f.u.c.king traitors, he thought once again with disgust.

"They were brought in by a team from upstate. The shifters in the compound scented them before they'd stepped foot inside."

"Them?" he asked, his mind locking in on that one word.

Thomas sighed, not looking at all happy about answering his questions. Not that he had a choice. Aidan's marked property had been taken into his territory and as Alpha of the controlling Pack, it was his duty to get Aidan's property back no matter the cost. The Alpha wasn't happy about it and no doubt would love nothing more than to separate Aidan's head from his body, but as long as his property was in this territory, he was untouchable.

"A group made up of Sentinels, shifters and Pytes delivered them to the compound," Thomas said, sounding p.i.s.sed with himself for answering.

His brows shot up with surprise. "More Pytes?"

"Apparently the Sentinels have several working for them," Thomas said, shifting his attention to a stack of files on the long boardroom table that took up more than half the room.

"Interesting," he murmured, as he considered trying to grab more than one, but after only a few seconds he decided against it.

He only needed one for what he had planned. Besides, there was no way that his Pack would be able to capture more than one Pyte. At least, not yet. Maybe in a few months, if his plans worked, he'd be able to work a few more Pytes into his plan. If not, he'd just have to make sure that he found a way to take them out permanently.

"The last we'd heard, they were being held on the secure floor before they broke free. The male lost it to bloodl.u.s.t and they had to bring Kale Quinn in to handle the situation," Thomas recited absently as he looked over a file.

Aidan couldn't quite hide his surprise. "Kale Quinn is helping the Sentinels?" he asked, sure that he'd misheard.

Kale Quinn might be a mutt, but last he knew, the Alpha wasn't a traitor. He was a ruthless piece of s.h.i.t that would f.u.c.k over his own kind for a buck however.

Thomas nodded as he picked up the file and gestured for the man standing across from him to take it. "He's been doing freelance work for the Council."

"I see," Aidan said, mentally adding the traitor to his list.

He normally didn't bother dealing with traitors, but for Kale Quinn, he would make an exception. The man was too powerful, if all the rumors were to believed, to be allowed to work with the enemy. But, it was going to have to be dealt with another day, because right now he had other things that needed to be handled.

"Where is she now?" he asked, making sure not to give away his interest in the male.

"The last anyone saw of her, she was being transferred back to the secured floor with extra security," Thomas explained, his attention back on the large pile of folders in front of him, but there was something in the way that he'd shifted ever so slightly that told him that there was something the Alpha wasn't telling him.

"And?" Aidan said softly, because he didn't need to yell, the threat was clear.

He watched as the man shifting through files stilled. There was a heartbeat of charged silence before Thomas sighed, dropped the file he'd picked up and turned around to face him.

"They removed your mark," Thomas growled, his eyes shifting silver as he snarled the last word.

"That's impossible," he snarled back, because he'd made d.a.m.n sure when he'd marked her that no one and nothing could remove it.

She was his.

Thomas' disgusted expression shifted to downright smug as he announced, "It's very possible, especially since a Pyte made her his mate."

He felt his stomach drop as his heart skipped a beat, knowing what the Alpha just announced was impossible.

"She's mine!" he snarled viciously.

The other man didn't cower or cringe as he gestured for him to get his a.s.s out of his building. "Her mate may have a thing or two to say about that and now that I've done my duty, you can get the f.u.c.k out of my offices and go handle this bulls.h.i.t on your own, you sick f.u.c.k."

"You owe me aid in recovering my property!" he snarled, his rage keeping his feet locked in place.

"No," Thomas said coolly with a shake of his head as he turned his back on him and returned his attention back to his files, "I owed you information and now you've got it."

"I want my property back!"

"Then I suggest you think of something quickly before the vampires get their hands on her, because from what I've heard, they just put out a reward for her...........and her mate."

Chapter 48.

"Shut. The. f.u.c.k. Up," Kale snarled, clearly unhappy with Chris' choice of entertainment to pa.s.s the time.

Chris sighed dramatically. "I've lost my place," he said with a shake of his head. "I guess there's nothing to do but to start over again." He pointedly cleared his throat, preparing himself for another round of "A thousand bottles of beer on the wall," but before he had the chance to utter another syllable of torture, Ephraim was slapping a hand over his son's mouth and ending his son's reign of terror.

"Thank f.u.c.king G.o.d," Caine said weakly from where he sat with Danni curled up in his arms and somehow fast asleep.

Ephraim wasn't sure how she'd managed to block out Chris' bulls.h.i.t, but he had to admit, he was impressed. Over the last couple of hours he'd been forced to remind himself that he loved his son and would regret killing him, but a few times he found himself reaching out to strangle the little b.a.s.t.a.r.d. While his son normally loved nothing more than to aggravate the s.h.i.t out of the shifter straining against his chains so that he could wrap his hands around Chris' throat, he'd gone overboard this time.

Then again, Chris hated being restrained almost as much as he did, but what made matters worse was the fact that Chris couldn't get to his mate. He could tolerate being away from her for a few days only because he knew that he could drop everything and go to her or at the very least, call her. This time, there was nothing. He hadn't spoken to his mate in over twenty-four hours and it was killing him.

So, of course he was taking it out on the rest of them.

"Is anyone else here curious how one Pyte not only managed to take us all by surprise, but also survived the car crash without so much as a scratch and managed to chain us all up together like ragdolls?" Danni asked from the safety of her mate's arms as she continued to lie there with her eyes closed.

He shared a look with Caine. Oh, they were more than a little curious and judging by the way that Kale's eyes went all silver at the reminder of his recent a.s.s whooping, he was also curious.

"I'd love to know how he did it, especially just coming out of bloodl.u.s.t," Chris said against Ephraim's hand.

"You and me both," he muttered, dropping his hand away from Chris' mouth even as he shot his son a warning glare not to start the bulls.h.i.t back up again.

"She didn't have a mark on her either," Caine added, looking thoughtful.

"That's because he wrapped his body around her and protected her," Chris pointed out, wincing as he shifted his broken arm. It was already halfway healed, but the process hurt like h.e.l.l. Not that Chris would let anyone know just how much pain he was in. He hated being fussed over by anyone but his mate.

"He didn't grab her until after the van had already rolled over once," Kale said, looking equally thoughtful. "She should have had a few bruises or cuts from that crash, but she didn't. Not a single one."

"She was wrapped up in a blanket so for all you know, she could have had a few injuries," Chris said, giving up on trying to sit up and just laid there, staring up at the early morning sky.

Caine shook his head right along with him as he answered, "We would have smelled the blood pooling beneath her skin. She wasn't injured."

"Now that I think of it," Caine said, looking a little confused, "her back healed a h.e.l.l of a lot faster than it should have."

"That's because we kept a line down her throat, pumping blood inside her the whole time," Chris added, but the expression on his face told him that even he realized that she'd healed a little too fast.

"The cut on her hand didn't heal quickly," Danni pointed out, reminding them of Ephraim's f.u.c.k up.

"No, it didn't," Ephraim said, frowning as he tried to make sense of everything.

"But she also didn't slip into bloodl.u.s.t," Kale announced, drawing everyone's attention.

"How do you know?" Caine asked before Ephraim or anyone else for that matter, got the chance.

"Because I slipped back up to their floor and listened," Kale admitted with a careless shrug.

"He probably fed her," Danni pointed out around a yawn as she settled more deeply in her mate's arms.

"Not for a few hours," Kale said, leveling a pointed look on Ephraim, making sure that he got the message.

He definitely got it.

There was something different about Christofer's blood, something that allowed the woman he'd turned to put off bloodl.u.s.t a h.e.l.l of a lot longer than she should have been able to after being freshly turned and losing blood. If what Kale said was true, and he had no reason not to believe it, something had changed since the last time that they saw the couple and when they returned for them and he had a feeling he knew what that something was.

"He's fed her his blood," Caine murmured, a pained expression on his face as he looked down at Danni, who was looking worse as the morning progressed.

"Maybe he's part demon," Chris suggested, raising his broken arm and resting it across his stomach, taking Ephraim's arm right along with it. The bones had fused back together so that the arm was no longer hanging at an odd angle, but it was still broken. He could smell the marrow slowly seeping out.

Kale shook his head as he pulled his leg up, which of course dragged Chris' good arm up along with it since it was handcuffed to the shifter's ankle. "We would have smelled demon blood on him."

"Then-"

"Oh my G.o.d!" a woman's shriek drew their attention to a man and woman stumbling out of the woods to their left.

"What the h.e.l.l happened?" the man, who appeared to be around fifty, demanded as he pushed past the gawking woman and rushed over to help them.

"Oh, this?" Chris asked, all innocence as he raised his head to give the man his most charming smile. "Just a simple misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding?" the man repeated back, sounding horrified as he looked at what was left of the van.

"What should I do, Alfie?" the woman asked, shifting nervously where she stood, gawking at them.

"Call 911," Alfie said, moving to help them, but came up short when he saw that they were all handcuffed to one another. "Why are you handcuffed?"

"Our friend has a sick sense of humor," Chris claimed with a straight face as the rest of them were forced to look away so that the couple didn't see them all roll their eyes.

Ephraim would have said something, but since the scent of the human blood had caused a rather unpleasant reaction, he decided, along with Caine and Danni as it turned out, that it was probably for the best if they just went ahead and pretended to pa.s.s out while Chris used a mixture of charm and bulls.h.i.t to get them out of this without the humans finding out that they'd stumbled upon a group of ravenous Pytes and an a.s.shole.

"She bit me!"

"Great," he sighed, wondering why he'd let Cloe talk him into this.

Oh, that's right, because she'd woken him up just in time for him to watch as his c.o.c.k disappeared inside her tight p.u.s.s.y and had taken advantage of his distracted state. While he'd been sleeping, she'd been thinking, and at some point she'd come to the conclusion that they needed this group's help.

When he'd pointed out that he could d.a.m.n well take care of her and that he didn't need any help, Cloe had given him what he could only describe as evil smile as she ground down on him, shifting her hips in a circular motion that had made it impossible for him to talk, never mind argue. So, now he was here, hauling a.s.s through the woods and trying to figure out the best way to accept their offer without having to grovel.

Or apologize.

"Call the police, Mary!" a guy screamed just as Christofer picked up the scent of freshly spilled human blood.

"I can't!" a woman, whom he was guessing was Mary, screamed. "I don't have a signal!"

"Run!" Ephraim roared just as Christofer stepped out of the woods and into the small clearing by the road.

Yup, he definitely regretted leaving Danni's hand free, he mused as he reached out and grabbed Cloe by the arm to steady her as she stumbled out of the woods.

"Thanks," Cloe murmured absently, her attention on the large pair of boxers that she was once again forced to yank up or risk giving little woodland creatures a show. Once she had the boxers yanked up and the large tee shirt that he'd given her pulled down, she looked up and frowned.

"What.....," she paused to lick her lips and give her head a little shake as though that would somehow help her make sense of the scene before them, "Why is Danni playing tug of war with that man?"

"Because she apparently went into bloodl.u.s.t," he said, sighing heavily as he watched Danni try to drag the human male kicking and screaming back while Caine tried to pull her away. The fact that his left arm was cuffed to her and his right arm was cuffed to Ephraim, who had positioned himself in front of Chris, was making things a bit awkward.

"That's what I look like when I go into bloodl.u.s.t?" Cloe asked with a frown as she watched Danni trying to drag the human back with one hand, but from the looks of things, the human was winning.

"No," he said, pausing to press a small kiss against her lips before he headed over to the group screaming for Danni to let go, "you would have torn that poor b.a.s.t.a.r.d apart by now."

"Well, that's comforting," Cloe said dryly as she followed after him.

"I'm sure it is," he returned as he walked around the group struggling to get Danni under control and protect Chris. Without pausing, he grabbed the screaming male by the arm, yanked him out of Danni's grip and dragged him over to the screaming female by the woods.

"Go," he simply said as he released his hold on the male and sent the couple running for their lives.

"Oh, s.h.i.t!" Chris yelped, dragging his attention back to the group and to the woman now trying to climb over her mate and Ephraim to get to Chris, who was now pressed back against the pain in the a.s.s shifter. Kale struggled against his chains as he yelled at Danni to stop.

That was interesting....

But something that he was going to have to worry about at another time since Cloe had taken it upon herself to help out. With a muttered curse, he walked over to the group, grabbed Cloe just as Danni snarled a warning to get the h.e.l.l out of her way. With a sigh, he threw Cloe over his shoulder and carried her over to the van and put her down with another swift kiss, simply because he couldn't help himself.

"See if any of the blood is still cold," he said abruptly as he turned to- "Mother f.u.c.ker!" Chris shouted as Danni somehow managed to squirm her way between Ephraim and Caine and sank her teeth in Chris' broken arm.

Sighing, he walked back to the group, leaned over Chris and pinched Danni's nose closed. He ignored everything around him and just focused on the stubborn woman refusing to release her hold on the Sentinel reciting every swear imaginable. Shimmering red eyes shifted to him and narrowed as she released what she probably thought was a vicious growl, but really, it was just too d.a.m.n cute to be taken seriously.

She didn't need air to live, but without it, swallowing that sweet blood that was now permeating the air became d.a.m.n near impossible. It took her a good minute to realize that she had to let go and when she did, he was ready. With a snarl, she released her hold on Chris and went for him. Before anyone could react, he had her on her stomach and was pinning her down with his knee.

"Don't f.u.c.king hurt her!" Caine roared, reaching for him, but Ephraim grabbed him by the arm and held him back before he could do anything to make Christofer lose his hold on Danni.

"Relax," he said to no one in particular as he reached down, grabbed Danni and Caine by their wrists and yanked, breaking the small chain connecting their handcuffs. As soon as her hand was free she began thrashing beneath him, desperate to get free, desperate for blood.

"Any of that blood cold, mein Schatz?" he asked, keeping just enough pressure on Danni's back to keep her down.

She really was a weak little thing, he thought with a frown as he reached over and broke Caine's other cuff, deciding that it would probably keep the other man from going into bloodl.u.s.t if he could hold his mate. The second that Caine's chain broke he was by Danni's side, holding her hand and calmly promising to put her over his knee and spanking her a.s.s until it was black and blue for scaring the s.h.i.t out of him.