"This cooler is still cold," Cloe said, dragging the large cooler over to him. He opened his mouth to tell her that she could probably lift that thing with one hand, but decided against it since it would probably lead to more of her "experimenting."

He shifted his attention from his mate's long, tanned legs to Caine. "Think you can get her to eat if I flip her over?"

"Yes," Caine answered hoa.r.s.ely, reluctantly releasing his mate's hand.

Within seconds, he had the growling, snarling woman on her back, her hands pinned to her stomach with one arm and was reaching with the other for Ephraim's chain, deciding that an extra set of hands couldn't hurt. With a flick of his fingers he broke the chain. Ephraim didn't waste any time. He moved until he was sitting behind Danni and then just as quickly, propped the p.i.s.sed off woman's head on his lap so that Caine could feed her. He watched as the Pyte bit into his wrist and placed it against Danni's mouth as he released her hand so that he could stick a bag of blood against his teeth.

"How did you do that?" Ephraim asked, looking truly confused.

He opened his mouth to answer, but he never got the chance as Kale made an announcement that he fully supported.

"I'm a f.u.c.king idiot," the shifter said with a humorless chuckle. "He's ion."

"He's what?" Chris asked, cringing in pain as he shifted his bleeding arm against his chest.

"He's a pure Pyte," Kale said as though that made any sense to them.

"What the h.e.l.l are you saying?" Christofer demanded, looking up from the struggling woman.

"He's saying," Ephraim said, drawing his attention to find the other Pyte looking at him curiously, "that your father is really f.u.c.king old."

Chapter 49.

Williams' Mansion "Chris!"

The excited squeal drew Cloe's attention to a short woman standing at the top of the grand staircase with beautiful long blonde hair, a huge smile and an even bigger stomach. When the woman took an unsteady step down, Chris and Ephraim tried to go to her, but since Ephraim was still supporting most of Chris' weight, he'd barely stumbled two feet before Kale shoved past him and raced up the stairs to stop her from taking another step.

She watched as Kale swooped the smiling woman off her feet and proceeded to carry her down the stairs. About halfway down the stairs her smile faltered and her expression of pure joy quickly turned to dread.

"Ummm, maybe you should bring me back upstairs?" the woman suggested, keeping her eyes locked on the foyer as she nudged Kale several times to turn around.

"Don't you want to see your mate?" Kale asked, his tone mocking as he glared down at the woman in his arms.

"Ummm no, that's okay," she said, licking her lips anxiously as she shot another nervous look down at the foyer where they all waited.

Curious, Cloe followed the other woman's gaze and found herself taking a step closer to Christofer and thanking G.o.d that the murderous look on Chris' face wasn't directed at her. Since the woman wasn't screaming for help, Cloe stayed where she was, watching the scene unfold with morbid curiosity.

"You haven't seen him in two weeks, no doubt you're eager for a reunion," Kale said casually as he walked down the stairs, bringing the panic stricken woman closer and closer to her doom. Cloe listened as the woman's heartbeat quickened with every pa.s.sing second.

"I'm more tired than anything," the woman said, adding a really loud, and really fake yawn at the end that for some reason, she couldn't explain, had Cloe biting back a smile.

"You can take a nap afterwards," Kale said, taking that final step down.

"But I would really like one now," the woman insisted, swallowing nervously as she grabbed onto Kale's shirt and held on.

"And I would really like to know why you were trying to use the stairs," Chris said, pushing away from his father to go to the woman that Cloe was a.s.suming was his wife or mate, or whatever the h.e.l.l they called each other.

"Ummm," the anxious woman said, obviously searching for the right words as she gave Chris a tentative smile, "because it was the quickest way to run into your arms?"

"You're supposed to use the elevator," Chris growled, reaching out and taking one of her hands away from Kale's shirt so that he could press a tender kiss against her palm before he entwined their fingers.

"But I really missed you," she said with a sniffle.

Chris muttered something as he leaned in, ignoring the shifter's scowl and kissed her. "Little liar," he said, chuckling as he shifted his backpack forward and carefully reached in with his still-healing arm and withdrew a small white confectioners box.

The woman gasped. "Is that-"

Chris cut her off with a frown. "It's empty."

Immediately her gaze shifted to Kale, who merely shrugged as he moved forward and handed her off to Ephraim. "Didn't see your name on it," he said, turning away and heading back up the stairs.

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" she hissed in outrage.

"I'll have more fudge delivered, Izzy," Chris promised, stuffing the empty box back in the bag as leaned over and pressed a kiss to her pouting lips.

"It won't be the same," she muttered with a slight wince as she shifted in Ephraim's arms.

"Hip acting up?" Chris asked, his expression and tone tender as he carefully laid his hand just above her left hip.

"It's fine," Izzy mumbled, not quite meeting Chris' gaze and making the nurse in Cloe wonder just how bad her hip was.

"Izzy," Caine said softly as he stepped up beside the small group with Danni in his arms, who was looking paler and weaker than before, "did they deliver Danni's blood?"

"I'm fine," Danni muttered weakly as she lay limply in Caine's arms.

"Blood was delivered this morning. I'm not sure about the demon blood though," Izzy said, her expression full of worry as she looked at Danni.

"What's the demon blood for?" Cloe found herself asking without thinking and just like that, everyone's attention was back on them.

Well, it had been nice while it lasted, she mused with an inward sigh. For the past six hours their little "rescue" group had been eying them curiously, except for Kale that is. If anything, Kale seemed to hate them even more now. She still wasn't sure why. She also didn't know why they kept looking at her and Christofer like they had two heads. Christofer on the other hand hadn't seemed at all interested or looked like he cared. Once they'd told him the truth about his father, he'd shut down and hadn't talked to anyone since.

Not even her.

When she'd tried to talk to him, he'd simply shook his head and turned his back on her. If it had been anyone else, she wouldn't have cared, but it wasn't anyone else and she did care, a lot more than she wanted to. As she'd watched him walk away she'd felt like he was taking a chunk of her heart along with him. It hurt more than anything she'd ever experienced before, more than she'd ever imagined it could, but it hadn't hurt for long.

Not even a minute later, Christofer cursed, turned right back around and stalked back to her. Before she could rail at him for brushing her off, he'd had her in his arms and was giving her the sweetest kiss as he whispered to her how sorry he was. Much to her shame, she'd melted, instantly forgiving him. She'd never given a guy that p.i.s.sed her off or hurt her in any way a second chance before, but with him, she hadn't hesitated for a second before she was wrapping her arms around him and letting him know that everything was going to be fine.

However, she did make him carry her on his back during that ten-mile hike to the next town as punishment. He hadn't said another word since and she hadn't pushed him for anything and neither had anyone else. They seemed to understand that he was dealing with some personal issues and had left him alone for the most part. The only time they'd bothered him was to make sure that coming with them was what he wanted. Other than a nod, he hadn't acknowledged them at all.

Now, thanks to her big mouth, they were once again the focus of attention and judging by the way that Christofer had stilled behind her, he wasn't happy about it.

"You must be Cloe," Izzy said with a sweet smile. "I'm Izzy, Chris' mate."

"And the biggest sugar addict that you'll ever meet," Ephraim said with a fond smile as he looked down at the small woman in his arms.

"It's nice to meet you," she said quickly, barely paying attention to the woman as her attention locked back on Danni, who was now gripping Caine's shirt tightly as she buried her face against his chest. "Do you want me to take a look at her?" she asked, moving forward.

Caine arms tightened around Danni as he glanced at Ephraim, who explained, "She's a nurse."

"Nurse pract.i.tioner, actually," at Ephraim's confused expression she added, "I work at the RN level so that I can work as a live-in," with a shrug as she moved forward, but she'd barely taken two steps before she found herself shoved back behind Christofer.

"She's not going anywhere near her," Christofer growled, and wasn't that sweet? He was worried about her.

It really was nice to have someone care about her safety, she thought as she stepped past him, pinching the back of his hand when he went to grab her again. "Ow!"

"I'm fine," Danni said, looking anything but fine. "I just need to lie down for a bit that's all."

"Are you sure?" Cloe asked hesitantly, not entirely sure that she should take no for an answer, but after a minute she reminded herself that this wasn't one of her patients. If they wanted her help, they'd ask.

"I'm sure," Danni mumbled sleepily as she closed her eyes.

"I'm going to take her upstairs," Caine said softly, pressing a kiss against the tip of Danni's nose, which earned him a tired smile from his mate as he carried her up the stairs.

"Are you mates?" Izzy suddenly asked, startling her.

"I'm sorry, what?" she asked, not a hundred percent sure that she'd heard correctly or even how to respond.

Izzy frowned, looking adorably confused as she asked, "You're mated, right?"

When Cloe didn't answer right away, because she couldn't seem to find the right words, Izzy quickly explained, "It's just that there are children in the house and we don't want them to get the wrong idea. If you're not mated, then I planned to set you both up in different rooms. If you are-"

"We're mated," she blurted out before Izzy had the chance to suggest that they stay in separate rooms.

She didn't know anyone here, didn't trust anyone and until she- Okay, fine. She just didn't want to be away from Christofer. She'd grown addicted to sleeping in his arms over the past week and she wasn't ready to give that up yet. She felt safe in his arms. Besides, if she was going to end up getting her heart broken she should at least be able to enjoy herself before she ended up hating him.

Chapter 50.

Demon.

His father was a f.u.c.king demon, he thought with a bitter laugh at the irony as he dropped his head forward, allowing the hot water to rain down on him.

Of all the rumors that he'd heard over the years, it figured that the one that he'd never believed would turn out to be the truth. His father was a demon, one of the first that Satan supposedly set loose on earth in an attempt to gain the upper hand in this f.u.c.ked up game he played against G.o.d. He didn't want to believe it, would give anything for it not to be true and as Ephraim had delivered the bad news to him, he'd known that there was no denying it.

He truly was a monster among monsters.

"Are you okay?" Cloe asked, pressing a kiss against his back as her arms wrapped around him.

"Yes," he said automatically, the habit well ingrained in him after too many years of trying to protect Marta from his personal bulls.h.i.t.

"Liar," Cloe said, chuckling as she pressed another kiss against his back.

Lips twitching in amus.e.m.e.nt despite the fact that he felt like putting his fist through a wall, he placed one of his hands over hers where it laid against his stomach. "I'll be fine," he promised, wondering how it was possible for one woman to bring him so much peace.

"That's better," she said, turning her head so that she could rest her cheek against his back as she held him.

"How are you holding up?" he asked, wondering how she was taking the news.

"Oh," she said, wrapping her fingers around his hand as she allowed her other hand to trail over his stomach, "I think I'll be okay."

"Even after what Ephraim just told us?" he asked, not really sure that he would be.

"You mean that you're really part demon?" she asked in a seductively teasing tone as she trailed her fingers down his stomach until she was tracing the trail of hair that led from his navel to his groin with the tip of her finger and making it d.a.m.n near impossible to stay focused on anything other than just how good it would feel if she would lower her hand and wrap it around- A loud groan escaped him as she did just that. He licked his lips as he watched her stroke his hardening c.o.c.k. The sight of her running her hand over his c.o.c.k was enough to have his b.a.l.l.s pull up tight, greedy for her touch.

"You done pouting now?" she asked, giving his c.o.c.k a hard pull.

"Yes," he growled, finding it difficult to care about anything, even his f.u.c.ked up existence, when he had the woman he loved stroking his c.o.c.k.

"It doesn't change anything, Christofer," she said, punctuating her words with another kiss to his back.

"It changes everything," he told her, slapping his hands against the tiled wall when he felt his legs begin to tremble.

"And how exactly does it change anything?"

"It-"

"-doesn't change anything," she finished for him, giving the head of his c.o.c.k a squeeze that had him moaning. "But.......," she said, letting her words trail off as she suddenly dropped his c.o.c.k and stepped away, taking her warmth and his peace away. "If you would rather pout, I could-"

Her words ended on a pleased sigh as she suddenly found herself in his arms. "I'm done pouting," he promised, leaning down to kiss her.

"Are you sure?" she asked against his lips.

"Yes," he swore, willing to promise her anything as long she stayed in his arms.

"Then you're willing to give this a try?" she asked, pulling back just far enough so that she could meet his gaze as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Will it make you happy?" he asked, because he refused to argue with her and risk making her unhappy.

He'd done that with Marta, taking her from place to place, constantly on the run, always looking over his shoulder, terrified that if they didn't run fast enough, far enough that he'd fail her, but in the end, he'd failed her anyway. Too many years on the run had drained Marta and he couldn't stomach the idea of doing that to Cloe. He should have listened to Marta the first time she'd asked him to stop running. It was a mistake that he was going to have to live with for the rest of his too long life, and one that he had no plans of repeating.

If Cloe needed to stay in order to feel safe, then that's what they would do, because there was nothing on this earth that he wouldn't do for her.

G.o.d, help him if she ever figured that out.

One week later.....