she demanded, sounding pissed off again.

“Yup.”

“Look, I understand there’s a lot out there that I don’t know about, but I’m willing to learn and while I learn, I promise that I’ll be really careful. You also don’t have to worry about me telling anyone about your family so if you can let me go and I promise-“

“I wouldn’t bother making promises that you can’t keep, Munchkin,” he said, cutting her off and whishing that she’d just give into exhaustion and to go to sleep so that he could pretend that he wasn’t going to f**k both their lives up in a matter of hours.

“But I can, Chris. Even if someone gets their hands on me I want you to know that I won’t talk. I promise!”

“There’s no way you’d be able to keep that promise, Munchkin,” he said gently as he turned onto the highway.

“You don’t know that!” You don’t a damn thing about me except for the bullshit you’ve convinced yourself of!

I didn’t do anything wrong and I don’t deserve to be put away like some prisoner, Chris. Don’t do this!” she said, sounding close to tears.

His hands tightened around the steering wheel as he forced himself to keep his eyes on the road and not look back, because he knew that if he did she just might break him and he couldn’t handle that.

*********

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Logan bit out.

Kale didn’t take his eyes away from the house far below him as he pulled the phone a few inches away from his sensitive ear.

“Why the hell are you hiding when I hired you for a job?”

“I’m doing it now,” Kale answered, glad the man hadn’t been able to follow him out of town since the last thing he needed was for Logan to get curious about this family.

Logan was a Master and like most Masters he craved more power and control and they both knew that having a Pyte among his ranks would make him almost unstoppable. The moment the boy came into his true immortality he would be forced to turn as many humans as Logan could get his hands on so that he could create a deadly vampire army. Kale would never allow that to happen.

Not again.

He’d been foolish the first time he allowed a Pyte child to live. He would not make that mistake again. As much as he detested his duty, he would do it. But it would have to wait, he decided as he watched Logan out of the corner of his eye.

With Logan in town he couldn’t risk putting this off any longer since all it would take was one of the shifters or demons that worked for Logan to catch the scent of this family and alert Logan. He needed to do his duty and get Logan the hell out of this town quickly before the Pyte adults caught his attention. As much as he’d love to see every f**king Pyte on earth locked up he couldn’t risk a Master being the one to do it. The idea of a Master controlling a Pyte turned his stomach, but the adult Pytes weren’t his problem since they’d most likely kill him after he did what he had to do.

His only hope was the Sentinels that were obviously living and guarding that house would smarten the f**k up one day and toss them both in a pit filled with cement and forget them. Then again the Sentinel Council probably liked having a Pyte at their beck and call. They probably thought they were truly working together and that they could trust the Pytes couple.

They’d learn.

“Why aren’t you doing the job that I hired you for?”

Logan demanded in that crisp tone of his that scared all of his men, but didn’t faze Kale in the least.

“Just checking something before I finish the job,” he said, moving

“What’s that?”

“Nothing important,” Kale said, hoping the man would just let it go.

“Where are you headed?” Logan asked, probably not expecting an answer and normally he wouldn’t give one, but he did today. He needed Logan to get his men and get the hell out of town.

“Boston.”

“Boston…..are you sure?” Logan asked hesitantly.

“Very sure.”

In the next twentyfour hours a small group of Sentinels was going to try and sneak Isabella McGuire out of the country and if luck was on his side he’d be alive to stop them.

************

Even before she was fully awake, Madison realized that she was starving. With a small groan she flopped over onto her back and whimpered pathetically at the thought of having to get up and go downstairs to find something to eat. Before she became pregnant and Ephraim had disappointed her, all she had to do when she woke up hungry in the middle of the night was roll over and latch onto Ephraim’s neck while she took him into her body.

Now she had to get up and she was too damn tired and admittedly lazy to get up and go downstairs. Then again if she hadn’t kicked Ephraim out of her room and made him sleep in Chris’ room all she would have to do was ask him to get her something to eat. She could call him, but she was still so upset about what he’d done.

How could he let Chris ruin his life like that?

For over ten years Chris waited patiently for his mate and after one night he was ready to toss her aside over nothing. So she couldn’t fight. Big deal. Chris could fight well enough to protect and cover for her until her abilities kicked in and he could teach her how to fight.

If anyone could teach her how to fight it would be Chris.

Even as a kid Chris had been a very good fighter, skilled, determined and ruthless. At least that’s what Eric and Ephraim said. When she first met Chris she thought he was a great kid, but could be a mean son of a bitch if he was provoked. She formed that opinion of him during her first week of teaching when she caught him beating the hell out of two large seniors after they dumped their lunch trays on a nervous freshman who’d made the mistake of sitting at their table. He’d always had a soft spot for those weaker than him, especially where women were concerned, which only confused her more since he should be more understanding and accepting of Isabella.

She honestly didn’t know what they expected from the poor woman when they brought her into the clearing. If anything they probably made her more nervous and made it more difficult for her abilities to surface.

Scaring the hell out of her didn’t help and instead of taking a step back and trying to ease her into this from another angle, Chris was ready and willing to give up any real future, or a family of his own out of some misplaced sense of loyalty to them.

Chris didn’t owe them anything. He was part of their family and if she were to be honest she’d have to say that he was probably the glue that kept them all together over the years. They all loved him and wanted to see him happy. He might have been eager to meet his mate and have a partner, but everyone else had been excited to see him happy and smiling more freely again.

Since the home invasion all those years ago Chris turned more serious, deadly and too damn focused on their safety and happiness to even think about his own.

She didn’t want him living the rest of his life for them.

She wanted him happy. God, what she wouldn’t do to have the easygoing Chris back for even one minute. He was kind and sweet to all of them and on occasion he playfully teased them, but his eyes never shined with humor and his smiles seemed forced.

With Isabella he seemed more relaxed and happy for a few minutes there in the beginning before he allowed his disappointment in her shortcomings to affect his judgment. She understood they were all in a very dangerous situation, but she’d understand and even accept Chris leaving for a little while so that he could protect his mate. He was going to live for another hundred and seventy years as long was careful, maybe longer if she could figure out a way to turn him without killing him, and she would more than understand if he needed a few years to cut himself off from everyone to keep everyone safe until this stupid war ended. There was no need to sacrifice his entire life for them. She didn’t want that and neither did anyone else.