only took us twenty seconds before we realized she wasn’t one of us. By that time she’d already pulled out a gun. We had no choice but to kill her,” Eric explained, sighing in relief when Chris stopped struggling.

Immense relief surged through his body as Eric’s words sunk in. “So….she wasn’t my mate?”

“No.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

Chris closed his eyes as he dropped his head back. Not his mate. That meant his mate was out there somewhere waiting for him, but most importantly she was alive. That was fine, because it meant he still had a chance. He’d find her and together they’d take care of his family. He just had to get his ass in gear.