"I can't consume human blood anymore," she said, shifting slightly as she gestured lazily towards her mate. "I need his blood along with demon blood."

"Then I suggest you feed him," he said, his upbringing too well ingrained in him to ignore. His father believed that it was a man's responsibility to take care of the women and children in his care and he'd made d.a.m.n sure that Christofer believed that as well.

Danni's eyes flicked open and after a slight hesitation, she reached for the bagged blood with a trembling hand and a murmured, "Thank you."

"Do all females have this problem?" he asked, standing up so that he could grab another bag and toss it to her.

"No," Ephraim said with obvious difficulty as he sat up, forcing a whimpering Chris to sit up as well so that he could reach over Caine's p.r.o.ne body and pick up the other bag of blood.

Before Christofer could tell the a.s.shole to give the blood back to Danni, Ephraim dropped the bag on Caine's chest and moved to tilt Caine's head back and force his mouth open while Danni bit into the first bag and then carefully positioned the bag at her mate's mouth. The move surprised him, as did the fact that this group of misfits genuinely cared about each other. He'd never really belonged anywhere, he thought with just enough self-pity to make him shake his head with disgust as he stuck the bag in his hand to his teeth.

"Danni was turned when she was dying of cancer. Caine didn't know about the cancer, not that it would have made a difference since he didn't have enough blood on hand to kill the cancer," Chris explained for his father as he shifted, careful of his broken arm and leaned back against the tree that Kale was currently attached to. The shifter's murderous gaze was focused solely on him, so of course he had to make a big show of enjoying the last sip of blood.

"Tear. Your. f.u.c.king. Head. Off," Kale bit out, emphasizing every word with a vicious growl.

"Good luck with that," Christofer said with a chuckle, already knowing that he'd come back from that particular injury without a problem.

"You'll be putting her at risk if you try to do this on your own," Ephraim said, returning to that broken record that he just wasn't buying any more.

"The a.s.shole removed her mark," he reminded them as he toyed with the second bag in his hands, wondering what bulls.h.i.t they were going to spin for him now.

"Yes," Ephraim snapped angrily as he shifted his gaze to Kale, who was still glaring his way, "he did."

"Then she's all set," Christofer said, tossing the bag in the air as he looked over his shoulder at the deserted country road behind him, wondering just how long he had before someone showed up.

"The shifter that owned her will be looking for her, now more than ever since word has spread about a shifter's property being stolen by a Pyte," Chris explained.

"You never know, he might have lost interest over the years," Christofer said, knowing d.a.m.n well that he would never lose interest in the woman that was currently pretending to be asleep.

"The shifter didn't lose interest," Kale said, his gaze shifting to Cloe. "He'll be coming for her sooner or later."

"I see," Christofer murmured absently as he studied the bag in his hands, wondering if it would be best to move Cloe up to Canada for a while until this blew over.

"No, you really don't," Kale explained coldly. "With or without that mark, the shifter that claimed her will find her. He will move heaven and h.e.l.l to get to her and now that every f.u.c.king shifter, demon and vampire knows that a marked b.i.t.c.h was stolen, they'll be after her as well."

"Then I guess I should make sure that they don't find us," he said, having had more than enough of this bulls.h.i.t.

"Are you," Cloe cleared her throat awkwardly as she struggled to free her hands from the blankets that he'd coc.o.o.ned her in, "going to put me down anytime soon?" she asked, wrapping her arms around his shoulders with the hopes that it would help stop the jostling motion that was wreaking havoc on her stomach.

"No," Christofer said, not even bothering to spare her a glance as he jumped onto a boulder, causing her to suck in a surprised breath at the motion only to expel it with a stomach turning grunt a second later when he jumped down and continued running through the woods at a neck breaking speed.

"I'm perfectly capable of running," she pointed out, not mentioning that she could probably handle running a half mile before she was forced to take a break or pa.s.s out.

"No," he said firmly, forcing her to bite her tongue before she said something that she would regret later.

And right now she had plenty that she wanted to say and do, but she knew that if she opened her mouth right now that she would definitely regret it later. Maybe not in a day, a week, or month, or probably even in a year, but someday she would feel really bad about kicking the s.h.i.t out of his b.a.l.l.s.

Maybe.

"Can we take a break?" she asked, needing a moment to pull herself together so that she could digest what she'd learned.

"No," he said, not even sparing her a glance as he continued to run at full speed through the densely wooded forest, leaving her to cringe into herself and pull her legs in closer to her body out of fear that they would be snapped off at any second.

"Just for a minute," she suggested tightly between clenched teeth as her vision went red, from the breakneck speed or the fact that she'd just learned that the monster that had killed her family and attacked her, leaving her for dead, had marked her as his b.i.t.c.h.

Just the thought of that monster out there believing that he owned her made her sick to her stomach. It felt like she was relieving the horror of waking up in the hospital bed days later all over again when the social workers and doctors unloaded everything on her all at once. It was too much to take in and she just.....she just...

"Please put me down, Christofer," she said softly, her head spinning right along with her stomach.

"No," he said, somehow managing to pick up speed as he cut through a thick copse of trees.

She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly, so close to losing it, but fighting it every inch of the way with everything that she had. She'd cried enough tears because of the monster that had destroyed her life and she refused to shed one more tear because of him. She needed a minute, just one G.o.dd.a.m.n minute to pull herself together.

"Please," she said, putting everything that she had into that one word.

"I need to get you somewhere safe," he said harshly, but he did slow down.

"And how exactly are you planning on keeping me safe?" she asked, feeling hopeless and once again wishing that she could take her medication just so that she could stop feeling this terror and absolute dread that was slowly taking over and leaving her feeling helpless, a feeling that she hated almost as much as the knowledge that she was about to relive the worst nightmare of her life.

She was apparently being hunted down by all the monsters that humans liked to pretend were made up by some Hollywood suit looking to make a buck and she had no idea how to stop them. She didn't know anything about this world except for the things that she'd picked up in horror movies over the years. How exactly was she supposed to fight off demons, shifters and vampires all h.e.l.lbent on getting their hands on her?

It wasn't possible.

They were going to find her and do whatever they had to in order to kidnap her and then....

Then they would hand her over to the b.a.s.t.a.r.d that had killed her family. The part of her that had prayed for vengeance over the years and wished that a hundred different things had gone differently that day should be ecstatic that she was finally going to get the chance to pay the b.a.s.t.a.r.d back for everything that he'd done to her and her family, but instead she was terrified.

She was afraid of seeing that monster again, of hearing the growls, howls, grunts and the sound of her own flesh being torn apart. She was terrified of experiencing a single second of that kind of pain and terror again, but what scared her most of all, she realized, was being forced to listen as someone else that she cared about was torn apart while she was forced to watch.

She was terrified that they would hurt Christofer.

"Just put me down, Christofer," she whispered, and this time, he listened.

"What's wrong?" he asked, sounding concerned as he reluctantly, and carefully, placed her down on her bare feet.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," she said, shaking her head as if the move would give her strength as she stepped away from him.

Christofer sighed heavily as he reached for her, but she refused to let him touch her, because she knew that it would break her. She needed to do this not only for him, but for herself, because there was no doubt in her mind that watching those monsters hurt him would completely destroy her. She would rather go through that h.e.l.l by herself for eternity than to see them harm one hair on his head, because....

Because she'd done the one thing that she'd promised herself that she would never do, she realized as she struggled to take her next breath.

She'd fallen in love with the b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

Chapter 44.

"We need to get going," he said, fighting for patience that he didn't have as he looked up and noted that the sun was setting.

They needed to move their a.s.ses and put as much s.p.a.ce between them and the p.i.s.sed off group that he'd left chained up as they could before morning. Sooner or later that ragtag group was going to get loose and when they did, they were going to call for reinforcement and weapons. He'd already taken them by surprise once and he doubted that he'd get a second chance.

This time when they came after them, he doubted they'd bother wasting their breath trying to convince them to agree to their bulls.h.i.t plan. They'd probably just shoot them, chain them up and drag them off somewhere where they wouldn't have a chance in h.e.l.l of escaping. He couldn't let that happen.

They had enough s.h.i.t on their plates at the moment without having to worry about this group h.e.l.lbent on "helping" them. He needed to get Cloe somewhere safe and fast. He needed to- "Get out of here, Christofer," Cloe said, folding her arms over the blanket wrapped around her chest as she backed away from him and turned her back on him.

"That's what I'm trying to do," he pointed out as he reached for her only to have her dart out of his reach and leave him standing there, flexing his hands with the urge to grab her and spank her beautiful a.s.s.

"No," she said, shaking her head and causing her tangled locks to sway with the movement, "I don't think you understand."

"Then make me understand," he said through gritted teeth, forcing himself to stand there when they should be moving their a.s.ses.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," she said, her spine rigid as she walked away from him. He watched as she stopped by a large oak tree and leaned against it, keeping her back to him as she picked up a leaf and played with it.

"Oh?" he said in a deceptively calm tone as he walked over to where she stood and leaned against the tree next to her. Grinding his jaw, he focused all his attention on the foliage that she apparently found fascinating. "And why is that?"

"It's time to move on," she said, sounding bored and a little irritated at having to explain this to him.

"From what exactly?" he asked, reaching down and grabbing a leaf of his own to toy with.

"From everything," she said with a heavy sigh.

He chuckled without humor as the real meaning of her words sank in. "You mean from me."

"Yes," she said after the slightest hesitation as though she was trying to spare his feelings. He appreciated the sentiment, he really did, but he knew that she was lying her beautiful a.s.s off.

If her scent hadn't clued him in to what she was really up to, then the fact that he'd tried the same bulls.h.i.t with Marta after their escape definitely did. When they'd reached England he'd tried to leave her at an orphanage, telling her that it was for the best. When that hadn't worked, he'd told her that he was sick of her and that he didn't want to be tied down with a little kid.

Marta had listened with her little arms folded over her chest. When he'd finished lying his a.s.s off she'd nodded, picked up a stick that she'd found on the ground and proceeded to chase him around the dimly lit street cursing him out as she left welts on his arms, back and legs until he'd finally had enough. He'd promised never to try to leave her again, threw the stick away and gave her a swat on the bottom for hitting before he'd thrown her over his shoulder and carried her away from the orphanage.

"So, this is your way of telling me that you're not interested?" he asked, biting back a pleased smile, because he'd seen this little scenario play out a hundred different times in those corny made-for-TV movies that Marta used to make him watch. G.o.d, how he'd hated those d.a.m.n movies, but Marta had always insisted on making him watch them with her. Most of them shared the same plot, the same one that Cloe was currently trying to feed him.

She wanted to push him away, probably for his own good and while he appreciated the concern, he wasn't going anywhere. Especially now that he knew that she cared for him.

"I don't do relationships, Christofer. I'm sorry if you thought this was leading somewhere," she said, absently staring off as her fingers continued to toy with the leaf in her hands.

"I see," he said, letting the pieces of leaf fall from his hand before he grabbed another leaf and began toying with it while he enjoyed himself.

"Good," she said, nodding slowly as she looked off.

Biting back a smile, he sighed heavily. "I understand."

"Good," she murmured after a slight hesitation and a nod. "That's good."

"Well," he said, absently scratching his chest as dropped the leaf and pushed away from the tree. "I guess that's it then," he said with a shrug as he walked away.

She absently nodded as his words registered and when they did...

"Wait, what?" she asked as he walked away. "What do you mean that's it?" she demanded, annoyed and more than a little confused that he could walk away so easily after everything that they'd gone through. She hadn't expected or wanted begging, but a word or two to try to convince her to reconsider would have been appreciated. Her anger had her walking after him.

With every step that she took over the rock and twig laden ground, her annoyance and confusion morphed into irritation and anger. While she'd been trying to send him away as gently as possible to keep him safe because she loved him, he'd taken her words as an excuse to ditch her a.s.s.

"I appreciate you letting me down gently," he said with a shrug and a barely-there glance over his shoulder as he continued to walk away.

"Yeah, I can tell," she said dryly, wincing when a twig snapped beneath her foot and bit into her skin.

He pointed to his right. "If you're looking for the main road, you'll want to head that way."

"And where are you going?" she demanded, rushing to catch up with him, but just as soon as she did, his long strides quickly put s.p.a.ce between them once again.

"Oh, I don't know," he mused as she struggled to catch up with him again, tempted to kick his a.s.s as another twig broke beneath her foot. "I was thinking that it might be time to take a vacation."

"A vacation?" she repeated back, sure that she'd misheard him.

"Yeah," he said, letting out a sigh as he reached back and rubbed his neck, "I could really use a vacation. Somewhere tropical."

"A tropical vacation," she repeated back suspiciously as a thought occurred to her.

Christofer would never abandon a woman that needed him. His sense of duty was too well ingrained too ignore. He'd move heaven and h.e.l.l to take care of a woman that he felt responsible for and she knew d.a.m.n well that he felt responsible for her. It wasn't flattering to be considered a responsibility, but to him, she was one. He would never just walk away like this, not this easily and certainly not to go on a vacation, which meant.......

The b.a.s.t.a.r.d was toying with her.

She hitched her blanket up higher, narrowed her eyes on the b.a.s.t.a.r.d and quickened her pace until she'd caught up with him and then she kept going, deciding that she had way too much s.h.i.t on her mind to play this game. If he wanted to be an a.s.shole then that was more than fine with her. Here she was trying to give him an out to keep him safe and he was toying with her? Seriously?

Oh, he could go f.u.c.k him- "In a rush to get away from me, mein Schatz?" the b.a.s.t.a.r.d asked teasingly as he easily caught up with her.

"f.u.c.k off, a.s.shole," she snapped, quickening her pace yet again, but it was pointless since the b.a.s.t.a.r.d's long legs made it easy for him to keep up with her.

"Ouch," he said with a mock wince, further p.i.s.sing her off. "What happened to the gentle let down?"

"It went on vacation!" she snapped, wondering how she'd ended up falling in love with the big jerk.

Out of all the men that she'd known in her life she had to fall for the one that drove her insane and p.i.s.sed her off. Then again, this could just be a side effect of Stockholm syndrome, which at this point she was ninety-nine percent positive that she was suffering from. How else could she explain the fact that she hadn't kicked his a.s.s yet? Not only that, but she'd actually slept with him!

G.o.d, she was pathetic.

Maybe the b.a.s.t.a.r.d was onto something with his asinine vacation plans. Since she apparently had some deranged shifter, leagues of vampires, demons and shifters after her, she might as well go away and hide out on some tropical island until this whole thing blew over. She'd never been on a real vacation before. At least, she hadn't been on one since she was a kid.

There sure as h.e.l.l wasn't anything stopping her from going now. She had plenty of money in the bank, no responsibilities, and no job to worry about. Granted, she'd been saving her money to buy a house when she'd finally had enough of the life of a live-in nurse, but since that was obviously never going to happen...

Why not?