She swallowed nervously. “You’re planning on shooting me afterwards, aren’t you?” she asked, this time stepping back on her own.

“Smart girl,” Kale said, nodding approvingly as he took another step back.

“Why not keep us together?” she asked, her mouth going dry at the thought of being shot.

It didn’t matter that they’d promised her that she couldn’t die, she still didn’t want to get shot. She also didn’t want to be separated from Christofer and right now, she was terrified that the thought of being taken away from him scared her more than being shot.

“You’re not going anywhere near my godchildren,” he said, forcing her back another foot. “Come on, ass**le, take the bait,” he snapped in aggravation when Christofer still didn’t move.

“I would never hurt a child,” she said hollowly, truly offended that he thought that she was capable of harming a child.

Kale snorted in disgust. “Don’t take it personally, cupcake.”

“How the hell else am I supposed to take it?” she snapped, moving to step away from him, but he simply reached back, grabbed her by the arm and forced her to stay right where she was.

“You’re marked,” he said as if that would explain everything.

It didn’t.

“And?”

“You’re another shifter’s property.”

“I’m really not,” she said with a snort of disgust as she yanked her arm free from his hold.

“You really are,” he said dryly, shooting her a warning glare over his shoulder to keep her ass right where it was. For now she planned on doing just that, but there was no way that she was going to stand there and allow him to shoot Christofer, not when he wasn’t even-

“Wait a minute,” she said, frowning as she looked at Christofer, really looked at him. “He’s not out of control.”

“No,” Kale said, forcing her back another step, “he’s not.”

“So, he’s not in bloodlust?” she asked, her relief obvious. If he wasn’t out of control, then-

“He’s learned to stay in control even while in bloodlust,” Kale said, sounding pissed when she would have thought that would make him happy. It certainly made her happy since he wasn’t acting like a feral animal going for her throat.

“So, he’s not going to attack anyone,” she pointed out, relieved that this was over. All she wanted to do was to go to him. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and make him promise that he wasn’t going to let anyone separate them. When she moved to do just that, she found herself once again being shoved back.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that, sweetheart,” Kale said, nodding towards Christofer, who was practically eating her up with his eyes. The expression on his face had her swallowing nervously as she took an unsteady step back.

“He still hasn’t done anything to deserve being shot,” she mumbled, tightening her arms around herself as she started to shiver, from the cold or the way that Christofer was watching her, she wasn’t exactly sure.

“Tell that to the shitload of Sentinels that he tore through to get to you.”

“They locked us up!” she snapped, deciding not to mention her attack since it was one of those things that was better off left unsaid.

“True,” he agreed, not sounding like he really cared.

“Look,” she said, licking her lips nervously as she hesitantly took a step to the side and when he didn’t move to stop her, she took another one until she was standing several feet away from him, her arms still wrapped tightly around her chest, “he didn’t mean to hurt anyone. It was an accident. Let me try calming him down and we’ll go-”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Kale said, pulling a second weapon free and aiming it at her before she could blink. Suddenly, she realized why he hadn’t tried to stop her.

“You’re really going to shoot me?” she asked, her voice cracking as she took another step back.

“In a heartbeat,” he said without hesitation as Christofer released a vicious growl that actually comforted her instead of scaring the living hell out of her for once.

“Then what’s the hold up?” she asked, scanning the large room, looking for a weapon or a way to get her and Christofer out of this.

“Him first,” he said coldly as he watched Christofer, obviously waiting for him to do something.

“If you were really going to shoot him, you would have done it by now,” she lamely pointed out, hoping that he wouldn’t take it as a challenge and pull the damn trigger.

Kale shook his head. “I’m not in the mood to retrieve the body from the bottom of the pool.”

“I see,……” she said in understanding, shifting as a plan quickly formed. It wasn’t a perfect plan, but it would save them from-

“I’m glad that you do,” Kale murmured, shifting his attention from Christofer to her as the sound of a gunshot suddenly rang out, echoing in the large room. A scream of agony tore through her lips as she felt something explode in her chest, burst through bone, shredding it upon impact and slice through her heart and muscle until it finally burst through more bone.

By the time she realized that she’d been shot, she found herself floating in a sea of pain, wrapped in darkness, the sounds of a violent roar the only comfort she had as she felt herself sink deeper into nothing.

Chapter 42

“You…..fucking…….asshole…,” Chris choked out while he took in the scene before him as he hugged an obviously broken arm against his chest.

“Grab my bag,” Kale said, nodding towards the bleachers as he quickly moved over to Cloe’s body and rolled her onto her stomach.

“Who the f**k do you think you are?” Ephraim demanded coldly, coming to a stop next to his son, who was still standing there and being f**king useless.

“Get my bag or get the f**k out,” he said, wiping the sweat off his brow with the back of his arm as he took in the damage from the bullet and cursed.

It was already starting to heal.

“Get away from her, you sick f**k!” Chris said, dropping unsteadily to his knees in front of him just as he was grabbed from behind and yanked back.

“I should tear your f**king throat out!” Caine shouted, grabbing him by the throat and pulling him to his feet so that he found himself staring into glimmering red eyes.

He didn’t have f**king time for these games.

Sighing in annoyance, he allowed his eyes to shift, felt his fangs slide through his gums and with barely a thought, denied his body the shift that it so desperately craved, careful to retain his hold on his body. As soon as he felt the rush of energy flow through him, he reached up with one hand and laid it over Caine’s hand at his throat. Before the Pyte could react, he pulled the hand at his throat away with a slight twist as he slammed the flat of his palm into the Pyte’s chest and shoved him away with a loud crack.

“Fucking hell!” Caine gasped, pressing a hand to his chest as he stumbled back

He sent Caine a glare of warning, the only one that he would get if he tried to come between him and his work again. He might have taken it easy on the Pyte in the past, but not now, not when he had a job to do.