“Are they sure?” she found herself asking as she sat there, feeling numb.
Christofer walked back over to the bed and sat down next to her, he took her hand into his, entwining their fingers and nodded, slowly, looking shell shocked. She expected him to say something, to explain how this happened, to reassure her, to tell her that everything was going to be okay and that this wasn’t some sick joke, but he just sat there, staring off at nothing. She didn’t know what to say or do at this moment. It wasn’t something that she’d ever expected to hear and it sure as hell didn’t feel real by having three men sniffing her.
A small knock sounded at the door, followed by a hesitant, “Cloe?”
Damn it, she’d forgotten all about Marc, but as much as she wanted to stay here and let everything sink in, she couldn’t ditch Marc. The poor kid needed a distraction and as she looked up at Christofer, sitting there looking like he’d just been kicked in the balls, she decided that perhaps she did too.
*-*-*-*
“That looks like a fun game,” Cloe said, picking up another copy from the shelf.
“Izzy would love it,” he said, calculating how much money he had in his pocket and how much he had in his sock drawer at home. He quickly realized that he was about ten dollars short. He’d have to wait until next week when he got his allowance to buy it, he decided as he reluctantly put the game back.
“What about you?” Cloe asked, looking at the game.
“What about me?” he asked, looking around the large game section, hoping to find a game that he could afford for Izzy.
“Wouldn’t you like this game?” Cloe asked as she turned the game over.
He shrugged. “I don’t have time for games anymore.”
“Why not?” Cloe asked, putting the game into the hand basket that he was carrying for her.
“I just don’t,” he said, shrugging as he moved down the aisle only to stop when he’d spotted the game that he’d asked his father to reserve for him last year. He’d forgotten all about it. His fingers shifted anxiously by his sides, anxious to pick up the game and buy it, but he forced himself to look away and move on.
“That’s a shame,” Cloe said with a shrug as she picked up the game that he’d forced himself to walk away from and dropped it in the basket.
“Why’s that?” he asked, looking towards the toy section, wondering if he should just buy Jessica and the babies something to keep them occupied so that Izzy could rest when he spotted Christofer.
He didn’t know Christofer that well, but he liked him. He especially liked the way that Christofer was able to tap into his bloodlust strength without losing control, something that he was hoping the Pyte would show him how to do once he went through the change. Marc was about to turn his attention to the toy section when he realized what section Christofer was standing in.
The baby section.
He felt his stomach drop as he caught a glimpse of the expression on Christofer’s face, the same one that his brother Chris had worn after he’d found out that Izzy was pregnant the first time. He looked miserable and terrified as he picked up a pink baby blanket and stared at it as though he wasn’t quite sure what he was looking at.
“Because I was going to ask Mr. Grumpy pants over there to take us to-”
“You’re pregnant,” he blurted out, hoping that he was wrong.
Cloe sighed as she dropped another video game in the basket. “Please tell me that you didn’t scent it,” she said, cringing slightly.
“No,” he said, his stomach turning as he swallowed back bile.
This couldn’t be happening. There were already four babies at home with two more on the way. Six babies to watch over and protect was going to be hard enough, but seven? He couldn’t protect them all, Izzy and his mother. It was too much. It was-
“Hey,” Cloe said, sliding her arm around his small shoulders as she pulled him into her side, “relax, kiddo.”
“I can’t,” he said, shaking his head as he struggled to take a breath, but it wouldn’t come. He couldn’t get enough air, the store wouldn’t stop spinning and the image of Jessica’s bleeding head and the sounds of Izzy screaming in pain because of him blared in his head, growing louder and louder with each passing second until-
“Shhh, relax,” Christofer said soothingly as he suddenly found himself being held like a child in the large Pyte’s arms.
“I’m fine,” he tried to tell him, but the only thing that came out were choked sobs as he embarrassed himself by crying like some little kid.
He wasn’t a little kid. He was a man now. He had responsibilities. His little brothers, his nephew, Jessica, his mother and Izzy were all counting on him to take care of them. He shouldn’t be losing it like this. He should be manning up!
“Let it go,” Christofer said, holding him tightly.
He stubbornly shook his head, desperately trying to get himself under control. He needed to stay in control, needed to keep a level head, especially with so many people counting on him. He needed to-
“Let go,” Christofer whispered again and just like that, he did.
Chapter 55
“Please don’t tell anyone,” Marc said, looking miserable as he sat across from them, absently playing with a French fry.
“There’s nothing to tell,” Christofer said, gesturing for Marc to eat. She was glad to see him so relaxed. He’d given her quite a scare earlier when he’d lost it. She’d been about to wrap him in his arms when Christofer had swooped in and taken over. She’d been amazed at how great he’d been with Marc. No matter how hard Marc cried or shook, Christofer had been patient with him, listening to him and reassuring him that everything was going to be okay. She’d never thought of Christofer as the fatherly type, but the way he’d handled Marc had warmed her heart.
Reluctantly, Marc took a large bite out of his French fry before dipping what was left in ketchup while she sat there, trying not to pout. She missed food, real food, right now more than ever as she was forced to sit there on the hard plastic bench in the diner filled with mouthwatering scents. What she wouldn’t give for a double cheeseburger, fries and a triple chocolate milkshake with-
“Why aren’t you eating?” Marc asked her, looking curious as he shoved the rest of the fry in his mouth.
“I can’t eat food,” she explained, almost positive that he’d been told that she was a Pyte.
“Except when you’re pregnant,” Marc said with a shrug as he grabbed another fry off his plate.
“She can eat real food?” Christofer asked, resting his arm along the top of the bench behind her.
“Mmmmmhmm,” he answered around another fry. “It will help with the morning sickness, but she still needs,” he paused to look around the diner and make sure that no one was listening, “blood.”
“But I can eat?” she asked, trying not to get her hopes up.
“Yup.”
As soon as the word was out of his mouth, she stole one of his fries, shoved it in her mouth and closed her eyes, grimacing at the memory of what had happened the last time she’d tried to eat food only to moan in pleasure. It tasted so good, so damn good. She opened her eyes to steal another fry, but Christofer beat her to it by placing a fry against her lips as Marc gestured for the waitress. As she sat there, savoring fry after fry, she decided that perhaps being pregnant wasn’t going to be so bad after all.
*-*-*-*
“Kill me,” she whimpered, holding her stomach as she leaned against the tree, her eyes closed as she tried not to lose the rest of her dinner.
“We should get going before it gets any darker,” Marc said, shifting nervously by the road.
“Call your father or brother to come get you,” Christofer said, standing beside her as he rubbed her back.
“Kill. Me,” she stressed, wondering why he wasn’t putting her out of her misery.
“She needs blood,” Marc said, shifting the shopping bag that she’d asked him to carry for her to his other hand so that he could pull his ph
one out of his back pocket.
At the mention of drinking blood, her stomach rebelled. Just the thought of drinking or eating anything was too much to handle. She was starting to think that she may have overdone it a bit at the diner. She hadn’t planned on eating so much, but the moment that she’d been able to swallow that fry without wanting to puke her guts up, she’d sort of lost it.
Not that it was her fault. It wasn’t, at least not as far as she was concerned. It was Ephraim and Christofer’s since they’d convinced her that she’d never be able to wash down a juicy cheeseburger with a thick chocolate milkshake again. Once she’d discovered the loophole, an unexpected pregnancy, she’d decided to indulge herself……just a bit.
Two double cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, chicken tenders, three chocolate milkshakes, two large Pepsis, one ice cream sundae, and four different slices of pie later and she was regretting a few of her choices tonight. At the time, she’d been relieved that Christofer had been too lost in his own thoughts to comment on her dining choices, but now she really wished that he’d bitched about that second burger that was threatening to make another appearance.
“How far away is the house?” Christofer asked Marc as he rubbed her back.
“About a mile,” Marc answered as he searched through his phone for a number. “Half a mile if we go through the woods.”
“Do you know the way through the woods?” Christofer asked quietly, his hand stilling on her back as she registered an odd note to his tone.
“Why?” Marc asked, looking up from his phone the same time that she looked past Christofer towards the road, both of them spotting the large beast from her nightmares standing on its hind legs at the same time. Her heart skipped a beat as the beast turned its large, black head in their direction, its silver eyes narrowed on them as it bared its teeth.
“Because I think you’re going to need to take that shortcut through the woods,” Christofer said, keeping his eyes on the large black beast as he slowly moved forward, grabbed Marc by the back of his shirt and pulled him back just as the large beast released a howl that sent shivers down her spine.
“Run,” Christofer ordered, keeping his eyes locked on the large beast as he shoved Marc towards her.
*-*-*-*
“I can’t run,” Cloe said, bending over and clutching her stomach as the sounds of snarling grew louder.
“You have to run, Cloe,” Marc pleaded, throwing a frantic look over his shoulder as he grabbed her hand and tried to pull her to her feet, but the cramp tearing through her stomach had her pulling back and shaking her head.
“Go, Marc,” she said, licking her lips as she struggled not to lose consciousness as another cramp tore through her stomach, followed by another one and another one. “Go home and get your father,” she said, pulling her hand from his and blindly pushing him away as another cramp tore through her, dropping her to her knees with a muted cry.
“I can’t leave you!” Marc hissed, dropping to his knees beside her and putting his small arm around her, the sounds of growls and snarling surrounding them.
“You have to,” she said, forcing her eyes open, but the sharp pain shooting through her stomach had her quickly closing her eyes and trying to bite back a groan.
“I can’t leave you here!” Marc urgently whispered, the small arm around her tightened as he tried to pull her to her feet, but she wasn’t going anywhere, not with this pain ripping through her and certainly not with Christofer back at the road trying to stop that monster from finding them.
“We need help,” she said, knowing that there was no other way to get Marc to leave her. She needed him to leave, to know that he was safe. The thought of that thing getting his hands on Marc and doing to him what had been done to her brothers terrified her more than the thought of that monster finding her.
“Help is already on its way,” Marc whispered, dropping his arm from around her so that he could take her hand into his.
“How do you know?” she asked, giving his trembling hand a gentle squeeze.
“I sent the signal,” was all he said before a man’s bloodcurdling scream tore through the dense forest.
“Christofer!” she cried out as her eyes flew open.
“No!” Marc screamed, his hand tightening around hers as she tried to get to her feet. “Don’t go!”
“I have to help Christofer,” she said, ignoring the cramps playing tag in her stomach as she forced her legs to work. “He needs me.”
“I need you!” Marc cried as she pulled her hand free and took a step towards the sound of another scream. “Please, Cloe! I need you!”
She stopped, her heart pounding in her chest as that scream tore through her. She needed to go to him, to make sure that he was okay, but she couldn’t leave Marc, not when leaving him meant that she was abandoning him to the same fate that she’d endured.
She refused to make the same mistake that her mother had made.
“Let’s go,” she said, taking Marc’s hand and stumbled forward, forcing her legs to move until she soon found herself running with Marc away from the screams, hating herself more than she’d ever thought possible.
*-*-*-*
“Let’s go!” Chris yelled jumping into the back of the van behind Caine as Ephraim hit the gas.
“Where’s the signal coming from?” Caine asked, as he double-checked his weapons.
“Baby, where’s the signal coming from?” Chris asked, pressing the switch to the microphone attached to his collar.
“A hundred yards ahead and two hundred yards in the woods to the north. They’re on the move and heading towards the mansion,” Izzy answered, trying to stay calm, but he knew that she was terrified and for good reason.
Marc.
His little brother wasn’t the type to call for help unless the shit hit the fan. He’d been trained on how to protect himself, how to hide and how to get his ass to safety and wouldn’t use the Sentinel system unless it was really fucking necessary.
“I shouldn’t have fucking let them go!” his father repeated for probably the hundredth time since the signal came in two minutes ago.
“He’s fine,” Chris said, forcing himself to remain calm, knowing that if he didn’t, it could cost his brother his life.
“Christofer wouldn’t let anything happen to him,” Caine said and heaven help him, but he wanted to believe him.
“He wouldn’t,” his father agreed, sounding more like a prayer than anything.
The alarm on his phone went off, signaling another emergency call. He ripped his phone free and looked down at the screen.
“Mother fucker!” Caine snarled, voicing the thought going through his head.
“Chris, Marc’s phone just sent a second emergency call,” Izzy said over the radio, her beautiful voice cracking with fear.
“Where are they?” he asked, taking a knee by the open van door as his father sped down the road.
“They’ve stopped about two hundred yards from where you are now.”
“Send him a message that I’m on my way,” he said, grabbing the side of the van door and jumped out, hitting the pavement at a dead run.
*-*-*-*
“Where’s the bitch?”
“Don’t call her that,” Christofer growled, stumbling awkwardly as he kept his eyes on the man that not even a minute ago had been a raging beast trying to tear him apart.
He’d done a damn good job of it, he had to admit as he reached up and absently wiped blood out of his eye as his other arm hung uselessly by his side, blood dripping down his fingers to join the blood pooling by his feet. His breaths were raspy, his head filled with hazy thoughts as he struggled to stay focused. He couldn’t lose control, not now.
The man standing in front of him grinned as he looked past Christofer towards the woods. “Went for a little run in woods?” he asked, chuckling as Christofer watched with dread as all the wounds that he’d inflicted on the bastard quickly disappeared.
If he’d only stayed in his beast form
he’d be dead by now, Christofer thought in a daze, stumbling back a step as his legs threatened to buckle. He’d had the beast howling in pain, battered and broken. He’d been damaged as well, but not as badly as the werewolf lying on the ground gurgling blood. He’d been moving in for the kill when the bastard started to change, startling him. Stupidly, he’d stood there trying to make sense out of what he was seeing and by the time he’d realized that the werewolf had shifted to heal, it was too late.
“An unturned Pyte?” the shifter demanded around a growl, scenting the air as all signs of amusement left his face and his eyes flashed silver.