His first instinct had been to grab Cloe and get her the h.e.l.l out of here, but then he'd caught Marc's fear and he knew that there would be no more running. Not for him. Leaving wouldn't change anything, they'd still be hunted and the Williams would still be in danger because they'd led the piece of s.h.i.t to them. He needed to take care of this problem before it got any worse.

He started to head for the bedroom door, but the sound of the other men waiting in the hallway for him had him turning around and heading for the window. With one last look at Cloe, he opened the window, climbed out and dropped, landing on the ground forty feet below with a soft whoosh. He started to walk away when Chris stepped out from behind a tree with CJ in his arms, greedily suckling on a bottle.

"Going somewhere?" Chris drawled as he leaned down and kissed the tip of CJ's nose, earning a cute little giggle from the smiling baby.

Christofer stared at the little boy in Chris' arms as he nodded, more determined than ever to put an end to this nightmare. "I'll be back as soon as I can," he said, moving to walk away when Ephraim and Caine stepped in front of him, looking oddly determined.

"Do you really think that going off on your own to take care of this piece of s.h.i.t is going to change anything?" Ephraim asked, getting in his face.

"It will put an end to this," he bit out, moving to step past him only to have Caine move in front of him, cutting him off.

"It will start a war," Caine promised.

"According to you, we're already at war," Christofer pointed out, in no mood for more of this bulls.h.i.t, not with that piece of s.h.i.t somewhere out there, still breathing.

"Yes, we are," Ephraim agreed firmly. "But if you go back there now and kill him, you will be starting another war, one where every shifter on earth will be honor-bound to hunt you and your family for eternity. They will go after your children, do unspeakable things to your mate, all because of some f.u.c.ked up code that more than half of them disagree with."

"Every shifter will turn its back on us, demons will follow and soon the Sentinels will lose every ally that they have, turning this war into a ma.s.sacre," Caine added.

"But before that happens, they'll wipe out that little town that you came from, attack the Sentinel compound that we hid you in and then come here and to punish everyone that you've ever known and make sure that you don't have any allies left," Chris said, drawing his attention back to that baby in his arms.

He didn't give a flying f.u.c.k about anyone in their old town, but Marta had. She'd had many friends there, had loved that little town and would be devastated to find out that the only home that she'd ever known was destroyed. As for the rest of it, he couldn't stomach the idea of putting women and children in harm's way and they must have known that, which would explain why Chris was out here with CJ in his arms while they did their best to convince him to sit back like some coward and let the piece of s.h.i.t that had ruined Cloe's life live.

"What are you suggesting?" he bit out, turning his attention back to Ephraim and Caine. "That we sit on our a.s.ses and wait for them? I've made that mistake before," he said, shaking his head as memories of the SS storming his childhood home replayed in his mind. "I won't make it again."

"We're not suggesting that," Caine said.

"Then what exactly are you suggesting?" he demanded again.

"We're not about to let anyone attack our home or hurt anyone in our family, Christofer, and that includes you and Cloe, but we can't do anything until he makes the first move," Ephraim started to explain.

"They attacked today!" he snarled, getting in the other man's face, but Ephraim didn't back down.

"That was just a shifter trying to gain leverage over whoever marked her, nothing more," Caine said, shaking his head as though the attempted attack today was no big deal when it had left him scared out of his mind.

"It's only a matter of time before her marker finds us and when he does, we'll be ready," Ephraim said, placing his hand on Christofer's shoulder. "All of us."

"This isn't your war," he reminded them, resisting the urge to shrug off the other man's hand.

"You're one of us, Christofer. That makes this our war."

"I can't ask you to put yourself at risk for us," he ground out, the need to take care of his own problems too well ingrained to ignore at this point.

"And we can't just stand by and let you handle this on your own, not with a child involved now," Ephraim said, giving his shoulder a rea.s.suring squeeze before dropping his hand away, but not before Christofer caught sight of what he'd been hiding behind that gauze for the past few weeks.

Frowning, he looked over his shoulder and spotted the same tattoo on Chris' wrist. He opened his mouth to ask about the symbol when he realized that he'd truly f.u.c.ked up.

"You.....b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Cloe snarled, shoving Ephraim and Caine apart as she stepped past them, her red eyes locked on him as she pulled her fist back and let it fly seconds before she followed it up with a knee to his b.a.l.l.s.

Chapter 57.

"We shouldn't be watching this," Izzy said, her eyes locked on the large flat screen monitor as she blindly reached into the bowl for another peanut b.u.t.ter cup.

"Then look away," he said, taking a large bite out of the fudge brownie that Chris had delivered earlier for Izzy to make up for the stolen fudge.

"I can't," she admitted whispering almost as though she was in a trance as they watched Cloe pull back her foot and- f.u.c.k, even he winced on the Pyte's behalf as she made contact with his b.a.l.l.s before Ephraim and Caine could pull her away. Trying to sneak out on a pregnant Pyte while her hormones were out of control to do something stupid was a bad f.u.c.king move. He still cringed when he thought about the hormonal rages that Madison went through while she'd carried the twins.

"Maybe you should help them," Izzy suggested, grabbing another handful of peanut b.u.t.ter cups as he stole her gla.s.s of chocolate milk and finished it off.

"But then we'd miss all the good parts," he pointed out, looking around the large office for another drink.

"Chris re-stocked the fridge this morning," Izzy murmured, shoving another handful of peanut b.u.t.ter cups in her mouth even as she cringed when Cloe managed to break free and go for Christofer's b.a.l.l.s once again.

He pushed his chair back and leaned down, opening the mini fridge that Chris had installed a few months ago when it became obvious that Izzy wasn't able to handle the short walk to the refrigerator by the door, and pulled out two bottles of water. He handed one to Izzy as he looked up just in time to see Christofer tackle his mate to the ground when she went for his b.a.l.l.s again.

"How long do you think they'll hunt them?" Izzy asked just as his phone went off.

With a reluctant sigh, he looked away from the monitor and looked down at his phone. "Probably not for long," he said, replying to the text with a counteroffer that was quickly accepted.

"Where are you going?" Izzy asked, still watching the monitor as he stood up.

"I have to take this job," he said, leaning over to press a kiss against her head and place his hand over her stomach where his G.o.dchildren slept. "I'll be back before the babies start popping out."

"Bring me back fudge?" she asked, absently as she cringed at whatever was happening on the monitor.

He didn't bother making her any promises that he couldn't keep and they both knew that he wouldn't be able to keep a promise about fudge.

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

"Calm down, mein Schatz," he said, trying not to vomit when sharp pain shot through his b.a.l.l.s, making him wish that he'd been born a eunuch.

"You don't get to call me that ever again!" she snarled, trying to get free so that she could go for his b.a.l.l.s again.

"Can we talk about this?" he asked, the effort costing him as the pain shot through the tip of his c.o.c.k and as much as he'd love to b.i.t.c.h about the abuse to his poor b.a.l.l.s and c.o.c.k, he couldn't. He'd more than had this one coming to him.

"Talk?" she repeated, laughing bitterly as she struggled to break free. "You want to talk? Now?"

"Yes!" he hissed, his stomach rolling as he struggled not to pa.s.s out.

"It's a little too late for that, a.s.shole!"

"We're going to leave you two to handle this," Ephraim said, gesturing for the other men to leave.

"Cowards," he muttered, keeping his eyes locked on the furious woman beneath him as the other three men made their escape.

"d.a.m.n straight," Chris said, walking past them.

"Get off me, Christofer!"

"Are you going to take another shot at my b.a.l.l.s?" he asked, even as he loosened his hold on her.

"No," she bit out, shaking her head firmly and as much as he wanted to believe her, he didn't, but he still rolled off her anyway, terrified that he was hurting the baby by keeping her pinned to the ground.

As soon as he rolled off her, he expected her to go for his b.a.l.l.s or to storm off, but she didn't do either of those things. When he looked over at her, he realized that she was crying. The realization that he'd made her cry hurt a h.e.l.l of a lot more than his b.a.l.l.s at the moment and had him reaching for her.

"Leave me alone," she whispered, absently wiping at her face as she got to her feet.

"I can't do that," he said hoa.r.s.ely, coming to his feet.

She shook her head, laughing without humor as she said, "That's kind of funny since you were about to do just that."

"Mein Schatz-" he said, reaching for her, but she pulled her arm away as she stepped away from him.

"It's over, Christofer. I'm sick and tired of your secretive bulls.h.i.t!" she said, delivering the final blow that knocked him on his a.s.s before she turned around and walked away.

"Cloe, please-"

"Just leave me alone, Christofer," she said, too exhausted to play this game with him.

Falling in love with him had been a mistake, something that she'd tried to stop herself from doing, but clearly she was an idiot because- "They came for us in 1941," he announced as he closed the bedroom door behind them.

"What?" she asked, turning around to face him only to find him by the window, bathed in moonlight as he stared off into the distance.

"It was a cool night, much like tonight when they came for us. My father thought, hoped really that we had a few more weeks, but someone must have tipped off the SS because they'd showed up at our door, armed and looking for me."

"Why were they looking for you?" she asked, her anger pushed aside as her curiosity got the better of her and she found herself sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting to hear the rest of his story.

"Because I was an oddity," he said with a sad smile. "I was sixteen years old, on the cusp of manhood, but trapped in the body of a child. Someone in the village had talked, someone that my father had helped, had kept safe, had decided that a few dollars was worth betraying my father's kindness. They came with orders to find the boy that wouldn't age and bring him to one of the labs that the n.a.z.is were so fond of."

"My father refused to let them take me. He screamed for me to take Marta and run, but I couldn't force my legs to listen. I stood there like a fool while a soldier pulled out a gun and placed it against my father's temple as he struggled to get to us. I remember screaming his name as his body fell to the ground, but nothing much after that."

"A few days later I woke up in a cage being held in a large white lab. I had no idea how I got there or where I was. I just remember being hungry, really hungry, which was odd since my appet.i.te had waned over the last few years."

"What happened after you woke up?" she found herself asking once he'd grown quiet.

"The guards told the doctors that I was awake. They started asking me a million questions, but once they'd realized that I wouldn't talk they brought Marta out, fresh from surgery."

"What did they do to her?" she asked, immediately wishing that she hadn't.

"They performed an autopsy of sorts on her, the first of many," he said, folding his arms over his chest as he leaned back against the wall. "When I fought to get to her, one of the doctors placed the sharp edge of a scalpel to her throat and just like that they owned us. I couldn't do anything without risking Marta's life."

"W-what did they do to you?"

"Everything," he simply said, looking as though he wasn't going to continue, but much to her horror, he did. "They started off with trying drugs out on me, then gases, looking for better ways to kill. When nothing worked on me they turned to weapons, fire, acids. They systemically cut off every body part, watching in fascination as it grew back."

"Oh, my G.o.d," she whispered, horrified.

"When they realized that I couldn't die, they decided to try and make an army of monsters. They stole my blood and would give it to volunteers, prisoners, anyone that they could get their hands on and when that didn't work, they started to shove women in my cage."

"Women?"

He nodded as he shifted closer to the window. "They were brainwashed, led to believe that they were doing their part for the Aryan race. At first, I'd attack the women, half-starved and desperate for blood, but soon the scientists running the lab learned to overfeed me before placing a woman in my cage."

Her stomach dropped as she imagined all the women being shoved in his cage. "Did you.....," she started to ask, but she couldn't make the words come out of her mouth.

"Did I f.u.c.k them?" he asked, looking at her for the first time since he'd started. He shook his head as he dropped his head back against the wall. "No, I didn't. No matter what they did to entice me, I refused to touch them. I refused to let them get their hands on my child. I've touched women after that, but I've never risked a child, not until you," he added with a shrug as she struggled to accept what he was saying. He'd been a virgin? Impossible. Before she could ask him, he continued distracting her.

His eyes locked on hers as he said, "And I refuse to let it happen now, Cloe. I wasn't leaving you behind to be an a.s.shole. I was trying to put an end to this and keep our child safe. To keep you safe."

"By leaving me here to wonder if you were okay, Christofer?" she demanded, angry with herself and with him for feeling like this, like she'd die if anything happened to him.

"You don't understand, Cloe," he said, shaking his head as he pushed away from the wall and headed for the door.

"Then make me understand," she said, coming to her feet and grabbing his arm to keep him from leaving.

"It's my job to protect you and to keep you safe," he said firmly, his muscles tensing beneath her touch.

"Who says?" she asked softly, moving to stand in front of him.

"My father," he said with a sad smile as he looked her in the eye. He ran his fingertips along her jaw, his touch tender and sweet.

"And what exactly did your father tell you?" she asked, reaching up and covering his hand with hers.

"To always guard my heart," he said as he leaned down and kissed her. "And that's you."

Chapter 58.

Manhattan, New York "What the f.u.c.k?"

"Good morning, sunshine," Kale said as he popped open a fresh can of c.o.ke and took a long, satisfying sip of the sweet, life-giving nectar that allowed him to function without killing everyone in sight.

Well, almost everyone in sight, he amended a moment later when he opened his eyes and spotted the man that he'd knocked out and chained to a chair only an hour ago. He would have killed him immediately, but there were two parts to the contract that he needed to fulfill before he could collect his pay. Granted, he would have done this job for free, planned to the moment he saw those marks on Cloe's back.